Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman visits rifleman Aurangzeb's family in J&K
Jammu, June 20 : Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday visited the family of rifleman Aurangzeb who was abducted and killed by militants in Jammu and Kashmir on June 15.
Sitharaman arrived here earlier in the day and flew to the Mendhar area of Rajouri district where she met the bereaved family.
"I have come to spend some time with the family of the martyr and the message I am carrying back is that the martyred soldier stands out as an inspiration for the entire country," the Minister told mediapersons here.
The slain soldier's father has also served in the Army. Army chief General Bipin Rawat also visited the family on Monday. Aurangzeb was brutally killed in Pulwama district in the Kashmir Valley.
He was on way to join his family on the occasion of Eid when the militants intercepted the private vehicle in which the soldier was travelling to Shopian town, from where he would take another vehicle for Poonch.
A video released by the militant group that abducted Aurangzeb showed him bravely acknowledging that he was a soldier of the Indian Army and had participated in anti-militancy operations in south Kashmir.
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Confident we are going to win Kerala: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
