Dileep row: Actor-MLA Ganesh Kumar slams politicians, actresses
Thiruvananthapuram, June 30 : An audio clip of actor-turned-MLA K.B. Ganesh Kumar criticising the role of politicians and four actresses who resigned from the artistes body AMMA, surfaced on Saturday.
The Pathanapuram MLA can be heard calling the politicians "limelight hoggers" and the four actresses "perennial trouble-makers". Kumar was in conversation with Association of Malayalam Movie Artists general secretary Edavela Babu.
In the clip, Kumar advises Babu to "just keep silent" as the outburst over the revoking of Dileep's suspension in AMMA will die down in two days.
"These four actresses have never been active in AMMA, nor in the field of acting. They never participated in the AMMA shows and are perennial trouble makers.
"With regards to politicians, they are interested to give sound bites to TV channels just to stay afloat in public domain.
"You just keep quiet and need not respond. The media is out to create ruckus and the only thing they have is negativity in their news.
"What should be noted is AMMA is not a political body, but formed to look after our welfare and hence the public also need not be unduly concerned," says Kumar.
Leading actresses from the Malayalam film industry -- Rima Kallingal, Remya Nambisan, Geetu Mohandas had resigned on Monday along with the victim of the February 2017 kidnapping case in which Dileep was alleged to have been involved that landed him in jail for 85 days.
The audio clip has come a day after the CPI-M decided not to seek an explanation from Ganesh Kumar for his stand in the ongoing reinstatement row of accused actor Dileep's membership in the AMMA.
On Friday, the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist's Kerala Secretariat gave a clean chit MPs Innocent and Mukesh and Kumar by deciding not to seek any explanation from them on this issue.
Dileep was suspended from AMMA last year but on June 24, at the annual general body meeting of the body, the new set of office bearers led by superstar Mohanlal revoked his suspension.
Since then there has been a huge outcry from several quarters against this decision and it's at this time Kumar's audio clip surfaced.
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At least 19 killed as methane leak causes explosion at eastern Iran coal mine, state TV reports
Tehran (AP/PTI): A methane leak sparked an explosion at a coal mine in eastern Iran, killing at least 19 people and injuring another 17, Iranian state television reported Sunday.
The report said the deaths happened at a coal mine in Tabas, some 540 kilometers (335 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran.
Authorities were sending emergency personnel to the area after the blast late Saturday, it said. Around 70 people had been working there at the time of the blast.
Oil-producing Iran is also rich in a variety of minerals. Iran annually consumes some 3.5 million tons of coal but only extracts about 1.8 million tons from its mines per year. The rest is imported, often consumed in the country's steel mills.
This is not the first disaster to strike Iran's mining industry. In 2013, 11 workers were killed in two separate mining incidents. In 2009, 20 workers were killed in several incidents. In 2017, a coal mine explosion killed at least 42 people.
Lax safety standards and inadequate emergency services in mining areas are often blamed for the fatalities.
