DMK seeks Bharat Ratna for Karunanidhi
New Delhi, Aug 10: The DMK on Friday demanded the nation's highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna, for party patriarch M. Karunanidhi who passed away in Chennai on August 7.
The party said the award will be a real tribute to the late Tamil Nadu leader's outstanding and exemplary work which had left an indelible mark in history.
Karunanidhi, who led the DMK for five decades, was the Chief Minister for 19 years spread over five terms.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, DMK's Trichy Siva dubbed Karunanidhi the "tallest leader of the country and a Dravidian stalwart".
"He lived five years short of a century, out of which he contributed 80 years to the public life, fighting for the cause of the downtrodden, backward and the suppressed people.
"He was an outstanding orator, a prolific writer, a novelist, a short-story writer, a philosopher, a philanthropist and also a dramatist. He was an actor and also wrote scripts for 80 movies," Shiva said enumerating the achievements of Karunanidhi.
He said that Karunanidhi was "unparalleled" and made a mark in all walks of life.
"His life cannot be described in words. He was a staunch and untiring soldier. He was fighting till his last breath, for social justice, secularism, state autonomy and self respect.
"I would urge the government to confer upon him posthumously the Bharat Ratna, which will be a real tribute to his outstanding and exemplary work which had left an indelible mark in the annals of history," the DMK lawmaker said.
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Health dept to probe into claim about Pune hospital's refusal to admit pregnant woman
Pune (PTI): Maharashtra Minister Prakash Abitkar on Friday said a senior official of the health department will conduct an inquiry into the incident in which a hospital in Pune allegedly refused to admit a pregnant woman due to the non-payment of an advance deposit of Rs 10 lakh.
The alleged incident took place at Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, and the woman, Tanisha Bhise, wife of BJP MLC Amit Gorkhe's personal assistant, died after giving birth to twin girls at another hospital.
Talking to PTI, Abitkar said, "We have asked the deputy director of the health department to inquire into what exactly happened at the hospital. After we receive his report, we will take necessary action if the hospital is found to be in the wrong."
Workers of opposition parties, including the Shiv Sena (UBT) Congress and the NCP (SP), staged protests outside the Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital and even threw coins at one of the hospital staffers.
Police have been deployed in large numbers outside the facility to prevent untoward incidents.
MLC Gorkhe had on Thursday claimed that despite an assurance to pay Rs 3 lakh immediately, the hospital denied admission to the patient, and even a call from the Mantralaya did not yield any response from them.
The hospital, however, refuted the allegations and blamed the woman's kin for giving "misleading information".
The hospital's medical director, Dr Dhananjay Kelkar, had said they would prepare a detailed report about the incident and submit it to the health department.
