Ex-CPI(M) MLA S Rajendran joins BJP
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Former CPI(M) MLA S Rajendran on Sunday joined the BJP after accepting party membership from state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar here.
Rajendran, a veteran leader from Idukki district, represented the Devikulam Assembly constituency from 2006 to 2021.
The induction took place at the BJP state headquarters, where Rajendran was joined by three other leaders, including CPI leader Gurunadan and CPI(M) leader Santhosh from Kuttanad.
Speaking on the occasion, Rajendran said he had not been active in party politics for the past four to five years but had continued working among the public.
He said he had been "living with regret and emotional distress after losing faith in his political space."
"Till the last day, I never betrayed the politics I followed throughout my life. There has never been any allegation that I worked against my party or its committees," he said.
He clarified that the decision to join the BJP was taken after discussions with people close to him.
Rajendran said his decision to meet BJP leaders was linked to issues related to plantations and plantation workers.
He said he was impressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stand and expressed confidence that issues faced by plantation workers could be resolved under the BJP's governance.
BJP leaders said around 100 people are expected to join the party at an event scheduled to be held in Munnar on February 8.
Addressing the gathering, Chandrasekhar said Rajendran had told him that only the BJP could resolve the state’s problems.
He said issues faced by people in Munnar and Idukki remained unresolved and asserted they would be addressed when the BJP comes to power.
Chandrasekhar thanked the Railway Minister and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allotting three new trains to Kerala.
He said the BJP would campaign in the upcoming elections on development, security and the protection of faith.
"Those who support these causes will be welcomed, irrespective of the party they belong to," he said.
Chandrasekhar alleged that Congress-led governments had been voted out in several states and at the Centre since 2014 and accused the Congress of "supporting corruption and appeasement politics."
He also alleged that CPI(M) state secretary M A Baby and Congress leader Robert Vadra had "spoken in favour of Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, and claimed that the Congress-led UDF supports Jamaat-e-Islami in Kerala."
Calling Jamaat-e-Islami "an extremist and anti-secular organisation", Chandrasekhar said it "posed a danger" to the state. He also alleged that the Hindu community had the lowest per capita land and housing ownership.
Referring to Karnataka, he alleged that the Congress came to power by making false promises and claimed there "was corruption and a lack of funds for development" after it assumed office.
"This organisation is destroying Bangladesh and Pakistan and is causing problems in other countries as well. This should be debated," he said.
Meanwhile, senior CPI(M) leader and MLA M M Mani said Rajendran had neither been a party member nor a sympathiser for several years and that his joining the BJP did not matter to the party.
"It is a closed chapter. Whether he goes with the BJP or even the devil does not matter to us. We will take care of our own matters," Mani said.
He said the CPI(M) leadership in Idukki district had not made any attempt to bring Rajendran back when reports of his possible move to the BJP emerged.
"He has not been in the party for several years. We had taken action against him and expelled him. It does not matter to us if he joins any other party," Mani said.
Mani added that even if he himself were to resign, the party would not be affected.
He denied allegations that the party had harmed Rajendran.
"We made him district panchayat president and MLA several times. He and his wife are receiving pensions for life," Mani said.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
