Former BJP MP RP Sharma joins Congress
Guwahati: Former BJP MP from Assam's Tezpur seat Ram Prasad Sarmah has joined the Congress.
Sarmah along with many others, including senior journalist Zamsher Ali, joined the Congress here on Sunday.
Sarmah, who is from the Gorkha community, had won the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from the Tezpur seat on a BJP ticket.
He had resigned from the BJP in 2019 after his name was not included in the party candidate list for the Lok Sabha elections.
He claimed that the Congress will win at least 80 seats out of 126 in the Assembly polls in Assam next year.
"I do not have any religion. I eat at any place if I wish to have good food. I have mutton at a Nepali household, fish at Assamese, curd at Muslims of char areas and local liquor at the houses of tribal people," Sarmah said at the Assam Congress headquarters here on Sunday.
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Annpurna Devi expresses anguish over girl's rape in TN, urges NCW to act
New Delhi (PTI): Union Minister for Women and Child Development Annpurna Devi on Tuesday expressed her anguish over the alleged gang rape of a girl in Tamil Nadu and urged the National Commission for Women to take immediate cognisance of the matter.
In a post on X, Devi said, "Deeply anguished by this horrific incident. I urge the NCW to take immediate cognisance and act swiftly in coordination with the concerned authorities to ensure the strictest action against all culprits."
Devi said, "Justice must be swift and unsparing — the accused must be brought to book without delay," adding, "the safety, dignity, and justice of every daughter of India remain our highest priority."
"We stand firmly with the survivor and her family in this difficult hour," she said.
Reacting to a post by former Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai, who flagged concerns over the law and order situation in the state, Devi said such incidents "expose grave concerns" under the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government.
Annamalai, in his post, alleged that a 15-year-old girl from Kanchipuram, who had come to participate in a temple festival near Seyyaru in Tiruvannamalai district, was gangraped.
He said the incident was "deeply shocking and enraging" to him and alleged that such crimes point to a "complete failure" of law and order in Tamil Nadu.
Annamalai demanded immediate arrest of all those involved and the "harshest punishments" for the accused.
He also called for full protection and mental health counselling for the survivor and her family.
