Groom, family walk 28 km for wedding due to drivers' strike in Odisha
Bhubaneswar, Mar 17: A groom and his family members had to walk 28 kilometres to reach the bride's village in Odisha's Rayagada district for the wedding, as they could not arrange a vehicle due to the drivers' strike.
They walked all night on Thursday from Sunakhandi panchayat under Kalyansinghpur block to reach Dibalapadu village where they tied the knot on Friday.
A video showing the groom and his family members including a few women walking at night went viral on social media.
"No transport was available due to the drivers' strike. We walked all night to reach the village. We had no other option," one of the groom's family members said.
The marriage was solemnised on Friday morning. But the groom and his family members stayed at the bride's house, waiting for the drivers' association to withdraw the strike so that they can return home.
The Driver Ekta Mahasangh has launched the indefinite strike across the state from Wednesday demanding social welfare measures like insurance, pension, formation of a welfare board and others.
The strike by the drivers of commercial vehicles in Odisha was on Friday put on hold for 90 days following an assurance by the state government that all their demands would be fulfilled.
The announcement by the Drivers' Ekta Mahasangh came barely a few hours after Chief Secretary P K Jena and DGP S K Bansak appealed to the striking drivers to withdraw the stir.
The strike by over two lakh drivers has hit the normal life for which people including office goers and tourists remained standard at different places. This has also resulted in price rise of essential commodities.
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Will PM still remain silent: Priyanka Gandhi slams BJP over 'sex scandal'
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Monday attacked the BJP over the alleged sex scandal involving the grandson of JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda, with party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra asking whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi will remain silent on the matter.
The opposition party also asked why the BJP went ahead with its alliance with the JD(S) when a BJP leader had written to the party's Karnataka unit president, exposing the presence of a pen drive full of "sleaze videos of Prajwal Revanna".
A case of sexual harassment and stalking was registered on Sunday against former prime minister Deve Gowda's son H D Revanna and grandson and Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna respectively.
The case was registered on a complaint by their cook, who alleged that four months after she started working for them, Revanna used to sexually harass her and Prajwal used to make video calls to her daughter and have "vulgar conversations" with her.
In a post in Hindi on X, Priyanka Gandhi said, "The leader with whom the PM gets photographed by placing his hand on his shoulder. The leader for whom the PM himself campaigned 10 days ago. Praised him on stage. Today, that leader of Karnataka is absconding from the country."
"Just hearing about his heinous crimes committed is heart-wrenching. This ruined the lives of hundreds of women. Modi ji, will you still remain silent?" the Congress general secretary said.
Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera shared on X a letter written by BJP leader Devaraj Gowda to the Karnataka BJP president on December 8 last year.
He said the letter exposed the presence of a pen drive full of "sleaze videos of Prajwal Revanna".
"Why did the bjp still go ahead with the alliance? Why no action was taken on the serial rapes video recorded and kept in the pen-drive? Why did the PM campaign for and shared the stage with Prajwal Revanna despite knowing that Prajwal is the kingpin of world's biggest & murkiest sex abuse?" Khera said.
Who helped Prajwal Revanna escape to Germany, he asked.
"Why is the PM silent?" Khera said.
The complainant in the case has said she is a relative of Revanna's wife Bhavani.
She has alleged that there is a threat to her life as well as that of other members of her family.
