Idukki: Congress leader quits in protest against party's stance on Waqf Bill
Idukki (Kerala), Apr 4 (PTI): A local Congress leader in this hill district on Friday resigned from the grand old party in protest against its stance on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill.
Benny Peruvanthanam, general secretary of the Idukki District Congress Committee (DCC), resigned from the party, accusing it of neglecting the Christian minority and taking a pro-Muslim stance on the Munambam issue.
"Congress has neglected the Christian minority community for years, while only appeasing Muslims. In protest of this approach, I am resigning from the Congress party," Benny told reporters.
He stated that he had raised the issue within party forums and urged for changes, but no action was taken.
"The situation has reached a point where it’s impossible to move forward, so I have resigned from the post of DCC secretary and from the party as well," he added.
Peruvanthanam also criticised the Congress leadership for its negative stance regarding the concerns raised by the KCBC and Catholic Church organisations. However, he stated that he has not aligned with any other political party now.
The Congress leadership has yet to comment on the matter.
The Munambam residents, strongly supported by the Catholic Church, have been protesting for the past 174 days for revenue rights over their properties, allegedly claimed by the Waqf Board.
The Christian community has significant influence in the Idukki district.
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Yuzvendra Chahal's 4/24 inspires Punjab Kings to 16-run win over KKR in IPL thriller
Mullanpur, Apr 15 (PTI): Yuzvendra Chahal led a stunning comeback for Punjab Kings with brilliant figures of 4/28 as the hosts defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by 16 runs in a low-scoring Indian Premier League thriller here on Tuesday.
After restricting PBKS for 111 inside 16 overs, KKR looked set for a comfortable win reaching 60 for two in seven overs.
Chahal then ran through KKR middle-order to hand Punjab an unlikely but thrilling win as KKR were all out for 95 in 15.1 overs.
Earlier, Punjab Kings collapsed from 39 for no loss to 111 all out in 15.3 overs with Harshit Rana taking 3/25 while Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine claiming two wickets apiece.
Priyansh Arya (22) and Prabhsimran Singh (30) fired at the top but the hosts suffered a collapse to be bowled out for 111 for the second lowest score among all teams this season.
Brief scores:
Punjab Kings 111 in 15.3 overs in 20 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 30; Harshit Rana 3/25, Varun Chakravarthy 2/21, Sunil Narine bagged 2/14).
Kolkata Knight Riders 95 in 15.1 overs (Angkrish Raghuvanshi 37; Marco Jansen 3/17, Arshdeep Singh 1/11, Yuzvendra Chahal 4/28).
