Mani's son Jose to contest Rajya Sabha polls
Pala, June 8: After getting a windfall in the form of a Rajya Sabha seat, Kerala Congress-Mani on Friday night named party supremo K.M. Mani's son Jose K. Mani, the sitting Kottayam Lok Sabha member, as its candidate.
"Our party leadership that met here on Friday night has decided to nominate Jose K.Mani to the Rajya Sabha. The party felt that he was the most suitable candidate and hence his name was an unanimous choice," P.J. Joseph, the KC-M's second in command told the media after the meeting.
KC-M, after being an ally of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) for over four decades, in 2016 walked out of the grouping but returned on Friday, after the top state Congress leadership with the concurrence of the party high command, decided to hand the Rajya Sabha seat to Mani's party, as a "gift" for his return.
The Congress decided to sacrifice sitting Rajya Sabha member and former Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien, who was expecting to get a fourth successive term.
While earlier in the day, Mani ruled himself out for the seat, he also said that his "wish" is that his son Jose also does not get nominated.
But after a late night meeting of the top KC-M leadership at Mani's residence near here, the decision was made to field Jose for the Rajya Sabha seat.
Of the three seats that fall vacant later this month, the ruling Left alliance will win two and the Congress-led UDF one.
Jose is a two-time Lok Sabha member, though losing in his debut electoral contest in 2004.
Long time foe of Mani, veteran legislator P.C. George said this is the most shameful episode witnessed in Kerala politics as everyone knows that Jose stands no chance of winning his sitting Lok Sabha seat next year and hence Mani felt that the Rajya Sabha would be the best bet for his son.
"Since the law allows six months time for an elected member to take oath, Jose will wait for that time and after that, there will not be any time for conducting a by-election to the Kottayam seat that he vacates," he claimed.
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Flight services between Kolkata, Dubai resume partially
Kolkata (PTI): Flight services between Kolkata and Dubai resumed partially on Thursday, after a four-day suspension due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, officials said.
A flydubai aircraft from Dubai landed at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport here at 2:40 am with 130 passengers on board, marking the first arrival from the Middle East after services were halted for over 113 hours, they said.
The Boeing 737 Max aircraft was scheduled to arrive at 12:25 am, Kolkata airport officials said.
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The same aircraft departed for Dubai at 3:59 am with 55 passengers, they said.
The last flight to depart for the Middle East from Kolkata before the suspension was an Emirates aircraft to Dubai on February 28, the officials said.
International services between Kolkata and cities such as Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi were disrupted, after airlines temporarily suspended operations amid escalating tensions and airspace restrictions in parts of the Middle East, due to the conflict involving the US, Israel and Iran.
There is no clear indication about when all the Middle East routes will fully reopen, they said.
