Mohammad Azharuddin appointed as Telangana Congress working president
New Delhi, Nov 30: Former Congress MP Mohammed Azharuddin was Friday appointed working president of the party in Telangana days ahead of assembly elections in the southern state.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi also cleared some fresh appointments in the Telangana Pradesh Congress, approving the names of two vice presidents - B M Vinod Kumar and Jaffer Javed, eight new general secretaries and four secretaries in the state unit.
"Congress president Rahul Gandhi has approved the appointment of Mohammed Azharuddin, ex-MP, as working president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee," a statement from AICC general secretary Ashok Gehlot said.
Azharuddin was a former captain of the Indian cricket team. His cricket career came to an abrupt end when he was implicated in the infamous match-fixing scandal in 2000 and was banned by the BCCI for life. However, the Andhra Pradesh High Court in 2012 declared the life ban on him as illegal.
Azharuddin was an MP from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh in 2009, after he joined the Congress in the same year. He again unsuccessfully contested the 2014 election from Rajasthan's Tonk-Sawai Madhopur constituency in 2014.
The former cricketer, who hails from Hyderabad, is seeking to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Secunderabad constituency in Telangana.
Telangana goes to polls on December 7 and the Congress has forged an alliance with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the state to oust the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Government of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS).
The Congress chief also appointed former Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit as Secretary of AICC and attached him to the AICC Civic and Social Outreach Congress.
Dikshit is the son of former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit and has been an MP from the Delhi East constituency earlier.
The party chief also appointed Lingaraju as president of Karnataka Pradesh Fishermen Congress.
Among those appointed new general secretaries of Telangana Pradesh Congress are Jagadeeswara Rao, Nagesh Mudiraj, T Narsa Reddy, Manavatha Roy, Faheem, Kailash, Laxma Reddy and Krishank.
The new secretaries of TPCC are Durgam Bhaskar, Daruvu Ellanna, Vijay Kumar and Bala Laxmi.
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Appointment regarding office bearers of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee. pic.twitter.com/aaGV3uCB8r
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
