Parrikar ignored Goans in video address: Congress
Panaji, May 14: The Congress on Monday accused ailing Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar of addressing only party workers and ignoring Goans in his brief video address, which was broadcast at the one-day BJP booth workers' convention held near here on Sunday.
"We are sympathetic to the fact that the Chief Minister is ill. But in his video address, he completely ignored the people of Goa and only spoke about BJP karyakartas. This is completely unacceptable and shows partisanship on part of Parrikar," Congress spokesperson Siddhanath Buyao told the media here.
Parrikar is currently undergoing advanced treatment for pancreatic cancer in the US where he was shifted in March, a month after he was first admitted to a Mumbai hospital for stomach pain, which was subsequently diagnosed as cancer.
The video address is the first 'public' appearance made by Parrikar since March.
In his address, Parrikar urged party workers to prepare for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and said that he would be returning to Goa "in a few weeks".
Buyao also attacked BJP national president Amit Shah, who was also present at the Sunday convention, for not clarifying a statement he made in Karnataka on the ongoing Mhadei inter-state water dispute.
"Shah was completely quiet on it and so were the BJP workers. We expected the BJP workers to question Shah about his statement in Karnataka on the Mhadei issue."
Shah, in an election meeting in Karnataka, promised to share water from the river to Karnataka within six months, even as the case is being heard by a Tribunal appointed by the Central government.
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Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya case: Hope emerges as Iran may contact victim’s family in bid for pardon
New Delhi: There appears to be a glimmer of hope for Nimisha Priya, the nurse from Kerala on death row in Yemen, as report suggest Iranian officials may reach out to the family of Talal Abdo Mahdi, her former business partner, to seek a pardon through blood money. Priya was sentenced to death for Mahdi's murder.
The 37-year-old nurse is currently imprisoned in Sana’a, the Yemeni capital, which is under the control of Iran-backed Houthis.
A report by The New Indian Express published on Friday stated that discussions are underway to gain the victim's family’s support in seeking a pardon. “It’s a relief of sorts. Iran officials could use their good offices with Houthis for the reach-out with family of the victim. Some cash has been arranged for blood money and talks are on to get the family on board to seek pardon, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed,” a source told the publication.
It is learnt that using an appropriate intermediary equivalent of Rs 30 lakh has been kept ready, the report added.
Hailing from Kollengode in Kerala’s Palakkad district, the nurse was found guilty of murdering the Yemeni citizen in July 2017. She was handed capital punishment by a trial court in 2020 while Yemen’s Supreme Judicial Council upheld the verdict in November 2023.
Mahdi, reportedly died from an overdose of sedatives allegedly injected by Priya to retrieve her passport from him.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the Indian government is extending all possible help in the matter. “We are closely following the developments around the sentencing of Nimisha Priya. The government is extending all possible help in the matter,” he said last week.
