Women ought to have been given more seats by Congress in Assembly polls: Satheesan
Kochi (PTI): Congress leader V D Satheesan on Saturday agreed that women ought to have been given more seats in the upcoming Assembly polls.
The Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Kerala Assembly said that the party wanted to give more seats to women in the Assembly polls.
"We wanted to give more seats. Even I am not satisfied with that issue. It (seats given) was not enough," he told reporters at Paravoor here.
His response comes a day after Congress national spokesperson Shama Mohamed expressed dissatisfaction over the low representation of women in the party's candidate list for the upcoming Assembly elections on April 9.
Regarding queries related to the UDF support for former CPI(M) leader G Sudhakaran, the opposition leader said that he has a lot of respect for the Marxist veteran who was a "fair minister" when he was in government.
ALSO READ: Air India, IndiGo, SpiceJet oppose govt's 60 pc free seat selection decision
"He (Sudhakaran) does not lie. He was a fair minister. He distributed funds to all MLAs equally. I still respect him. He took a stand, and after that, we politically backed him," Satheesan said.
He also said that he was greatly indebted to former MLA and Congress Joseph Vazhakan, who had brought him back to the political mainstream.
"So, I am greatly indebted to him. He loved me like a brother. I am sad that even in my current position, I could not ensure a seat for him," he said.
Vazhakan had on Friday expressed his disappointment over being denied a seat at the last moment, as he had printed election posters and banners in preparation to contest in the polls.
He, however, had said that he would remain committed to the party despite the setback.
Vazhakan had said that his name had been under consideration for the Ettumannur constituency, but the Congress on Thursday decided to field DCC president Nattakom Suresh from the seat.
Satheesan, while speaking to reporters, also said that there was nothing wrong with posters being put up in the name of any Congress leader.
"We have no problems with that as the team Congress is united. The CM candidate has already been decided. It's CPI(M) narrative that there are problems in the Congress, there are no issues in the party," he said in response to reporters' queries about posters of K C Venugopal being put up in many places of the state.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Bengaluru: Scrap worker held for UPS battery thefts; 51 batteries recovered
Bengaluru: A 38-year-old scrap worker accused of stealing UPS batteries has been arrested by the Parappana Agrahara police for targeting roadside power backup units in Electronic City.
According to The Indian Express, the accused has been identified as Chinnadurai (38), a native of Tamil Nadu. He was apprehended on March 9 from a scrap shop in Vaddarapalya on Koppa Begur Main Road following a tip-off.
Police said the accused targeted roadside power backup units installed for CCTV cameras, streetlights, and traffic signals, disrupting public infrastructure, particularly in Electronic City Phase-2 and Shanthipura Main Road.
The case was originally registered on February 5 after a private company reported the theft of 10 UPS batteries from roadside locations.
During interrogation, Chinnadurai reportedly confessed to carrying out the thefts as a source of livelihood and admitted to similar offences across the city.
The police recovered 51 UPS batteries of various companies and seized an autorickshaw used in the crimes. The total value of the recovered property is estimated at Rs 4 lakh.
“With his arrest, we have detected this case and also solved two other theft cases registered against him in different police stations across the city,” a police officer said.
As per the report, the accused was produced before a court on March 10 and remanded to judicial custody.
The thefts had earlier led to traffic signals going non-functional in Electronic City, raising safety concerns among commuters.
