D K Shivakumar’s visit to Sadhguru's event divides Congress
Bengaluru (PTI): The controversy over Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar’s visit to Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev’s Isha yoga centre in Tamil Nadu for Mahashivaratri celebrations has refused to die down with leaders in the state Congress unit sharply divided over the issue.
Cooperative Minister K N Rajanna questioned the justification behind Shivakumar sharing the stage with those who have been critical of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
“Sadhguru had himself said he does not know Rahul Gandhi. Isn’t it? He (Shivakumar) knows better than me what people speak about our leader Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha. Let him answer how justified it is to share stage with such people,” Rajanna told media in Hassan.
However, former MP D K Suresh backed his brother, saying Shivakumar has always kept the party informed before attending any event.
“Whenever Shivakumar met Prime Minister Narendra Modi he informed the party high command. He had even informed the high command about attending Isha Foundation’s Maha Shivaratri event,” Suresh told reporters here.
He also maintained that Shivakumar's visit to the event was not clandestine.
Sadhguru had invited Shivakumar personally to attend the event in Coimbatore, which he accepted and attended, he explained.
Shivakumar, who is also the Congress state president, attended the grand function in Coimbatore on Wednesday, where Union Home Minister Amit Shah was also present.
Defending his visit, the Deputy CM had emphasised his deep faith, saying, "I was born Hindu and will die Hindu".
State Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi said the party high command should take note of the issue, which has escalated beyond Karnataka and now become a matter of national concern.
“It’s now an inter-state issue and is related to the people in Delhi. People in Delhi should take note of it as we don’t know what is right and what is wrong,” he told scribes in Bengaluru.
Minister M B Patil too defended the Deputy CM’s visit to Coimbatore, asserting that he did not violate the party policy.
“It is as per the party policy only. Isn’t Shivakumar a Hindu? What’s there to attend Shivaratri celebrations? Does it violate attending Shivaratri event? Didn’t I go to Shiva temple?” Patil asked while speaking to reporters in Vijayapura.
The Minister stressed that Shivakumar is a diehard Congress leader and termed the speculations about his visit to Coimbatore as "media creation".
Addressing concerns over sharing dais with Amit Shah, he asked, “What’s wrong in that? Didn’t we Congress leaders sit with them (BJP leaders) together?”
Patil said Sadhguru organises events in a grand manner every year and the programme was not a political one.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
