Gear up for 2028 assembly elections, DK Shivakumar calls upon Congress workers
Bengaluru, Feb 24 (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Monday gave a clarion call to all the party candidates, who lost the 2023 election, to gear up for the 2028 election.
According to Shivakumar, an internal survey has suggested that 60 of the defeated Congress candidates are likely to win the next election.
"As many as 60 candidates who lost the previous assembly election are said to win in the coming election according to an internal survey. In this backdrop, we have asked our unsuccessful candidates to prepare for 2028," he said addressing a press conference after a meeting with the defeated candidates.
Shivakumar, who is also the Congress state president, said the party invited 86 candidates who lost the 2023 election.
"We heard their concerns and deliberated on the preparations for the local body elections and the 2028 elections. We have given clear instructions to the defeated candidates to be proactive," the Deputy CM said.
He said the party is also preparing an action plan in consultation with the All India Congress Committee (AICC) on building the party in the remaining 20 constituencies, where party lost.
"We will call for another meeting of winning and losing candidates of the Lok Sabha elections. The unsuccessful candidates of the 2023 elections have worked for party building, Lok Sabha elections and cooperative society elections. We have instructed the party to empower them and support them. The CM and I will fix a meeting with the defeated candidates during the next session," Shivakumar added.
He said he would hold another meeting with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah along with the district in charge ministers with the party workers from March 23 to April 1.
He said the state unit is planning to invite Congress Chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in the first or second week of March to lay the foundation stone for the party offices.
The physical event will be held in Bengaluru and in the party offices located in other parts of Karnataka it will be done virtually, he explained.
When asked if the party would go to 2028 elections under his leadership, Shivakumar said, "It is my duty to take the party forward irrespective of my position at that time. It is the leadership which is needed to take the party forward and not any position. I have become a leader due to the positions accorded by the party and it is imperative that we pay back to the party this way."
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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".
