Priyanka Gandhi to address Cong's women's convention in Bengaluru on Jan 16
Bengaluru (PTI): Aimed at galvanising the support of womenfolk ahead of Assembly polls in Karnataka, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will be addressing a women's convention here on January 16, party's State president D K Shivakumar said on Monday.
He said the party is planning a separate manifesto for women ahead of polls, due by April-May, and want's to release a "guarantee letter" expressing Congress' commitment towards them.
The KPCC chief was speaking to reporters after inducting JD(S) leaders from Ramanagara and Mandya districts - Vishwanath and Radhakrishna - respectively along with their supporters at the party office here. Vishwanath had even contested against Shivakumar in Kanakapura assembly segment earlier.
"Women are 50 per cent of the population, Congress has decided to prepare a separate manifesto for women regarding the ways in which the party can contribute to betterment of their lives and addressing the issues faced by them. Also building leadership among them and strengthening them," Shivakumar said.
Highlighting Congress' programmes for the betterment of women, he said, the party intends to release a "guarantee letter" for womenfolk along with the manifesto ahead of elections, and as part of this effort suggestions and inputs have been invited from all leaders till January 15.
"Also a massive convention of women leaders from Panchayat and society level to right up to the top level has been organised on January 16 at Palace Ground in Bengaluru, several national leaders will be attending this event including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra," he said.
Noting that she will "review the process", and address the convention and make some announcements for women on behalf of the party, the KPCC chief said, details about the event will be shared soon.
This will be Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's first "political visit" to the State, and she will be sending a message to the womenfolk of Karnataka, he added.
Claiming Congress as the champion of women's cause by having reservation for them, Shivakumar in response to a question said, it is the party's resolve to give them strength politically, educationally, economically and socially in accordance with their population.
Stating that price rise has become a major issue that is affecting normal lives of people, Shivakumar said, the BJP government had promised to double the income, which did not happen, but the price of essential commodities is increasing.
The Congress is thinking about how to address the issue of price rise and is preparing a manifesto under the leadership of senior party leader and former Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, he said. "We will also be soon coming out with details and BJP's misrule and misdeeds."
Shivakumar also said that both him and Siddaramaiah will be starting a statewide tour soon in the run up to Assembly polls, and will share the details about its nature, reason and number of days of the tour soon.
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Social media posts claiming 3 Indian diplomats killed in attack in Afghanistan’s Jalalabad are fake
New Delhi (PTI Fact Check): Multiple social media users recently shared posts claiming that three high-ranking Indian diplomats were killed in an attack on Indian consulate vehicle in Afghanistan's Jalalabad on December 24. However, the PTI Fact Check Desk, in its investigation, found the claim to be false. In fact, an Afghan national working at the Indian consulate in Jalalabad sustained injuries when unidentified persons opened fire at his vehicle the same day.
Notably, India had long closed operations at the Indian consulate in Jalalabad post the fall of the Ashraf Ghani government. Only a number of local staffers are presently working at the mission.
Claim
An X (formerly Twitter) user on December 24 claimed that three high-ranking Indian diplomats were killed in an attack in Afghanistan’s Jalalabad. The post has garnered over 20k views so far.
Here's the link, archive link, and screenshot of the post.
Investigation
On running the viral screenshot through Google Lens, the Desk found that similar claim was shared by several other social media users. Two such posts can be seen here and here, and their archived versions can be viewed here and here, respectively.
Below is the screenshot of one such post by a user on X (formerly Twitter).
In the next part of investigation, the Desk carried out a customised keyword search on Google, but could not find any authentic news report, substantiating the viral claim.
However, the search results led us to a PTI report carried by The Print on December 24, whose headline read: “Afghan staffer at Indian consulate in Jalalabad injured in attack”.
Here is the link to the post:
“An Afghan national working at the Indian consulate in Jalalabad sustained injuries on Tuesday when unidentified persons opened fire at his vehicle, people familiar with the matter said,” read a section of the report.
It further stated that India had closed operations at the consulate around three-and-a-half years back but a number of local staffers were working at the mission.
On further scanning the search results, we came across another report on the incident by Hindustan Times.
Here's the link and screenshot of the news report.
None of the reports mentioned anything about any casualty or any Indian official suffering injuries in the attack.
Subsequently, the Desk concluded that the claim of three Indian officials being killed in an attack in Afghanistan’s Jalalabad was fake.
CLAIM
Three Indian diplomats killed in an attack in Afghanistan’s Jalalabad.
FACT
One Afghan staffer working at Indian consulate was injured in the December 24 attack.
CONCLUSION
Multiple social media users claimed that three Indian diplomats were killed in attack in attack in Afghanistan’s Jalalabad on December 24. In its investigation, the Desk found the claim to be false.
(This story was originally published by PTI, and republished by english.varthabharati.in as part of the Shakti Collective)
