Will contest from Congress; Sumalatha Ambarish clarifies on Mandya dilemma
Kalamuddanadoddi, Feb 21: Actress Sumalatha Ambarish clarified that “I have the indebtedness of Mandya people on me. To fulfill it, I have decided to enter politics”. People from the district want her to contest from the constituency on a Congress ticket as they see her husband in her.
“I have brought this to the notice of former chief minister Siddaramaiah. I expect that the Congress party would identify me and I am hopeful that the Congress would continue its faith on the family members of Ambarish”, she said after offering pooja at the Sri Kalabhairaveshwara temple, the presiding deity of her family, at Chikkarasinakere on Thursday.
Except the birth district of Ambarish, she has not got such a love and affection from people elsewhere. She has decided to contest from the Congress. JDS has not invited her to contest, she clarified.
Huge reception
When Sumalatha reached Mandya, her fans and followers thronged her along the road. Throughout her journey in the district, people were seen forcing her to contest the election.
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MP boat tragedy: Death toll rises to 10 with recovery of one more body; 3 tourists still missing
Jabalpur (PTI): The body of a child was retrieved on Saturday evening from Bargi Dam in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, raising the death toll in the cruise boat tragedy that took place two days ago to ten, while search continued for three missing tourists.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a storm on Thursday evening with some of the survivors alleging negligence and safety lapses such as life jackets not being distributed in time.
The body recovered on Saturday evening was possibly that of six-year-old Viraj Soni, said Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra.
"The identity will be confirmed after family members identify the body," he told PTI.
Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory at Khamaria, his five-year-old son Tamil, and another child Mayuram (5) who had come from southern India were still missing.
Authorities have arranged equipment to search deep waters of the dam and are getting a generator to facilitate diving operations, Mishra added.
Divers and disaster response teams have expanded the search radius to five km, he said.
Of the 41 identified passengers on board the ill-fated vessel, 28 were rescued, police said.
More than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, joined the search operation that resumed at 5 on Saturday morning. The operation, involving the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and local divers, was briefly affected at around 9 am due to strong winds, officials said.
Post-mortem examinations of nine deceased persons have been completed, Mishra said.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will also register a First Information Report in the case soon," he said.
Police said CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the boat while the identities of 41 passengers have been confirmed so far.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the tragedy and dismissed three crew members. It also banned operation of similar vessels in the state.
