DMK rules out tie-up with Cong for 2014 LS polls

December 15, 2013
Chennai, Dec 15: Months after severing ties with Congress on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, DMK chief M Karunanidhi today ruled out any alliance with its former ally for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

karunanidhi

Karunanidhi made the announcement in his concluding remarks at the meeting of the party's key decision-making body, the General Council, to rapturous applause from members, reflecting the anti-Congress mood in the party ranks.

Party sources claimed that Karunanidhi hinted that DMK may not forge an alliance with BJP also but the leader himself made a non-committal reply on this.

Sources said he had indicated that BJP's present leadership was different from A B Vajpayee who had headed the NDA government of which DMK was a constituent.

"A committee has been formed and it will discuss and decide on the alliance," was his response to reporters' queries when asked if he still kept BJP as an option.

DMK sources present at the meeting said Karunanidhi ruled out a tie-up with Congress, referring to the 2G spectrum scam which has turned out to be the gravest allegation faced by DMK in many years.

Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi and junior colleague and former Telecom Minister A Raja are accused in the scam.

The Joint Parliamentary Committee, constituted to probe the matter and headed by P C Chacko (Cong) had recently tabled its report in Parliament amidst opposition from BJP, CPI and TMC which has dubbed it as "fraud".

DMK members had walked out in protest over the report. The report has given a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the scam, saying he was "misled" by the then Telecom Minister Raja. DMK has said Raja was not heard.

Earlier, the General Council granted complete authority to Karunanidhi and party General Secretary K Anbazhagan to discuss and decide alliance-related issues for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

"This General Council gives complete authority to party president, general secretary to contact alliance parties, discuss seat sharing and announce a committee to take forward alliance for the elections," the party said in a resolution.

An erstwhile ally of the Congress, DMK had snapped ties with that party in March this year over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue. However it managed to drum up Congress' support for Kanimozhi during Rajya Sabha elections which she successfully contested.

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News Network
April 27,2020

New Delhi, Apr 27: A private hospital here claimed that a coronavirus patient, who was administered plasma therapy for the first time in the facility, was discharged on Sunday after being completely cured.

The 49-year-old man had tested positive for COVID-19 on April 4 and was admitted to Max Hospital, Saket, it said in a statement.

As his condition deteriorated, he was put on ventilator support on April 8, the hospital added.

When the patient showed no signs of improvement, his family requested for administration of plasma therapy on compassionate grounds, it said, adding that the family arranged a donor for extracting plasma.

The patient was administered fresh plasma as a treatment modality as a side-line to standard treatment protocols on the night of April 14, the statement said.

Subsequently, the patient showed improvement and by the fourth day, was weaned off ventilator support and continued on supplementary oxygen. He was shifted to a room with round-the-clock monitoring on Monday after testing negative twice within 24 hours, it said.

He has now fully recovered and was discharged, the hospital said, adding that he will stay at home for another two weeks.

Group medical director of Max Healthcare and senior director of the Institute of Internal Medicine Dr Sandeep Budhiraja said, "We can say that plasma therapy could have worked as a catalyst in speeding up his recovery. We cannot attribute 100 per cent recovery to plasma therapy only, as there are multiple factors which carved his path to recovery."

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News Network
July 11,2020

New Delhi, Jul 11: India's COVID-19 case count crossed the eight lakh-mark on Saturday with yet another highest single-day spike of 27,114 new cases in the last 24 hours.

As many as 519 deaths were reported during this period.

The total number of positive cases in the country stands at 8,20,916, including 2,83,407 active cases, 5,15,386 cured/discharged/migrated and 22,123 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

With as many as 2,38,461 COVID-19 cases, Maharashtra continues to remain the worst-affected state, followed by Tamil Nadu (1,30,261) and Delhi (1,09,140).

Meanwhile, 1,13,07,002 samples have been tested for COVID-19 till July 10. Out of these 2,82,511 samples were tested yesterday, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

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News Network
January 17,2020

Mumbai, Jan 17: A 68-year-old convict of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, Jalees Ansari, went missing on Thursday morning while being on parole, officials said.

Ansari, a resident of Mominpura in Agripada here who is serving a life term, is suspected to be involved in many bomb blast cases across the country, an official said.

He was on parole for 21 days from the Ajmer Central Prison, Rajasthan, and was expected to surrender before prison authorities on Friday, he said.

During the parole period, he was ordered to visit the Agripada Police Station everyday between 10.30 am and 12 pm to mark his attendance, he said.

However, Ansari did not visit the police station on Thursday during the designated time, the official said.

In the afternoon, his 35-year-old son Jaid Ansari approached the police station with a complaint about his “missing” father, he said.

According to the complaint, Jalees Ansari woke up in the early hoursand told family members he is going to offer namaz, but did not return home.

On his complaint, the Agripada Police registered a missing case, he said.

The Crime Branch of the Mumbai Police and the Maharashtra ATS have launched a massive manhunt to trace him, he said.

Jalees, who is known as Doctor Bomb, was allegedly connected with terror outfits like SIMI and Indian Mujahidin and taught terror groups how to make bombs, he said.

He was also questioned by the NIA in 2011 in connection with the 2008 bomb blast in Mumbai, he said.

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