Vilasrao Deshmukh's funeral held at Latur; thousands including PM, Sonia Gandhi attend

August 16, 2012

Sonia_at_vilasrao_funeral

Latur (Maharashtra) August 16: Vilasrao Deshmukh's funeral was held at his village in Latur district of Maharashtra this evening. The Science and Technology Minister died in a hospital in Chennai on Tuesday. He had been diagnosed with liver cancer.

Thousands of grieving supporters and family members bade a tearful adieu to the Union minister at his native Babhalgaon village from where he began his political journey as a Sarpanch four decades ago.

The last rites were performed by Mr Deshmukh's eldest son and Latur district's MLA, Amit, at a family farm close to where the union minister's father Dagdojirao Deshmukh was cremated.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were among those who were in Latur to attend his funeral today. Union ministers Sushil Kumar Shinde, Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel, Vayalar Ravi, Rajiv Shukla, Mukul Wasnik, Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, his deputy Ajit Pawar and a host of Bollywood personalities were also present at the funeral.

Mr Deshmukh's body was brought to Latur, his home district, by a special flight this morning. A huge crowd waited outside the airport as family members, associates and friends of the former Maharashtra Chief Minister accompanied his body from Latur airport to Dayanand School in the city. His body was kept there till 1 pm to allow people to pay their last respects. (Read: Maharashtra declares three-day mourning)

Later, it was taken to his ancestral home in Babhalgaon village. Weeping supporters, friends, farmers and villagers of Latur and surrounding districts queued up outside his house to catch his last glimpse.

Mr Deshmukh was in the Chennai hospital for a week. Dr K Ravindranath, chairman of Chennai's Global Hospitals, said Mr Deshmukh had been on the emergency list for a cadaver organ transplant but no donor was available when he was stable enough to have a transplant. The doctor said Mr Deshmukh was on ventilator support and died at 1.40 pm after multiple organ failure.


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News Network
July 26,2020
Bhopal, Jul 26: BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur on Saturday appealed people to recite the Hanuman Chalisa five times a day till August 5, which she believes will rid the world of the coronavirus pandemic.
`Bhoomi pujan’ or the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya is to take place on August 5.
“Let us all of us together make a spiritual effort to wish people good health and end the coronavirus epidemic.
Recite ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ five times a day at your home from July 25 to August 5,” the Bhopal MP tweeted.
“Conclude this ritual by lighting lamps on August 5 and offering ‘aarti’ to Lord Ram at home,” she added.
She also shared a video on Twitter, in which she said the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh is making efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus by imposing lockdown in Bhopal till August 4.
“Though the lockdown will be over on August 4, this ritual (recitation of the Hanuman Chalisa, a hymn in praise of Lord Hanuman) will end on August 5, when ‘bhoomi pujan’ for Ram temple in Ayodhya will be performed. We will celebrate that day like Diwali,” she added.
“When people... Hindus from across the country recite the ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ in one voice, it will definitely work and we will be free from coronavirus...This is your prayer to Lord Ram,” said Thakur.

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Agencies
February 11,2020

New Delhi, Feb 11 Congress's performance touched a record low in the Delhi Assembly election as the party bagged less than 5 per cent of the total votes polled and 63 of its candidates lost their deposits.

The party, which ruled Delhi for 15 years on the trot under former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, failed to open its account for the second consecutive assembly election in Delhi.

Only three of its candidates Arvinder Singh Lovely from Gandhi Nagar, Devender Yadav from Badli and Abhishek Dutt from Kasturba Nagar managed to save their deposits.

Security deposit of a candidate is forfeited if he/she fails to secure one-sixth of the total valid votes cast in a constituency.

Most of Congress candidates got less than 5 per cent of the total votes polled in their respective constituencies.

Delhi Congress chief Shubhash Chopra's daughter Shivani Chopra, who was the party candidate from Kalkaji, also could not save her deposit.

Former Delhi Assembly Speaker Yoganand Shastri's daughter Priyanka Singh also forfeited her deposit.

The party's campaign committee chairman Kirti Azad's wife, Poonam Azad, lost badly and stood fourth, polling only 2,604 (2.23) votes.

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News Network
April 11,2020

Malappuram, Apr 11: Farmers in Malappuram district are facing problems in selling cucumbers and watermelons due to the drop in demand and prices in the market amid the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown.

"We have cultivated cucumbers for our Vishu festival in Kerala. In recent conditions, we are facing issues in selling our crops. In comparison to the previous years, we have a huge production this time," said Saifu, a farmer in the Malappuram district.

"We have also cultivated different kinds of watermelons here. The major issues that we are facing are the low prices and the lockdown," he added.

The nationwide COVID-19 lockdown was imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi form March 25 for 21 days as a precautionary measure against the spread of the virus.

According to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the total number of positive COVID-19 cases in Kerala is 364. Till now, 123 people have either been cured or discharged, while two deaths have been reported.

The total number of positive coronavirus cases across the country are 7,529 including 6,634 active cases. So far, 652 patients have either been cured or discharged while 242 deaths have been recorded in the country, as per data provided by the Ministry of Health on Saturday evening.

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