TRIVANDRUM, 28 August 2005 — Congress President Sonia Gandhi yesterday asked her party men not to be bothered about the Delhi arrangement, where the left is popping up the Congress-led government, but strive hard to defeat the communists.
“At the center, the left is supporting us to keep communal forces at bay. But here things are different,” she said while addressing a rally here, organized to revive her party that suffered a series of electoral defeats at the hands of the communists.
“The party is opposed to the left in Kerala because our aim is to ensure economic development and social harmony,” she said.
In her first-ever meet in the southern state after senior leader K. Karunakaran left the party to form his own outfit, the United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia, without taking his name, said the party is above individuals. “Unity in the party is essential. Individual egos and ambitions should not come in the way,” she said. She also inaugurated the newly built state party headquarters.
Faux pas
Sonia was in for an embarrassment as full-page advertisements released by her party in local newspapers described her as chairperson of rival National Democratic Alliance led by Bharatiya Janata Party. The error was noticed in the last sentence of the ad, which glorifies Sonia as one who gave up the post of prime minister. It goes on to say she leads the “NDA” in New Delhi, something even the Left Front should be proud of.
Tour Operators to Take Tourism to Villages
The 21st annual convention of the Indian Association of Tour Operators got off in Cochin with a call for taking the metro-centric tourism to Indian villages. Junior foreign minister E. Ahamed launched the four-day convention. IATO President Subash Goyal, said Indian tourism was on a fast growth trajectory, experiencing incredible boom.
“We have crossed the 3.5-million mark in foreign tourist arrivals but that was less than one percent of the global traffic,” he said adding hotel rooms here are costlier by 40 percent now compared to last year and it was being outpriced by other Asian competitors.
Manorama Sues Desabhimani
The Malayala Manorama, Kerala’s largest newspaper group, has filed a defamation suit against Desabhimani, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party of India-Marxist. Manorama chief editor K.M. Mathew, in his deposition before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Cochin said the news items appeared in Desabhimani linking his paper to the crisis-ridden Integrated Finance Company Limited were intended to defame him and his paper.
Akshaya Receives International Prize
Information Technology Secretary P.H. Kurian will receive the 10,000-Euro Prix ARS Electronica award in digital communities’ category for the Akshya project, Kerala’s unique experience in bridging digital divide, in Austria on Sep 6. He will also make a presentation before the august house of researchers on “what needs and interests drive a community forward”. Participants will discuss the significance of digital communities for public opinion formation and their contribution to communications culture, a press release here said.
Karunakaran Wants a Name for His Party
K. Karunakaran’s fledgling political outfit is groping for a name after both the Indian National Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) objected to the Karunakaran party taking a name similar to their organizations. Karunkaran now proposes to rechristen his party as Indira Congress (Democratic). Meanwhile, P.C. Thomas, MP dissolved his IFDP, ending his association with the BJP in New Delhi to become a member of the Kerala Congress (Joseph) a Left Democratic Front partner led by former Education Minister P.J. Joseph. BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said in New Delhi that Thomas was parting ways as good friends while Thomas was careful to avoid any comments on BJP.
Docs Continue Strike
The talks with the striking doctors with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy failed to produce any results as Kerala Government Medical Officers’ Association insisted on registering an attempted murder case against former minister and Indian Union Muslim League leader Cherkalam Abdullah who allegedly assaulted one of its members. Over 6500 primary health delivery centers have been hit by the strike that began Friday. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) also had threatened to join the strike from tomorrow. Officials said the talks would continue today. The police have registered a case for assaulting the doctor by the IUML legislator.
