Nation Briefs

Sonbhadra SP MLA Vijay Singh Gond passes away at 71

lucknow: Samajwadi Party MLA from Sonbhadra’s Dudhi constituency, Vijay Singh Gond, passed away on Thursday at the age of 71 at Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow. He had been unwell for nearly a year and was undergoing treatment for kidney failure. Family sources said both his kidneys had failed and he had been admitted to SGPGI for the past two months. Doctors said he was undergoing daily dialysis, but his condition did not improve. He breathed his last on Thursday. As news of his death spread, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav reached SGPGI to pay his respects.

Kerala CM targets Congress over Jamaat-e-Islami links

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday came down heavily on Congress leaders over the party’s alleged links with Jamaat-e-Islami, while defending CPI(M) leader A K Balan’s remarks on the possibility of communal unrest if the UDF comes to power. Vijayan said present-day Kerala stands as a model before the country, with no communal tensions or riots. “But there was a different picture of Kerala earlier. I believe comrade A K Balan reminded me of that,” he said. Referring to the Marad riots that occurred during the UDF rule, the chief minister described them as brutal incidents of communal violence.