Both the deaths took place at the S K Medical College and Hospital, where 431 children, including two in the past 12 hours, have been admitted for AES treatment

PATNA/MUZAFFARPUR: Two more children died in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district on Sunday due to acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) even as officials asserted that afflictions and casualties had begun to dwindle with the onset of rains.

Both the deaths took place at the S K Medical College and Hospital, where 431 children, including two in the past 12 hours, have been admitted for AES treatment since June 1, according to figures released by the district administration.

The total number of AES patients who have died at the SKMCH is 110.

“There is a perceptible decline in the number of children who are being admitted with brain fever as also the number of deaths,” hospital superintendent Sunil Kumar Shahi said.

“It has always been observed that AES strikes at the peak of summer and the outbreak halts with the onset of rains.”

Two fresh cases have been registered, one on Saturday and another on Sunday, Shahi said.

Besides the SKMCH, the Kejriwal hospital in the Muzaffarpur town has so far registered 162 AES cases and 20 casualties.

The Health Department put the total number of AES casualties across 20 districts at 152.

These include the 130 deaths reported at the two Muzaffarpur-based hospitals, which have been admitting AES patients from nearly half a dozen districts in its proximity.

It also suspended Bhimsen Kumar, a senior resident doctor posted at the Patna Medical College Hospital, for allegedly failing to comply with the direction to report for emergency duty at the SKMCH.

Meanwhile, a huge chunk of plaster fell off the ceiling at the SKMCH in the afternoon and came crashing down on the ground, barely a few feet away from a patients’ ward.

Nobody was injured in the incident, which took place a day after human skeletal remains were found strewn near a garbage dump close to the hospital building.

Experts attribute the deaths to hypoglycemia which typically affects malnourished children below the age of 15 years and said to be triggered by consumption of unripe lychees — a fruit grown in abundance in Bihar.

The fruit contains a high concentration of a toxin that causes blood-sugar levels to fall sharply.

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Sources said that the top brass of the Congress, as well as the Gandhi family, is said to be in favour of Ashok Gehlot taking over as the party chief.

NEW DELHI: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is likely to be appointed as the next Congress president as Rahul Gandhi is adamant on his stand that he does not want to continue as the party chief, sources told Zee News. Sources in the Delhi unit of the party say that a large chunk of Congress is in favour of Gehlot’s elevation as the party chief.

It is also likely that Gehlot will continue to serve as the Chief Minister of Rajasthan. Leaders are believed to have given arguments in favour of Gehlot stating that many party presidents have served as chief ministers of states. The names of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, former Uttar Pradesh CMs Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati and former Tamil Nadu CM late J Jayalalithaa are said to have been cited as examples in favour of Gehlot continuing as Rajasthan CM.

Sources added that the top brass of the Congress, as well as the Gandhi family, is said to be in favour of Gehlot taking over as the party chief.

Hectic parleys are on within the Congress over who will be the next party president as Rahul, who is currently the chief, had offered his resignation after the Lok Sabha results were announced last month. Rahul had taken responsibility for the party’s debacle in the election and despite the party urging him to continue on the post, he has remained firm that he wants to step down from his position.

The Congress had won 52 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, which is just eight more than what the Congress won in 2014. The National Democratic Alliance, on the other hand, registered a massive victory, winning 352 seats to retain power at the Centre. The Bharatiya Janata Party alone won 303 seats, its highest ever tally.

The sender of the SMS said in his Hindi message that he was “sorry” for deciding to eliminate Manoj Tiwari under “extreme compulsion”.  

New Delhi: Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari has received a death threat through an SMS on his personal phone number, in which the sender said he is under “extreme compulsion” to eliminate the leader.

The unidentified person also threatened to eliminate the Prime Minister “if need be”, Tiwari said. “I have informed the police about the threat,” Tiwari said.

The sender of the SMS also said in his Hindi message that he was “sorry” for deciding to eliminate Tiwari under “extreme compulsion”.

A formal complaint about the threat will be lodged soon, said Delhi BJP’s Media Relations head Neelkant Bakshi.

The SMS was received on Tiwari’s mobile phone at 12.52 pm on Friday which he saw on Saturday evening and immediately informed the police, he added.

Yeddyurappa said voters of the state would not agree for another election, 13 months after the assembly polls. 

Bengaluru: Ruling out any mid-term polls, Karnataka BJP President BS Yeddyurappa on Saturday said the Congress-JD(S) coalition government would not survive for long because of internal differences and asked it to quit if they were not able to govern the state.

“I have already said this clearly as the state president. We are 105 MLAs. There are more than 20 disgruntled (MLAs) in Congress-JD(S). If you don’t have the capability to run the administration, resign,” Yeddyurappa said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said voters of the state would not agree for another election, 13 months after the assembly polls. “Taking such decisions with selfish motives is not right. Resign and go home, we will run the administration- I have already said this…According to me, this government will not survive for long if you look at their infighting,” he added.

Yeddyurappa’s statement comes a day after former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda on Friday said there was no doubt there would be mid-term polls to the state assembly.

Gowda had also said he did not know how long the Congress-JD(S) government, headed by his son H D Kumaraswamy, would continue and it was in the hands of the senior coalition partner.

State BJP in-charge Muralidhar Rao said the coalition government was against the mandate of the people and freeing Karnataka from it was his party’s agenda and programme. “We have to complete the incomplete work in Karnataka. After winning 105 seats, we are not in government. Those with 38 seats are running the government. This is a mockery of the public mandate…This government is against the mandate of the people, it is against the interests of Karnataka,” he said, addressing party workers.

“BJP will leave no stone unturned to free Karnataka at the earliest from this government. This is our agenda, our programme,” he added.

There is growing discomfort within the ruling alliance after the rout in the Lok Sabha polls. Congress and JD(S) that had faced the polls in alliance managed to win one seat each, while BJP won 25 seats. The saffron party supported independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh won in Mandya.

Coalition leaders fear that using disgruntlement within as an opportunity, BJP may try to topple the government by ‘poaching’ its MLAs, who are unhappy with the government and are miffed over not getting Ministerial posts.

Yeddyurappa also hit out at Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s “Grama Vastvya” (overnight stay in villages) programme to make the administration more effective, terming it as a “political circus”.

“After doing one day of Grama Vastavya and making false promises, citing rains there as a reason, he has come back via Hyderabad, without doing today’s Grama Vastavya. This is a kind of political circus,” he said.

Kumaraswamy was scheduled to hold his Grama Vastavya at Herur village in Kalaburagi rural taluk on Saturday, but it was postponed due to heavy rains that lashed the district on Friday evening. He had done his Grama Vastavya at Chandaraki village in Yadgir district on Friday.

Accusing Gandhi of ‘spreading negativity’, Union minister Amit Shah said the Congress had yet again insulted the armed forces while expressing its support for the medieval practice of triple talaq.

New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday courted controversy by tweeting pictures of the Indian Army’s dog squad doing yoga and captioning it “New India”. Gandhi’s tweet drew a sharp retort from Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who accused him of mocking International Yoga Day and insulting the forces.

The pictures in the tweet showed the Army dog unit and their trainers in a prostrate position.

Shah took to Twitter to criticise Gandhi and said while the Congress supports the medieval practice of triple talaq, it insults the armed forces again. He also accused the Congress of spreading negativity.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh also criticised Gandhi’s tweet.

The BJP contended that life is only about a joke for the Congress chief as he is in the habit of posting photographs of his pet dog.

BJP national vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said it was “painful” to see a senior politician “ridiculing” International Yoga Day.

BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli said that while Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governance had seen a new India, Gandhi’s tweet reveals a new Congress under his leadership.

Gandhi was also trolled on Twitter, with a number of people posting pictures about the Congress while poking fun at him and the party.

While Cholavaram and Redhills reservoirs that supply water to Chennai have run dry, there is only 1 mcft of water left in Chembarambakkam lake and 21 mcft water in Poondi reservoir.

Residents fill their vessels with potable water from a pipeline in Chennai on Thursday. (PTI)

Tamil Nadu’s Opposition DMK on Saturday began protests across the state against the AIADMK government’s failure to take prompt action to meet the state’s water crisis. The ruling party officials, meanwhile, were holding yagnas in temples seeking God’s blessings for the rains.

With Chennai and several other places in Tamil Nadu facing an acute water shortage, the DMK is holding protests to press the state government to take necessary action to mitigate the people’s suffering.

While Cholavaram (full capacity 1,081 mcft) and Redhills (full capacity 3,300 mcft) reservoirs that supply water to Chennai have run dry, there is only 1 mcft of water left in Chembarambakkam lake (against a full capacity of 3,645 mcft) and 21 mcft water left in Poondi reservoir (against a full capacity of 3,231 mcft), according to the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board.

The ground water levels too have gone down owing to lack of rains.

  Bengaluru: The SIT is interrogating all those arrested to acquire information about Mansoor Khan, IMA and transactions carried out individually by him and through his entities.

 In continuation with the probe into the multi-crore I Monetory Advisory (IMA) investment scam, in which over 40,000 investors have been cheated, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has arrested five more directors of the group.

The arrests were made on Thursday and the total number of those arrested in the case has reached 13, including 12 directors and one auditor. However, the main accused, Mohammad Mansoor Khan, the MD of IMA group, is still at large and is said to be in Dubai.

The SIT is interrogating all those arrested to acquire information about Mansoor Khan, IMA and transactions carried out individually by him and through his entities.

The five directors arrested on Thursday have been identified as Shadab Ahmad (28), Israr Ahmad (32), Faisal Ahmad (30), Mohammad Idrees (30) and Usman Tabrez (33).

Earlier, seven directors of IMA group, Nasir Hussain, Naveed Ahmed Nattamkar, Nizammuddin Azeemuddin, Wasim Arshad Khan, Afsar Pasah and Dadapeer had surrendered before the Commercial Street police, while the police had detained IMA’s auditor Iqbal Khan for interrogation.

Raids continue
The SIT sleuths conducted raids on the two jewellery showrooms of IMA in Shivajinagar and Jayanagar and also at the house of Mansoor’s third divorced wife Tabassum.

During the raid at IMA Jewels’ showroom at Jayanagar, the SIT seized 43 kg gold, worth Rs 13 crore, 5,864 carat of diamond, worth Rs 17.6 crore, 520 kg of silver, worth Rs 1.5 crore, and precious gems worth Rs 1.5 crore.

The SIT found 1.5 kg of gold, 1.5 kg silver and Rs 2.69 lakh in cash from Tabassum’s house in Shivajinagar.

Similarly the SIT seized 30 kg of gold, 2,600 carat diamond and 450 kg of silver from IMA’s jewellery outlet in Shivajinagar. The estimated value is approximately Rs 20 crore. Certain property documents were also found.

The JD(S) supremo’s statement comes just two days after his son Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said that he is ‘in pain’ every day but has the responsibility of running the government smoothly.
News18.comUpdated:June 21, 2019, 11:47 AM IST facebookTwitterskype
‘Mid-Term Polls Are Imminent’: HD Deve Gowda Admits Cong-JD(S) Govt in Trouble File photo of HD Deve Gowda.

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New Delhi: In a surprising admission, Janata Dal (Secular) supremo HD Deve Gowda on Friday said that mid-term Assembly polls in the state are imminent as he is uncertain about how long the coalition government would last.

“I am not sure how long the coalition government will last. Going by the developments, in the past two months, mid-terms polls seem imminent. People can understand everything…let me see how things pan out,” he told a Kannada news channel.

Gowda’s statement comes just two days after his son Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said that he is “in pain” every day but has the responsibility of running the government smoothly.

The Congress-JD(S) government in Karnataka has been in deep waters since February as news emerged of the BJP, which holds the highest number of seats in the state Assembly, allegedly indulging in horse-trading.

The saffron party received a boost from the Lok Sabha results that were declared on May 23, which saw the BJP make a near clean sweep.

Following this, in an attempt to placate disgruntled lawmakers, the Kumaraswamy government decided to expand the cabinet, inducting two independents.

The two independent MLAs, R Shankar and H Nagesh, were inducted into the Ministry overlooking the claims of several senior leaders, particularly in the Congress, who are sulking ever since they failed to make it to the ministry earlier.

The fire broke out on a fifth-floor apartment around 1 am and spread to other floors.

A fire broke out at a 10-storeyed residential building in northwest Delhi’s Pitampura, a Delhi Fire Service official said on Thursday. About 100 residents were safely rescued and no one was injured in the fire late Wednesday night, the official said.

A few residents complained of mild suffocation after inhaling fumes, but did not require medical attention, Chief Fire Officer Atul Garg said.

The fire broke out on a fifth-floor apartment around 1 am and spread to other floors. Fifteen fire tenders took nearly three hours to extinguish the flames, the official said.

Furniture and other household items were damaged, the official said, adding that the exact cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained.

This comes days after Imran Khan wrote to Prime Minister Modi, saying Islamabad desired talks with New Delhi to resolve all issues, including Kashmir.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reiterated that relationship with Pakistan can improve only if the neighbouring country takes decisive steps against terrorism. Responding to a letter by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, Modi wrote back to him, laying India’s pre-condition for any dialogue in clear terms.

“For this (talks), It is important to build an environment of trust, free of terror, violence and hostility,” said Prime Minister Modi in his letter.

Confirming the development, the Ministry of External Affairs said that the letter was in accordance with “established diplomatic practice” to respond to “congratulatory messages” received from Pakistan.

The statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs said, “As per the established diplomatic practice, PM and EAM have responded to the congratulatory messages received from their counterparts in Pakistan. In their messages, they have highlighted that India seeks normal and cooperative relations with all neighbours, including Pakistan.”

The MEA also emphasised on the need for an “atmosphere free from the shadow of terror and violence”.

This comes days after Imran Khan wrote to Prime Minister Modi, saying Islamabad desired talks with New Delhi to resolve all issues, including Kashmir. In his letter, Imran congratulated Modi for the latter’s victory in the recently concluded Lok Sabha election.

He had said that talks between India and Pakistan was the only way to resolve differences and work to tackle menace like poverty.

During the recently held Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Kyrgyzstan, no talks or meeting happened between the two leaders. Notably, Prime Minister Modi did hold bilateral talks with China, Russia, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan.

However, reports said that the Prime Ministers of the neighbouring countries did exchange “usual pleasantries” in the Leaders’ Lounge during the SCO summit in Bishkek.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had said, “There was no scheduled structured meeting between two leaders. On the second day of the SCO, but they met, shook hands. They also exchanged pleasantries.”

India has repeatedly turned down Pakistan’s request for resumption of dialogue, citing that there has been no concrete proof of the country’s action against terrorism. New Delhi has maintained that terrorism and talks cannot go hand in hand.

Tensions between India and Pakistan have spiralled following the February 14 Pulwama terror attack. Both the countries were almost on the brink of a war after India’s military planes struck a terrorist training camp in Pakistan’s Balakot on February 26 and Pakistan carried out a counter-offensive the next day.

Meanwhile, US has also said that Pakistan needs to act against terrorism to improve ties with India. Urging Pakistan to take more decisive steps against terror, the US said that the country needed to arrest and prosecute the ones involved in terrorist activities.