Congress mulling over leadership change in Kerala
The Hindu
The State leadership has been facing mounting demands for their immediate ouster or leave office for the downfall of the party in the Assembly polls.
After being roundly criticised for its rickety organisational structure, the All India Congress Committee is contemplating a change of guard including replacing the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Mullappally Ramachandran as well as Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Ramesh Chennithala. The State leadership has been facing mounting demands for their immediate ouster or leave office for the downfall of the party in the Assembly polls. Never before the Congress party has been electorally routed in recent times. The party won 21 seats this time, one less than in the 2016 Assembly polls. However, its popular vote-share moderately improved to 25.12% from 23.80%than last time. This has been attributed to the increase in the number of seats the party contested: 93 against 87.A crowd comprising farmers, researchers, professors, students, and horticulture enthusiasts thronged the ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Hesaraghatta, Bengaluru, on Friday for the inaugural ceremony of the Triphal Diversity Show which showcased 300 mango, 100 jackfruit, and 100 banana genotypes in collaboration with ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana, Tiruchirappalli.
The State government on Friday constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by Additional Director-General of Police, Manish Kharbikar of the Economic Offences division of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to probe the alleged multi-crore scam in the government-run Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation.