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Defence Kerala

Army rescues youth stuck for 40 hours in Kerala

The Army team from Wellington in Tamil Nadu arrived late last night and early Wednesday morning within an hour, an official went down 400 metres and rescued Babu….reports Asian Lite News

The Army on Wednesday rescued a trekker who got trapped in a fault line of the Koormbachi hillock in Kerala’s Palakkad on February 7.

When Kerala’s rescue teams failed to lift the trekker to safety even after a 40-hour operation, the Army and Air Force help was sought.

Incidentally, this is the biggest operation in the state to rescue one individual.

A team of Army officials, including a Keralite officer, rescued the trekker identified as Babu and provided him food and water.

The Keralite officer is Lt Col Hemant, who studied at the now financially ailing Sainik School, here in the state capital city.

The Army team from Wellington in Tamil Nadu arrived late last night and early Wednesday morning within an hour, an official went down 400 metres and rescued Babu.

The man is now being moved to a hillock before being airlifted.

Once he is brought from there, he will be shifted to a state-run hospital.

Babu, 23, along with three of his friends, had climbed the hillock and while coming down, he slipped and fell into the fault line, on Monday afternoon.

After failing to rescue him, his friends rushed downhill and alerted the locals and soon came the rescue team, but they too failed.

On Tuesday, an Indian Coast Guard’s Chetak helicopter attempted the rescue operations, but, due to inclement weather, was unable to complete the mission.

ALSO READ: Ops underway in Kerala to rescue boy stranded on cliff
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Kerala Politics

Metroman Sreedharan faces tough battle in Palakkad

The technocrat may garner a few BJP votes, but does not seem to be a winning candidate, reports Ashok parameswar

As the state gears up for polling on April 6, emotions and aspirations remain high. Despite the beating heat, voters in Palakkad are all set to usher in more development to the district. Voters across the constituencies look forward to a complete facelift of the district that has long been to be on a par with other districts of the state.

There are 12 constituencies in Palakkad district, Palakkad, Chittur, Nenmara, Tarur, Mannarkkad, Malampuzha, Alathur, Thrithala, Ottapalam, Pattambi, Kongad,and Shoranur with 73 candidates. According to Palakkad constituency, it was alternately represented by the UDF and the LDF since 1957.

Sitting MLA Shafi Parambil of the UDF who defeated BJP’s Sobha Surendran by 17,483 votes in 2016, is fully confident of representing the constituency for a third term in the legislative assembly and his rival LDF’s Pramod promises to keep up the government’s policies.

Though technocrat E Sreedharan has drawn national attention with his candidature, his political line may not necessarily translate to a win. He may garner a few BJP votes, but does not seem to be a winning candidate. Another determining factor is how the Palakkad municipality, which is being headed by the BJP since 2015 will exercise its vote.

Palakkad stands out as the urban areas align itself to the BJP and beyond it, there’s an unflinching affiliation to the Leftist ideology.

Also read:Ernakulam a key constituency for parties

The UDF might find a challenge in the vote share since the candidature of E Sreedharan might draw up the BJPs vote share a few notches. The UDF might find a challenge in the vote share since the candidature of E Sreedharan might draw up the BJPs vote share by a few margins.

Shafi Parambil

Chittur constituency which shares a border with Tamil Nadu is another seat that is likely to witness a tight contest LDF and UDF. K Krishnan Kutty who was a UDF ally in earlier polls, but won 2016 assembly election in the LDF banner. Tamil votes will be a crucial factor in the upcoming polls because of its lion’s share in Chittur.  

According to recent surveys, the UDF camp is likely to win 7 out of the 12 seats in Palakkad district while LDF would be able to bag 5 seats only. UDF’s V T Balram’s tight fight with LDF’s MB Rajesh would be another factor that grabs the attention of Kerala electoral politics. The promise of the prosperous state as put forward by the present government is yet to receive complete realisation in the district. This will decide its fate.

Also read:UDF eyes Malappuram to win Kerala