Madhani no to karnataka police

Last week,PDP chairman Abdul Nazer Madhani got a notice from the Karnataka police which is probing the blasts in Bangalore in 2008.

Last week,PDP chairman Abdul Nazer Madhani got a notice from the Karnataka police which is probing the blasts in Bangalore in 2008. Madhani,who was then on the last leg of his 570-km-long political roadshow,informed the Karnataka police that he could not travel to Bangalore. The police wanted to record his statement based on the deposition made by alleged LeT militant Tadiyantavide Nasir. A day after completing the campaign,Madhani got admitted to a hospital. Madhani had earlier declared that he would not go out of Kerala to facilitate blast investigations. The PDP leader,who spent nine years in jail as an undertrial for the Coimbatore blasts,maintains that Tamil Nadu police took him to Bangalore under the guise of recording a statement.

CPMs God dilemma

While the CPM is desperately trying to drive home the point that believers could stay with the party,the altar of a Catholic Church in North Kerala last Sunday became the point of contention between religious faith and loyalty towards Marxism. During the sermon,the priest made a veiled reference to the CPM and said atheists should be thrown out from the Church. Irked over the sermon,a CPM activist,who is also a practising Catholic,stormed into the altar and abused the priest. The activist,the husband of a CPM representative in a local body,even tried to manhandle the priest. The development,which triggered protest from both quarters,represents the dilemma faced by CPM workers belonging to the Christian community.

Saying it with crackers

The bursting of crackers known as vedi vazhipadu is considered an offering in many temples in Kerala. While considering a petition related to the offering by bursting crackers,a division bench of Kerala High Court observed last week,Why not record the sound of the cracker bursting and replay it in the temple for the devotees,instead of going for the existing mode of offering. The court asked the Kochin Devasam Board to file a report on it within two weeks and explain why this ritual was being held in certain temples. The High Court made the observation while considering a private petition which sought a direction to a temple administration in Thrissur district to allow the plaintiff to participate in the auction for the offering.

The beer controversy

The CPM landed in a controversy after it roped in a beer manufacturer to sponsor this years football match held in memory of the late party veteran and former chief minister E K Nayanar in Kannur. The sponsor went around town saying,Buy two beers to ensure a ticket for the final match of the Nayanar football event. This did not go down too well with many in the party. The bid to promote beer in the name of the Communist leader evoked a protest from both Nayanars wife Sarada and party workers. Realising that it was generating negative reaction,the party then went into damage control mode. It asked the sponsor to end its campaign to promote beer consumption.