CONG CHIEF TO VISIT KERALA NEXT WEEK

NEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi is likely to visit Kerala next week to reach out to the people affected by the flood. Currently, Gandhi is in Germany as part of an official two-nation tour. “After he returns to Delhi, he is set to go to Kerala next week. The schedule will be finalised once he returns this weekend,” a senior aide of the Congress president said. The Kerala leadership of the Congress said Gandhi wanted to visit the state earlier but eventually decided against it as he felt that VVIP presence may hamper rescue operations. “We had already invited him to come and see how the flood has left our state devastated. At that time, he told us that his tour must not affect relief work, which is the top priority,” MM Hassan, chief of the party’s state unit said.

Man hangs himself after deluge damages house

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A 68-year-old farmer committed suicide in Varapuzha in Ernakulam district after seeing his damaged house, police said on Wednesday. The man, identified as K Rocky, was in a relief camp for three days and returned to his house on Tuesday after floodwaters receded. Rocky’s relatives said he spent hours in the house to remove accumulated slush and advised them to go back to the camp saying he will make the house livable by the next day. But when he did not turn up at the camp the next day, his relatives rushed to the damaged house and found him hanging from the ceiling. The man’s relatives said Rocky had been worried over the damage he had suffered during the floods. Having suffered losses in the deluge, at least three people have committed suicide in the last three days.