Sailor Abhilash Tomy has a ‘back of steel’
NEWDELHI: Champion sailor Commander Abhilash Tomy underwent a surgery at an army hospital here on Thursday for a back injury he suffered while negotiating a deadly storm in the southern Indian Ocean that left his yacht crippled three weeks ago.
Air Commodore MS Sridhar, the military’s senior-most neuro surgeon, fixed Tomy’s back in a two-hour procedure, the navy said in a tweet. The 39-year-old is recovering well from the surgery, with his sense of humour intact. “This naval legend @abhilashtomy now has a back of steel. The Docs r totally floored by the resolve and determination of Abhilash. Also compliment his sense of humour. Wish you a super speedy recovery sailor boy,” navy spokesperson Captain DK Sharma tweeted. Sharma met him at the hospital.
“Platinum sir. My value has just gone up,” Tomy responded on Twitter.
Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba met Tomy after the surgery and wished him speedy recovery. Indian warship INS Satpura reached Vizag with Tomy onboard on October 5. It picked him up from from Île Amsterdam, a remote island in the southern Indian Ocean where he was undergoing treatment. Before being moved to Delhi for the surgery, Tomy was being treated at naval hospital INHS Kalyani.
He was participating in this year’s Golden Globe Race (GGR), a circumnavigation challenge involving solo participants, and which bars the use of modern technology. He suffered a debilitating back injury on September 21 after the rough seas and powerful winds pummeled his yacht Thuriya, sending it into a 360-degree spin. He was rescued three days later by French patrol vessel Osiris in a dramatic mission.
In his first and only interview after being rescued carried in HT on September 28, Tomy reconstructed some of the most terrifying moments of his 70-hour ordeal. BENGALURU: Karnataka’s minister for primary and secondary education and the state’s lone Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator N Mahesh resigned from his ministerial post on Thursday, citing “personal reasons.” He was the first BSP minister in any state outside of Uttar Pradesh.
“I have resigned from my post and will work hard in my constituency (Kollegal)...i have only resigned as a minister but will continue to support chief minister HD Kumaraswamy,” Mahesh told journalists after submitting his resignation to chief minister HD Kumaraswamy and governor Vajubhai Vala. Mahesh said the decision was taken in light of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and that he would support Janata Dal (Secular), candidates in the bypolls set to be held for two assembly and three Lok Sabha seats next month.
Mahesh added that he had not informed BSP chief Mayawati about the decision and that he would not reconsider it even if she asked him to.
“The party and the movement is more important to me than any position. I was not aware that being a minister would take up so much of my time and my constituents have expressed displeasure that I have not been able to devote more time to them,” Mahesh said. The former minister was accompanied by Rajya Sabha MP and Karnataka in-charge of the BSP Ashok Siddharth.
Siddharth told HT that it was just a coincidence that the minister chose this moment to resign. “I am visiting the state because I am in-charge of overseeing the party here... Mahesh had not informed me before as well,” Siddharth said.
Mayawati has decided not to align with the Congress party in forthcoming assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
Siddharth denied that there was any relation between these developments. “We had an alliance in Karnataka with the JD(S) and not the Congress so there is no question of a connection between the two decisions,” Siddharth said.
State Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao said there was no question of Mahesh’s move being a blow to the Congress.
“Mahesh was made a minister as part of the JD(S)’S quota while forming the government. So, there is no question of this affecting our party. We will see in the coming days if it was a decision taken by the BSP chief or if, like Mahesh said, he wants to concentrate on strengthening the party,” Gundu Rao said.