The Congress on Wednesday appointed its leader from Kerala Ramesh Chennithala as senior observer for the Telangana assembly election.

It also appointed more observers for some Lok Sabha seats in the southern state for the November 30 assembly polls.

“The Congress president has approved the proposal for the appointment of Ramesh Chennithala as AICC Special observer for the ensuing assembly elections in Telangana with immediate effect,” the party announced.

The party has also appointed Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Ranjeet Ranjan, R C Khuntia, Udit Raj, Pradeep Tamta and Himmat Singh Patel as coordinators for the Congress Guarantee Yatra in Rajasthan for the ensuing assembly elections in the state.

A man in the UK has killed his daughter’s father-in-law following a family row over wedding gifts. Ahmad Alsino, 43, stabbed dentist Mohammed Salem Ibrahim, 55, four times with a kitchen knife at the victim’s home in Caste Vale, Birmingham. 

According to The Independent, Alsino also slashed his daughter’s husband Aram Ibrahim after an argument over gold jewellery given to the couple as wedding gifts. Mr Alsino was found guilty of murdering Ibrahim following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court. 

A video of the incident was posted on X by Birmingham Police. In the horrifying clip, Alsino is seen kicking Mr Ibrahim’s front door armed with a knife. He stabbed the man four times before fleeing the scene, which happened at 1.00 p.m. on March 13. However, he was arrested at his home about 40 minutes later. 

#JAILED | We’re releasing footage today of how we tracked and arrested a man just 40 minutes after he killed a father on his #Birmingham doorstep.

Ahmad Al Sino has now been jailed for life for the murder of Mohammed Ibrahim.

Full story ➡️ https://t.co/R6WZAGTGwo pic.twitter.com/gA3zNxtCGC

— Birmingham Police (@BrumPolice) November 7, 2023

A plastic bag containing two knives was found in his car. 

The accused denied murder, attempted murder and possession of a bladed article, but was convicted of all three charges, BBC reported. 

He has been jailed for life for his murder. At his sentencing hearing, he was told that he would serve a minimum term of 26 years after also being convicted of attempted murder. 

He was also found guilty at Birmingham Crown Court last month, the media outlet reported. 

Detective Damian Forrest said his decision to carry and use a knife had resulted in the loss of a father’s life. “His actions, which have rightly been brought to justice, underline the irreversible impact such dangerous decisions can have,” he said.

“We know that nothing will ever bring Mr Ibrahim back but we hope this sentence will provide some comfort to his family and friends.”

Kerala is facing financial problems due to the Centre’s unfriendly fiscal approach but the state will not stop implementing welfare schemes, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Wednesday.

Amid the continuing political slugfest between the ruling BJP at the Centre and opposition parties in the states over doling out freebies, Vijayan asserted that Kerala does not accept the central government’s stand that there should be no freebies.

“Efforts are being made to lead the state to achieve its goals without compromising development and welfare activities,” Mr Vijayan, who is heading the country’s lone Left-led government, said at a briefing here.

Criticising the Centre for its approach to states in terms of fiscal matters, the senior CPI(M) leader acknowledged that the Kerala government was facing financial problems.

“It (Kerala government) is facing extreme attacks from the central government on the financial front,” Mr Vijayan said and reiterated that with the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), states have lost a lot of power in collecting taxes.

He said that despite the Centre’s unfriendly financial approach, the state government would not back down from implementing welfare schemes.

According to Mr Vijayan, the state is trying to overcome crises by raising its own revenue and through careful financial management.

Fiscal management of the state is based on the basic principles of economic consolidation by boosting tax collection and controlling excess expenditure, the chief minister said.

Noting that the state’s right to tax collection has been restricted to petrol, diesel, and liquor, Mr Vijayan said the fixing of ceilings on GST rates and the significant reduction of the revenue neutral rate have been a blow for Kerala’s revenue.

This year, there is a shortfall of Rs 57,400 crore in the amounts received from the Centre, the chief minister said.

Further, Mr Vijayan alleged that the central government denied Rs 19,000 crore of the loans that the state deserves, and there was also a Rs 8,400 crore shortfall in revenue deficit grant compared to last year.

The increase in the state’s own tax revenue in 2021-22 was 22.41 per cent and the same rose to 23.36 per cent in 2022-23.

The chief minister also highlighted that the state’s revenue deficit has come below one per cent (0.9 per cent) for the first time in history.

“All these (factors) indicate the success of Kerala’s fiscal consolidation activities as per the schedule set by the Finance Commission,” he said.