Kerala Congress (Joseph) leader Prince Lukose passed away following a heart attack on Monday. He was 53. Lukose, a native of Perumbaikad in Kottayam, was travelling back from Velankanni with his family in a train when he suffered the cardiac attack. Lukose was the UDF candidate from Ettumanoor in the 2021 Assembly election. He is the son of O V Lukose, one of the founding fathers of the Kerala Congress.He was a member of the Kerala Congress Joseph faction's high command. He had served as the State President of Kerala Student's Congress (M) and Kerala Youth Front (M). In 2021, he contested against Minister V. N. Vasavan in the Ettumanoor assembly constituency. The demise of Price Lukose is a major jolt for the Kerala Congress.
Recently, the Congress' Kerala unit's social media head has resigned after a controversial post drew criticism from political leaders across states. VT Balram, a two-time legislator from Kerala's Thrithala constituency and until now the head of the the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) social media and digital cell, stepped down from his role, a day after the KPCC's official handle on X posted a message linking Bihar with bidis in the context of recently announced Goods and Services Tax (GST) changes.The post, since deleted, had read: "Bidis and Bihar start from B. Cannot be considered a sin anymore."
The statement, referencing the GST Council's decision to reduce tax on bidis from 28 per cent to 18 per cent, while increasing rates on cigarettes, was widely interpreted as derogatory towards Bihar and its people. Bihar is among the country's leading centres of bidi production, and the industry employs an estimated 70 lakh workers nationwide. Within hours of the post appearing, criticism mounted from across the political spectrum. Leaders of the ruling NDA in Bihar accused the Congress of insulting the state, while allies of the Congress in the RJD scrambled to distance themselves from the remarks. Mr Balram, who had been managing the KPCC's social media since Dr P Sarin resigned last year to join the CPI(M), conveyed his decision to step down after the controversy grew.