Students Rescued From Ukraine Pay For Minister's Security Deposit For Lok Sabha Polls

A group of students who were evacuated by the Union government from Ukraine during the country's war with Russia gave money for Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan's security deposit for his candidature in Attingal Lok Sabha constituency.

The students, along with their parents, visited Mr Muraleedharan on Friday at the BJP's state office in Thiruvananthapuram. 

The students said that they have decided to pay for Mr Muraleedharan's security deposit as a token of gratitude for their evacuation.

"I was a student at Zaporizhzhia University in Ukraine. We were there when the Russia-Ukraine war was going on. At that time, we were evacuated due to the efforts of Prime Minister Modi ji and Minister V Muraleedharan," Sai Sruthi told news agency ANI.

"As a token of gratitude and respect, students and parents collected some money, and we came here today to present this amount as a deposit for his (V. Muraleedharan's) election," she added.

Mr Muraleedharan thanked the students for their contribution.

"I am thankful to the parents and the students who were evacuated by the Government of India during the period of conflict in Ukraine. In fact, during the last five years of PM Narendra Modi ji's government, the most satisfying activity for me personally was the various evacuation operations," he said.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji's motto has always been ensuring the safety and security of every Indian wherever he or she is. His contacts at the highest level with the heads of government and states across the world have facilitated these evacuations. So, I would like to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji for ensuring the safety and security of every citizen, and also thank the students and parents of the evacuees from Ukraine for coming in support of my candidature in Attingal," he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)