Page 1141 - Politics
RSS teachings reflected in Parrikar's political life: Joshi
Teachings of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh reflected in the political and social life of late Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, a top RSS leader said Thursday. Parrikar, who was also a former Defence Minister, was a swayamsevak (volunteer) and that defined his personality, said RSSgeneral secretary Bhayyaji Joshi. He was speaking at a condolence meeting organised here for Parrikar, who died on March 17 after a prolonged illness. "Parrikar gave his all to the society. In the social and political fields, he has set benchmark. There are few people who set benchmark and fulfil it," Joshi said. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Goa Governor Mridula Sinha and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, among others, were present on the occasion. "Parrikar was a swayamsevak and that was enough to define him. He was a swayamsevak of the Sangh. That is why he took everyone along with him," he said. "We could see reflection of teachings of the Sangh in his political and social life. ...
Kamala Harris lands diverse endorsements in South Carolina
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris announced Thursday the rollout of a slate of endorsements in South Carolina, including one of its longest-serving black lawmakers. The senator from California hopes the support will show her ability to reach broad sectors of the critical early-voting state. Harris' campaign told The Associated Press that she is being endorsed by a trio of black legislators: state Reps. Pat Henegan and J.A. Moore and state Sen. Darrell Jackson. Also backing her campaign are former gubernatorial candidate Marguerite Willis and Berkeley County Democratic Chairwoman Melissa Watson. Harris, who announced her candidacy in January, is among a sprawling field of Democratic presidential contenders building a base of support in South Carolina, which is home to the first primary in the South and is the first test of candidates' appeal with a primarily black Democratic primary electorate. Last week, state Rep. John King became the first sitting lawmaker to make an ..
Modi begins campaign with scathing attack on opposition (Roundup)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched his poll campaign for the Lok Sabha elections with a blistering attack on the opposition as he kept his focus on "nationalism", saying that Pakistan wanted him to lose the polls.
Two Shillong LS seats candidates withdraw nominations
Communist Party of India (CPI) candidate Justice Kharbasanti and Kennedy Khyriem, a substitute candidate for outgoing Congress MP Vincent Pala. on Thursday withdrew their nominations from the Shillong parliamentary seat, an election official said.
Congress announces 7 more Gujarat candidates
The Congress on Thursday announced seven more candidates from Gujarat for the general election.
Why is BJP opposing Rahul's minimum income scheme? Congress
The Congress in Madhya Pradesh Thursday said party chief Rahul Gandhi's minimum income scheme was the final assault on poverty and wondered why the BJP was opposing it. Talking to reporters here, state Congress spokesman Pankaj Chaturvedi said the poor were suffering under the NDA government. "Rahul ji has said if the Congress was voted to power, its government would roll out a minimum income scheme guaranteeing Rs 72,000 a year to poorest 20 per cent of the households in the country," he said. The scheme will benefit 25 crore people," he claimed. "I wonder why the BJP and the Prime Minister have got into the habit of opposing the Congress's schemes for public welfare," he added. Earlier, they had opposed our public welfare schemes like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) and the National Food Security Act," Chaturvedi added. The poor were facing a tough time ever since the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by Prime ...
Petition against Ahmed Patel's RS election: voting video played in HC
A video recorded during the controversial voting for a 2017 Rajya Sabha seat election, in which Congress leader Ahmed Patel emerged victorious, was played at the Gujarat High Court Thursday. The court is hearing a petition filed by BJP leader Balvantsinh Rajput, the losing candidate, challenging Patel's election. The video, submitted by the returning officer, was played in the court of Justice Bela Trivedi. It showed four MLAs casting their ballots on August 8, 2017. The votes of two of them -- rebel Congress MLAs Raghavji Patel and Bholabhai Gohel -- were declared invalid by the Election Commission, while those of Congress MLAs Shailesh Patel and Mitesh Garasiya were counted, despite the BJP demanding that they should also be invalidated. The decision led to Ahmed Patel's victory as he got 44 votes, the minimum he needed to win. Rajput polled 38. Rajput has alleged that Patel won because of "bribery" and "undue influence". He has also challenged the EC's decision to invalidate the ...
Modi pitches for security, development as main themes
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched the BJP's poll campaign for the coming Lok Sabha elections identifying national security and development as key themes of the party's campaign as he projected himself as a bold and decisive leader who is not afraid of taking tough calls in the country's interest.
Paid news on social media a challenge, feel experts
Experts at a panel discussion here flagged the challenge of paid news on the social media and suggested that the Election Commission's social media code needs to be strengthened . The panel discussion on political campaigning on social media and issues of paid news was organised on Thursday. IAS officer K Mahesh, who is the District Election Officer (East), flagged the issue of misuse of social media, print media and electronic media by the political parties in the form of "concealed" campaign for the election. He also suggested that there was a need after the 2014 general polls to formulate a policy on the use of social media during the election campaign. "The Internet and Mobile Association of India has developed a voluntary code of ethics for all the participating social media platforms to ensure free, fair and ethical usage of their platforms to maintain integrity of electoral process," he said. "The voluntary code of ethics is applicable for the period of 48 hours before poll ...
Parrikar brought Rafale deal back on track: Rajnath
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said late Manohar Parrikar as the Defence Minister was instrumental in getting the much-delayed Rafale jet deal on track.
Pappu Yadav files nomination from Madhepura, launches veiled
Controversial Bihar MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav Thursday filed his nomination from his home turf Madhepura and launched a veiled attack on the RJD, which had fielded him in 2014 polls but expelled him a year later. "The people of Madhepura will once again bless this son of their soil and teach a lesson to those adamant on foisting an outsider upon them," Yadav told reporters in apparent reference to Sharad Yadav who will be contesting on RJD symbol from Madhepura. The RJD has announced that Sharad Yadav will merge his Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) with it after elections. Sharad Yadav had floated the LJD last year after the JD(U), headed by him until Chief Minister Nitish Kumar took over, got him disqualified from the Rajya Sabha for taking part in functions organized by the RJD-Congress combine despite Kumar having snapped ties with these parties and returned to the BJP-led NDA. Sharad Yadav hails from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh but has contested successfully from
AAP launches social media campaign to directly reach out to voters on statehood
The Aam Aadmi Party Thursday launched a weekly social media interaction campaign with people as it seeks to reach out to voters directly on the issue of full statehood for Delhi. The party has also formed a research team to connect with the public and dispel social media "rumours". The first interaction session was held by senior party leader Gopal Rai. His colleagues would hold sessions in subsequent weeks. Rai stressed on the need for full statehood for Delhi, saying the city's development projects are getting impacted because of its half-state status. Answering a question on whether the AAP is talking about statehood to hide its alleged failure, Rai said both the BJP and the Congress had raised the demand for full statehood. The ruling party is fighting the Lok Sabha elections on the agenda of granting full statehood to Delhi. Raising the slogan of 'Poorna Rajya Banao Jhadu ka Button Dabao', (vote for AAP to get full statehood for Delhi), the party is busy convincing people to ...
Denied ticket, BJP MP Prabhatsinh Chauhan says he will contest
Prabhatsinh Chauhan, BJP MP from Panchmahal in Gujarat who has been denied ticket by the party this time, announced Thursday that he would contest the Lok Sabha election nonetheless. Asked if he will join another party or fight as an independent, 77-year-old Chauhan, a two-time MP since 2009, refused to reveal his plans. "I will fight this election from Panchmahal. I will fight and win. I will file my nomination papers on April 1. I can not reveal more at present," Chauhan told PTI. Earlier during the day, Gujarat NCP chief Jayant Patel had claimed that Chauhan was in touch with his party. The BJP has dropped Chauhan and chosen independent MLA Ratansinh Rathod as candidate from Panchmahal. Soon after winning in the 2017 assembly polls, Rathod extended support to the ruling BJP. He said he was confident that Chauhan would not leave the party. "Prabhatsinh is a two-time MP. He is like a mentor to me. Though he is upset, we are trying to mollify him. We all are confident ...
CEA asks IES officers to keep themselves updated
Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurty Subramanian has asked officers of Indian Economic Service to keep themselves updated with tools and techniques concerning econometrics, data analytics and effective visualisation. Interacting with the Indian Economic Service (IES) officers Wednesday here, he also emphasised the need of sharing of experiences and best practices regularly on a common platform amongst IES officers, an official statement said. More than 130 IES officers, who are posted at different levels in various ministries and departments of the Government of India, participated in the session. The CEA also advocated continuous learning through training programmes in India and abroad in the best academic institutions and combining them with effective use of the advantages provided by the online training courses.
13 left in fray for Noida LS seat
Thirteen candidates, including two independents, were left in the fray for the Gautam Buddh Nagar Lok Sabha election on the last day for withdrawal of nomination Thursday, said poll officials. Twenty-one candidates had filed the papers but the nominations of eight of them, including Aam Aadmi Party's Shweta Sharma, were rejected by the returning officer in compliance with the Election Commission guidelines, they said. The polling for the Gautam Buddh Nagar seat will be held in the first-phase on April 11, when 91 Lok Sabha seats across 20 states go to the polls. In 2014, 24 candidates had contested for the gautam Budh Nagar seat with 22 of them forfeiting their deposits. In 2009, 26 candidates were in the fray from here. Those left in the fray for the Noida seat are its sitting BJP MP Mahesh Sharma, 59, Congress candidate Arvind Kumar Singh, 30, and BSP leader Satveer, 37. Satveer has the backing of the Samajwadi Party also. Other candidates include Jagdeep Singh of the Loktantrik ...
Mistry appointed AICC poll observer for Maharashtra
Senior Congress leader Madhusudan Mistry was on Thursday appointed as All India Congress Committee (AICC)'s election observer for Maharashtra for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Have sought ticket for Urmila Matondkar: Deora
Mumbai Congress chief Milind Deora said Thursday that the city unit of the party has requested the high command to give a Lok Sabha ticket to actor Urmila Matondkar. Matondkar joined the Congress Wednesday after meeting party president Rahul Gandhi. It is likely that she would be nominated from Mumbai North, as the party has already announced candidates from other four seats in Mumbai which it would be contesting. Deora, who took charge as the new Mumbai Congress chief, replacing Sanjay Nirupam, said, "We have requested party chief Rahul Gandhi to nominate Matondkar as a candidate." Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan also said that Matondkar's candidature will be declared soon. Speaking to reporters later, Matondkar said she wanted the politics of hatred which has grown by "leaps and bounds" in the last five years, to end. The money spent on "trolling and hatred" should have gone into development, she added.
Why not Varanasi: Priyanka to plea to fight from Rae Bareli
Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Thursday sent ripples across the political spectrum after her swift riposte "Why not Varanasi" (the Lok Sabha seat of Prime Minister Narendra Modi) to the party workers' request to contest elections from her mother Sonia Gandhi's parliamentary constituency Rae Bareli.
TN HC expresses dismay over illegal digital banners
The Madras High Court Thursday expressed its dismay over the continuing menace of illegal digital banners and placards despite a blanket ban on erecting such hoardings by political parties. A bench of Justices M Sathyanarayanan and Justice M Nirmal Kumar pointed to banners put up recently in a stretch of an arterial road in the city and said it looked as if the stretch was leased out to a particular political party. The bench also pointed to its earlier specific order asking the government to come up with a plan for disposal of such banners to prevent possible environmental degradation and said so far no report had been filed. The observations were made on a contempt petition by activist 'Traffic' K R Ramaswamy seeking action against officials for wilful disobedience of court orders on banners. State Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan in an affidavit submitted that all the district collectors have been instructed to give top priority to check erection of unauthorised banners and ...
Karnataka statewide I-T raids; Cong, JD(S) protest
Income Tax (I-T) department on Thursday said it has seized Rs 1.66 crore cash in raids in multiple locations across Karnataka.A total of 24 premises, including the residence of JD(S) leader's Chinnakurli residence and Karnataka Minor Irrigation Minister CS Puttaraju in Mandya were covered in the raid which began on Thursday morning, I-T department said adding that locations of 13 contractors and four engineers are being searched.Searches still underway.Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, Deputy chief minister G Parameshwara and other senior leaders from the JD (S) and Congress staged a protest outside the I-T department office. JD(S) supporters also protested on Masuru Road against the Centre and raised slogans against the BJP government.Karnataka Chief Minister and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy on Thursday accused the Income Tax department of working on the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.The Chief Minister alleged that the BJP government ...