Page 1214 - Politics
Maharashtra's 56-party alliance to take on BJP-Sena
A 56-party strong 'Mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance) finalised in Maharashtra is all set to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena-led ruling alliance for the Lok Sabha elections, here on Saturday.
Thailand's new government could be unstable, short-lived
Thailand's election Sunday is likely to produce a weak, unstable government whether it's a civilian or military-backed party that cobbles together a coalition, setting off a new phase of uncertainty in a country that's a US ally in Southeast Asia and one of the world's top tourist destinations. The election is Thailand's first since its military seized power from an elected government in May 2014. It was the conservative establishment's third major attempt by either military or legal coup to eradicate the influence of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a tycoon who made his fortune in telecommunication and upended Thailand's politics with a populist political revolution nearly two decades ago. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who as army chief led the 2014 coup, is hoping to stay in power with a hybrid political system that relies on an appointed Senate and a 20-year national strategic plan to limit the power of political parties not aligned with the military. "It will be ...
Modi, Shah & Yogi to address rallies in all phases in WB
The BJP leadership has decided to carpet-bomb West Bengal with rallies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during all the seven phases of polling. Modi will address his first election rally in the city's Brigade Parade ground on April 3, a senior state BJP leader said. "Modi ji will address at least one rally in each phase in the state. Amit Shah ji will also address one rally per phase and Yogiji will address eight rallies in all," the leader said. West Bengal is one of the priority states for the BJP in the country. The saffron party, which bagged two Lok Sabha seats in the state in the 2014 elections, is now targeting 23 of the state's 42 constituencies. The Lok Sabha election in the state is a "semi-final match" for the BJP before it goes out for an all-out battle to oust the Mamata Banerjee-headed Trinamool Congress government in the 2021 assembly polls, party leaders said. A senior state BJP leader ...
Denied ticket, BJP MP in Assam to float new party
Sitting BJP MP from Assam's Tezpur, Ram Prasad Sarmah, who has been dropped for the 2019 polls, on Saturday said that he will float a new party which will bring in all the old and "neglected" BJP leaders.
Candidates to be announced after Rahul's visit to R'than on Mar 26: Pilot
Congress president Rahul Gandhi will address three public meetings during his one-day visit to Rajasthan next Tuesday. Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress chief Sachin Pilot said the party would declare the names of the candidates for the Lok Sabha election after Gandhi's visit. The Congress president will be addressing rallies in Suratgarh city in Ganganagar district and Bundi on March 26. He will also hold dialogues with selected booth-level workers in Jaipur, Pilot said. The deputy chief minister said booth-level workers, who were given training by the party in all the 200 assembly constituencies, had been shortlisted for the meeting in Jaipur. Elections in 25 constituencies of Rajasthan will be held in two phases on April 29 and May 6.
Paswan challenges Akhilesh, Mayawati to declare a Muslim as CM
The Lok Janshakti Party, an NDA ally, on Saturday dismissed the SP-BSP tie-up in Uttar Pradesh as opportunistic and challenged Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati to declare a Muslim as the chief ministerial candidate in the assembly polls there. Both SP and BSP care only for their own interests. They have joined hands in the name of safeguarding the interests of the minorities, but actually they are not confident of taking on the BJP on their own steam," LJP founding president and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan said. "If they (SP, BSP) are so concerned about the minorities let them declare a Muslim as the chief ministerial candidate when the next assembly polls are held," he told reporters here. Paswan asserted that the LJP, as also Chief Minister Nitish Kumars JD(U) have maintained an independent position on issues like Article 370, Ayodhya and the Uniform Civil Code despite being in the BJP-led NDA and sought to dismiss misgivings about interests of the lower castes and ...
Vice admiral Karambir Singh first copter pilot to become Navy Chief
The government has appointed Eastern Naval Command head Vice Admiral Karambir Singh, a helicopter pilot, as the next Navy Chief replacing Sunil Lanba who retires on May 31.
Mehbooba Mufti to contest from Anantnag
Former chief minister and president of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti said on Saturday that she would contest the Lok Sabha elections from south Kashmir's Anantnag constituency.
Renuka Choudhary to contest in Khammam LS seat in Telangana
Senior leader and former union minister Renuka Choudhary has been fielded by the Congress from Khammam Lok Sabha seat in Telangana. Among others, Choudhary would take on Nama Nageswara Rao, ruling TRS' candidate. Rao had quit the TDP and joined TRS a few days ago. Choudhary, whose name figured in the party's seventh list of 35 candidates released Friday night, had won from Khammam in 1999 and 2004 but lost to Rao in 2009. YSR Congress nominee P Srinivasa Reddy had won from Khammam in 2014. Congress had earlier announced 16 candidates for the 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana which goes to the polls in the first phase on April 11.
Important for Pakistan and India to resolve all outstanding issues through dialogue: Pak envoy
Pakistan and India should resolve all outstanding issues and disputes peacefully through dialogue, Pakistani envoy to India Sohail Mahmood said Saturday. Mahmood, speaking at a function at the Pakistan High Commission here to mark Pakistan Day, underlined his country's desire for peaceful and good-neighbourly relations with India. Alluding to recent tensions in bilateral ties, the High Commissioner noted that Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's decision to release Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, return of two High Commissioners to their respective missions, and continuing bilateral meetings to develop modalities for the operationalisation of the Kartarpur corridor were steps in a "positive direction". He said it was important for Pakistan and India to resolve all outstanding issues and disputes peacefully through dialogue. Pakistan had repeatedly underlined that its desire for peace was not a sign of weakness, but a reflection of constructive thinking of a secure and confident ..
BJP welcomes ban on JKLF
Welcoming the ban on Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, BJP Saturday said the reaction of some mainstream politicians in the valley including former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is "unfortunate". "The Bharatiya Janata Party expresses satisfaction over the swift action taken by the government of India regarding ban on JKLF which was instrumental in fomenting trouble in the state in early eighties," the party said in a statement here. It said the JKLF targeted minority Hindu community in Kashmir during the 1988-90 period of terrorism there. "What was the then Congress government at the Centre expected to do, has been done by the Modi-led government in a positive and effective action. This is the most laudable action since the announcement of ban on communal Jamat-e-Islami which created hatred and violence in the minds of the young Kashmiris against the nation and other communities," it said. The BJP said JEI and JKLF are the main recruitment agencies of the terror network in the state
CPI(M) offers support to aspirant teachers; relay fast enters
Left Front chairman Biman Bose and leaders of CPI(M)'s frontal organisations Saturday pledged support to the aspiring school teachers who are on relay hunger strike for 24 days demanding recruitment to vacant posts in state-run and state-aided institutes. Bose, a senior CPI(M) leader, claimed that he came to the agitators at their venue here as a citizen and not as the leader of a political party and expressed solidarity with their demands. "I fully agree to their claims that despite qualifying in the School Service Commission (SSC) written test in 2016, the deserving candidates have not been called for interview and there have been irregularities in the recruitment process," he said. The SFI and DYFI, student and youth wings of the CPI(M) respectively, also took out a rally in the city in support of the SSC candidates. SFI general secretary Srijon Bhattacharya said, "It is a matter of regret that the chief minister did not visit the agitating candidates in the past 24 .
Guj BJP starts 2nd phase of poll campaign from Gandhinagar
The Gujarat BJP Saturday kicked off the second round of its door-to-door poll campaign, with state unit chief Jitu Vaghani leading party workers in Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat from where Amit Shah is contesting. Vaghani started the 'sampark abhiyaan' from Rupal village by seeking blessings at a local temple. "It is a matter of great delight for us that the national parliamentary board of the party accepted our proposal to field Amitbhai from Gandhinagar. We are excited and I am happy to launch the state-wide sampark abhiyan from Gandhinagar," Vaghani said. "PM Narendra Modi's leadership and Shah's organisational skills will infuse new energy in party workers and we will win all 26 seats in Gujarat," Vaghani told reporters after launching the campaign. The campaign will go on till March 30, party leaders said, adding that a 'vijay sankalp sammelan' will be held between March 24-26. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is likely to address a rally on March 26 as ...
In Bengal, Rahul trains guns on Modi, Mamata
Launching his party's Lok Sabha poll campaign in West Bengal, Congress president Rahul Gandhi Saturday trained his guns on both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, charging them with failing to fulfil their promises. Reiterating his "chowkidar chor hain" barb at Modi, the Congress president said, "Only rich people...have chowkidars outside their houses, farmers and the poor don't have watchmen. He (Modi) is the 'chowkidar' of the corrupt and fugitives such as Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya." In a scathing attack on the TMC-led government in West Bengal, Gandhi said, "What kind of governance she is delivering where only she has the right to speak and nobody else has any say?" "Nothing has changed in Bengal in the past so many years. There have been no development of Bengal under Mamata Banerjee's rule. She too has not fulfilled her promises," he charged. People used to be targeted and terrorised under the Left rule and the same continued under ...
Raj govt disrupting execution of Bhamashah scheme: BJP
The Congress government in Rajasthan is disrupting the execution of the Bhamashah health insurance scheme, introduced by the previous BJP regime, the saffron party claimed Saturday. Bhamashah is a direct benefit transfer scheme under which health insurance and medical treatment facilities are provided to the beneficiaries. The Rajasthan unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that the beneficiaries were not getting advantages due to the negligence of the Ashok Gehlot government. "The Congress government discontinued the scheme in an undeclared manner and payment of private hospitals which were empanelled was stopped," BJP MLA and former health minister Kalicharan Saraf told reporters. "Poor people are facing difficulties due to the present government," he added. He also alleged that the Congress government had misled people over the free medicines scheme as several important medicines were not available to the common man. The BJP government had launched the Bhamashah scheme ..
Cong only party to guarantee communal harmony, safety: Vikramaditya Singh
The Congress is the only party which can guarantee communal harmony, safety and all-round development, said Vikramaditya Singh, the candidate for Udhampur parliamentary seat, as he kick-started his campaign from Kathua district on Saturday. The 54-year-old grandson of last Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh and son of Congress leader Karan Singh addressed a rally at Ramleela ground with senior party leaders, including state president G A Mir, and asked the people of Jammu and Kashmir to strengthen his hands. "I am lucky to be part of a party which has played a great role in taking the country to great heights...My family has served the people of the state for centuries and I am hopeful of getting support to serve them again," he said. The former member of the state legislative council had joined the Congress on October 11 last year after ending an over two-year stint with the PDP over the alleged failure of the BJP-PDP government to address issues linked with the aspirations of the ...
Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora hails government decision to ban JKLF
Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora (GKPD) on Saturday welcomed Union government's "positive and pathbreaking" decision to ban separatist organization Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and holding its founder, Yasin Malik, responsible for the "genocide" of Kashmiri Pandits.
BJP retains sitting MPs for Goa's two Lok Sabha seats
The Goa BJP has retained sitting MPs Shripad Naik and Narendra Sawaikar for the April 23 Lok Sabha polls, state BJP general secretary Sadanand Tanavade said Saturday. Naik, currently AYUSH Minister in the Narendra Modi government, represents North Goa, a seat he has held since 1999, while Sawaikar is South Goa MP. Sawaikar is a first-time MP, having defeated the Congress' Reginald Lourenco in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The South Goa seat was a Congress bastion, with a sizable minority population, before Sawaikar wrested it in 2014 by polling almost 49 per cent of the votes.
DSS to back Congress in LS poll
The Karnataka Dalita Sangharsha Samiti (DSS) will support the Congress and other secular parties in the coming Lok Sabha elections, its state chief convenor Mavalli Shankar said Saturday. Addressing reporters at the press club here, he alleged that the BJP-led NDA government had failed to fulfil the promises made during their election campaign in 2014. The promise of job creation for the youth had fallen flat while the agrarian sector was in distress, he said. The number of farmers committing suicide has gone up after Prime Minister Narenda Modis government came to power, Shankar alleged. He said small businessmen had to suffer huge losses due to the demonetisation carried out by the government. "The NDA government should be ousted to protect the Constitution, which is facing a threat under the regime," he said. Democratic values were also being eroded, he said, adding there was an urgent need to protect the Constitution and democracy in the country.
Chavan admits there is grumbling in Cong over Chandrapur
An audio tape surfaced Saturday where Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan is purportedly heard saying that he wanted to resign as his views on candidate selection were not being heeded by the leadership. When asked by reporters, Chavan said he was not aware of such a tape, but conceded that there was discontent in the party regarding the choice of Vinayak Bangade as Congress candidate for the Chandrapur Lok Sabha seat. In the audio clip which went viral, a party worker named Rajurkar from Chandrapur is heard complaining about the choice of candidate when the party is sure to win in Chandrapur. Chavan is heard telling him to speak to Mukul Wasnik, the Congress's Central Election Committee head. "Nobody is listening to me and I am in a mood to resign," Chavan is purportedly heard saying further. He is also heard telling Rajurkar to ask Bangade not to contest. In the end he is heard asking Rajurkar to share Bangade's contact number. At a press conference here where the ..