Page 1237 - Politics
BJP releases list of 100 candidates for Odisha Assembly polls
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday released a list of 100 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Odisha after a meeting of the Central Election Committee under the leadership of Amit Shah.Damodar Rout, Kusum Tete, Prakash Behera, and K Narayan Rao, who recently joined BJP after quitting BJD, have been given tickets to contest polls in the state.Rout has been fielded from Balikuda-Ersama assembly constituency, Prakash Behera from Salepur, Kusum Tete from Sundergarh and K Narayan Rao from Paralakhemundi.In the 2014 Assembly elections, BJP had won 10 out of 147 seats in Odisha.Odisha will be going to polls in four phases on April 11, 18, 23 and 29. The state will be voting simultaneously for parliamentary and assembly constituencies.There are 21 Lok Sabha and 147 Assembly seats in Odisha.
Pak conveys 'concerns' on acquittal of Samjhauta blast 'perpetrators'
Pakistan, on Wednesday, conveyed concerns regarding the acquittal of the four suspects in the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast case to other countries through its Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua.Janjua invited members of diplomatic corps to the Foreign Office and briefed them on the "historic injustice done to the forty-four Pakistanis killed in the Samjhauta Express terrorist attack in 2007 in India," according to The Express Tribune.A special NIA court had acquitted the four suspects - Swami Aseemanand, Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan and Rajinder Chaudhary - in the case on March 20."Pakistan has already registered a strong demarche with the Indian High Commissioner on March 20 against the acquittal of the perpetrators of Samjhauta terror attacks," the Foreign Secretary said.On February 18, 2007, explosions hit the India-Pakistan trans-border Samjhauta Express in Panipat area of Haryana and 68 people died in the blast, including scores of Pakistanis.Out of the deceased, 33 were male, 19 .
LS polls: BJP fields Lalubhai Patel from Daman and Diu
Lalubhai Patel, a two-time MP from Daman and Diu, has been fielded by the BJP from the Lok Sabha constituency for the upcoming general election.Patel won the Daman and Diu Lok Sabha constituency for BJP in 2009 and 2014 elections.Voting for the constituency will be held on April 23 during the third phase of polling, and counting of votes will take place on May 23.
LS polls: BJP announces 10 candidates from Telangana, pitches DK Aruna from Mahbubnagar
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday announced the names of 10 candidates in Telangana for the upcoming Lok Sabha election.Former Congress leader and ex-Minister DK Aruna, who joined BJP in the presence of party president Amit Shah in Delhi on Tuesday, has been fielded from Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha constituency. Aruna had lost the Assembly elections from Gadwal in December 2018.D. Aravind has been pitched against K. Kavitha, daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, from the Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency.G. Kishan Reddy has replaced present MP of Secunderabad, Bandaru Dattatreya in the list. Reddy had lost the Assembly election from Amberpet constituency in December 2018.MLC Ramchandra Rao will contest from Malkajgiri constituency in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.The party is yet to announce seven more candidates in Telangana.Hyderabad is touted to be the main Lok Sabha constituency for the BJP from where AIMIM party president Asaduddin Owaisi is ...
Guaido aide arrested in Venezuela as regime defies
Defying US warnings, President Nicolas Maduro's regime on Thursday arrested a top aide of opposition leader Juan Guaido, who Washington recognizes as Venezuela's interim leader. Guaido and the opposition-ruled National Assembly denounced the arrest of Roberto Marrero, charging on Twitter that he was taken from his home during a pre-dawn raid by intelligence officers. The United States has repeatedly warned Venezuelan Maduro against arresting Guaido or his aides. The United States and a grouping of Latin American nations plus Canada vigorously condemned the arrest and demanded Marrero's release. "They have grabbed Roberto Marrero, my chief of staff. He yelled out that they planted two rifles and a grenade" as a pretext for the arrest, Guaido tweeted. "The raid happened at around 2:00 am (0600 GMT). We don't know his whereabouts. He must be released immediately." He later told a news conference that "we won't be intimidated" by the "vile, vulgar kidnapping." Maduro and Guaido both claim
British military opens no-deal Brexit nerve centre
Britain's defence ministry has started up a no-deal Brexit operations centre in a nuclear-bomb-proof bunker in central London, a spokesman told AFP on Thursday. "It's a team that's ready to support any action if it becomes necessary," the spokesman said, adding that the new centre has "all the right infrastructure". "As we get closer to a theoretical or possible no-deal, this is the place where the response could be co-ordinated", the spokesman said. Britain is due to leave the European Union on March 29 without a deal, unless one can be agreed in time or an Brexit extension is implemented. The defence ministry in December said 3,500 military personnel would be on stand-by to help government departments for "any contingencies" in case of a no-deal outcome. The spokesman said those troops were now "at readiness". The military's crisis management operation for a no-deal Brexit, which is dubbed "Operation Redfold", was activated at the beginning of this week. The bunker is underneath the
Pompeo visits Western Wall with Netanyahu in break with diplomatic practice
US top diplomat Mike Pompeo became the first high-ranking American official to visit the Western Wall with an Israeli prime minister on Thursday, providing another boost to Benjamin Netanyahu's re-election campaign. Two experienced former US diplomats could not recall such a senior US official visiting the site with an Israeli premier. It could be taken as tacit approval of Israel's sovereignty over the site, one of the holiest in Judaism and located in mainly Palestinian east Jerusalem. The visit comes less than three weeks before Israel's April 9 elections in which Netanyahu is facing a tough challenge from a centrist alliance led by a former military chief of staff, Benny Gantz. Netanyahu is also due to visit Washington and meet with his close ally US President Donald Trump twice next week. On Thursday afternoon, Netanyahu and Pompeo, along with US ambassador to Israel David Friedman, approached the wall together, placing a hand on it before depositing prayers on slips of paper, as
UK's commemorative Brexit coin on hold amid political crisis
The Royal Mint, Britain's official coin-maker, has joined the legions of people and businesses left in limbo over Brexit as the country asks the EU to delay its departure from the bloc. The 1,100-year-old government-owned company had planned to issue a new 50-pence coin to mark Britain's European Union exit on March 29 -- with the date inscribed on it -- and had started producing test pieces. The Treasury announced in October the commemorative piece "will be available to buy from Spring 2019". But amid the chaos engulfing the withdrawal process, it said that no coins have been produced yet for sale. "The commemorative 50-pence coin... will be made available following our departure," a Treasury spokesman told AFP on Thursday. Asked on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show over the weekend whether he would have to melt coins with the wrong date, Finance Minister Philip Hammond said they could instead become "collectors' pieces".
Netanyahu hails Trump's 'historic' pledge on Golan sovereignty
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday welcomed US President Donald Trump's "historic" pledge to recognise Israel's disputed annexation of the Golan Heights, which it seized from Syria in 1967. "At a time when Iran seeks to use Syria as a platform to destroy Israel, President Trump boldly recognises Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights," he wrote on his personal Twitter account. "Thank you President Trump!" Trump's statement of intent on the strategic plateau Israel seized in the Six-Day War came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Jerusalem and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Netanyahu at the Western Wall in the city's Israeli-annexed eastern sector. It was the first time such a high-ranking US official had visited the highly sensitive site in the Old City, part of the mainly Palestinian east of Jerusalem, alongside an Israeli premier. Both US gestures serve to boost Netanyahu's campaign for a fifth term, less than three weeks before Israel's April 9 .
Trump backs Israeli sovereignty over Golan Heights
US President Donald Trump on Thursday said that it is time for the US to recognise Israel's sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights, which it seized from Syria in 1967.
5 former Manipur MLAs quit, float regional party
Within a day of Congress President Rahul Gandhi kick-starting the party's election campaign in Manipur, five former party MLAs and many workers quit the party on Thursday and joined a regional outfit.
BJP announces candidates for 99 Assembly seats in Odisha
The BJP Thursday announced names of its candidates for 99 of the 147 Assembly seats in Odisha which will go for a simultaneous polls along with Lok Sabha in four phases beginning from April 11. The list was released by the party following the BJP's Central Election Committee meeting in New Delhi. Earlier, the party had announced names of its candidates for Odisha's 10 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP, which has set a 120-plus mission for Odisha, has fielded many new entrants who joined the BJP after resigning either from the ruling BJD headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik or the Congress. The prominent BJD leaders who recently joined the party and given ticket are Damodar Rout (Balikuda-Ersama) and Kusum Tete (Sundergarh). Congress MLA from Salipur Prakash Behera, who too joined the BJP recently, has been named as the party's candidate from his own constituency. The party has also nominated its senior leaders to contest from different assembly segments. While former minister ...
Union Minister, first-time candidates in BJP's J&K list
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday re-nominated both its sitting MPs from the Jammu region while fielding three first-time candidates from the Kashmir Valley.
Modi stays with Varanasi, Shah's LS bid from Gandhinagar (Intro Roundup)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fight again from his Varanasi constituency while BJP President Amit Shah will make his debut in Lok Sabha polls from Gandhinagar, BJP leader J.P. Nadda announced on Thursday.
Two ex-Congress leaders fielded by BJP from Karnataka
Two former Congress leaders in Karnataka who recently joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) figured in its list of candidates named on Thursday for 21 of 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Purandeswari to be BJP candidate from Vizag LS seat
Former Union Minister Daggubati Purandeswari will be the BJP candidate from Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha constituency as the party decided not to field outgoing MP K. Haribabu from here.
TRS denies tickets to three outgoing MPs
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Thursday announced candidates for all 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in Telangana, denying tickets to three outgoing MPs including its leader in Lok Sabha, A.P. Jithender Reddy.
Shah replaces BJP patriarch Advani as candidate in Gandhinagar
For BJP patriarch L K Advani, it appears to be the end of road in electoral politics as his name did not figure in the first list of party candidates for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP chose to field its president Amit Shah from Gandhinagar, the seat held by Advani so far. Naranpura, from where Shah had won the Assembly election in 2012 before he became Rajya Sabha member, is located in Ahmedabad city, but falls in Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency. The BJP's state unit had demanded that either Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Shah should contest Lok Sabha election from the state this time. State BJP leaders had also demanded that Shah contest from Gandhinagar, a BJP bastion. The BJP had sent observers on March 16 to seek opinion of party workers and leaders in Gandhinagar, and most of them favoured Shah, party observer Nimaben Acharya had said. Workers felt that as the seat had been held by a national leader (Advani), someone among the party's central leadership should contest
Trump: US should 'fully recognize' Israeli sovereignty over Golan Heights
President Donald Trump on Thursday announced the United States should recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, an area seized from Syria and annexed in a move never recognized by the international community. "After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel's Sovereignty over the Golan Heights," Trump said in a tweet. Trump called the territory "of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability!" This is the second recent diplomatic bombshell dropped by Washington, which is Israel's main backer, in seeking to redraw the fraught Middle East map. In 2017, Trump went against decades of practice by recognizing the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, rather than the previously accepted Tel Aviv. Trump will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House next Monday and Tuesday. The Israeli leader, who is running for reelection, will be in Washington for the annual conference of the
SV Mohan Reddy back in YSRCP, says will work for TDP's defeat in Kurnool
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) sitting MLA from Kurnool constituency SV Mohan Reddy on Thursday joined YSR Congress Party in the presence of its chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy. This comes as a second jolt to TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu as MLA Revanth Reddy on Tuesday had tendered his resignation from all party posts and membership.Reddy had won the seat on the YSRCP ticket from Kurnool seat in 2014 and later defected to the TDP. This time, Naidu didn't give ticket to Reddy. He said that he has been cheated and realized the mistake of betraying YSRCP chief Jaganmohan Reddy.Reddy saidThere are 25 Lok Sabha and175 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh.Andhra Pradesh will go to polls in a single phase on April 11. The Lok Sabha and legislative assembly polls will be held simultaneously in the state on this day. The results will be announced on May 23.