Page 1238 - Politics
BJP announces 13 candidates in Kerala
Union minister Alphons Kannanthanam and former Mizoram governor Kummanam Rajasekharan are among 13 candidates fielded by the BJP in Kerala for the Lok Sabha elections. In the first list released on Thursday, the saffron party has, however, did not announce the candidate for the Pathanamthitta seat. Pathanamthitta, which was the epicentre of Sabarimala protests, is one of the seats where the BJP has pinned its hope. Kannanthanam will contest in the Ernakulam Lok Sabha seat where he will fight against young Congress MLA Hibi Eden and P Rajeev of CPI(M). Rajashekharan, who had quit as the Mizoram governor early this month, will be fighting the poll battle in Thiruvananthapuram against senior Congress leader and two time MP Shashi Tharoor. K S Radhakrishnan, a former chairman of the Public Service Commission and considered close to Congress leaders, had joined the BJP early this week and was given a seat from Alappuzha. The saffron party is contesting in 14 seats of total 20 Lok Sabha ...
TRS MP Kavitha to seek re-election from Nizamabad
Telangana Rashtra Samithi MP K Kavitha, daughter of party supremo and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, will seek re-election from the Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency,as the TRS announced the list of 17 candidates for the April 11 Lok Sabha polls Thursday. TRS has fielded a nominee (Puste Srikanth) from Hyderabad where the partys ally AIMIMs president Asaduddin Owaisi is in the fray. TRS has been appealing to people to make Owaisi victorious in Hyderabad. Though the party announced a candidate, the contest between the AIMIM and TRS is unlikely to be a serious one. Among others, the party has re-nominated B Vinod Kumar from Karimnagar. Few MPs have, however, been denied tickets. Sitting MP from Mahabubnagar A P Jitender Reddy failed to get the ticket and Manne Srinivasa Reddy has replaced him as the nominee from the constituency. Vemireddy Narasimha Reddy would take on Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N Uttam Kumar Reddy in Nalgonda. The .
Netaji kin, former IPS, new joinees in BJP's Bengal list
Union Minister Babul Supriyo would fight to retain Asansol, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's grand-nephew Chandra Kumar Bose is in fray from the prestigious Kolkata South, while BJP's West Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh in the race from Midnapore in the first list of 28 candidates announced by the party for the Lok Sabha polls in the eastern state.
Shah to contest from Gandhinagar, eases Advani out
Setting at rest all speculations, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday announced that its national president Amit Shah would contest the Lok Sabha elections from Gandhinagar, in place of veteran leader and incumbent MP L.K. Advani.
BJP denies tickets to 6 sitting MPs in UP
The BJP on Thursday denied tickets to its six sitting MPs from Uttar Pradesh, including Union minister Krishna Raj and National Commission for Scheduled Castes chairman Ram Shankar Katheria. The BJP Thursday announced its first list of 184 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, fielding Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh from Lucknow. The party re-nominated Smriti Irani from Amethi to take on Congress president Rahul Gandhi. Besides Krishna Raj (Shahjahanpur-SC) and Ram Shankar Katheria (Agra-SC), others who have been refused party nominations are: Anshul Verma (Hardoi-SC), Babulal Chaudhary (Fatehpur Sikri), Anju Bala (Misrikh-SC) and Satya Pal Singh (Sambhal). Krishna Raj is the Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. The new candidates fielded from these constituencies by the BJP are: SP Singh Baghel (Agra), Parameshwar Lal Saini (Sambhal), Raj Kumar Chaher (Fatehpur Sikri), Jai Prakash Rawat (Hardoi-SC), Ashok Rawat ...
Radhakrishnan, Tamilisai in BJP TN list
The BJP on Thursday decided to field Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan from Tamil Nadu's Kanniyakumari Lok Sabha constituency in the 2019 elections as per its first list released in New Delhi.
Modi stays with Varanasi, Shah's LS bid from Gandhinagar (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.
2 BJD leaders among BJP's 10 LS candidates for Odisha
Two leaders of Odisha, who were elected to Lok Sabha in 2014 elections on BJD tickets, were among the 10 BJP candidates in the state whose names were announced by the saffron party Thursday in New Delhi. The two leaders - Balabhadra Majhi and Baijayant Panda - joined the BJP earlier this month. While former Kendrapara MP Panda joined the BJP on March 4, Nabarangpur MP Majhi was inducted into the party on March 16. Both will contest from their old seats. Majhi resigned from the BJD on March 14 alleging "neglect" by the party leadership. Two days after his resignation, BJD president Naveen Patnaik announced state minister Ramesh Chandra Majhi as the party candidate for Nabarangpur Lok Sabha seat. Though Panda had resigned from the BJD following a difference of opinion with Patnaik last year, he joined the BJP only on March 4. Of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha, the BJP announced nominees for 10 seats. Till now, the BJD declared nine candidates and the Congress six. While ..
Cong announces candidates for Lok Sabha, Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh
The Congress on Thursday announced the names of its candidates for three Lok Sabha constituencies and 45 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh. For the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress has fielded Ramana Kumari Pedada from Vishakhapatnam, Narahrasetti Narasimha Rao from Vijayawada, and J Lakshmi Narasimha Yadav from Nandyal. With this, the Congress has named its candidates for all the 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state. The total number of Lok Sabha candidates declared by the Congress so far stands at 149. The party also declared 45 candidates for the Assembly polls on Thursday. Earlier, the Congress had declared 132 candidates for the Assembly polls. Four candidates have been replaced from the list of 132 candidates that was declared on Monday. The Congress is going it alone in the polls in the state. The Congress-TDP combine received a severe drubbing in the Telangana Assembly elections in December last. There are 25 Lok Sabha and 175 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh. Both Lok Sabha ..
Acquittal of Samjhauta blast accused shows India's 'insensitivity': Pak
Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua on Thursday said that the acquittal of all four accused in the 2007 Samjhauta train blast case showed India's "insensitivity" towards the victims' families as she raised the issue with the Diplomatic Corps. The blast in Samjhauta Express occurred near Panipat in Haryana on February 18, 2007, when the train was on its way to Attari, the last railway station on the Indian side. The blast killed 68 people, mostly Pakistanis. A special court in Panchkula in Haryana acquitted main accused Swami Aseemanand and three others in the case on Wednesday. In a statement, the Foreign Office said that she briefed the Islamabad-based Diplomatic Corps on the "historic injustice" done to the 44 Pakistanis killed in the Samjhauta Express terrorist attack. "The Indian decision to gradually exonerate and finally acquit the perpetrators despite the presence of clear evidence against them, is a reflection of India's callous insensitivity to the plight of the 44 ...
Polls: Gujarat BJP delegation to meet central leadership
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said Thursday that he and other senior BJP leaders from the state would submit a list of probable Lok Sabha candidates in Gujarat to the party's central parliamentary board in Delhi Friday. Following a brainstorming session at Rupani's residence from March 17 to 19, the state parliamentary board prepared a panel of three candidates for every seat after taking into consideration the views of party observers, he said. The BJP has already announced party president Amit Shah's name for Gandhinagar seat. Rupani would be accompanied by deputy chief minister Nitin Patel, state BJP in-charge Om Mathur, state BJP chief Jitu Vaghani and union ministers Mansukh Mandaviya and Parshottam Rupala.
All 17 candidates for Bihar seats finalised, will be announced jointly with allies: BJP
The BJP has finalised the candidates for the 17 Lok Sabha seats it will be contesting in Bihar and the names will be announced jointly with the allies, senior party leader J P Nadda said Thursday. The BJP is likely to repeat almost all its sitting MPs barring a few seats including Patna Sahib and Madhubani. Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is expected to be the party's candidate from Patna Sahib in place of sitting MP and film star Shatrughan Sinha and from Madhubani it may field sitting MP Hukmdev Narayan Yadav's son, as he has expressed his unwillingness to contest the election. Releasing the first list of the party's 184 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, Nadda said, "The party has also finalised names of all 17 party candidates from Bihar and sent the list to the state unit which will announce it jointly with allies -- JD(U) and Lok Janshakti Party." The BJP which is in alliance with JD(U) and LJP in the state is contesting on 17 seats, its ally JD(U) also has equal number of ..
Vaithilingam quits Speaker's post,to jump into LS poll
The Puducherry Assembly Speaker V Vaithilingam quit the post Thursday as he is the Congress nominee for the Lok Sabha election here. Deputy Speaker V P Sivakolundhu to whom Vaithilingam submitted the letter of resignation from the post of Speaker, told PTI that he would look after the duties of the Speaker. Vaithilingam will file the nomination for the Lok Sabha polls tomorrow, according to party sources.
BJP veterans Advani, Khanduri not in Lok Sabha candidate list
With veterans such as L K Advani and B C Khanduri being dropped from their Lok Sabha seats by the BJP, it seems that the party may have decided to ease out several of its old guards from electoral politics after keeping them out of government by introducing an age bar of 75 years. In anticipation of the party leadership's move, senior leaders like Kalraj Mishra and Bhagat Singh Koshyari had announced their unwillingness to contest the coming Lok Sabha polls. The fate of another party veteran, Murli Manohar Joshi, who had won from Kanpur in 2014, remains uncertain as the party did not announce its candidate from the seat in the first list which was released on Thursday. However, party sources said it is unlikely now that Joshi will be fielded in the general election. The 91-year-old Advani, the longest serving BJP president who enjoyed the final say in organisational affairs for decades, had been winning from Gandhinagar seat in Gujarat since 1998. BJP president Amit Shah, who once ...
BJP's first list has 16 candidates from NE states
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday released the first list of 184 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, which includes names for 16 constituencies in the North-East.
Macron hails Europe 'awakening' to China threat
French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that Europe was "finally" united in addressing the threat from China, as Chinese President Xi Jinping launched a five-day tour of the continent. Xi's visit comes a week after the European Union released a 10-point plan outlining a shift to more assertive relations with Beijing, warning that China was a "rival" to the bloc as well as its biggest trading partner. The EU is split on handling China, with some fearing the rise of a global superpower and others, especially in Europe's south, willing to make deals for investment in ports, energy and transport. "Since the beginning of my mandate, I have been calling for a real awareness and defence of European sovereignty," Macron said as he arrived for a two-day EU summit in Brussels. "Finally, on subjects as important as China, we have it," Macron said, hailing the European Commission's document as a "very good" strategy to manage Beijing. "I welcome this European awakening," he added, before ..
BJP replaces 6 MPs, including minister, in UP
The BJP on Thursday announced the list of 28 of its candidates for Uttar Pradesh's 80 Lok Sabha seats, dropping six of its sitting members including a Union Minister, for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Our demand is greater Nagaland with own flag & constitution: NSCN(I-M) leader
The demand of the NSCN(I-M) is a greater Nagaland with own flag and constitution, general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah said Thursday. The demand is based on the Naga political rights and "we will not surrender our rights at any cost", Muivah said. The demand of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) for greater Nagaland includes not only Nagaland, but also the Naga-inhabited areas in the neighbouring states. "Our demand is for separate Naga national flag and a separate constitution and if the Centre does not accept (it), there is no other way to resolve the political problem," he said at the NSCN (I-M) headquarters in Hebron. The Naga struggle is political and not a law-and-order problem, Muivah said. "Therefore, there has to be a national flag, not symbolic cultural flag, and own constitution." He claimed that the NSCN(I-M) came to the negotiating table after the Centre "admitted" that the Naga issue was a political one. Muivah said the NSCN(I-M) and the Centre ...
BJP drops sitting MPs including Union minister in C'garh in
The BJP has announced candidates for five out of 11 Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh, dropping sitting MPs including a union minister of state. Candidates for all five reserved Lok Sabha seats -- Surguja, Bastar, Raigarh and Kanker (reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST)) and Janjgir-Champa (Scheduled Castes) were announced when the party came out with its first list Thursday evening. The party had announced earlier that it will replace all ten incumbent MPs in the state in the wake of the drubbing it received in the Assembly elections. Union Minister of State for Steel Vishnudeo Sai, who had won four times (1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014) from Raigarh seat, has been denied ticket. Other sitting MPs who do not figure in the first list are Kamalbhan Singh (Surguja), Dinesh Kashyap (Bastar), Vikram Usendi (Kanker) and Kamla Devi Patle (Janjgir-Champa). Firebrand woman tribal leader Renuka Singh, who was MLA from Premnagar (2003-2008) and served as woman and child development ...
EU leaders pile pressure on UK MPs to back Brexit deal
European leaders piled the pressure on British MPs Thursday to back a divorce deal they have negotiated with Prime Minister Theresa May, warning that the alternative was a cliff-edge exit from the EU next week. May has asked EU leaders for a three-month delay to Brexit to allow her to try one more time to get her withdrawal agreement through parliament, and the bloc has indicated it could postpone exit day to May 22. But as they arrived at a two-day summit in Brussels dominated by Britain's deep political crisis, the other 27 leaders warned that this would be possible only if MPs approve next week the deal they have already resoundingly rejected twice. "In the case of a negative British vote then we'd be heading to a no deal," French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters. "We all know it. And it's essential to be clear in these days and moments." Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he expected his fellow European leaders to agree in principle on Thursday to May's request for a ...