Page 1248 - Politics
Trump to hold meeting with Israeli PM next week
US President Donald Trump will meet his key ally Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House next week, an official announcement said Wednesday. Trump will welcome Netanyahu to the White House from March 25 to 26, presidential spokesperson Sarah Sanders said. "The President and the Prime Minister will discuss their countries' shared interests and actions in the Middle East during a working meeting on March 25," she said. Trump will also host Netanyahu for dinner on March 26, Sanders said.
Haryana-based Smast Bharatiya Party merges with Congress
Haryana-based Smast Bharatiya Party Wednesday announced its merger with the Congress, saying it supports its secular ideals and ideology. Smast Bharatiya Party chief Sudesh Aggarwal and his wife Neelam announced the merger at a function at the Congress headquarters here. AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik, former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Congress Legislature Party leader Kiran Chaudhary and state PCC chief Ashok Tanwar, besides former Haryana Home Minister Subhash Batra were present at the function and welcomed them in the party fold. Hooda said the merger will help strengthen the Congress further and all the leaders in the state would unitedly fight the BJP. Wasnik alleged Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a threat to democracy and the country and proved to be a "dream merchant". People are now realising that he sold "false dreams". Sources said Chaudhary helped initiate the merger of the party with the Congress. Both Chaudhary and Sudesh Aggarwal hails from ...
Guj min testifies in HC on plea challenging Patel's RS win
Gujarat minister Pradipsinh Jadeja Wednesday testified in the Gujarat High Court in an election petition filed by BJP leader Balvantsinh Rajput, challenging the victory of veteran Congress leader Ahmed Patel in 2017 Rajya Sabha election. Jadeja, who is the Minister of State for Home, told high court Judge Bela Trivedi that Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil had snatched Congress turncoat Raghavjee Patel's ballot paper after noticing that he had voted for Rajput in August 2017 Rajya Sabha election for three seats in Gujarat. He also told the court that since Congress MLAs Shailesh Parmar and Mitesh Garasiya had showed their ballot papers to persons other than the authorised agents, their ballot papers should have been cancelled, which was not done by the Election Commission (EC). When the defence lawyer asked him during his cross-examination whether seven of the fourteen rebel Congress MLAs were subsequently given tickets from the BJP to contest the December 2017 Gujarat Assembly ...
Jitendra Singh begins campaign in home turf; targets Cong for holding back projects
Union minister and BJP leader Jitendra Singh on Wednesday targeted the Congress and its allies for "holding back" crucial projects in the Udhampur-Kathua-Doda constituency for 40 years. Singh, who hit the campaign trail for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, interacted with BJP office-bearers and workers from different mandals of Reasi district. The Minister of State for the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region is seeking re-election from Udhampur. In a blistering attack at the opposition, the BJP leader said many governments represented by the Congress and its allies failed to do justice to the people by turning blind eye towards many welfare projects, and that it was only the Modi government which green-lit such projects. He cited the examples of Shahpur-Kandi national project, Devika rejuvenation project in Udhampur, construction of degree colleges in remote Kastigarh, Kendriya Vidyalayas in Jodhpur and Gandoh, building tunnels of Chhatergala, Khilani-Sudhmahadev and ...
16 candidates file nominations for LS polls in KTKA on 2nd day
Sumalatha Ambareesh, wife of late actor-politician Ambareesh, is among 16 candidates who filed their nominations in Karnataka Wednesday for the Lok Sabha polls. A total of 17 nominations have been received from 16 candidates on Wednesday, poll officials said, adding that cumulative nominations received stands at 28 from 22 candidates. Nominations filed were two each from Tumkur, Mandya, Bangalore North, Bangalore central, three each from Bangalore Rural and Mysore, and one each from Bangalore south and Chikkaballapur. With all the three major political parties, the BJP, Congress and JD(S), yet to announce their list of candidates, those who filed nominations on Wednesday were mainly independents and from smaller parties. Sumalatha filed her nomination as independent candidate from Mandya, where she is likely to take on Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil Kumaraswamy as Congress-JD(S) coalition's candidate. Sumalatha, a popular south Indian actress,visited the ..
Shiv Sena MLA quits, may join Congress
In a shock to the Shiv Sena, its legislator from Warora in Maharashtra's Chandrapur district, Suresh alias Balu Dhanorkar, quit the party and his seat on Wednesday.
Centre tried to stop several projects planned for people of Delhi: Kejriwal
After Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley criticised the AAP government of not implementing the Ayushman Bharat scheme, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Wednesday alleged that the Centre had tried to stop projects, including schools and hospitals, planned for the people. His reaction came on Jaitley's tweet that the Centre's flagship health programme Ayushman Bharat, which is based on the principle of 'for the happiness and welfare of many', has not been implemented by states Delhi, West Bengal and Odisha. In his tweet, Jaitley said in a democracy elected governments are intended to cooperate with each other and work on the principle of "Bahujan Hitay Bahujan Sukhay". "The concept of Ayushman Bharat implemented by the Modi government is based on this principle. However, West Bengal, Delhi, Odisha refused to implement it," he said Responding to Jaitley's tweet, AAP chief Kejriwal said talks of democracy and cooperation doesn't suit the finance minister. "You tried to stop ...
Sudin Dhavalikar, Vijai Sardesai appointed Goa Deputy CMs
Sudin Dhavalikar and Vijai Sardesai were Wednesday appointed deputy chief ministers in the BJP-led government in Goa. A notification issued by Varsha Naik, Under Secretary in the General Administration department, said the two are being appointed as deputy chief ministers with immediate effect. The development came soon after Chief Minister Pramod Sawant proved the majority of his two-day old government in the state Assembly floor test without any hiccups. Sawant, who heads the BJP-led coalition government comprising the Goa Forward Party, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and three Independents, comfortably won the floor test with 20 MLAs supporting the government and 15 legislators opposing it. Dhavalikar and Sardesai, who represent MGP and GFP respectively, were sworn in as ministers along with Sawant just before 2 am on Tuesday, after hectic parleys between the saffron party and its allies to put a new government in place in the state. Sawant, 45, succeeds Manohar ...
BJP ministers organise Holika Dahan, say it symbolises burning of evil of 'corruption of Cong, AAP'
Union ministers Vijay Goel, Prakash Javdekar and Vijay Sampla organised a 'Holika Dahan', saying it symbolises the burning of evil of "corruption of the Congress and the AAP". Goel said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal came to power on the plank of Congress's corruption but today his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is eager to forge an alliance with it. The Union Minister said that in 2013, Kejriwal vowed that he would put former chief minister Sheila Dikshit behind bars within 24 hours of getting elected, alleging she was "smeared with colours of corruption" related to Commonwealth Games, water tankers scam among others. "Today he has forgotten that he had promised to throw Sheila Dikshit behind bars for corruption. So will he withdraw corruption charges against Dikshit if unholy alliance is formed. On the other side, the Congress, be it led by Ajay Maken or Dikshit, has been accusing Kejriwal of indulging in corruption like CCTV camera scam, low-floor bus scam and ration card scam are prominent
Priyanka calls elections India's new freedom struggle
Wrapping up her three-day tour of Uttar Pradesh in Prime minister Narendra Modi's Varanasi constituency, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra called the coming Lok Sabha elections a new freedom struggle. In a blistering attack on Modi on the last day of the trip, by boat on the Ganga, she asked him not to treat people as fools. In Varanasi, party workers from the Congress and the BJP confronted each other with slogans, with some of them scuffling with each other. At a workers meeting later, the All India Congress Commitee (AICC) general secretary referred to this face-off and said they should stick to non-violence, just as the Congress did during the freedom movement. She said people were harassed during the British rule as well. People were in trouble and there was nobody to listen to them. There was no rule of the people. Today, the country is facing a similar situation. The only difference is that the dictator is a "Hindustani"," she said, in a veiled reference to Modi. "We fought
Pak summons Indian envoy to protest acquittal of Samjhauta blast case suspects
Pakistan on Wednesday summoned the Indian High Commissioner to lodge a strong protest against the acquittal of all four accused, including Swami Aseemanand in the 2007 Samjhauta terror attacks that left 68 people, mostly Pakistanis, dead. A special court in Panchkula in Haryana acquitted Aseemanand and three others in the case. The verdict came after NIA special judge Jagdeep Singh dismissed the plea filed by a Pakistani woman for examining eyewitnesses from her country, saying it was "devoid of any merit". Pakistan's Acting Foreign Secretary summoned Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria today to lodge Pakistan's strong protest, the Foreign Office said in a statement. The Acting Foreign Secretary stressed that Pakistan had consistently raised the "lack of progress and the subsequent, concerted attempts by India to exonerate the perpetrators of this heinous terrorist act in which 44 innocent Pakistanis lost their lives". The issue was raised repeatedly, including at the sidelines of ..
Nirav's arrest in UK a pre-planned drama by government: NCP
The NCP Wednesday termed fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi's arrest in London as a "pre-planned drama" by the government to derive a political mileage in view of the next month's Lok Sabha elections. Maharashtra NCP chief Jayant Patil said it was already known that the economic offender was living in London after fleeing India. "Nirav Modi's arrest has been timed ahead of Lok Sabha polls...Some channels had showed Modi as being in London, which was known previously," Patil told reporters here. "It is a pre-planned drama by the government...to pretend as bringing back those who had fled the country till the Lok Sabha polls (otherwise) the BJP never intended to bring back the economic offenders," he alleged. Nirav Modi, the main accused in the USD 2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case, was arrested in London. His arrest came days after a London court issued an arrest warrant against him in response to a request by the Enforcement Directorate for his extradition in a .
TN CM likens DMK-Congress combine to "headless" body
Taking potshots at the DMK-Congress combine for not being able to project a Prime Minister candidate unanimously, top AIADMK leader and Chief Minister K Palaniswami said Wednesday the situation in the opposition camp was similar to a headless human body. Only a stable government under a good leader can provide good governance and ensure security and peace for the 130 crore people and it is the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi who fit the bill, he said. The BJP, PMK, DMDK, and Puthiya Tamizhagam are among the parties that form part of the AIADMK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu. Palaniswami said the AIADMK and its allies in unison, pointed to Narendra Modi as the next Prime Minister. "But to this day, the DMK-Congress combine could not even decide who their PM candidate is," the Chief Minister said, addressing a party workers meet here as party of election campaign. Slamming the DMK-Congress combine, Palaniswami said "You have not even declared who your Prime Ministerial ...
Modi bartering away national sovereignty: CPI-M
The Modi government is bartering away "nothing less than the national sovereignty of the country" by bowing down to the US over oil imports from Iran and Venezuela, the CPI-M has said.
NCP fields party MLA Sangram Jagtap in Ahmednagar LS seat
The NCP Wednesday announced candidature of party MLA Sangram Jagtap from Ahmednagar Lok Sabha seat, which has become a bone of contention between the Sharad Pawar-led party and the Congress. Senior Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil's son and new BJP entrant Sujay Vikhe Patil is in the contention as a saffron party nominee from the seat. The announcement on Jagtap's candidature was made by state NCP president Jayant Patil. Sangram's father Arun Jagtap is an MLC. Sangram is the son-in-law of BJP MLA from Rahuri, Shivajirao Kardile. Sujay joined the BJP recently in the wake of the NCP leadership refusing to exchange the Ahmednagar seat with Congress. Sujay, a neurosurgeon, wanted to make his political debut from this constituency. As per the current seat-sharing formula between the two opposition parties, the Congress will contest the Shirdi Lok Sabha seat (previously known as Ahmednagar-North), while the NCP will field its candidate in Ahmednagar (previously ...
New Kazakhstan Prez for renaming capital to 'Nursultan'
Newly sworn-in President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Wednesday suggested renaming the country's capital in honour of former leader Nursultan Nazarbayev following his sudden resignation on Tuesday."I propose ... naming the country's capital Astana in honour of the first president," Al Jazeera quoted Tokayev as saying."The opinion of [Nazarbayev] will be of special, one can say priority, importance in the development and adoption of strategic decisions," Tokayev added.Addressing the nation on television, the 78-year-old leader announced his resignation after remaining 30 years in power and handed over the duties of the State to Tokayev, who served as the Speaker of the Upper House.Nazarbayev stated that according to the Kazakh Constitution, the Speaker of the country's upper parliament chamber, Toqaev, is supposed to hold presidential authority for now onwards.Nazarbayev added that he will continue as leader of the ruling Nur Otan party and will hold his position of the ...
BJP delegation meets CEC, seeks action against AAP for violating MCC
A BJP delegation led by senior leader Vijender Gupta met Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Wednesday to complain against the alleged Model Code of Conduct (MCC) violation by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).The delegation which included MP Ramesh Bidhuri, Subhash Arya, Subhash Sachdeva, and Rajiv Babbar also alleged that the AAP is creating a rift among different communities and hurting religious sentiments. They also submitted a memorandum to the CEC and demanded strong action against the AAP convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other leaders."We also submitted more than a dozen complaints and three CDs against call centres and a copy of FIR against the Aam Aadmi Party for hurting religious sentiments," the statement said."The Election Commission patiently heard the BJP delegation and assured necessary action," said Gupta.The delegation also claimed the AAP has used the picture of cow and calf at the door of a house to hurt religious sentiments while being well ...
Two nominations filed for Jammu-Poonch constituency
Two candidates filed nomination papers for the Jammu-Poonch parliamentary constituency here on Wednesday, an official spokesperson said. Syed Aqib Hussain filed his nomination as the candidate of Independent People's Party and Rajiv Chuni filed the nomination as an independent, the spokesperson said. He said the two candidates filed their nomination papers before returning officer and deputy commissioner, Jammu, Ramesh Kumar. On March 18, the Election Commission of India issued notification for two Lok Sabha seats in the state -- Jammu-Poonch and Baramulla-Kupwara -- which will go to polls in the first phase on April 11. According to the notification, March 25 is the last date for filing nomination. Scrutiny of the nomination papers will be held on March 26 and the last day of withdrawing nomination is March 28. Polling for all six seats in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in five phases. The results will be announced on May 23.
Will not allow RSS to run the country, says Rahul
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that the RSS would not be allowed to run the country and it is the people of the country, particularly the northeast region, would govern their land and nation.
Unholy nexus between Cong and BJP, alleges CPI-M;BJP denies it
The CPI (M) in Kerala alleged Wednesday that there was an unholy alliance between the Congress and the BJP due to which the latter had put up weak candidates in five Lok Sabha constituencies in the State in the coming elections. CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan alleged that the RSS leadership had given instruction to the BJP to field weak candidates in five seats to help the Congress party. "As part of this unholy alliance, the BJP has decided to field weak candidates at Vatakara, Kannur, Kollam, Kozhikode and Ernakulam constituencies. The Congress will in turn help Kummanam Rajasekharan (veteran BJP leader and former Mizoram Governor), to win in Thiruvananthapuram constituency," Balakrishnan told reporters here. He also claimed the same plan was executed at Nemom during the 2016 assembly polls and alleged that the Congress had helped former Union minister O Rajagopal to win the saffron party's first and lone Assembly seat in the state. Kummanam Rajasekharan .