Page 1269 - Politics
LS polls: BJP's key 'invisible' general secretaries
As Lok Sabha elections near, the post of "Sangathan Mahamantri" (General Secretaries (Organisation)) becomes increasingly important in the BJP. The incumbent is a key political link with partys ideological mentor RSS and carries out coordination at various levels.
Jana Sena announces 3rd candidates' list for Andhra
Telugu actor Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena party on Tuesday announced candidates for one more Lok Sabha seat and 13 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh.
After alliance with SP-BSP, RLD looks to revive itself in west UP
After an alliance with the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Rashtriya Lok Dal is looking to regain its base in western UP and win the three seats it will be contesting in the coming Lok Sabha election. In 2014, the defeat of the then Union minister and Rashtriya Lok Dal president Ajit Singh in Baghpat to BJP's Satyapal Singh, who had resigned as Mumbai Police commissioner just before the election, was "unexpected" for many as he had never lost the seat since 1999. "The defeat was seen as a big sign of how the BJP was consolidating the dominant Jat vote in its favour. This time, RLD has an opportunity to take a sweet revenge by improving its performance with the help of SP and BSP and get back the Jat vote in its fold," said political analyst Manjula Upadhyay. RLD leaders are confident of repeating their performance of Kairana LS bypoll last year when they succeeded in getting back Jat votes they had lost to the BJP in 2014. "During Kairana byelection, RLD leader Jayant
Central forces pro-active in Bengal, Trinamool peeved
The streets, lanes and alleys of various pockets in West Bengal, including the eastern metropolis, are now filled with the sounds of heavy boots of the central paramilitary forces, as the troopers hold route marches, go door to door warning possible miscreants and asking people whether they are facing threats in connection with the polls.
Delhi businessman is BSP candidate from Agra
While the BJP and the Congress are still finalising names, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has sprung a surprise by naming a Delhi businessman, Kunwar Rajvir Singh, as the 'gathbandhan' candidate, for the Fatehpur Sikri constituency.
BJP downplays Priyanka's boat yatra, call it a 'picnic'
Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Dinesh Sharma equated Priyanka Gandhi's "Ganga Yatra" with a picnic."There are some families, in the past, they were called 'Rajgharana'. They come in the election season to celebrate picnic and return only after 5 years. It is obvious, that this 'boat yatra' is for the vote only," said Dinesh Sharma."The SP-BSP has said that they don't need Congress because it has maligned intentions. So this 'boat Yatra' is 'vote yatra' with maligned intentions," said Dinesh Sharma.Congress star campaigner Priyanka, kicked-off three-day party campaign for the national polls yesterday. She took a boat from Sangam to Arail ghat. The campaign which was launched from Prayagraj will end in Varanasi.Uttar Pradesh will go to polls during all seven phases of the election to be held on April 11, April 18, April 23, April 29, May 6, May 12 and May 19. Counting of votes will be done on May 23.
TDP releases final list of candidates for state and national polls
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Tuesday released its final list of 25 candidates for Andhra Pradesh for ensuing Lok Sabha elections. The party also released its third list of 36 candidates for the upcoming state polls.With this announcement, the Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu-led party has finalised its candidates for both state and national polls.In general elections, Ashok Gajapathi Raju will contest from Vizianagaram, Kesineni Srinivas from Vijayawada, Galla Jayadev from Guntur and N Sivaprasad from Chittoor.Notably, the party has also made a few changes in the first list of Assembly Candidates. After Adala Prabhakar Reddy severed ties with the TDP, Abdul Aziz will now contest from Nellore rural Assembly seat.Also, Vetukuri Venkata Sivaramaraju who was fielded from Undi MLA seat has now been awarded a Lok Sabha ticket. Mantena Ramaraju Raju will now contest from the assembly seat.There are 25 Lok Sabha and175 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh will go to polls in a ...
TDP announces candidates for 25 LS seats in Andhra
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Tuesday announced its candidates for all the 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh for the coming general elections.
Interesting poll battle on cards in Pauri
With a strong possibility of Congress fielding senior BJP leader BC Khanduri's son Manish from Pauri Garhwal, a Lok Sabha seat currently held by his father, the electoral battle on the high-profile constituency promises to be interesting. Manish Khanduri joined the Congress at Rahul Gandhi's rally here on Saturday, saying he had the blessings of his father, who has decided not to contest the election this time. Though his candidature was not announced at the rally, political circles here have been abuzz with speculation about the Congress fielding Manish from Pauri Garhwal. If he is fielded by the Congress, which is likely to announce its candidates on the five Lok Sabha seats in Uttarakhand soon, the poll battle on the seat will certainly become interesting. The main reason for this would be that both Congress and BJP will go to polls hoping to capitalise on senior Khanduri's popularity, Manish for being his son and the BJP for being his party. BC Khanduri may also face the dilemma ..
Germany launches 5G auction amid row with US over Huawei
Germany launches its auction Tuesday for the construction of an ultra-fast 5G mobile network as a transatlantic dispute rages over security concerns surrounding giant Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei. The United States has threatened to end intelligence sharing with Berlin if it does not exclude hardware made by Huawei from the infrastructure, arguing that Chinese equipment could help Beijing spy on Western companies and governments. Attempting to play down the row on Monday, Jochen Homann, chairman of the German Federal Network Agency (BNA), said: "No matter whether a supplier comes from Sweden or China, companies must meet certification requirements and security checks." '5G' - 'fifth generation' - is the latest, high-speed generation of cellular mobile communications and Berlin will require winning bidders to offer 5G service to at least 98 percent of German households, motorways and rail lines. Germany, Europe's biggest economy whose wireless networks rank 46th in the world
Time for N Korea to take concrete steps: Moon adviser
North Korea should take "actual action" towards giving up its nuclear weapons to break the deadlock in talks with Washington, a top security adviser to the South's president said, suggesting Seoul's patience with Pyongyang may be wearing thin. President Moon Jae-in was instrumental in brokering the negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington, seizing on the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea to catalyse a rapid diplomatic rapprochement after a year of missile tests, threats and tensions. But the first summit between the North's leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump in Singapore in June produced only a vague commitment to "work toward complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula". Their second meeting in Hanoi last month broke up without agreement, or even a joint statement, as the two failed to come to a deal over sanctions relief and denuclearisation. Since then, Pyongyang has said it is considering suspending the talks and images have emerged of rebuilding works ..
Trump donates part of salary to Homeland Security
US President Donald Trump has said that he would be donating part of his annual presidential salary to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
UK Speaker rules out third vote on PM May's Brexit deal
Embattled British Prime Minister Theresa May's crisis over the Brexit in the UK Parliament has worsened as House of Commons Speaker John Bercow disallowed any attempt to hold a third vote on her withdrawal agreement with the EU which has already been voted down by MPs twice. Bercow ruled that he would not allow another vote on the government motion if it remained "substantially the same" after it was defeated by a huge 230-vote margin in January and a smaller 149-vote margin last week. He said parliamentary conventions dating back to 1604 meant MPs could not be asked to vote on precisely the same subject twice, indicating that he had allowed the second vote as the government had claimed some changes to the controversial Irish backstop clause offered an improved deal for Britain's exit from the European Union (EU). "It is a necessary rule to ensure the sensible use of the House's time and the proper respect for the decisions which it takes," he said. "If the government was to bring ...
Haiti parliament ousts prime minister in no-confidence vote
Haitian Prime Minister Henry Ceant has been thrown out of office by a no-confidence vote prompted by government dysfunction and inability to quash inflation, blackouts and frequent opposition protests that have paralysed the country. The Chamber of Deputies voted 93-6, with three abstaining, on Monday to replace Ceant as soon as President Jovenel Moise and the heads of parliament's two houses agree on a replacement. Until then, Ceant and his Cabinet will remain in place with limited powers, raising the prospect of even rockier government performance. Moise and Ceant have had frequent disagreements that have hampered Ceant's ability to carry out his constitutional duty to run the state. Ceant has held office since July, when his predecessor was removed for mismanagement of the end of subsidised oil aid from Venezuela.
Naidu can stoop to any level: Jagan blames Andhra CM for uncle's death
YSR Congress Party chief Jagan Mohan Reddy claimed that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu can "stoop to any level".Addressing a public gathering here at Rayachoti, Jagan claimed that the Telugu Desam Party Chief eliminated his uncle YS Vivekananda Reddy to demoralise him."Chandrababu can stoop to any level and has eliminated my own uncle to demoralise me. The ghastly murder takes place under his guidance, it is his (state) police that takes up the investigation and it is his friendly media that tomtoms spinning story after story," he claimed.Jagan alleged that Naidu has been resorting to "murder politics" and using his "money, muscle and media power.""We will have to fight the battle against all these factors and reject the corrupt practice," he said."The ruling party (Telugu Desam Party) is steeped in rampant corruption and the ruling party from leadership to grassroots level workers have been involved in kickbacks. Special Category Status (SCS) was mortgaged for ...
US, N Korea trying to get sequencing right: Pompeo on denuclearisation talks
The United States and North Korea are trying to get the "sequencing" right in negotiations to dismantle the communist country's nuclear weapon programme and open a new future for Pyongyang, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said on Monday.He made the comments in response to North Korea's criticism of the US' "gangster-like" demands on denuclearisation. North Korea also threatened to suspend talks with Washington and resume missile launches and nuclear tests.Asked on the stalemate between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during their meeting in Hanoi last month, Yonhap News Agency quoted Pompeo saying: "I can't say much about the details of the negotiation as those are important private conversations. But it's clearly a range of issues around timing and sequencing and how it is we achieve this."He underlined that Trump's commitment to a brighter future for the North Koreans is "very real.""But it must follow -- it has to follow the verified ...
Trump donates $100,000 from salary to Homeland Security Dept
US President Donald Trump on Monday announced that he was donating USD 100,000 from his annual presidential salary to the Department of Homeland Security.Trump posted a photo on his Twitter handle of a cheque to the Department of Homeland Security amounting to USD 100,000, which is one-quarter of his annual salary of USD 400,000."While the press doesn't like writing about it, nor do I need them to, I donate my yearly Presidential salary of $400,000.00 to different agencies throughout the year, this to Homeland Security," he tweeted..
Will contest polls from any place Rahul asks me to: Digvijaya to Kamal Nath
Responding to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath's suggestion to contest from a "tough" seat in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said he will fight from wherever Congress president Rahul Gandhi asks him to."To accept challenges is my habit. I won from Raghogarh despite the Janata Party wave in 1977. I am ready to contest the Lok Sabha elections from wherever my leader Rahul Gandhi ji says,'' Singh tweeted."I'm grateful to Kamal Nath for thinking that I'm competent enough to fight Lok Sabha elections," read another tweet by the Congress leader.Nath had asked Singh to choose a seat where the Congress has not won for three decades or more like Bhopal, Indore, and Vidisha- seats that are considered to be strongholds of the BJP.It is being said that Singh is looking to contest from Rajgarh seat, which he had represented in 1984 and 1991.Interestingly, BJP leader Sumitra Mahajan has been continuously winning Indore parliamentary seat from 1991 to
Erdogan campaign use of mosque shooter video draws NZ ire
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has drawn a sharp rebuke from New Zealand for using controversial video shot by the Christchurch mosque gunman as an election campaign prop. Erdogan, campaigning for local elections this month, has presented the attack as part of an assault on Turkey and Islam more broadly and projected the video of the killings at his rallies over the weekend. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters protested on Monday that such politicisation of the massacre "imperils the future and safety of the New Zealand people and our people abroad, and it's totally unfair". Peters announced on Tuesday that he would be travelling to Turkey this week at Istanbul's request to attend a special meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Three Turkish nationals were wounded in the rampage, that killed 50 worshippers at two mosques in the southern New Zealand city of Christchurch on Friday. The accused gunman, a self-avowed white supremacist from Australia, livestreamed ...
Real opportunity to fundamentally remake US-Brazil ties, says White House
There is a "real opportunity" to fundamentally remake America's relationship with Brazil, the White House said Tuesday, a day before the Oval Office meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Brazilian counterpart, Jair Bolsonaro. The White House has thrown a red-carpet welcome for the newly elected Brazilian leader, which is seen as an effort by the Trump administration to cement ties between the two countries at a time when China is spreading its wings in Latin America and Venezuela is facing a domestic strife. "This is a real, historic opportunity where the United States and Brazil are aligned on domestic, regional, and foreign policy priorities," a senior White House official told reporters during a conference call on the eve of the meeting. The two countries plan to announce a joint statement that will have a lot of deliverables, the official said. "It's the first time in a long time that a Brazilian president who is not anti-American, comes to Washington," Bolsonaro, ...