Page 1274 - Politics
'Will get rid of Angel tax after Cong comes to power'
Congress President Rahul Gandhi Monday said that angel tax goes counter to the philosophy of startups and his party would get rid of it on coming to power. "I have been informed about the angel tax and angel tax goes counter to the philosophy of startups...we are going to get rid of this tax. When we come to power, we will scrap it...you can call me on that one," Gandhi said. The Congress chief was speaking to a gathering of entrepreneurs at a technology park here. To a question on GST by a participant, Gandhi, calling it a "disaster", said the Congress, on coming to power, will work to give "one GST", which is simple and lowest tax possible. Stating that the Congress had come up with the idea of the Goods and Services Tax with an aim to simplify things, he said the current government launched it in a hurry. "Frankly it is a disaster. The definition of GST is one tax, so even though this government calls it a GST, it is not. It is five different layers of taxes and it is ..
Goa: BJP, allies to stake claim after CM selection: Shah
BJP president Amit Shah Monday said his party is holding discussion with its allies in Goa to decide the new chief minister and will soon meet the Governor to stake claim to form government. Shah was in Goa to attend the funeral of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who died at 63 Sunday after battling pancreatic cancer. The BJP president also met local party leaders in a star hotel here along with Union minister Nitin Gadkari. "The process to form new government will continue now. Senior BJP leader and Union minister Nitin Gadkari is here. We are in discussion with both the coalition parties (GFP and MGP) and also independent MLAs," Shah said. "In some time from now, after discussing with them, the decision on the new chief minister would be taken. "And like the Parrikar-led government, this BJP-led coalition, too, will work for the welfare of Goans," he said. Shah said Gadkari, the BJP's Goa in-charge, will talk to all the coalition partners to clear the way to form new ..
JKNPP announces two candidates for LS seats in Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) Monday announced two candidates for the Lok Sabha elections in Kashmir region. Jahangir Ahmed Khan will contest from Baramulla constituency and Abdul Rashid Ganie from Srinagar constituency, a party spokesman said. The candidates were approved by the parliamentary board of JKNPP. The candidate for the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat will be announced soon, he added.
Tehran aims to sue US individuals over sanctions
Tehran is preparing a lawsuit in Iran against US individuals involved with economic sanctions imposed by Washington, President Hassan Rouhani said Monday. Rouhani said the presidency's legal affairs office as well as the justice and foreign ministers have been tasked with "drawing up a lawsuit against all those within America involved with designing and executing these sanctions". The case would be lodged in a "competent court inside Iran," he said, quoted by state television. Speaking after the last cabinet meeting of Iran's calendar year which ends on March 20, Rouhani condemned the sanctions as a "crime against humanity" that was hitting ordinary Iranians. "The world should know that what America has done was not against the Iranian state, it was not against Iran's nuclear programme, it was against the wellbeing of the Iranian people," he said. Rouhani said the sanctions targeted "the normal life of the people... the food supply... the medical supply of the people". Last May, US ...
BJP, alliance partners will stake claim soon: Shah
The BJP along with its alliance partners will shortly stake claim to form a government in Goa, BJP President Amit Shah said on Monday.
LS polls: NC chief Farooq Abdullah to seek re-election from Srinagar
National Conference president Farooq Abdullah will seek re-election from the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat while former Jammu and Kashmir speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone will be the party's candidate from the Baramulla constituency, a NC spokesman said Monday. The NC parliamentary board, which met here on Monday, also authorised the party president to take a final decision on any coalition with "secular forces taking into account the national political situation", according to the spokesman. The board met at the NC's headquarters 'Nawa-e-Subha'.The meeting was chaired by Abdullah, he said. Members of the National Conference (NC) parliamentary board were unanimously of the opinion that the party should contest all the six parliamentary constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, the spokesman said. The board has decided to field Abdullah from the Srinagar-Budgam constituency, and senior leader and former speaker of the state assembly Mohammad Akbar Lone from the Baramulla constituency, he said. The ...
Political activities yet to pick up pace in J&K
Even a week after the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the poll schedule, political activities are yet to pick up pace in Jammu and Ladakh divisions with most parties busy finalising nominees for the Lok Sabha seats. Voting to elect the 17th Lok Sabha will be held over seven phases from April 11 to May 19 and the counting of votes will take place on May 23, the ECI said Sunday last. The state has six Lok Sabha seats. Except the party offices of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress, the National Conference, the Peoples Democratic Party and the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP), which are bustling with activists, not much campaigning is going on in the state. "We are busy at the head office here in finalising the poll plan, chain of meetings of office bearers, and organising of morchas," a senior BJP leader in Jammu told PTI on Monday. The leaders said they are currently giving final touches to their digital campaigns, posters, banners, schedule of .
Parrikar was 17th chief minister in the country and second in Goa to die while in office
Manohar Parrikar was 17th chief minister in the country and second in Goa who died while still in office. Parrikar, 63, a former defence minister, died on Sunday at his private residence in Dona Paula near the state capital after battling a pancreatic cancer for over last year. Before Parrikar, Dayanand Bandokar, the leader of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), died in August 1973 while occupying the post. He had swept the polls in 1963 to become the first chief minister of Goa. Under his leadership, the party swept the 1967 and 1972 polls in the state. The MGP is currently an ally of the BJP in the state. Tamil Nadu witnessed deaths of three sitting chief ministers. The first one was C N Annadurai, a mentor to future chief ministers of the state. Under his leadership, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) defeated the Congress in the 1967 assembly polls. The Congress has been out of power in the state since then. Annadurai died just two years after being in the office. The ...
NC politics hostage to cricket scam, alleges PDP
The People's Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday said the politics of their rival National Conference (NC) was hostage to its Chief Farooq Abdullah's alleged involvement in a cricket scam.
Gunman kills 3 on Dutch tram, mayor says terror likely
A gunman killed three people and wounded nine others on a tram in the central Dutch city of Utrecht on Monday morning in what the mayor said appeared to be a terror attack, touching off a manhunt that saw heavily armed officers with dogs zero in on an apartment building close to the shooting. Authorities immediately raised the terror alert for the area to the maximum level. Dutch military police went on extra alert at Dutch airports and at key buildings in the country as the Utrecht manhunt took place. A few hours after the shooting, Utrecht police released a photo of a 37-year-old man born in Turkey who they said was "associated with the incident." The photo showed a bearded man on board a tram, dressed in a dark blue hooded top. Police warned citizens not to approach the man, whom they identified as Gokmen Tanis, but call authorities instead. The Utrecht attack came three days after 50 people were killed when an immigrant-hating white nationalist opened fire at two mosques in ...
NC to contest all six seats from Jammu and Kashmir in LS polls
The National Conference Monday decided to contest all six Lok Sabha seats in the state, but has left a slim possibility of an alliance with the Congress "based on the national scenario". The National Conference and the Congress have been in talks for the past few days for a pre-poll alliance. The Parliamentary board of the National Conference met here this evening after which a decision to contest all the six Lok Sabha seats was taken, the party said. Seemingly, the talks could not move as there were differences over seat-sharing, sources said. But, in what could be seen as a possible opportunity for a tie-up, NC sources said the party's Parliamentary Board left the final decision on party's patron Farooq Abdullah. "based on the national scenario".
Trump says media trying to blame him for NZ massacre
President Donald Trump says he is unfairly being blamed for the New Zealand mosque massacre. Trump tweeted Monday that the media "is working overtime to blame me for the horrible attack in New Zealand." He adds: "They will have to work very hard to prove that one." The gunman in last week's massacre left a document in which he called himself a white nationalist and referred to Trump as "a symbol of renewed white identity." Trump had expressed sympathy for the victims, but played down the threat of white nationalism across the world, saying he didn't consider it a rising threat despite data suggesting it's growing. In the past, Trump has drawn criticism for saying "both sides" were to blame for violence at a deadly white supremacist demonstration.
Shimla DC transferred on EC's directive
The Himachal Pradesh government transferred the Deputy Commissioner-cum-Returning Officer (RO) of Shimla on the directions of the Election Commission of India (ECI), a state official said. Director Town and Country Planning, Rajeshwar Goel, has been posted as new Shimla DC in place of Amit Kashyap, Himachal Pradesh Special Secretary Personnel Amarjeet Singh said. Kashyap has been shifted as Director tourism and civil aviation with additional charge of Director Town and Country Planning, he added. Kashyap has reportedly been shifted in connection with his "inaction" in alleged tampering of electronic voting machines (EVMs) by then Chopal Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Mukesh Repaswal in October last year. Repaswal had already been transferred on ECI's directions as Special Secretary, Education, on March 12. A day after Repaswal's transfer, the state Congress demanded registration of a criminal case against him for allegedly tampering with EVMs. In a written complaint to the State ...
INPT announces candidates after talks with Congress fail
The Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT), a regional tribal party of Tripura, Monday announced candidates for both the Lok Sabha seats in the state. The INPT decided to declare its candidates after its talks for seat sharing with the opposition Congress failed, party president Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl said. Hrangkhawl, an insurgent turned politician, said INPT leaders met Congress president Rahul Gandhi recently in New Delhi and signed a memorandum of understanding for joint fight against the BJP. "However, the Tripura Pradesh Congress president gave us a condition that I have to resign as the party president and contest as an independent. This is unacceptable to us," Hrangkhawl told a press conference. Hrangkhawl and INPT general secretary Jagadish Debbarma would contest from East and West Tripura Lok Sabha constituencies respectively. The INPT president said his party had also held dialogues with several other regional parties. Reacting to the development, state
Priyanka rides boat to test political waters in UP, attacks PM
Seeking to navigate the Congress towards regaining its political moorings in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday began her 'Ganga Yatra' on boat with a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urged voters to bring in a government that works for them. The 47-year-old Congress general secretary, clad in a green cotton saree and pink blouse, interacted with a cross section of people, including students, and invited some of them to join her on the motorboat as she undertook her much anticipated ride from the Manaiya Ghat in Kachnar tehsil of Prayagraj district. Addressing the people at Sirsa Ghat and other places where she halted during the boat-ride, Priyanka took a swipe at Modi's "main bhi chowkidar' campaign, saying "chowkidars are for the rich, not for farmers", and alleged that the issues of religion and caste are being raised as the government has failed on the development front. "Unki (Prime Minister) marzi apne naam ke aage kya ...
Modi trying to turn whole nation into "chowkidars" after being
Mocking the Prime Minister's 'chowkidar' campaign, Congress president Rahul Gandhi Monday said Narendra Modi was attempting to convert the whole country into chowkidars after being "caught" in the Rafale fighter jet deal. Attacking Modi's "Main bhi chowkidar' (I too am watchman) blitz, he said "Chowkidar was caught indulging in theft and as he was caught, chowkidar says the whole of Hindustan is chowkidar. "But before getting caught, the entire Hindustan was not chowkidar." Gandhi stepped up the attack a day after BJP intensified its "Main bhi chowkidar" campaign with Modi and other party leaders, including its president Amit Shah prefixing the word chowkidar to their names in their Twitter profile. Modi's Twitter account profile identified him as "Chowkidar Narendra Modi" as did other BJP leaders in a coordinated campaign against Gandhi's sustained "Chowkidar Chor Hai" jibe at the prime minister over the Rafale deal. "Before getting caught only Narendra Modi was ...
70 organisations to campaign against BJP in 50 cities over jobs
Ahead of the elections, about 70 organisations from across India have come together to reach out to voters and campaign in 50 cities, highlighting the "failures" of the Narendra Modi government in creating employment, its leaders said Monday. Young India National Coordination Committee, the platform comprising mostly of left-backed outfits, will start its campaign from Badaun in Uttar Pradesh in the first week of April, they said. The first phase of Lok Sabha elections are scheduled to be held on April 11. "The YINCC marched on February 7 against the government, where youth of the nation raised questions on why the promises of quality education and employment were not fulfilled. The YINCC has now decided that it will campaign against Modi during the elections and ask people to not vote them," said N Sai Balaji of students' outfit AISA. The campaign will start from Badaun because Najeeb Ahmed, the Jawaharlal Nehru University student who has been missing since October 2016, is from ...
Priyanka's boat is directionless, carrying party without any support base: BJP
The BJP on Monday took a dig at Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's 'Ganga Yatra' on a boat in Uttar Pradesh, saying nobody knows how far a "directionless boat carrying a party without any support base" will go. Terming the entry of Priyanka Gandhi, the 47-year-old Congress general secretary and Rahul Gandhi's sister, into politics as a failure of the party, the BJP said the opposition party cannot look beyond family for its leadership. "Bring Priyanka to save the Congress, this is purpose of the party to bring her into politics. It proves the failure of Rahul Gandhi's leadership," BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said at a press conference at the party office here, On Priyanka's campaigning on a boat, Trivedi termed her boat as directionless and carrying a party without support base. "...people are travelling on boat... a directionless boat carrying a party without any support base led by unwise leadership and doing politics without values, one can easily imagine how far such a boat ..
BJP Ministers, MLAs denied ticket for Assembly polls
All seems to be not well in the Arunachal Pradesh BJP, just ahead of the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.
Jana Sena announces candidates for 5 more LS seats
Actor Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena on Monday announced candidates for four more Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh and one in Telangana. It also declared 32 more candidates for the Andhra Pradesh Assembly polls.