Page 1298 - Politics

SAD-BJP hold statewide protests against Punjab CM

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday jointly observed "Vishwasghat Divas" on completion of two years of Congress government led by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh.They claimed that the state government had failed to honour its commitments.The workers of both parties organised road shows and protests in all the assembly constituencies of the state. The demonstrations were majorly held in Amritsar, Bathinda, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Mohali and Gurdaspur.Many senior leaders of both the parties who addressed rallies alleged, that there has been total disillusionment from the ruling party as none of the poll promises have been fulfilled.They also alleged that the Congress government discontinued or significantly curtailed the various social welfare measures of the previous government.

Parrikar stable now, not on life-support: Ministers

Ailing Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's health condition has been fluctuating for several days and had only briefly worsened on Saturday morning, Union Minister Shripad Naik said.

Maha LS polls: Raju Shetti meets NCPs' Bhujbal in Nashik

Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana leader Raju Shetti, who is contesting from Hatkanangle Lok Sabha seat, Saturday met former Maharashtra deputy chief minister and senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal. Shetti's candidature is backed by the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress. He is sitting MP from the Hatkanangle parliamentary seat, comprising six Assembly segments spread over Sangli and Kolhapur districts. Bhujbal said Shetti's SSS would add strength to the opposition's alliance against the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena combine and its anti-farmer policies. He said government policies like demonetisation, the faulty implementation of the Goods and Services Tax and growing inflation was hurting farmers, forcing several of them to commit suicide. Shetti told reporters that the SSS was in talks to get one more Lok Sabha seat, either Wardha or Sangli.

Cong plan to meet Governor over TRS 'encouraging' defections

Congress in Telangana Saturday said it planned to meet the Governor E S L Narasimhan over the ruling TRS allegedly encouraging defections of its MLAs and that it would also stage agitations over the issue. The party said it plans to meet the Governor on March 18. Senior leader and former Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily would visit the city to assess the situation, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader M Bhatti Vikrarmarka said. The party would tour the state over the alleged defections and meet leaders of various political parties in the country, he said. Congress would also meet the President over the issue, he said. The Congress' campaign against the alleged defections came following the decision of six party MLAs to leave the party and join the ruling TRS. Speculation is rife that some more Congress MLAs may switch sides. The defections are against the principles of democracy, Vikramarka said. "The oath taken as Chief Minister to rule as per the Constitution has ...

India takes up with US use of F-16 by Pakistan

India has shared its concerns with the US on use of defence systems exported to Pakistan being used in "offensive action" against it, informed sources said here and noted that Washington could publicly clarify the issue in the coming days.

Rahul visits slain security personnel's families in Dehradun

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday paid a visit to the homes of two Army majors killed in separate incidents in Jammu and Kashmir after the Pulwama terror strike and one ASI, who was among the 40 security personnel killed in the suicide bombing of a CRPF convoy in the south Kashmir town. Immediately after a rally to kick-off the Congress's campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Uttarakhand, Gandhi rushed to meet the families of Major Chitresh Bisht, Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal and CRPF ASI Mohan Lal Raturi, residents of Dehradun who were killed in Jammu and Kashmir last month, days after the Pulwama terror strike. Gandhi, who spent around 15-20 minutes at each of the places, commiserated with the slain security personnel's kin, saying he could plumb the depth of their grief as he himself had lost his father, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, to an act of terror. Major Bisht had died while defusing an improvised explosive device (IED) along the Line of Control ...

Congress would have acted after Pulwama: Amarinder

While supporting the air strikes inside Pakistan by the Indian Air Force, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday said that "any government of the day, including the Congress, would have retaliated after the Pulwama (terror) attack".

Will target terrorists at 'point of origin':Jaitley

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said the Narendra Modi government has evolved a new security doctrine in which terrorists will be targeted "at their point of origin".

Raj HC says extramarital affair no ground for action against govt workers

The Rajasthan High Court has ruled that the state government cannot begin departmental proceedings against any government employee for being involved in an extramarital relationship. The court gave this ruling recently on a writ petition filed by two police officers, a man and a woman, who were charged by the state government in 1999 for having illicit relations. The state government had argued that the couple have violated the Rajasthan Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1971. Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma said adultery cannot be a ground for any departmental proceedings but the affected people can seek a legal remedy, including divorce. He said an "act of relationship entered by an individual with another female or male while his/her spouse is alive would be an act amounting to adultery. However, it will not be a ground for initiating departmental proceedings by the employer, he added. The judge said it was left best for the person who may be affected individually to take the remedy ..

CPI-M releases 1st list, repeats 8 of 9 sitting MPs

The CPI-M on Saturday released its first list of 45 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, which includes eight of its nine sitting MPs.

Some Thane Cong leaders refuse to work for NCP LS candidate

Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan has asked party officials to look into some workers refusing to participate in the poll campaign of the Thane NCP Lok Sabha candidate, city Congress unit chief Manoj Shinde said Saturday. The Congress and Nationalist Congress Party are fighting the April-May Lok Sabha polls in alliance. Shinde said heads of 11 Congress blocks had refused to work for the NCP candidate Anand Paranjpe, owing to ground level friction between workers of the two parties. "MPCC chief Ashok Chavan has asked me to hold an immediate meeting to solve the issue and submit a report," Shinde said. Thane Lok Sabha seat is currently held by Shiv Sena's Rajan Vichare.

Deputy district election officer placed under suspension in J&K's Kishtwar

A deputy district election officer was Saturday placed under suspension for "gross dereliction of duties" in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir, an official spokesman said. District Election Officer (DEO) Kishtwar, Angrez Singh Rana, ordered the suspension of his deputy Masood Bichoo in view of "slackness and irresponsible behavior shown by him towards urgent election-related issues", the spokesman said. He said the officer was placed under suspension with immediate effect and attached to the office of Additional Deputy Commissioner, Kishtwar. Project Manager, Integrated Watershed Management Programme, Kishtwar, Kishore Singh has been given the additional charge of deputy district election officer till further orders, the spokesman said.

Danish Ali joining BSP is "political arrangement," says JDS

JD(S) leader and Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy Saturday termed party general secretary Danish Ali joining Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party, as a "political arrangement" between the two parties. Ali joined the BSP on Saturday in the presence of the party's national general secretary Satish Mishra in Lucknow. According to JD(S) sources, Ali is likely to contest Lok Sabha polls from Amroha in Uttar Pradesh on a BSP ticket as JD(S) has no presence there, his home state. "Danish Ali, the JDS General Secretary, has joined BSP in consent with me and our national president Sri HD Devegowda in a purely political arrangement between the two parties. It is a thoughtful political decision taken by #JDS and BSP to win more seats in the Lok Sabha elections," Kumaraswamy tweeted. Ali as JD(S)' general secretary on Wednesday had successfully hammered out a seat sharing deal with Congress President Rahul Gandhi, according to which Congress will contest 20 seats and JD(S) ...

Katihar LS seat not "jagir" of Tariq Anwar, says NCP

NCP general secretary D P Tripathi Saturday said Katihar Lok Sabha seat in Bihar is not the "jagir" (fiefdom) of Tariq Anwar, who had won from that constituency on NCP ticket but joined the Congress last year. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has only one Lok Sabha seat in Bihar - Katihar - and a seat belongs to a party and not any individual, Tripathi told reporters here. "Only one seat is with us (in Bihar). Both the parties will decide on it. But the Congress has to decide whether or not it wants to grab our seat. I say this with a strong feeling that NCP's seat is not Tariq Anwar's jagir," he said. Anwar, on his part, left the decision on the Congress. "The party will decide," he said when asked from where he would contest in Bihar. In Bihar, the Congress is a constituent of the Grand Alliance along with the RJD and other parties like the RLSP and HAM(S) and the NCP is not a part of it. The "mahagatbandhan" is scheduled to announce its seat sharing on Monday. A ...

AIMIM will contest one Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra, says Prakash Ambedkar

Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) leader Prakash Ambedkar on Saturday said the AIMIM will contest the ensuing Lok Sabha polls from at least one seat in Maharashtra.This comes after VBA, which is an alliance of Prakash's Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh and Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM and Janata Dal-Secular in Maharashtra, failed to forge an alliance with the Congress party.Speaking to ANI, Ambedkar said: "I spoken to Owaisi this morning. We clarified that we are not going with the Congress. I have requested AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi to contest elections. They have communicated to us that they will contest from Aurangabad seat. The name of the candidate will be declared by AIMIM itself.""During the discussion, we have also requested him that they should contest one seat in Mumbai as well. They will decide in a day or two," he said.Talking about the other seats which the alliance will contest, he said: "I think we will wait for two days for the AIMIM to take a decision. If they communicate to ...

Odisha BJP chief's nephew Harish Chandra Panda joins BJD

Harish Chandra Panda, the nephew of Odisha Bharatiya Janata Party president Basant Kumar Panda on Saturday joined the Biju Janata Dal (BJD).Panda was welcomed in the party in the presence of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.Talking to ANI, Panda said: "In 2014 elections, I supported BJP as the nephew of Basant Panda. Later, I realized the youths were not getting due consideration in the BJP, which lacks team spirit.""BJD talks less and does more work. The party is working at the grassroots level for the welfare of the people," Panda said.Expressing his happiness, Odisha Chief Minister Patnaik said, "I welcome him in the BJD wholeheartedly. We are happy to have him in the party."As elections advance, several BJD leaders have also joined the BJP.Balabhadra Majhi, BJD MP from Nabarangpur, on Saturday, joined the BJP. Only recently he had announced to quit the BJD.Majhi joined the BJP at the party headquarters in New Delhi in the presence of Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural ...

Hyderabad: Former legislator, TDP leader join YSRCP

Former MLA from Pithapuram Vanga Geetha and former TDP leader Adala Prabhakar Reddy joined YSR Congress Party in presence of party chief Jagan Mohan Reddy here on Saturday.Apart from these leaders many independents also joined the YSR Congress Party.Others who joined the YSRCP party include Magunta Srinivasula Reddy, Dronamraju Srinivas, and Konathala Rama Krishna.The leaders were inducted in the presence of Jagan Mohan Reddy at his residence near Lotus Pond.Earlier on March 14, TDP MLC Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy had resigned from his party as well as the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council. Upon his resignation, he had also announced his decision to join YRSCP.

Sumitra Mahajan offers surrender security

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Saturday wrote a letter to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath and expressed her desire to surrender her security, in the wake of forthcoming General elections.In the letter she said," Model Code of Conduct is in force since March 10. I stopped using government vehicles in Indore since then. But still, security guards and police are available to me because I am on the constitutional position of Lok Sabha speaker. I would like to inform you that I am giving up these facilities.""In a peaceful place like Indore, I do not need these vehicles and security," she added..

Opposition raising 'fake issues' as real issues against govt don't exist: Jaitley

In a blog, the senior BJP leader said while the Narendra Modi government is contesting the Lok Sabha elections on "a pro-incumbency performance platform", the Opposition is in "a state of panic" and has a single point "negative" programme - 'remove one man'.He wrote that he had analysed the issues raised by the Opposition, including the Rafale, the GST, demonetisation, bank loan waiver, Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Pulwama and Balakot, and that each of these were "fake"."In the absence of any real issue against the government, (Congress President) Rahul Gandhi has led not only his party but the entire Opposition to rely on fake and manufactured issues," Jaitley said."They raise fake issues, create an echo effect and then believe their falsehood to be true," he said, adding, "if fake issues are taken out of Rahul Gandhi's speech, nothing will perhaps be left."Jaitley said the government has a leader with whom "the comfort level of the voter is high" while "the Opposition is in a state of .

CM Amarinder Singh questions Pak's intent behind Kartarpur Corridor

Questioning Pakistan's intention behind opening the Kartarpur Corridor, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday said that Pakistan's agenda was nefarious, political, and aimed at exploiting the sentiments of the Sikh community."Corridor, which was a matter of devotion for the Sikhs, there was a need to exercise caution. Pakistan is doing it with a different intent, which is not at all aimed at promoting peace," the chief minister said underlining the need to keep a close watch on the Corridor."India's agenda is religious but theirs (Pakistan) is totally disruptive," he added.The chief minister further said, "While Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan talks of peace, their Army Chief General Bajwa continues to promote his evil designs.""The number of ISI-backed terror modules busted in Punjab in recent months indicated their true intent. The grenades used in Maqsudan and Pathankot attacks were of Pakistan origin," he added.Reiterating his demand for 'khule darshan' at