Page 1344 - Politics
Senior AAP leaders allege harassment of call centre employees hired by party
Senior AAP leaders Atishi and Raghav Chadha on Tuesday met Delhi Police officials to lodge their protest over alleged harassment of call centre employees who have been hired by them to inform people about voter deletion. The Election Commission had asked Delhi Police to take "necessary action" against those making "misleading" phone calls to people about the city's electoral rolls, following which an FIR was registered. A BJP delegation met the Chief Election Commissioner and alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party was making such phone calls. The AAP leaders have been alleging that police have been harassing the call centre employees in the matter for which Atishi and Chadha met Delhi Police officials to lodge their protest over the matter. Chadha, while addressing the media outside the police headquarters, alleged that "the BJP in the past four years has been trying to destroy the AAP". A senior police official said they are probing the matter and are questioning the call centre employees .
Four TRS candidates, 1 of ally win TLC elections
Four candidates of the ruling TRS and a nominee of its ally AIMIM won the election (MLAs quota) to fill five vacancies in the Telangana Legislative Council on Tuesday, which was boycotted by the main opposition Congress. TRS nominees Mohd Mehmood Ali, who is also the Home Minister, Seri Subhash Reddy, Satyawati Rathod and Yegge Mallesam and AIMIM candidate Mirza Riyaz ul Hasan Effendi emerged victorious in the poll, legislative sources said. The total number of votes polled was 98 in the 120 member House (including nominated MLA). Mehmood Ali, Subhash Reddy and Rathod got 20 votes each, while Mallesam and Effendi obtained 19 each, they said. The 22 absentee members included Congress (19), TDP (2) and BJP (1). The Council election generated political heat following the decision of four Congress MLAs and a TDP MLA to switch over to the ruling TRS in the run-up to the poll. Banking on the support of its 19 MLAs and the two TDP members, Congress had fielded a nominee. However,
Nepal PM holds meeting with Dahal on Cabinet reshuffle
Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli held a meeting with Nepal Communist Party co-chairperson Pusha Kamal Dahal on Tuesday to discuss the Cabinet reshuffle."We are considering changes in the Council of Ministers. We are looking at efficiency, contribution, among other factors, in order to make these changes," The Himalayan quoted Dahal as saying.This comes days after the NCP government signed an 11-point agreement with Madhesh Alliance co-ordinator CK Raut.According to the news website, after the deal was signed various NCP ministers expressed qualm over the government action and said that they were not informed beforehand. On Tuesday, the disgruntled Madhesh-based party Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-N) informed the House of Representative that it is no longer in support of the government under the leadership of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
BJP may emerge as single largest party but Narendra Modi won't be PM again: Sharad Pawar
NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said that BJP may emerge as the single largest party in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls, but Narendra Modi will not become the Prime Minister for the second term."I don't think that Narendra Modi will become Prime Minister again as the BJP will not get the required number in the Lok Sabha elections. However, BJP may emerge as the single largest party which cannot form the government without the support of other political parties," he said.Talking to media persons here, Pawar, also a former Union Minister, further said: "If the BJP takes the support of other parties to form the government, then the parties which support the BJP will look for someone else as their prime minister."In a surprise announcement on Monday, Pawar said that he would not contest the ensuing Lok Sabha elections, which came within a month when he declared that he would enter the poll fray.The 78-year-old Rajya Sabha member instead decided to launch his grand nephew Parth from Maval ...
As son joins BJP, Cong's Vikhe Patil gets Sena MP's invite
Hours after his son Sujay joined the ruling BJP Tuesday, senior Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patel got an offer from the Shiv Sena to join it. Rajya Sabha MP and senior Sena leader Sanjay Raut, who invited Vikhe Patil to join his party, also reminded the latter that he and his father were once ministers in the Uddhav Thackeray-led party's government. Shirdi MLA Vikhe Patil, also Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly, is the son of veteran politician and former Union Minister of State for Finance Minister Balasaheb Vikhe Patil. "Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil should join the Shiv Sena and make our alliance (with the BJP) stronger. Both he and his father were ministers in Sena government. It is good if the third generation of the family is also a part of the alliance," Raut said. Sujay Vikhe Patil had earlier in the day joined the BJP in presence of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis after the Sharad Pawar-led NCP refused to relinquish its claim on the ...
Rahul says BJP will be ousted, vows one GST
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the BJP-led NDA government will be ousted in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and promised farm loan waiver, minimum income guarantee scheme and a single-rate GST regime if the Congress comes to power at the Centre.
LS polls: Race for party tickets hots up in Manipur
Several politicians and retired government officials in Manipur are in the race for tickets for the Lok Sabha polls.
BJD, TRS, YSRCP to be key to government formation: Survey
Telangana's TRS, Andhra Pradesh's YSR Congress and Odisha's BJD are likely to hold the key in government formation after election results of the seven phase Lok Sabha elections are out on May 23.
Campaign for Mandya seat in Karnataka intensifies (Dangal 2019)
Karnataka's ruling coalition allies, the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and the Congress, are engaged in an intense engagement over the seat-sharing arrangement in the state, particularly in the JD-S stronghold of Mandya.
J&K BJP backs EC's decision to defer assembly polls
The Jammu and Kashmir unit of the BJP Tuesday supported the Election Commission's (EC) decision to defer assembly election in the state due to security reasons. The Election Commission had on Sunday announced the schedule for Lok Sabha election but decided to defer the assembly elections in J-K drawing sharp reactions from leaders of various political parties in the state. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said criticism by some parties, who had boycotted the recently held panchayat and urban local bodies elections, was not justified. "Though the BJP was ready for simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the Assembly polls, we welcome the decision of the EC to conduct parliamentary elections alone," state BJP president Ravinder Raina said here. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of inaugurating the party's election office for Jammu-Poonch parliamentary constituency here, Raina said the terror attacks in Pulwama and Jammu bus stand besides the continuous shelling by Pakistan ...
Pawar faces family push to fight poll, may not relent
A day after Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar opted out of the Lok Sabha elections, fresh pressures mounted on him to reconsider his decision on Tuesday.
EU at UN warns against military action in Venezuela
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini warned Tuesday that military action in Venezuela would be unacceptable and that a solution to the crisis should not be "imposed from outside," putting the United States on notice. Addressing the Security Council, Mogherini said the standoff between President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido must be resolved though political, peaceful and democratic means. "We believe that no military development, from inside or outside of the country, would be acceptable," Mogherini told a council meeting on cooperation between the European Union and the United Nations. "And a solution cannot be, and should never be, imposed from the outside." President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that all options are on the table, refusing to rule out a US military intervention in Venezuela, which is in the grips of an economic meltdown that the opposition blames on the Maduro government. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo late Monday announced ..
Lankan parliament approves 2019 budget
The Sri Lankan parliament on Tuesday approved the budget for 2019, which had been delayed for four months due to a constitutional coup triggered by President Maithripala Sirisena dismissing premier Ranil Wickremesinghe. The budget was passed with 119 votes in the 225-member house. The main Tamil party, TNA, voted in favour of the budget, while Sirisena's SLFP party abstained from voting. The budget was due in Novemeber last year, but it was scuttled after Sirisena sacked Wickremesinghe on October 26, triggering the island's worst consitutional crisis, which lasted nearly three months and was restored only after the intervention of the Supreme Court. Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was appointed as prime minister by Sirisena in the October 26 coup, and his supporters opposed the budget, accusing the government of heaping more tax burdens on people. Significantly, Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC), the trade union-cum- political party representing plantation workers of Indian origin and was acting .
BJP govt released Masood Azhar, Doval escorted him: Rahul
Congress president Rahul Gandhi Tuesday raked up the 1999 release of Pakistan-based terrorist Masood Azhar to attack the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Pulwama suicide bombing. Sounding the bugle for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Modi's home state, he fired a fresh salvo at the NDA regime on a slew of issues, including the Rafale deal, demonetisation and the implementation of the GST. Addressing a rally at Adalaj village of Gandhinagar district in the presence of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, his sister and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other top party leaders, he reiterated that there was massive corruption in the Rafale deal. "He (Modi) talks about patriotism. Masood Azhar conducted bomb attack in Pulwama. I would like to ask Narendra Modiji, who released Masood Azhar and sent him to Pakistan? (It was) the BJP government, the Vajpayee government put Masood Azhar on a special plane, gave him money and sent him to Pakistan," Rahul Gandhi ...
Mamata declares nominees for all 42 WB LS seats, drops 10
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today released the list of ruling TMC candidates for all the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, dropping 10 sitting MPs and bringing in 18 new faces. The development put an end to all speculations over the tempestuous Trinamool Congress supremo yielding any ground on her home turf to the prospective partners of the proposed 'mahagathbandhan', a grand alliance of anti-BJP parties, of which she has been one of the most vocal proponents. She, however, did keep alive the idea when she said the Lok Sabha polls will sound the "death knell" for the BJP and the Modi government which will be replaced by a coalition dispensation of anti-BJP parties that will create more jobs, bring about peace and stability in Jammu and Kashmir and "freedom from the pervasive atmosphere of fear". The list, which is a mix of seasoned political players and greenhorns, has 17 women candidates, five more than the last elections, constituting roughly 41 per cent
Anti-incumbency will ensure BJD's defeat in twin polls: BJP
The BJP Tuesday said the "huge anti-incumbency" against the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD government in Odisha will ensure the party's defeat in the twin polls beginning April 11. It also said the ruling party was opposing the four-phase election schedule for Odisha as it feared the BJP's growing popularity in the state. "The countdown of the Naveen Patnaik-led government's fall has already started. The ruling BJD has become unpopular and there is huge anti-incumbency against the state government. This will ensure the BJD's defeat," BJP's Odisha in-charge Arun Singh, who arrived here from Delhi, told reporters. His statement comes a day after Patnaik exuded confidence that his party will perform "very well" in both the Lok Sabha and the state assembly elections. Of the total 147 members in the Odisha Assembly, the BJD has 118 MLAs and the party had won 20 out of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state in 2014 general elections. The BJP has only 10 MLAs in the House and managed to bag only one ...
Pakistan assures US it will deal 'firmly' with terrorists
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has given the US an assurance that his country would deal firmly with all terrorists, according to US National Security Adviser John Bolton.
Rafale deal: NSUI files complaint against PMO
Congress-affiliated NSUI on Tuesday marched to police stations in various state capitals and filed a complaint against the PMO, accusing it of "corruption" in the Rafale fighter jet deal, the student organisation said. In Delhi, National Students' Union Of India members marched to Parliament Street police station and submitted a complaint to police. "The Rafale deal has led to massive loss to the public exchequer, by conveniently replacing Hindustan Aeronautics Limited with Reliance Defence in parallel negotiations led by the misuse of the Prime Minister's Office by Mr Modi in a personal capacity," NSUI alleged. This "malfeasance by Modi" has not only benefited his corporate friends in Reliance Defence with thousands of crores but has put the nation's safety and security in grave jeopardy, they added. Officials at the police station said a complaint by NSUI has been received. Government and Reliance Defence have denied allegations of corruption in the deal.
BJP may win most seats, but 2nd term for Modi unlikely: Pawar
NCP chief Sharad Pawar Tuesday said the BJP may emerge as the single largest party in the Lok Sabha elections, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unlikely to get a second term in office. He was talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function here. "BJP may emerge as the single largest party post parliamentary elections and will have to seek support of allies (to form the government). In that scenario, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unlikely to get a second term," Pawar said. The former Union minister said he will meet some regional parties across the country on March 14 and 15 in New Delhi, where further strategy of 'mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance) will be discussed. When asked about some regional parties going away from the Congress and NCP alliance in Maharashtra, Pawar said, "I appreciate the PWP for extending support to the NCP in the Lok Sabha election. NCP has also held talks with the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna (SSS) for seat-sharing, but the farmers' .
BJP, Congress rivalled on less than 170 seats in 2014
The battle for 2019 goes way beyond Bharatiya Janata Party-versus-Congress contest as the data available for 2014 general election show that the two major contestants rivalled each other only on less than 170 seats,