Page 1785 - Politics
Sajad Lone's brother renames party to end confusion
Bilal Gani Lone, brother of former minister and leader of his faction of the Peoples Conference (PC), on Wednesday changed the name of his party to end name-confusion with the PC.
Don't politicise your visit to an ailing man, Parrikar tells Rahul
Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday rejected Congress president Rahul Gandhis claim that he (Parrikar) had told him that he had "nothing to do" with the new Rafale deal, saying the Congress leader should not "use your visit to an ailing man to feed political opportunism".
Intolerance that got Gandhiji killed expressing itself with
The intolerance which got Mahatma Gandhi killed is expressing itself with more intensity today, CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy said Wednesday. Reddy drew a parallel between the assassination of Gandhiji and the recent killings of individuals like rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, Communist leader Govind Pansare and journalist Gauri Lankesh, saying they took place due to intolerance. "The intolerance that got Mahatma Gandhi killed, the same intolerance is now expressing itself with more intensity. The same intolerance is moving ahead in a way to destroy our Constitution, our country's democracy and our beliefs," Reddy said. "That's why we are observing the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi as secularism day," he said at a convention on "Save Secularism, Protect Constitution" organised here by the CPI. Reddy also hit out at the BJP-RSS for their alleged communalism. The party observed the death anniversary of the Father of the Nation Wednesday as 'save secularism
Tripura tribals take out mammoth rally against Citizenship Bill
Several tribal parties led by the Congress held a joint rally near here on Wednesday to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
BJP accuses Tharoor of ridiculing Kumbh
The BJP on Wednesday accused Congress MP Shashi Tharoor of insulting Hinduism by "ridiculing" the ongoing 'Kumbh' with "tactical support" of Rahul Gandhi. BJP leader and Union minister Smriti Irani attacked the opposition party after Tharoor tweeted a photograph of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his cabinet colleagues taking a dip at 'Sangam' in Kumbh and apparently took a dig at them. "Ganga has to be kept clean and sins are also to be washed here. Everyone is naked in this Sangam. Hail mother Ganga," the Congress MP had tweeted in Hindi Tuesday, drawing an angry response from Irani. Noting that Kumbh is a festival of faith and a biggest symbol of Hindu beliefs, Irani told reporters that Tharoor's comments were tantamount to "religious slur" as she accused him of ridiculing the religious congregation. "It is appalling and he has done it with tactical support of Rahul Gandhi," she said, claiming that the Congress president's silence amounted to his support to ...
Goyal to present interim Budget 2019-20 on Feb 1
Keeping up with the tradition, the Narendra Modi-led government ahead of the general election will present an interim Budget on February 1, which is widely expected to contain certain sops for farmers and middle class. The last Budget of the present NDA government is likely to be presented by interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal in the Lok Sabha. Confusion was created after the commerce ministry on Wednesday in a whatsapp message to media said: "do not refer Budget 2019-20 as interim Budget, it is officially referred as general Budget 2019-20". However, the Finance Ministry later clarified that the Budget will be called interim Budget 2019-20. There were confusion in political circle that the government may deviate from the practice of presenting interim Budget and come up with full Budget ahead of the general elections. To this principal opposition party Congress had said it will strongly oppose both inside and outside Parliament the presentation of a "full budget" by the BJP-led ...
BJP protests as Kejriwal hikes remunerations for Delhi imams
Accusing the AAP of indulging in "dirty" vote bank politics, senior BJP leader Vijay Goel Wednesday said the Delhi government's decision to increase the remuneration of imams is aimed at attracting Muslim votes. At a gathering of imams in the city, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal last week announced the hike in their monthly remuneration from Rs 10,000 to Rs 18,000. He also hiked the monthly government grant to Muajjins from Rs 9,000 to Rs 16,000. Protesting against this, the BJP led by Goel held a protest at Jantar Mantar. "Kejriwal is playing dirty politics. He has increased the imams' remuneration from Rs 10,000 to Rs 18,000 just to get the Muslim votes. The Delhi chief minister should not play this low level of politics," Goel said. Earlier, only 200 imams used to get the remuneration but now they have included all 2,000 imams across Delhi, he said. On the Ayodhya issue, Goel said "everyone wants Ram temple in Ayodhya but the Congress must clear their stand whether they want Ram ...
UK MPs reject 'no deal' Brexit, send PM May back to Brussels to renegotiate divorce deal with EU
British MPs have voted to reject a chaotic 'no-deal' Brexit, but backed embattled Prime Minister Theresa May's bid to renegotiate the divorce agreement already struck with the EU, setting up a new showdown with the powerful bloc which ruled out any more concessions. In a series of votes on Tuesday, lawmakers rejected a no-deal Brexit by 318 votes to 310, undermining the May government's argument that Britain would be willing to crash out of the 28-member EU without an agreement on March 29. However, the vote is not legally binding - meaning it showed the view of the House of Commons but does nothing to change the Brexit date in less than two months. Conservative Party MP Caroline Spelman and Labour MP Jack Dromey had tabled an amendment to try to prevent a crash-out exit of the UK from the EU. With just 59 days to go until Britain leaves the EU, MPs also voted in favour of an amendment backed by the government to seek "alternative arrangements" to the controversial Irish backstop, ...
EU Brexit deal is 'best and only solution': German foreign minister
The Brexit deal sealed by British PM Theresa May and the EU is the "best and only solution" for an orderly withdrawal, German foreign minister Heiko Maas said Wednesday, stressing the bloc won't leave Ireland isolated. "Our position is clear: the withdrawal agreement is the best and only solution for an orderly exit," he told the Funke media group, after British MPs voted for May to renegotiate the deal. MPs late Tuesday voted through an amendment saying they would only support a divorce deal if its controversial "backstop" clause to keep the Irish border open was removed. Maas said it remained unclear what the British government wants amended. "It must now quickly say what it wants because time is short," said Maas. He stressed however that Germany and the EU stood firmly behind Ireland on the issue. "We won't allow Ireland to be isolated on this question," he said. Brexit hardliners from May's Conservative party think the backstop -- created to keep the border open with Ireland -- ..
BJP will defeat SP-BSP alliance: Amit Shah
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah on Wednesday vowed to defeat the SP-BSP alliance in the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Bhagwant Mann takes over as AAP Punjab President again
Sangrur Member of Parliament (MP) Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday took over as president of the Punjab unit of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Don't use visit to ailing person to feed political opportunism: Parrikar to Rahul
Ailing Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday accused Congress president Rahul Gandhi of using his courtesy visit to him for "petty political gains", asserting that there was no mention of the Rafale issue in their five-minute meeting. In a letter to Gandhi, Parrikar asked the Congress chief to put out the truth and not to use his visit to an ailing person to "feed political opportunism", BJP sources said. His letter came a day after Gandhi targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Rafale deal, claiming that Parrikar, who is a former defence minister, had clearly stated that he has nothing to do with the 'new deal'. "Friends, the ex-defence minister Mr Parrikar clearly stated that he has nothing to do with the new deal that was orchestrated by Mr Narendra Modi to benefit Anil Ambani," the Congress leader told a booth-level party workers meeting here. His statement had come hours after he met Parrikar at the Goa assembly complex in Panaji. In his letter to Gandhi, ...
Malaysia says still in talks on China-backed rail project
Malaysia and China are still in talks about a multi-billion-dollar, Beijing-backed railway project, the finance minister said Wednesday, after a week of confusing and contradictory statements about the deal. Since the shock defeat last year of a long-ruling, corruption-plagued regime in Malaysia, the new government has suspended a series of Chinese-financed infrastructure projects, including the rail line. Critics said the projects lacked transparency, could saddle Malaysia with debt, and were in reality aimed at quickly funnelling cash to former leader Najib Razak to help him pay back cash looted from a sovereign wealth fund. At the weekend, Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali said the government had made a final decision to cancel the 81 billion ringgit (USD 19.7 billion) rail link, which would have connected the eastern and western coasts of peninsular Malaysia. But hours later, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng expressed shock at the announcement. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Mahathir ..
Rahul attacks PM on Rafale; alleges he 'sold' IAF
Launching a fresh attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Rafale jet deal, Congress president Rahul Gandhi Wednesday alleged that he "sold" the Indian Air Force and "stole" opportunities of the youth by giving away Rs 30,000 crore to his "friend" and businessman Anil Ambani. The government as well as Ambani have strongly denied any wrongdoing in the Rafale deal. Addressing the concluding session of the Youth Congress nationwide public outreach campaign 'Yuva Kranti Yatra', Gandhi said no one will be able to suppress the truth about the "Rafale scam" and it will come out finally. "The entire country knows that Mr Modi stole opportunities of the youth to give Rs 30,000 crore to Anil Ambani. No one can suppress the truth about Rafale, it will come out itself," he said. "You have sold the Indian Air Force," he alleged, targeting Modi over the Rafale deal. He said the prime minister spoke for one and a half hours in Parliament but when asked questions on Rafale, he could not look ..
Kumbh smearing by Tharoor has backing of Rahul Gandhi: Irani
A day after Congress MP Shashi Tharoor stirred a controversy after taking a dig at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his cabinet taking a dip in Prayagraj Kumbh, Union Minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday hit out at him saying that the "smearing" of the Kumbh was done with "tactical support" from party President Rahul Gandhi.
Tharoor, BJP lock horns over 'holy dip' at Kumbh
A war of words broke out between the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday after Tharoor commented on a holy dip taken by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his ministerial colleagues at Kumbh in Prayagraj.
There will be a new PM everyday if 'mahagathbandhan' comes to power: Amit Shah
In a dig at the proposed 'mahagathbandhan' of the opposition parties for not disclosing its prime ministerial candidate, BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday said there will a new prime minister everyday of the week if the grand alliance comes to power. "The opposition should spell out who its prime ministerial candidate is...if the '(maha)gathbandhan' takes shape, Mayawati will be the prime minister on Monday, Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday, Mamata (Banerjee) on Wednesday, Sharad Pawar on Thursday, Deve Gowda on Friday and (M K) Stalin on Saturday and Sundays will be holidays," Shah said addressing a meeting of BJP's booth-level workers here ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. "They are out to bring a change and do not have a leader," he added. "The BJP has four Bs -- 'badhta Bharat' and 'banta Bharat'. Those who are forming an alliance have four Bs -- 'bua' (aunt), 'bhatija' (nephew), 'bhai' (brother) and 'behen' (sister)," Shah said, accusing the opposition parties of dynastic ...
Uttarakhand orders SIT probe into industrial scams
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivednra Singh Rawat has ordered a probe by the Special Investigative Team (SIT) into the alleged scams of some developmental works related to two key industrial estates in Kumaon region.
We have shown how a majority government can take strong, big decisions: PM
The BJP government has shown how strong and big decisions are taken, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday while asserting that the work done by his government in four years would have otherwise taken 25 years by others to complete.Addressing a rally here, he listed a host of initiatives and decisions taken by his government covering sectors like economy, aviation and energy.The Prime Minister had to pause his speech in between after he saw that a cameraman had fainted. He stopped his speech and asked officers and SPG personnel to urgently arrange for an ambulance for the cameraman.He was in Surat to lay the foundation stone for the extension of the terminal building at Surat Airport.In his speech, Prime Minister Modi said: "The previous government (of UPA) made 25 lakh houses across India. To provide shelter to the poor people, the BJP-led central government has made 1.30 crore houses in the last four years. If they had to do the amount of work I am doing, then they would ...
German customs will manage orderly or disorderly Brexit: finance minister
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said on Wednesday Britain's decision to leave the European Union would bring more work for customs officers, adding he was confident that authorities would cope regardless of whether Brexit was orderly or disorderly.