Page 1793 - Politics
AAP MLAs-Lokayukta issue: Are they hiding something, asks Congress
The Congress on Tuesday asked why Aam Aadmi Party MLAs were not disclosing their assets to the Lokayukta, wondering if they had something to hide. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said he did not see any reason why the AAP legislators were not disclosing their assets to the Lokayukta when judges and other people were doing so. "There is an Act. There is a Lokayukta. The Lokayukta is appointed in consultation with the state government, I do not see any reason why this is not being done. There is only one reason I can think of... something to hide. "As the Lokayukta has said if judges and other people are submitting their details, then it is very difficult to believe that MLAs are refusing to do so enmasse, as if they are under some kind of a general instruction or direction or diktat," he told reporters. Over 50 Aam Aadmi Party MLAs in Delhi on Monday refused to furnish details of their assets and liabilities to the Lokyukta, stating in their replies to its notice that the ...
C'garh govt to put on hold Emergency MISA detainee pension
The Congress government in Chhattisgarh Tuesday said pension being given to those who were detained under Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) during Emergency would be put on hold from February. A senior official said the decision, issued by the state's General Administration Department, was taken as the government wanted to physically verify the beneficiaries and reassess the disbursement process. "The state government has decided to conduct physical verification of loktantra senani(Misa detainee) and reassess the disbursement process of samman nidhi (pension) given to them," he said. "The pension will be put on hold from February till completion of the process. The order was issued by the state's General Administration Department," he informed. The Chhattisgarh government order stated that the pension given under the Loknayak Jai Prakash Narayan Samman Nidhi needs "proper regularisation" as well as more "accuracy and transparency". The move has, however, ...
US hands bank accounts to Venezuela's Guaido
The United States said Tuesday that it has handed control of Venezuela's bank accounts in the United States to Juan Guaido, the opposition leader whom Washington has recognized as interim president. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signed off on the order last week for Guaido to control holdings in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and federally insured banks, the State Department said. "This certification will help Venezuela's legitimate government safeguard those assets for the benefit of the Venezuelan people," State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said in a statement. The United States has been pressing all countries to part ways with President Nicolas Maduro, a leftist firebrand presiding over a crumbling economy and rising street protests, and recognize Guaido, the head of the National Assembly. Palladino called on all nations to "take similar steps to protect Venezuela's patrimony from further theft by Maduro's corrupt regime." Venezuela, which is struggling to provide ..
Amit Shah visits Fernandes residence, pays last respects
BJP president Amit Shah Tuesday paid his last respect to George Fernandes at his residence here. Shah was accompanied by party general secretaries Kailash Vijayvargiya and Bhupendra Yadav in his visit to Fernandes' residence. Earlier, while paying tributes to the former union minister, Shah said Fernandes stood steadfast to protect the country's democratic values and his political persona left an indelible mark on India's political history. In a series of tweets, Shah said Fernandes' stint in public offices saw him make some defining changes, particularly in the railways. Fernandes, who had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for several years, died peacefully at his home on Tuesday morning.
PM provided 'maximum income guarantee' to his 15 friends:Rahul
) A day after announcing his party would ensure "minimum income guarantee" for the poor if the Congress was voted to power at the Centre, party chief Rahul Gandhi Tuesday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he has provided 'maximum income guarantee' to 15 of his friends. "For the last five years, he has provided a maximum income guarantee to 15 of his friends. We have decided that if Narendra Modi can give maximum income guarantee to 15 rich people, we will give minimum income guarantee to every single citizen," Gandhi said. Like MGNREGA committed right to work, like RTI committed right to information, like Food Security Bill guarantees the right to food, the Congress government is going to guarantee a minimum income to every poor Indian citizen, he told a booth-level party workers meeting here. "We are going to give every single poor Indian direct money in his account as a guarantee," he said. He claimed that there was no country in the world that has ...
Nirmala Sitharaman to inaugurate 331-metre-long Bein bridge in J-K's Samba district
Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will inaugurate the strategically important 331-metre-long Bein bridge here in mid-February, an officer said Tuesday. The bridge is considered to be most strategic for the movement of armed forces and the BSF along the Indo-Pak border, Commanding Officer Col Aditya Shahi told PTI. It will usher in a new revolution in the connectivity of roads and bridges in the border areas of Jammu and Kashmir, he said. "Minister of Defence Nirmala Sitharaman will inaugurate 331.20-metre-long Bein bridge in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir and dedicate it to the nation (in the middle of next month)," Col Shahi said. The Bein bridge has been constructed at a cost of Rs 21.03 crore under the supervision of Border Roads Organisation (BRO), he said. "It has been completed six months before its scheduled time," he said, adding that the bridge is constructed on the Parole-Rajoura road. "The Bein bridge is strategically very important for the Army in deploying ...
Modi wasted 5 years, time for change has come: Rahul
Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi "wasted" five years of the country's precious time and the time for "change" had come. Gandhi said he wants to see Chinese youngsters using phones that say "Made in India" and not the other way round. "We can do it. We need to come together as a country," he said in a Facebook post. "Narendra Modi has wasted five years of this country's precious time. No more! The time for change has come," the Congress chief said. Gandhi has been critical of the government's 'Make in India' campaign and often compared India's position in the manufacturing market as compared to China. The government has repeatedly asserted that it has done well on all economic counts.
Jailed Manipur journalist's wife demands his immediate release
Ranjita Elangbam, wife of jailed Manipur journalist Kishorchandra Wangkhem, said on Tuesday her family was victim of political propaganda and demanded that the government release her husband immediately. Addressing a press conference organised by NGO Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), she said her husband was labelled as a "womaniser, alcoholic and even abusive" as part of the propaganda. "It is unbearable for me and my two daughters," she said. Wangkhem was detained under the National Security Act (NSA) by the Manipur government for criticising it. The district magistrate of Imphal West had ordered detention of Wangkhem, a 39-year-old journalist who works for a local TV channel, on November 27 last year, allegedly after he uploaded videos criticising the BJP-led governments in Manipur and the Centre for observing Rani Jhansi's birth anniversary.
Haryana: Panel on farmer pension scheme to seek agri scientists' views
The committee constituted for formulating the pension scheme for farmers in Haryana will be seeking views of agricultural scientists and progressive women farmers so that their suggestions could be incorporated in the scheme. The committee headed by Haryana BJP president and Tohana MLA Subhash Barala, which held its third meeting here on Tuesday, would be shortly submitting its report to the chief minister. The committee in its next meeting will also be seeking views from agricultural scientists, progressive women farmers, besides others so that their suggestions could be incorporated in the scheme, he said after the meeting. Barala presided over the third meeting of the committee constituted by the state government for this purpose. The first meeting of the committee was held in December 2018 while the second meet was held three weeks ago. The committee headed by Subhash Barala has other members, including ruling party's MLAs Abhay Singh Yadav, Mahipal Dhanda, Ghanshyam Das Arora and
Rajnath calls up Mamata over violence in Amit Shah's rally
Home Minister Rajnath Singh Tuesday called up West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and expressed serious concern over reports of violence against people who participated in BJP President Amit Shah's rally of in the state, officials said. During the telephonic conversation with Banerjee, Singh asked her to take action against those who indulged in the violence. The home minister called up the chief minister to express serious concern over the reports of large-scale violence and arson against people who participated in the rally of the BJP president in East Midnapore district, a home ministry official said. Vehicles ferrying BJP workers were set on fire in clashes that broke out following Shah's rally, party sources said. The sources said three persons were injured in the clashes. No confirmation was available from police. The BJP alleged that buses in which party workers were returning from Shah's rally were ransacked and set on fire allegedly by TMC activists. The Trinamool ...
IYC's 'Yuva Kranti Yatra' to conclude in Delhi after 46 days on road
Indian Youth Congress' nation-wide public outreach campaign 'Yuva Kranti Yatra' in run up to the Lok Sabha polls will reach its final destination here on Wednesday after covering 25 states in about a month-and-a-half during which it raised alleged "failures" of the Modi government. The Yuva Kranti Yatra was flagged off from Kanyakumari on December 16. Congress President Rahul Gandhi, taking to Twitter, congratulated youth Congress workers for covering a distance of 22,000 km to take the message of the party to the people and make them aware of the Modi government's "failures". "Delhi will be the 26th state, where the journey will be concluded tomorrow. So, in these 26 states, in the last 46 days, in different places of the country, through meetings, small assemblies, big rallies, 'nukkad' meetings and all the discussions, at all places...the situation that came to the fore, is definitely a matter of concern," IYC President Keshav Chand Yadav said at a media brifing here. He said that .
Ministers enjoy screening of Uri:The Surgical Strike
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh Tuesday enjoyed screening of Uri: The Surgical Strike at a 'mobile digital' theatre here. The movie is based on the surgical strike carried out by the Indian armed forces in September 2016 against militant launch pads across the Line of Control in Pak-Occupied Kashmir. Speaking on the occasion Singh said, "It was a pleasure watching 'Uri: The Surgical Strike' with my Cabinet colleagues in Kumbh today." "The movie shows the bravery of the Army and the firm decision of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he added. Health Education Minister Ashutosh Tandon and Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Sahi too watched the movie.
Cong questions govt 'inaction' on complaints against CVC
The Congress on Tuesday accused the Modi government of hiding behind "the veil of technicalities" in not acting on complaints against Central Vigilance Commissioner K V Chowdary who, it alleged, has been its "collaborator in violation of the Constitution". Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which is directly Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has abdicated its constitutional responsibility by not acting on two complaints received against CVC K V Chowdary and that the PM has "scored a zero in his test of governance". He claimed bureaucrat Sanjiv Chaturvedi is one of the complainants against Chowdary but the government has not acted against the CVC and is now citing technicalities to wriggle out. He told reporters that Chaturvedi had in July 2017 provided "documentary evidence" of corruption in an infrastructure scam. "The government sleeps over his complaint and after two years comes up to say that we have not framed any guidelines ..
Fernandes' last rites after son arrives from the US
The last rites of George Fernandes will be performed after his son arrives from the US, the former defence minister's wife Leila Kabir said on Tuesday. A number of leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajanth Singh, BJP president Amit Shah and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, visited the bereaved family at their residence in New Delhi's upscale Panchsheel Park to pay their respects. "I wish to inform my fellow countrymen that George Fernandes, my husband who was former defence minister and Member of Parliament, passed away today in the early hours. He was suffering from Alzheimer's," she said. A lifelong socialist despite his political adventurism that included cabinet posts in two ideologically opposite governments where he ousted Coca-Cola in 1977 and oversaw the Kargil war in 1999, Fernandes died at his home on Tuesday. He was 88. His body was taken to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for embalming, Kabir said in a statement. She said the .
UK Parliament to vote on crucial Brexit amendments
The UK Parliament will vote on a crucial set of amendments later on Tuesday to determine the future course of Brexit as British Prime Minister Theresa May agreed to go back to the European Union (EU) to reopen negotiations on a legally-binding Withdrawal Agreement. The British premier opened the latest round of Brexit debates in the House of Commons saying she had listened to the MPs who had voted down her previous deal struck with the EU earlier this month and that she would go back to Brussels to get a "significant and legally binding change" to the controversial Irish backstop proposal. The issue, an insurance policy against post-Brexit border checks between the UK and Ireland, has been the main stumbling block to striking a withdrawal agreement acceptable to most British MPs. The EU has repeatedly ruled out reopening the Withdrawal Agreement, something May admitted would be a struggle. "Reopening the Withdrawal Agreement would have limited appetite among European partners but with
Cong considering promise of one-time loan waiver for farmers
Besides a one-time loan waiver, the other promises being considered by the Congress for farmers for the Lok Sabha polls include a new crop insurance scheme and promotion of food processing, Congress' farmers' welfare department Head Nana Patole said Tuesday. "We will stop this Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. We will bring a scheme on how a farmer gets maximum benefit for the crop damage," he told reporters here in reply to a query on what will be his party's promises for farmers for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Observing that the Congress government in Chhattisgarh has started purchasing paddy from farmers for Rs 2,500 per quintal, more than the support price, Patole said the party would like to firm up its promise on the price to be offered to farmers for their crop after consultations with them. The Congress would implement a one-time loan waiver to farmers all over the country but it would like to promote food processing so that jobs are created for children of the
'Qureshi's telephonic talk with Mirwaiz reflects Islamabad's duplicity on ties with India'
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi's telephonic conversation with separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq reflected the duplicity in Pakistani leadership's approach on ties with India, official sources said here Tuesday. In Islamabad, the Pakistan Foreign Office said Qureshi spoke with the Hurriyat leader and discussed with him efforts of Pakistan government to highlight the Kashmir issue. The sources said people of India will defeat all "nefarious designs" aimed at creating disharmony and terrorist violence in India. Such an attempt by Pakistan Foreign Minister is a regressive step and is contrary to the overall perception which Pakistan leadership is trying to create, they said. "It reflects duplicity in Pakistan leadership's approach," said a source. The sources said media antics of Pakistani leadership cannot divert attention from the fact that its establishment's hands are "stained with the blood of innocent Indians", including in Jammu and Kashmir and in territory ...
A chapter ends in socialist thinking with George Fernandes' death: Uttarakhand CM
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat Tuesday expressed heartfelt condolences over the demise of former Defence Minister George Fernandes, saying a chapter of socialist thinking had ended with his death. "A chapter of socialist thinking has ended with the demise of George Fernandes. It is an irreparable loss for the country," Rawat said. Praying for peace to the departed soul, Rawate commiserated with the bereaved family describing the former defence minister as a grassroot leader who fought for the rights of labourers.
Facing uphill fight, Ukraine's Poroshenko announces re-election bid
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Tuesday launched an uphill battle for re-election, after five years in power marked by confrontation with Russia. Opinion polls put him behind ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who rose to international prominence in 2004 during the anti-corruption Orange Revolution demonstrations and announced her own run last week. "This feeling of deep responsibility towards my country... prompted me to decide to run again for the office of president of Ukraine," Poroshenko told a rally in Kiev ahead of the March 31 poll. Poroshenko asked voters for a mandate to "guarantee the process of European and Atlantic integration, to guarantee our independence, to renew the territorial integrity of Ukraine". During a roughly 40-minute long speech he repeated calls for Ukraine to seek full membership of NATO and the European Union. Poroshenko's years in power have seen Kiev seek closer ties with the West as war rumbles on in eastern Ukraine against Russia-backed ...
Cong will target all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi: Dikshit
The national capital will witness a three-cornered contest involving the Congress, the BJP and the AAP in the upcoming parliamentary polls, Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit said on Tuesday, while asserting that her party would try to bag all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi. "We believe in working together and in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, we will target all the seven seats," she told reporters here. The former Delhi Chief Minister welcomed the appointment of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as the Congress general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East. She also lauded party chief Rahul Gandhi's announcement at a farmers' rally in Chhattisgarh that after the Congress comes to power at the Centre, its government will guarantee a "minimum income" to every individual in the country. "This will be an unprecedented step, which has never been taken in any other country to the best of my knowledge and we are going to do it in India after the Congress party comes to power at the Centre in 2019," ...