Page 184 - Politics
BJP leaders meet Bengal Governor, seek permanent solution for Darjeeling
Accusing the Mamata Banerjee-led government of unleashing a "reign of terror" in the Darjeeling hills following the declaration of the Lok Sabha election results, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday met West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi seeking a permanent political solution for the region.
PM Modi, Iranian Prez Rouhani unable to meet due to scheduling issues
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani could not hold a planned meeting on the sidelines of the SCO summit here due to scheduling issues, official sources said. According to a schedule put out by the External Affairs Ministry, Modi was to meet Rouhani at 3:35 PM (local time). As banquet for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) leaders got extended, the two leaders could not meet, sources said. Modi arrived here in the Kyrgyz capital on Thursday on a two-day visit to attend the annual summit of the SCO. He held bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. Modi also held talks with Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov on Friday during a bilateral visit during which the two countries upgraded their relations to strategic ties. It was expected that Modi and Rouhani would discuss a range of issues including the US sanctions on import of Iranian oil and implementation of the ...
BJP targets to recruit 2.20 cr new workers, special focus on Bengal, Kashmir and Kerala
The BJP will hold its membership drive from July 6 to August 10 and target to recruit at least 2.20 crore new workers, with special focus on West Bengal, Kashmir and Kerala, party vice president Shivraj Singh Chouhan said Friday. Like the Modi government's theme is 'sabka sath, sabka vikas' (with all, for everybody''s development), the party's will be 'saravsparshi- sarvyapi', he said while addressing a press conference at the BJP office here. The party's theme means, the BJP includes people from all sections of society and it is present everywhere in terms of geography, Chouhan said. He attributed the BJP's victory in the Lok Sabha polls to its membership campaign, which was carried out in 2015 under the leadership of party chief Amit Shah. After the campaign, the BJP had claimed that it became the world's largest political party with 11 crore members. "At present, there are 11 crore workers of the party across the country and now we have to increase our membership by 20 per cent and
Maha polls: Kharge asks Congress leaders to put up united face
Congress general secretary in- charge of Maharashtra Mallikarjun Kharge Friday said he has exhorted the state unit to put up a united face to take on the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena in the upcoming assembly polls. Talking to reporters here, Kharge expressed confidence that Congress legislators will effectively counter the BJP- Sena government on various issues of public interest during the monsoon session of the state legislature beginning Monday. Earlier in the day, the Congress announced several changes in its legislative wing. It said senior legislator Balasaheb Thorat, an arch- rival of Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, has been appointed the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader. Vikhe Patil, a senior Congress leader, quit the post of CLP after his son Sujay joined the BJP and successfully contested the Lok Sabha election from Ahmednagar. Vijay Waddetiwar, deputy leader of the Congress in the Assembly, has been elevated as the group leader. "We have named Balasaheb Thorat as the ..
BJP running false campaign about power outages in MP: Minister
Madhya Pradesh Energy Minister Priyavrat Singh Friday accused the BJP of defaming the Congress government by running a "false" campaign that power outages were rampant in state. He also claimed that no unscheduled power cuts were happening in the state as alleged by the saffron party. "In order to defame the government, our rival party (BJP) is running a false propaganda that power cuts are rampant in the state," Singh told reporters. "In fact, we have even suspended the scheduled power cuts for maintenance work due to the scorching summer heat," he added. According to the minister, maintenance work (of supply lines) is being carried out only in cases of emergency. Singh alleged that the power trips were happening as the previous government had failed to carry out proper maintenance work. He said FIRs have been registered in different parts of Madhya Pradesh against people, who deliberately snapped power distribution lines. On the BJP's recent lantern protests in Bhopal ..
Sreedharan writes to Modi asking to reject Kejriwal's free metro rides for women
Former Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) Chairman E Sreedharan has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him not to agree to the Delhi government's proposal of free rides for women in the Metro.
Doctors' stir: WB CM politicising issue, BJP communalising it, says Yechury
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury Friday accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of politicising the issue of doctors' agitation and the BJP of communalising it. Protesting doctors demanded Banerjee's unconditional apology and set six conditions for the state government to withdraw their four-day-long stir that disrupted healthcare services across West Bengal. "West Bengal govt must invite health workers & resolve this humanitarian crisis on a war footing. CM is trying to politicise instead of discharging basic responsibility. BJP wants to communalise by highlighting the religious identity of victims of a tragedy," he tweeted. While visiting the SSKM Hospital on Thursday, Banerjee had contended that "outsiders" had entered medical colleges to create disturbances and the agitation was a conspiracy by the CPI(M) and the BJP. Listing the six conditions, the agitators said the chief minister will have to visit the injured doctors at the hospital and her office should
After Priyanka, Scindia meets party's UP leaders to find poll debacle causes
Following his party's worst-ever drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradeh, Congress general secretary Jyotiraditya Scindia Friday met the party's state leaders to assess what went wrong in the elections. Scindia, who was made in-charge of the western UP, and given the responsibility of 38 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state, failed to ensure a single victory. A Congress leader who attended the meeting said he spoke to the district and city unit chiefs of the organisation to find out the possible causes behind the rout. Two days back, party's general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, entrusted with the task of managing polls in the remaining 42 seats in the eastern UP, carried out a similar exercise in Rae Bareli, which was the only seat won by the party this time from the state. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was re-elected from Rae Bareli, while Congress president Rahul Gandhi, her son, lost his Amethi seat to Union Minister Smriti Irani. Priyanka Gandhi has asked senior UP ...
Amit Shah meets CMs of Goa, north-eastern states
Ahead of the NITI Aayog meeting, Union Home Minister Amit Shah held separate meetings on Friday with Chief Ministers and Governors of different states.Among the ministers who called on the Union Home Minister were Chief Minister of Goa Pramod Sawant, Chief Minister of Sikkim Ganga Prasad, Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal and Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Jagan Mohan Reddy.The home minister also met the governors of Goa, Sikkim, Assam, Haryana, Meghalaya and Uttar Pradesh - Mridula Sinha, Ganga Prasad, Jagdish Mukhi, Satyadev Narayan Arya, Tathagata Roy and Ram Naik, respectively.The heads of the states are in the national capital to attend the fifth governing council meeting of NITI Aayog on Saturday."I am here to attend the Niti Aayog meeting tomorrow. We will be representing our case with the Niti Aayog chaired by honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi," said Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy ahead of the meeting."The key issues to be discussed at the ...
PM to chair Niti Aayog's fifth Governing Council meeting Saturday
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will Saturday chair the fifth meeting of the Niti Aayog's Governing Council which will focus on issues like the drought situation, farm distress, rain-water harvesting and preparedness for Kharif crops. The five-point agenda for the meeting also includes aspirational districts programme, transforming agriculture and security related issues with special focus on left wing extremism (LWE) districts, an official statement said. The meeting, to be held at Rashtrapati Bhavan, will be attended by chief ministers, lieutenant governors of union territories, several union ministers and senior government officials. This will be the first governing council meeting under the new Modi government. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, has refused to attend the meeting, saying it is "fruitless" as the Niti Aayog has no financial powers to support state plans. Headed by the Prime Minister, the Governing Council includes ministers of Finance, Home, Defence, .
Hyderabad: CPI leaders hold shirtless protest, accuse KCR of encouraging defections
CPI leaders in the state organised a half nude protest on Friday, accusing Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao of encouraging MLA defections.The protest, led by CPI National Secretary Narayana, began at AITUC office at Liberty Statue and agitators marched to the Ambedkar statue in Tank Bund.The police arrested CPI leaders and shifted them to a local police station. They were later released.The allegations come after as many as 12 out of 18 MLAs of the Congress joined the Chandrasekhar Rao-led Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS).On June 6, the 12 Congress MLAs had met the Telangana Assembly Speaker to join TRS.
Turkey to retaliate if US imposes sanctions over S-400 deal
Turkey will retaliate if the US imposes sanctions over its purchase of the S-400 air defence systems from Russia, the country's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday.
AP CM requests Shah to 'soften PM's heart' on special category status
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy Friday met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and requested him to "soften PM's heart" on the issue of granting special category status to the Rs 2.58 lakh crore debt-ridden state. Reddy also said he would raise the demand in the first meeting of the governing council of the NITI Aayog, to be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Saturday. "I met Home Minister to try and prevail upon him and also soften PM's heart on special category status...," Reddy told reporters after an hour-long meeting with Shah. The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) chief also urged the Centre to fulfil all commitments made under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. Reddy, just before swearing in as chief minister, had met both Modi and Shah on the special category status issue. He had said his party could only request the BJP-led central government and not "demand or command". "Today, we might not get it (special category status). We have to be at somebody's mercy ..
PM Modi's meeting with Iranian Prez Rouhani cancelled due to scheduling issues
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday could not hold a bilateral meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of the SCO summit here due to scheduling issues, official sources said. According to a schedule put out by the External Affairs Ministry, Modi was to meet Rouhani at 3:35 PM (local time). As banquet for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) leaders got extended, the two leaders could not meet, sources said. Modi arrived here Thursday on a two-day visit to attend the annual summit of the SCO. He held bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. It was expected that Modi and Rouhani would discuss a range of issues including the US sanctions on import of Iranian oil and implementation of the Chabahar port project. The meeting was keenly awaited as it was to take place amid escalating face-off between Iran and the United States on Tehran's nuclear programme. The six-month-long ...
Andhra CM to demand special category status at Niti Aayog meeting
Meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah ahead of the Niti Aayog meeting, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday said that he will be demanding for special category status at the NITI Aayog meeting tomorrow."I took an appointment with Home Minister Amit Shah today evening to try and prevail on him and to also soften the Prime Minister's heart on special category status that we'll definitely be asking for in tomorrow's NITI Aayog meeting," said Jagan Mohan Reddy."The agenda of my visit was tomorrow's NITI Aayog meeting. Tomorrow we'll be presenting our case to the NITI Aayog, which is chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi," said Reddy.Dismissing reports of the post of Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker being offered to his party YSRCP, Reddy said, "First of all nothing has been asked for or offered. We haven't asked. Neither has any proposal of that sort come from any quarter. So please don't speculate these kinds of things."Union Home Minister Amit Shah met chief ministers and
UK Health Secretary quits Tory leadership race
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Friday pulled out of the race for the country's next Prime Minister, the media reported on Friday.
Will adopt two-pronged approach to ensure corruption-free governance: AP Guv
The Andhra Pradesh government will adopt a two-pronged approach to ensure a corruption-free and inclusive governance by totally revamping the system and taking the service delivery mechanism to people's doorsteps with an integrated welfare agenda, Governor E S L Narasimhan said here on Friday. The process of "total revamp" would involve innovative measures to ensure a corruption-free state that would turn out to be a role model for other states to follow. "My government believes in total transparency. In contrast to erstwhile rules of governance, my government would place transparency and accountability on a high pedestal," the governor said. "To ensure this, in a hitherto unheard of measure, the government has sought the assistance of a judicial commission to look into every sizeable tender even before it is floated," he said. Narasimhan addressed a joint sitting of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council and the Assembly on the third day of the first session. He outlined the ...
6 governors, 4 CMs meet Union Home minister
Six governors and four chief ministers, including Andhra Pradesh's Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, Friday met Home Minister Amit Shah and discussed with him various issues concerning their respective states. Home Ministry officials described the separate meetings of the governors and the chief ministers with the minister as courtesy calls on Shah, who assumed the charge on June 1. The governors who met the home minister were Uttar Pradesh's Ram Naik, Haryana's Satyadev Narayan Arya, Goa's Mridula Sinha, Assam's Jagdish Mukhi, Meghalaya's Tathagata Roy and Sikkim's Ganga Prasad. Among the chief ministers who met Shah were Reddy, Assam's Sarbananda Sonowal, Goa's Pramod Sawanta and Sikkim's Prem Singh Tamang. The governors and the chief ministers discussed with the home minister issues concerning their respective state, an official said.
Don't have almanac to tell date of cabinet expansion: Uddhav
Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray Friday said he neither knows when the cabinet expansion in Maharashtra will happen, nor does he have an almanac to predict its date. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his cabinet colleague Sudhir Mungantiwar had earlier announced that the cabinet would be expanded soon. There were reports that the exercise would be done on Friday. However, there are now speculations that the expansion would now take place on Sunday, a day before the three week monsoon session of the state legislature begins. When reporters asked Thackeray about it, he said, "I don't know when the cabinet expansion is happening. I don't have a 'panchang' (almanac)." Thackeray and the newly-elected 18 MPs of his party are visiting Ayodhya on Sunday to offer prayers at the Ram Lalla. When asked about the likely date of expansion, sources in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said nothing has been scheduled so far. Meanwhile, Thackeray also told reporters that his ...
Jaya Prada's petition against Azan Khan dismissed
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has dismissed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jaya Pradas petition seeking the disqualification of Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Mohd Azam Khan.