Page 1845 - Politics
Priyanka's entry refuels debate on dynastic politics
Priyanka Gandhi's formal debut in politics has re-ignited a fierce debate on political dynasties and opinion is sharply divided if family lineage is a slur or works as a spur in public life.
Not aware of plans by Xi to visit India: Chinese FM
China's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that it was not aware about any plans of President Xi Jinping's visit to India in the next two months for the second informal summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as reported by a Japanese publication. Japanese publication Nikkei Asian Review on Tuesday carried a report titled "Xi plans India visit, as diplomatic chess with US intensifies". The story said, "Xi intends to visit India as early as February in a move seen at countering Washington's increasingly antagonistic trade policy and aggressive Indo-Pacific diplomacy." When asked about the report, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said, "You said this was reported by Japanese media. So it is quite interesting. I am not aware of what you said." Hua said China and India are friendly neighbours. "We attach importance to maintain high level exchanges. And the leader of the both the countries also maintain friendly communication and exchange," she said. When pointed out that
Priyanka Gandhi's entry to pave way for UPA's return to power at Centre: Rawat
Priyanka Gandhi's entry into active politics is full of possibilities and bound to pave the way for UPA's return to power at the Centre, former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat Thursday said. He congratulated Rahul Gandhi for taking up the challenge head on in the changing politics of Uttar Pradesh and also Priyanka for accepting the challenging post of party general secretary in charge of eastern UP. "Priyanka Gandhi's entry into active politics is full of possibilities.I am sure it will revive the party in UP with people from all sections rallying behind the Congress the way they did in 2009 at the call of Rahul Gandhi paving the way for UPA-II," the AICC general secretary in-charge of Assam said. "We will script history once again under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi and bring about a major political transformation," he said in a statement.
BJP to gain with Priyanka's entry into politics: Sushil Modi
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Thursday said that the BJP would "gain" in Uttar Pradesh from the entry of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra into active politics, claiming that the move was aimed at "threatening the SP-BSP alliance" with the spectre of a split in votes. Priyanka Gandhi formally entered politics on Wednesday with her brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi appointing her as general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East. Sushil Modi also sarcastically said that her appointment would bring the alleged corruption scandals against her husband Robert Vadra onto "centre-stage", which would be to the NDA's benefit. "The BJP is not at all worried. Why should it be when her entry is only going to help us. The Congress has brought in Priyanka with a view to threaten the SP-BSP alliance, with the possibility of a split in their votes. It is a desperate attempt to make Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati do a rethink on their strategy," Sushil Modi told reporters. As per
Former Union min, ex-Goa Guv Bhanu Prakash Singh dead
Former Union minister, ex-Goa Governor and head of the Narsinghgarh royal family, Bhanu Prakash Singh, died in Indore on Thursday after a prolonged illness, a family member said. He was 90. He breathed his last at a private hospital, his son and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Rajyavardhan Singh told PTI. Singh is survived by five sons. His wife had died around five years ago. He was elected as an MP from Rajgarh Lok Sabha seat in 1962 as an independent candidate. Singh later became close to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and joined the Congress in 1964. He became a minister in her cabinet. However, when Indira Gandhi abolished privy purses, Singh revolted and resigned from the Congress. In 1991, he became the Governor of Goa. His last rites will be performed on Friday at Chhatri Bagh in Narsinghgarh town, his erstwhile estate. Senior Congress leader and former chief minister, Digvijay Singh expressed grief over the former union minister's demise. "Had he not resigned in protest
Huawei executive has strong case to fight extradition - Canadian envoy
OTTAWA (Reuters) - A top executive from Huawei Technologies Co Ltd being held in Canada can make "strong arguments" against extradition to the United States, in part due to President Donald Trump's politicization of the case, Canada's ambassador to China said.
Cong to contest LS polls with full strength: Rahul
Wrapping up his two-day Amethi tour, Congress president Rahul Gandhi Thursday said his party will contest the Lok Sabha polls with full strength. He also exuded confidence that it will win the next UP Assembly polls. "We will contest the Lok Sabha polls with full strength and will win the next UP Assembly polls," he said. The Congress chief was addressing a public meeting here before returning to Delhi at the end of his two-day visit to his Lok Sabha constituency. Slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said Modi has waived only industrialists' loans. "The chowkidar proved to be a thief," he said, and remarked, "Gali gali mein shor hai, chowkidar chor hai." Rahul charged Modi swears by God and then speaks lies. "Where are the 'achchey din' promised?" he posed. At the same time, Rahul said, "We have delivered the promise of loan waiver." The Congress leader also questioned the "hurry" in removing the CBI chief. He described note ban as the biggest scam.
Not going back to era of ballot papers: Chief Election Commissioner
Rejecting the demand of major opposition parties, the Election Commission on Thursday ruled out going back to the era of ballot papers and asserted it cannot be "bullied or coerced" into discarding the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and VVPATs.
China not aware of Xi's reported travel plans to India
China on Thursday was non-committal on the news reports about President Xi Jinping travelling to India in the next two months.
Gomti riverfront project: ED raids on in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, UP
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday searched over 10 places in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh in connection with the Rs 1,500 crore Gomti riverfront development project in Lucknow.
Congress to contest state and LS elections alone in Andhra Pradesh: Raghuveera Reddy
Ending speculations of any alliance in Andhra Pradesh, Congress Party announced that it will contest all 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state on its own in the upcoming elections in the state."There will be no alliance with any party for the forthcoming elections and Congress will contest on all 175 assembly constituencies and 25 Lok Sabha seats alone in Andhra Pradesh," Pradesh Congress Committee president Raghuveera Reddy told reporters on Wednesday. Both the state assembly and Lok Sabha elections are scheduled to be held in the state this year.The Congress national leadership said the decision to go solo was taken based on feedback from the party and the people of the state people. "The people of Andhra believe that the promises made under the AP State Reorganisation Act 2014 will be fulfilled only after Rahul Gandhi becomes the prime minister" Reddy said. The announcement follows efforts by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N
Taiwan unveils new drone as China tensions mount
Taiwan's navy showed off its latest long-range surveillance drone Thursday as the island's outgunned armed forces push to counter China's increasingly muscular rhetoric and military exercises. China still sees Taiwan as part of its territory to be reunified, despite the two sides being ruled separately since they split in 1949 after a civil war. Beijing has said it will not hesitate to use force if Taipei formally declares independence, or in the case of external intervention -- including by the United States, the island's most powerful unofficial ally. The already terse relationship between the two sides got off to an even rockier start in the new year after Chinese President Xi Jinping gave a landmark speech describing the island's unification with the mainland as "inevitable". Taiwan's president Tsai Ing-wen hit back saying her people would never relinquish their democratic freedoms, an unusually robust response that saw her receive a bump in the polls after a gruelling few months .
Digvijaya Singh offered me to join Congress: Babulal Gaur
Senior BJP leader Babulal Gaur has claimed that Congress leader Digvijaya Singh offered him to join the Congress and contest Lok Sabha polls from Bhopal."He (Digvijaya Singh) visited me on December 18 and offered me to contest polls from Bhopal Lok Sabha seat on Congress ticket. I told him I will think about it," said the Madhya Pradesh chief minister.According to sources, the Election Commission of India (ECI) is likely to announce dates for the General elections in the first week of March.The elections are likely to be held in six to seven phases, the sources added.The election process has to be completed by May.The last Lok Sabha elections in 2014 were held in nine phases from April 7 to May 12.The new government assumed office on May 26, 2014.
K'taka brawl: Injured Anand Singh moved to Narayana Nethralaya
Karnataka Congress MLA Anand Singh, who sustained injuries during a brawl with JN Ganesh has been shifted to specialist eye hospital Narayana Nethralaya in Bengaluru on Thursday.Singh was moved from Apollo Hospital owing to a severe eye injury.Ganesh and Singh allegedly got into a heated argument on Saturday at a resort near Bengaluru where the Congress party had sequestered 76 lawmakers to protect them from poaching by the BJP.A day later, Singh was admitted to the hospital.Ganesh was suspended on Monday by Congress Karnataka unit general secretary VY Ghorpade on the directions of state unit president Dinesh Gundu Rao.A special committee under the chairmanship of Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Parameshwara and including state ministers Krishna Byre Gowda and KJ George has been constituted to investigate the issue.
INF treaty: Didn't get a chance to 'disprove erroneous allegations', claims Russia
Russia slammed the United States for not giving a chance to Moscow to "disprove" Washington's "erroneous" and "fabricated" allegations before suspending the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty. Briefing the foreign military delegates on the 9M729 cruise missile, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said, "Recent events clearly indicate that certain forces in the United States were not interested in giving us the opportunity to disprove their erroneous or fabricated information, because it would allow closing this question once and for all."In October last year, US had accused Moscow of not complying with the treaty on at least 30 instances in the last five years despite constant reminders.Signed by then Soviet Union Secretary General Mikhail Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan in 1987, the agreement was largely designed to prevent prospects of a full-scale nuclear war in Europe. Ryabkov's comment comes days after Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov insisted that .
Justice Sikri recuses himself from hearing plea on interim CBI Director
Supreme Court judge Justice AK Sikri on Thursday recused himself from hearing a plea filed by an NGO challenging M Nageswara Rao's appointment as interim director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and asked for the matter to be listed for tomorrow.Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, who appeared for Common Cause, the NGO that filed the plea, questioned Justice Sikri for recusing from hearing the case and said "We get a feeling that your lordships don't want matter to be heard."In response to this, Justice Sikri said, "You know my difficulty. This order was passed on administrative side (CJI Gogoi listed the matter before Justice Sikri), I should have recused earlier, but the order was passed in open court, how could I have recused earlier?"Earlier this week, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi recused himself from hearing the plea saying he was a member of the Selection Committee, that will decide who the new CBI director will be. The Selection Committee, comprising of Prime Minister ...
US proposes FTA with Pak, seeks assistance to end Afghan war
Senior Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has proposed a Free Trade Agreement with Pakistan if Islamabad agrees to assist Washington in ending the Afghan war. The Republican Senator has also urged United States President Donald Trump to meet Prime Minister Imran Khan in order to change US's relationship with Pakistan from tactical to strategic, reported the Dawn."If we can go to Pakistan and put a free trade agreement on the table to get the Pakistanis to push the Taliban to the peace table, and you can end the Afghan war," said Graham a week before heading to Islamabad. In order to end Afghan war, Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad led an interagency delegation to India, China, Afghanistan, and Pakistan from January 8 to 21 and met Afghan government officials and other interested parties to support and facilitate an inclusive peace process in Afghanistan, empowering the Afghan people to chart a shared course for their nation's future.Last
Pak violates ceasefire at four locations in Poonch, Rajouri
Pakistani army on Thursday violated ceasefire at four locations along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch and Rajouri sectors of Jammu and Kashmir.No casualties have been reported so far.According to sources, the Indian Army is retaliating strongly and effectively.This comes a day after Pakistani troops pounded Indian positions along with the LoC in Mendhar Sector of Jammu and Kashmir with mortar and small arms fire.Since the beginning of the year, Pakistani troops have been targeting Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir along the LoC.Last week, India had summoned Pakistan High Commission official and lodged a strong protest at the unprovoked ceasefire violations in the Valley.
Will not going back to era of ballot papers: CEC
As the chorus grows for conducting Lok Sabha elections through ballot paper, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Thursday made it clear that the election body will not go back to the era of ballot papers."I would like to make it very clear that country is not going back to the era of ballot papers," Arora said at an event here."We had one result in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, we had a completely different result four months later in the state elections held in Delhi. We conducted elections in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and so on and we have seen that results have been different every time," he added.Stating that the EC is open to criticism from any stakeholder including political parties, Arora stated, "We will continue to use EVMs andVVPATs. We are open to any criticism and feedback from any stakeholder including political parties. At the same time, we are not going to be intimidated, bullied or coerced into giving up these and start an era
U'khand: 15 allowances provided to govt employees scrapped
The Uttarakhand Government has scrapped 15 allowances provided to government employees. According to an official statement, the allowances will cease to exist from 1 February 2019.The 15 allowances which have been scrapped by the government include areas like family health-welfare, IPAO, training, and deputation. State Governor Baby Rani Maurya has given consent to the changes, which are made under the third report of the Uttarakhand Finance Commission 2016. .