Page 1900 - Politics
Lok Sabha election schedule likely to be announced in first week of March
The Election Commission of India (ECI) is likely announce date for the Lok Sabha elections in the first week of March, sources said here on Friday.The elections are likely to be held in 6 to 7 phases, the sources added.The election process has to be completed by May.The last Lok Sabha elections in 2014 were held in 9 phases from April 7 to May 12.The new government assumed office on May 26, 2014.
Four MLAs missing from Cong Legislature Party meeting in Karnataka
Four Karnataka Congress MLAs did not turn up for the meeting of the Legislature Party here on Friday which was convened to assess whether its flock was intact amid speculation of defections.The Congress, which shares power with JD(S), has 80 MLAs in the 224-member Assembly, including the Speaker.Accordingly, 79 MLAs were expected to attend the CLP meeting but only 76 turned up for the meeting held under the supervision of central leaders K C Venugopal and Mallikarjun Kharge.Those absent were Nagendra B, Ramesh Jarakiholi, Umesh Jadhav and Mahesh Kumtalli, the party sources said.Ahead of the meeting, the Congress MLAs were warned that those abstaining will be expelled from the party under anti-defection law.The Congress had said it has called the meeting of its legislators to take stock of the prevailing political situation."If somebody doesn't attend this (CLP) meeting, action will be taken against them under the anti-defection law. Also, it will be assumed that the member himself has
PM Modi strengthens cooperation over defence, trade with Czech counterpart
Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Friday strengthened bilateral cooperation over defence and trade with his Czech Republic counterpart Andrej Babis, after meeting him on the sidelines of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, 2019.Official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Raveesh Kumar took to Twitter saying, "PM @narendramodi met with his Czech counterpart Andrej Babiš on @VibrantGujarat margins. Talks focused on trade, technology & investment; cooperation in defence, high-tech manufacturing, heavy engineering, automotive industry & civil aviation."The Vibrant Gujarat 2019 Global Summit was initiated in the presence of Heads of State and Heads of Government from Uzbekistan, Denmark, Malta and the Czech Republic, along with 15 partner countries, representatives from 131 nations and over 40,000 delegates.Prime Minister Modi also intensified cooperation over renewable energy and waste management after meeting his Danish counterpart Lars Loekke on the sidelines of .
Turkey won't stop until terrorists drained out entirely from Syria
Turkey would not step back until it drives out the terrorists from Syria and 'until justice is served' to the Turkish people who have 'suffered more than their fair share' due to the terrorist attacks planned in Syria, Turkish Presidential communications said here on Friday.Presidential communications director Fahrettin Altun took to Twitter saying, "Terrorists have killed 2000+ innocent people in Turkey since 2015. Many of those attacks were planned in NORTHERN SYRIA. The Turkish people suffered more than their fair share. WE WON'T REST UNTIL JUSTICE IS SERVED. We won't stop until we drain the terrorist swamp next door."Turkey's Anadolu news agency reported that the country is soon going to launch a counter-terrorist operation, targeting the US-back Kurdish forces in northern Syria, including the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and YPG (PKK's Syrian affiliate, the People's Protection Units).On January 14, Turkey slammed the United States for being shadowed by its terrorist propaganda
Karnataka Congress MLA Umesh Jadav skips party meet
Karnataka Congress MLA Umesh Jadhav on Friday skipped the legislature party meet citing ill-health.
Former Bihar BJP MP quits party
A senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former member of Parliament from Purnea district of Bihar, Uday Singh, resigned from the party on Friday.
BJP not sure of votes elsewhere, so eying N-E, says Assam Congress
The opposition Congress in Assam on Friday said the BJP is eyeing Bengal and northeastern states in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections through the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 as the party is not confident about votes in north and south India.
4 Cong MLAs skip CLP meeting, govt faces no imminent threat
Four dissidents skipped the Congress Legislature Party meeting here Friday that was called as a show of strength in a counter to an alleged bid by the BJP to topple the coalition government in Karnataka. The absence of four lawmakers posed no imminent threat to the seven-month old Congress-JDS government headed by H D Kumaraswamy but suggested that all was not well within the Congress which has been hit by dissidence. In a notice issued to Congress MLAs ahead of the meeting, CLP leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah had warned that absence of MLAs would be viewed "seriously" and action taken against them under the Anti-Defection Law. As the meeting got underway, Congress sources said the absentee MLAs were: Ramesh Jarkiholi, who was dropped as minister in the recent cabinet rejig and is said to be extremely unhappy over it, B Nagendra, Umesh Jadhav and Mahesh Kumatahalli. Jadhav has written to Siddaramaiah noting that a letter about the meeting has been affixed ..
Under fire, Maharashtra may take ordinance route to ban dance bars
Under fire from various quarters, the Maharashtra government may opt for an ordinance to stall the reopening of dance bars in the city and state in the wake of Thursday's Supreme Court verdict.
Centre should introduce loan waiver scheme for farmers across the country: Gehlot
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has demanded the Centre introduce a scheme to waive off loans of farmers across the country on the lines of the relief being provided to the ryots in Congress-ruled states. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gehlot said the Congress party president has been continuously demanding loan waiver of farmers and Congress ruled states have done the same, which has come as a breather for farmers. Rajasthan has decided to waive-off short term loans of upto Rs 2 lakh taken from nationalised banks, scheduled banks, regional rural banks and bhumi vikas banks, he wrote in the letter written on January 2, which came in the public domain on Friday. Gehlot said the former government in the state had estimated farm loan waiver scheme to cost Rs 8,000 crore. Under the previous government tenure, Rs 2,000 crore was proposed and the remaining Rs 6,000 crore has been borne by the present Congress government. In such situations financial burden on the state is ...
President Trump cancels Speaker Pelosi's foreign 'excursion' amid government shutdown
US President Donald Trump has denied House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a military plane for an "excursion" to Brussels and war-torn Afghanistan, a tit-for-tat retaliation that deepened the divide between the two leaders amidst the longest-ever federal government shutdown. President Trump's unusual move to postpone Pelosi's overseas trip came on Thursday, a day after the 78-year-old top Democrat, urged him to reschedule his annual State of the Union address slated for January 29, citing security concerns triggered by the shutdown that has entered its 27th day. The shutdown is a result of the bitter political divide over border security issue as the Democrats who now enjoy majority in the House of Representatives have refused to pass a legislation approving USD 5.7 billion in federal funding to construct a wall across the US-Mexico border, a poll promise by the Republican president. "Due to the shutdown, I am sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt, and Afghanistan has been ...
Yechury to discuss strategy to form secular front in TN
CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury will discuss the possibility of formation of a secular front in the State with like-minded parties during his two-day visit to Tamil Nadu from January 22, the party's state secretary K Balakrishnan said Friday. Yechury will visit Tirunelveli on Tuesday and participate in a function to unveil a statue of Lenin, he told reporters here. The next day Yechury would address a rally organised by the VCK in Tiruchirapalli, Balakrishnan said. Asked about the CPI-M participating in the opposition rally organised by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee at Kolkata tomorrow, CPI-M politburo member G Ramakrishnan said the main aim of his party was to form a secular and alternative government at the Centre. The party was evolving a strategy across India to defeat BJP, he said. As far as West Bengal was concerned, the ruling Trinamool Congress was functioning in a "pseudo-fascist" manner and indulging in violence against workers of left ...
Exclusive: Trump meets with Cabinet officials to revive infrastructure push - sources
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is reviving efforts to win approval for a significant infrastructure plan lasting up to 13 years, two people briefed on the matter said, as the administration seeks to bring a long-stalled campaign promise back to life.
Centre trying to use Bedi to destabilise Cong gvt in P'cherry:
Kiran Bedi has been posted as Puducherry Lt Governor by the Centre only to destabilise the Congress government in the union territory, AICC Secretary Sanjay Dutt alleged Friday. Dutt, the AICC in-charge of Puducherry and Tamil Nadu, accused Bedi of functioning in an "anti-people" manner under the 'instructions' of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Kiran Bedi has been posted here as the Lt Governor only to destabilise and disturb the elected government... the NDA government is using her as a tool to put obstacles in the implementation of welfare schemes," he alleged. This was "exposed by the hurdles" Bedi had been putting in implementation of various welfare programmes of the UT government, the AICC leader told reporters here. He referred to the recent Pongal gift hamper scheme over which Bedi and Chief Minister V Narayanasamy were locked in a row. Citing a government order, Bedi had been insisting that the scheme should be limited to only the below poverty line (BPL) ...
Brexit crisis: May to call EU's Juncker
Prime Minister Theresa May will talk by telephone to EU president Jean-Claude Juncker on Friday at the British leader's request, EU officials said. May and Juncker have only been in touch by text message since Tuesday, when the British parliament rejected their Brexit divorce deal. "President Juncker will talk to Prime Minister May today early afternoon at her request," European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said. "I don't know how decisive or not this will be." British politicians are now wrangling over how to get out of the impasse, which could see Britain crash out of the union without a deal on March 29. EU leaders have so far ruled out renegotiating the agreement, but have signalled they could postpone the withdrawal if May comes up with a plan.
LS polls: No alliance with Cong, AAP to contest all seats in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana
Ending months of speculation, the AAP on Friday ruled out the possibility of any alliance with Congress for Lok Sabha polls, and added it will field candidates on all parliamentary constituencies in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana. Senior AAP leader and party's Delhi unit convener Gopal Rai said the decision came in the wake of the recent statements of Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit, opposing an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party. "In the interest of the country, we were ready to drink the poison of Congress, but the statements show that the Congress is still seeped in its arrogance. The AAP will contest all Lok Sabha seats in the three states on its own," Rai said at a press conference. Dikshit refused to comment on the development. "I do not have to react on what he said. It's his opinion," she said. Rai said AAP in collaboration with "like-minded" parties in the country, will defeat the BJP in Delhi and get a new government installed at the ..
Mamata's mega opposition rally: New UP political alignment to reflect on Bengal stage
Hundreds of kilometers away from Uttar Pradesh, the state's new political alignment will reflect in full glory here on Saturday at the mega anti-BJP rally being organised by Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress. Days after Samajwadi Party's Akhikesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party's Mayawati, both former chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, announced a alliance for their home state to take on BJP unitedly in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, senior leaders of the two parties will be together on the dias at TMC's "United Opposition Rally" at iconic Brigade Parade Grounds here. While Yadav would be himself present at the rally, BSP will be represented by senior leader Satish Chandra Mishra. Ajit Singh and Jayant Choudhary of Rashtriya Lok Dal, another key political force in Western Uttar Pradesh which is also talking to join the SP-BSP alliance, will also be present, while Congress -- against which the new combine has decided not to put any candidate in two key seats of Amethi and Rae Bareli in .
China asks its police to prevent 'coloured revolutions'
The Chinese police must remain alert to any uprisings and defend the political stability of the country, the country's top security official has said.
UP cabinet renames Mughalsarai tehsil as Deendayal Upadhyay
The Uttar Pradesh cabinet on Friday approved the proposal of renaming the Mughalsarai tehsil as Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay, the co-founder and president of Bharatiya Jana Sangh.Many places in the state have witnessed change in names in the recent past under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government. In August last year, the iconic Mughalsarai Railway station got officially renamed as Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Junction. On October 16 last year, Allahabad was formally rechristened to Prayagraj.Both the Centre and the state government have drawn much flak from the opposition for the renaming spree.
Increase procurement price of moon beans by 25 to 40 per cent under MSP: Gehlot writes to Modi
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for increasing procurement price of moong beans under MSP by 25 to 40 per cent and for extending the procurement period till January 31. The state government has procured 2.36 metric tonne moong beans against the target of 2.39 lakh metric tonne during the procurement period of 90 days from over 1.67 lakh farmers, officials said. After the 90-day period, procurement from 52,308 registered farmers was still pending, Gehlot said in the letter addressed to the prime minister on January 16. Rajasthan has recorded a high yield of moong beans in the kharif season and farmer organisations in the state have demanded an increase in procurement price from 25 to 40 per cent under Centre's MSP scheme, the letter read. Yesterday, RLTP leader Hanuman Beniwal had raised the issue of farmers and procurement of moong beans, saying farmers were suffering.