Page 206 - Politics
BJP forms new parliamentary party executive; Modi leader in Lok Sabha, Rajnath his deputy
The BJP Wednesday announced its parliamentary party executive committee with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its leader in Lok Sabha and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh as the deputy leader. In Rajya Sabha, Union minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot has been appointed as leader of the house and his cabinet colleague Piyush Goyal as the deputy leader. Gehlot replaced senior BJP leader and former Union minister Arun Jaitley as leader of the house in Rajya Sabha. Jaitley had requested the leadership to relieve him from key positions in view of his health. Union minister Smriti Irani's induction in the BJP's parliamentary party executive committee shows elevation in her stature within the party after she defeated Congress president Rahul Gandhi from the Amethi parliamentary constituency. The party has appointed Sanjay Jaiswal as its chief whip. It also the first time appointed three women MPs as its whips, specifically for women parliamentarians. Besides these three women whips, 15 other whips ...
2 killed as vehicle falls into gorge in J-K's Poonch
Two persons were killed when the pick-up van they were travelling in skidded off the road and fell into a gorge in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, officials said on Wednesday. The incident took place on Tuesday at Ratta Chamb on the Mughal Road, they said. The vehicle was going from Shopian in South Kashmir to Poonch in Jammu region, the officials said. Both the bodies have been recovered, they said.
Years of dashed hopes fuel Hong Kong protest rage
As Hong Kong is convulsed by fresh anti-government protests, many of those who have taken to the streets say they feel this is their last chance to protect the city's freedoms after years of slow strangulation by Beijing. Four years ago huge pro-democracy "Umbrella Movement" protests brought parts of the city to a standstill for months, but that campaign eventually fizzled without the government making any major concessions. The current protests are focused on a controversial proposal to introduce a law allowing extraditions to countries Hong Kong doesn't already have a treaty with -- including China. Organisers said over a million people took to the streets on Sunday -- police put the figure at a more modest 240,000 -- but pro-Beijing Chief Executive Carrie Lam has rejected all calls to delay or withdraw the bill. "We have been listening and listening very attentively," she said after Sunday's protests, but insisted her administration had already made substantial concessions. While ..
Satya Pal Malik urges militants in J-K to give up arms, invites them for talks
Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik Wednesday asked militants to give up arms and invited them to hold talks, saying dialogue is the only way through which they can get what they want within the ambit of the Constitution. He said India cannot be made to bow through violence. "Take everything from us, we will give our life, but through love and dialogue. For that (PM) Narendra Modi is ready, we are ready. Come to the dialogue table and take it forward," Malik said at a marathon press briefing on the achievements of his administration. "Whatever you want can be achieved through talks and dialogue. You have your own constitution, you have a separate flag. Whatever more you want, you will get it through the democratic process and within the ambit of the Indian Constitution," he said. The governor said the militants may not realise it now, but 10 years down the line they will repent that they chose the wrong path. "You cannot make India to bow through violence," he said. Malik said .
"We are not sheep or buffaloes to be purchased", defector-MLAs hit back at Cong
The 12 Congress MLAs in Telangana who recently joined the ruling TRS, Wednesday hit back at the opposition party's state leadership for its attack on them, saying their action was in accordance with the Constitutional provisions. The Congress has alleged that they have been lured into joining the TRS, and has approached the High Court challenging their "merger" with the TRS Legislature Party. MLA Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy, flanked by other Congress MLAs who joined TRS, said they joined the ruling party as per provisions of the Constitution. "We, 12 MLAs, met Speaker on 6th of this month. It is clearly said in X Schedule of Constitution that if 2/3rd of MLAs wish, they can merge. Accordingly, we met the Speaker on 6th (of June) and gave a letter," he told reporters. "We requested the Chief Minister to admit us into TRS Legislature Party. As per that letter, Speaker allowed us to be admitted, for merger," he said. They did not join TRS till June 6, he said. He dismissed Congress ...
UPA regime delayed Chandrayaan-2: Ex-ISRO chief Madhavan Nair
Former ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair on Wednesday claimed that the Chandrayaan-2 mission could have been carried out long ago but for the "political decision" of then UPA government to push the "Mangalyaan" venture with an eye on the 2014 Lok Sabha election. The architect of Chandrayaan-1, India's first unmanned mission to the moon launched on October 22, 2008, served as the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the secretary in the Department of Space from 2003 to 2009. He had said in August, 2009 that Chandrayaan-2 was slated for launch towards the end of 2012. In October last year, he joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). On Wednesday, Nair alleged that the UPA government wanted to show "some major event" (the Mangalyaan Mars orbiter mission) before the 2014 election. "With that objective, they (UPA government) went ahead (with the Mangalyaan mission)," he said. Though the Mangalyaan launch took place during the UPA regime (November, 2013), the ...
Home Minister Amit Shah along with 3 other ministers pays courtesy visit to President
Home Minister Amit Shah along with three other Cabinet ministers paid a courtesy visit to President Ram Nath Kovind here on Wednesday.The other three leaders who accompanied Shah were Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, Minister for Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad and MoS in the Ministry of Human Resources Development Sanjay Dhotre.The Cabinet ministers met the President after they took oath in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan on May 30.Riding high on the plank of muscular nationalism and anti-Congressism, BJP, which had won 282 seats in 2014, improved its tally by notching up 303 seats.Along with the NDA allies, the number swelled to 353 in the 543-member lower House of the Parliament.
BJP to stage two-day sit-infrom June 14 against JSW land sale
The Bharatiya Janata Party Wednesday will stage a two-day sit-in from June 14 against the sale of 3,667 acres of land to the JSW Steel in Ballari, the party's Karnataka unit chief B S Yeddyurappa said Wednesday. The protest is also to highlight the "insensitivity" of the Congress-JDS coalition government towards the prevailing drought in the State, he told reporters here. "We have decided to stage round-the-clock sit-in demonstration for two days against the failure of the government. Earlier we had decided to stage three-day demonstration but we will hold the protest on June 14 and 15 because all the MPs are going to Delhi on June 16," Yeddyurappa said. Welcoming the state government's stand to revisit the decision on allotment of land to JSW Steel, he said a survey of the land was required. "It is a welcome decision that the government intends to revisit the allotment of land to the JSW Steel (at Vijayanagar in Ballari district). However, there is a need toidentify the
NPF urges Centre for early settlement of Naga political issue
The Opposition Naga People's Front (NPF) Wednesday urged the Centre for an early settlement of Naga political issue. The NPF also called upon all the Naga nationalist groups to stand together on the same platform and adopt the same approach towards solution of the long standing problem. NPF president Dr Shurhozolie Liezietsu reiterated that the party shall continue to uphold the principles of non- violence and shall strive for resolution of all conflicts through peaceful means. He was speaking at the central executive council meeting of the party and also felicitated Dr Lorho S Pfoze, NPF candidate for winning the Outer Manipur Lok Sabha seat at central headquarter here. "We will continue to uphold the uniqueness of Naga political history which, of late, the Government of India had also given recognition and such recognition is considered to be a positive step towards solving the protracted political problem in Nagaland," he said. Liezietsu affirmed that NPF will ...
Telangana HC issues notice to 12 Congress defectors
The Telangana High Court has issued notice to 12 MLAs who defected from Congress to Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS).The court on Tuesday also issued notice to the office of the Assembly Speaker, Council Chairman, besides the Legislature Secretary and the Election Commission.A division bench adjourned the hearing by four weeks and sought their reply by then.On June 6, 12 out of 18 MLAs of Congress had met the Telangana Assembly Speaker to join Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao's party.The Congress unit of Telangana had launched a 36-hour hunger strike on Saturday in protest against the crossover of the 12 legislators to TRS.
Sheila Dikshit meets Kejriwal demands six-month waiver for power consumers
Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit Wednesday met Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, demanding six-month waiver to power consumers in the city who, she said, have been made to pay over Rs 7,400 crore as increased fixed charges and surcharge for pension fund. A party delegation led by Dikshit met the chief minister at his Flagstaff Road residence, and raised issues related to power and water supply faced by the people in the national capital. However, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders claimed that the current rates of electricity were "cheaper" than what consumers paid during the Dikshit regime and added that the complaints of the Congress delegation were countered with facts, leaving them speechless. A memorandum signed by Dikshit was submitted to Kejriwal. "The Delhi Congress demands that the AAP government should not bill the power consumers in Delhi for next six months as the state government has illegally collected Rs 7,401 crore from them in the name of fixed charges and pensions ...
Amid rumblings for a single leader, AIADMK decides to continue with dual mode of leadership
Amid rumblings for a single leader to head the party, the ruling AIADMK on Wednesday said status quo will prevail and Chief Minister K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam will jointly continue to steer the outfit. Senior AIADMK leader R Vaithilingam and State Ministers D Jayakumar and K T Rajendra Balaji said it has been decided that the present arrangement which gave full powers in the party to Palaniswami and Panneerselvam will continue. After deliberating on the question of leadership for about two hours at a specially convened meet here, the party vowed to win the civic polls that are expected shortly and start working for it immediately. "The dual mode of leadership will continue to be on...there is no change in it," Vaithilingam, a senior leader and deputy coordinator of the party told reporters emerging out of the meeting at party headquarters. The AIADMK convened a meet of its seniors, MPs, MLAs and Ministers, days after MLAs V V Rajan Chellappa and R T Ramachandran ...
J&K situation being demonised by outside media: Governor
Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik on Wednesday said that the media outside the state was demonising the situation in Kashmir, causing a lot of hardship to the local people.
Congress core panel axed, Rahul to be President
Rahul Gandhi will remain the Congress President, the party said on Wednesday, adding that the Congress Core Committee had been dissolved after the rout in the Lok Sabha elections.
Sick Gaza child caught in Israeli permit regime dies alone
When Palestinian preschooler Aisha a-Lulu came out of brain surgery in a strange Jerusalem hospital room, she called out for her mother and father. She repeated the cry over and over, but her parents never came. Instead of a family member, Israeli authorities had approved a stranger to escort Aisha from the blockaded Gaza Strip to the east Jerusalem hospital. As her condition deteriorated, the child was returned to Gaza unconscious. One week later, she was dead. A photo of Aisha smiling softly in her hospital bed, brown curls swaddled in bandages, drew an outpouring on social media. The wrenching details of her last days have shined a light on Israel's vastly complex and stringent system for issuing Gaza exit permits. It is a bureaucracy that has Israeli and Palestinian authorities blaming each other for its shortfalls, while inflicting a heavy toll on Gaza's sick children and their parents. "The most difficult thing is to leave your child in the unknown," said Waseem a-Lulu, Aisha's .
Rahul Gandhi was, is and will remain Congress president: Surjewala
Rahul Gandhi was, is, and will remain the Congress president, party's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Wednesday, after days of uncertainty over Gandhi's offer to quit the post. Surjewala made the remarks after senior Congress leaders met here informally under the guidance of A K Antony and discussed the party's strategy and preparation for the upcoming assembly elections in Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand and Maharashtra. Gandhi had offered to quit as party chief during a meeting of the Congress Working Committee on May 25 which was called to analyse the party's poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls, in which it managed to win just 52 seats. The CWC had unanimously rejected his offer to quit but Gandhi was apparently firm on his stand. "Rahul ji was, is and will remain the Congress president. We have no doubt about it," Surjewala told reporters when asked about the situation arising out of Gandhi's offer to resign. Senior leaders Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjuna Kharge, ...
PM not to fly over Pakistan while travelling to Bishkek: MEA
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not fly over the Pakistani airspace while travelling to Kyrgyz capital Bishkek on Thursday to attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the External Affairs Ministry said. It said the prime minister will fly over Oman, Iran and several Central Asian countries countries to reach Bishkek. India requested Pakistan to let Modi's aircraft fly over its airspace when he travels to Bishkek. Pakistan accorded an "in principle" approval to India's request. "The government of India had explored two options for the route to be taken by the VVIP aircraft to Bishkek. A decision has now been taken that the VVIP aircraft will fly via Oman, Iran and Central Asian countries on the way to Bishkek," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said Wednesday. He was responding to media queries regarding the route to be taken by prime minister's aircraft while travelling to Bishkek. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is also attending the meeting of the regional ...
Media over hypes J-K related issues: Satya Pal Malik
Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satypal Malik on Monday accused media of portraying Kashmir in a bad light and stated that even a single death from Kashmir get reported for weeks while cases from other states get ignored.Addressing reporters here, Malik said, "In Delhi, the press is very negative about Jammu and Kashmir. I feel very bad. Even if a single person dies here, it remains in news for two weeks. In my own district everyday, five people die. Here no stone is thrown on tourists. On Meerut-Muzaffarnagar-Saharanpur highway, almost every week one tourist is beaten but no one talks about it."Governor Malik hails from Western Uttar Pradesh and was born in Baghpat district. He had won his first parliamentary election from state's Aligarh.Later replying to a question, he asserted that Delimitation of constituencies in the state is only a rumour for now."Delimitation (of constituencies) is a constitutional matter, even the Home Ministry has not confirmed it. Right now these are only ...
Sonia, Priyanka visit Raebareli to thank voters
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and her daughter and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra arrived here Wednesday on a thanksgiving visit. However, the duo is unlikely to visit the neighbouring parliamentary constituency of Amethi, from where Congress president Rahul Gandhi lost the Lok Sabha polls. This is the first visit of the two leaders to Raebareli after the constituency re-elected Sonia Gandhi to Parliament in the recently-concluded polls. District Congress spokesperson Lal Aash Kiran Pratap Singh said the two leaders landed at the Fursatganj airport here, after which their cavalcade reached the Bhuyemau guest house. Priyanka Gandhi, the Congress general secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, was likely to hold a meeting with the party's district chiefs from the area at the guest house, he said. The thanks-giving ceremony will take place in the evening, for which over 2,500 party workers had been invited, Singh said. In the just-concluded polls, the Congress ...
India successfully launches new Technology Demonstrater Missile
India successfully launched a Technology Demonstrator missile vehicle off the coast of Odisha on Wednesday. This missile vehicle is expected to help the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) prove and develop a number of technologies for futuristic missions.The test was conducted by the premier defence research agency in presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Secretary (Defence Production) Ajay Kumar at the test firing range in Balasore.The missile was launched successfully. Various sensors have been placed on the missile, through which a large number of data has been gathered for various missile subsystems. That data will be analyzed to validate the critical technologies for the purpose the said vehicle was launched," DRDO sources said.In the test conducted on Monday, the technology demonstrated missile was launched in air using an Agni-series vessel which lifted it off the ground and then separated from the main missile after reaching a higher altitude.The ...