Page 2270 - Politics
Manmohan, Rahul visit indisposed Amarinder
Congress President Rahul Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday called on Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to enquire about his health.
Modi asks MPs to utilize winter session well
Prime Minister Naredndra Modi on Monday appealed to all MPs at an all-party meeting to utilize the winter session of Parliament well as it will be the last full-fledged session before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
UDF disrupts Ker Assembly for 6th day, proceedings adjourned in 32 minutes
Sloganeering and a banner protest by the opposition Congress-led UDF legislators over the Sabarimala issue marred proceedings of the Kerala Assembly for the sixth consecutive day Monday. As opposition members, armed with placards and banner, trooped to the well of the House and continued sloganeering, Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan scrapped the question hour and zero hour and rushed through the listed business of the day before adjourning the House in 32 minutes. Public Works Minister G Sudhakaran started replying to questions but the UDF MLAs stood in front of the speaker's podium demanding lifting of prohibitory orders in Sabarimala, which was further extended by the government till December 12. The Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government's alleged lukewarm response towards the 'satyagraha', staged by three UDF MLAs at the portals of the House since last week demanding removal of curbs at the hill shrine, also irked opposition members. They raised slogans expressing solidarity with ...
We will remove BJP from power in Delhi: Rahul
Accusing the BJP of eroding the credibility of institutions like the judiciary, Army and media, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday said his party will ensure that the BJP is removed from power in the 2019 general elections.
SC dismisses plea challenging dismissal of J&K Assembly
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed by a former BJP MLA of Jammu and Kashmir challenging dismissal of the state Assembly by Governor Satyapal Malik last month.A bench, comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S K Kaul, refused to interfere in the matter, observing that there was no merit in the petition filed by Gagan Bhagat who wanted annulment of the Governor's decision and a direction to him to get a floor test conducted.In his petition, Bhagat had alleged that Malik's decision to dissolve the Assembly on November 21 was "arbitrary, unconstitutional and illegal" and his intentions as "mala fide and biased".The 87-member Assembly was under suspended animation since June 19 when the PDP-BJP coalition government collapsed and the Governor dissolved the House late on November 21 night.Malik's action came shortly after competitive claims were presented by PDP leader and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and People's Conference leader Sajad Lone for ...
Centre holds all-party meet ahead of Parliament's winter session
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government held an all-party meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday, ahead of the winter session of Parliament beginning tomorrow.The all-party meeting took place in the Parliament premises in the national capital today.The meeting was attended by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and several opposition leaders, including Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge and Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D Raja among others.The meeting was called to ensure a smooth conduct of the Parliament session which is slated to take place from December 11 to January 8.The session usually starts in November, but due to the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana, and Mizoram it was delayed to December.The Winter Session also holds significance since it would be the last full-fledged Parliament session before the Lok Sabha elections in 2019.
US shouldn't even give a dollar to Pakistan: Nikki Haley
In an interview to The Atlantic published on December 7, the outgoing United States Ambassador to United Nations Nikki Haley stated that the US should not give any financial aid to Pakistan until it stops harbouring terrorism on its land.In the interview to the US magazine, Haley said: "Giving them over a billion dollars, and they continue to harbour terrorists that turn around and kill our soldiers. That's never okay. We shouldn't even give them a dollar until they correct it."The outgoing envoy also asserted that Pakistan should be given guidelines to handle terrorism before handing over any financial help to Islamabad."Tell them, 'You have to do these things before we will even start to help you with your military or start to help you on counterterrorism.' It's those types of things that you really want to kind of look at," Haley emphasised.While talking to the magazine's interviewer Uri Friedman, Haley stated that the foreign aid should be more transactional and the US should ...
Kushwaha quits NDA, resigns as Minister
Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) leader Upendra Kushwaha on Monday quit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and resigned as a Minister in the Modi government.
Rahul Gandhi personally embroiled in corruption: BJP
The BJP on Monday accused Congress President Rahul Gandhi of personally being embroiled in corruption and said that he received money from the scam tainted Jignesh Shah, one of the accused in the Rs 5,600 crore National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) scam.
MK Stalin, Kanimozhi meet Shard Pawar
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president MK Stalin and party's Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi on Monday held a meeting with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Shard Pawar in the national capital on a range of multiple issues. With Lok Sabha elections scheduled next year, the meeting holds significance.The DMK president also invited Pawar for the inauguration ceremony of the statue of former Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi, which is scheduled to be unveiled in Chennai on December 16.In November, Stalin along with Pawar and Congress president Rahul Gandhi attended a significant meeting here of political parties opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party and discussed at length the future course of action. Pawar had also met Stalin in July to enquire about Karunanidhi's health who passed away in August.On December 9, Stalin and other senior party members met Sonia Gandhi to extend their greetings to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson on her 72nd birthday. Those who ...
MP Assembly polls: Counting of votes to begin at 8am on Tue
Post-election surveys have predicted an interesting contest in Madhya Pradesh, where the BJP is trying for a consecutive fourth term, when votes polled in the state election is counted on Tuesday. An Election Commission official said Monday the counting would begin at 8am and postal ballots will be taken up first followed by electronic voting machines at 8:30am. The election for the 230-member assembly was held on November 28 and as many as 2,899 candidates are in the fray. Exit polls have predicted a close race between the BJP and the opposition Congress, but leaders from both the parties have claimed they would win comfortably. The Republic TV-Jan Ki Baat poll predicted BJP to win on 108-128 seats and the Congress 95-115. The India Today-Axis poll gave 102-120 seats to the ruling party and 104-122 to the Congress. Times Now-CNX predicted a majority for the BJP with 126 seats and gave 89 to the Congress. In contrast, the ABP News poll gave the Congress a decisive win with 126 seats ..
U.S. says March 1 'hard deadline' for trade deal with China
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Unless U.S.-China trade talks wrap up successfully by March 1, new tariffs will be imposed, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Sunday, clarifying there is a "hard deadline" after a week of seeming confusion among President Donald Trump and his advisers.
RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha resigns from Union council of ministers
RLSP president Upendra Kushwaha Monday resigned from the Union council of ministers, a day ahead of the start of Parliament's Winter Session. Party sources said he has sent his resignation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he is quitting the BJP-led NDA alliance. The Rashtriya Lok Samta Party chief has been targeting the BJP and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a key ally of the ruling party, for weeks. He has been upset with the BJP after it asserted that the RLSP would not be given more than two seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, even as it went out of way to accommodate Kumar by agreeing that the saffron party and the JD(U) would fight equal number of seats. The RLSP may join hands with the opposition, which includes Lalu Prasad's RJD and the Congress. Bihar sends 40 MPs to Lok Sabha.
New Industrial Policy To Address Challenges Faced By Manufacturing Sector
Anand Singh Bhal, Principal Economic Adviser, DIPP, has stated recently that the New Industrial Policy, to be announced soon, will address the challenges faced by the manufacturing sector encompassing of adoption of standards and quality control to impart competitiveness and take Indian manufacturing to the next level of technology to make the country's industrial base strong.
Chhattisgarh polls: Counting of votes on Tuesday
Counting of votes will be held on Tuesday for the Chhattisgarh Assembly polls, being viewed as a prestige battle for three-term Chief Minister Raman Singh and the opposition Congress' fight for resurgence. While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is seeking a fourth straight term in office, the Congress is aiming to stage a comeback after being out of power for 15 years. Tight security arrangements have been made at the counting centres in all 27 districts, particularly the Naxal- affected ones, where voting was held in two phases on November 12 and 20 to elect a new 90-member Assembly. The state had recorded 76.60 per cent voter turnout in the polls. "Counting for all 90 seats would start at 8 am at the 27 district headquarters. All preparations have been completed and a three-layer security has been arranged at each counting centre,"an election official here told PTI. The counting of postal ballots will begin at 8 am and half-an-hour after the postal ballots are counted, the ...
Will raise Rafale, RBI autonomy issue in Parliament: Azad
The opposition will press for a joint parliamentary committee to probe the Rafale jet deal and raise several issues, including the misuse of probe agencies and autonomy for RBI, in the winter session of Parliament beginning Tuesday, says Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. Emerging from the all-party meeting convened by the government ahead of the Winter session, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha on Monday said the opposition will once again press for the formation of a JPC to look into the Rs 58,000 crore Rafale jet deal in which it has alleged corruption. Azad told reporters that the issue of alleged misuse of probe agencies by the government to settle political scores will also be raised. The opposition, he said, will take up the issue of autonomy of the Reserve Bank of India in the session. Amid a tussle between the government and the RBI, opposition parties have accused the NDA regime of trying to damage every institution in the country by interfering in their ...
RLSP Chief Upendra Kushwaha resigns as Union Minister: Sources
Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) Chief Upendra Kushwaha resigned as a Union Minister on Monday, sources said, amid speculations that the RLSP would split from the National Democratic Party.Earlier in the day, Kushwaha said that he would not attend the meeting of the NDA allies, ahead of the winter session of the Parliament which will begin on December 11.Kushwaha, in November, had said that he was upset over seat-sharing with BJP in Bihar for the 2019 Lok Sabha electionsSoon after BJP president Amit Shah announced that his party and Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) would fight on an equal number of seats, Kushwaha demanded a larger seat share.RSLP fought on three seats in 2014 even as Kushwaha demanded more seats for the next year's general elections citing that his party has grown in strength.On November 17, he had asked the BJP to reach a consensus over a seat-sharing agreement.A meeting between Tejashwi Yadav and Kushwaha had set political circles abuzz that RLSP and Yadav's ...
Huawei CFO seeks bail citing health issues
Huawei Chief Financial Official Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested earlier this month in Canada while changing planes at Vancouver International Airport en route to Mexico from Hong Kong and has been accused of fraud, has sought bail citing health issues as she awaits an extradition hearing.The documents submitted reveal that Wanzhou argued that she should be allowed to go as she fears for her health along with other reasons, reported Al Jazeera.The documents were submitted after China's Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng summoned the United States' Ambassador to China Terry Branstad to lodge a strong protest over Wanzhou's arrest and thereby, demanding its cancellation.In a statement, Le said that Washington's move "severely violated" the Chinese executive's legitimate rights and interests, and is vile in nature, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported.Urging the US to withdraw the arrest warrant issued against Meng, the Chinese Vice Foreign Minister said: "China firmly opposes the ..
Chouhan's 2016 'mai ka lal' comment could cost seats in MP, says senior BJP leader
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan should be blamed for his pro-caste comment on reservation if Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) loses the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, said senior BJP leader Raghunandan Sharma as several exit polls predict that the Congress has an edge over BJP in the state."If the BJP wins, the credit will definitely go to the Chief Minister for his immense hard work, but if the opposite happens, then he should be the first take the blame on himself. Had the Chief Minister not made the pro-reservation 'Mai Ka Laal' statement during his speech in 2016, the BJP would have been in a position to win 10-15 more seats in the state," Sharma told reporters.Sharma was referring to Chouhan's statement, which he made at an event organised by SC and ST government employees in Bhopal in 2016. "Koi mai ka lal aarakshan nahi khatam kar sakta (Nobody can end reservation)," Chouhan had said, stoking a controversy around amending the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of .
Sirisena accuses foreign forces of intimidating him
Sri Lanka's current political crisis is a result of a clash between external and local values, defiant President Maithripala Sirisena has said as he accused "foreign forces" of intimidating him. The island nation has been in a political crisis since October 26 when Sirisena removed Ranil Wickremesinghe and installed ex-strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa in his place. Sirisena later dissolved Parliament, almost 20 months before its term was to end, and ordered snap election. The Supreme Court overturned Sirisena's decision to dissolve Parliament and halted the preparations for snap polls. Sri Lanka's Supreme Court on Friday reserved its verdict on a bunch of petitions against Sirisena's controversial decisions. "When I acted according to the principles of nationalism without giving in to foreign forces and without being intimidated by their threats, foreign forces have become a challenge. The shadows of the old imperialism stand in our way," Sirisena said, without naming any country. "The ...