Page 2400 - Politics

BJP will not allow reservation on basis of religion: Amit Shah

BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday said that his party was against giving reservation on the basis of religion and would not allow this to happen too. "He said the BJP is against reservation on the basis of religion and will not allow anyone to do this," he said while addressing an election rally at Warangal in poll-bound Telangana.Shah said that Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) government led by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has proposed 12 per cent reservation for the minorities "which is not possible without taking away the quota share of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Class people." "Rao has done this under the influence of Asaduddin Owaisi and All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM)," he added."Only the BJP can save Telangana from Majlis and Owaisi, and not Congress, TRS and Telugu Desam Party (TDP)," said Shah. "Muslim reservation bill being brought by the TRS government is against the interest of Dalits, Tribes and backward communities. The ...

Nothing but feudalistic mindset: BJP slams Cong for attacking PM Modi's mother

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday said that the Congress' remark on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mother showed nothing but the party's "feudalistic mindset."Addressing a press conference here, BJP vice-president Prabhat Jha said the Congress was so perturbed by the persona of the Prime Minister that they had to resort to attacking his mother."The Prime Minister represents 130 crore Indians. How can the Congress attack his mother like that? Not only that, the way they attacked his mother is condemnable. They should not forget the fact that Modi Ji's mother is 96 years old," he said.Jha further added, "Is Narendra Modi not the Prime Minister of the opposition too? This is nothing but a feudalistic mindset. The BJP never believes in personally attacking either Jawaharlal Nehru or any other Congress leaders. The voters will respond to such filthy attack by voting in favour of us."BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, speaking on the occasion, said the party will take up the matter ...

Air raids hit rebel areas west of Syria's Aleppo: monitor

Air strikes hit the edges of Syria's last major rebel stronghold west of Aleppo on Sunday, a monitor said, a day after an alleged toxic attack on the regime-held city. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said regime ally Russia "likely" carried out the air strikes on a planned buffer zone around the opposition bastion of Idlib. They were the first to hit the area since Moscow and rebel backer Ankara agreed to set up the demilitarised area around Idlib in September to prevent a massive regime attack to retake the area. The attack came after Russia seemed to accuse Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an alliance led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate, of carrying out Saturday's chemical attack on Aleppo city. Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said "terrorist groups" in an area of buffer zone held by HTS fired shells filled with chlorine on a residential area of the city. The Observatory said the attack left around 100 struggling to breathe, though more ...

Crime branch to probe attack on Kharabela Swain: DGP

The Crime branch of Odisha Police will probe the attack on former MP and president of Utkal Bharat party, Kharabela Swain in Rayagada district on Saturday, a top police officer said Sunday. "A thorough investigation into the incident will be conducted by the Crime branch to ascertain the reason and motive behind the assault on the former MP," Director General of Police (DGP) R P Sharma said. Attacks on Swain in Kendrapara and Balasore districts recently are also likely to be brought under the purview of investigation to ascertain whether there was any conspiracy, the DGP said. The president of Utkal Bharat party, met additional superintendent of police, Rayagada, Patitapabana Chaudhury Sunday and lodged a complaint. He alleged that the ruling BJD was behind the attack when he was attending a street corner meeting at Kashpur on Saturday. The alleged attacker, identified as Sumanta Nayak (35), was detained by the police on Saturday. Nayak has been arrested, the ASP said ..

EC lowers daily cash transaction limit of candidates for campaigning purposes

In a bid to check the flow of excess money in electioneering, the Election Commission has lowered the limit of cash transactions by candidates for campaigning purposes from Rs 20,000 to Rs 10,000 per day. In an instruction sent to all chief electoral officers, the poll panel said that for transactions beyond Rs 10,000, the candidates and parties will have to make payment using cross cheques, drafts or electronic means, including NEFT/RTGS, through the account of the candidate opened for electioneering. In April, 2011, the EC had set the daily cash limit to Rs 20,000. But now it has been revised keeping in mind the amendments in section 40A(3) of the Income Tax Act in 2017. The new changes came into being from November 12 and would have a bearing on assembly polls in Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Now, a candidate cannot receive a donation or loan in cash, in excess of Rs 10,000 from a single person or entity during campaigning. The election watchdog ...

Amid clamour to build Ram temple in Ayodhya, Yogi govt to install his statue, taller than Patel's

Amid the ongoing clamour to build a Ram temple in Ayodhya, the Yogi government has firmed plans to install in the temple town a 221-meter statue of the Maryada Purushotam, taller than the Statue of Unity of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. While the "Statue of Unity", presently the world's tallest, installed in Gujarat's Narmada district on the 143rd birth anniversary of Patel, is 182 metres high, the one to come up in Ayodhya will be 221 metres. While the height of the Ram statue will be 151 metres, its overhead umbrella would be of 20 metres height and the pedestal would be of 50 metres, Principal Secretary Information Avnish Awasthi said. Inside the base, there will be a provision for a modern museum that will showcase the history of Ayodhya and the entire 'Ikshvaku Vansh' right from King Manu to the present status of Ram Janmabhoomi, he said, adding the statue will be made up of bronze. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath saw late Saturday night the presentation by five firms ...

Want Narendra Modi to return as PM, but will not tolerate insult: Kushwaha

RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha Sunday said he was in favour of Narendra Modi returning as the prime minister in 2019, "but will not tolerate any insult" against the party. Kushwaha, in his series of tweets, did not mention the issue of seat sharing, but demanded "justice and respect". The Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) chief had Saturday sought the prime minister's intervention to resolve the seat-sharing issue in Bihar NDA. According to a recent announcement , the BJP and the JD(U) had agreed to contest an equal number of seats in Bihar, out of a total of 40, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. This reportedly would have meant fewer seats for the RLSP. The RLSP, as an ally of the BJP in the NDA, had won three seats in the 2014 general election. "Adarniye pradhan mantri Sri @narendramodi jee ko 2019 me fir se pradhan mantri banana chahta hoon. Lekin apman sahkar nahi (We (RLSP) want to see PM Narendra Modi as PM again in 2019 but without tolerating any insult," Kushwaha said in a series .

From driving mentor's car to steering railways, tracing Sharief's journey

A seven-time Lok Sabha member from Bengaluru North constituency, Sharief showed his complete loyalty again to Indira Gandhi against the then popular Karnataka chief minister Devraj Urs, who parted way

'Naamdaar' supporting Cong leaders hurling abuses at me: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday attacked the Congress and its party president Rahul Gandhi for dragging his mother and father into an election debate, and said that while Congress leaders are hurling abuses at him, the party's "naamdaar" (dynast) is supporting them.Addressing a rally in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh's Vidisha district, the Prime Minister said, "We never make any personal attacks on anyone's family. We criticized the posts they held. But why are the Congress leaders making personal attacks on my mother and father? The abuse on my mother didn't help. So the Congress party dragged my father into it, who left this world 30 years ago."Prime Minister Modi's reactions came after a video went viral purportedly showing senior Congress leader Vilasrao Muttemwar, saying that while everybody knows Rahul Gandhi's ancestors, no one is aware who Prime Minister Modi's father is.Muttemwar's comment comes just three days after Raj Babbar, the Congress' Uttar Pradesh unit chief, ...

Sibal quashes PM Modi's 'Congress behind Ram temple delay' claim

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Sunday rubbished Prime Minister Narendra Modi's claim that the Congress was responsible for the delayed verdict in the Ram Temple case. He also challenged the Prime Minister to make allegations against then Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, who had declared in October this year that the matter was not a priority for the court.Speaking to ANI, former Union Minister suggested the Prime Minister to start a new programme along the lines of "Mann ki Baat" titled "Jhooti Baate" (false statements) so that the people are aware of the fact that statements that he makes on a weekly basis are "inconsistent with the facts."Responding to Prime Minister Modi's claim, Sibal, who is also a senior advocate, said that he had not appeared in the Supreme Court since January 2018, adding that neither the Congress nor the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was a party in these proceedings, thus nullifying the prospects of any of his actions in the court being in favour of

Congress threatened SC judges, who tried to hear Ayodhya cases, with impeachment: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleged Sunday that the Congress threatened Supreme Court judges with impeachment when they tried hear the Ayodhya dispute cases earlier this year. Without naming anyone, Modi claimed that Congress party's Rajya Sabha members, who are also lawyers, had tried to scare away the apex court judges to ensure the hearing in the cases is delayed until after the 2019 Lok Sabha election. In an unprecedented move, seven opposition parties led by the Congress had moved a notice for the impeachment of then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra in April this year, accusing him of "misbehaviour" and "misuse" of authority. Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu rejected the notice, saying the case against the then CJI was based on "suspicion and conjectures". At the political rally in Rajasthan's Alwar district, Modi said the Congress has no faith in democracy and judiciary. "It does not hold dialogue and stall proceedings in Parliament, but the new game they are playing now

Lankan President vows never to reappoint Wickremesinghe as PM

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday made it clear that he would never reappoint ousted prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe even as he accepted that the action of removing his arch-rival has created "some form of political unrest" in the country. Sirisena last month abruptly sacked Wickeremesinghe and replaced him with former strongman Mahinda Rajapksa in a controversial move termed by many as unconstitutional. The controversial action on October 26 led to a political crisis in the country with both Wickremesinghe and Rajapaksa claiming to be the legitimate prime minister. Sirisena, addressing the Colombo-based foreign correspondents, said: "There is no possibility that I will be re-appointing him (Wickeremesinghe). "There is some form of political unrest in the country due to my decision, but I do not consider it as a serious political crisis". The President said that he and Wickremesinghe had developed serious policy differences on their approach to governance. "The ..

Himachal's Chanshal to be developed as international tourist destination: CM

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Sunday said the picturesque Chanshal in Shimla district would be developed as an international tourist destination.

Telangana polls: Shah accuses Cong of supporting 'urban Naxals'

BJP president Amit Shah Sunday accused the Congress of supporting "urban Naxals" and said his party will put Maoists in jail if it is voted to power in Telangana. "Urban Naxals" is a term used to describe city-based supporters working in alleged front organisations of proscribed Maoist outfits. Addressing a public meeting in Nirmal district, Shah said, "Recently they (urban Naxals) were arrested in Maharashtra. The BJP government there, led by Devendra Fadnavis, put them behind bars but Rahul Gandhi supported them." "Rahul baba, are you aware that hundreds of people in Telangana have died due to Naxalism?" he asked. The BJP chief claimed Maoists were "hiding" in different parts of the state and said his party would look for them and send them to prison. "They have only two options -- either join the mainstream or get ready to face jail," Shah said. He also trained his guns at Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief and the state's caretaker chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, popularly

Toxic gas attack affects over 100 in Syria

A toxic gas attack left over 100 persons hospitalized in Syria's Aleppo city, state media reports said on Sunday.

EU leaders approve Brexit divorce pact with UK

European Union leaders on Sunday approved a landmark Brexit deal, the basis of Britain's divorce from the 28-member economic bloc, hours after UK Prime Minister Theresa May vowed to campaign with "heart and soul" to get the agreement approved by Parliament amid stiff opposition. The leaders of the remaining 27 countries of the European Union (EU) signed off on the controversial Brexit withdrawal agreement. European Council President Donald Tusk, after a special summit in Brussels this weekend, tweeted: "EU27 has endorsed the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration on the future EU-UK relations". May now faces the final and biggest hurdle of getting the deal approved by the UK Parliament where many MPs from her own party remain vehemently opposed to it. Tusk had signalled on Saturday that the deal would be approved after Spain withdrew last-minute concerns over Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory on the Spanish coast. The agreement, which May has described as the best ...

Muslim body writes to President, seeks intervention in Ayodhya situation

The All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (AIMMM) on Sunday wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind, seeking his urgent intervention into the developments in Ayodhya, where the VHP has organised a public meeting to press for construction of a Ram temple. An umbrella body of more than a dozen Muslim religious and social organisations, the AIMMM said in its letter that the presence of "unruly mobs" in Ayodhya is a clear pointer to the way things are moving in an unchecked manner in Uttar Pradesh. The Vishva Hindu Group (VHP), a right-wing group, has called for the public meeting, 'Dharam Sabha', which is being touted as the largest congregation of 'Ram bhakts' in Ayodhya since the 1992 'kar seva'. The organisers have claimed that more than 3 lakh devotees, including seers, will attend the meeting to be held at Bade Bhakt Mal Ki Baghia, not far from the controversial Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas-run workshop, where work for building a temple has been underway since 1990. "If any attempt is made to ...

Will not cede an inch of land for anything but Ram temple: VHP

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Sunday said they will not cede an inch of land for anything but a Ram temple and demanded from the Sunni Waqf Board that they withdraw their case over distribution of the disputed land as ordered by the Allahabad High Court (HC).

Raj polls: BJP banks on 'vikas' in Alwar, Cong refutes claims

In north-west Rajasthan's Alwar, the BJP would go to the people banking on the developmental works, it claims, its government did in the last five years, amid the Congress' assertion of no growth and progress at all in the area. The Congress accused the BJP of failing in providing drinking water and roads besides inducing an all out developmental lag in the district, notified as part of the National Capital Region. The saffron party, however, has countered the Congress' claim citing benefits of the Centre's Ujjwala scheme and state's Bhamashah scheme. Alwar with its 11 assembly seats, spread across 8,380 sq kms, has a population of 36.74 lakh with females constituting over 17.35 lakh, according to the 2011 census. About 30.17 lakh of them reside in rural areas. As per the 2013 assembly polls figures, Alwar's eleven assembly segments together had a total of 20,62,966 voters, including 11,08,086 males, 9,54,880 females and 13,572 service voters. Alwar's total population includes around .

Amarinder declines, Sidhu accepts Pak invite for Kartarpur corridor foundation stone-laying event

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Sunday declined Pakistan's invite to attend the ground-breaking ceremony for the Kartarpur Corridor on the other side of the border, even as his cabinet colleague Navjot Singh Sidhu accepted the request with "with unalloyed joy". In a letter to Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Singh said it is a historic occasion, but regretted his inability to be present, citing terror attacks in his state and killings of Indian soldiers by Pakistan troops as the reason. "Firstly, not a day passes when Indian soldiers are not killed or wounded on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. Rather than moving towards normalcy, these incidents are escalating," he said. Secondly, the chief minister claimed, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has started its nefarious activities in Punjab. "Since March 2017, the state has neutralised 19 ISI-armed and controlled modules, apprehended 81 terrorists and seized 79 weapons, numerous grenades of the ..