Page 2442 - Politics

Hundreds march to Parrikar's residence, demand his resignation

Hundreds of people, including some Congress leaders, Tuesday evening marched to the private residence of ailing Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, demanding his resignation, and a "full-time" CM in his place. The people, who came together under the banner of 'People's March For Restoration of Governance', marched for about 1 km, and gave an "ultimatum" of 48 hours to Parrikar to step down as the CM. Apart from the Congress, other political parties including NCP and Shiv Sena also extended support to the protest march, which was initiated by social activists and NGOs. The protesters demanded Parrikar step down as the chief minister as he has been unwell. They said the governance in the state had suffered as Parrikar was ill and remained hospitalised for more than nine months. The police stopped the protest march 100 metres from the chief minister's private residence. Talking to reporters, Deputy Collector Shashank Tripathy said the CM refused to meet the protesters due to his ...

Karnataka CM holds talks with sugarcane farmers, assures support

Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Tuesday held talks with agitating sugarcane farmers from the state and assured a higher minimum support price for the growers.

PDP leader Muzaffar Baig ready for 'third front'

Senior Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader and Lok Sabha member Muzaffar Hussain Baig said on Tuesday that he is ready to join the "third front" if it takes shape in Jammu and Kashmir.

Centre working for all-round development of northeast: Amit shah

BJP President Amit shah on Tuesday said that the Centre has been working for all-round development and welfare of India's northeast, and Union Ministers had been visiting the region to catalyse progress in the states.

India, Vietnam agree to enhance defence ties during President Kovind's visit

India and Vietnam agreed to further strengthen bilateral strategic cooperation in the defence and oil and gas sectors as President Ram Nath Kovind held productive and extensive talks with his counterpart Nguyen Phu Trong on Tuesday. Kovind, who is here on a three-day visit, received a military guard of honour at the Vietnamese Presidential Palace before the talks. This is Kovind's first visit to South-East Asia and to the ASEAN region as president. During their talks, the two leaders discussed a range of bilateral and multilateral issues, according to an official statement. "My talks with President Phu Trong were extensive and productive. Our discussions covered the full range of bilateral and multilateral cooperation," Kovind said. The two leaders reiterated the importance of building a peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific region on the basis of respect for national sovereignty and international law. "We have agreed to further strengthen our bilateral cooperation in defence, peaceful

Bengal Fire Minister Sovan Chatterjee resigns

West Bengal Fire and Housing Minister Sovan Chatterjee on Tuesday tendered his resignation from both portfolios, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said.

West Bengal BJP Kisan Morcha hosts protest rally

The Kisan Morcha of BJP's West Bengal unit Tuesday staged a protest rally against the worsening law and order situation in the state. West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said democracy is under threat under the present TMC regime. "Democracy is under threat in TMC regime. Everyday our party workers are either being killed or attacked. The opposition parties don't have any democratic right neither inside assembly nor outside. This is really shameful. That is why we are staging this protest rally," Ghosh said. The farmers in West Bengal are in distress. The farmers are not getting the price of their crops. There is a accute agrarian crisis in the rural areas, he said. The Kisan Morcha's rally which started from the BJP party office in central Kolkata was scheduled to march towards the West Bengal State Assembly, which is presently in session. But it was stopped midway at Rani Rashmoni Road following which a scuffle broke out between BJP workers and police ...

Kerala CM condemns attack on Arvind Kejriwal

: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan Tuesday condemned the attack on his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal outside his office in the Delhi Secretariat. In a statement here, Vijayan said the Centre must view such incidents seriously. A man, Anil Kumar, who has been detained, had flung chilli powder at Kejriwal outside his office.

Maldives all set to rejoin Commonwealth of Nations

After leaving the Commonwealth of Nations in 2016, the Maldives is set to rejoin the organization under the new leadership of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.The decision was taken during a Cabinet meeting held on November 19, where "Ministers underscored the advantages of being a Commonwealth member, particularly noting that it would open up several opportunities to the Maldivian people, especially for the youth," according to an official release."In this regard, Ministers discussed the facilitation of education scholarships and the vast opportunities for Maldivian athletes to perform internationally," the statement further noted while highlighting further recommendations made by the ministers towards this.The release further noted that the decision was taken by Solih after extensive deliberations and recommendations from the Cabinet. "The Cabinet Ministers noted the importance of Maldives being a member of the Commonwealth, especially in keeping in line with other members of the ...

RBI move boosts banks' lending ability by up to $42 billion: sources

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) estimates that Indian banks will have capacity to lend an extra 2.5 trillion rupees to 3.0 trillion rupees ($35 billion to $42 billion) over the next year after it decided to relax a deadline for lenders to boost capital ratios, two sources aware of discussions on the matter said on Tuesday.

Chilli powder thrown at Delhi Chief Minister inside Secretariat

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was on Tuesday afternoon attacked by a middle-aged man with chilli powder when he stepped out of his office after a meeting at the Delhi Secretariat.

TRS MP resigns, big jolt ahead of Assembly polls

In a huge setback to Telanganas ruling TRS ahead of next months Assembly elections, its MP K. Vishweshwar Reddy on Tuesday announced his resignation from the party as well as Parliament.

Eight people taken into preventive custody at Sabarimala

The Sabarimala shrine Tuesday witnessed moderate crowd of pilgrims, even as eight people were taken into preventive custody from the temple complex and opposition congress-led UDF leaders booked for violating prohibitory orders at the base camps. The police said the eight were taken into preventive custody by police from 'Sannidhanam' Tuesday night based on intelligence report that they were at the shrine to create trouble. A senior police officer told PTI that they were taken into custody after they had offered prayers. Inflow of pilgrims is yet to pick up five days after the hill shrine was opened on November 16 evening for the over two-month-long pilgrimage season amid tension. As the stand-off continued over entry of menstrual women into the shrine, a political slugfest broke out between chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and BJP president Amit Shah. Shah slammed the CPIM-led LDF government's handling of the situation in Sabarimala as "disappointing" and accused the ...

Cong, CPI(M) to boycott Bengal assembly proceedings till Nov 22

The opposition CPI(M) and Congress Tuesday decided to boycott the West Bengal assembly proceedings till November 22 in protest against what they termed the "arbitrary" functioning of the ruling TMC inside the House. The opposition parties have decided to conduct a mock assembly inside the House premises to protest the functioning of the TMC government. Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader Abdul Mannan said the opposition was not allowed to speak inside the assembly. "We are neither allowed to speak nor allowed to raise any issue inside the house. Whenever we try to bring any motion to discuss an issue we are not allowed to do so," Mannan said. We have decided to boycott the House till November 22 (Thursday) and on that day we will organise a mock assembly inside the Assembly premises outside the Assembly House, he said. Recent media reports said the Left Front and Congress were mulling a joint no-confidence motion against the TMC government in West Bengal during the ongoing

Lok Sabha MP Konda Vishweshwar Reddy quits TRS

Lok Sabha member Konda Vishweshwar Reddy Tuesday quit Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), saying he was "disappointed" with the party at various levels. "I was forced into a position of contemplating leaving the party despite the fact that today TRS enjoys significant goodwill in the social circles that we are in," he said in a letter addressed to TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao. "I thought long and hard about this step before deciding to take this major decision and analysed the scenario by listing my disappointments at various levels," Reddy who represents the Chevella Lok Sabha constituency said in the letter shared with the media. In the letter, Reddy listed disappointments at five levels which include injustice to 'karyakarthas' (those) who worked for Telangana statehood, constituency, state and party. He said he would also resign from the Lok Sabha. The assembly elections are scheduled to be held in Telangana on December 7.

Cong can't see beyond corruption and dynastic politics: Goyal

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal Tuesday targeted the Congress, saying the party could not see beyond the corruption and dynastic politics when it was in power. Accusing the Congress of making merely false promises, Goyal said the BJP always believed in fulfilling them. "The Congress could not work on developmental issues as corruption, casteism and dynastic politics is its history. It has done the politics of making promises while the BJP is working with the motto of development," Goyal told reporters at news meet here. "Except criticising and making hollow promises, the Congress did not work during its tenure in the country, while the BJP implemented various public welfare schemes, directly benefitting people, he added. The Union minister said by resorting to the "politics of lies", the Congress will never be successful as the people understand which party can improve their lot. On execution of a long-pending demand for a railway line in Tonk district, where state Congress president ...

UK PM May sees off leadership threat over Brexit for the moment

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday chaired her first Cabinet meeting at Downing Street since high-profile ministerial resignations over her controversial Brexit withdrawal agreement as she saw off a threat to her leadership for the moment. Divisions within the camp of Brexiteer MPs in her Conservative Party meant that the 48 letters required to trigger a no-confidence vote have so far failed to materialise. However, May's troubles are far from over as Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) went into revolt mode by abstaining during some votes in the House of Commons on Monday. This effectively shakes up the May government, which relies on the 10 DUP MPs for its majority in Parliament. "We had to do something to show our displeasure," said DUP Brexit spokesperson Sammy Wilson, who said his party believes the Brexit agreement with Brussels breached a "fundamental" assurance that Northern Ireland would not be separated from the rest of the UK. Under the terms of ...

UP to purchase 112 vehicles, most of them for VIP security

The Uttar Pradesh government will be purchasing 112 vehicles, including jammers, mainly for the security of VIPs during their stay here, a state government spokesperson said. The decision was taken Tuesday at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the spokesperson said. "The cabinet has given nod to purchase 112 vehicles costing over Rs 25 crore," he said. While 79 vehicles will be purchased at a cost of Rs 16.25 crore for the police to provide security to the VIPs during their visit to the state, 16 vehicles, including bulletproof SUVs and jammers, will be bought for Rs 6.3 crore for the state's VIP fleet, the spokesperson said. Apart from this, 17 new luxury sedans will be added to the Uttar Pradesh estate department at Rs 2.46 crore, he said.

India, Vietnam believe in freedom of navigation: MEA

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Secretary (East) Vijay Thakur Singh on Tuesday said at a presser that India and Vietnam share the view that there should be freedom of navigation, over-flight and unimpeded economic interaction in the disputed South China Sea, while adding that India has stakes in the region.Answering a question asked by ANI, Thakur said, "As far as India is concerned, we do see a lot of our trade going through the South China Sea. Therefore, we have stakes in the peace in that area. We also feel that all the issues that are there should be resolved without resorting to force and they should be resolved in accordance with international law, in particular, The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and we also say that there is the common position of both Vietnam and India is that there should be freedom of navigation, over-flight, and unimpeded economic interaction. There was a convergence of views by both India and Vietnam on this issue."She has ...

Trump tweet threatens to further worsen already fragile US-Pak relations

Trump accused the Pakistani government of hiding Laden in its territory and claimed that despite the US giving $1.3 billion annually to Islamabad, it had done nothing