Page 2577 - Politics
Rafale row: Rahul stalling country's growth, says BJP
Delhi Chief of the Bhartiya Janata Party, Manoj Tiwari on Saturday hit out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi asking him not to disrupt the growth of the country.He said, " Mr Gandhi let the armed forces develop and be stronger, Do not disrupt the nation's growth by becoming a hurdle. Rafale can exchange fuel for 3-4 days in the air, can even load weapons during the flight."Tiwari told ANI, "The way in which Narendra Modi has strengthened the defence of India, it is becoming a big issue for the Congress and its allies. If someone is having a problem with the strengthening of the defence sector then we do not have any solution for it."Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday had attacked the Congress president by saying, "Rahul Gandhi is quite confused about the Rafale Deal. Every time he speaks about Rafale, he gives a wrong data about the deal."Rahul Gandhi drew the flaks after he said that Dassault invested Rs 284 Crore in the Anil Ambani's company."Anil Ambani bought land ...
TMC delegation enroute to Tinsukhia to meet kin of deceased
A Trinamool Congress (TMC) delegation led by party leader Derek O'Brien arrived in Dibrugarh district on Sunday, and is on their way to Tinsukhia to meet families of the five people who were killed by United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) terrorists.The delegation includes TMC Lok Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) Mamata Bala Thakur, Rajya Sabha legislator Nadimul Haq and Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Mahua Moitra arrived at Dibrugarh.The deceased, identified as Ananta Namasudra, Abinash Namasudra, Subal Das, Dhanai Namasudra and Syamal Biswas from the Bengali community, were killed at around 7 pm on November 1 in Bishnoimukh village near Dhola-Sadiya Bridge.State Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had condemned the attack and directed law enforcement agencies to take stringent action against the culprits.The ULFA is a separatist outfit operating in North-East India for the indigenous Assamese people. Their main aim is to establish a sovereign Assam with an armed struggle.The ...
California voter registration for midterm polls hit record high
Voter registration for the November 6 midterm elections has reached an all-time high in California, Secretary of State Alex Padilla's office announced.
Diwali in S Africa hailed as social-cohesion exercise
The 20th edition of the annual Diwali Festival in Durban has been hailed as a major social-cohesion exercise in a city that is bedevilled by tensions between the large Indian community in South Africa and the indigenous Zulus. "This is social cohesion right on the ground," said Ashwin Trikamjee, president of the South African Hindu Maha Sabha, which organises the event that was officially opened Saturday evening. Trikamjee said this was because the two-day festival of culture, colour and cuisine was both aimed at and attracted not just the Hindu community, but hundreds of South Africans from all communities. He recalled the scepticism in many quarters when the Festival of Lights was first mooted a few years after the local beachfront was racially desegregated following the election of Nelson Mandela as the country's first democratic president and the end of apartheid. "So many people, including from our own community, told us that it would not work. But we took up the challenge and ...
MP polls: Congress releases first list of 155 candidates
The Congress party on Saturday released the first list of candidates for 155 seats for the upcoming assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh.Out of the 155 nominees, there are 21 women and 21 Scheduled Caste candidates respectively. About 34 of them are from the Scheduled Tribe category.The brother of senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, Lakshman Singh, who was a former Member of Parliament (MP), got a ticket from Chachoura constituency. Digvijay's son Jaivardhan Singh, who is a sitting Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), secured a ticket from Raghogarh constituency.Veteran leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi's brother Alok Chaturvedi will contest the assembly elections from Chhatarpur constituency. Another prominent Member of Parliament (MP), Kantilal Bhuria also got a ticket from Jhabua constituency.KK Kalukheda, who is the brother of former Congress minister Mahendra Singh Kalukheda, will also contest the assembly polls from Jaora constituency.Moreover, Sachin Yadav, who is the brother of .
Lanka: Tamil National Alliance to support no-trust motion against Rajapaksa
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), a political alliance in Sri Lanka that represents the country's Tamil minority, has decided to back the no-confidence motion brought by the United National Party against newly sworn-in Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.In a statement, the TNA on Saturday refused to recognise Rajapaksa as Sri Lanka's new prime minister and denounced the sacking of former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as "unconstitutional and illegal". The alliance added that the country's President Maithripala Sirisena did not have the absolute power to remove a sitting premier from office, Colombo Page reported.The TNA also condemned Sirisena's move to suspend the Sri Lankan Parliament, amid the political turmoil in the island nation, terming it as "undemocratic" and violation of parliamentary supremacy.Political turmoil erupted in Sri Lanka after Sirisena sacked Wickremesinghe on October 26 and replaced him with Rajapaksa following the collapse of the governing coalition ...
151 migrants detained in Turkey
As many as 151 migrants were held in different parts of Turkey on Saturday, security sources said.In Izmir province, at least 27 refugees, including women and children were detained off coastal Dikili district, Anadolu News Agency quoted a security source as saying. The source added that the migrants were attempting to complete a journey to Greece on a rubber boat.Out of the 27 migrants, 25 of them were Afghan nationals, while the remaining two were Syrians.In Aydin province, 30 refugees were detained by the security forces in Didim, while they were trying to cross into Europe.Turkish police also detained about 78 undocumented migrants of Pakistani, Iraqi, Iranian, Afghan and Algerian nationals near the Bulgarian border in Kirklareli province.Furthermore, 16 refugees were held by border guards, after they attempted to illegally enter Turkey from Syria in Yayladagi district of Hatay province.Turkish security forces have been engaged in an operation to detain the undocumented migrants .
UN confirms support for efforts to stabilise Libya
Deputy Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya Maria Ribeiro has stressed support of the UN to national and international efforts to establish stability in Libya.
Iraqi forces launch large-scale anti-IS offensive
Iraqi security forces have began a large-scale security operation to clear areas in western Iraq from the Islamic State (IS) militants, the Iraqi military said.
Turkey, Ukraine agree to boost strategic cooperation
The Turkish and Ukrainian presidents on Saturday pledged to boost the strategic cooperation between their countries in a wide range of areas, with focus on trade and defence industry.
US-led coalition strikes kill 14 civilians in east Syria: Monitor
At least 14 civilians were killed Saturday in US-led coalition air strikes on the Islamic State group's last holdout in eastern Syria, a monitor said. "Fourteen civilians, including five children under the age of 18, were killed in the coalition air raids on the villages of Hajin, Sousa and Al-Shaafa" in eastern Deir Ezzor province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. "The death toll is likely to rise due to the number of seriously wounded," Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. At least nine IS jihadists were killed in the raids, he added. The coalition was not immediately available for comment. Strikes on the area intensified following an attempted jihadist attack on a coalition base in the nearby village of Al-Bahra, the Britain-based monitor said. IS overran large swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, proclaiming a "caliphate" in land it controlled. But the jihadist group has since lost most of its territory to various offensives in both countries. In ...
Ram Temple not a poll plank for BJP:Prakash Javadekar
Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Prakash Javadekar on Saturday said that Ram Temple was never a poll plank for the party.The BJP leader, who is election in-charge for Rajasthan, said that Ram Temple is a matter of belief for the people of the country."Ram Temple has never been the poll plank for the BJP, as it is a matter of belief. The country has fought for the temple from the last 500 years, even when polls were not held in the country," he said while addressing a press conference here.Javadekar further hit out at the Congress party and asked them to clarify its stance on the construction of the Ram Temple."One day in the favour of one community and the other day, a complete flip, a Shiv Bakht. That's the trait of the Congress party. Ghulam Nabi Azad is a victim of it. But BJP never makes any difference among its party leaders," he said.Rajasthan is scheduled to go for polls on December 7, while the counting will take place on .
EC working as B team of BJP: AAP (Lead, Correcting intro)
Dubbing the Election Commission (EC) as the "B team of BJP", the Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday alleged the poll body was misusing its powers under Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s influence.
Former Congress leader Raman Nair appointed BJP state vice-president
Former Congress leader G Raman Nair, who was recently suspended from the party, has been appointed as the state vice-president of the BJP. Nair, who was an executive committee member of the Congress party, was suspended after he inaugurated a BJP protest against allowing women of menstruating age to enter the Sabarimala temple. Nair, who is also a former Travancore Devaswom Board president, along with a group of prominent personalities including former ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair, had on October 27 joined the BJP in the presence of party president Amit Shah.
Modi government is overcentralised, inefficient: Tharoor
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for running an overcentralised and inefficient government.
EC working as B Team of BJP: AAP
Terming the Election Commission as the "B team of BJP", the Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday attacked the poll body for misusing its power under BJP's pressure.
MP polls: Congress releases first list of candidates
The Congress on Saturday released its first list of 155 candidates for the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections.
Lakshmi Parvathi wants NTR to take re-birth to save Telugu pride
With the TDP joining hands with Congress, the party founder N.T. Rama Rao's widow Lakshmi Parvathi has "requested" her deceased husband to "take rebirth to save the self-respect of Telugu people."
TRS govt let down Muslims on promise of 12 pc reservation
: The TRS government in Telangana has let down Muslims on its promise of 12 per cent reservation in government jobs and educational institutions, state Congress president N Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged here Saturday. "He (TRS president and caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao) dragged the issue for four years and now he has stopped talking about it. Have you ever found any truth in KCR's talk? KCR's promise on 12 per cent Muslim quota (for backward sections among Muslims) was nothing but a tactic to cheat the community. TRS never raised the issue at a higher level even once," he said, addressing a meeting of leaders of the Jamiatul Ulema-e-Hind, a party release said. Reddy alleged that there was a clandestine understanding between TRS and BJP, with the former supporting the saffron party's candidates in the elections for the offices of the President and Vice President. Congress has proposed an alliance with TDP, CPI and Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS) forthe December 7 .
eSwatini princess gets information portfolio in new government
The newly appointed prime minister of eSwatini has named the 31-year-old daughter of King Mswati III as information minister weeks after the small kingdom held largely symbolic elections. Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini, who took office last weekend, on Friday unveiled his 19-member cabinet which includes Princess Sikhanyiso Dlamini who will run the Information, Communications and Technology portfolio. The ministry oversees the media and controls the issuance of broadcasting and print licences. Educated in England and the US and the holder of a masters degree in digital communications from Sydney University, she also sits on her father's powerful advisory council on political and economic matters. The princess, the king's firstborn and a part-time rap musician, also sits on the board of the country's telecoms giant and leading mobile operator MTN, in which the king owns a 10 per cent stake. The role of head of government is extremely limited in eSwatini -- a poor landlocked nation of ..