Page 267 - Politics

Omar, Mehbooba slam proposed delimitation, BJP welcomes move

Jammu and Kashmir's former Chief Ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday came out strongly against the Centre's move to lift the freeze on delimitation of Assembly seats in the state, while the BJP backed the measure to ensure proper representation to the Jammu region.

TRS puts up impressive show in Karimnagar dist

The ruling TRS put up a splendid performance in the rural local body polls in Karimnagar district of Telangana, winning 13 ZPTCs of the total 15 and 77 MPTCs. The TRS bagged 77 of the total 178 MPTCs in the polls, according to official sources. Congress and BJP emerged victorious in 21 and 12 MPTCs respectively. The party, however, lost in Chinna Mulkanur, an adopted village of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in the MPTC (Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency) polls. In neighbouring Nizamabad district, TRS lost in Pothangal, the village of the in-laws of former TRS MP K Kavitha, daughter of Rao. She was defeated by her BJP rival in Nizamabad in the recent Lok Sabha polls. The polls were held in three-phases last month.

Shah asks Giriraj Singh to avoid unnecessary statements

BJP President Amit Shah on Tuesday called Union Minister Giriraj Singh and asked him to refrain from making "unnecessary" statements targeting the NDA allies.

CPI-M gave votes to BJP, got back offices: Trinamool MP

Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India-Marxist of having a nexus with the aim to topple the Mamta Banerjee government in West Bengal, ruling Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday said the Left lent votes to the saffron outfit and received back its party offices in exchange.

New Ukraine president commits to NATO, EU membership

Ukraine's new president says his country still hopes to become a member of the NATO military alliance and the European Union but he is open to peace talks with neighbouring Russia. Standing beside NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels on Tuesday, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said "the strategic course of Ukraine to achieve full-fledged membership in the EU and NATO ... remains unchanged." Zelenskiy says "armed aggression from Russia is a major challenge" but he stands ready to negotiate with Moscow and respect the Minsk agreement meant to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine. NATO and EU leaders had been waiting to hear the foreign policy aims of the politically inexperienced former television comedian sworn in last month.

Giriraj targets NDA leaders with snide 'iftaar' tweet

Union minister Giriraj Singh on Tuesday mocked his NDA colleagues for attending 'iftaar' parties, drawing sharp reactions from them that prompted BJP president Amit Shah to rebuke the fiery Hindutva leader and ask him to refrain from making such comments. Shah stepped in to douse the fire in the ruling coalition after Singh's tweet riled BJP's key allies from Bihar, including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) and Dalit leader Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP. Singh posted four pictures of Bihar NDA leaders, including Kumar and Paswan, attending 'iftaar' parties and put out this snide tweet. "How beautiful would the picture have emerged, had phalahaar (a fruit feast) been organised during Navaratra with the same fervour with splendid photographs taken. Why do we lag behind in observance of our own karm-dharm (religious customs) in public, while staying ahead in pretension," he tweeted in Hindi. A known detractor of Kumar since the days when he served in the state cabinet under him, Singh ...

Vasundhara Raje demands Ashok Gehlot's resignation over rape cases

BJP leader Vasundhara Raje demanded resignation of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday over rape cases in the state. She said the government has lost confidence of MLAs and ministers and the chief minister should resign. "Almost 12 cases of rapes are happening in the state daily. After Thanagaji rape case, another big incident of gang rape came to light in Pali. It is the failure of the Ashok Gehlot government," the former chief minister said in a statement here. A woman was allegedly gangraped in Pali and she lodged a complaint against five men on Sunday. Police have arrested four of the five accused.

No stamp duty for Navi Mumbai airport work-related contracts

The Maharashtra cabinet Tuesday decided not to charge stamp duty for contracts related to the construction of the upcoming international airport in Navi Mumbai near here. Government agency CIDCO is developing the new airport. The airport construction work includes excavation of minor minerals. The royalty charged for such excavation will also be waived, said a government official after the cabinet meeting at the Mantralaya here. The cabinet also decided to charge a flat stamp duty of Rs 1,000 for tri-party contracts for redevelopment of dilapidated and dangerous buildings in Mumbai. This will reduce the cost of redevelopment, the cabinet note said. The cabinet also decided to extend the Atal Sahakari Abhiyan, which finances projects of cooperative societies, for financial year 2019-20.

Trump administration halts cruises to Cuba under new rules

The Trump administration on Tuesday imposed major new travel restrictions on visits to Cuba by US citizens, banning stops by cruise ships and ending a heavily used form of educational travel as it seeks to further isolate the communist government. The Treasury Department announced that the US will no longer allow cruises to Cuba or the group educational and cultural trips known as "people to people" travel to the island. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the measures are a response to what it calls Cuba's "destabilising role" in the Western Hemisphere, including support for the government of President Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela. "This administration has made a strategic decision to reverse the loosening of sanctions and other restrictions on the Cuban regime," Mnuchin said. "These actions will help to keep US dollars out of the hands of Cuban military, intelligence, and security services." Cruise ships have brought thousands of Americans to Cuba since the US began restoring full

Kashmir issue can be solved only through political solutions: Jairam Ramesh

Kashmir is a political problem and it can be solved only through political solutions, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on Tuesday.

BJP, Congress yet to submit details of electoral bonds to EC

BJP and Congress are among political parties which have not yet submitted details of donations received through electoral bonds to the Election Commission according to the directions of the Supreme Court.

Elected to Lok Sabha, 4 Assam MLAs resign

Four members of the Assam Legislative Assembly, including the Deputy Speaker Kripanath Mallah, Tuesday resigned from the House as they were elected to the Lok Sabha in the polls held recently. According to an official release, Mallah, a BJP MP, resigned from the post and submitted his resignation to the Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami. State ministers Pallab Lochan Das and Topon Kumar Gogoi too resigned from Assam Assembly during the day. Congress MP Abdul Khaleque also submitted his resignation to the Speaker, officials said.

BJP shifts to 'Jai Maha Kali' slogan as TRP of Ram down: TMC

Accusing the BJP of mixing religion with politics, senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee Tuesday mocked the saffron party's new "Jai Maha Kali" slogan, saying the saffron camp has replaced its "Jai Shri Ram" slogan as its TRP is on a downward slide after the elections. The BJP had on Monday said Bengal is the land of Maha Kali and the party's slogans in the state will be "Jai Shri Ram" and "Jai Maha Kali". "They (BJP) have decided to change the slogan from Jai Shri Ram to Jai Maha Kali as the TRP of Ram is on a downward slide. They are mixing religion with politics," Abhishek, who is also nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, said while addressing a protest rally against fuel price hike here. The Television Rating Point (TRP) is a tool which indicates the popularity of a television programme. The inclusion of "Jai Maha Kali" in its list of slogans of BJP came at a time when the TMC has accused it of being a party of outsiders who do not understand the culture of ...

Shah takes stock of J&K; demand for delimitation commission intensifies

The state BJP has also been suggesting that 13 seats kept vacant for areas of the state under the illegal occupation of Pakistan should be given to west Pakistan refugees who have settled in Jammu

Major reshuffle of IAS, IPS officers in AP

: In the first major rejig of the state administration since Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy became Chief Minister, the Andhra Pradesh government Tuesday night transferred several IAS and IPS officers. In all, 49 IAS and six IPS were transferred in the reshuffle. IAS officers who enjoyed key posts during the five-year tenure of Chandrababu Naidu, including his Special Chief Secretary Satish Chandra, have been left out without any posting for the time being. Adityanath Das, who was Irrigation Secretary during late Y S Rajasekhara Reddys tenure, has been brought back to the Water Resources Department as Special Chief Secretary. Jagan has announced that completion of irrigation projects, particularly the Polavaram multipurpose project, in a time-bound manner would be one of his top priorities besides to continue the ambitious Jalayagnam programme initiated by his late father. Official source said K S Jawahar Reddy has been made Principal Secretary, Health. This is another key ...

TRS sweeps rural local body polls in Tgana

The ruling Telagana Rashtra Samithi Tuesday swept the rural local body polls in Telangana, winning a majority of the zilla parishad territorial constituency and mandal parishad territorial constituency seats. The main opposition Congress stood second, while the BJP demonstrated its presence in the rural areas. The performance of the Telugu Desam Party, CPI and CPI(M) continued to be poor. Elections for 539 ZPTCs and 5,817 MPTCs were held in three phases last month. Counting of votes was taken up Tuesday. The TRS bagged 235 ZPTCs, and 1842 MPTCs till evening. The Congress secured 38 ZPTCs and 719 MPTCs. The BJP managed to win seven ZPTCs and 99 MPTCs, official sources said. Upbeat over his partys 'historic' win, TRS working president K T Rama Rao said responsibility on the party grew following the massive victory in the rural local body polls. "The verdict given by people in zilla parishad elections today is better than the unilateral verdict given by them in December (in ...

Not sure if TMC govt will continue till 2021: Vijayvargiya

BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya indicated on Tuesday that the TMC government in West Bengal might not be able to complete its term and urged his party workers to prepare themselves as an "alternative force" before the assembly election. Addressing his first meeting with elected representatives and state office bearers after the Lok Sabha election, Vijayvargiya, who is the Bharatiya Janata Party's incharge of the state, lashed out at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for being "an arrogant administrator". "We don't know whether the TMC government will be able to continue in Bengal till 2021," Vijayvargiya told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting here. "We want it to, but we are not sure whether it would be able to as the people and party leaders are angry with the functioning of the government." The Trinamool Congress, which lost 12 seats it held in the general election, faced another jolt when two legislators and a majority of councillors in four municipalities switched .

Supreme Leader: Iran will continue resisting US pressure

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says his country will continue resisting US economic and political pressure on his country. Khamenei spoke Tuesday on the anniversary of the death of Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic, in Khomeini's mausoleum. Without referring to the US by name, Khamenei said "standing and resisting the enemy's excessive demands and bulling is the only way to stop him." Khamenei added: "Resistance has a cost, but the cost of surrendering to the enemy is higher." Last year, the US withdrew from a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and re-imposed sanctions. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US is willing to talk with Iran "with no preconditions." Iran says the US must return to the deal first.

Poland marks 30 years since election of first non-communist govt

Thirty years after Poland's election that heralded the peaceful demise of the entire Soviet bloc, anti-communist icon Lech Walesa on Tuesday warned against the dangers of demagoguery, populism and income inequality in capitalist societies today. "Neither communism nor the current capitalism suits the 21st century. The people will not accept the kind of distribution of wealth that we have today and which is at risk of continuing," the Nobel Peace laureate told a crowd of 10,000 in the Baltic port city of Gdansk. "So some sort of October Revolution may take place, unless we sit down at a table (and negotiate) with those who hold these riches," the former Polish president added, surrounded by other protagonists of the fall of communism. Three decades ago, "our generation succeeded at something incredible: we offered the world a new chance, and we did it without starting a nuclear war," said the former leader of the freedom-fighting Solidarity trade union. On June 4, 1989, after so-called

J&K polls likely later this year; EC to announce schedule after Amarnath Yatra

The Election Commission Tuesday said it will announce the schedule for Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls after the Amarnath Yatra, which begins next month, making it clear that the electoral exercise could be held sometime later this year. In a statement, the poll panel said it has unanimously decided that "holding of assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir shall be considered later in this year". Jammu and Kashmir does not have an elected dispensation since the PDP-BJP coalition government fell apart in June 2018. The state was placed under Governor's Rule, as provided by the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, on June 19, 2018, after the BJP withdrew from its coalition with the PDP. As mandated by the Constitution, the state was brought under President's Rule on December 19, 2018. The term of the central rule ends on June 19 which is set to be extended. "The Commission will keep on regularly, and on real time basis, monitoring the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, taking inputs from all