Page 2687 - Politics
India took steps to disrupt terror activities, will not hesitate to do so again: Sitharaman
India has exhibited measures to disrupt and deter the activities of terror groups and their patrons and would not hesitate to do so again if required, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Saturday, in a veiled reference to cross-border terrorism from Pakistan. Sitharaman, speaking at a meeting of ASEAN defence ministers in Singapore, also said that the presence of terrorist infrastructure and support to terrorists in the "immediate neighbourhood" constantly tested India's patience and as a responsible power it exercised "great restraint" in dealing with the menace. "However, India had exhibited measures to disrupt and deter the activities of terrorist groups and their patrons and would not hesitate to do so again if required in future," she said, according to a statement released by the Defence Ministry in New Delhi. Sitharaman emphasised India's concern on the grave challenges to international peace and stability due to the threat of terrorism. Condemning the use of terror as an .
India, Sri Lanka discuss ways to deepen ties
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Sri Lankan counterpart Ranil Wickremesinghe on Saturday discussed the entire gamut of bilateral relations and ways to further deepen the historically close and friendly relations between the two countries.In the delegation level talks held here, the two leaders exchanged views on regional and global issues and even reviewed the progress in the implementation of various decisions taken during high-level exchanges in the recent past.The Sri Lankan Prime Minister was on a three-day official visit to India from October 18 to 20, accompanied by his wife Maithree Wickramasinghe.The Ministry of External Affairs in a statement said that Wickremesinghe's visit is part of India's continuing engagement with the Government of Sri Lanka at the highest level."The multi-faceted partnership has been marked by close contacts at the highest political level, growing trade and investment, wide-ranging development cooperation, increasing linkages in the fields of ...
Khattar urges Haryana Roadways employees to end stir
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said Saturday his government is ready to discuss the demands of Haryana Roadways employees who are on strike and urged them to join duty immediately keeping in mind the problems faced by people during the festive season. The employees have been on strike since October 16 against the state government's decision to hire 700 buses of private owners, seeing the move as a step towards privatisation of the transport department. On Friday, they extended their strike until Monday. According to an official statement, all roadways union office-bearers have been urged to come to the office of Director General, State Transport, Haryana, in Chandigarh on Sunday to discuss and resolve the matter. Khattar said the genuine demands of the employees on strike would be considered sympathetically and action would be taken to fulfil them. He said it is "our constitutional and moral responsibility" to ensure that the general public is not inconvenienced, especially so ...
Rahul blows poll bugle in Telangana, attacks PM Modi, KCR
Setting the tone for upcoming assembly elections in Telangana, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that the latter is trying to "divide the nation.""People who belong to weaker sections in India are being threatened. In today's India, women are scared of stepping outside. The reason behind this is, for the first time in India, the Prime Minister is trying to divide the nation," Rahul Gandhi said while addressing a rally here.Besides Prime Minister Modi, the Congress president also criticised Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party president and caretaker Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, popularly known as KCR, for not fulfilling all the promises he made to the people of the state."KCR had promised to give one job to each family, three-acre land to Schedule Case and Schedule Tribes, 12 per cent reservation to Aadivasis, but he has failed in fulfilling all his promises just like Prime Minister Modi. You trusted .
BJP dismisses 'misleading' news item attributed to Goa Power Minister
Goa Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday dismissed the "misleading" news item attributed to state Power Minister Nilesh Cabral, stating 'Goa Forward Party (GFP) leader Vijay Sardesai's views on new Chief Minister is out of personal interest' while saying that the party is fully committed to "coalition dharma".BJP Goa unit president Vinay Tendulkar, in a statement, said: "BJP president Amit Shah had summoned leaders of both the coalition partners Sudin Dhavalikar and Vijay Sardesai to New Delhi for consultation regarding the present political situation in Goa and also future strategy as regards to the smooth functioning of the coalition government."Tendulkar further said that the BJP chief had separate meetings with the two leaders and discussed the future strategy regarding the stability of government in the background of the ill health of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar."During the discussion, the BJP chief emphasised the need for cooperation amongst all the alliance partners, ..
UP govt issues notification renaming Allahabad to Prayagraj
The Uttar Pradesh government has issued a notification directing its departments to use Prayagraj instead of Allahabad for all official purposes, district magistrate Suhas L Y said on Saturday. Governor Ram Naik approved the name change on Friday and the order comes into force with immediate effect, he said. However, it will not have any bearing on cases already in the courts, according to a release from the magistrate's office. The proposal to rename the historic city of Allahabad as Prayagraj was approved by the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet on Tuesday. The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who had said this was in keeping with the wishes of the people. "The BJP government has rectified the mistake made by Akbar," a state BJP spokesperson had said. Earlier, opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Party and Congress, criticised the decision, which comes ahead of the Kumbh Mela in January next year. Congress spokesperson Onkar Singh ..
Will continue to fight soft and hard Hindutva: Owaisi
Reacting sharply to Congress president Rahul Gandhi's remark that MIM shared BJP's ideology of hatred, MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday his party would continue to fight both soft and hard Hindutva.
BJP announces first list of 77 candidates for Chhattisgarh polls
The BJP Saturday released its first list of 77 candidates for the Chhattisgarh Assembly polls, fielding Chief Minister Raman Singh from the Rajnandgaon seat. Among the 77 candidates announced out of a total of 90 Assembly segments, 14 are women candidates and 14 sitting MLAs have been replaced with new names, Union minister J P Nadda said. The list was finalised at the BJP's central election committee meeting that was chaired by party president Amit Shah and attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi among others. Among those fielded by the BJP include former IAS officer O P Chaudhary and tribal leader Ramdayal Uike, who recently left the Congress and joined the BJP. Chhattisgarh will go to polls in two phases on November 12 and November 20. The votes will be counted on December 11. The BJP also released a list of 38 candidates for the Telangana Assembly polls. There are a total of 119 Assembly candidates in the state. The party also released a list of 13 candidates for the Assembly ...
After Cabral's swipe at Sardesai, BJP does damage control
Following one of the state ministers accusing a coalition partner of having "personal interest" in leadership change in Goa, the BJP on Saturday said it was committed to "coalition dharma". BJP leader and minister Nilesh Cabral said Friday that Goa Forward Party chief Vijai Sardesai had "personal interest" in pressing for leadership change. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has been ailing since February this year and recently underwent month-long treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. Cabral's statement evoked a strong reaction from Sardesai, also a minister, who said if he had any personal interest, he would have been somewhere else. Goa BJP chief Vinay Tendulkar issued a statement Saturday, saying "BJP is fully committed to coalition dharma and mutual trust and respect for constituent parties." He dismissed as misleading the reports on Cabral's statement. Tendulkar pointed out that BJP national president Amit Shah recently met leader of .
BJP leaders ask cadres to begin preparations for 2019 polls
Senior BJP leaders interacted with district party office-bearers on Saturday and issued instructions on how to roll out the election campaign ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Irrigation projects: Telangana minister joins issue with Rahul
Hours after Congress president Rahul Gandhi hit out at the Telangana government on "redesigning" of projects, a state minister said expenditure of irrigation projects had gone up owing to the Land Acquisition Bill brought by the UPA government. Addressingpublic meetings at Bhainsa and Kamareddy in Telangana, Gandhi alleged that Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (popularly known as KCR) was indulging in corruption in the name of redesigning of irrigation projects. He said the Kaleshwaram Project cost was increased to Rs one lakh crore from the earlier estimation of Rs 38,000 crore. Gandhi also alleged that the KCR government insulted B R Ambedkar by changing the name of a project named after him. "It was congress which neglected Ambedkar. He got Bharat Ratna during V P Singh period, not in congress rule. He talks about the cost escalation of Kaleshwaram project. The cost has gone up as land acquisition cost has gone up due to the Bill," Minister for IT and ...
Ganesh Dutt assumes charge as chairman of HIMFED
The newly appointed chairman of The Himachal Pradesh State Cooperative Marketing and Consumers Federation (HIMFED) Ganesh Dutt assumed the charge of office Saturday. His wife and other family members and senior BJP leaders of the state were also present on this occasion. Managing Director, HIMFED, Reema Kashyap and other senior officers extended cordial welcome to Ganesh Dutt on assuming charge as the chairman. Ganesh Dutt later held discussion with the officers and employees of the HIMFED regarding various issues relating to the farmers and horticulturists of the state. He said important issues would be raised with the state and union governments to ensure welfare of the farmers and horticulturists of the state besides helping them in doubling their income by 2022. Mayor Kusum Sadrate, former Rajya Sabha Member Bimla Kashyap, Vice Chancellor of HP University Sikander Kumar were also present.
BJP has earned people's trust: Shah on J-K poll results
BJP president Amit Shah said Saturday his party had earned the trust of people in Jammu and Kashmir with its "impressive" show in the urban local body polls in the state. "These results are a reflection of aspiration of people of Jammu and Kashmir, who want to move away from politics of strife towards PM Modi's politics of development. I thank them for their continued support and assure them that the BJP will leave no stone unturned to realise their dreams," he tweeted. "Congratulations to karyakartas of the state BJP and state president Ravinder Raina for BJP's impressive performance in the recently held urban local body polls. BJP has won 212 and 106 wards in Jammu and Kashmir region respectively. You have earned trust of the people," he added. The BJP swept the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) elections and made some advances in Kashmir, by winning 100 wards in the valley, in the four-phased Urban Local Bodies elections in the state that were marred by boycott by the NC and PDP.
Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya willing to join politics
Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur on Saturday expressed her inclination towards joining politics, saying she would surely do so "if the nation wants".
Explain why former Congress MLAs met Amit Shah before resigning: Congress
The Goa Congress on Saturday demanded to know why two of its now former MLAs met BJP national president Amit Shah before submitting their resignation from the party earlier this week before joining the BJP.
Independents sweep ULB polls in Muslim-dominated districts of Jammu
Independent candidates got a lion's share of seats in the urban local body (ULB) polls, especially in Muslim-dominated districts of Jammu, winning 185 wards out of 521 spread across the region. The independents have an edge over the BJP and the Congress in over a dozen municipal bodies, officials said. They have presented a good show in all the 10 districts which registered a high voter turnout in the recently concluded ULB polls held after a gap of 13 years. In the two municipal committees of Poonch district -- 17-member Poonch and 13-member Surankote -- the independent candidates won 23 seats, while the Congress and the BJP had to soothe with four and three seats, respectively, the officials said. In the adjoining Rajouri district, independents won seven-member Kalakote municipal committee, while the BJP swept 13-member Sunderbani with 10 seats against three by independents and 13-member Noushera by winning seven against three each by the Congress and independents, they said. The ...
PM thanks J-K people for supporting BJP in local body polls
As BJP performed well in the Jammu and Kashmir local body elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday said his party will work hard to fulfil the aspirations of the people. "I thank the people of Jammu and Kashmir for their support to the @BJP4JnK in the urban local body elections," he tweeted. He assuredthe people of the state that BJP will work hard to fulfil the aspirations of the state's youth and "serve the state with utmost diligence." Modi also hailed the BJP's state unit. " I am glad that they reached out to every section of society and explained the Party's development agenda," he said in another tweet. The BJP swept the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) elections and made some advances in Kashmir, by winning 100 wards in the valley, in the four-phased Urban Local Bodies elections in the state that were marred by boycott by the NC and PDP. Independents Saturday emerged as the single largest group in the elections in Kashmir by winning 178 wards across 42 municipal bodies
Over half a million people march in London seeking 2nd Brexit vote
Over half a million people marched through central London on Saturday calling for a second, final vote on the UK's withdrawal from the EU, protest organizers announced.
AAP to kick-off campaign for 2019 general election on Sunday
Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal will launch the party's campaign for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in the national capital on Sunday.
40 organizations call Assam bandh on Oct 23 against Citizenship Bill
At least 40 organizations belonging to different indigenous communities have called for a dawn-to-dusk bandh on October 23 opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, according to Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) leader Akhil Gogoi.