Page 270 - Politics
Amit Shah given detailed presentation on J-K situation
Home Minister Amit Shah was on Tuesday given a detailed presentation on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, where the BJP has been pushing for carrying out a delimitation exercise for getting more seats for Jammu region in the state assembly, officials said Tuesday. The home minister was briefed about the ground situation in the sensitive state, which has been hit by militancy for the last three decades and security arrangements being in place there. Shah was also told about the security arrangements being made for the annual Amarnath yatra, slated to begin on July 1, a home ministry official said. He is likely to visit the state soon, they said. Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and senior officials of the Kashmir division in the Home Ministry were present in the briefing. Jammu and Kashmir has been prime focus of the ruling BJP which in its manifesto had declared that once it is elected to power, it will work for abrogation of Article 370, which gives special power to Jammu and ...
SAD urges poll panel to act against Punjab IG
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday urged the Election Commission (EC) to take strict action against Punjab's Inspector General of Police Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh for "continuing as a member" of the SIT team probing police actions at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan, in violation of the orders of the poll panel.
Passang Dorjee Sona elected Arunachal assembly speaker
Senior BJP member Passang Dorjee Sona was on Tuesday elected unopposed as the Speaker of the seventh assembly of Arunachal Pradesh. Another BJP MLA Tesam Pongte was elected as the deputy speaker. Pro-Tem Speaker Phosum Khimhun declared the names of Sona and Pongte for the two posts as no other nominations were filed. Chief Minister Pema Khandu, Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein and senior Congress legislator Ninong Ering escorted the newly elected speaker to his chair in the house. Sona has been representing Mechuka assembly constituency in Shi-Yomi district since 2009. Congratulating Sona for being elected as the speaker, Chief Minister Pema Khandu said the state's tourism industry has flourished under him when he was the parliamentary secretary of the department. Sona expressed his gratefulness to the members of the house for electing him to the coveted post and assured them that he will be impartial while discharging his duties. "I assure you that each member will get .
Vikhe-Patil quits as Congress MLA, may join BJP soon
Veteran Congressman Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, who was Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly, quit his seat as legislator and is likely to join the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Trump urges May to stay, finalise US-UK trade deal
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May to "stick around" to let the two countries have a "very, very substantial trade deal".
Amarinder hits back at Harsimrat Badal, says she's in habit of shooting from mouth
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said Tuesday Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal has "the habit of shooting from her mouth" without properly understanding an issue, a day after she accused him of failing to curb the drug problem in the state. On Monday, Badal alleged that during the two years of the Congress government, Punjab saw the "highest drug-related deaths". Her criticism of Singh's rule came after the Punjab chief minister wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to demand a national policy to tackle the drug menace. In his letter to Modi, Singh had urged him to advise the ministries of Home, Social Justice and Empowerment and Health and Family Welfare to address the issue. Badal, the three-time SAD MP from Bathinda, is the Union minister of food processing. On Tuesday, Singh said it was not the first time he had urged the PM to come out with a national policy to tackle the drugs problem and said Badal's remarks exposed her "total ignorance" of the issue. Singh said Badals .
Meeting to be held between Gujjar community members, Raj govt ministers over 5% quota in jobs
A meeting will be held between ministers of the Rajasthan government and members of the Gujjar Aarakshan Sangarsh Samiti on June 18 to discuss the community's demand of five per cent quota in jobs and educational institutes, an official said Tuesday. In the meeting, Tourism Minister Vishvendra Singh, Health Minister Raghu Sharma, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Bhanwar Lal Meghwal and Chief Secretary D B Gupta will be present besides other officials of the department concerned, Principal Secretary of the Social Justice and Empowerment Department Akhil Arora said. Gujjar community members had blocked railways tracks and highways in the state in February and the agitation continued for eight days. They called off their protest on February 16 after getting a written assurance from the state government that it will stand by the community if the bill provisioning 5 per cent reservation to them faces legal hurdles. On February 13, the Rajasthan Assembly had passed a bill giving five
Rajasthan Cong leaders flay Gehlot's remarks gainst Pilot
Rifts in the Rajasthan Congress resurfaced Tuesday with two party leaders criticising Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for suggesting that state unit president Sachin Pilot should take responsibility for his son Vaibhav Gehlot's election defeat. "The statement by the chief minister is totally wrong and against the interest of the party. He himself should take responsibility for the Jodhpur seat," Congress MLA Prithviraj Meena said. In a television interview Monday, the chief minister had said Sachin Pilot should bear responsibility for the Congress loss in Jodhpur as he got Vaibhav Gehlot the party ticket from there. Meena said the CM seemed "obsessed" with his son. On the back foot after Monday's interview, the CM said the media was making an unnecessary issue out of it. Reacting to Gehlot's earlier comments, Rajendra Chaudhary, a Congress leader from Jodhpur, said Gehlot's word was final in decisions regarding that constituency. "The statement is surprising. Gehlot should take the ...
Ground workers of mahagathbandhan partners didn't cooperate, votes not transferred: Cong leader
Votes did not get transferred among grand alliance constituents in Bihar and that is one of the reasons behind its debacle in the Lok Sabha polls, Congress leader Akhilesh Prasad Singh said Tuesday. Top leaders of grand alliance partners -- the RJD, Congress, RLSP, HAM and VIP -- cooperated with each other but that did not happen among the ground-level workers, he claimed. The ruling NDA inflicted a body blow to the five-party grand alliance in the state, winning all but one out of the 40 seats. The only saving grace for the 'Mahagathbandhan' was the Congress retaining the Kishanganj constituency. "Such a poor result would not have happened if votes had been transferred among the partners of the 'mahagathbandhan' in Bihar," said Singh who was the Bihar Congress campaign committee chairman. Going by the attendance at Rahul Gandhi's public meetings in Bihar, the grand alliance should have won at least half of 40 Lok Sabha seats, the former Union minister told a press conference. He said
Trump baby blimp flies in London as protests greet president
As British Prime Minister Theresa May meets President Donald Trump on Tuesday, thousands of protesters plan to tell the US leader he should have stayed at home. Trade unions, women's groups, peace campaigners and environmentalists are gathering in the capital to condemn Trump's policies and Britain's decision to roll out the red carpet for a pomp-filled state visit. Protests began with the flying of a giant blimp depicting the president as an angry orange baby, which rose from the grass of central London's Parliament Square. One group came dressed in the red cloaks and bonnets of characters from Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale," which is set in a dystopian, misogynist future America. Leaders of Britain's main opposition party are due to join demonstrators later at a rally in Trafalgar Square, just up the street from May's Downing St. office. Police have erected barricades to stop protesters marching past the gates of Downing St. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is due to ...
Delhi BJP MLA demands apology from Centre for 'Operation Blue Star', defends Bhindranwale
Delhi BJP MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa courted controversy on Tuesday after he defended Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers and demanded an apology from the Centre for conducting 'Operation Blue Star' in which they were killed. Bhindranwale, head of Sikh religious sect Damdami Taksal, was killed along with his armed followers during 'Operation Blue Star' launched by Indian Army at Golden Temple Complex in June 1984. He and his followers had occupied Harmandir Sahib and fortified Sikh shrine Akal Takht, from where they were allegedly running militant activities in Punjab. Sirsa, a leader of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) won the Rajouri Garden Assembly constituency bypoll on a BJP ticket in 2017. "As far as I know, there is nothing against Bhindranwale except allegations. He and his followers were fighting against the attack on the Gurudwara. "Let a probe be conducted into 'Operation Blue Star' to come out with facts which have been buried under allegations," Sirsa said at a press ...
Amit Shah admonishes Giriraj Singh for Iftaar tweet, asks him to refrain from making such remarks
BJP president Amit Shah on Tuesday rebuked Union minister Giriraj Singh for his snide tweet targeting NDA leaders in Bihar on their presence in 'Iftar' parties and asked him to refrain from making such remarks, party sources said. Singh had posted pictures of top Bihar NDA leaders, including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, attending 'Iftar' and questioned as to why people lag behind in observance of their own "karm-dharm" (religious customs) while staying ahead in making a show for religious rituals of others. BJP leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi was also seen in one of the pictures. His tweet drew sharp reactions from the BJP allies. A BJP leader said Shah admonished Singh and asked him to avoid making such remarks.
Bharat Chamber prepares economic agenda for Modi govt 2.0
The Bharat Chamber of Commerce has prepared an economic agenda for the new government focusing on key issues at a time when the domestic economy and global geopolitical conditions remained strained. Chamber president Sitaram Sharma emphasised that priority should be to transform the presently stagnating manufacturing and agriculture sectors, two major growth engines of the country's economy. The 56-page agenda paper provided suggestions to overcome the challenges. About West Bengal, Sharma remained optimistic that the strained political relation between the state and Central leaderships in the recent months will not impact the central PSUs' investment plans here. "In West Bengal where private investment is not adequate, public investments will hold the key for the state's development. I hope the projects announced by the Central PSUs in the past Bengal Global Business Summits are not held back and there should not be any discremination," he said. Sharma said he expects ..
Trump offers 'very, very substantial' post-Brexit trade deal as protests hit UK streets
President Donald Trump said he wanted a "very, very substantial trade deal" between the US and the UK after Brexit during a meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May in London on Tuesday, even as protestors chanted anti-Trump slogans nearby. Trump addressed a breakfast meeting with business chiefs alongside May at the start of the second day of his three-day state visit to the UK during which he asked the outgoing British Prime Minister to "stick around" and see a new trade deal through. "I think we will have a very, very substantial trade deal. This is something you want to do and my folks want to do. Stick around. Let's do this deal," Trump said. May, who is set to formally resign as British PM on Friday, responded by agreeing there were "huge opportunities" for Britain and the US to work together in the future. "It is a great partnership, but I think a partnership we can take even further. Of course, that is with a good bilateral trade deal," she said. The meeting of the chiefs of ...
Sudan protesters remain defiant after deadly army crackdown
Thousands of Sudanese pro-democracy protesters remained defiant of the country's military rulers Tuesday, a day after security forces violently cleared away their main sit-in site in the capital. Protest organisers say 35 people died in the crackdown. Activists turned prayers marking the Eid al-Fitr holiday into political protests, with thousands gathering outside mosques in several neighbourhoods around Khartoum and its twin city, Omdurman, across the Nile River. After prostrating in prayer, some worshippers chanted, "Freedom, peace, justice and civilian government are the people's choice," according to videos posted online. "We have no choice but to continue our protests and civil disobedience until the fall of the military council," said Mohammed Yousef al-Mustafa, a spokesman for the Sudanese Professionals Association, which has spearheaded the protests. The bloody dispersal of the sit-in Monday poses a new challenge to the protest movement, which now aims to show it can keep up ..
National security to remain top priority for Modi 2 govt: Naik
The Narendra Modi government took a firm stand against terrorism in its first term and its re- election with a massive mandate will instill fear in the minds of the country's enemies, newly-inducted Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik said Tuesday. Talking to PTI here, he said national security will continue to be a top priority for the NDA government in its second term which began on May 30. The 66-year-old BJP MP from North Goa, who was re- inducted in the Modi ministry in its second innings, said the country stands united in its fight against terrorism. The five-time MP not only retained his portfolio as Minister of State (independent) for AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy), he also got the charge as MoS in the Ministry of Defence. "Before the Modi-led government came to power for the first time (in 2014), there were only slogans in the name of anti-terrorist actions when Uri-like attacks used to happen. "But we changed the ...
Queen, PM May convey subtle messages to Prez Trump on need to keep international institutions intact
Queen Elizabeth II has used her banquet speech to subtly remind visiting US President Donald Trump that the international institutions set up after the World War II were designed to ensure the horrors of conflict were not repeated, the British media reported Tuesday. Prime Minister Theresa May too presented Trump with a framed copy of the Atlantic Charter, a set of principles centred on freedom and cooperation agreed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin Roosevelt in 1941 that formed the basis of many post-war institutions. Both have been seen as a thinly-veiled message to a president who has repeatedly shown his disdain for multilateral organisations such as the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the BBC reported. The 93-year-old British monarch, in her banquet speech at Buckingham Palace, noted that the original purpose of the institutions established after the Second World War was to make sure that the world was a safer ...
27,125 bank fraud cases in last five years, says Congress
The Congress on Tuesday said that about 27,125 bank fraud cases took place in the last five years to the tune of Rs 1.74 lakh crore and demanded the BJP government to save the sinking economy.
TN govt transfers 3 IAS officers, including Madurai Collector
The Tamil Nadu government Tuesday transferred Madurai District Collector S Nagarajan, months after he had replaced the incumbent in the wake of alleged breach at a storage room in the temple city where records of the April 18 Lok Sabha elections were kept. He was appointed in place of S Natarajan, who was the then Returning Officer, in April at the height of a raging controversy over some polling personnel entering the record room in the complex where the electronic voting machines used in the polls had been kept. Nagarajan has been posted as director of Entrepreneurship Development and Innovation Institute, an order issued by Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan said. In a mini reshuffle of IAS officials, the government also trasnferred two additional chief electoral officers here, appointing them to different posts. The Madurai district revenue officer "shall hold full additional charge of the post of collector," until further orders, it added. Earlier, a row had ...
Allies will do better with BJP symbol in Maha polls: Mahajan
BJP leader Girish Mahajan said Tuesday that the smaller allies of the party will fare better in the Maharashtra assembly elections if they fought on the party's lotus symbol. Discussions on seat-sharing for the elections was at a primary stage, Mahajan, state water resources minister, told reporters here. The BJP's allies in the state, besides the Shiv Sena, include the Republican Party of India (Athavale group) Rashtriya Samaj Paksh (RSP), Rayat Kranti Sena (RKS) and Shiv Sangram. "The BJP is of the view that if allied parties contest on lotus symbol, they stand a better chance of winning," Mahajan said. However, Mahadev Jankar, RSP chief, had said recently that his party would prefer to contest on its own symbol. While RKS leader Sadabhau Khot, minister of state for agriculture, had indicated that his party's candidates would like to contest on the BJP's symbol. Revenue minister and BJP leader Chandrakant Patil had said a few days ago that of the 288 assembly seats, ...