Page 347 - Politics
Speculations over RJD, Congress MLAs' participation in Nitish Kumar's iftar party
Giving fresh air to speculations, rebel RJD legislator Maheshwar Prasad Yadav and Congress MLA Shakeel Ahmed Khan attended the iftar party organised by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at his residence in Patna on Tuesday.Yadav represents Gaighat Assembly constituency in Muzaffarpur, while Khan is an MLA from Kadwa Assembly segment in Katihar district in Bihar.Congress and RJD put up a poor showing in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. While Congress managed to bag just one parliamentary seat, the Lalu Prasad-led party drew a blank.Soon after the announcement of election results, Maheshwar put the onus of the poll debacle on the "dynastic politics" being practiced in the RJD. He asked his party leader Tejaswi Yadav, who is looking after the party affairs after RJD chief was sent to jail, to step down from the post of the leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly."Tejashwi Yadav should resign from the post of Leader of Opposition as people are fed up of dynasty politics. The party ...
Is it the beginning of the end for Trinamool? (Analysis)
The large-scale defection of municipal councillors and some legislators on Tuesday from the Trinamool Congress to the BJP may only be a trailer of the big picture that could unfold in West Bengal in the coming months, with state opposition leaders calling it the beginning of the end of the Mamata Banerjee-led outfit.
Leave RJD if you don't like Tejashwi's leadership: Tej Pratap to party workers
RJD supremo Lalu Prasad's elder son Tej Pratap Yadav Tuesday told party men to leave the party if they don't like his younger brother Tejashwi Prasad Yadav's leadership. "Why should he (Tejashwi) resign (as leader of opposition)? If one does not like his leadership, one can leave the RJD or Mahagathbandhan," Tej Pratap Yadav told reporters here. "I am with my younger brother as Krishna and will always stand by him," he said. Tej Pratap lamented that had Lalu Prasad been out of jail, the RJD would not have faced the rout. Tej Pratap, who could not attend the RJD's Tuesday meeting held at former chief minister Rabri Devi's residence to discuss the poll debacle, said he had intimated the party leaders about his inability to attend the meeting. RJD legislator Maheshwar Prasad Yadav had virtually revolted on Monday against the party leadership asking Tejashwi Prasad Yadav to take moral responsibility for the party's rout in the elections and resign from the post of the leader of ...
Abhay Kumar concurrently accredited as India's Ambassador to Comoros
The incumbent Ambassador of India to Madagascar, Abhay Kumar, was concurrently accredited as the next Ambassador of India to Comoros, with residence in Antananarivo on Monday.Ambassador Kumar will travel to Comoros shortly to present his credentials, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.Comoros is a member of OIC and is a strategically located country in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa.India established its diplomatic relations with the Union of Comoros in 1976. President Azali Assoumani visited India in March 2018 to the founding conference of International Solar Alliance. Comoros has ratified ISA treaty..
WB: 11 cops, 3 locals injured during clashes in Cooch Behar
At least 11 cops and three locals sustained injuries during a protest held against the state government for 'no development' in Morgan area of Cooch Behar district.The incident occurred after police vehicles were ransacked by villagers while they were trying to lift a blockade.Injured police personnel and locals were immediately shifted to a hospital.North Bengal Development Minister and MLA Rabindranath Ghosh alleged that BJP activists were illegally capturing the party offices of Trinamool Congress (TMC). "BJP workers gave slogans against the TMC and deliberately ransacked police vehicle," he told ANI.However, the BJP claimed the entire incident was a fall out of an internal feud with TMC workers."BJP has no hands in it. TMC goons had attacked police personnel, their party office and locals. Rabindranath Ghosh's team and TMC cadres were fighting among themselves," Sameera, Kolkata Bharatiya Yuva Morch president, said.
Rahul to visit Wayanad to thank electorate on poll win
Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who won from Kerala's Wayanad seat in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha election, is likely to visit his constituency to thank the electorate at the end of this week or early next week, a party leader said on Tuesday.
Nitish, Mamata to reach Delhi Wednesday for Modi's swearing-in
A day ahead of the swearing-in ceremony of the Narendra Modi government, a host of chief ministers will be reaching the national capital on Wednesday, including Bihar's Nitish Kumar and West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee.
RJD backs Tejashwi, says "LS poll result obtained through conspiracy"
The RJD on Tuesday refused to accept the party's poor performance in the just-concluded General Elections, saying the "result was obtained through conspiracy". The party's view was conveyed to mediapersons by senior leader Jagadanand Singh after a day-long meeting of senior party leader Rabri Devi and son Tejashwi Yadav with the 19 LS candidates of the RJD. Singh, who himself lost to Union minister Ashwani Kumar Choubey for the Buxar seat, said the party leaders reposed faith in Tejashwi Yadav. He praised Tejashwi for working hard in the run up to the polls, addressing 235 public meetings in total. He said Tejashwi, who is party president Lalu Prasad Yadav's younger son and heir apparent, has been successful in energising the youths. Singh said the party has constituted a three-member committee to analyse in detail the reasons for the poll defeat and the conspiracy angle. Besides Singh, senior RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui and Bihar unit secretary general Alok Mehta are the other ...
'Krishna' Tej Pratap blames 'Arjun' Tejaswi for poll debacle
RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav on Tuesday blamed his younger brother Tejaswi for the party's drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections, but "strongly opposed" demands of his resignation from the leader of Opposition."Those who distributed tickets and contested elections should take the responsibility of the defeat," Tej Pratap wrote in a letter to Tejaswi.He requested Tejaswi, who looked into the day-to-day affairs of RJD after Lalu Prasad was jailed, to continue leading the party in the Bihar Assembly.Drawing an analogy from the epic Mahabharata, he called Tejaswi "Arjun" and himself "Krishna", and said, "I advocate to contest the upcoming Assembly elections in 2020 in your leadership. You have to continue as the leader of Opposition. I strongly oppose to the talks of your resignation. I will stand firm with you in the 2020 Assembly and other elections ahead."Rebel RJD leader Mahesh Yadav had demanded Tejashwi's resignation as the leader of Opposition in the state and said that if "dynastic ..
Will fight rise of 'divisive, communal forces' in Bengal: Congress
Warning of the rise of "divisive and communal forces" in West Bengal, Congress leader Pradip Bhattacharya on Tuesday said his party will keep fighting against these in the state as well as in the country.
Violent attacks in Tripura on those who did not vote for BJP: Cong
The Congress on Tuesday accused the BJP of violent attacks on Tripura electors who did not vote for it in the Lok Sabha elections and sought deployment of the Assam Rifles, alleging the law and order in the BJP-ruled state has worsened. Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera and the party's Tripura chiefm, Pradyot Deb Barman, said as a last resort, they will move the Supreme Court demanding a compensation for victims of violence during the polls. Khera alleged that the BJP was targeting voters who did not vote for it in Lok Sabha elections, while Barman said scared and horrified people are now hiding in jungles to save their lives from "goons supported by the ruling BJP". "We have demanded to the state government...Now we have no option left because we have gone to the State Government in April. Since violence is continuing, the Supreme Court is the last resort for us to bring the state to normalcy and we are still requesting, please bring in the Assam Rifles, the police are incapable of ..
Cong, BJP in war of words over strength in Tgana
The opposition Congress and BJP in Telangana were engaged in a war of words Tuesday over their strength in the state in the wake of impressive gains made by the two parties in the Lok Sabha polls. It began with state Congress president N Uttam Kumar Reddy claiming that BJP getting a few seats in Telangana in the Lok Sabha polls was just a fluke. Referring to comments of BJP leaders that their party would emerge as the alternative to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, he said it is only the Congresswhich would defeat the TRS and be the alternative to the ruling party. "It is Congress which will defeat TRS and dislodge the TRS government in Telangana. BJP getting some seats was just a fluke. To say that BJP is strengthened in Telangana, it is a lie. We don't think it would be strengthened in future also," Uttam Kumar Reddy told reporters here. The BJP pulled off a surprise in the Lok Sabha polls, winning four of the 17 seats in Telangana. The Congress secured three, while TRS .
Mix of experienced, fresh faces in Naveen's new team
The team of Naveen Patnaik, who will be sworn in as Odisha Chief Minister for a fifth consecutive term on Wednesday, is likely to be a mix of experienced and new faces, according to the BJD lawmakers who were intimated of their induction.
CPI-M, Congress ask Tripura government to restore law & order
Opposition CPI-M and Congress on Tuesday urged the BJP-led government in Tripura to stop unrelenting political violence against opposition party leaders and workers and restore rule of law.
Lalu Prasad in 'shock' post RJD's performance in LS polls
After Rashtriya Janata Dal's (RJD) poll debacle, party supremo Lalu Prasad seems to be in shock, according to RJD youth wing leader Abhay Singh and doctors treating him at RIMS hospital.RJD suffered its worst ever set back in the recently held parliamentary elections as it failed to open its account in the Bihar - a stronghold of the party.Confirming the reason behind the former Bihar Chief Minister's anxiety, Singh, who on Saturday met Lalu, said that the party chief is shocked due to the result."Our prime concern is his health. He is shocked with results," Singh said.Meanwhile, Dr Umesh Prasad, who is supervising his treatment, said that due to anxiety the ailing RJD chief has stopped taking food from past few days due to the poor performance of the party in the Lok Sabha elections.It was expected that on May 25, many big wigs from the party may visit the RJD supremo, but unfortunately, only a few local party office bearers turned up to visit him.Yadav has been skipping lunch for ...
Congress crisis: Rahul firm on resignation even as leaders rally around him
The crisis in the Congress showed no signs of easing on Tuesday with Rahul Gandhi sticking to his decision to resign as party chief after its Lok Sabha poll debacle and staying way from meeting party leaders, except a few including his mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Sources said Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot went to meet Gandhi at his Tughlaq lane residence, but they only managed to meet Priyanka there. With senior Congress leaders pressing upon Rahul Gandhi to take back his resignation and revamp the party at all levels in these challenging times, a number of allies stood by him and urged him not to quit, describing him as the "best and competent" person to pull the party out of the abyss. The sources said Gandhi is not meeting anyone and remains incommunicado. He met only Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi during the day, besides party leaders K C Venugopal and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala. Asked ...
Mamata Banerjee reshuffles state cabinet post poll debacle
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday reshuffled the state cabinet just days after her party's drubbing in the recently held polls.According to the new portfolio, Suvendu Adhikary is now the Irrigation and Transport minister. Somen Mahapatra has been given charge of Public Health, Engineering and Environment ministry, while Rajib Banerjee has been appointed as the Tribal development minister.This comes on a day the TMC chief suffered a major setback after two MLAs, including BJP leader Mukul Roy's son Subhrangshu, and 63 councillors from West Bengal joined the BJP.In the recently concluded elections, TMC bagged 22 out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats at stake in the state, while BJP improved its tally and secured 18 seats, 16 more than it had bagged in the 2014 polls. The Congress managed to win just two seats, while the Left parties drew a blank.
Newly-elected TMC MPs face flak for their Parliament attires
Newly-elected Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs Mimi Chakraborty and Nusrat Jahan faced backlash on social media over their choice of clothes for their first day in Parliament.The two young women had posted separate pictures in front of the Parliament on their first day after being elected as MPs in the recently held polls.However, the way the two actresses were dressed did not go down well with netizens, who felt that their choice of clothes to attend a session in Parliament, which is considered as a 'temple of democracy', was inappropriate.Ever since their candidature had been announced by the TMC, both Bengali actresses were subjected to trolling and hatred on social media for having no political experience or credentials to contest polls.Mimi, a Member of Parliament (MP) from Jadavpur, posted a photo of her wearing a white shirt, jeans and a pair of sneakers. "And its us again. 1st day at Parliament" she wrote alongside the picture.Meanwhile, Nusrat, a TMC lawmaker from Basirhat, ...
Rahul adamant on stepping down, party leaders gasp to placate him
With Congress President Rahul Gandhi remaining steadfast on quitting his post in wake of the poll drubbing, hectic activities were witnessed on Tuesday to tide over the crisis amid questions over whether there will be a structural overhaul, starting from the top.
BJP lashes out at AAP govt over water crisis in Delhi
A Delhi Jal Board meeting was deferred after BJP members vociferously protested over the AAP government's alleged failure to deal with the "worsening" water crisis in the city. Rejecting the charge, DJB Vice Chairman and AAP MLA Dinesh Mohania said the meeting was deferred because the members complained that the agenda was circulated late and they did not have enough time to go through it. "The chief minister took to task the DJB officials for circulating the agenda on Saturday night, while the meeting was scheduled on Monday. The members did not find enough time to go through the voluminous agenda which ran into over 300 pages," Mohania said. DJB member and BJP councillor from Sadar Bazar Jai Prakash claimed that the meeting lead into commotion. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was also present at the meeting. The board will meet again at 11 am on Wednesday, DJB sources said. Several areas in the national capital every summer face water crisis. "It's peak summer and the government has .