Page 364 - Politics
N. Korea calls US NSA Bolton 'war maniac'
North Korea sharply criticized US National Security Advisor John Bolton on Monday, calling him a "war maniac" and a "security destruction advisor" as he accused Pyongyang of violating UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions following the Asian country's tests of short-range missiles.
Jharkhand Congress chief resigns after poll debacle
Taking responsibility for the humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha polls in Jharkhand, Congress' state party President Ajay Kumar resigned on Monday.
BJP getting highest vote share in country in HP shows people's overwhelming support for party : CM
The BJP got the highest vote share in the country in Himachal Pradesh and this shows the overwhelming support of the people for the party, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has said. BJP candidates retained all the four Lok Sabha seats in the state and got over 69 per cent vote share this time, which is the highest in the country, he said. Compared to 53.85 per cent in 2014, the BJP's vote share in the state increased to 69.11 per cent in this Lok Sabha election. The saffron party's vote share in Gujarat, where it won all 26 Lok Sabha seats, was 62.21 per cent. The Congress' vote share in Himachal Pradesh decreased by 13.77 percentage points this time. Compared to 41.07 per cent in 2014, it was only 27.3 per cent in this general election. The big difference in the vote shares of the two parties, shows the overwhelming support for the BJP, which swept the elections riding on the Modi wave, Thakur said. The Congress and the BJP were locked in direct contests on all seats in the hill ...
Chemistry has triumphed over poll arithmetic: PM on LS poll results
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday decried the "misconception" being created that BJP was a Hindi heartland party and said the Lok Sabha poll results testified to its victories across India, stressing "chemistry has triumphed over arithmetic". "Political pundits are not aware that their thinking and logic is meant for the 20th century. Results show that beyond arithmetic there is chemistry and this time chemistry has triumphed over arithmetic," the Prime Minister told his electorate while thanking them profusely for their hardwork and dedication. Modi who will be taking oath as the prime minister for the second time on May 30, said the hat trick of victories in 2014, 2017 and 2019 - vis-a-vis the state - is no mean achievement for the BJP. "For the country I am the PM, but for you I am your MP, I am your sevak," he told the Varanasi electorate, wondering how political pundits still consider his party as that of the Hindi heartland. "There is no region where the BJP's poll ...
Free all youths unconditionally: NC MP
Newly-elected MP Justice (Retired) Hasnain Masoodi of the National Conference (NC) on Monday asked the Jammu and Kashmir authorities to release all the youths arrested during pro-Zakir Musa protests.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath earns "fresh mandate"
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath has earned a "fresh mandate" as the leader of the state's ruling combine by playing the victim card.
CM's style of functioning routed Left in Kerala: Congress
Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala on Monday said that it was Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's style of functioning that routed the Left in the Kerala Lok Sabha elections.
Maha council bypoll: BJP nominee may get elected unopposed
BJP's Sangli district unit president Prithviraj Deshmukh is likely to get elected unopposed to the Maharashtra Legislative Council in the upcoming byelection. The bypoll, to be held on June 7, became necessary due to the death of veteran Congress leader from Sangli district, Shivajirao Deshmukh, early this year. The Congress is unlikely to field any nominee as the BJP enjoys a comfortable majority in the Legislative Assembly whose members elect representatives to the Upper House. "Whoever wins this election, he will be a member of the Upper House only for one year. There will be a fresh election for that seat as its tenure completes early next year," a Vidhan Bhavan official said Monday. In the 288-member Assembly, the BJP has 122 MLAs, the Shiv Sena 63, the Congress 42 and the NCP 41. Prithviraj Deshmukh had won a bypoll to the state Legislative Assembly by defeating senior Congress leader Patangrao Kadam in 1997. He was with the NCP before joining the BJP in 2014.
Rajasthan textbook revision: BJP flays Cong for affixing 'son of Portugal' to Savarkar's description
Former Rajasthan education minister Vasudev Devnani Monday flayed the state Congress government for affixing "son of Portugal" to RSS ideologue Vinayak Damodar's description in class 10 social science textbooks. Recently, the Congress government constituted a textbook revision committee in the school education department. Based on the committee's findings, the department revised a short biography of RSS ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar introduced by the previous BJP government. Now, in the textbooks it is mentioned Savarkar had described himself as "son of Portugal" when seeking clemency from the British government in 1910-11. In a series of tweets on Monday, Devnani said the state government should take inspiration from former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who had described Savarkar as the "byword for daring and patriotism." The former prime minister had called Savarkar "a classical revolutionary and countless people drew inspiration from him", Devnani said. "Former Prime Minister ..
Trump breaks with Abe, says not bothered by NK missile tests
President Donald Trump said Monday he is not "personally" bothered by recent short-range missile tests that North Korea conducted this month, breaking with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is hosting the president on four-day state visit full of pageantry. Standing beside Trump at a news conference after hours of talks, Abe disagreed with the US president, saying the missile tests violated UN Security Council resolutions and were "of great regret." Abe, who has forged a strong friendship with Trump and agrees with him on many issues, is concerned because the short-range missiles pose a threat to Japan's security. Trump was invited to Japan to be the first world leader to meet with its new emperor. Despite being far from Washington, he didn't miss the chance to lob another broadside against former Vice President Joe Biden, one of the Democrats seeking to challenge Trump in next year's presidential election. North Korea's Kim Jong Un recently criticized Biden as having a low IQ, .
HC asks SEC to decide whether symbols be removed from ballot papers, EVMs
The Delhi High Court on Monday asked the State Election Commission (SEC) to decide whether party symbols can be removed from ballot papers and EVMs in the municipal polls in the national capital. The court asked the SEC to deal with the issue while disposing of a PIL seeking removal of election symbol from the ballot paper, including the unit of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), in the next municipal elections. A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Brijesh Sethi asked the SEC to take a decision on the issue before the next municipal elections, which are likely to be held in 2022. "Let the state election commission deal with the issue before the next elections," the court said. The petitioner, a woman, had contested in the last MCD polls in 2017 and had lost. The petitioner, Alka Gahlot, had contended that the SEC puts the reserved symbol on the ballot paper in "blatant violation" of the provisions of the Constitution and the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act as there is
BJP in no hurry to form government in Karnataka
An upbeat Bharartiya Janata Party (BJP) was in no hurry to form government in Karnataka by poaching legislators of the Congress or the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), a party official said here on Monday.
Fear grips Nepal after string of blasts followed by strike
After a string of blasts ripped through Kathmandu during the weekend, vehicles stayed off the streets in the Nepalese capital on Monday.Another reason behind deserted roads on a weekday was the strike called by a former Maoist splinter group following Sunday's blasts.Along with a slump in the number of vehicles on the road, the number of people going out for work also remained low, as a few schools and offices remained shut.However, fear reigned amongst the public for the few that did venture out on Monday."I am very fearful, as a student I need to come to the campus; I have to walk all the way to the college, there is suspicion of bombs planted in all around, there is fear to walk on the road also," Ujjwal Neupane, a university student who came to college defying the strike told ANI.The splinter group, Communist Party of Nepal, is suspected to be behind Sunday's blasts, which are the deadliest since the government imposed a ban on the group on March 12.This is not the first time that
Cong leader seeks free hand for Rahul to undertake party
Senior Congress leader Marri Shashidhar Reddy Monday said Congress Working Committee (CWC) members and AICC office-bearers should quit their posts to give a free hand to president Rahul Gandhi to undertake a complete overhaul of the party. "CWC itself has passed this resolution, calling for an introspection and also what it called a complete overhaul and detailing restructuring at every level of the party. For such an exercise to be set in motion, it should start from the top," he told PTI here. "You cannot start doing at the grassroot level. Once you start from the top, it gives confidence to the people that yes, Congress party has now, (it is) taking stock of things and the working committee's resolution is going to be implemented," he said. Otherwise, it will look like a routine thing, Reddy, a former MLA, said. Reddy "whole-heartedly" welcomed the CWC resolution, rejecting Rahul Gandhi's offer of resignation. The Gandhi family is a binding force for Congress party ..
Sanctity of CWC meet should be respected: Cong
After the debacle in the Lok Sabha polls and calls for accountability, the Congress on Monday urged everyone to respect the sanctity of its working committee meeting, while asking the media not to fall into the trap of "conjectures, insinuations, gossip and rumour mongering". Referring to the May 25 meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest decision-making body of the party, Congress's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said it was a democratic forum for exchange of ideas and taking corrective action, adding that it was a "closed-door" meet and any speculation about it was unwarranted and uncalled for. He added that the CWC was a forum for formulating policies and taking corrective action and in this context, the members had expressed their views at the meeting. Surjewala said the CWC saw the reverses in the Lok Sabha polls as an opportunity for radical changes and a complete organisational overhaul and authorised Congress president Rahul Gandhi for the necessary .
J'khand PCC chief resigns from post
Taking responsibility of the party's debacle in the recently held Lok Sabha elections, Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Ajoy Kumar Monday resigned from his post. He handed over his resignation letter to the party's state unit in-charge R P N Singh. "I have handed over my resignation letter to R P N Singh, party's state unit in-charge in the state, taking personal responsibility for the election results," Kumar told PTI over phone. It is not immediately known whether his resignation letter was accepted. The Congress, which led the 'Mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance) in the state, contested the Lok Sabha polls from seven out of 14 seats. But the party could win only one seat - Singhbhum(ST) - where former chief minister Madhu Koda's wife, Gita Koda, defeated BJP's state unit president Laxman Gilua. The JMM contested four seats and won only one seat, while Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) contested two seats and lost both. On the other side, the ...
Knives out in RJD: party MLA demands Tejashwi's resignation
The simmering discontent in RJD has come to the fore following its rout in Lok Sabha election with a senior party legislator Maheshwar Prasad Yadav Monday asking Tejashwi Yadav to resign from the post of Leader of Opposition taking moral responsibility of the drubbing. Alleging that parivarwad (family politics) has cost the party most, Yadav, RJD MLA from Gaighat assembly constituency in Muzaffarpur district, claimed the party will break if his demand is not fulfilled. As a party MLA, I would request Tejaswhi Yadav to resign from the post of LOP taking moral responsibility of the Lok Sabha poll debacle and appoint any other senior party leader hailing from a caste other than Yadav to the post of LOP, failing which the party will have to face crushing defeat in 2020 assembly elections, Yadav told reporters. RJD is the second party of the five members mahagathbandhan to face the heat of resounding defeat in the hands of NDA in Bihar. Except for one seat of Kisanganj won by
Rahul Gandhi to visit Wayanad in first week of June
Congress President Rahul Gandhi would visit Wayanad in the first week of June to thank the electorate for his record breaking win from this Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, said a Congress leader on Monday.
Don't fall for speculations: Congress on reports about Rahul's resignation
Amidst reports that Rahul Gandhi was insisting on his resignation, the Congress on Monday said that "speculating and rumour mongering" on the proceedings of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meet held on May 25 was "uncalled for and unwarranted.""The Congress party expects everyone including the media to respect the sanctity of a closed-door meeting of the CWC. Various conjectures, speculations, insinuations, assumptions, gossip and rumour mongering in a section of the media is uncalled for and unwarranted," the press statement shared on Twitter by Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala read.The statement comes after media reports quoted sources to suggest that Rahul Gandhi continued to insist on his resignation as party president despite the CWC rejecting it.It was also reported that Gandhi was upset with three senior leaders, including two chief ministers, for them focusing on getting election tickets for their sons rather than working on the party's performance.The ...
'Ram ka kaam ho kar hi rahega': Mohan Bhagwat in Udaipur
Days after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) scripted a resounding victory in the Lok Sabha elections, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat said that "Ram ka kaam karna hai, Ram ka kaam ho kar hi rahega (Ram's work needs to be done and Ram's work will be done)."