Page 381 - Politics
Guv invites Jaganmohan Reddy to form next govt in AP;
Governor E S L Narasimhan Saturday invited Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, who led his party to a thumping win in both Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Andhra Pradesh, to form the next government in the State. The swearing-in ceremony would be held at Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation stadium, Vijayawada, on May 30 at 12.23 PM, a Raj Bhavan communique said. After he was elected leader of the YSRC legislature party, Reddy met the Governor of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and staked claim to form the government. Reddy is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital on Sunday. The meeting assumes importance as the YSRCP chief during the election campaign had said his party would support whoever promises Andhra Pradesh the Special Category Status. Armed with the resolution unanimously electing him as the YSRCLP leader, Reddy met Governor Narasimhan at the Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad and staked claim to form the government. "While congratulating Y S Jaganmohan Reddy
LS polls: JDS-Cong could have done better had there been
Amid speculations over longevity of the ruling coalition in Karnataka, state Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao Saturday said the government would continue and conceded his party and JDS could have performed better in Lok Sabha polls had there been better coordination. "The collective decision of our party is that we need to protect this government and need to work more effectively to give good governance to the people of the state. This government will continue," he told reporters. Rao conceded the coalition partners could have performed better had there been better coordination between them in the polls, which saw BJP decimate the ruling combine, winning 25 of the 28 seats in the state. The coalition partners, who went to the polls together andfought in all the 28 seats, could win only one seat each -- Bengaluru Rural and Hassan. In rest of the places, their candidates, including former prime minister and JD(S) supremo H D DeveGowda, lost terribly. Independent candidate ..
PM Modi bows down, this time before Constitution
Prime Minister Narendra Modi bowed and respectfully touched the Constitution of India with his forehead, as he walked towards the podium after being elected as the leader of the NDA and BJP parliamentary party on Saturday.Wearing a white kurta and churidar with a brown checkered half-jacket, Prime Minister Modi humbly greeted the newly elected MPs with folded hands in the Central Hall of the Parliament before walking towards the Constitution, which was placed atop a risen platform with a white cloth.The gesture reminisced of his action in 2014. As he stepped into the Parliament for the first time after storming the BJP into power, PM Modi bent down with his forehead touching the stairs, to register his high respect for the "temple of democracy."In the summer of 2014, soon after arriving for the BJP parliamentary party at the main gate of the Parliament building, Modi was greeted with bouquets by his party leaders, following which he touched the ground of the entrance with folded ...
Sabarimala issue did not impact LS poll outcome; Will not
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan Saturday said the Sabarimala women's entry issue was not the reason for the ruling LDF's rout in Lok Sabha elections and claimed many voted for Congress expecting it to form the government at the Centre. In his first media interaction after the CPI-M led LDF won only a lone seat out of the 20 in the state, the Marxist veteran also took a dig at Congress President Rahul Gandhi, saying the poll outcome showed why he chose Wayanad in Kerala as his second seat. He was apparently referring to Gandhi's humiliating loss in his traditional stronghold of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. Vijayan said just because his party lost in Lok Sabha polls he was not going to change his style of functioning and also there was no need for resignation of his government. Refusing to accept the perception that the poll verdict was against his government and Sabarimala issue had its impact, Vijayan said the BJP would have been the "biggest beneficiary", if it was ..
Nagaland: 2 Assam Rifles personnel killed, 4 injured in encounter
Two Assam Rifles personnel were killed while four others were injured on Saturday in an encounter with terrorists.The terrorists ambushed a convoy of Assam Rifles at around 1 pm today in Mon district along the Indo-Myanmar border. The convoy encountered an IED blast followed by small arms firing. However, no injury was reported due to the IED blast.Kohima-based defence spokesperson Col Chiranjit Konwer said, "Two Assam Rifles jawans were killed while four others were injured in an ambush by terrorists in Nagaland, today."Efforts are on to locate the group behind the incident.
Poll results indicate end of Yadav politics in UP
The severe jolt to caste politics in the recent Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh has also put a question mark on the future of Yadav politics in the state.
Dynastic, appeasement politics pushed-out by politics of performance: Amit Shah
BJP chief Amit Shah on Saturday hailed the Lok Sabha election results as a testimony of people choosing politics of performance over politics of 'dynasty, casteism and appeasement'."After the sixties, democracy in this country was under the grip of dynasty politics, casteism and appeasement. It is for the first time in 2019 that the country has pushed these things out of politics and has reposed faith in politics of performance," he said addressing the NDA Parliamentary Parliamentary in the Central Hall of Parliament after election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as leader of the NDAPP to head the government again.Shah thanked all the allies and the MPs for unanimously choosing Modi as prime minister again and said, "This euphoric mandate is massive and historic. After 1971, for the first time, a Prime Minister is returning to the post with an even bigger majority after completing a first five-year term."He also asserted that Narendra Modi becoming the prime minister of the country .
BJP dominates Jammu region; no significant headway in Kashmir
The BJP has improved its performance in Jammu and Ladakh regions by securing a vote share of 46.4 per cent in the just concluded Lok Sabha polls but failed to make any significant headway in the Kashmir Valley where polling percentage was low. As per the official data released by the Election Commission (EC), the BJP managed to have 46.4 per cent vote share mainly from Jammu, Udhampur and Ladakh Lok Sabha seats, thereby retaining the three constituencies. The BJP's vote share in the state in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls was 34.40 per cent. The vote share shows that the BJP is leading in 27 out of 41 assembly seats in these three parliamentary constituencies. In the Udhampur Lok Sabha seat, the BJP got a vote share of 61.38 per cent in the 2019 polls compared to 46.76 per cent in 2014, reflecting a significant improvement in the saffron party's performance compared to the last general elections. BJP leader and Union Minister Jitendra Singh won by 3.57 lakh votes defeating Congress' ...
EU votes as far right challenges Macron
Voters were called out for a third day in EU parliamentary elections on Saturday as the far right hoped to win a major breakthrough and deny a pro-Europe victory for French President Emmanuel Macron. Polls were open in Malta, Slovakia and Latvia, with most of the bloc's 28 member states -- including big players Germany, France and Italy -- to vote on Sunday. More than 400 million people are eligible to elect 751 members of the European Parliament, with the first official results announced late Sunday once voting in all EU countries is over. Polling has shown for months that eurosceptics and the anti-immigration far right could make big gains in the vote, which will also help determine who replaces Jean-Claude Juncker as head of the European Commission as well as other top jobs. France's staunchly pro-European Macron has a big stake in the outcome, hoping to see his centrist Republique en Marche make a strong showing and shake-up EU politics in a direct challenge to the ...
Meghalaya HC sets aside controversial 'Hindu country' verdict
The Meghalaya High Court has set aside a controversial judgement made by Justice S R Sen, its former judge, observing that India should have been declared a 'Hindu country' after partition. A division bench headed by Chief Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir found the judgement "legally flawed" and inconsistent with the constitutional principles. In a judgement in December last year, a single judge bench of Justice Sen had observed that India, if divided on the basis of religion, should have been declared a Hindu country. "After bestowing our thoughtful consideration to the entire gamut of the matter we have reached to a firm conclusion that the judgment impugned dated 10.12.2018 is legally flawed and is inconsistent with constitutional principles, the observations made and directions passed therein are totally superfluous, therefore, is set aside in its entirety," the bench said in an order on Friday. While disposing of a petition by a person who was denied domicile certificate by the ...
Thailand's parliament votes in pro-army house speaker
A military-aligned candidate won majority support to become Thailand's house speaker on Saturday in the first working session of the country's new House of Representatives, signaling further army dominance in the next government. Former Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, 80, was named speaker after the session voted 258-235 in favour of his nomination. Chuan came up against another candidate who was backed by more liberal parties. Backroom politicking appeared to be behind a motion by the pro-military Palang Pracharath Party to postpone the vote to select a house speaker. The motion failed narrowly and the votes faced complications because the session was held in a temporary site without automated facilities. The military-backed Palang Pracharath party is tipped to lead a government expected to be formed in the next few weeks and headed by the junta leader, Prayuth Chan-ocha, who staged a coup five years ago and has served as prime minister since then. Chuan's nomination as speaker came ...
Mamata offers to quit as CM, party doesn't endorse
Two days after her party suffered serious setbacks in the Lok Sabha elections, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday offered to step down from the post.
Richest candidate got 1,558 votes, lost deposit
The richest candidate in the Lok Sabha elections -- Ramesh Kumar Sharma, an Independent from the Patliputra seat in Bihar who declared over Rs 1,107 crore -- lost his deposit as he could manage only 1,558 votes.
BJP won by spreading communal poison in Bengal, EC worked in their favour: Mamata
Accusing the BJP of doing well in the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal by spreading "communal poison", Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Saturday charged the Election Commission with working in favour of the saffron party.
UK leadership hopefuls vow to succeed where May failed on Brexit
The race to become Britain's next premier opened Saturday with an array of hopefuls promising to succeed where Theresa May failed and finally pull the divided country out of the EU. But European leaders insisted they had made their final offer during months or acrimonious negotiations that resulted in an unpopular compromise for which May ended up paying with her job. The British prime minister's voice broke on the steps of her Downing Street office when she told Britons on Friday that she was quitting on June 7. May is bowing out with her legacy in tatters and the country in agony over what to do about voters' decision in 2016 to abandon the European integration project after nearly 50 years. The markets view the risk of Britain crashing out of the bloc when the twice-delayed departure date arrives on October 31 as uncomfortably high. The pound has been steadily losing value since May 6 and British business lobbies are raising the alarm. Their main concern is that current ...
MP CM Kamal Nath skips Congress Working Committee meet
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath skipped the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting held here to assess the reasons behind the party's performance in the Lok Sabha polls.Sources in the Congress said the Chief Minister was camping in Bhopal to hold the party's flock together."He was preoccupied in Bhopal and that is why he did not come," the sources said while accusing the BJP of being power hungry.The party has been rattled in Madhya Pradesh after losing 28 of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The Congress government enjoys a slim majority in the state assembly.Several senior leaders, including UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Motilal Vora, former union ministers RPN Singh, PL Punia and P Chidambaram, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Opposition leader in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, were present at the meeting.Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the general secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, was also present in the huddle, apart ...
N Korean missile tests violated UN resolutions: Bolton
The United States' National Security Advisor John Bolton on Saturday labelled the recent North Korean projectiles tests as a violation of UN Security Council resolutions, emphasising that sanctions must be kept in place.The US official made the comments while addressing reporters here on Saturday.However, Bolton said that the US is willing to resume talks with North Korea at any time, according to Al Jazeera.While South Korea has maintained that "projectiles" were tested, the US official said that Pyongyang had on May 4 and 9 tested short-range ballistic missiles.Even though North Korea said that talks will not resume if Washington does not change its position, Bolton reinforced that the US remains consistent in its stance towards the reclusive state.The last US-North Korea summit earlier this year broke down without a joint agreement, as the two sides reportedly failed to resolve their differences on sanctions relief.Bolton acknowledged that the US has not been "hearing much from ...
Cong's Ferozepur candidate failed to get lead from son's assembly seat
Congress candidate Sher Singh Ghubaya, who was convincingly defeated by SAD chief Sukhbir Badal from Ferozepur seat in the general election, failed to secure lead even from an assembly segment represented by his son. The two-time MP Ghubaya trailed in Fazilka assembly segment by 29,011 votes, as per Election Commission data. Badal polled 78,003 votes while Ghubaya managed to garner 48,992 votes from Fazilka assembly segment, a part of the Ferozepur parliamentary constituency. Fazilka assembly seat is represented by Ghubaya's son and Congress MLA Davinder Singh. Out of the nine assembly segments in Ferozepur constituency, Ghubaya, a turncoat, fared poorly as he could not get lead in any of these assembly segments. Badal defeated the SAD rebel with a huge margin of over 1.98 lakh votes, the highest among all 13 Lok Sabha constituencies in Punjab. Despite Ghubaya, a Rai Sikh, banking on the support of its community, Badal managed to stop him from scoring a hat-trick this time. Ghubaya ...
Rahul's leadership not questioned at CWC meet: Ambika Soni
Congress leader Ambika Soni on Saturday asserted that party president Rahul Gandhi's leadership was "not at all" questioned at the Congress Working Committee meeting held earlier today to assess the reasons behind its drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls."Not at all," Soni said when asked whether Gandhi's leadership was questioned at the CWC meeting.Meanwhile, Gandhi on Saturday offered to resign from his post following the party's drubbing in Lok Sabha polls, but his offer was unanimously rejected by CWC leaders."Congress President Rahul Gandhi in his address to the CWC offered his resignation, as the party president. The CWC unanimously and with one voice rejected the same and requested the Congress President for his leadership and guidance in these challenging times," a resolution adopted in the meeting said.Releasing the resolution, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the meeting decided that a complete introspection will be done on the reasons for the electoral debacle and ...
Manoj Tiwari meets Sheila Dixit; takes blessings
BJP leader and Delhi state president Manoj Tiwari, who won the Lok Sabha elections from North East Delhi seat, met his losing challenger and senior Congress leader Sheila Dixit here on Saturday to take her blessings.Tiwari, who got a total of 7,87,799 votes, won with a margin of over 3.6 lakh votes against the three-time former chief minister Sheila Dikshit in North East Delhi. Sheela came second with 4,21,697 votes while Aam Aadmi Party leader Dilip Pandey got a total 1,90,856 votes in the constituency.The Bhartiya Janta Party hit gold after it won in all the seven parliamentary constituencies of Delhi.