Page 387 - Politics
PM Modi to seek mother Heeraben's blessings tomorrow, Varanasi next
Before swearing-in for the second term, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said he will be flying to Gujarat on Sunday to seek his mother Heeraben Modi's blessings."Will be going to Gujarat tomorrow evening to seek blessings of my Mother," the Prime Minister wrote on his Twitter handle.The PM had paid her a visit last month too before filing his nomination from the parliamentary constituency of Varanasi.After visiting his mother, the Prime Minister will be proceeding to Varanasi to thank his supporters."Day after tomorrow morning, I will be in Kashi to thank the people of this great land for reposing their faith in me," PM Modi said.The Prime Minister, who won by a huge margin of 4,79,505 votes, had held a grand roadshow in his parliamentary constituency and had also participated in Ganga Aarti there.On Saturday, five legislators of Varanasi district, two MLCs and District President of BJP Varanasi had visited the Prime Minister to deliver a certificate of his victory. During ...
Triumph of the BJP's Hindu nationalist card (Column: Political Circus)
An electoral face-off between a religious/nationalist party and a gaggle of vaguely Left-Liberal outfits is almost always an unequal contest as the scales are invariably tilted in favour of the former.
Punjab CM thanks people for party victory
Two days after the Lok Sabha elections results, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday expressed his gratitude to the people of the state for reposing faith in the Congress party.
After poll loss, ex-Goa RSS chief says voters backing criminal
A day after the BJP won bypolls to three out of the four assembly seats, Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM) mentor Subhash Velignkar has said that voters seem to have endorsed "criminal and immoral behaviour" of politicians. Velingkar, a former chief of Goa RSS, himself lost from Panaji constituency to Congress' Atanasio Monseratte, who is facing rape charges. The constituency fell vacant following the death of chief minister Manohar Parrikar in March this year. Byelections to Mandrem and Shiroda were necessitated due to defection of sitting Congress MLAs to the BJP last year, while Mapusa went to polls due to death of BJP MLA Francis D'Souza. On Thursday, the ruling BJP won Mandrem, Mapusa and Shiroda seats but lost Panaji to the Congress. "The election results should worry the society as things like immorality and criminal antecedents which are barred in politics are endorsed by voters. We are also concerned with such a trend," Velingkar told reporters Friday. He said, "We are ...
Congress meet underway to discuss LS poll debacle, Rahul may offer resignation
A meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) is underway at the party headquarters in New Delhi to discuss the humiliating defeat they faced in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.Several senior leaders including UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, party president Rahul Gandhi, former PM 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, are present at the meeting.Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah are also attending the meeting.Though there was no official word on the agenda for the meeting, sources said the committee is likely to discuss future strategies.The CWC is also expected to take stock of the party's loss in Uttar Pradesh, the state which sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha.Congress, despite extensive campaigning by Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, was decimated to a single seat - ...
Cong Working Committee meets to review Lok Sabha poll debacle
Top Congress leaders from across the country Saturday got together to review the Lok Sabha poll drubbing, as the party's highest decision-making body met here. The Congress Working Committee(CWC) meeting, chaired by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, is being attended by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, chief ministers of party-ruled states and other top leaders from across the country. The meeting will go into the reasons behind the party's defeat and discus why as to its poll narrative failed to convince the people to vote in its favour. The Congress president is expected to offer resignation taking moral responsibility for the party's poor performance in the polls. Though the party improved on its 2014 tally of 44, it could win just 52 Lok Sabha seats this year. The party could not open its account in 18 states and Union Territories.
French President Macron congratulates PM Modi on poll win; pledges to work together on security
French President Emmanuel Macron has congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his election win and pledged to continue to work together to consolidate the security of the two nations as well that of the world and promote sustainable development. He said that the immense voter participation in the electoral process illustrates the "vibrancy of the largest democracy in the world". In a first back-to-back majority in the Lok Sabha polls for a single party in over three decades, the Modi-led BJP won 303 seats out of 542 in the Lok Sabha polls, handing out a crushing defeat to the Congress and many other political opponents. The Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs spokesperson said France congratulates the authorities and the people of India for the successful completion of the general elections whose results have just been declared. The immense voter participation in the electoral process illustrates the vibrancy of the largest democracy in the word, it said in a ...
Niranjani Akhara sacks Swami Vairagyanand for conducting 'havan' in favour of Digvijaya Singh
Niranjani Akhara on Saturday sacked Mahamandaleshwar Swami Vairagyanand for organising 'Yajna' and 'Anusthan' for Bhopal Congress candidate Digvijaya Singh during the Lok Sabha campaign."There is no doubt that Vairagyanand is a true sage but it is not a duty of a sage to favour one person and pray to defeat another. He has been sacked from the party as we had warned him to stop his activities in favour Digvijay Singh. Sadhus should work for the growth and prosperity of the nation," Akhil Bharatiya Parishad president Mahant Narendra Giri said while speaking to ANI in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh."As Vairagyanand continued with his 'havana' to defeat Pragya Thakur, he has been removed from the post of Mahamandaleshwar of Panchayati Akhara of Niranjani Dal. The issue will be discussed further in the meeting of Nirajani Akhara board committee," he said.A Hindu seer, Vairagyanand, had conducted a unique "havan" with five kgs of red chilli for a week for the defeat of BJP's candidate from ...
It's time for BJP government to introduce long-standing structural reforms (Column: Active Voice)
After the BJP won 282 Lok Sabha seats in 2014 - the first time in three decades that a single party was able to gain an absolute majority - it was popularly believed that the unexpectedly strong performance was a one-off affair.
Congress top decision-making body meets to discuss LS rout
The Congress Working Committee (CWC) met on Saturday to discuss the reasons for the party's abysmal performance across the country in the 2019 general elections.
BJP wins 41 seats in 60-member Arunachal Pradesh Assembly
The BJP has won 41 seats in the 60-member Arunachal Pradesh Assembly after results of all the constituencies were announced, an election official said Saturday. Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh were held for 57 seats as three BJP candidates were earlier declared elected unopposed. The Janata Dal (United) won seven seats, the National People's Party (NPP) five, the Congress four, the People's Party of Arunachal (PPA) one and Independents two. Counting of votes on Friday for Daporijo, Dumporijo and Raga constituencies in Upper Subansiri district was delayed, the official said. In the Daporijo seat, the result of which was announced early this morning, BJP candidate Taniky Soki won the seat defeating his nearest Congress rival Togam Tamim. BJP candidate Rode Bui bagged the Dumporijo seat defeating his nearest JD(U) rival Gumjum Haider while Tarin Dakpe of the National People's Party won the Raga seat, the official said. Counting of votes on Friday for Daporijo, Dumporijo and Raga .
Doors remain open for North Korea to resume talks: US
In response to Pyongyang's statement that the dialogue between the United States and North Korea would not resume unless Washington comes up with " a new method of calculation," US State Department on Friday said that it remains open to holding talks with the communist country and is "very clear" about that position.The State Department added the Trump administration sticks to the Singapore agreement signed by the leaders of the two countries, that committed to the complete denuclearisation of the North and building a lasting peace, reported Yonhap news agency.North Korea has upped its criticism towards the United States, especially after Washington seized one of its cargo ships on suspicions of violating sanctions. Yesterday, Pyongyang blamed the US for the collapse of the second summit between the two countries in Vietnam."Unless the United States puts aside the current method of calculation and comes forward with a new method of calculation, the North Korea-US dialogue will never ..
Yet again, Delhi elects only one woman to LS
Once again, Delhi has elected only one woman to enter the Lok Sabha, keeping with a sort of pattern.
Trump dodges Congress in arms sale to Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan
US President Donald Trump bypassed Congress to approve the sale of $8.1 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Jordan.
LS polls a battle between Rahul Gandhi, Narendra Modi: Gopal Rai
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has said that the recently concluded Lok Sabha election was a battle between Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi."We spoke with the AAP candidates on the results of Lok Sabha elections in Delhi. We came to a conclusion that we were not successful in creating awareness on Delhi's statehood issue among the masses because of the Modi vs Rahul factor in the polls. Delhi followed that trend," Cabinet Minister Gopal Rai told reporters at a press conference here on Friday.AAP, which is running the government in Delhi, slipped down to the third position with a vote share of a little over 18 per cent, while BJP got over 56 per cent and Congress over 22 per cent in the general elections.BJP won all seven seats in Delhi, not only repeating the 2014 feat but also bettered its vote share by nearly 10 per cent.AAP finished third in five of the seven parliamentary constituencies in Delhi. Though it failed to open its account in the 2014 polls, ..
French President Macron makes congratulatory phone call to PM Modi
Following BJP-led NDA's emphatic victory in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, French President Emmanuel Macron made a congratulatory phone call to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs France said on Saturday.The French Foreign Ministry remarked that both India and France would continue to work together with an aim to bolster the security of the two nations."France and India have a steadfast partnership. We will continue to work together to consolidate the security of our nations, secure stability in the world, and promote sustainable development as well as exchanges between our youth," the statement by the spokesperson read."India can rely on France's continued friendship,' it added.Congratulating the Indian people and the authorities for the successful completion of the general elections, the statement remarked that the "immense voter participation in the electoral process illustrates the vibrancy of the largest ...
Restrictions to continue in Srinagar and other places
Protests in the wake of the killing of Ansar Ghazwatul Hind outfit's chief commander Zakir Musa, forced authorities in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday to continue preventive restrictions in the Kashmir Valley.
BJP only party in Rajasthan to clean sweep LS polls 2nd time in a row
The historical victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party has broken many record in Rajasthan politics apart from creating the new one as the party has emerged as the only one in state to make a clean sweep for a second time in a row in the last 67 years.
Trump to clear arms deals benefiting Saudi Arabia, UAE
The United States on Friday confirmed approval of USD8.1 billion in arms transfers to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates amid hostilities with Iran.The equipment includes aircraft support maintenance; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; munitions; and other supplies, reported Sputnik."Today, acting in accordance with the authority granted to us by Congress, I made a determination under the Arms Export Control Act to formally notify Congress of 22 arms sales to Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. These directly protect U.S. citizens and our partners," tweeted US Secretary of State Pompeo."We presented some of these sales almost 18 months ago to Congress, but it has failed to act. The U.S. is and must remain, a reliable security partner in the Gulf and to our allies around the world. It's fundamental to our national security," he added.This comes hours after a US Senator Bob Menendez said that US President Donald Trump administration has invoked a provision in .
Sudan vows to support Saudi Arabia against "all threats and attacks"
Sudan on Friday pledged to back regional ally Saudi Arabia against "all threats and attacks" from its rival Iran."Sudan is standing with the kingdom against all threats and attacks from Iran and Houthi militias," Al Jazeera quoted General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, deputy head of Sudan's ruling Transitional Military Council, as saying.He made these remarks during his first visit to Saudi Arabia since Sudan's army took power after they backed protesters in overthrowing longtime-leader Omar al-Bashir last month.Dagalo was accompanied by the Sudanese military's official spokesperson, General Shams al-Din Kabashi.The kingdom's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir attended the meeting as well as Minister of State Dr Musaed bin Mohammed al-Aiban.He also said that the military council will continue deploying Sudanese troops in war-torn Yemen.Al Bashir deployed troops to Yemen in 2015 as a part of major foreign policy breaking decades-old ties with Iran and join Saudi ...