Page 745 - Politics
Majority Americans oppose Trump's impeachment: Poll
A majority of Americans have said they opposed calls for Congress to launch impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump in the wake of Special Counsel Robert Mueller probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, a new poll revealed.
FBI warns of Russian interference in 2020 race
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a fresh warning over Russian interference in the 2020 presidential election, calling it a "significant counterintelligence threat", the media reported.
Six-time Congress legislator joins BJP in Himachal
Singhi Ram, a six-time Congress legislator from Himachal Pradesh, on Saturday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur here.
Oppn alliance of 'opportunists' will fail in their mission: PM
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday slammed the SP-BSP-RLD tie-up, saying the alliance of "opportunists" wants a helpless government because its mantra is 'jaat, paat japna; janata ka maal apna'. He was speaking at election rallies in Kannauj, a Samajwadi Party stronghold, and Hardoi a day after filing his nomination from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat for a second term. Dubbing the SP-BSP-RLD alliance as 'mahamilavati opportunists', Modi said in Kannauj that he does not believe in politics of caste and thanked his detractors for apprising the people about it. Later in Hardoi, he slammed the Congress, blaming it for showing scant regard for Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar and pointed out that his government has dedicated the Bhim App in his name. Modi said, "Mayawatiji, I am most backward...I request with folded hands not to drag me in the caste politics, 130 crore people are my family." "This country did not know my caste till my detractors abused me...I am thankful to Mayawatiji, ...
Odisha can develop if BJD govt is thrown out: Amit Shah
BJP president Amit Shah Saturday said that Odisha can develop only if the "corrupt and inefficient" BJD government is thrown out. Addressing a rally here in the tribal dominated Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha constituency, Shah said people across the country have resolved that Narendra Modi will become the Prime Minister again. "I have already addressed election meetings in 261 Lok Sabha constituencies. From east to west and north to south, I could hear people chant Modi, Modi. "It is clear that the whole country has resolved to make Modi the prime minister once again," the BJP chief claimed. Claiming that the rising popularity of BJP is giving sleepless nights to BJD, Shah said people of Odisha must vote BJP to power both at the Centre and in the state for speedy development. Shah also hit out at previous Congress-led UPA Government accusing it of having failed to deal with Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Assembly and Lok Sabha elections are being held together in the state. The ..
US, Japan push for trade deal
US President Donald Trump has said that trade talks between the Washington and Tokyo were "moving along very nicely" and suggested a deal might be reached by late May as he met visiting Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe at the White House.
Lalu remains at the heart of RJD campaign from jail
This is for the first time that Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) President Lalu Prasad is not taking active part in the general elections. But his party is leaving no stone unturned to keep the RJD patriarch connected to the Lok Sabha polls in some form or another.
Mumbai North: Urmila gives Cong hope in BJP stronghold
The Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat was one where the Congress was reportedly unable to zero in on a candidate to take on sitting MP Gopal Shetty, but the entry of actor Urmila Matondkar has now brought in more than a semblance of a contest. It is among the BJP's strongest seats in the state, and Shetty, a former corporator and multiple-time MLA, had defeated former Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam in the 2014 general election by 4.46 lakh votes, among the widest margins in the country. According to observers, the morale of Congress workers was down after Nirupam reportedly showed unwillingness to contest from the constituency this time. They add that Matondkar, who has surprised most with her articulateness while speaking on political issues, has now ensured that the BJP has a fight on hand and the contest is no longer a cakewalk. While Mumbai North was among the largest Lok Sabha constituencies in the country, behind Outer Delhi and Thane, the delimitation exercise in 2008 shrunk ...
Priya Dutt and Poonam Mahajan battle it out in Mumbai North Central
A swing in Marathi and Muslim votes could prove decisive in the Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha constituency, where sitting MP Poonam Mahajan of BJP is squaring off against Congress's Priya Dutt, who had lost in the 2014 election. While Mahajan, the daughter of BJP leader late Pramod Mahajan, is banking on the work carried out by her in the past five years, Dutt, the daughter of the late Sunil Dutt, says her fight is for "saving" democracy. As per voter demographics, the constituency is dominated by Marathi-speaking residents, followed by Muslims, north Indians, Gujaratis and Marwaris, Christians and south Indians. In the 2014 general election, Mahajan had defeated Dutt, the then sitting MP, by a margin of 1.86 lakh votes. Mahajan had polled 4,78,535 votes while Dutt was restricted to 2,91,764 votes. "It remains to be seen if votes of Dalits, Muslims and the middle class, which got divided during the Modi wave in 2014, will be transferred back to the Congress," a Congress leader ...
Jihadist attacks kill 17 Syria pro-regime fighters: monitor
Attacks by two jihadist groups killed at least 17 Syrian government troops and militiamen in the northern province of Aleppo early on Saturday, a war monitor said. Thirty others were wounded in the assaults by Al-Qaeda's former Syria branch, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and its ally Hurras al-Deen, which remains affiliated to the global jihadist network, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The attacks in the southern and southwestern countryside of Aleppo province were launched shortly after midnight and triggered clashes that continued until dawn, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said. He said the fighting subsided after Russian aircraft struck jihadist positions in the area, prompting the fighters to pull back. Eight jihadists were killed, he added. Russia aircraft also carried out strikes in neighbouring Hama province early on Saturday, killing five civilians, the Observatory said. On Friday, Russian strikes killed 10 civilians in Idlib province, the hub of
'Politics of Jugaad': New book examines coalition govt possibility in 2019
Why should a party that performs well in the Hindi-speaking parts of India inevitably end up leading the nation? author Saba Naqvi questions in her new book in which she examines the possibility of a coalition government after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. In "Politics of Jugaad: The Coalition Handbook", the political analyst runs through the history of political alliances in the country taking into account their performance on economic and social policies, among others, while juxtaposing them with that of single-party rule. Some of India's most significant political leaders have repeatedly got elected from Uttar Pradesh (UP)Jawaharlal Nehru (Phulpur), Lal Bahadur Shastri (also from seats around Allahabad), Indira Gandhi (Rae Bareli, though she contested once from Chikmagalur in Karnataka), Rajiv Gandhi (Amethi), Vishwanath Pratap Singh (Allahabad), Chandra Shekhar (Ballia), Sonia Gandhi (Rae Bareli), Atal Bihari Vajpayee (Lucknow) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Varanasi). With the ...
Don't drag me into caste politics: PM tells Congress, SP, BSP
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday appealed the leaders of Congress, Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) not to drag his name into caste politics."Kripa karke, mein haath jodke vinti karta hu, ye jati ki rajneeti me mujhe mat ghasetiye. 130 crore log mera parivar hai. (I request you with folded hands, don't drag me into caste politics. The 130 crore people of this country are my family)," Prime Minister Modi said while addressing a rally here."I had never spoken about my caste. Till the time the Opposition leaders hurled abuses on me, the country didn't know my caste. But I am thankful to 'Behenji' (Mayawati), Akhilesh, Congress and the 'Mahamilawati', that they are openly talking about my backwardness," he said."Meri jaati to itni choti hai, gaon mein ek-adh ghar bhi nahi hota hai. Mai to pichda nahi, ati-pichde mein paida hua hu, aap mere munh se bulwa rahi ho isliye bol raha hu... Jab mera desh pichda (backward) hai to agda(forward) kya hota hai. Mujhe to pure .
BJP faces tough MGB challenge in 7 out of 13 seats in phase-IV in UP
Out of the 13 phase-IV seats in Uttar Pradesh going to the polls on April 29, the Bharatiya Janata Party faces tough challenge from the Samajwadi Party- Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) grand alliance or 'mahagathbandhan'(MGB) on seven seats.
Ghastly Sri Lanka tragedy and strategic interests of big powers (Comment)
Not far back in time, Osama bin Laden, the 9/11 hijackers, Wahabis, Salafis, Jabhat al Nusra and their numerous variants were all traced to Saudi Arabia. Today all of that has been placed in the margin of amnesia. Instead, the US, Israel and some Europeans are inviting all and sundry to go hammer and tongs at Iran.
Shatrughan Sinha says Jinnah part of Congress
Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha said that Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah was part of the Congress family and praised him for his role in independence and development.
Kim returns following 'successful' summit with Putin
The leader of North Korea returned to Pyongyang following his "successful and historic" summit with the President of Russia, state media reported on Saturday.
Where did you get money for constructing a 700-cr BJP office in Delhi: Kamal Nath hits back at PM
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Saturday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi by questioning him that from where did he get the money for the construction of the BJP office in New Delhi.Nath made the comments after Modi levelled various allegations against him and had raked up the issue of Income Tax Department raids of Praveen Kakkar, who is the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister's private secretary."The Prime Minister should tell the nation who bears the expenses of his plane rides. He should reply from where did he get the money to construct a Rs 700 crore office of BJP in Delhi. He should first give answers to all these and then only he should ask me questions," Nath told ANI.Modi on Friday had alleged that the money, which was seized by the IT Department earlier, was being used by Congress president Rahul Gandhi in his poll campaign."For the poor children, your chowkidar is sending money from Delhi. But the money being sent for pregnant women and child nutrition is ...
Trump tells NRA he's withdrawing from arms trade treaty
In a largely symbolic gesture to a group that helped him win the White House, President Donald Trump said Friday he is pulling the US back from an international agreement on the arms trade, telling the National Rifle Association the treaty is "badly misguided." Trump made the announcement at the NRA's annual convention, where he vowed to fight for gun rights and implored members of the nation's largest pro-gun group struggling to maintain its influence to rally behind his re-election bid. "It's under assault," he said of the constitutional right to bear arms. "But not while we're here." With pro-gun legislation largely stalled in Congress and few deliverables during Trump's term so far, the president told the group that he would be revoking the United States' status as a signatory of the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, which regulates the multibillion-dollar global arms trade in conventional weapons, from small arms to battle tanks, combat aircraft and warships. President Barack Obama ...
Art 370 to be withdrawn from J&K if voted to power: Amit Shah
BJP president Amit on Saturday said that Article 370 will be withdrawn from Jammu and Kashmir, if the saffron party is voted to power again. "We will remove Article 370 if you make Narendra Modi the prime minister again," Shah said at a public rally here in Palamau district in Jharkhand. Shah said during the Congress-led UPA government, terror groups from Pakistan used to target India continuously. Jawans were beheaded by terrorists also, he said. "We cannot compromise with the security of the nation. Pakistan wants to separate Kashmir from India. We will not allow it. "Pakistan se goli aayegi to yahan se gola jayaga (if a bullet comes here, a shell lands there)," the BJP president said. Launching a scathing attack on National conference leader Omar Abdullah for his remarks on having a separate prime minster for Kashmir, the BJP president said Kashmir is an inseparable part of India. "Should there be two prime ministers for one country?" Shah asked the people. The BJP has
From Gandhi to Jinnah, all part of Congress Parivar, had an important role to play in country's development and independence, says Shatrughan Sinha
Shatrughan Sinha, who recently left BJP and joined Congress, on Friday lauded Muhammad Ali Jinnah along with Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru, saying they all had a role to play for India's independence."Ye Congress parivar Mahatma Gandhi se leke, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel se leke, Muhammad Ali Jinnah se leke, Jawaharlal Nehru se leke, swargiya Indira Gandhi se leke, Rajiv Gandhi se leke aur Rahul Gandhi se leke... inki party hai jinka desh ke vikas me, desh ki tarakki me, desh ki azadi me sabse mehatvapurna aur sabse bada yogdaan hua, isliye hum yaha aye (Congress family from Mahatma Gandhi to Sardar Patel to Muhammad Ali Jinnah to Jawaharlal Nehru... It is their party. They had the most important role in development and freedom of the country. This is the reason why I have come here (in Congress)," Sinha said while addressing a rally here.Sinha was in Madhya Pradesh to campaign for the state Chief Minister Kamal Nath's son Nakul Nath, who is contesting from the ...