Page 889 - Politics
Campaign peaks for first-phase poll in Karnataka
High-voltage electioneering peaked in 14 Lok Sabha constituencies across central and southern regions of Karnataka for the first-phase poll in the state on April 18, a poll official said on Monday.
Nationalism, martyrdom of soldiers as much a poll issue as farmer deaths: PM
Nationalism and martyrdom of soldiers are as much an election issue as the death of farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Monday, rejecting allegations that he was using the defence forces in his campaign speeches for winning the polls. In an interview to national broadcaster Doordarshan, Modi said the country is suffering because of terrorism for the last 40 years and there is no reason for people not being told about this. "If we don't tell them what our views are on this, then what is the logic in that? ...Can any country move ahead without the feeling of nationalism," he said. "In a country where thousands of its soldiers have been martyred, shouldn't that be an election issue? If farmers die, then it is an election issue, but when soldiers die then it is not an election issue? How can that be?" the prime minister added. Last week, Modi asked first-time voters to dedicate their votes to those who carried out the air strike in Pakistan's Balakot. He also also urged to dedicate
Nothing wrong in highlighting soldiers in polls: Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday defended invoking martyrs in his poll campaigns, saying there was nothing wrong in highlighting the sacrifices made by security personnel, adding some parties have made the deaths of farmers a political issue.
Pawar's remark on late Parrikar inappropriate, says Tawde
Maharashtra BJP leader Vinod Tawde Monday dubbed as "inappropriate" NCP chief Sharad Pawar's remark that former defence minister Manohar Parrikar relinquished his post at the Centre and returned to Goa because he did not agree with the Rafale fighter jet deal. However, Tawde also justified the party's frequent attacks against former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. "If Pawar ever wanted to say anything about Parrikar, he could have said when Parrikar was alive. It is inappropriate to say anything against a person who is not alive anymore," the state education minister told reporters. When asked about the BJP's tirade against Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi, Tawde said, "We only talk about their political failures, and will continue to do so. We never made a comment about them the way Pawar has made about Parrikar". Responding to Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's remark that the BJP is a threat to the Constitution, the minister said that the "biggest ...
Hate speech: EC imposes campaign ban on Adiyanath, Mayawati & Maneka for provocative remarks
In a first, the Election Commission on Monday imposed a nationwide campaign ban on Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath for 72 hours and on Union Minister Maneka Gandhi and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati for 48 hours from Tuesday for their "provocative" communal remarks, which it said had the "propensity to polarise the elections". A 72-hour campaign ban has also been imposed on Samajwadi Party's Azam Khan for his alleged "khaki underwear" jibe against actor-politician Jaya Prada, who is his rival BJP candidate in Rampur Lok Sabha seat. The all-India ban on all four leaders -- two from the ruling BJP and two from opposition parties -- comes into force from 6.00 AM Tuesday. While Adityanath, Mayawati and Gandhi were found guilty of violating the model code, the EC said Khan not only violated the poll code, he also disregarded its November 2013 directive asking politicians to desist from "deeds or actions construed as being repugnant to the honour and dignity of women". For
Repolling in Meghalaya assembly bypoll ends smoothly
Repolling in Konarchar polling booth for the by-poll to Meghalaya's Selsella Assembly constituency went off smoothly on Monday, an election official said.
Shah slams Rahul on Rafale, flays Azam over Jaya Prada remark
Alleging that peddling falsehoods has become the nature of the Congress, BJP president Amit Shah Mondayattacked Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for "lying" over a Supreme Court order on the Rafale fighter jet purchase deal. The Congress tells a lie and repeats it, Shah said,adding Gandhi had got a notice from the apex court for his utterances on the Rafale deal. Canvassing for BJP candidates, Shah addressed a rally at Kodinar in Gir Somnath district for the party nominee from Junagadh, and another at Deesa town of Banaskantha district. "The Supreme Court heard the (Rafale) case on a preliminary technical objection. The Supreme Court passed its judgement, and Rahul baba started saying the Supreme Court hadrebuked the government on the Rafale issue. In reality, no such thing happened," Shah said in Kodinar. The Congress president had on April 10 claimed that the apex court has made it "clear" that Prime Minister Narendra Modi "committed a theft". The apex court, which had ...
Dausa gears up to an interesting fight between two women key contenders
Dausa Lok Sabha constituency neighbouring Jaipur is gearing to an interesting woman vs woman fight with both the BJP and Congress having fielded women candidates from here. With the BJP belatedly announcing former Union minister Jaskaur Meena's candidature from here, Dausa has emerged as the sole parliamentary constituency in the state to have two women contenders to take on each other. The Congress has fielded its sitting MLA Murari Meena's wife Savita Meena from this reserved parliamentary seat. The BJP took time to finalise its candidate for Dausa as the constituency had several contenders backed by different factions within the party. The ticket seekers among BJP leaders reportedly included Rajya Sabha member Kirodi Singh Meena and independent MLA Om Prakash Hudla. While Kirodi Meena wanted a ticket for his wife Golma Devi, Hudla was backed by former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, say poll watchers. With Jaskaur Meena able to secure the BJP ticket amid the multilateral .
PM slams Congress after SC remarks against Rahul
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday slammed the Congress after the Supreme Court said the 'chowkidar chor hai' comment made by Rahul Gandhi in the context of Rafale issue had been wrongly attributed to it and said it was worrying that the grand old party had reached a level where it has to "depend on lies".
Pawar's remark on father new low in politics: Parrikar's son
Former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's son Utpal Monday described as "insensitive" and a "new low in Indian politics" NCP chief Sharad Pawar's remark that the late BJP leader quit his post at the Centre and returned to Goa because he did not agree with the Rafale deal. In a strongly-worded letter addressed to Pawar, Utpal Parrikar termed Pawar's remark as another attempt to invoke his father's name to push "blatant falsehood for political gains". He said the Parrikar family was saddened to read the remarks of Pawar, himself a former Defence Minister. "This is yet another unfortunate and insensitive attempt to invoke my father's name to push blatant falsehood for political gains," Utpal Parrikar said. Addressing reporters in Kolhapur on Saturday, Pawar had said, "The Rafale deal was not acceptable to Parrikar. He therefore quit as Defence minister and returned to Goa." Manohar Parrikar, who took over as defence minister in November 2014, was sworn in as Goa chief ...
Sudan protest leaders demand scrapping of military council
Sudanese protest organisers on Monday demanded the new military council be scrapped, as demonstrators kept up calls for a civilian government at a sit-in outside army headquarters. Thousands of demonstrators have continued to rally in support of demands for civilian rule, despite an apparent attempt to disperse them following the ouster last week of veteran president Omar al-Bashir. "We want the military council to be dissolved and be replaced by a civilian council having representatives of the army," said Mohamed Naji, a senior leader of the Sudanese Professionals Association. The organisation which spearheaded months of protests leading to Bashir's fall also demanded the sacking of the country's judiciary chief and prosecutor general. The SPA's latest demands came as the military council faced mounting public and diplomatic pressure to hand over power to a civilian administration. German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for "a rapid transfer of power to a civilian transitional ...
Redacted Mueller report to be released Thursday: DOJ
A redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's final report on the probe into the Russia links of US President Donald Trump's campaign team will be released Thursday, the Department of Justice announced Monday. The release of the 400-page report will come more than three weeks after Attorney General Bill Barr's controversial summary allowed Trump to declare it "a complete and total exoneration" of him after nearly two years of investigation. Barr said Mueller found no evidence that Trump's 2016 campaign team conspired to collude with Moscow to influence the election. The attorney general also said there was not enough evidence to charge Trump with obstruction of justice. But Mueller himself took no stance on the weight of the evidence of obstruction, Barr noted, raising doubts over whether Trump had truly been exonerated by the report. Barr has been under pressure since his March 24 summary to release the entire report, which wrapped up a 22-month investigation that saw 34 ...
Amit Shah likely to address rally in Baramati on April 19
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been taking potshots at Sharad Pawar in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, is unlikely to address a rally on the NCP chief's home turf Baramati in Maharashtra, apparently due to his busy schedule, party leaders said Monday. Instead of Modi, BJP president Amit Shah is likely to address a rally in Baramati in Pune district on April 19. Maharashtra BJP leaders were trying to organise a rally of the PM in Baramati. However, he is unlikely to come due to his busy schedule, they said. "Instead of Modiji, now Amitji will hold a rally in Baramati city on April 19," said a BJP leader. PM Modi will address a rally at Akluj neighbouring Baramati on April 17, he said, adding that the proposed rally will also have a positive impact on Baramati constituency. "Modi is likely to arrive in Pune on April 16 evening and stay there overnight before heading for Akluj the next day. He will not address any rally or meeting in Pune," the party leader ...
Bengal candidates out with sweets, roses on 'Poila Boisakh'
From distributing sweets and roses to pedestrians, from praying at renowned temples to taking a boat ride in the Hooghly to connect with voters, many candidates for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal added a new dimension to their campaign on Monday on the occasion of "Poila Boisakh", the Bengali New Year.
HP BJP leader's abusive remark: Cong says it's their culture and PM is silent over it
The Congress on Monday hit out at the BJP over the alleged abusive remarks against Rahul Gandhi made by the saffron party's Himachal Pradesh unit chief, alleging it is the culture of the ruling party to do so and the prime minister is silent over it. Congress leader Kapil Sibal claimed that one cannot expect anything better from the BJP as it is their culture to abuse, started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the 2014 elections. "They have a culture of abusing... which the prime minister started. This is their culture," he told reporters. "We cannot expect anything else from the BJP. The prime minister is still silent on this. Their leader or the president of a state unit has made an abusive remark which I cannot even publicly utter, but the prime minister is silent," Sibal said. To a question on Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan's derogatory comments against Jaya Prada, he said, "I believe a complaint is being filed or has been filed in the poll panel. It is the Election ...
How come all 'thieves have Modi in their names, asks Rahul
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi Monday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue of corruption and asked how come all "thieves" have 'Modi' as the common surname as he referred to fugitive businessman Nirav Modi and former IPL chairman Lalit Modi. Gandhi made the remarks while addressing a rally in support of Congress's Nanded Lok Sabha seat candidate and the party's Maharashtra chief Ashok Chavan. Keeping up his attack on Modi on the Rafale fighter jet deal, Gandhi asked the prime minister how come industrialist Anil Ambani got the offset contract despite having no experience in manufacturing such planes. He reiterated his charge that Modi had put Rs 30,000 crore of the people's money into Ambani's pocket by ensuring that the businessman got the contract instead of state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which, he said, has been manufacturing aircraft for the last 70 years. "The planes which did the air strikes in Balakot? HAL. Sukhoi, Jaguar, Mirage, MiG. HAL is a ...
Defence minister conducts roadshow in Thiruvanathapuram
Women and children waved and shook hands with Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman Monday as she participated in a roadshow criss-crossing coastal stretches along with Kummanam Rajasekharan, the BJP candidate from the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat. The constituency is witnessing a fierce triangular fight between Congress leader and sitting MP Shashi Tharoor, ruling LDF candidate C Divakaran (CPI) and Rajasekharan, the former Mizoram governor. Local people were seen rushing to the open vehicle in which the minister was travelling along with Rajasekharan as it slowed down to greet and shake hands with her and present flowers. Despite the late hour,women and children, who had gathered at various points, waved and shook hands with Sitharaman as the roadshow progressed. Sitharaman had visited the coastal areas of Thiruvananthapuram when the Ockhi cyclone had hit the Kerala shores in December 2017 and consoled women who had lost their husbands and children. Earlier, ...
EC functioning under guidance of PM, BJP: Chandrababu Naidu
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrabab Naidu, key interlocutor among 21 opposition parties demanding verification of at least 50 per cent of polled votes against VVAPT slips, Monday alleged the Election Commission was functioning under the 'guidance' of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP. Opposition parties on Sunday had held a meeting to discuss the issue of EVM malfunctioning and said they will approach the Supreme Court again to demand that at least 50 per cent of paper trails be verified with EVMs. Naidu had met Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora Saturday to raise the issue of alleged malfunctioning of EVMs. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief also asked the people of Karnataka to vote in favor of the JD(S)- Congress coalition candidates in the coming Lok Sabha polls. "Yesterday I met the Election Commission. All of you are here and I want to tell you one thing. This Election Commission is working under the guidance of Narendra Modi and BJP," Naidu ...
Pak PM Imran Khan to embark on maiden Iran visit from April 21
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will embark on his first ever official visit to Iran on April 21 as part of Islamabad's efforts to promote bilateral ties with the neighbouring nation. The two countries had recently witnessed downward spiral in their relationship after Tehran accused Islamabad of "harbouring terrorists" following a suicide attack in Iran's southeastern province of Sistan-Balochistan, bordering Pakistan, on February 13 that left 27 Revolutionary Guards Corps personnel dead. Iran and Pakistan share a nearly 1,000 km border. According to a Foreign Office (FO) statement, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani invited Khan for the visit. The two-day visit will include a brief stop-over in Mashhad before arriving in Tehran for bilateral talks with the Iranian leadership, it stated. During his trip, Khan will hold meetings with Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei and President Rouhani. He will be accompanied by a high-level delegation, including ministers for Finance, Human ...
Ajay Chautala out on 21-day furlough; to campaign for JJP in Haryana
Former MP Ajay Chautala, who came out on a three-week furlough from Tihar jail Monday, will be campaigning for Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) candidates in Haryana for the Lok Sabha polls. The Jannayak Janata Party was launched by Ajay Chautala's elder son Dushyant Chautala after the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) split last year. The JJP will be holding a meeting of its core committee on Tuesday and will deliberate on prospective candidates for the general elections. The candidates are likely to be announced on Tuesday or Wednesday, a party spokesperson said. The Jannayak Janata Party and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had recently forged an alliance and announced to jointly contest the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. The JJP will contest from seven seats, while AAP has been given three seats. Ajay Chautala, elder son of former chief minister and INLD president Om Prakash Chautala, is serving jail sentence in connection with a teachers recruitment scam. Ajay will be campaigning for JJP candidates