Page 912 - Politics

We will make sedition law even more stringent, says Rajnath Singh

The senior BJP leader also attacked former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah over his demand for a separate prime minister for the region

Rahul's Bengal rally off after no chopper landing permit

A scheduled election meeting of Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday has been cancelled in northern West Bengal after the Darjeeling district administration denied permission to let his chopper land at the Police Ground in Siliguri, a Congress leader said.

Modi blasts Congress for 'anti-India' poll manifesto

In a strident attack on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday termed its poll manifesto "anti-India" and playing with the future of the country.

J-K's constitutional safeguards in peril: Omar Abdullah

Claiming that Jammu and Kashmir's special status was in peril, NC vice-president Omar Abdullah Saturday hit out at the BJP alleging that its "explicit and forceful undertaking" to revoke the constitutional safeguards of the state by 2020 reveal their "malicious agenda". Addressing an election rally in Dak Bungalow area of Anantnag, the National Conference leader alleged that the previous PDP-BJP government had thrown the state into chaos. "We have seen how explicitly some of the high-flying ministers of the Union Cabinet have come out against the special status of our state. The recent uncouth and spiteful statements of Arun Jaitley and Amit Shah are a case in point. Our concern is legitimate in view of the BJP's undertaking in their manifesto about doing away with the special position of our state," he said. Abdullah said amidst these "intimidations", it becomes imperative for the people of the state to be united to save the constitutional safeguards of the state. "The opportunity is

Sudanese army holds 1st meeting with protesters since coup

Sudanese political parties and movements behind nearly four months of anti-government protests met with the country's military on Saturday, activists and the military said, holding the first talks since the army forced President Omar al-Bashir from power two days ago. The meeting came after the protest movement scored two big victories this week, first ending al-Bashir's almost 30-year rule on Thursday and then forcing the interim military leader, Gen. Awad ibn Ouf, from his post a day later. Protesters viewed ibn Ouf as too close to the ousted leader. The movement said it has formed a 10-member delegation to introduce "the people's demands" to the military council, reiterating its rejection of military rule. Ali al-Sanhouri, the secretary general of the Arab Socialist Baath Party in Sudan, told a news conference in Khartoum that they are calling for the creation of a "civilian sovereignty council, cabinet and a national legislative association" to rule the county during the ...

BJP trying to gain pol advantage by using religion: Mamata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a "big fascist leader" running the country as per his whims, and urged people to not "waste" their votes on the Congress and the CPI(M). She reiterated that her party, the Trinamool Congress, will play an important role in ousting Modi, and forming the new government. Banerjee hit out at the BJP for taking out armed Ram Navami rallies at various parts of the state, and accused the saffron party of trying to disturb the peaceful atmosphere of Bengal. "A big fascist leader is running the country and claiming himself to be a 'chowkidar' of the masses. He has to be defeated at any cost and Trinamool will play an important role in the formation of government at the Centre," she said at an election rally in Siliguri in support of TMC candidate Amar Singh Rai. Claiming that her phones are being tapped, she said the BJP is curbing people's democratic rights and every institution in ...

Congress announces names of 9 more LS poll candidates for UP

The Congress Saturday announced names of nine more Lok Sabha candidates for Uttar Pradesh, which included R K Chaudhary, Raj Kishore Singh and Ramakant Yadav, all of whom joined the party recently. R K Chaudhary came into the Congress fold earlier this month and has been fielded from Mohanlalganj replacing Ramashankar Bhargava whose name was announced earlier. Chaudhary was a minister in the Mayawati government and had contested the 2014 Lok Sabha poll on BSP ticket from Mohanlalganj. He was defeated by the BJP's Kaushal Kishore by nearly 1.45 lakh votes. The Congress has also fielded Raj Kishore Singh from Basti and Ramakant Yadav from Bhadohi seats. Both had joined the party on Friday. While Raj Kishore was minister in the Akhilesh Yadav government, Ramakant Yadav is a former MP. The Congress has also fielded former MP Rajesh Misra from Salempur and Ummed Singh Nishad from Ambedkarnagar. Union minister Anupriya Patel's mother Krishna Patel, who leads a faction of the Apna Dal, will .

Freedom fighter Painuli passes away at 94

Former Congress MP and freedom fighter Paripoornanand Painuli (94) passed away here on Saturday after prolonged illness.

Modi blasts Congress' 'anti-India' election manifesto

In a strident attack on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday termed its poll manifesto as being "anti-India" and playing with the future of the country.

EC writes to TDP, questions presence of EVM theft accused in Chandrababu Naidu's delegation

The Election Commission has written to the Telugu Desam Party asking how a person with criminal antecedents could be a part of a delegation led by its chief N Chandrababu Naidu during his visit to the poll panel on Saturday. The EC in its letter has said when Naidu visited, he was accompanied by one Hari Prasad who repeatedly raised various technical issues regarding functioning of EVMs and claimed that he had the technical expertise in the field. The letter stated that it was decided that Prasad would get a detailed briefing from the technical team of the EC. "However, when this technical person came it turned out that he was Hari Prasad who was involved in a criminal case regarding alleged theft of EVM machine in 2010 which an FIR was filed...Whatever maybe the eventual outcome of the investigation, it would be appreciated that such antecedents do not inspire confidence. "This is completely intriguing as to how a so called technical expert with these antecedents was allowed to be ...

Meghalaya bypoll: Re-polling in one booth on Monday

Re-polling will be held at the Konarchar polling station on Monday in the bypoll to Meghalaya's Selsella Assembly constituency, an election official said on Saturday.

Modi mocks Congress' "dream" of coming to power

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday mocked Congress' "dream" of forming a government at the Centre and castigated it on national security and Jammu and Kashmir issues, asking people to punish it in such a way that the party would not be able to save its deposits in the Lok Sabha polls. Addressing a massive rally in Bengaluru, he said the Congress has promised to remove the Army from Jammu and Kashmir, saying "exactly what Pakistan says word to word in Pakistan's language." Devoting most parts of his speech to national security, Modi said the Congress had spoken about coming to power in its manifesto and added, "who can stop one from dreaming? " "But let them dream about forming the government. I can understand it because a chaiwala has robbed the opportunity of four generations of Sultanate," he said. Modi said what was worrying was that the Congress has said in its manifesto that if they form the government in Delhi, they would "remove" AFSPA (Armed Forces Special ...

Palestinian president swears in new government

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has sworn in a new government led by a longtime ally who is critical of Gaza's Hamas rulers and a proponent of continuing peace talks with Israel. Abbas, who heads the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, accepted the oath of office on Saturday from the new cabinet headed by Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtayeh, a veteran peace negotiator. The appointment of Ishtayeh is likely to deepen the rift between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, the Islamic militant group that governs the Gaza Strip. Outgoing Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah oversaw a unity government formed nearly five years ago with the goal of reaching a conciliation deal with Hamas. Ishtayeh's appointment reflects the failure of years of efforts to reconcile with Hamas.

Officials injured in 'stone pelting' during sealing drive in Mayapuri; Kejriwal says locals beaten

Around 14 officials, including an ACP, were injured after clashes broke out between security personnel and local scrap dealers during a sealing drive in west Delhi's Mayapuri area Saturday, leading to a political slugfest between the ruling AAP and the BJP. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) shared a video on Twitter purportedly showing security personnel resorting to stone pelting, which Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal dubbed as "extremely shameful". "It is extremely shameful that the citizens are being treated in this manner by the Centre. The trader community has always supported the BJP with money as well as with votes. But in return, the Centre-led police brutally beat up the traders sending a clear message that they do not want the community's support in the upcoming polls," the chief minister tweeted. Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit also "condemned" the use of force by police and blamed the Centre and BJP-led civic bodies for sealing. BJP leader and Union Minister for Housing and ...

'Hamare paas Modi hai': Ram Madhav attacks opposition the Bollywood way

"Hamare paas Modi hai," BJP general secretary Ram Madhav said here on Saturday, taking a cue from a Bollywood dialogue to claim there is no one in the opposition camp to match the calibre of the prime minister. The BJP leader was referring to the iconic "Mere paas maa hai" line in 'Deewaar', even though he wrongly attributed it to Amitabh Bachchan rather than Shashi Kapoor. Addressing an election rally in Reasi district, he also asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made the country "corruption and terrorism-free" and instilled among the terrorists by hunting them down inside Pakistan. "The opposition does not have any leader but we have Modi. That is why they are forming 'gathbandhan' (alliance)... Their attempt to form a grand alliance failed because many people among the opposition are eyeing prime minister's chair," Madhav said. Canvassing for Union minister Jitendra Singh, who is seeking re-election from Udhampur Lok Sabha seat, Madhav said, "Why do they (opposition) ...

Mayapuri sealing drive: Locals clash with police; BJP, AAP blame each other

Clashes broke out between locals and police personnel in Delhi's Mayapuri area on Saturday after MCD officials began to seal some illegal factories in the area following National Green Tribunal's order.Videos from the incident show protesters clashing with security forces, pelting stones at them and then being chased down by them.According to police, 14 persons, including an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) and three other police personnel were injured in the clashes."A sealing drive was started today by SDM Delhi Cantt today along with the staff of MCD and DPCC in Mayapuri scrap market in pursuance of NGT orders. The local scrap dealers started protesting against the sealing and then got violent and resorted to stone pelting. 14 persons, including SDM, DPCC employees, Police personnel including ACP have been injured, " Delhi police said adding a case is being registered.The Aam Aadmi Party reacted strongly against action by the MCD officials.The official twitter handle of the ..

India needs a strong govt, not a weak coaliton: Sushma Swaraj

Taking a swipe at the 'mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance), External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday said that India needed a strong government and not a weak coalition."India needs a strong government and not a weak coalition government. Please tell the same to your relatives and friends who reside in India," Swaraj said while interacting with Indians residing across the globe.Swaraj said that the government merged Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) and Overseas Citizenship of India (OIC) card and now the NRIs can now obtain just an OCI card.Highlighting the works done by the BJP in the last five years, the External Affairs Minister said, "Before 2014, only 59 villages were connected with optical fibre. Today, 1.16 lakh villages have been connected with optical fibre. Under Jan Dhan Yojana, 340 million new bank accounts have been opened. It is the biggest financial inclusion program of the world.""India stood at 142 rank in Ease of Doing Business which improved to 77th rank ...

Congress fields Kumari Selja from Ambala, Deepender Singh Hooda from Rohtak

Congress on Saturday came out with the list of 18 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, including Deepender Singh Hooda from Rohtak, Ashok Tanwar from Sirsa and Kumari Selja from Ambala in Haryana.Kumari Selja is sitting Rajya Sabha MP from Haryana.Candidates for three other seats have been announced in Haryana. The party has fielded Shruti Chaudhary from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh, Capt. Ajay Singh Yadav from Gurgaon and Lalit Nagar from Faridabad.Shruti Choudhry is the daughter of Kiran Choudhry, the Congress Legislature Party Leader in Haryana.Haryana has 10 parliamentary seats that will go to vote on May 12 in the sixth phase of ongoing general elections. Counting of votes will take place on May 23.It announced candidates for nine seats in Uttar-Pradesh including Ghazipur, Bhadohi, Gonda, Basti, Jaunpur, Ambedkar Nagar, Mohanlalganj (SC), Chandauli and Salempur. The party has fielded Ajit Pratap Kushwah from Ghazipur against Union Minister .

India lagged behind in technology due to 'secretive' approach of Congress : PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Congress party's tendency of keeping things secret was responsible for the country lagging behind technologically."Congress says they did not conduct the test earlier as they wanted to keep it a secret. It was this approach of keeping secrets due to which India lagged behind in technology," said PM Narendra Modi, while addressing a public rally here, in which he talked about "Mission Shakti"."Today the courage is shown by Modi and the whole world is recognizing our stealth," he added.Last month, PM Modi announced that India's anti-satellite weapon A-SAT successfully destroyed a live satellite on a low earth orbit, joining a group of three countries - the US, Russia and China - with such capability. His address to the nation generated a massive row with opposition alleging him of violating the MCC, however, Election Commission gave him a clean chit.He also alleged that blasts took place in the Country in the Congress regime while Congress ...

Congress gets troubled when I remember martyrs: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that the Congress party gets troubled when he remembers martyrs."A nation that forgets its history and brave hearts who sacrificed their life ceases to exist. Now when Modi remembers these martyrs, it troubles the Congress and its allies," said Prime Minister Modi while addressing an election rally here.He accused the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) (JDS) of being "inspired" by dynasty. The Prime Minister said, "Congress and JDS are inspired by dynasty and we are inspired by nationalism. They find ways to benefit their family but we work hard to bring the last person standing in the line forward."Prime Minister Modi also said that this election is about deciding the fate of India in the 21st century, and not about electing the MP and PM."This election is not about who will become the MP, Minister, Prime Minister or who will form the government? This election is about deciding how India of 21st century will be," Prime Minister Modi ...