Page 999 - Politics
Farmers' body appeals to vote against Modi govt
The Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh (RKM), an umbrella body of 185 farmers' organisations across the country, appealed to the community on Monday to not vote for the BJP. The RKM also released a booklet, 'Narendra Modi Kisan Virodhi' (anti-farmers Narendra Modi), listing out the alleged failures of the National Democratic Alliance government on the agriculture front. Addressing a press conference here, a number of farmer leaders accused the Modi government of deceiving farmers and alleged that its actions over the past five years had been detrimental to the peasants. "The main aim of this booklet is to mobilise the farmers and the youth on the issues of national and social importance like farm distress and unemployment in a non-political manner," said Abhimanyu Kohar from Haryana. Kohar claimed that the Modi government had not taken a single step to make farmers debt-free, saying it waived corporate loans worth Rs 2.72 lakh crore. Shiv Kumar Kakkaji from Madhya Pradesh claimed that the ...
Karunanidhi was kept under 'house arrest' for 2 yrs: TN CM
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami Monday alleged that DMK chief M Karunanidhi was kept under "house-arrest" for two years and indicated that the government could launch a probe into the matter. Palaniswami's statement is seen as a direct counter to his rival and DMK chief M K Stalin, who has been harping on the death of late chief minister J Jayalalithaa in December 2016, saying if the DMK comes to power, it would probe the circumstances leading to her demise. Stalin has said that such a probe would reveal the facts behind Jayalalithaa's death to her true followers. Palaniswami Monday claimed Karunanidhi was kept under "house arrest" by Stalin for his own "selfish interests" and that it was the "government's duty" to probe any hardship faced by the veteran Dravidian stalwart since he was a former Chief Minister himself. Palaniswai said complaints had been received in this connection. At an election meeting here, Palaniswami charged that Karunanidhi was not given ...
Amit Shah to participate in Puri roadshow on Tuesday
BJP president Amit Shah will take part in a roadshow in the pilgrim town of Puri on Tuesday, a party spokesperson said. Shah's roadshow will begin from Singha Dwara (Lion's Gate) of Shree Jagannath Temple and culminate at the Mausi Maa Temple in Puri, BJP spokesperson Golak Mohapatra said. He said the saffron party, in its election manifesto, promised to make Puri as the "spiritual capital" of the country. The BJP has fielded national spokesman Sambit Patra as its candidate for the Puri Lok Sabha seat. Shah had visited Odisha on Sunday, and addressed two election meetings at Polosara in Ganjam district and another at Baragarh. Mohapatra said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also likely to visit the state on April 15 or 16 to address a public meeting in the Odisha capital. This will be Modi's fifth election rally in the state, following the announcement of the poll schedule.
NDA will win Lok Sabha elections: Mizoram BJP president
BJP Mizoram president John V Hluna Monday claimed that the NDA will retain power at the Centre and the party's Lok Sabha candidate in the state could become Union Minister if he wins the election. Nirupam Chakma is the BJP's candidate for the lone Lok Sabha seat in Mizoram. Polling in Mizoram would be held on April 11. Hluna claimed that the BJP-led NDA will win the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections and if Chakma wins the seat that would mean that Mizoram could have an Union Minister. "Nirupam Chakma, being elected to the state legislature for five times and a member in the state council of ministers for a decade, has sufficient experience to represent Mizoram in the Parliament," the BJP Mizoram chief said. Hluna said that if any political party in Mizoram could counter Hindutva, it would be the state BJP members, who are Christians and most suited to do the job.
BJP candidate Arjun Singh removed from Bhatpara municipality
BJP leader Arjun Singh, who had switched over from TMC and will contest on the saffron party's ticket in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, was removed Monday from the post of Bhatpara municipality chairman in a secret ballot after a no confidence motion was passed against him. Singh, a four time Trinamool Congress MLA from Bhatpara assembly seat, had joined BJP on March 14 as he was not happy at being denied the ticket from Barrackpore. The TMC leadership decided to go for a no confidence motion in the 34-member-strong Bhatpara municipality in North 24 Parganas after his defection to BJP. Singh had been chairman of Bhatpara Municipality since 2010. The no confidence against Singh was brought Monday morning by a section of TMC councillors following which as a secret ballot was held on it. Singh lost the vote by a margin of 21-11. "The process in which this no confidence motion was conducted is totally undemocratic. The people of Bhatpara will give a befitting reply to TMC in .
Social media regulations needed to have fair elections: Poll experts
Social media should be included in the ambit of election rules related to print and electronic media and there should be proper regulation of their content by the Election Commission to ensure free and fair polls in the country, a group of poll experts and advocates said Monday. Addressing a press conference ahead of first phase of Lok Sabha election on April 11, former chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi said there cannot be a separate law for social media which should be treated as any other mass media. He said political leaders and parties must get prior approval of the EC before posting anything on social media websites and they should also declare the expenditure incurred in using social media. "Social media is also media. Whatever guidelines are meant for media- print and electronic- are applicable to social media websites also. There cannot be a separate law for it," said Quraishi, who was the CEC from July 2010 to June 2012. Urging political parties to not "misuse social .
UP grand alliance a result of frustration of its members: Adityanath
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Monday said the opposition grand alliance is a result of the frustration of its constituents -- BSP, SP and RLD -- as they faced defeat in the last general election. He alleged that the alliance members are resorting to telling lies instead of raising real issues like riots and lawlessness during their rule. The chief minister also asserted that the voters will reject the anti-BJP alliance comprising the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal. "The frustration of defeat (in the previous elections) has prompted them to forge an alliance. The public will not accept them. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections and in 2017 UP Assembly elections, they were badly defeated," Adityanath said. "The rally at Deoband exhibited this frustration. I was amazed that the leaders at the rally, be it Mayawati, Akhilesh or Ajit Singh, did not raise the issue of riots in western Uttar Pradesh," he said. On Sunday, the alliance held its first ..
Netanyahu, Gantz make final pitches before Israeli vote
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to energise supporters on the eve of Tuesday's elections with warnings and controversial promises, while his centrist challenger urged voters to tell the premier the country has had enough. The general election in which Netanyahu is seeking to extend his already 13 years in office despite corruption allegations against him is expected to be close, with ex-military chief Benny Gantz posing a serious threat. They spent the campaign's final hours exhorting voters with two different strategies: Netanyahu repeatedly warned that his Likud was at risk of losing, while Gantz made the case that Israel was on the verge of historic change. The truth was more complicated, with opinion polls giving Netanyahu's Likud and Gantz's Blue and White a similar number of seats in the 120-seat parliament. Under those polls, both would fall far short of an outright majority and would need to pull together a coalition. If polling trends hold, Netanyahu would ..
Mayawati's appeal to Muslims: EC gets report from UP poll authorities
The poll authorities in Uttar Pradesh sent a factual report to the Election Commission (EC) here on Monday on the remarks made by BSP supremo Mayawati appealing to Muslims to vote for the SP-BSP alliance in the upcoming Lok Sabha election and not to allow the Congress to split their votes. The chief electoral officer of Uttar Pradesh had asked the Sharanpur district magistrate on Sunday to send him a factual report on Mayawati's remarks in order to allow the poll panel to ascertain whether the comments were violative of the Model Code of Conduct, in force since March 10. The model code states: "There shall be no appeal to caste or communal feelings for securing votes." The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief's open appeal to the minority community came at the first joint rally her party held with the Samajwadi Party at Deoband in the last two decades. The report of the Saharanpur district magistrate was forwarded to the EC and a decision on whether the remarks violated the poll code was ..
Turkey's Erdogan sees 'organised crime' in Istanbul vote results
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday said some "organised crime" had been carried out during last week's election for Istanbul mayor when results showed his ruling AKP candidate narrowly lost the race. The AKP demanded a recount in Ankara and Istanbul citing irregularities after tallies showed the party was defeated in both cities in what would be a major setback in a decade and a half in power. Erdogan's remarks appeared to signal more AKP challenges over Istanbul, the country's economic hub and largest city, echoing commentary in pro-government media last week denouncing a "ballot box putsch" during the March 31 election. "We are seeing that some organised crimes have been carried out," Erdogan said at a press conference before a trip to Russia, without giving details. "There is an element of robbery in all of this. There was some theft at the ballot box." In the capital Ankara, the Supreme Electoral Council on Monday officially handed opposition CHP party candidate ...
Army no to JK govt order on plying convoys only on Sunday and Wednesday
The Army operated a convoy on Monday notwithstanding an order of the Jammu and Kashmir government that such movement of vehicles should take place only twice a week -- Sunday and Wednesday, army officials said. The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the order will hamper the operations of the army. The officials claimed there were no consultations with the army officers concerned before the order on the convoy movement for security forces was issued. "During informal talks, it was made clear to the state officials that such an order was not possible to implement," said an officer who is engaged in convoy movement. The state Home Secretary Shaleen Kabra on the directions of Chief Secretary B V R Subrahmanyam issued an order on April 3 in which civilian traffic was restricted on the national highway from Udhampur in Jammu region to Baramulla in North Kashmir on Sunday and Wednesday every week till May 31 to facilitate the smooth movement of the convoys of the ...
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal terms BJP manifesto as fresh set of 'jumlas'
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal Monday termed BJP's manifesto as a "fresh set of jumlas" and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah did not have the courage to say why demonetisation was done and farmers were pushed towards destruction. Reminding the Prime Minister of his party's 2014 promise of granting full statehood to Delhi, Kejriwal said the present manifesto does not have any mention of it which meant that Modi is lying and in turn making it even more difficult for people to believe in him. "BJP unveils a fresh set of jumlas without telling the country what is the fate of its 2014 jumlas. Modi-Shah don't have the courage to speak on why demonetisation was done ? What happened to two crore jobs? Why were farmers pushed towards destruction?" he said in a tweet. Eyeing to retain power, the BJP made a plethora of poll promises on Monday, including expeditious construction of Ram temple, firmly dealing with terrorism, doubling farmers' income in the next three years, ..
Trump to pressure Iran by branding its Guard a terror group
In an unprecedented step to ramp up pressure on Tehran, the Trump administration is planning to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard a "foreign terrorist organisation." The move is expected to further isolate Iran and could have widespread implications for U.S. personnel and policy in the Middle East and elsewhere. The Trump administration has escalated rhetoric against Iran for months, but this will mark the first such designation by any American administration of an entire foreign government entity. Portions of the Guard, notably its elite Quds Force, have been targeted previously by the United States. Officials informed of the step said an announcement was expected as early as Monday. Two US officials and a congressional aide confirmed the planned move. They were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, seemed to anticipate the designation, saying in a tweet Sunday aimed at President Donald ...
Periyar statue found vandalised in TN, political parties condemn incident
A life-size statue of rationalist leader and Dravidian movement founder E V Ramasamy, popularly known as Periyar, was found vandalised at Aranthangi in the district Monday, police said. The incident triggered an outrage with the Tamil Nadu government joining the opposition parties in condemning the act, while assuring action against the culprits. The statue of Periyar located near the government hospital in Aranthangi town was found with the head dislodged and lying on the ground, police said. Local leaders of the Dravidar Kazhagam noticed the damage caused to the statue Monday morning and informed police, demanding that the culprits be arrested immediately. Officials said steps were being taken to repair the statue. Periyar, who launched the self-respect movement in the state, was a staunch atheist and had founded the Dravidar Kazhagam, the parent organisation of the DMK. Condemning the incident, state Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar, in Chennai, said, "This is not at all acceptable. .
Congress urges Supreme Court to reconsider its order on EVM-VVPAT slips matching
The Congress party on Monday urged the Supreme Court to reconsider its instruction to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to increase the random verification of VVPAT slips from one polling station per Assembly seat to only five booths in the Lok Sabha polls.Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said: "We are not satisfied with five per booth verification of VVPAT slips in one assembly constituency. If VVPAT slips are not verified, then what was the point in spending Rs 18,00,00,000.""We have demanded the verification of 50 per cent VVPAT slips. The order of the Supreme Court is not reasonable. The apex court must reconsider its decision," said Surjewala.The Congress party stuck to the demand of 50 per cent matching of votes recorded in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) with the verifiable paper audit trails (VVPAT) in all constituencies.Earlier on Saturday, twenty-one Opposition parties had submitted before the apex court that they were agreeable to a delay of even ...
Nothing could be more insulting to Kanshi Ram and Ambedkar: Yogi on Mayawati's remark at Deoband rally
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday accused the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati of insulting the Dalit icons Kanshi Ram and Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar by appealing to Muslims to vote for the grand alliance."Nothing could be more insulting to Kanshi Ram and (Bhim Rao) Ambedkar than these statements made by Mayawati," he said while talking to reporters here."If they only want Muslim votes, others (voters) too will naturally decide where they (voters) want to go," the Chief Minister added.Addressing a public rally in Deoband on Sunday, Mayawati said: "I appeal to Muslims that the Congress is not capable of defeating the BJP.""Only the alliance parties are capable of doing it. Congress does not want the alliance to win. I appeal to Muslims that vote for alliance only. Do not vote for the Congress," she had said.Samajwadi Party (SP) president and former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav was also present in the rally, the first one jointly addressed by BSP-SP leaders.The
'If not taught lesson timely, Cong would give allowance to stone pelters in Kashmir': Yogi
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Monday attacked the Congress, saying if the party was not "taught a lesson timely" it would start giving "allowance to stone pelters" in Kashmir. Addressing an election rally here, he also slammed BSP chief Mayawati, saying her party would get zero seats in this Lok Sabha polls like 2014. "It's important to teach a timely lesson to Congress otherwise it will start giving allowance to stone pelters in Kashmir as it sympathises with them," Adityanath said. Taking a dig at Mayawati, he said, "Those contesting on 38 seats are dreaming of becoming the prime minister". The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) have forged an alliance to take on the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections in the state. As per the seat-sharing agreement, SP is contesting 37 seats and BSP 38. Three seats have been given to the RLD.
Russia calls for calm on 'all sides' in Libya conflict
Russia on Monday called for calm on all sides in the Libya conflict after at least 32 people were killed in fighting near the capital Tripoli. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was calling "on all sides to reject actions that could provoke bloodshed in battle and the deaths of civilians". Russia's deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Moscow was in contact with all sides in the conflict. "We talk with everyone: with the west, the east and the south," Bogdanov told news agency RIA Novosti. "We call on everyone for a political solution." Fierce clashes raged on Sunday near Tripoli between strongman Khalifa Haftar's fighters and troops loyal to the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA). The two sides also exchanged air strikes after Haftar launched an offensive Thursday to seize the capital. Libya descended into chaos following the 2011 overthrow of Moamer Kadhafi and a bitter rivalry has emerged between Tripoli-based authorities and Haftar's ...
Congress fields candidate in Morada assembly seat given to JMM
Congress has named Pravas Kar Mohapatra as its candidate for Moroda Assembly seat in Odisha's Mayurbhanj where the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has already announced its nominee for the same constituency. Mohapatra's name was announced by AICC general general secretary Mukul Wasnik Sunday even after JMM has named Kalinga Keshari Jena as its candidate to contest Assembly elections from Morada. "We will support JMM in Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha seat, but not in Morada assembly segment," said Mohaptra adding that there will be no friendly fight at Morada. He said the party has fielded him to win the seat. Earlier, it was agreed among Congress, JMM, CPI and CPI(M) to enter into seat adjustment in order to win in maximum seats. As per the agreement, CPI, CPI(M) and JMM are allowed to field their candidates in Aska, Bhubaneswar and Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha seats where Congress has not named any name for the three Parliamentary seats. Similarly, while JMM was allowed to contest from five ...
BJP has no moral right to release fresh manifesto, should have issued action-taken report: Mayawati
Stressing that the party which had failed to fulfil the promises made in 2014 had no moral right to release a fresh manifesto, BSP president Mayawati on Monday said the BJP ought to have issued an action-taken report instead. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls on Monday. Reacting to it, Mayawati said, "The BJP and the Narendra Modi government, which blatantly betrayed the people and failed to fulfil the election promises, have no moral right to release a new manifesto." "People cannot believe them and they should tender an apology to the people as they have only worked for the capitalists," the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president said. The BJP and the Modi government "should have issued an action-taken report, instead of the new manifesto, but they do not have the courage to do so," she added. "Barring a handful of capitalists, the 130 crore people (of India) are still waiting for the promised 'achche din' and Rs 15 lakh in .