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Over 2,000 war veterans return medals

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war veterans return medals

New Delhi: Over 2,000 ex-servicemen protesting against the government’s “diluted” one-pension-one rank scheme on Tuesday returned their medals in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab, the organizations spearheading the movement claimed on Tuesday as they hit back at Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar for his “unlike soldiers behaviour” remark aimed at them.

Colonel (retd) Anil Kaul, spokesman of the protesters in Delhi, said 2,000 ex-servicemen’s medals were deposited at the district collector’s office.

“The veterans had threatened to leave the medals on the road if we didn’t accept it. Hence, we accepted those,” District Collector Sanjay Kumar told reporters.

In Chandigarh, Brigadier Kiran Krishan (retd), Convener for North Haryana of Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM), a constituent of United Front of Ex-Servicemen that had led the nation-wide protest for OROP at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, said that more than 150 war veterans returned over 150 medals which were handed over to the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Panchkula.

Kaul said ex-servicemen from Ambala, Chandigarh, Moga, Jalandhar and Gurdaspur returned their medals today while those from Mumbai, Pune, Vadodara and Bangalore will follow the suit.

“Our people from Mumbai, Pune, Vadodara and Bangalore will return their medals next. By the way, this is just the trailer,” he added.

The veterans claimed over 20,000 of them have returned medals since their protest began in 2008 to press for OROP.

Kaul reacted sharply to Parrikar’s statement that the war veterans’ protest against OROP notification is “unlike that of a soldier” and said the Parrikar’s behaviour “too doesn’t behove that of a Defence Minister.

Dismissing Parrikar’s remarks that the protesters were being “misguided” and that the OROP notification issued on Saturday has been his “achievement”, the agitators shot back at the BJP leader asking him to learn English to know meanings of the two words and asked him not to “lie” to his soldiers seeking their due rights.

“He says our behaviour is unlike that of a soldier. But we feel Parrikar’s behaviour is unlike that of a Defence Minister. We have been seeking our due to rights for past 149 days. But government has found no time to listen to us.

“Hence, we have been impelled to agitate Mr Parrikar. Your notification is not what we have been talking about. Therefore, we are returning medals,” Kaul said.

(PTI)

Ranji Trophy: Karnataka pull off 2nd outright Ranji win against Odisha

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stuart-binny

Mysuru: Karnataka registered their second outright win, beating Odisha by an innings and 64 runs on the fourth and final day of their Group A Ranji Trophy match.

With this win Karnataka secured seven points, and are among the top contenders to qualify for the knockout stage with 21 points to their credit.

Stuart Binny and Shreyas Gopal, ably supported by Vinay Kumar, helped Karnataka skittle out Odisha for 104 runs in their second innings under 37 overs. Binny claimed four wickets for 34 runs and Gopal bagged three wickets for 43 runs, while Kumar ended with two for seven off seven overs and Udit Patel picked up one wicket. Batting first, Odisha put on 232 all out in their first innings with Govinda Poddar scoring 153 runs after he had smashed 15 boundaries and a six off 230 balls.

In reply, Karnataka declared their first innings at 400 for nine after India discard Robin Uthappa scored his second century of the season with a superb 148 runs. He had scored his first ton against Rajasthan in the previous match. Karnataka opener Mayank Agarwal and Karun Nair, also came good with their bat, scoring 78 and 73 runs, respectively.

Nair and Uthappa took the game away from Odisha’s hands when they stitched a 169-run partnership for fourth wicket and helped hosts post 168-run first innings lead. Resuming at the overnight score of zero for one, Odisha started on a disastrous note, losing first innings centurion Poddar, who was caught by Abhishek Reddy off Kumar for seven. Binny turned the tide completely in Karnataka’s favour after he claimed two wickets in consecutive deliveries, first he sent back Nataraj Behera (19) and then Ranjit Singh for a naught.

After the fall of Singh, no batsman held the crease and with Karnataka bowlers, especially Binny and Gopal, wrecking havoc.
Anurag Sarangi was the top scorer for Odisha with 44 runs with six boundaries, scored off 75 balls. To the dismay of Odisha, they lost four batsmen — Rajesh Dhuper, Singh, Biplab Samanataray and Basant Mohanty — without opening an account.

(PTI)

Bangladesh hands over ULFA leader Anup Chetia to CBI

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The Indian government could not extradite him earlier due to the lack of an extradition treaty between India and Bangladesh.

ULFA Leader Anup Chetia

ULFA Leader Anup Chetia

New Delhi: Top ULFA leader Anup Chetia was today handed over to the CBI by the Bangladesh government, according to reports.

Chetia is wanted in cases of murder, kidnapping and extortion. The ULFA general secretary was detained in Bangladesh in 1997 for illegally entering the country using a forged passport, and was found in possession of arms and foreign currencies.

A Bangladesh court sentenced the militant leader to seven years in prison. The Indian government could not extradite him earlier due to the lack of an extradition treaty between India and Bangladesh. He had sought political asylum in Bangladesh thrice in 2005, 2008 and in 2011.Despite the expiry of his term, Chetia was in jail under a 2003 High Court directive asking authorities to keep him in safe custody until a decision was taken on his asylum plea.

However, the Sheikh Hasina government were open to releasing him to authorities in India in their fight against terrorism.

PM Narendra Modi called up his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina to thank her for handing over of top ULFA leader Anup Chetia.

The development follows on the heels of the deportation to India of underworld don Chhota Rajan, one of country’s most-wanted criminals, who was on the run for 27 years.

(Agencies)

Thirty Shia Muslims kidnapped in Afghanistan

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Men from minority Hazara group were travelling by bus through central Afghanistan when masked gunmen took them away.

Afghanistan Hazara

by Al Jazeera

Masked gunmen have abducted 30 Shia Muslim men who were travelling by bus through central Afghanistan, according to local authorities.

The men, members of the minority Hazara ethnic group, were taken on Monday evening in Zabul province, on the road between the western city of Herat and Kabul.

Hazara Shia Muslims are often the target of sectarian violence at the hands of Sunni Muslim groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“Our driver saw a group of masked men in Afghan army uniform signalling him and he thought they were soldiers so he stopped,” said Nasir Ahmad, an official with the Ghazni Paima bus company, told AFP news agency.

“The gunmen took 30 Hazaras away with them.”

Ahmad said the kidnappers took only the men on the two buses and released the women and children travelling with them.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the abductions, but kidnappings for ransom by bandits, local militias and the Taliban are common in Afghanistan.

Interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said the police were “doing everything to ensure their safe release”.

Bengaluru: Girish Karnad apologizes for his Kempegowda remarks

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girish-karnad

Bengaluru: A day after he stoked a controversy with his remarks on the occasion of Tipu Jayanti, veteran playwright, actor and litterateur, Girish Karnad on Wednesday 11 apologized for the statement he had made against Kempegowda.

In a statement released from his home at J P Nagar here, Karnad, a Jnanpith awardee, said that what he expressed was his personal opinion and that it was not backed by any evil intention. He said he was sorry if his remarks had hurt anyone.

The noted writer had expressed the opinion that Kempegowda International Airport at Bengaluru should have been named after Tipu Sultan. His remarks had come during the birth anniversary of Tipu Sultan organized at the state secretariat on Tuesday November 10 in the presence of chief minister, Siddaramaiah. He had remarked that Kempegowda was not a freedom fighter like Tipu Sultan.

Former deputy chief minister and BJP leader, R Ashok, who is spearheading a campaign against the remarks of Karnad, who had also courted controversy with some previous remarks, said that he will continue to fight against the unkind remarks made by Karnad in spite of the apology offered.

“Karnad had made his remarks in a public meeting in Vidhana Soudha. If they were his personal opinions, they should have come at a private function. I hereby ask Karnad to come to Vidhan Soudha and make a public statement about his apology in the presence of chief minister,” Ashok stated.

(Agencies)

Nitish Kumar to take oath as new CM on Nov 20

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nitish-kumar

Patna: Though the official announcement is awaited, JD(U) Nitish Kumar in all likelihood would take oath as the new chief minister of Bihar on November 20.

“People are busy with Diwali and after that comes the Chhath festival which ends on November 18. So oath of the new government in all likelihood will be administered after Chhath,” state JD(U) President Basistha Narayan Singh told PTI.

Though the decision to this effect will be taken by the chief minister but the date seems likely, he said.

Two senior ministers of Nitish Kumar’s outgoing cabinet have also indicated November 20 as the likely date and talks are on among top leadership of the three constituent parties of the Grand Alliance on government formation.

It is yet to be decided as to which constituent party would the speaker be from and if Lalu Prasad’s son Tejaswi would be made the deputy chief minister.

Kumar had on November 8 told mediapersons that the term of the current Assembly is till November 29, hence there was no hurry to form a new government.

Refusing to commit a date, he had merely said a new government would take oath in the state soon.

This would be the fifth time that Kumar would take oath as chief minister. His first stint was in 2000 when he headed a government for only seven days. He rode to power in Novermber 2005 and again in 2010. In February 2015 he took oath for the high office for the fourth time after Jitan Ram Manjhi was removed from the chair.

When contacted, state Congress President Ashok Choudhary told PTI that party high command would take a call as to whether to join the government or not.

“I will go to Delhi after Diwali and discuss the Bihar issue with the top leadership,” he added.

Bihar JD(U) chief Basistha Narayan Singh said though decision would be taken by the leaders of Congress it would be better if all three partners are part of the state government.

“We have fought together and it would be good for them (Congress) too that they be part of the government,” he said.

Singh refused to confirm media reports that a criteria of one minister on every five MLAs is being fixed for selection of ministers in the new Nitish Kumar government.

(PTI)

L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi raise banner of revolt against Modi

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L K Advani Murli Manohar Joshi

New Delhi: Two days after the BJP was routed in Bihar, the party’s old guard including L.K. Advani on Tuesday took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, demanding “a thorough review” of the debacle but said it can’t be done by those who were responsible.

In a virtual challenge to Modi’s leadership who became the prime minister in May 2014, former party presidents Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, former union minister Yashwant Sinha and former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Shanta Kumar said the Bihar defeat showed that the BJP had learnt nothing from its crushing defeat by the AAP in Delhi in February.

“To say that everyone is responsible for the defeat in Bihar is to ensure that no one is held responsible,” said the brief hard-hitting statement signed by Sinha on behalf of the four leaders.

“It shows that those who would have appropriated credit if the party had won are bent on shrugging off responsibility for the disastrous showing in Bihar,” it said, in a clear reference to Modi and Shah who were the BJP’s faces vis-a-vis the Grand Alliance of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

The statement followed a meeting of the leaders at Advani’s residence and then at Joshi’s where former central minister Arun Shourie, who has blamed Modi, Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for the Bihar defeat, was also present along with former BJP ideologue K.N. Govindacharya.

“The result of the Bihar election shows that no lesson was learnt from the fiasco in Delhi,” the statement said.

Advani and the others said that a review of the Bihar rout — where the Bharatiya Janata Party won just 53 of the 243 assembly seats — “must not be done by the very persons who have managed and who have been responsible for the campaigning in Bihar”.

In an obvious reference to Modi and his confidant Shah, it said “a thorough review must be done of the reasons for the defeat as well as the way the party is being forced to kowtow to a handful and how its consensual character has been destroyed”.

The statement said the principal reason for the party’s defeat in Bihar “is how the party has been emasculated in the last year”.

The statement came hours after Home Minister Rajnath Singh — a la Jaitley on Monday — said that Modi and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat were not to blame for the disaster in Bihar where the JD-U, RJD and Congress won a whopping 178 seats.

“The prime minister can’t be blamed for the defeat in Bihar,” Rajnath Singh said. “It is the BJP’s and NDA’s electoral loss, not the PM’s as a leader.”

Jaitley had expressed similar views a day earlier, adding that there was no question of removing Shah as the BJP president because he had led the party to victories in other states after the Lok Sabha battle.

But voices of discontent have been steadily mounting in the BJP since the Bihar results came out on Sunday.

On Tuesday, Bhola Singh became the fifth BJP MP to blame Modi for the defeat.

The Begusarai MP said the rampant use of “unparliamentary language” by Modi and other party leaders during the election campaign harmed the BJP, leading to its defeat.

“There was no logic to raise issues such as beef and that firecrackers would be burst in Pakistan if the BJP loses,” he said. “All these resulted in our defeat.”

The other four MPs who have found fault with Modi and Shah, directly or indicrectly, for the Bihar rout are Shatrughan Sinha (Patna Saheb), Hukum Deo Narain Yadav (Madhubani), R.K. Singh (Ara) and Ashwani Kumar Choubey (Buxar).

Advani, credited with building the BJP since it was left with just two Lok Sabha seats in 1984, has been mostly sidelined since Modi took charge of the party’s campaign committee and, later, the government.

But those affected by Modi’s style of functioning continue to look upon him as their mentor.

There was no formal reaction from the party to the old guard, who enjoyed senior posts before Modi took the national stage.

But BJP spokesman Nalin Kohli told CNN-IBN that a review of the Bihar result was already on and the party would respond to Advani and others if needed.

(IANS)

New twist in Sunanda Pushkar death case: FBI rules out radioactive poisoning

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sunanda pushkar

New Delhi: In a new twist in the Sunanda Pushkar death mystery, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has concluded that she did not die from radioactive poisoning.

51-year-old Pushkar, wife of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor was found dead at the Leela Hotel in Delhi in January 2014.

Initially her death was considered as suicide but earlier this year the Delhi Police claimed that Pushkar died of poisoning.

Her viscera samples were sent to the FBI lab in Washington in February this year after a panel of doctors from AIIMS Delhi concluded that the poison could not be detected in Indian labs.

The FBI report said Pushkar did not die due to poisoning by polonium or any other radioactive substance.

Although no one has been named a suspect in the case yet, the Delhi Police had conducted polygraph tests on six people, including Tharoor’s domestic help Narain Singh, driver Bajrangi and family friend Sanjay Dewan, all listed as prime witnesses.

Shashi Tharoor has also been questioned by the police a number of times.

(Agencies)

Anti-Tipu protesters responsible for VHP activist’s death in Madikeri, says CM Siddaramaiah

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KARNATAKA JOINT SESSION

Bengaluru: Strongly justifying the Karnataka government’s decision to celebrate Tipu Jayanti, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah slammed the Sangh Parivar for spreading violence on the day of Diwali in Madikeri and other parts of the state.

He said that staging violent protests against the celebration of the birth anniversary of India’s greatest freedom fighter and the only king who laid down his life in the battle field for the country, is not acceptable.

The CM’s remarks come after the violence unleashed by the Sangh Parivar activists in Madikeri to disrupt Tipu Jayanti claimed the lives of two persons including Kuttappa, a local leader of Vishva Hindu Parishad.

Reacting to the questions on the remarks of BJP leaders, who held chief minister responsible for the death of VHP activist, Mr Siddaramaiah said that those who staged protest and unleashed violence instead of celebrating Diwali are responsible for the death.

“They staged protest and resorted to rioting and violence. They are the lawbreakers. Then, how can they blame me? They are the responsible for the consequences,” he said urging the police to take necessary measures to restore law and order in the Kodagu district.

(Agencies)

BJP concedes defeat in Bihar battle

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(AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

(AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday conceded defeat in the Bihar elections.

“BJP lost only because of alliance arithmetic,” union minister Prakash Javadekar told the media.

BJP vice president Prabhat Jha added: “We failed to understand people’s mind. We will have to change our election strategy.”

(IANS)

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