Archives for March 2017

Bengaluru: JDS is still uncertain whether to field its candidates to the by-elections scheduled to be held for Nanjangud and Gundlupet assembly constituencies as BJP and Congress are moving forward for neck to neck fight in the two constituencies. At present JDS doesn’t has a powerful candidate(s) to field them in the two constituencies. Also the term of the winning candidate is only limited for one year. Theretofore both JDS National President HD Deve Gowda and State President HD Kumaraswamy has decided not to field candidate for by-elections.

However, JDS Party workers are pressuring the party leaders to field party candidates to contest in the by-elections. Therefore, JDS leaders, HD Kumaraswamy and HD Deve Gowda have decided to take decision on the matter in a party legislature meeting which is expected to be held in Bengaluru on March 15. Based on the opinions of the party workers and other leaders JDS would decide weather party needs to field its candidate or not.

(Agencies)

Panaji: BJP leader Manohar Parrikar will be sworn in as chief minister of Goa Tuesday.

“I have tendered my resignation as Defence Minister and have sent it to the PMO. I will be taking the oath (as Goa chief minister) tomorrow evening, along with the cabinet ministers,” Parrikar told PTI today.

Asked how many ministers would be sworn in, Parrikar said, “The decision on the number of ministers and other issues are being currently worked out. Once the cabinet is finalised, we will inform the media.”

Goa Governor Mridula Sinha has invited Parrikar to form the next government in the coastal state after he submitted a letter of support from 21 legislators yesterday.

Three MLAs from the Goa Forward Party, three from the MGP and two Independents have pledged their support to Parrikar.

The BJP, which came second by winning 13 seats in the 40-member assembly after the Congress (17 seats), managed to garner support from other parties and Independents to attain majority under Parrikar.

(PTI)

Panaji: A group of Congress legislators in Goa were “upset” and blamed the party’s top leadership for the failure to form the government in the coastal state despite emerging as the single largest party in the assembly polls.

“I am very upset with the way our party leaders handled the situation after the (Goa Assembly poll) results, which gave us the first right — as the single largest party — to form the government. I feel let down at the functioning of the party leaders who could not take a decision at the right time,” Vishwajit Rane, who won from the Valpoi constituency, told PTI today.

He said that “gross mismanagement” by party leaders and the “delay” in choosing the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader hurt them. The Congress won 17 seats in Goa, only four short of the magic figure to form the government. Soon after the results threw up a hung assembly, Independent candidate Rohan Khaunte had extended support to the party.

Also, informal talks were on with three legislators of the Goa Forward Party on Saturday, before the BJP stole the march on its rival after it could not muster the numbers to capture power.

Congress’ lone woman legislator Jeniffer Monserratte representing Taleigao constituency said, “Our party leaders are to be blamed for the failure to form the government.” “People had given us the mandate but party leaders failed to respect it. It is entirely their fault,” she said.

Similarly, senior leader and Curtorim legislator Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco said that the people wanted the Congress to form the government but party leaders miserably failed to honour the verdict.

“Why should we blame someone for forming the government, when we failed in our responsibility? We were 17 in number,” Lourenco said. “People wanted us to form the government and hence, they had rejected the BJP. But we failed to give people their government,” he added.

All India Congress Committee General Secretary and in-charge of party affairs in Goa Digvijaya Singh said he would speak to the Congress legislators who have expressed resentment.

“Let us see. I will talk to them. I will find out,” Singh said today. Yesterday, despite being a runner-up behind the Congress, the BJP, which bagged 13 seats, pulled off a coup and staked the claim to form the next government in Goa in coalition with local outfits and Independents under Manohar Parrikar.

As the saffron party outmanoeuvred the Congress in its bid to power, Singh had accused Parrikar of indulging in “horse trading and hijacking the popular mandate which was in favour of the Congress”.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: The restrictions placed on cash withdrawals from bank accounts after Centre’s demonetisation drive on November 8, 2016 was completely removed today.

The Reserve Bank of India had announced last month that the all caps on cash withdrawals would end on March 13.

The limits were imposed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the decision to scrap 86 per cent of total currency in Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, around Rs 15.44 lakh crore, on November 8, creating huge cash crunch across the country.

The limits were gradually eased to Rs. 50,000 per week on February 20.

“Effective March 13, 2017, there will be no limits on cash withdrawals from Savings Bank accounts,” the RBI had said in a notification on February 8.

The RBI had already removed restrictions on cash withdrawals from Current accounts on January 31, 2017.

The central bank is yet to provide final figure on how much of the demonetised currency has been deposited in banks after demonetisation was announced.

Last month, the apex bank said it was yet to collect all the data.

It said that all the centres of the RBI are yet to send the data on old notes and NABARD has also not provided with the data on deposits in cooperative banks. The data on notes in circulation in Bhutan and Nepal is also not been collected, the RBI said.

Along with all these data and deposits made by NRIs after December 30, 2016 deadline will it be able to tell how much old notes are back in banks, the RBI said.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was today given the additional charge of the Defence Ministry after Manohar Parrikar resigned to take on the new role of Goa Chief Minister.

A Rashtrapati Bhawan communique said that the resignation of Parrikar as the Defence Minister, on advice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been accepted with immediate effect.

“Further, as advised by the Prime Minister, the President has directed that Arun Jaitely, Cabinet Minister, shall be assigned the charge of the Ministry of Defence, in addition to his existing portfolios,” the communique said.

Parrikar submitted his resignation after BJP staked claim to form an alliance government in Goa.

He will be sworn in as the Chief Minister of Goa tomorrow heading the BJP-led ministry which has the support of regional outfits and Independents.

This is the second time that Jaitley is holding the additional portfolio of Defence Ministry during the present NDA government.

He was incharge of the ministry earlier from May 26 to November 9 in 2014.

(Agencies)

Islamabad: Pakistan has summoned India’s Deputy High Commissioner to express its concern over the acquittal of right-wing activist Swami Aseemanand – an accused in the Samjhauta train blasts case – in a case of terrorism.

In a late night statement, the Foreign Office said Indian Deputy High Commissioner J P Singh was called in by the Director General (South Asia & SAARC) on Friday “to express concern over acquittal of Swami Aseemanand in Ajmer Sharif blast case.”

“Swami Aseemanand had publicly confessed that he was the ‘mastermind’ of Samjhauta Express terrorist attack of February 2007 and had also identified a serving Indian army officer Col Purohit, who was head of terrorist organisation Abhinav Bharat, as his accomplice in the Samjhauta Express terrorist attack,” it said.

A total of 68 people were killed in the blasts in two coaches of Samjhauta Express in Panipat on February 18, 2007.

The statement said that 42 Pakistani citizens had lost their lives in the Samjhauta train blasts.

“The Government of Pakistan expects India to take steps to bring to justice all those involved in the heinous act of Samjhauta Express terrorist attack,” it said.

On Thursday, Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria had asked India to bring the perpetrators of the Samjhauta train blasts to justice and termed the acquittal of Aseemanand in the 2007 Ajmer blast case as “regrettable”.

Aseemanand is an accused in the Samjhauta blast case.

“What we have noted is that over the last few years they had been exonerating people involved in the Samjhauta Express terrorist attack,” Zakaria had said.

“We have been pursuing the case of Samjhauta Express with the Indian government and we hope that they will share the findings/investigations collected so far in the case with us and perpetrators will be brought to justice,” he had said.

A member of right-wing Hindu group Abhinav Bharat, Assemanand has been in jail since December 2010. He was also named as an accused in Hyderabad Mecca Masjid blast case.

(PTI)

New Delhi: The AAP today said it is disappointed with its performance in Punjab and Goa and will introspect on the reasons behind it.

As per the counting trends, the party was not doing well in Punjab, where it was seen as an alternative to the Akalis and the Congress, and Goa, where it hoped to put up a spirited fight.

“We are disappointed with the results. We will introspect on the reasons behind the (poor) performance,” senior AAP leader Ashutosh said.

AAP leader and Delhi minister Kapil Mishra said the party had not expected such results in Punjab and Goa.

“This was not expected and it its the time to review,” Mishra said.

He, however, added that the party has made its impact felt at the national stage.

As the counting of votes started in the morning, Atishi Marlena, Ashutosh and other senior party leaders went to Kejriwal’s residence.

The party had put tri-colour balloons on the Flag Staff Road, the lane that houses the Chief Minister’s official bungalow, and installed LED screens to show live results.

Party workers had gathered outside Kejriwal’s residence, but as the trends indicated that party is not winning any of the two states, the crowd started ebbing.

The party had put all its might and resources in Punjab and Goa. Kejriwal had himself addressed over 95 rallies in Punjab over the past few months.

(Agencies)

Lucknow: BSP chief Mayawati, whose party received a major drubbing in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, today alleged that the EVMs were tampered with in such a way that whichever button was pressed, the vote went to BJP.

Terming the results as “shocking”, she said the Election Commission should stop the counting and withhold results and hold fresh polls using traditional paper ballots.

As results and trends went in favour of the BJP in a big way, she called a press conference in a hurried manner and dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah to ask the poll panel to hold fresh elections in the state “if they have an iota of morality and honesty left in them”.

Mayawati said this trend will have a “very bad bearing” on democracy in the country and will amount to crushing it. “The results in UP and Uttarakhand are surprising and not palatable to anyone…it seems EVMs did not accept votes polled for any party other than BJP,” she said.

“It is a matter of common discussion here that even if button is pressed for any other party, vote will be polled in favour of BJP,” Mayawati said.

The BSP chief claimed that a similar complaint was made by her partymen in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls but she had preferred to stay silent thinking it was Modi wave and anti-Congress sentiment.

She said it was “unacceptable” that the BJP was winning even in Muslim-dominated areas. “Muslims constitute 20 per cent votes in the state and the BJP did not give a single ticket to Muslims…but in Muslim- dominated seats also the results went in the BJP’s favour and this is unpalatable to the party,” she said.

The BSP chief said that she has written a letter to the Election Commission in this regard and demanded that the declaration of results should be immediately stopped and fresh polls be held in the state using paper ballots after an impartial inquiry into the EVMs.

Issuing an open warning to the BJP, Mayawati said they need not be happy that they got a majority as they have “killed democracy and this is betrayal of democracy”.

(PTI)