Archives for 2019

Srinagar: Normal life remained affected in Kashmir for the 83rd consecutive day on Saturday as the main markets were shut and public transport was off the roads, officials said.

Some shops opened for a few hours early in the morning in some areas, including in the commercial hub of Lal Chowk in the city here, but downed their shutters around 11 am, they added.

These shops witnessed a huge rush of customers and the increased number of private vehicles led to traffic snarls at several places in the city centre and the adjoining areas, the officials said.

However, the main markets and other business establishments remained shut across the valley, they added. Autorickshaws and a few inter-district cabs were plying in a few areas of the valley, but other modes of public transport were off the roads, the officials said.

Internet services — across all platforms — continued to be snapped across the valley since the night of 4 August — hours before the Centre announced its decision to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution, which gave a special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcate the state into two Union territories.

The internet services were snapped, along with mobile and landline telephone services. While landline services were restored gradually first, postpaid mobile services were restored only last week. Pre-paid services continue to remain barred.

Most of the top-level and second-rung separatist politicians have been taken into preventive custody, while mainstream leaders, including two former chief ministers — Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti — have either been detained or placed under house arrest.

Another former chief minister and the Lok Sabha MP from Srinagar, Farooq Abdullah, has been arrested under the controversial Public Safety Act, a law enacted by his father and National Conference (NC) founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in 1978 when he was the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

Bhubaneswar: A general manager of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Guwahati branch allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself at a hotel in Odisha’s Jajpur, the police said on Friday.

The incident occurred at Chandikhola on Friday morning. The dead man has been identified as Asish Ranjan Samal, a resident of Naraharipur village in Jajpur district.

The man had come to his native village on Thursday to meet his mother. Thereafter, he went to Bhubaneswar to meet his wife, a doctor at the Kalinga Institute of Medical Science (KIIMS), and son, a 12th standard student.

The police said that Mr Samal had checked into the hotel on Thursday afternoon. On Friday morning, when the hotel staff knocked at the door of the room, he did not answer following which the hotel staff called the police. The police found him hanging from the ceiling fan of the room.

The identity of the dead man was ascertained by the documents provided by Mr Samal at the time of check-in, said the Inspector-In-Charge of Badachana police station, Deepak Kumar Jena.

Jaipur: BJP ally Hanuman Beniwal alleged on Friday that former chief minister Vasundhara Raje has helped the Congress candidate in Khisnwar bypoll, a day after his brother won the assembly seat by a slender margin.

Beniwal, convenor of the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party and the MP from Nagaur, also accused former state minister Yunus Khan of aiding the Congress in the bypoll, in a tweet tagging BJP chief Amit Shah, working president JP Nadda and state chief Satish Poonia.

He also tagged Raje in the tweet, demanding strong action against the two BJP leaders. His brother Narayan Beniwal was the BJP-RLP alliance candidate and defeated Congress’s Harendra Mirdha.

Beniwal further alleged that Raje and Khan had also helped the Congress candidate in the Nagaur seat during the Lok Sabha polls when the RLP and the BJP fought the election in alliance.

New Delhi, Oct 25: BJP vice president Uma Bharti on Friday asked the party not to forget its “moral mission” and suggested that it should not seek support from controversial Independent MLA Gopal Kanda, who is accused of abetting suicides of a woman and her mother, to form government in Haryana.

In her tweets, Bharti, also a former union minister, said she will request the BJP not to forget its moral mission and ensure that it gets support from people who are as “clean” as its own workers are.

Whether Kanda is a criminal or innocent will be decided by court but he cannot be absolved of his crime because he has won an election, Bharti, once a firebrand Hindutva leader, said.

“We must form government in Haryana but we should ensure that we have support from people (MLAs) who are as clean as BJP workers are,” she said.

In 2012, a former air hostess, who was employed with Kanda’s company, had committed suicide, accusing him of harassment.

Police, during its investigation, accused him of raping her and also charged him with abetment to her suicide. Her mother also later ended her life. Kanda was booked for abetting her suicide too.

The matter is in court now.

Wary of adverse publicity, senior BJP leaders have made it a point to not be seen with Kanda, who has announced his support to the party as it works to cobble together the support of a majority of MLAs to form the government in Haryana.

Asked about the simmering row over the issue, BJP general secretary Anil Jain said the party is aware of the matter and will take a call on this.

Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP Working President JP Nadda, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar during a press conference in New Delhi

New Delhi, Oct 25: The BJP is all set to form a new government in Haryana after clinching an alliance with the Jannayak Janata Party, which won 10 seats in the 90-member assembly, by giving it the post of deputy chief minister.

BJP president Amit Shah announced at a press conference, held with JJP leader Dushyant Chautala, that the chief minister will be from his party and the deputy chief minister from the regional party.

Incumbent Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is likely to be elected the BJP legislative party leader at a meeting in Chandigarh on Saturday and will then stake claim before the governor to form the government. Chautala is likely to be his deputy, sources said.

“Going by the mandate of the voters of Haryana, leaders of both parties have decided that BJP and JJP will form the government together. The chief minister will be from the BJP and deputy chief minister will be from the JJP,” Shah told reporters.

The alliance is in line with the “spirit” of people’s mandate, he added.

Shah and Chautala were also joined by Khattar and other BJP leaders at the press conference.

Chautala said his party believed the alliance was necessary for stability in Haryana.

Khattar said both the parties had worked together in the past.

Sources said Shah had spoken to Chautala even before the results were out, following inputs that the BJP might not get a majority on its own.

Top BJP leaders moved swiftly since Thursday night to cobble together a majority in Haryana after the party’s tally fell to 40 in the state, six short of the majority mark. Most of the seven independent MLAs have also pledged their support to the party.

Majority of the independent MLAs are BJP rebels and several of them have given their letters of support to Khattar during a meeting at the residence of the party’s working president, JP Nadda, in the national capital.

The saffron party faced flak after controversial MLA Gopal Kanda, an accused in two abetment-to-suicide cases, announced his support to its bid to form the government in Haryana.

Senior BJP leader Uma Bharti appealed to her party not to forget its moral goals, a suggestion that it should not be seeking Kanda’s support for forming government.

Apparently on the defensive, senior BJP leaders ensured that they were not seen with Kanda even as other Independent MLAs were seen moving in and out of Nadda’s residence after announcing their support to the saffron party.

BJP’s Haryana in-charge Anil Jain said the party’s top brass would take a call on the controversial MLA’s support.

BJP leaders are also confident of lone Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) MLA Abhay Chautala’s support to its government.

Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman and BJP general secretary Arun Singh will attend Saturday’s legislative party meeting as central observers, Jain said.

Modi and Merkel are also expected to deliberate on key regional and global issues including the situation in Afghanistan, West Asia and the Korean peninsula.

NEW DELHI: German Chancellor Angela Merkel will pay a three-day visit to India beginning October 31 with an aim to further broad base strategic ties in an array of key areas including defence and security.

Official sources said Merkel and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in their wide-ranging talks, will particularly focus on giving new momentum to the bilateral ties by significantly scaling up cooperation in several sectors.

During her visit from October 31 to November 2, Merkel will also meet top executives of major Indian companies which are active in Germany.

The two sides are likely to explore ways to further ramping up ties in areas of defence, security, renewable energy, high technology, skill development, railways, education, water and waste management and urban development, sources said.

Modi and Merkel are also expected to deliberate on key regional and global issues including the situation in Afghanistan, West Asia and the Korean peninsula.

In June, Modi and Merkel met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in the Japanese city of Osaka and discussed ways to enhance cooperation in areas like artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.

India and Germany have been strategic partners since 2001.

Both the countries have a mechanism of intergovernmental consultations at the level of head of governments which allows for a comprehensive review of cooperation and identification of fresh areas of engagement.

India is among a select group of countries with which Germany has such a dialogue mechanism.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier paid a state visit to India in March 2018. Merkel visited India in 2007, 2011 and in October 2015.

The bilateral cooperation is on an upswing in the last few years.

Germany is India’s largest trading partner in Europe and India was ranked 25th in Germany’s global trade during 2018.

Germany is the seventh-largest foreign direct investor in India since April 2000.

Germany’s total FDI in India from April 2000 until March 2019 amounted to USD 11.7 billion.

A fast-track system to facilitate hassle-free regulatory clearances for German companies has been operating in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) since March 2016.

The state govt had issued a notification regarding the municipal elections, which stated that any person can be made the mayor without contesting elections.

JAIPUR: After strong objection by deputy CM Sachin Pilot, dispute of the Hybrid formula being implemented in local body elections in Rajasthan has now reached the Interim President of Congress, Sonia Gandhi. It is felt that the decision of making the mayor without contesting elections may have to be withdrawn by the state government. 

Sources say, Sonia Gandhi has asked the organization General secretary, K. C. Venugopal to look into the matter. Venugopal has sought full report of the case from the party’s Rajasthan in-charge, Avinash Pandey.

Pandey has asked UDH Minister Shanti Dhariwal to resolve the dispute with immediate effect by meeting CM Ashok Gehlot and Deputy CM Sachin Pilot. He has also asked that the objectionable provisions made for the mayor election should also be removed so that the image of Congress is not spoilt in the country.

The state government had earlier issued a notification regarding the municipal elections to be held in November, which stated that any person can be made the mayor without contesting elections.

This notification was issued without discussion in the cabinet, which was opposed by cabinet Ministers, Ramesh Meena and Pratap Singh Khachariawas. The very next day, Deputy CM Sachin Pilot not only objected to the issuance of such notification but even said that such a decision would increase horse-trading.

“The decision that a mayor can be selected without winning the election, is against the original spirit of the 73rd and 74th amendment of the constitutional and also against the thought of Rajiv Gandhi. Rajiv Gandhi had said that public participation in local elections should increase. But this decision will increase cross-voting and horse-trading to become the mayor in the state,” said Pilot at Bayana Railway station on Tuesday.

The issue has divided the Government into two camps with Party President and Deputy CM, Sachin Pilot and two of the ministers close to him on one side and CM Ashok Gehlot’s camp led by UDH minister Shanti Dhariwal, strongly defending the decision on the other side.

State in-charge, Avinash Pandey said, “I have asked the UDH minister to settle this dispute. For this, he met the CM and the Deputy CM. The High Command has instructed me to tell him that if there is any objectionable provision, it should be removed.”

 After that, on Tuesday, Congress in-charge Avinash Pandey met K.C. Venugopal for a consultation. There was a discussion between the two on the controversy for about an hour. It is now believed that Avinash Pandey can meet Sonia Gandhi with the report very soon. Earlier on Monday, Cabinet Minister, Ramesh Meena met Organization General Secretary Venugopal and gave him feedback on this issue.