Archives for September 2021

New Delhi: Former Student Leader Kanhaiya Kumar and Independent Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani might soon join the Indian National Congress.

Mevani – a Dalit leader who represents the Vadgam constituency – could be made a Working President of the party’s state unit, sources added.

Kumar – earlier President of the Jawaharlal Nehru University’s students’ union and now with the CPM – is expected to bring a few other Left leaders with him when he jumps to the Congress.

Congress sources have said Kumar has already met Rahul Gandhi – twice in two weeks – and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra – to discuss his future role in the party.

Bengaluru: A suspected spy from Rajasthan who was allegedly sharing photographs and details of vital installations in Bengaluru with his handlers in Pakistani intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), has been arrested, police said.

Jitender Singh was was taken into custody from Jolly Mohalla in Cottonpet in the city on Sunday in a joint operation by the Southern Command Military Intelligence, Bengaluru and the Central Crime Branch of Bengaluru, police sources said.

The suspect, who hails from Barmer, Rajasthan, worked as a garment seller in Bengaluru, they added.

“He was in communication with his Pakistan-based handlers (ISI). He used to text them, make audio and video calls to them. He had shared photos and details of the vital installations and carried out reconnaissance of army posts near international border and in Bengaluru at the behest his masters across the border,” they said.

Police found a Captain’s uniform in his possession, which he used for impersonating himself as an Army officer to carry out these tasks, the police.

According to them, he had provided photographs of Barmer military station and reported movement of military vehicles from that area to his handlers across the border.

Mangaluru: In an incident of robbery that reportedly came to light on Monday morning, temple assets were stolen by thieves who broke into the Annappa Temple in the Mastikatte Kumeru Pandangara Pumaale Bhagawati Kshetra on Sunday night.

The thieves reportedly broke open the door to the sanctum sanctorum of Kumeru Pandangara Pumaale Bhagawati Kshetra’s Annappa deity who is the family idol of the Mastikatte’s Theeya Community and stole the mask on the idol.

A local man who noticed the theft reportedly informed the chief priest of the temple, who later registered a complaint with the Ullal police.

A case has been registered at the Ullal police station in this regard and the police are investigating the matter.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday congratulated Charanjit Singh Channi on being sworn in as Punjab chief minister, and said the Centre will continue to work with his government for the betterment of the people of the state.

Congress leader Channi was sworn in as chief minister of Punjab, making him the first Dalit to hold the top post in the state.

Modi tweeted, “Congratulations to Shri Charanjit Singh Channi Ji on being sworn in as Punjab’s Chief Minister. Will continue to work with the Punjab government for the betterment of the people of Punjab

Amaravati: The ruling YSR Congress made a clean sweep of the mandal and zilla parishads elections in Andhra Pradesh, routing the opposition Telugu Desam Party in almost all of the 13 districts.

Till 7.30 PM on Sunday, the YSRC bagged 385 out of 515 zilla parishad territorial constituencies and 5,565 of the 7,221 mandal parishad territorial constituencies for which elections were conducted on April 8.

The TDP ‘boycotted’ the elections but technically its candidates remained in the fray as the ballots were printed before the party announced its decision.

The election process for the MPTCs and ZPTCs, the second and the third tiers of the Panchayat Raj system began in March 2020 but the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent legal battles stretched it this far.

There are a total of 659 ZPTCs of which the ruling party bagged 126 unanimously.

It also won 2,271 MPTCs unopposed. The TDP won 100 MPTCs unanimously.

Eleven unanimous winners in ZPTCs and 81 in MPTCs died since March 2020 even before the poll process ended. Elections in eight ZPTCs and 355 MPTCs were withheld for different reasons.

TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu faced humiliation as the YSRC won all the four ZPTC seats in Kuppam Assembly constituency represented by him. Also, the YSRC clinched 17 of the 19 MPTC seats in Kuppam.

In Chandrababu Naidu’s native village Naravaripalli, too, the ruling party won the MPTC seat by a margin of 1,000 votes.

In Chittoor district, the TDP chief’s native, the YSRC clinched all the 33 ZPTCs for which elections were held. It had also won the remaining 32 but two of the winners subsequently died.

Same was the case in SPS Nellore, Anantapuramu, Krishna, Prakasam, Vizianagaram and Kurnool districts where the YSRC held its sway.

Overall, the TDP managed to win only four ZPTC seats out of the total 659 while the CPI(M) managed one so far.

In the MPTCs, the TDP bagged 733, Jana Sena 110, BJP 24, CPI(M) 15 and CPI eight. Interestingly, the Congress managed to win four MPTCs two in Visakhapatnam district and one each in East Godavari and SPS Nellore.

Independents have so far won 145 MPTC seats, according to information released by the Information and Public Relations Department.

Meanwhile, the State Election Commission issued a notification fixing September 24 as the date for the indirect election (by the elected members) of the president and vice-president of the mandal parishads.

The chairperson and vice-chairperson of the zilla parishads will be elected on the September 25.

Jammu: Accusing the BJP of playing politics over the issues of Taliban, Afghanistan and Pakistan to garner votes, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday alleged that the seven-year-rule of the saffron party has brought miseries to the people of the country and left Jammu and Kashmir destroyed.

She claimed that it is not Hindus but the democracy and India which are in danger under the BJP rule, which has undone all the good work of the past 70 years of the Congress and started selling national resources and raising the prices of essentials to fill its coffers to buy or intimidate opposition legislators.

The former chief minister taunted her critics and said the mere mention of Taliban or the party’s vision of self-rule makes her anti-national and triggers debates and discussions even as the focus should have been the ongoing agitation of the farmers, inflation and other issues of public importance.

Jammu and Kashmir is in trouble and so is the entire country they say Hindus are in danger but they are not in danger and in fact it is India and the democracy which are in danger because of them (BJP), Mehbooba said addressing a rally organised by the youth wing of her party here.

Mehbooba reached Jammu late on Saturday after a five-day tour of Poonch and Rajouri districts, facing a small protest by a group of Rashtriya Bajrang Dal activists whose attempt to stop her cavalcade near Dogra chowk in the city was foiled by police.

As the elections in different states come nearer, the BJP will start cashing on the god-given opportunity of Taliban and Afghanistan and if it would not work, they will bring Pakistan and drones into picture, the Peoples Democratic Party chief said.

They will not talk about China which has intruded into Ladakh because they do not get votes by talking about that country. If you want to frighten people, talk about Taliban, Afghanistan and Pakistan and do something here and there and seek votes, she said.

Referring to the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Mehbooba alleged that the BJP’s incumbent state chief minister failed to provide jobs, roads and schools, while as the river Ganga which is considered sacred by the people of the country was made a dumping ground for human corpses because people do not have money to perform the last rites of their relatives.

They do not have anything to sell to the people and therefore they will use Pakistan and J-K to garner votes. They have destroyed J-K and are using sticks to oppress the people who are not allowed to speak openly for their rights, she said.

Mehbooba said the BJP is watching what she is saying to trigger a debate in media.

The farmers’ agitation, growing unemployment, inflation and other issues facing the country should have been the focus of our debates but there is no discussion on these important issues. Since the elections in UP are drawing closer, there will be more discussion on Taliban and Afghanistan, she said.

She alleged that the BJP government is using crores of rupees on the self-projection and taxing people by raising petrol and diesel prices to fill its coffers and use the money to buy MLAs of other parties and use government agencies to intimidate those who reject its offer .

Mehbooba said there are debates on the oppressive measures adopted by the Taliban against women in Afghanistan but nobody is talking about the women of India who are facing rapes and dowry deaths.

I know unemployment is such that we cannot provide jobs to everyone. Mufti had a plan to address this problem but if I name the plan which is self-rule, I will be dubbed as anti-national and it will trigger debates and discussions, she said.

Explaining self-rule, she said Jammu and Kashmir is holding a strategic position and can be a gateway to central Asia if all the cross-border traditional routes are opened and all the neighbouring countries allowed to open bank branches which will generate employment.

Mehbooba said the people of Jammu and Kashmir have lost their hope with the BJP government which smashed the protective shield of the erstwhile state by abrogating Article 370.

She said the Muslim majority state would have never joined India if BJP would have been at the helm during partition.

During our recent meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi, I told him that you have destroyed J-K where nobody is allowed to speak openly. The problem is now the same everywhere in the country, where activists and actors like Sonu Sood who does a wonderful job during lockdown crises are facing enforcement directorate raids, Mehbooba said.

In an apparent reference to the one-day strike call given by Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Jammu for September 22 against alleged attempts to finish local trade by allowing big corporate chains to open their outlets, she said this is the fallout of the abrogation of Article 370 and the people of Jammu have understood it.