Archives for April 2023

NEW DELHI: The Congress took strong objection on Tuesdaysaid it is the result of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “clean chit” to the neighbouring country and his “eloquent silence” on Chinese actions at the border.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the country continues to face the consequences of Modi’s clean chit to China.

“For the third time, China has dared to rename our areas in Arunachal Pradesh. April 21, 2017 — 6 places, December 30, 2021 — 15 places, April 3, 2023 — 11 places. Arunachal Pradesh is and will remain an integral part of India. After Galwan, the country is facing the consequences of Modiji’s clean chit to China,” Kharge said in a tweet in Hindi.

This comes after China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs came up with the names of 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh, which it referred to as “Zangnan, the southern part of Tibet.”

All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Jairam Ramesh said a top Chinese diplomat has recently claimed that the India-China border situation is now “stable”.

“But China’s provocations and transgressions continue. It has now released a third set of Chinese names for places in Arunachal Pradesh, having done so earlier in 2017 and 2021. This is the price we continue to pay for PM Modi’s clean chit to China in June 2020 and his eloquent silence on Chinese actions,” Ramesh said in a statement.

He said almost three years later, Chinese forces continue to deny Indian patrolling teams access to the strategic Depsang plains to which they previously had unimpeded access.

“And now the Chinese are attempting to undermine the status quo in Arunachal Pradesh. Arunachal Pradesh has always been and remains an integral and unalienable part of India. The people of Arunachal Pradesh are proud and patriotic citizens of India. There should be no doubt whatsoever on the collective resolve of India, and of all Indians, to ensure that these realities are not disturbed in any way,” the Congress leader said.

China released names of 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh in Chinese characters, Tibetan and Pinyin according to the rules on geographical names issued by the State Council, China’s cabinet.

The ministry announced the names of 11 places on Sunday and also gave precise coordinates, including two residential areas, five mountain peaks, two rivers, and two other areas. China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs also listed the category of places’ names and their subordinate administrative districts, as per the news report.

According to a Global Times report, this is the third batch of geographical names announced by the ministry in Arunachal Pradesh. As per the news report, the first batch of the standardized names of six places was issued in 2017, and the second batch of 15 places was released in 2021.

Earlier, in December last year, the Indian government said that it has seen reports of China attempting to rename some places in Arunachal Pradesh “in its own language” and asserted that the border state has been and will always be an integral part of India.” 

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:  At a time when uncertainty looms large over Shashi Tharoor’s candidature in the next elections, his personal staff members clashed with party workers, including its district secretary, outside the venue of Congress’ poll preparatory meeting for the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency. 

District Congress secretary Thampanoor Satheesh said Tharoor’s personal staff, including Praveen Ram, unleashed expletives and heckled him at the District Congress Committee (DCC) office where the meeting, attended by Tharoor, was underway.

The meeting was held under the aegis of former Pathanamthitta district chief P Mohanraj, who is currently in charge of election preparations in the Thiruvananthapuram LS constituency. When Tharoor arrived for the meeting, Satheesh urged Mohanraj not to allow the MP’s personal staff inside the meeting hall. Mohanraj conveyed the matter to Tharoor. Later, the personal staff exited the hall, apparently after Tharoor sent them a message over the mobile, to leave.

Satheesh told TNIE that he had to leave the meeting earlier due to the death of his neighbour. “When I got out of office, five to six persons belonging to Tharoor’s personal staff came and unleashed expletives on me,” he said. 

“They also heckled me. On hearing the commotion, DCC leaders came out. Following the intervention of senior leaders, Tharoor managed to get into the car and left,” said Satheesh. “It was these personal staff, headed by Praveen Ram, who had always been preventing Tharoor from meeting local Congress leaders. I have been working for Tharoor’s victory for the past 14 years,” said Satheesh.

He said he will complain to state Congress president K Sudhakaran on Monday. Satheesh added that he will decide whether to move legally, depending on the outcome of his complaint. However, Praveen Ram did not respond to TNIE’s repeated calls.

The meeting on election preparations in the seven assembly segments under the Thiruvananthapuram LS constituency were being held over the past two days. On Sunday, local Congress workers from the Kazhakootam assembly segment expressed their displeasure to Tharoor when he left the meeting early.

Their grievance was mainly against Tharoor’s absence in his constituency during the 2020 local body election, pandemic time and Bharat Jodo Yatra. A local Congress leader told TNIE that Tharoor assured the agitated leaders that he would discuss the issues later.

An explosion tore through a cafe in Russia’s second-largest city Sunday, killing a prominent military blogger who had supported the fighting in Ukraine and was speaking at a patriotic discussion event

Russian news reports said blogger Vladlen Tatarsky was killed in the explosion at the Street Food Bar No. 1 cafe in St. Petersburg. Twenty-five people were wounded, and 19 of them were hospitalized, according to the regional governor, Alexander Beglov.

Russia media and military bloggers said Tatarsky was meeting with members of the public and that a woman presented him with a box containing a statuette that apparently exploded. A patriotic Russian group that organized the event said it had taken security precautions, but added that “regrettably, they proved insufficient.”

The reports did not mention any claim of responsibility. The Interior Ministry said everyone at the cafe at the time of the blast was being “checked for involvement.”

Since the fighting in Ukraine began on Feb. 24, 2022, various fires, explosions and apparent assassinations have occurred in Russia without any clear connection to the conflict.

Tatarsky had filed regular reports from Ukraine. Tatarsky is the pen name for Maxim Fomin who had accumulated more than 560,000 followers on his Telegram messaging app channel. He was known for his blustery pronouncements and ardent pro-war rhetoric.

After the Kremlin’s annexation of four regions of Ukraine last year, Tatarsky posted a video in which he vowed: “That’s it. We’ll defeat everybody, kill everybody, rob everybody we need to. It will all be the way we like it. God be with you.”

Many countries have condemned the annexation as illegal.

A top Ukrainian government official speculated that internal Russian opposition to the Kremlin’s invasion was behind the blast.

“Spiders are eating each other in a jar,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote in English on Twitter. “Question of when domestic terrorism would become an instrument of internal political fight was a matter of time.”

Last August, Darya Dugina, a 29-year-old commentator with a nationalist Russian TV channel, died when a remotely controlled explosive device planted in her SUV blew up as she was driving on the outskirts of Moscow. She and her father — a philosopher, writer and political theorist — strongly supported Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to send troops into Ukraine.

Russian authorities blamed Ukraine for the attack, but Kyiv denied involvement.

KOLKATA: Fresh violence broke out between two communities in the Hooghly district on Sunday evening during a Ram Navami procession. BJP national vice president Dilip Ghosh and several MLAs were part of the procession.

The trouble started when the procession was passing in front of a place of worship belonging to a particular community.

BJP MLA from Pursura (Hooghly), Biman Ghosh and two other party functionaries were injured along with several others when stones were pelted during the clash. Ghosh was taken out of the area by the personnel of the central reserve police force, who was in charge of his security.

“During the course of the peaceful procession, stones were pelted from a particular place. Instead of taking action against the attackers, the police dispersed us. Tear gas shells were lobbed to bring the situation under control,’’ said Ghosh.

The incident took place in Hooghly’s Rishra under the Serampore sub-division. A large contingent of police personnel, led by the commissioner of police Amit Javalgi, rushed to the area. Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel have been deployed in the area to bring the situation under control. Several shops were vandalised and some cycle vans were set ablaze in the violence.

Reacting to the incident, West Bengal governor C. V. Ananda Bose said, “The lawbreakers will soon realise that they are playing with fire. Police personnel rushed to the spot. We are determined to put an end to this arson. The culprits will be booked and put behind the bars tonight itself.”

Tension prevailed in Howrah’s Shibpur last Thursday following a clash between the same two communities during a Ram Navami procession. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee hit out the BJP alleging the conspiracy behind the violence in Howrah was hatched a month ago and the procession took a route that was not permitted to them.

“In Rishra, stones were pelted at women and children during the procession. The state government is taking no action even after the Howrah violence. Several vehicles were vandalised in the attack,’’ said Ghosh.

BJP leader Amit Malviya claimed that the violence in Hooghly, following the unrest in Howrah, is a result of chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s approval. “After Howrah, Serampore is burning. This has Mamata Banerjee’s approval,’’ Malviya tweeted.

BJP’s West Bengal president Sukanta Majumdar wrote to Union Home minister Amit Shah on Sunday alleging the situation in the state is going out of control. ‘’The chief minister has failed to control the situation. The state needs the Centre’s intervention,’’ Majumdar alleged in her letter to Shah.

Following the violence in Howrah, Shah called the Bengal governor and inquired about the law and order situation.

The TMC, however, accused the BJP for the violence. “The violence was a fallout of the BJP’s provocation. When the Ram Navami occasion was over three days ago, what is the point of taking out a procession on the occasion,’’ said TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh.

BENGALURU:  The Congress Central Election Committee (CEC) that meets in New Delhi on Tuesday is likely to release the party’s second list of candidates for the May 10 Karnataka Assembly polls ahead of former All-India Congress Committee (AICC) president Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Kolar on April 9. State Congress leaders are expected to camp in Delhi from Monday evening itself to get a ticket for themselves or for their aides.  

The Congress has already released the names of 124 candidates, including Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah who will fight from Varuna. The issue of Siddaramaiah contesting from a second seat — Kolar — and candidates for key seats, including Channapatna where there are rumours of former minister CP Yogeshwar quitting BJP to Congress, will be discussed at the meeting, informed sources told The New Indian Express.  

The party is likely to decide on its candidates for KR Pet, Yeshwantpur and KR Puram segments. The Congress has kept these seats vacant expecting that ministers KC Narayana Gowda, ST Somashekar and Byrathi Basavaraj will join the party ahead of the polls. “I will not talk about it… let their party decide,”

KPCC president DK Shivakumar said when asked about some ministers from the Bommai Cabinet joining the Congress. On chances of Siddaramaiah being fielded from two seats,  Shivakumar said the high command will take a call. He reiterated that despite many ticket aspirants, there was no confusion in the party.

“There is internal bickering in the BJP. That is the reason for them not releasing their candidate list. JDS too has a similar problem as many of its leaders have joined the Congress. The people will reject the BJP in the May 10 election,” he said.

According to sources, the Congress has finalised the second list except for 35 seats where there are two aspirants — one from the Siddaramaiah camp and the other from the Shivakumar camp. But for the remaining 65 seats, consensus candidates have already been decided.

Will Akhanda contest from  Pulikeshi Nagar? 
As Pulikeshi Nagar MLA R Akhanda Srinivas Murthy’s name did not figure in the Congress’ first list, there was speculation about him missing the bus even in the second list. Following this, his sympathisers, including former ministers Krishna Byregowda, Zameer Ahmed Khan and Dinesh Gundurao and Shivajinagar MLA Rizwan Arshad, called on Siddaramaiah along with Akhanda on Sunday.  Akhanda Srinivas Murthy’s name was not announced at first as minorities had expressed concern over his candidature after the 2020 DJ Halli riots, sources added.

NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned in the pre-lunch session on Monday as MPs from the Congress and other opposition parties created a ruckus, demanding a Joint Parliamentary Probe into charges against the Adani Group.

Congress MPs came dressed in black clothes while TMC members sported black face masks.

They and other opposition MPs began shouting slogans as Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar called for laying of the listed official papers on the table of the House at the start of day’s proceedings.

No sooner had the papers been laid than Dhankhar adjourned the proceedings till 2 pm.

The opposition MPs wore black, considered as a mark of protest, to oppose the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha.

“Modi-Adani bhai-bhai,” they shouted, targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The MPs also raised slogans demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into allegations of corporate fraud and stock price manipulations against the Adani Group.

The Adani Group has denied all the charges.

Lok Sabha adjourned till 2 pm

Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned till 2 pm on Monday after obituary references to sitting MP Girish Bapat and former MP Innocent who passed away recently.

Bapat, who was a sitting BJP MP from Pune, passed away on March 29 while Innocent, a former independent MP from Chalakudy constituency in Thrissur, passed away on March 26.

Lok Sabha now adjourns for a few hours as mark of respect for a sitting member who has passed away.

Earlier, the House used to adjourn for the day after paying obituary to a sitting member who has passed away.