THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor is set to become the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers. Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi proposed the name of Tharoor for the post. Curiously the party leadership has proposed Tharoor as chairman of a Parliamentary panel at a time when the diplomat-turned-politician is set to take on Sonia Gandhi’s confidante Mallikarjun Kharge in the party presidential election.

Sources said that when the panel post fell vacant, Sonia had checked with party senior leaders including Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, on whether Tharoor would be willing to take up the same. The leaders in turn consulted Tharoor and confirmed that he had no qualms in this regard. Tharoor was recently removed by the Union Government as chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT.

The chairmanship of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers is among the very few panels allotted to the Congress party. Senior leader Jairam Ramesh will continue as chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology. Another senior leader Abhishek Singhvi will continue as the chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Commerce.

Will follow party principles: Kharge
PATNA: Congress presidential poll candidate Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday asserted that the party’s ‘big’ leaders and delegates fielded him in the elections and said that he would carry forward the party’s principles if elected to the post. Kharge reached the state capital to seek the support of Congress delegates and later told newspersons at the state party headquarters, Sadaqat Ashram, that the agenda fixed by Congress leaders in Udaipur this year would be his election manifesto. He said that it was decided to give 50 per cent seats to youths. “I will implement the decisions taken at the Udaipur convention,” he added. ENS

HIRIYUR: She is a doctor who has been staying in New York for the last 20 years. A non-political person, she was motivated to take part in Bharat Jodo Yatra as she felt that the country was losing its peace and tranquility. Dr Sneha Reddy, who hails from Bengaluru, says, “After coming to know about Bharat Jodo Yatra by Rahul Gandhi through the media, I immediately decided to join it. Now, I am walking every day, meeting new people and understanding the country well.”ADVERTISEMENTAds by 

Talking to TNIE while walking along with other yatris, 50-year-old Dr Reddy said, “Even though I stay in far away New York, I keep a close track of what is happening in India, more importantly Karnataka. I found that the peace and tranquility that prevailed in the country was fading away fast and it was heart-wrenching. It was at this point that I decided to walk for the country. I landed in India and started walking from Kanyakumari. I will go till the end and be part of the yatra till Kashmir. Rahul’s Yatra has been received well by the people of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. This will bring a change in society.”

She starts her journey every morning at 6.30 and interacts with people and children who are taking part in the yatra. “I have decided to go to Kashmir. It is to ensure that the country will return to normal. Every day, I walk 20 km. I am non-politic. Participating in the yatra has brought me happiness,” she added.

She said the common man in the country is frustrated and the healthcare system is not up to the mark. The government should provide better care, she added. “My perception about Rahul Gandhi was different, but it changed after I interacted with him. He is a great leader who is fit and fine. He can steer the country towards equality,” she added. Dr Reddy completed her studies in Bengaluru and has been staying in the US for the last 20 years.

DEOGHAR: A minor girl was allegedly gang raped by five people in front of her mother in Jharkhand’s Deoghar district, a police officer said on Monday.

Two persons have been detained in this connection thus far, and a special investigation team (SIT) has been set up by the Deoghar Police to look into the matter, the officer said.

The girl and her mother, residents of Dumka district, were returning home from a function in Deoghar on Sunday when they came under attack in Madhupur area, said Sub-divisional Police Officer B Rout, quoting the FIR filed in the case.

Her mother filed the police complaint on Monday, following which the two were detained.

According to the complaint, five people on two motorcycles waylaid the two of them, and then took her daughter aside by force.

When the mother tried to stop them, she was beaten up and the girl was then raped in front of her, the complaint stated.

Deoghar Superintendent of Police (SP) Subhash Chandra Jat said the girl underwent a medical test, reports of which were awaited.

The police identified the accused and were on the lookout for the other three, he added.

NEW DELHI:  With the demise of its patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, the Samajwadi Party has lost the single unifying force that had kept the ranks and files of the party and the family together except a few rumblings when the feud between his son Akhilesh Yadav and younger brother Shivpal intensified, leading the latter to part ways and float his own outfit. Moreover, with dominant political ambitions, younger daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav too changed the track and joined the saffron bandwagon just ahead of the 2022 Assembly election

Now, Akhilesh has the bigger responsibility of keeping his flock intact while ensuring the restoring party’s pride which it used to enjoy under his father. The demise of ‘Netaji’ has left Yadav exposed to the vagaries of politics with no one around to give fatherly advice when situations will demand.

Life at a glance

The veteran Samajwadi leader was born to Murti Devi and Sughar Singh Yadav on 22 November 1939 in Saifai village, Etawah district, Uttar Pradesh.

He married twice. His first wife was Malti Devi who died in 2003 after a prolonged medical illness. Former Uttar Pradesh CM, Akhilesh Yadav is the only child of Mulayam Singh Yadav from his first wife Malati Devi.

Mulayam in many ways was regarded as a protege of socialist icon Ram Manohar Lohia who played a key role in grooming him

He founded the Samajwadi Party in 1992.

He was elected Member of the Legislative Assembly, Uttar Pradesh 10 times

He was elected member of Lok Sabha on 7 occasions between 1996 and 2019

Netaji served as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the terms from 1989 to 1991, 1993 to 1995, and 2003 to 2007.

He also served as Minister of Defence in the Government of India during 1996-98.

He currently represents the Mainpuri constituency in the Lok Sabha.

He is survived by two sons Akhilesh Yadav and Prateek Yadav

AHMEDABAD: The Border Security Force has apprehended two Pakistani fishermen from a creek area near the India-Pakistan border off the Kutch district coast in Gujarat, the BSF said on Tuesday,

The Air Force Station at Nalia in the district which continuously monitors the situation noticed a movement of six fishing boats along with fishermen in the general area of Harami Nala using an unmanned aerial vehicle at 11.40 am on Monday.

It alerted about the movement to the Bhuj BSF which immediately launched a special operation in the area, the BSF said in a statement.

“The Bhuj BSF immediately launched a special operation in the Harami Nala area spread over 900 sq km. So far, the BSF troops have apprehended two Pakistani fishermen and the operation is in progress,” it said.

The fishermen have been identified as Yasin Sheikh (35) and Mohammad Sheikh (25), both residents of a village near the Zero Point area in Sujawal district of Pakistan, the BSF said.

The BSF had on August 5 apprehended a Pakistani fisherman and seized five boats from the same area.

While Indian fishermen are barred from entering the creek due to security reasons, those from Pakistan many a time enter the Indian waters in search of a better catch.

MUMBAI: The Election Commission has asked the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena to submit the requisite papers by Saturday noon to prove itself as the real Sena. Anil Desai, who belongs to the Thackeray faction, said the party would respond within the stipulated time. The ECI move came following the announcement of a by-election to the Andheri-East seat on November 3

The Uddhav faction had sought 15 days to submit its reply, saying it was yet to receive a copy of the rival group’s claim. However, the ECI refused to grant more time, saying it had given the Uddhav group the required copy of the counter-claim on October 4. According to the ECI, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has claimed the Shiv Sena’s party symbol — bow and arrow — and submitted relevant documents.

The ECI in its letter to Uddhav stated that Chirag Shah, advocate on Shinde’s behalf, had submitted the application under paragraph 18 of Elections Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) order 1968. If Thackeray fails to submit the documents on time, the ECI will take its own decision over this dispute, it said. The Shinde group’s documents to the ECI claim the support of 40 Shiv Sena MLAs out of the total 56, plus 12 Lok Sabha MPs of the party out of 19. It also claims to have 1.66 lakh primary members of the party to justify its claim over the poll symbol.

However, the Uddhav faction has claimed that it has over 70 per cent representative members of the party on its side. As per the Shiv Sena’s constitution, this representative body has a major say in the party’s decision-making. It said out of 260 members, 160 of the representative body are with the Uddhav-led faction. It also claims that over 10 lakh official members of Shiv Sena have given affidavits of their support.

The Shinde group has extended its support to BJP candidate Urji Patel in Andheri East assembly bypoll. However, in its submission with the ECI, it says the group will contest the Andheri East seat, and therefore, will need the party symbol. Thus the Shinde move appears aimed at either freezing the party symbol for the Uddhav-led Sena before the by-election or claim it permanently. In both cases, Uddhav’s candidate for the by-election will have to use a different symbol.

Gulabrao Patil, a Shinde group minister, expressed confidence that the group would get the ‘bow and arrow’ symbol. He said the crowd at the faction’s Dussehra rally proved who the real Shiv Sena is.
“In a democracy the numbers are important and at present, we have the numbers. The ECI cannot ignore the majority support that we have,” Patil said.

Anil Desai, Shiv Sena’s Rajya Sabha member, said as per documents and the party constitution, the Uddhav-led faction is the real Shiv Sena. “We have regularly submitted documents in our support. The ECI can work out of the framework of the constitutional guidelines. The ECI is an independent body so it has to follow the conventions and law,” Desai said.

The Uddhav group has also argued that Shinde left the party voluntarily, so he cannot claim to represent the real  Shiv Sena. “It is unfortunate that Balasaheb Thackeray’s son, who is the president of the party, has to prove that his faction is a real Shiv Sena,” said a party leader.

WASHINGTON: The Indian government has a moral duty to provide energy to its citizens and it will continue to buy oil from wherever it has to, Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said on Friday, asserting that no country has told India to stop buying oil from Russia.

The Russia-Ukraine war has had a far-reaching impact on the global energy system, disrupting supply and demand patterns and fracturing long-standing trading relationships.

It has pushed up energy prices for many consumers and businesses around the world, hurting households, industries and entire economies of several nations.

India’s crude oil imports from Russia have jumped over 50 times since April and now it makes up for 10 per cent of all crude bought from overseas.

Russian oil made up for just 0.2 per cent of all oil imported by India prior to the Ukraine war.

The Western countries are gradually bringing down their energy purchases from Russia following its attack on Ukraine.

“India will buy oil from wherever it has to for the simple reason that this kind of a discussion cannot be taken to the consuming population of India,” Puri told a group of Indian reporters here, adding that the government has a moral duty to provide energy to its people.

Responding to a question, he said India has not been told by anyone to stop buying oil from Russia.

“If you are clear about your policy, which means you believe in energy security and energy affordability, you will buy from wherever you have to purchase energy from sources,” Puri said after his bilateral meeting with US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

During his meeting, Puri “broached the idea” of India-US Green Corridor, which elicited a positive response from his US counterpart.

“The turbulence in the energy markets, and I’m using the word turbulence support carefully, will not allow India’s resolve to transition to green clean and sustainable energy,” he said.

The two countries would now look into broader contours of this ambitious Green Energy Corridor.

India’s import from the US is shooting up and currently buying USD20 billion worth of energy from the United States.

There are discussions on buying more from the United States, he said.

While work on green energy would continue, traditional exploration and production of oil and gas would continue as well, he noted.

The world is also in progress on green hydrogen. India and the US have an advantage which at present is not being realised, he added.

SAN FRANCISCO: “This is the story of our American dream gone wrong,” the grieving wife of an Indian-origin Sikh man killed along with three members of his brother’s family, including an 8-month-old baby, has said

Bodies of 36-year-old Jasdeep Singh, 27-year-old Jasleen Kaur, their eight-month-old child Aroohi Dheri and the baby’s uncle, 39-year-old Amandeep Singh were found on Wednesday evening in an orchard after they were kidnapped on Monday.

The family, originally from Harsi Pind in Hoshiarpur, Punjab, was kidnapped at a business in Merced County, California.

Jaspreet Kaur, Amandeep’s widow, said in a GoFundMe fundraiser that her husband and his brother had been in the United States for 18 years and supported not only their families in California but also their elderly parents back in India.

“This is the story of our shared American dream gone wrong,” she wrote.

“Our loving family was violently taken away from us on October 3rd,” the family’s ‘gofundme’ page said.

Kaur said her husband routinely donated food to the local food bank and never missed Sunday service in the local Sikh temple.

They had a 9-year-old daughter and an 8-year-old son.

The family’s ‘gofundme’ page said the two brothers were “the primary bread earners for the family (and) supported their elderly parents.” Jaspreet has organised this fundraiser.

The suspect in the killing of the Sikh family has been arrested.

He once worked for the family’s trucking business and had a longstanding dispute with them that got “pretty nasty” and culminated in an act of senseless killing, authorities and a relative said.

Authorities said they were kidnapped from the family’s trucking business in the central California city of Merced, and parts of the kidnapping were captured on surveillance video.

Jesus Manuel Salgado, 48, was formally arrested late on Thursday on four counts of murder and four counts of kidnapping in the case, Merced County sheriff’s spokesperson Alexandra Britton said.

The city of Merced has also organised a candlelight vigil for the family every night at 7 pm from October 6 to October 9.