Chennai, Feb 19 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will contest five of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu in alliance with the ruling AIADMK, Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam announced on Tuesday.

Nasheman News :  A number of journalists’ bodies on Tuesday wrote to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh complaining about trolling of some journalists on the social media in the wake of the Pulwama incident and sought action against the trolls.

“We would like to bring to your kind notice the vicious attacks on the social media directed against several mediapersons who have commented on the harassment faced by Kashmiri students and others following the dastardly killings of CRPF personnel in Pulwama,” read the letter written jointly by Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC), Press Club of India (PCI) and Press Association. 

It said that not only were the personal details of some of these mediapersons made public, several of them have been “bombarded by phone calls threatening violence, including sexual violence and other forms of repeated intimidation”. 

“While the government agencies rightfully rein in those who are spreading fake news and putting out potentially inflammatory messages, we urge the Union Home Ministry under your leadership to act with equal alacrity in identifying and booking those who have been targeting mediapersons and other individuals with hate messages,” the letter said.

“Such messages have the potential of inciting hatred and invariably leading to hate crime. Kindly look into this with the urgency it demands,” it added.

The journalists’ bodies also pointed out that the growing tendency to “demonise, hate and abuse people having different viewpoints” was a “deeply worrying trend” which goes against the basic tenets of democracy. 

Nasheman News : Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi will address her maiden public rally in Gujarat along with brother and party President Rahul Gandhi on February 28, signalling the intent to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah in their home state.

The mega rally to be held at Trimandir Ground, Adalaj, will follow the meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s highest decision-making body, in Ahmedabad on February 28. The 51st CWC meeting, to be held just before the schedule of general elections is announced, will focus on strategising and preparing for the Lok Sabha polls.

The CWC meeting is being hosted in Gujarat after 60 years and the entire top Congress leadership – Rahul Gandhi, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress Parliamentary Party leader Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and Priyanka Gandhi among others will brainstorm over the issues and roadmap for the Lok Sabha polls.

Besides Priyanka and Rahul, the rally will also be addressed by Sonia Gandhi, who last made a public speech in November last year in Telangana during the Assembly polls.

The Adalaj rally follows Rahul Gandhi’s February 14 address in tribal Lal Dungri village in Valsad district. This is the same village where his grandmother Indira Gandhi in 1980, his father Rajiv Gandhi in 1984 and his mother Sonia Gandhi in 2004 started and romped home to power.

Gujarat Congress MLA and party spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil said the Adalaj rally will be the biggest in Gujarat in recent times.

“The preparations are in full swing for the rally which will be the biggest in Gujarat’s history. On the one hand, the resentment against Modi and the BJP is palpable in Gujarat and on the other, the enthusiasm among the people and party cadres is on an all-time high.

“This will be the first time that the people of Gujarat will witness Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi address from the same podium,” Gohil told IANS.

After being appointed as the General Secretary in charge of east Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka along with brother Rahul and fellow General Secretary Jyotiraditya Scindia held a road-show in Lucknow on February 11 and also interacted with party cadres.

Priyanka cancelled her maiden press meet as the Congress General Secretary in Lucknow on February 14 following the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were killed. 

Gujarat Congress chief Amit Chavda said the motive behind having the CWC meet and the rally in Gujarat was to send a strong signal to the BJP in Modi’s home state where the Congress in the 2017 Assembly polls gave a tough fight.

“Through the Adalaj rally, the entire Congress leadership will give voice to the people of Gujarat and the country whose aspirations have been crushed by the Modi government,” said Chavda.

“Buoyed by the good showing in the Assembly elections, the morale of the party will be further boosted by the presence of the entire top Congress leadership. This rally will signal the demise of the Modi government,” said Chavda exuding confidence of the Congress doing well in Gujarat. 

Blown away by the “Modi wave”, the Congress failed to win even a single seat in 2014 in Gujarat which sends members to the Lok Sabha.

A little over 15 km from Ahmedabad, Adalaj is famous for Rudabai Stepwell that was built in 1498 in the memory of Rana Veer Singh of the Vaghela dynasty. It is also famous for the expansive non-sectarian Trimandir temple.

The Trimandir is home to the idols of gods of Jainism, Shaivism, and Vaishnavism along with gods and goddesses from other religions.

Nasheman News :  An IAF pilot died on Tuesday after two Surya Kiran aircraft collided in the air and crashed while rehearsing near the Yelahanka airbase in Bengaluru where the ‘Aero India 2019’ air show begins on Wednesday.

The crash occurred on the outskirts of the airbase in the northern part of the city in an open field close to a residential area.

According to witnesses, the two aircraft that were rehearsing for the aerobatic display collided into each other in the air, thereby spiralling and crashing onto the ground below and exploding into fire, billowing thick black smoke in the sky.

Two pilots were seen ejecting out of the crashing aircraft using parachutes and got injured when they landed on the ground, said residents of a nearby residential locality.

“Two Hawk aircraft of Surya Kiran Aerobatic Team of IAF crashed at 11.50 a.m. while practicing for the air show. While two pilots ejected and were taken to a military hospital, a third pilot sustained fatal injuries,” an IAF statement said.

Karnataka Director General of Police and chief of Fire and Emergency Services M.N. Reddi said there were no injuries to any civilian on the ground. 

“No major damage to any houses in ISRO colony. Fire force has completely suppressed the fire,” he tweeted.

“A court of inquiry will investigate the cause of the accident,” IAF said. “One IAF pilot has unfortunately lost his life. Two others injured shifted to hospital but are said to be out of danger.” 

With the much-awaited five-day air show set to take place from February 20, the aircraft to take part in the flypast have been rehearsing at the airbase since February 14.

Tuesday’s collision is probably the first after the elite Surya Kiran unit was re-grouped in 2015 after a gap of four years but the show-stopping high-risk display flying arm of IAF has had its share of serious accidents. 

Surya Kiran, used as a mascot for the IAF to inspire youngsters to take up military aviation, is in its second avatar flying sub-sonic advanced jet trainers Hawk 132 that made an appearance in new livery four years ago after replacing jaded Kiran Mk II intermediate jet trainers. 

The Surya Kiran team with Kiran Mk II aircraft was wound up in 2011 but not before a series of accidents. 

In January 2009, Wing Commander R.S. Dhaliwal died in a crash near Surya Kiran’s home base Bidar in Karnataka. Another aircraft crashed in December 2007. In March 2006, yet another crash took place in Bidar killing two pilots. 

The British-origin Hawks are made in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). These are used to train pilots in advanced fighter flying skills. 

Surya Kiran returned to Aero India air show in Bengaluru in 2017 after a gap of nearly four years. 

Nasheman News :  Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said his government is with the hard-working and honest people of the nation and in the past four-and-a-half years the BJP government under him has reversed the country’s downslide, besides changing the attitude of ‘sab chalta hai’ (everything is acceptable) and has been working for the betterment of all sections of the society.

Addressing a gathering at the Sant Ravidas Temple, Modi warned people with ill-gotten money and those involved in graft that they would not be spared. 

“Recently you have all seen that crores of honest tax payers from the middle class have been exempted from paying tax if their income falls within the Rs 5 lakh slab,” Modi said to rousing applause. 

It has been a good fortune of the people in the country that they have been blessed and guided by saints for ages, said Modi, who made his debut in the Lok Sabha from here in Uttar Pradesh in 2014.

He also said that he considered himself fortunate to be representing the constituency and to have come twice to the Ravidas temple in the past few years. 

“I had committed myself in 2016 that this place will be developed and when the Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government took over in the state, I asked then to get a detailed project report (DPR) prepared,” he added.

In Shir Govardhan, addressing the followers of Guru Ravidas, mystic poet-saint of the Bhakti Movement, the Prime Minister said as part of the development the area will have a community centre, besides which a new route will be created to the temple. 

A 12-km road from the Benaras Hindu University (BHU) will be beautified and a bronze statue of the seer, who was born over six centuries ago, would also be installed. 

Modi also pointed out that his government’s mission of ‘sabka saath sabka vikaas’ has been greatly inspired by the values and teachings of Sant Ravidas.

Later, Modi also inaugurated a cancer hospital – Mahamana Madan Mohan Malviya Cancer Centre – at the BHU where eminent industrialist Ratan Tata was also present. He also inaugurated the Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital at Lahartara. 

Earlier, soon after his arrival at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Airport, where he was welcomed by Governor Ram Naik and Adityanath among others, he flagged off the world’s first diesel-to-electric converted locomotive and interacted with a group of “divyaangs”.