All India Mahila Empowerment Party (MEP) held its campaign in Gulbarga, where the party’s founder Dr. Nowhera Shaikh said that when a woman can run a house, she can run the country too.

Addressing both the workers and the press, Dr. Nowhera Shaikh said that women have a lot of potential and patience, which are necessary skills required of a leader.

She said the party is contesting elections to create an impact in people’s lives, and promised interest-free loans for taxi drivers and farmers of the state, if they come to power.

New Delhi: Over a week after Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash alleged an assault by two Aam Aadmi Party MLAs, the ruling party on Tuesday said the top bureaucrat along with the Lt Governor, Delhi Police and the IAS Association is “trying to destabilise” its government.

AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said the Chief Secretary didn’t call up police after the meeting where the alleged assault took place but straightaway went to the L-G’s house to plan a conspiracy.

He demanded that call details of Lt Governor Anil Baijal and the Chief Secretary should be examined.

Claiming that a senior Delhi Police officer (North) has accepted in court that he attended that meeting at the L-G’s house, the AAP leader said: “No FIR, however, was registered in the night”.

“It was the next day around 1 p.m. that the FIR was registered, which was a tailormade police complaint by the Chief Secretary. We raised questions against it and a medico-legal report was prepared at 9 p.m.”

The Chief Secretary alleged that on February 19 night, he was beaten up by AAP legislators Prakash Jarwal and Amanatullah Khan in the presence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at the CM’s residence, where the top bureaucrat had been called for an emergency meeting.

The party had earlier accepted that there was a heated argument with the Chief Secretary but denied physical assault.

“The incident is being used as an opportunity to destabilise the Delhi government,” said Bharadwaj.

He said clear evidence had emerged that the assault on AAP Minister Imran Hussain at Delhi Secretariat was result of a conspiracy hatched at the L-G’s house.

“The IAS Association was given the task of provoking and instigating other employees unions to assault Ministers and other functionaries.

“Videotape proofs clearly show that our Ministers were beaten up at the Secretariat but there is no evidence about the involvement of the Chief Minister or other Ministers in the Chief Secretary assault case,” he added.

Party leader Dilip Pandey said the IAS Association wakes up only when the central government “chooses to use it as its puppets”.

“They can’t stop working just like that.”

Last week, the IAS Association decided to boycott all meetings with Ministers in protest against the alleged attack on the Chief Secretary.

However, officers of the Delhi government made an exception for a Cabinet meeting related to the Budget on Tuesday.

(IANS)

Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi, the 69th pontiff of the Kanchi Mutt, died on Wednesday in Tamil Nadu’s Kanchipuram. He was 82.

The senior pontiff has been ailing in recent months. He had been admitted to the hospital most recently in January. He had been admitted to Chennai’s Sri Ramachandra Hospital after he collapsed at the math with shortness of breath and low blood pressure.

He had been named as successor to the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam by his predecessor, Chandrashekarendra Saraswati, widely known as the ‘Mahaswami’ of the math, in 1954. Jayendra Saraswati had become the head of the math in 1994 after the death of Chandrashekarendra Saraswati. During his time as the head pontiff, the math expanded its presence and role in charitable activities by setting up a number of hospitals and schools that continue to function today.

He will now be succeeded by Vijayendra Saraswati.

Jayendra Saraswati’s pontificate at the math has had its moments of controversy. He had led efforts to expand the reach of the math in the 1970s and 80s, by reaching out to economically weakers sections of society. He had also attempted to take part in negotiations for the peaceful settlement of the Ram Janmabhoomi dispute in Ayodhya.

He had been acquitted in November 2013 in the case relating to the 2004 murder of A Sankararaman, manager of Kanchipuram’s Varadaraja Perumal Temple. His arrest in 2004 and the two months he spent in judicial custody had come as a jolt to many in Tamil Nadu.

(Agencies)

Mumbai: Several lakhs turned up to join a long procession — among the largest in recent times — to mark the final journey of actress Sridevi which started near her residence to a crematorium in Vile Parle on Wednesday afternoon.

A tall, open truck, fully decorated with white flowers — her favourite colour — carried her body which was first draped in the national tricolour and then loaded in a glass casket, as cries of ‘Sridevi Amar Rahe’ rent the air among her fans.

Maharashtra government accorded full state honours for the funeral of Sridevi — who was conferred a Padma Shri in 2013, which included draping her body in the national tricolour, elaborate arrangements by the Mumbai Police and a gun salute before the cremation.

Inside the truck was Sridevi lying serene with full make-up, a large south Indian style vermillion and wearing a ceremonial gold and maroon coloured Kanjeevaram sari. A heavy, large necklace adorned her since she died a ‘suhaagan’ (still married), giving the appearance of a resplendent ‘devi’ (Goddess) in deep slumber.

Her grieving family members including husband Boney Kapoor, her step-son Arjun Kapoor and brothers-in-law Anil Kapoor and Sanjay Kapoor were among those who travelled in the truck with the body.

The truck slowly negotiated the approximately six km passing through some of the poshest areas of Andheri and Vile Parle suburbs, with a massive portrait of Sridevi visible from a distance.

Several lakhs of people including students, office-goers and others accompanied or waited on both side of the roads, looked on from buildings and bungalow terraces. Many climbed on signals and lamp posts for a last glimpse of their beloved heroine.

In terms of sheer numbers, Sridevi’s funeral is estimated to have attracted the highest number of mourners, ranking on par with the previous biggest funeral processions of the legendary singer Mohammed Rafi (July 1980: around a million mourners), and India’s first superstar Rajesh Khanna (July 2012: a little less than a million mourners).

The other big funerals of non-political personalities in Mumbai included those of Raj Kapoor (June 1988) and Vinod Khanna (April 2017).

The procession was led by several family members, close relatives, friends and even neighbours of the Green Acres society where the family lived in Lokhandwala Complex.

Among the prominent personalities who attended the funeral in Vile Parle were Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Randhir Kapoor and others who came to bid a final goodbye to Sridev

Sridevi’s daughters Janhvi and Khushi Kapoor performed the final rituals before the body was consigned to the flames with husband Boney standing nearby.

Earlier, since dawn, thousands of teary-eyed fans and admirers of the late actress, many carrying flowers, had queued up outside the Celebration Sports Club at Lokhandwala Complex for a final ‘darshan’ of their idol.

After the flower-bedecked body was brought to the club premises a steady stream of celebrities came in their vehicles and where whisked inside to pay their last respects.

Among the early callers seen were Rekha, Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan, Arbaaz Khan, Madhuri Dixit-Nene, Akshaye Khanna, Tabu, Farah Khan, Nitin Mukesh, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Vidya Balan, Sushmita Sen, Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar, Madhur Bhandarkar, Deepika Padukone, Sanjay Leela Bhandsali, Jackie Shroff, Farhan Akhtar, Hema Malini, Jaya Bachchan, John Abraham, Ajay Devgn and Kajol, Anupam Kher and Sulabha Arya, among others.

In the past four days since her demise, the Kapoor household had witnessed a steady stream of visitors including Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Krishna Raj Kapoor.

Most of the visitors on Wednesday were sporting dark sunglasses to ward off the harsh early-summer glare, carrying flowers or small bouquets, embraced and consoled the bereaved family members, entering from the main entrance and leaving quickly from the other side as fans tried to catch a glimpse.

Sridevi’s body was flown to Mumbai from Dubai where she passed away following an accidental drowning in a bathtub in her hotel room around 11 pm on February 24, and from the airport was taken to the Kapoor residence in Green Acres.

Meanwhile, Green Acres housing society on Wednesday cancelled Holi celebrations as a mark of respect for Sridevi.

For the final journey, at the club and the crematorium, the Mumbai Police implemented elaborate security arrangements at various venues and arranged special traffic and crowd management measures.

(IANS)

Indian Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba (PTI photo)

New Delhi: Maldives has declined India’s invitation to participate in the eight-day-long mega naval exercise — Milan — beginning March 6, in an apparent snub to New Delhi which has been critical of the Yameen government in view of the emergency in the island nation.

“Maldives was invited to join the Milan exercise but they have declined,” Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba told reporters, and indicated that the country may have taken the decision possibly due to the current situation there.

“They have not given any reason,” he said.

Admiral Lanba was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event.

Ties between India and Maldives nosedived after Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen declared emergency on February 5 following an order by the country’s Supreme Court to release a group of Opposition leaders, who had been convicted in widely criticised trials.

On February 21, India had reacted strongly over the extension of emergency by a month.

India will host navies from at least 16 countries for the mega naval exercise at the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The exercise is taking place in the backdrop of China’s growing military posturing in the Indo-Pacific region and officials indicated that the issue is likely to figure during deliberations at the event.

Officials said China’s military manoeuvres in the South China Sea may figure during discussions among navy chiefs of the participating countries at the event.

‘Milan’ was first held in 1995 with the participation of just five navies. The aim of the initiative was to have an effective forum to discuss common concerns in the Indian Ocean Region and forge deeper cooperation among friendly navies.

The exercise is being hosted by the Indian Navy under the aegis of the Andaman and Nicobar Command.

Asked about the presence of Chinese ships in the Indo-Pacific region, an official said, “The deployment of ships by China’s Navy has been since 2008. At any point of time, there are 6-8 ships in the region. We monitor them and know what is happening.”

He further said, “There is no cause for concern, it is standard deployment in the Indian Ocean. As per what we have monitored, there is no change in it in the last few years. We are well aware of what is happening.

(PTI)