New Delhi: Sheila Dikshit, who was Chief Minister of Delhi for 15 long years, will be the chief ministerial candidate of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, the party announced on Thursday.

The announcement was made by Congress General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi at the party headquarters.

“For the first time your assumption has proved right,” he said, referring to media speculation that Dikshit, ousted from power in Delhi in December 2013, would be the face of the Congress in UP.

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said the corruption allegations levelled against Dikshit did not matter since BJP’s Chief Ministers in other states too faced corruption charges.

Election strategist Prashant Kishor had recommended that Dikshit should play a major role in the party’s poll campaign in the state as she is a prominent Brahmin face and could help Congress regain support of the electorally sizeable community.

Dikshit is the daughter-in-law of prominent Congress leader from UP Uma Shankar Dikshit, who was a Brahmin face and had served as a Union minister and governor for a long time.

Earlier this month, Dikshit, a three-time Delhi Chief Minister, had said as UP’s “daughter-in-law” she was ready to play any role in the state.

Dikshit had met party President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi last month during which she was said to have been sounded by them for a leading role in UP.

The Brahmin community, a traditional vote bank of Congress, had shifted allegiance to BJP in the aftermath of the Mandir-Mandal politics and a section in Congress feels it should make efforts to win back the support of the community.

A large chunk of Brahmin votes had also gone to Mayawati’s BSP in the past when she gave tickets to many candidates belonging to the community.

The community’s support determines the poll outcome in several seats in central and eastern UP.

(IANS)

New Delhi: In a big development, a local court in Greater Noida on Thursday ordered filing of an FIR against the family of Mohammad Akhlaq, who was lynched by a mob for allegedly slaughtering a cow.

The court has ordered that seven members of Akhlaq’s family be booked under relevant sections of the IPC. Cow slaughter is banned in Uttar Pradesh.

The development came after the accused in Akhlaq’s murder approached the court seeking FIR against Akhlaq’s family in view of the Mathura forensic laboratory report that confirmed that the meat sample taken from the refrigerator in Akhlaq’s house was beef and not that of goat, as suggested earlier.

Akhlaq, 52, was beaten to death and injured his son Danish after dragging them out of their home in Bishada village of Gautam Budh Nagar district on September 28, 2015 following rumours that he and his family had stored and consumed beef.

The issue had triggered a fierce debate over intolerance in the country.

A total of 19 persons are accused of lynching Akhlaq. Of these, one was given a clean chit by police and let off. Sixteen accused are still lodged in jail.

(Agencies)

Bengaluru: Facing Opposition heat, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today announced a judicial probe into the alleged suicide by a DySp, which has raised a political storm in the state.

As his government came under severe attack over alleged suicide by Mangaluru DySp M K Ganapathy, Siddaramaiah made the announcement in the Legislative Assembly, which has been rocked by the issue for the last three days.

Siddaramaiah said the judicial commission would be headed by a retired High Court judge and the report would come out within six months.

He rejected the demand for a probe by CBI, being demanded by BJP which is gunning for the resignation of Minister for Urban Development K J George, named by the deceased police official along with two top police officers for his extreme step.

Ganapathy(51) was found hanging from the ceiling fan in a room at a lodge in Madikeri on July seven, prior to which he gave an interview to a local TV channel, saying the minister and A M Prasad (IG-Intelligence) and Pranab Mohanty (IGP-Lokayukta) would be responsible “if anything happens to me.”

Rejecting the charges against him in the Assembly yesterday, George, Minister for Bengaluru Development, had said he was ready to face any punishment if an inquiry finds him guilty and was ready to resign if the Chief Minister asks for it.

The Minister had also claimed that he was being targeted for belonging to minority community.

Government had earlier announced a probe by CID into the incident, which came just three days after the body of another DySP of Chikkamagaluru sub-division Kallappa Handibag (35), accused of kidnapping a person for ransom, was found hanging in his father-in-law’s home at Murgod in Belagavi district.

Prior to that, Ballari district Kudligi DySp Anupama Shenoy had resigned her post over alleged interference by the then district in charge minister Parameshwar Naik, who was removed in the recent major ministry reshuffle.

(Agencies)

Bengaluru: The alleged suicide by Mangaluru DySP M K Ganapathy on Monday rocked the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, with the Opposition demanding resignation of minister K J George and action against two senior police officers named by the officer in his suicide note.

Launching an all out attack against government, BJP and JD(S) accused it of trying to “cover up” the case by handing over the investigation to state CID and questioning Ganapathy’s mental health even before the probe.

Ganapathy (51) was found hanging from the ceiling fan in a room at a lodge in Madikeri on July seven.

As the House met, Opposition BJP Leader Jagadish Shettar demanded that the issue be discussed first and Minister for Bengaluru Development George should resign.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the issue was serious and “every one’s life is important, it is unfortunate that this incident has happened. This is a serious issue; Home Minister will make suo motu statement”, he said.

Objecting to this, Opposition members said they be allowed to raise the issue first and George must resign.

Shettar said, “By making a statement even before the discussion government is showing how much serious it is about the issue. It is an attempt to cover up the issue.”

Intervening, Speaker K B Koliwad said the issue will be taken up for discussion, but he will allow Home Minister to make the statement first.

This angered the opposition members with BJP and JD(S) MLAs entering the well of the House and shouting slogans against the government calling it “a murderer”.

Amidst pandemonium, Home Minister G Parameshwara read out a statement saying Ganapathy’s father Kushalappa in his complaint had said his son was under depression as he had family issues especially with his wife.

“When Ganapathy was working in Bengaluru his wife and children were in Mangaluru. After he was promoted and transferred as DySP to Mangaluru she continued ill treating him, because of this my son was under depression. Losing hopes in life, he has committed suicide,” Parameshwara said quoting from Kushalappa’s complaint in his statement.

(Agencies)

Thiruvananthapuram: Saying terrorists have no religion, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday said an entire community should not be blamed for the alleged links of some with the IS.

Extremist activities cannot be attributed to any particular religion alone, the Communist Party of India-Marxist leader told the assembly.

“Vested interests are creating an anti-Muslim feeling,” Vijayan cautioned. “This will not be allowed as a huge majority in our society is against such activities.

“It’s a very small segment which does this. To blame one particular community alone is not fair,” he said.

The Chief Minister spoke after three legislators raised media reports about several Keralites reportedly going missing to join the Islamic State.

Vijayan said the government would not be able to tackle the problem on its own.

“There has to be an overall awareness against terrorism and extremism and we need to take everyone into confidence.

“The state government will do its job and will work in tandem with the Centre to probe these reports,” he said.

According to Vijayan, 21 people, including children, were missing and this included 17 from Kasargode district, in the northern tip of Kerala, and four from Palakkad district.

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said: “Overall Kerala is known to be a peaceful state. Even though we have no confirmation (that people are missing), it is disturbing and the need of the hour is to strengthen internal security and all of us would like to know the truth.”

Congress legislator P.T. Thomas pointed out a lady from his constituency was missing. She was working in Mumbai and had reportedly attended meetings in Andheri and was reported to be with the IS now, Thomas said.

“One way to bring an instant impact against these subversive forces is to see that this topic is introduced in schools in our state,” he said.

The Kerala Police and central intelligence agencies are said to be probing the issue, taking down statements from families which have alleged that their family members have gone missing.

(Agencies)