Yadav made the remarks at a party meeting in Patna that saw him interacting with all the RJD candidates for the recently held assembly polls

PATNA: RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Monday called upon party workers to brace for mid-term polls in Bihar, saying fresh elections could take place “any time, even in 2021”.

Yadav made the remarks at a party meeting in Patna that saw him interacting with all the RJD candidates for the recently held assembly polls, successful and otherwise, besides top office-bearers.

An RJD source said, “Tejashwi told party workers that there was no time for complacency since the government could fall and elections take place in 2021.”

Talking to reporters later, Yadav said, “I have indeed asked our workers to be ready for elections. It would not be surprising if fresh elections take place sooner than expected.”

In the assembly polls, which concluded last month, the RJD emerged as the single-largest party with 75 seats but the five-party Grand Alliance helmed by it fell short of achieving a majority.

The ruling NDA retained power, winning a slender majority.

JD(U) president Nitish Kumar returned as the chief minister though his party finished with a dismal tally of just over 40, while the BJP won 74.

Moreover, eight seats were won by the Hindustani Awam Morcha of former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and Vikassheel Insaan Party of minister Mukesh Sahni, both of whom were with the Grand Alliance till a few months ago.

Yadav is the second prominent politician from Bihar, after Lok Janshakti Party chief Chirag Paswan, to have predicted mid-term polls.

Paswan, whose party opened a front against the JD(U) and pulled out of the NDA ahead of the elections, had made a similar prediction soon after the results of the polls were declared.

His party could bag only one seat though it succeeded in badly hitting the JD(U).

Yadav, who had met his jailed father and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad at Ranchi recently, also said “stern action” would be taken against those who were found guilty of having worked against the party’s official candidates during elections “hoping that this would boost their own prospects in future”.

He also said that after Makar Sankranti he would hold a “Dhanyawad Yatra” (thanksgiving tour), covering all 38 districts of the state who “reposed their trust in us though the NDA retained power through deceit and subterfuge”.

The RJD leader has been alleging that results were tilted in favour of the NDA by pliant officials in districts, which witnessed close contests between candidates of the BJP- led coalition and the Grand Alliance.

Yadav has been underscoring the fact that the NDA had garnered just a little over 12,000 votes more than the Grand Alliance across the 243 assembly segments but this resulted in a difference of 25 between the respective tallies of the two coalitions.

Yadav also pointed towards recent incidents like the attack on the vehicle of a judicial officer in Nalanda district and charged “this shows it is maha jungle raj in Bihar”.

The epithet of “jungle raj” is often used by the RJD’s opponents to describe the alleged lawlessness that prevailed while the party was in power until its rout in 2005.

“The NDA is promising 80 lakh jobs in Bengal. They should first walk the talk on their promise of 19 lakh jobs here,” Yadav added.

It said the “BJP delegation” stated that the demands put forward by Anna Hazare are for the benefit of farmers and soon a solution will be found.

AHMEDNAGAR: Days after social activist Anna Hazare warned of resuming his hunger strike if his demands concerning farmers were not met by the central government, Maharashtra BJP leaders Haribhau Bagade and Bhagwat Karad, MP, met him on Monday in his hometown Ralegansiddhi in Ahmednagar district.

The BJP leaders requested Hazare not go on protest with his demands, a release from Anna Hazare’s office said.

It said the “BJP delegation” stated that the demands put forward by Anna Hazare are for the benefit of farmers and soon a solution will be found. They also said that looking at his age, he should not go on protest.

The release said that Hazare had written a letter to central government last week about pending demands related to farmers and threatened to protest for it.

It said that Hazare told BJP leaders that in 2018 and 2019, Anna Hazare was given written assurance by the central government about his demands related to farmers “but even after two years no such step had been taken to fulfil them”.

The release said the central government had said given assurance that it will give autonomous status to Krishi Mulya Aayog and will provide C2 + 50 per cent MSP according to Swaminathan panel recommendation to farmers “but same has not been fulfilled yet”.

“Anna Hazare also informed the BJP delegation that since his demands related to farmers have not been fulfilled he has also asked for permission at Ram Leela Maidan in Delhi for protest,” the release said.

It said the BJP delegation also handed over copies of three farm laws to Anna Hazare and assured him that these laws will be of benefit for farmers.

The release said the delegation assured Hazare that soon a meeting will be called by central leaders to discuss his demands related to farmers.

The meeting went on for about one hour at Anna’s hometown Ralegansiddhi in Ahmednagar district.

Vij, who had tested positive for coronavirus on December 5 after taking a trial dose of Bharat Biotech’s Covid-19 vaccine ‘Covaxin’ was recently referred to Medanta Hospital Gurugram

CHANDIGARH/GURUGRAM: Haryana Home and Health Minister, Anil Vij, who is undergoing treatment for Covid-19 continues to make steady progress.

Vij, who is undergoing treatment for the novel coronavirus at Gurugram’s Medanta-The Medicity is feeling better and continues to make steady progress, according to the hospital.

In a media bulletin issued on Sunday, Dr. AK Dubey, Medical Superintendent, Medanta-The Medicity informed that though Vij is still in the ICU on oxygen support, his oxygen requirement is reduced and there is no fever.

His blood reports are also showing an improving trend. Overall the doctors are satisfied with his progress, the bulletin stated.

Vij, who had tested positive for coronavirus on December 5 after taking a trial dose of Bharat Biotech’s Covid-19 vaccine ‘Covaxin’ was recently referred to Medanta Hospital Gurugram.

The Haryana Minister was administered a trial dose of Bharat Biotech’s Covid-19 vaccine ‘Covaxin’ at a hospital in Ambala on November 20. He had offered to be the first volunteer for the third phase trial of Covaxin, which started in the state.

The Union Health Minister said that right now India has just around three lakh active cases and its recovery rate is 95 to 96 percent which is significantly higher than many developed countries.

NEW DELHI: Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Sunday said that the worst is over concerning coronavirus in the country but people still need to follow Covid appropriate behaviour to stay safe.

“At a personal level, I think that the worst is over concerning the Covid-19 situation. I have been following this situation right from the time when we had our first case on January 30, 2020. Since then, I have watched everything from the closest of quarters with meticulous precision. If we look at the things in the last three-four months then things are in a declining phase,

“But we need to strictly follow Covid appropriate behaviour and cannot afford to relax on that front,” he added.

Substantiating his point, the Union Health Minister said that right now India has just around three lakh active cases and its recovery rate is 95 to 96 percent which is significantly higher than many developed countries.

“Right now, we have just about three lakh active cases in the country. A few months ago, we had almost 10 lakh cases. Out of over one crore cases that have happened, around 95 lakh persons have already recovered and gone back home,” he said.

“We have the highest recovery rates in the world: between 95 and 96 percent. Compared to some of the developed countries of the world like the USA, Russia, or Brazil whose recovery rate ranges between 60 and 80 percent, we are better placed,” he added.

Dr Vardhan said: “Our fatality rate is also significantly low at 1.45 percent now. I feel the worse may probably be over but with a note of caution.”

“The major tool against Covid-19 will ultimately be masks, hand hygiene and physical distancing that we all need to follow. The troubles that we had to face as a country due to Covid-19 are on the decline. In the coming year, the research of the scientists in the direction of developing a vaccine will also be successful,” he added.

India may begin vaccinating people against coronavirus in January and the government’s first priority has been safety and efficacy of the vaccine, Dr Vardhan said.

“I personally feel that maybe in January in any stage or any week, there can be a time when are in a position to give the first Covid vaccine shot to people of India,” .

The vaccine cannot be forced upon anyone but the government will educate and give the right information to people about it, Vardhan said.

“Vaccine hesitancy issues will be addressed through education. The government will spread awareness and educate people about the vaccine that this is for their own good and benefit,

He also said that the government had prioritised who will get the vaccines after observing international trends and keeping in mind the guidelines of the World Health Organisation.

“The ideal time would be when we reach a point where everyone can be vaccinated. But if there is a limited number of vaccines, it is important to prioritise how who will be the first to get it. Before taking a decision, the government consulted experts, those in the ministries, people in the state governments, and those involved in making vaccines. These decisions have been made while observing international trends and WHO guidelines,” the Union Minister said.

He said the first one crore people to be vaccinated will be the health workers in the private and public sector, while the next two crores to be vaccinated will be frontline workers, sanitation staff, police, and other frontline workers, followed by people over the age of 50.

“Over 80 percent of the people who died due to Covid-19 have been over 50 years. There are about 26 crore people in this category. After that, people below 50 with health issues like BP, heart and kidney problems will be vaccinated,” he said.

“The government will reach out to people to get their vaccines but if someone does not want to take the vaccine, they cannot be forced,” he added.

Earlier, the Union Health Minister had said that India may begin vaccinating people for Covid-19 by January, with the first priority being the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.

On Saturday, the minister had said that the country’s scientists and health experts have worked on the development of an indigenous vaccine and in the upcoming six to seven months India will have the capacity to inoculate about 30 crore people.

There are currently nine Covid-19 vaccine candidates in different phases of clinical trials in India — six are under clinical trials and three in the pre-clinical phase.

Palakkad (Kerala), Dec 17: The Kerala Police on Thursday registered a case against a few BJP workers for allegedly unfurling a giant banner with ‘Jai Sri Ram’ written on it from the terrace of the Palakkad municipal corporation building after the party won in the recently held local body polls here.

The case was registered after the Palakkad municipal secretary filed a complaint with the police saying that “there was an attempt to destroy communal harmony”, an official said.

During the victory celebrations in front of the municipal corporation on Wednesday evening, a few workers were seen in a purported video unfurling a giant banner with ‘Jai Sri Ram’ written in Malayalam and an image of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj from top of the building.

The workers also unfurled another banner with pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, the police said.

“The special branch deputy superintendent has been asked to file a report with regard to the incident,” district police chief Sujithdas S told PTI.

The party retained the municipality by winning 28 of the 52 wards.

New Delhi, Dec 18: A medium-intensity earthquake of magnitude 4.2 hit Alwar district in Rajasthan on Thursday, tremors of which were felt in Delhi-NCR, the National Center for Seismology (NCS) said.

The epicentre of the quake was Alwar in Rajasthan, according to the NCS.

The earthquake of magnitude 4.2 occurred at 11.46 pm at a depth of five kilometres, it said.

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has trolled PM Narendra Modi on Twitter by sharing a video on which PM Modi refusing to use Mask at a public event.

The video is getting viral on the social networking platform and many users have criticised PM Modi for the gesture.

PM Modi can be seen in the video speaking to the shopkeeper who sells the masks and other hand craft items. When the seller requests to PM to wear the Mask fro which he refuses and also seen PM Modi not wearing any mask in the video. 

Sharing the video on Twitter, AAP took to mock PM Modi and also spread awareness on mask usage.

AAP has said in the tweet, “Wear a mask. Don’t be like Modi ji.”