Four men have been accused of raping and murdering a 26-year-old woman in Hyderabad on Wednesday night, in a gruesome crime that has shocked the nation and sparked widespread protests

New Delhi

Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan led a chorus of angry and tearful voices as parliament debated the safety of women and children against the backdrop of the brutal rape and murder of a young woman in Telangana. “These types of people (the rape accused in the Telangana case) need to be brought out in public and lynched,” Jaya Bachchan said, adding, “I think it is time… the people want the government to give a proper and definite answer”.

Four men have been accused of raping and murdering a 26-year-old woman in Hyderabad on Wednesday night the accused planned the gruesome crime – which included her strangulation and the burning of her body to avoid identification – in detail when they her park her scooter near a toll booth.

The incident led to massive protests in Telangana and an outpouring of rage and grief across the country. The accused, aged between 20 and 26, have been arrested and three cops have been suspended for negligence.

“I don’t know how many times I’ve stood and spoken after this kind of crime. I think it is time… whether Nirbhaya or Kathua or what happened in Telangana… I think the people now want the government to give a proper and definite answer,” a calm but clearly furious Jaya Bachchan told the Rajya Sabha.

“What has the government done? How have they tackled it? How has justice been done for the victims? I am not taking names… but shouldn’t the security be held responsible? I feel only one day earlier something similar happened in that area in Telangana… why wasn’t this stopped?” she continued.

Mrs Bachchan also demanded that the people who fail to protect women and children from such horrific assaults should be “named and shamed”. She was not the only Rajya Sabha MP to express fury and concern at the law-and-order situation in the country today.

AIADMK MP Vijila Sathyanath broke down and cried during a speech in which she said her country was not safe for children and women. The Congress’ Amee Yajnik demanded central and state governments come together for a “social reformation on an emergency basis”.

News of the Telangana rape-murder have been followed by similarly shocking crimes in other parts of the country; in Rajasthan a six-year-old girl who went missing last week was found dead in her school uniform.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said he has given permission for discussion on the matter after Question Hour.

The raids were conducted at businessman Jitendra Soni’s home, hotel, restaurant and night club here late Saturday night.

INDORE: Madhya Pradesh Police along with the Indore district authorities raided the home, media firm and three other establishments of a local businessman in connection with the honey-trap case, an official said on Sunday.

The raids were conducted at businessman Jitendra Soni’s home, hotel, restaurant and night club here late Saturday night, he said.

“Soni also owns a local eveninger. The investigators also went to his newspaper’s office,” the official said.

The authorities have so far not shared any details of the searches conducted at Soni’s premises.

His media firm was of late publishing news about some audio-video clips allegedly linked to the honey-trap case.

Meanwhile, some local organisations of journalists condemned the raid on Soni’s media firm, saying the exercise was aimed at “intimidating” the fourth pillar of democracy.

Five women and a man were arrested from Indore and Bhopal in September for allegedly running the honey-trap and blackmailing racket.

The racket was busted after an engineer of the Indore Municipal Corporation approached the police, claiming he was being blackmailed over some objectionable video clips by the accused who were trying to extort about Rs 3 crore from him.

The accused – Aarti Dayal (29), Monika Yadav (18), Shweta Vijay Jain (39), Shweta Swapnil Jain (48), Barkha Soni (34) and Om Prakash Kori (45) – are currently in judicial custody.

The Congress announced party MLA Patole as the candidate of the ruling Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP alliance for the Speaker’s post, while the BJP named Kisan Kathore as its nominee.

MUMBAI: Congress leader Nana Patole is all set to become Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly as BJP candidate Kisan Kathore withdrew his nomination on Sunday.

The deadline to withdraw the nomination was 10 am on Sunday.

The Congress on Saturday announced party MLA Patole as the candidate of the ruling Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP alliance for the election to state Assembly Speaker’s post, while the BJP named Kathore as its nominee.

Patole represents Sakoli Assembly segment in Vidarbha.

This is the fourth term as an MLA for both.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government passed the floor test in the state Assembly on Saturday.

Altogether 169 MLAs voted in favour of the motion of confidence after the BJP, which has 105 MLAs, staged a walkout before the headcount began in the 288-member House.

A total of 37,83,055 electorate, including 18,01,356 women and five third-gender voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the first phase across six districts

RANCHI: An estimated 27.41 per cent polling was recorded till 11 am on Saturday in the first phase of Jharkhand assembly elections in 13 constituencies.

The voting commenced at 7 am and will end at 3 pm, Election Commission (EC) officials said.

A total of 37,83,055 electorate, including 18,01,356 women and five third-gender voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the first phase across six districts.

Additional Director General of Police Murari Lal Meena said Naxalites exploded a bomb near a culvert in the forests of Gumla district, but there was no casualty or damage.

“The explosion occurred near the culvert in the forests between Banalat and Biranpur villages under Bishunpur assembly constituency of the district,” Meena said.

He said peaceful polling is underway in all the 13 constituencies.

Palamau Deputy Commissioner-cum-Returning Officer Shantanu Agrahari said a minor clash broke out between two groups near a polling station at Kosiyara in Daltonganj assembly constituency.

The agitators broke the window panes of a police vehicle after a candidate allegedly tried to enter the polling booth, he said, adding, the situation was quickly brought under control.

The EC officials said women and youth were among the early voters in the first of the five-phase elections to the 81-member Jharkhand assembly.

The fate of 189 candidates, including 15 women nominees, will be decided in the first phase of the polling in Chatra, Gumla, Bishunpur, Lohardaga, Manika, Latehar, Panki, Daltonganj, Bishrampur, Chhatarpur, Hussainabad, Garhwa and Bhawanathpur.

The Bhawanathpur constituency has the maximum of 28 contestants, while Chatra has the lowest with nine.

Jharkhand Chief Electoral Officer Vinay Kumar Choubey said a total of 4,892 polling stations have been set up, out of which 1,262 would have webcasting facilities.

Meena said a total of 1,097 polling stations in Naxal-affected areas were marked as hypersensitive and 461 polling stations as sensitive.

Key candidates in the fray are Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee and state Health Minister Ramchandra Chandravanshi from Bishrampur and state Congress president Rameshwar Oraon from Lohardaga seat.

Oraon is taking on the former state Congress chief Sukhdeo Bhagat after the latter joined the BJP recently.

Former BJP chief whip Radhakrishna Kishore, who was denied ticket from Chhatarpur, is contesting on an All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) party ticket from the same seat.

The BJP, which is seeking a second straight win under the leadership of Chief Minister Raghubar Das, is contesting in 12 seats in the first phase while it is supporting Independent candidate Vinod Singh from Hussainabad.

The AJSU party is contesting on its own.

Challenging the BJP is the opposition alliance of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

While the Congress is contesting in six seats in the first phase, the JMM is fighting in four and the RJD in three constituencies in the first phase.

The other parties contesting the elections are Babulal Marandi’s Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik), Janata Dal (United) and the Left parties.

The rest of the four phases for the 81-member assembly will be held on December 7, 12, 16 and 20.

Counting is scheduled on December 23.

Rajapaksa arrived here on Thursday on a three-day visit, in his first overseas tour after taking over the reins of Sri Lanka 10 days back in reflection of the importance he attaches to ties with India

New Delhi, Nov 29 (PTI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday met newly-elected Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa during which a range of bilateral and regional issues were discussed, officials said.

Rajapaksa arrived here on Thursday on a three-day visit, in his first overseas tour after taking over the reins of Sri Lanka 10 days back in reflection of the importance he attaches to ties with India.

The Sri Lankan leader was given a ceremonial welcome in the morning at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were present on the occasion.

Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA Govardhan Dangi threatened to “burn” BJP MP Pragya Thakur over her comment in parliament seen as against Mahatma Gandhi

Bhopal

BJP MP Pragya Thakur has been removed a parliamentary consultative committee on defence

A Congress MLA in Madhya Pradesh has threatened to “burn” BJP MP Pragya Thakur for her reported remarks in parliament seen as disrespectful towards Mahatma Gandhi. Ms Thakur has denied her comment in parliament on Thursday was against Mahatma Gandhi.

“If Pragya Thakur sets foot here, we won’t burn her effigy, we will instead burn her,” Congress MLA Govardhan Dangi from Madhya Pradesh’s Biaora told reporters.

Ms Thakur, a first-time MP, said that Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, was a “patriot”, drawing severe criticism from the Congress and even senior BJP leaders like JP Nadda and Rajnath Singh.

The Congress MLA said the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi ran several programmes on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and gave message of peace in the country. “But Pragya Thakur is calling an assassin a patriot,” Mr Dangi said.

Ms Thakur made the comment during a discussion on the Special Protection Group (Amendment) Bill. At the time the DMK’s A Raja was speaking and referred to a statement by Nathuram Godse on why he killed Mahatma Gandhi. At around this point, Ms Thakur interrupted Mr Raja with a comment that provoked a furious reaction from the opposition.

“The topic that was discussed was of security and A Raja spoke about deshbhakt Udham Singh. He said Udham Singh nursed a grudge against General Dyer of Jallianwala Bagh massacre for 20 years before killing him. When Raja went on speaking, I interrupted to say he should not take a patriot’s name – deshbhakto ka naam mat lijiye (don’t take the names of patriots),” Pragya Thakur said.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said Pragya Thakur’s comment was condemnable and she has been removed from a parliamentary consultative committee on defence.

The Congress has demanded that Pragya Thakur resign as MP.

From a shy, introvert, temperate wildlife photographer to an astute political organizer and now the Chief Minister of Maharashtra – the rise of Uddhav Thackeray is more than impressive.

MUMBAI:  From a shy, introvert, temperate wildlife photographer to an astute political organizer and now the Chief Minister of Maharashtra – the rise of Uddhav Thackeray is more than impressive.Engrossed in his hobby of wildlife photography, Uddhav hardly took politics seriously till the mid-nineties. He was handling the responsibility of party mouthpiece, Saamna. Yet, he was aloof from politics. Moreover, due to his cousin Raj, who was the shadow of Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray back then, Uddhav remained away from the media’s eye for a long time.

Uddhav is not a great orator like his father. But, he speaks from the heart. Raj had oratory skills like his uncle and was a firebrand. Uddhav was sober. It was a complete mismatch for the Shiv Sena of those days. While the party had its government Raj had started controlling the party to a large extent. It was in the late nineties, when Raj lost some of his clout in the party organization due to Ramesh Kini case, that Uddhav got a chance to come forth. 

After the party lost power, Uddhav was made the executive head of the party. He started organising regular meetings of leaders from different regions. Gradually, many aggressive leaders, who believed in muscle power politics, got replaced by moderates.

Before the polls, he started pitching for major share in seat-sharing and the alliance with BJP broke. Uddhav stood against the Modi wave and got 63 MLAs against all odds. Probably that was the moment when he made the promise to himself that he shall have a Sena CM in 2019. That promise has been fulfilled.

The European carrier has a codeshare agreement with Air India, which allows one airline’s passenger to book a ticket on the other airline, using the first one’s ticketing system.

NEW DELHI: With Jet Airways shutting down in April, the Lufthansa airline group is planning to “strengthen” its partnership with Indian airlines like Vistara and Air India in 2020, the top Indian official of the largest European carrier said.

Moreover, apart from launching a Munich-Bengaluru flight service in April, the airline does not plan to start any other flight service in 2020, George Ettiyil, Senior Director, South Asia, Lufthansa Group, said.

Currently, the Lufthansa airline group has an interline agreement with Vistara, which allows a passenger to check-in his luggage at the first airport itself for the whole journey consisting of flights of both airlines.

“With Vistara, we are strengthening our relationship in the weeks to come. Jet Airways was one of our partners here in India and with them having left the scene, we are looking for Indian airlines to partner up with.

Asked if Lufthansa was planning to convert its interline agreement with Vistara to a codeshare agreement, he said, “We are trying to strengthen it. Let us see what the future holds in store. We have the desire to actually strengthen partnerships with other Indian airlines also. So, Vistara is an obvious choice.”

The European carrier has a codeshare agreement with Air India, which allows one airline’s passenger to book a ticket on the other airline, using the first one’s ticketing system. The Indian government is planning to sell Air India to a private player by March next year.

For 2020, the Lufthansa group “will be trying to strengthen our Indian partnerships” so that Indian carriers “can bring passengers from second and third-tier cities to our four gateways”, Ettiyil said. Two brands of the group — Lufthansa and Swiss — operate flight services to India. Swiss has daily non-stop flights connecting Zurich to Delhi and Mumbai.

Lufthansa operates daily non-stop flights connecting Frankfurt to Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai, as also daily non-stop flights connecting Munich to Delhi and Mumbai. From April 1, 2020, Lufthansa will start a five-days-a-week flight service, connecting Munich and Bengaluru. “We currently do not have any immediate plans to grow in terms of adding flight capacity,” Ettiyil said.

“We have seen a continuous growth over the past four years of India’s share on our aircraft. We are trying to grow by allowing more Indian-origin passengers on our aircraft. We have no other plans of any other further flights for 2020,” he added.

Stating that the Bengaluru-Munich flight operations would be the airline’s focus next year, Ettiyil said, “Promising cities are always on the radar. Hyderabad is always something that is there. But one has to always look at profitability.”

The Lufthansa group currently operates only wide-body aircraft for its long-haul operations between India and Europe. However, till January, it had flight operations from Frankfurt to Pune using narrow-body planes. “It was a wet-lease agreement with an operator known as PrivatAir. They unfortunately went bankrupt and we could not find an alternative,” Ettiyil said.

A wet-lease agreement is a renting agreement, where one airline provides an aircraft, its crew, its maintenance crew etc. to another airline. The Frankfurt-Pune flight operations were conducted by PrivatAir for Lufthansa for 10 years.

Asked if Lufthansa was planning to restart the Frankfurt-Pune flight operations, Ettiyil replied in the negative. “We have tried for a year (to find an alternative). We have not been successful so far. We don’t have that kind of an aircraft. This aircraft (for the Frankfurt-Pune route) has to be a modified aircraft. It needs to have a bigger fuel tank, less cargo capacity. The economy class should be better than the domestic product,” he said.

Ettiyil added that the modified plane also needed to have an European AOC (air operator’s certificate), with safety standards that were regulated by the European Union (EU). Therefore, due to these specific requirements, the airline was unable to restart the Pune operations as yet, he said, adding, “If we find an alternative to PrivatAir, we will definitely restart it.”

” After PrivatAir went bankrupt in December last year, Lufthansa did conduct flight operations in the December-January period, using its own narrow-body A320 family aircraft, Ettiyil said, adding, “Passengers did not accept that.

Ettiyil said the runway is a challenge at the Pune airport and if the Indian Air Force is able to expand it after buying an additional piece of land, any wide-body aircraft will be able to land there. “Not just Lufthansa, but many airlines would be willing to operate to Pune then, if the air force allows,” he added.

The Lufthansa group continues to sponsor the annual Startup Expo, which is organised in collaboration with TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) in Delhi. Ettiyil said the group was open to establishing commercial partnerships with startups in future, if they were relevant to the airline ecosystem.

“Initially, it was pure sponsorship (of the Startup Expo). It was a marketing investment for us. But it grew. For example, Chaayos was a winner at one of our startup initiatives called ‘Runway to Success’. Chaayos’ masala tea is served on every Lufthansa flight that goes out of India,” he said.

Asked if the group was contemplating similar commercial partnerships like the one with Chaayos, Ettiyil said, “Startups that go into travel and mobility, we will definitely have a look at them. We will see if there is anything we can do together.”

Following the meeting with NCP chief, BJP MP Sanjay Kakade said that he ‘met Pawar for personal reasons’.

MUMBAI: Amid the high political drama in Maharashtra and threat of ‘poaching’ of MLAs, the NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena have shifted their legislators to different luxury hotels in Mumbai.

While the Congress moved its MLAs to the J W Marriott hotel in Juhu area, the NCP legislators were staying at The Renaissance hotel in Powai, sources said.

Besides, the Shiv Sena MLAs are staying at The Lalit hotel located near the international airport here, they said.

The Congress legislators were earlier supposed to leave for Jaipur, but later decided to stay in Mumbai in view of the fast-paced political developments here, they added.

On the other hand, BJP MP Sanjay Kakade met NCP Chief Sharad Pawar’s at his residence here on Sunday.

Following the meeting with NCP chief, Kakade said that he “met Pawar for personal reasons”.

The meeting between Kakade and NCP chief comes ahead of Supreme Court hearing on a joint plea of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress against the decision of Maharashtra Governor inviting BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis to form the government.

Maharashtra government will not be represented by anyone in the Supreme Court today when the apex court will hear a joint plea of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress against the decision of Maharashtra Governor to invite BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis to form the government in the state, said sources.

Sources informed that since Maharashtra government has not been given any notice by the Supreme Court it has decided not to have its representation in the court.

However, the Standing Counsel of the Maharashtra government has been asked to remain on ‘standby’ and adequately represent the government in case the court asks for or if needed.

Attorney General of India, KK Venugopal is likely to appear for the Raj Bhavan while senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi is likely to represent BJP in the Supreme Court.

The petitioners – Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress – have requested the Supreme Court to order a floor test to be held on Sunday itself. Senior Congress leader and advocate Kapil Sibal will appear in the court on behalf of the petitioners.

The matter will be heard at 11:30 am today.

After a prolonged uncertainty over the government formation that lasted for nearly a month, Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday morning took oath for the second consecutive term as the state Chief Minister, while Ajit Pawar took oath as deputy chief minister.

On the other hand, the Nationalist Congress Party late on Saturday moved 44 MLAs to Renaissance Hotel here on Saturday.

The BJP won 105 seats in the 288-member assembly followed by Shiv Sena 56, NCP 54 and Congress 44.

The secular campaigning was seen outside masjids too, where candidates of all three parties and their supporters were seen outside mosques, idgahs, and dargahs.

BENGALURU: Even while the ‘religious identity’ hangs heavily on the political landscape, many of the candidates contesting the bypolls have gone ahead and erased the divide and are canvassing at all places of religious worship.

While Congress MLA aspirant Rizwan Arshad visited temples in Shivajinagar, Tanvir Ahmed of the JDS was also not far behind. He was seen outside temples, on Friday.

The BJP candidate M Saravana was also found doing the same. This is not just one constituency, but the same could be seen across constituencies.

The secular campaigning was seen outside masjids too, where candidates of all three parties and their supporters were seen outside mosques, idgahs, and dargahs. They met people after the Friday afternoon prayers, handed out pamphlets, and made assurances of change. These were mostly BJP candidates, who
shifted from the Congress or the JDS.

Congress leader B K Hariprasad “During the election campaign, candidates and their supporters go everywhere seeking voters. These so-called lines that divide should not matter.’’      

BJP leader Go Madhusudhan said, “It is just drama. Neither the Hindus who are going to mosques nor the Muslims who are visiting temples are interested in the divine. They go there merely to please the voters.’’ He also said these are his personal views and not of the BJP.    

A Congress leader, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the lifting of Article 370 and Ayodhya verdict did not impact the elections in Haryana and Maharashtra and is not being used for canvassing by the BJP here. “Our nation is essentially secular and local issues matter. Hence, everyone is concerned about local issues. How does it matter if someone goes to a temple or a mosque to connect with the voters?”

Political analyst Harish Bijoor said, “Secularism is an inherent part of our national fabric. Ultimately, the voter is supreme. How does it matter if we meet in a mosque or a temple?’’