TDP president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu was unanimously elected as the leader of the Telugu Desam Legislature Party (TDLP) here on Wednesday.

A meeting of the TDLP, attended by the newly-elected MLAs and MPs of the party, was held at Naidu’s residence.

The TDP, which ruled the state from June 2014, faced a rout at the hands of the YSR Congress Party in the just-concluded election to the state Assembly, winning just 23 of the 175 seats.

In the Lok Sabha polls too, the Naidu-led party suffered a drubbing, bagging only three of the state’s 28 seats.

The TDP chief held a meeting with the 23 newly-elected MLAs and the three MPs, besides senior leaders of the party.

Since the election results were declared on May 23, there was speculation in party circles that Naidu would make way for another leader to lead the TDLP.

At the TDLP meeting, however, the lawmakers elected him unanimously, 
according to party sources.

“Only Chandrababu should be the TDLP leader. It gives us a lot of confidence and strength,” senior legislator Gorantla Butchaiah Chowdary said.

Another legislator, N China Rajappa, said they had unanimously elected Naidu as their leader once again.

He said they had entrusted the choice of selecting the TDLP deputy leaders and the party whip with Naidu.

Later, Naidu appointed Galla Jayadev, who was re-elected as the MP from Guntur, as the leader of the Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party.

Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, who was also re-elected from Srikakulam, would be the party’s leader in the Lok Sabha, while former Union minister Y Satyanarayana Chowdary would be the party leader in the Rajya Sabha.

The TDP’s strength in the Lok Sabha has fallen from 15 to three, while in the Rajya Sabha, the party has six members (five from Andhra Pradesh and one from Telangana).

Naidu has said his party will play the role of a constructive opposition and extend co-operation to the new YSRCP government in Andhra Pradesh. 

Weeks after a controversial cover story that labelled Prime Minister Narendra Modi “divider-in-chief”, TIME magazine, after the BJP’s massive election victory and return to power, has done a turnabout with a new headline: “Modi Has United India Like No Prime Minister in Decades”.

The latest article, published on the TIME website on Tuesday, asks how a “supposedly divisive figure not only managed to keep power, but increase his levels of support?” Its answer – “A key factor is that Modi has managed to transcend India’s greatest fault line: the class divide”.

The author, Manoj Ladwa, describes PM Modi’s second term as “a victory for meritocracy, and for opportunity, thanks to a slate of welfare policies for the country’s extreme poor”. He also highlights the Prime Minister’s rise from “one of India’s most disadvantaged social groups” as aspirational.

Mr Ladwa goes on to describe the demonetisation of 2016 as “short-term pain” that led to “long-term gain” and praises PM Modi and his government for “digitization that has empowered the poor”, increased tax revenue (as a result of demonetisation) and schemes like the Jan Dhan Yojana.

“Through socially progressive policies, he has brought many Indians, both Hindus and religious minorities, out of poverty at a faster rate than in any previous generation,” writes Mr Ladwa, the founder and CEO of Britain-based media company India Inc., which publishes India Global Business.

The previous article by British-born writer Aatish Taseer had criticised the Modi government as one in which “minorities of every stripe-from liberals and lower castes to Muslims and Christians-have come under assault” and which has lead” India down the road to a profound anti-intellectualism”.

The article was seized by opposition parties for attacks on PM Modi and the BJP during their campaign.

The BJP had termed the TIME article as an attempt to malign PM Modi’s image and had accused author Aatish Taseer, the son of journalist Tavleen Singh and late Pakistani politician and businessman Salmaan Taseer, of pursuing Pakistan’s agenda.

“Time magazine is foreign, the writer has also said he comes from a Pakistani political family. That is enough for his credibility,” the Prime Minister said on May 18, the day before polling for the final phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections were to take place.

The Prime Minister and his council of ministers will take oath on Thursday. PM Modi, in his speech to his party and the NDA, described his new government as being “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas (With everybody, for everybody and with everybody’s trust)” and also called on NDA leaders to earn the trust of minority communities in India.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is not going to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief announced her decision in a tweet on Wednesday, accusing the BJP of making false claims about political violence in Bengal.

“It was my plan to accept the constitutional invitation and attend the oath-taking ceremony. However, in the last one hour, I am seeing media reports that the BJP are claiming 54 people have been murdered in political violence in Bengal. This is completely untrue,” Banerjee said in her statement posted on Twitter. The tweet accompanying the statement reads, “The oath-taking ceremony is an august occasion to celebrate democracy, not one that should be devalued by any political party.”

These deaths may have occurred due to personal enmity, family quarrels and other disputes; nothing related to politics. There is no such record with us. So, I am sorry Narendra Modi ji, this has compelled me not to attend the ceremony, Banerjee further said in her statement.

The BJP lost many workers in panchayat, local body and parliamentary elections in West Bengal during election-related violence. Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah repeatedly highlighted the issue at the rallies they addressed.

Fifty four special guests, besides leaders from BIMSTEC countries and a host of celebrities and politicians, would be attending the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Council of Ministers on Thursday. The Prime Minister has specially invited family members of BJP workers who were killed in incidents of political violence in West Bengal over the past few years, a senior BJP leader said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Banerjee had said that she has accepted the invite to attend the ceremony. “I have spoken to other Chief Ministers also. Since it is a ceremonial program, we thought of attending it. Yes, I will go,” she told media in Kolkata on Tuesday.

Banerjee had indulged in a war of words with Modi during the campaign period in the run-up to the elections, in which the BJP has made deep inroads into the Trinamool territory in West Bengal by winning 18 Lok Sabha seats out of 42. The TMC’s victory was reduced from 34 in 2014 to 22 in 2019.

Modi will be sworn in for a second term as the prime minister on Thursday at 7pm in Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, along with members of the Union Council of Ministers.

Agencies

Bengaluru, May 29 : Karnataka Public Education Department has decided to postpone reopening of Schools for the Academic year 2019-2020 to June 14 due to severe drought condition prevailing in Hyderabad-Karnataka region.
The Schools should have started functioning from today but in the interests of School going children and to protect their health, it was decided to postpone the reopening to June 14 as recommended by various District authorities.
In other parts of the State the Schools started functioning from today.
The region is reeling under severe heat condition as mercury is hovering at more than 40 Degree Celsius. Yesterday, Kalaburagi registered 43.5 Degree Celsius, the State’s highest temperature.
The Department in its Notification issued here on Wednesday, however, stated that full time class may be held on Saturday instead of holding only morning class and during holidays also full time class may be held to cover the portions remaining.

Bengaluru, May 29 : Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy will attend the swearing-in ceremony of the Narendra Modi as the Prime minister of the country tomorrow at New Delhi.
According to official sources, Kumaraswamy will visit New Delhi tomorrow and attend the ceremony.
Modi is scheduled to take the oath of the office, for the second successive term following a spectacular victory in the just concluded Lok Sabha election in which the BJP led NDA had trounced the opposition parties including Congress by winning more than 350 seats in the 543 member Lok Sabha.
Party sources told UNI that State BJP President B S Yeddyurappa is also scheduled to attend the oath taking ceremony.

Bengaluru, May 29 : All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary and incharge of party affairs in Karnataka K C Venugopal had several rounds of talks with the State party leaders and discussed about working out strategies to save the one-year-old Coalition government.
He held meeting with former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara, D K Shivakumar, M B Patil and others and took stock of the political situation after receiving a severe jolt in the just concluded Lok Sabha election.
The leaders, reportedly discussed about some of the party MLAs threatening to quit the party and pull down the coalition government and steps to be taken to prevent them.
The Sources said that the leaders, among other options have decided to convince the fence sitting MLAs, to remain in the party fold and offer them with Cabinet berths and other lucrative posts in the state government.
Speaking to newsmen, Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara said that “We have discussed about the poor performance of the Congress and the JD(S) in the just concluded Lok Sabha elections and its impact on the state government”.
“We have also discussed about measures to be taken to strengthen the party,” he added.
The meeting of the senior leaders assume importance, in the backdrop of the Congress legislature Party (CLP) meeting convened by the CLP leader Siddaramaiah in the night, today.

Bengaluru, May 28 : In its efforts to save the one-year-old JD(S)-Congress coalition government, which is facing severe crisis following setback it eceived in the Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka AICC president Rahul Gandhi has decided to depute a Central party team to assist the State Congress leaders to hammer out the solutions.
According to KPCC sources, the former Union minister and the leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Gulam Nabi Azad and the Party in-charge for Karnataka K C Venugopal, are arriving on Tuesday and join the Congress leaders, in working out strategies to stave off any threat to the stability of the Coalition government.
The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which had registered a stellar performance in the just concluded Lok Sabha elections bagging as many as 25 seats out of the total number of 28, is making all efforts to wean away the dissident Congress and the JD(S) MLAs to its side and topple the Alliance government.
Chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief minister Dr G Parameshwara and former Chief minister Siddaramaiah held series of meetings earlier in their bid to save the coalition government, and are in constant touch with the dissident Congress MLAs, and pursuing them not to desert the party and save the government.
According to party sources, the state Congress leaders, have reportedly offered them to give them a berth in the state cabinet, by filling about three vacancies as well as accommodating more of them during the cabinet reshuffle.
Former Chief minister Siddaramaiah had confirmed that there will be all possibilities of filling of vacancies as well as reshuffling of the cabinet, paving way to include more number of disgruntled MLAs, to the Council of ministers.
The much needed cabinet reshuffle is expected to take place in the first week of June in which several ministers would opt out from the cabinet to make way to others, the sources said.
It may be recalled that in the 224-member Karnataka Assembly the Opposition BJP has a strength of 105 members, is making all efforts to reach the number that makes the majority, and topple the JD(S)-Congress coalition government, which is enjoying the strength of 119 members including two Independents and a BSP member.

After landslide victory India’s PM reaches out to Muslims, who fear they will continue to be target of Hindu hardliners.

New Delhi, India – Days after returning to power with a resounding mandate, Prime Minister Narendra Modi struck a conciliatory tone by saying his party needed to win the trust of Muslims – the country’s largest minority. 

Modi led his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to a landslide win on the back of a divisive campaign that ostensibly targeted Muslims. 

The Indian prime minister said that the opposition parties “deceived minorities” by not addressing their basic needs such as healthcare and education. 

“Due to vote bank politics, minorities were crushed, boxed into a corner, subjected to imaginary fears, and exploited during the elections,” he said addressing the newly elected parliamentarians. 

But Asaduddin Owaisi, one of India’s most prominent Muslim leaders, was not impressed by Modi’s apparent minority outreach. 

“Just hours after the results were declared, Muslims were publicly attacked in many places by those celebrating Modi’s victory,” Owasi, the president of the All India Majlis-e-ittadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) party, told Al Jazeera.

Since the BJP won the election last week, at least five incidences of hates crimes have been recorded.

In Madhya Pradesh state, three Muslims, including a woman, were badly beaten by a mob on the suspicion of carrying beef.

On Sunday, a Muslim man was attacked in Gurugram, a suburb of Delhi. He was stripped of his prayer cap and made to shout slogans in praise of Hindu gods.

Stop lynchings

Owaisi told local media that if Modi cared about Muslims, then he should stop cow vigilantes from lynching Muslims.

In the past five years of Modi’s rule, 44 people have been lynched, most of them Muslims, by cow vigilantes, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.

The BJP stoked fear among Hindus of potential Muslim threat, with campaigning raising divisive issues such as construction of a temple in place of a demolished mosque, and change in citizenship law to bar Muslims.

Author and senior journalist Saeed Naqvi said that religious polarisation was the main key to the BJP’s success.

“Such polarisation was last seen during the partition of India and Pakistan,” Naqvi told Al Jazeera, referring to the 1947 division of the Indian subcontinent to form the Muslim-majority Pakistan and Hindu majority India. 

Naqvi, the author of “Being the Other: The Muslim in India”, said the partition marked the beginning of the “Hindu project, which has now come of age”.READ MORE

Q&A: ‘India is heading towards a full ethnic democracy’

“With the election verdict, the majority Hindus have given vent to their unfulfilled aspiration for a Hindu India. This process is only going to intensify in the coming decades.” 

More than a million people were killed during the partition and 17 million people were displaced in one of the worst tragedies of modern times.

Kashmir and Assam

Parvez Imroz from India-administered Kashmir and Aman Wadud from Assam, both human rights lawyers, fear that Muslims in their states will be the first to bear the brunt of the BJP’s Hindu supremacist agenda.

The BJP adopted national security as one of their main poll planks after a suicide attack in Kashmir that killed 40 Indian security forces in February.

In Assam, the BJP based its campaign on the promise that it will rid the state of undocumented Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh, while promising to keep the Hindu immigrants in contravention of India’s secular constitution.

BJP president Amit Shah had referred to Bangladeshi immigrants as “termites” and “infiltrators” during the poll campaign, a statement that a BJP spokesperson defended in an Al Jazeera programme.

Muslims form one-third of Assam population but their citizenship has always been suspected. A Supreme Court monitored body published a draft list of citizens last year, leaving out nearly four million people.

Wadud feels the election mandate will further embolden the BJP to execute its vision of an Assam free of Bengali Muslims.

“Of the four million people left out of NRC, we can expect Muslims to be arbitrarily left out of the final list and stripped of all basic entitlements such as healthcare, education and voting rights,” he said.

“Now, there’s nothing stopping the BJP.

Narendra Modi: The making of a majoritarian leader

For Imroz, Modi’s victory has raised fears among Kashmiris that the BJP will abolish articles 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution, which provide special safeguards to the disputed region administered by India.

Kashmir has witnessed an armed rebellion since late 1980s during which more than 60,000 civilians have been killed. India has stationed nearly half a million forces to fight the rebels, who either want independence or merger of Muslim-majority region with Pakistan.

‘Working class hero’

He warned that repealing those safeguards will trigger a massive uprising in Kashmir and “radicalise” even those sections of Kashmiris, who have so far stayed clear of politics.

“Going by past record, we can expect the resistance to be met with more brutal military repression,” said Imroz.

“India under Modi has been adopting methods used by Israel in Palestine. There’s also growing proximity between the two nations. The question in Kashmir is: will India follow Israel’s footsteps in ignoring international opinion?”

Professor Sumeet Mhaskar of Jindal School of Government and Public Policy sought to downplay the influence of Hindutva (Hindu supremacy) on people’s minds.

Don’t back politics that divides: Indian scientists urge voters

“It is incorrect to say people have suddenly turned right and sanctioned the purge of Muslims. There is an element of that, but this is not a purely ideological mandate,” he said.

Mhaskar, an expert on unorganised labour and anti-caste politics, said the lower castes, who form the bulk of the unorganised workforce, voted overwhelmingly in favour of the BJP. The party, he said, has been extremely successful in projecting Modi as a working class hero.

The BJP campaign played up Modi’s identity as a leader from the backward castes (OBC), an ordinary tea-seller and watchman. This, Mhaskar said, was a powerful tug on the emotions of the lower caste voters, who form the biggest chunk of the Indian electorate.

Mhaskar said that the BJP captured the imagination of lowered castes, who were traditionally on the fringes of Hindu society, by promoting the vision of a new Hindu nation, united against Muslims, in which even an OBC and former tea seller can become the prime minister.

“This vision of political Hindusim, which is known as Hindutva, is very different from ritual or religious Hinduism in which one’s profession is decided at birth by divine decree,” he said.

Aljazeera

Bengaluru, May 28 : In an attempt to win the confidence of the dissident Congress MLAs, Chief minister H D Kumaraswamy met them individually and pursued them not to fell prey to the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s game plan to topple the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in the state.
Chief minister met the Congress MLA form Belagavi district Mahesh Kaujalagi, a close associate of the dissident Cognress MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi, and closeted with him for an hour on Tuesday.
According to official sources, Chief minister, while appealing the Congress MLA, not to take a step that may threaten the stability of the coalition government, also assured him to take care of the development of his Bailahongal Assembly constituency.
Chief minister had also met another Congress MLA, V Muniyappa, who is representing the Shidlaghatta and discussed about the political situation after the Lok Sabha poll. Among others, Chief minister had also agreed to release sufficient funds to the MLAs’ constituency which is reeling under severe bout of drought conditions.
Kumaraswamy also met Umesh Kumatalli, another dissident Congress MLA, on Monday and pursued him not to make anything to rock the coalition boat.
The Chief minister, who held the meeting with the Dissident Congress MLAs, had also met the independent MLA from Mulbagal in Kolar district, Nagesh, who is nursing ambition to get a berth in the state cabinet.
Later speaking to newsmen, Nagesh informed that he had staked claim to a berth in the state cabinet and conveyed not to take any post of Boards and Corporations.
Meanwhile, another Congress MLA, Dr Ajay Singh, had also claimed a berth in the state cabinet.
Speaking to newsmen after meeting party leaders, had said that “It seems that the dissident Congress MLAs, are getting more focus to induct into the cabinet, however I have appealed to consider the names of Party Loyalists to the coveted posts”.