Greater Noida, March 29 (Nasheman News) Eight persons, including a woman, were killed, and 24 others injured on Friday when a speeding bus rammed into a truck from the rear on the Yamuna Expressway here, police in Uttar Pradesh said.

The accident occurred at around 5 a.m. near Karauli village some 29 kilometre from the Expressway Zero point. 

The bus packed with passengers was headed to Noida from Agra when its driver apparently missed the truck in the dark and hit it from the rear.

The impact of the collision was such that the front part of the bus was completely damaged. 

Villagers from nearby informed the police and also helped in the rescue.

“Teams were immediately rushed to the spot. The injured were pulled out of the badly damaged bus and admitted to Kailash Hospital in nearby Jewar,” SHO Rabupura, Sunil Kumar Singh told IANS.

The bus driver is among those killed. The bodies have been sent for autopsies, Singh added.

The police is trying to establish the sequence of events and trying to record eyewitness accounts.

New Delhi, March 29 (Nasheman News) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday slammed the Congress, while accusing it of coining the “Hindu terror” slogan and filing cases based on fake evidence to gain political mileage.

Days after an anti-terror court in Haryana acquitted Swami Aseemanand in the 2007 bombing of the Samjhauta Express, Jaitley said a decision has to be taken in the end. 

“Perhaps because of this, those who considered Hindus as terrorists are now trying to prove their devotion towards religion,” he told the media, adding that the trial in court happened on the basis of evidence collected during the UPA regime.

The Bharatiya Janata Party leader said that during the tenure of the UPA, when there was no evidence, the theory of Hindu terror was floated for the first time in the history of the country to tarnish the Hindu community. 

“Three-four similar cases were made but none of them could stand in the court. The Congress floated the fake theory of Hindu terror to gain political mileage and tarnished the entire Hindu community. They should apologise to the community,” he said.

Last week, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court here acquitted all four accused, including Aseemanand, in the February 2007 Samjhauta Express train blast which killed 68 people, mostly Pakistanis.

Slamming the Congress, Jaitley said: “The judgment makes it clear that it was a trial of no evidence… So many innocent people died. Who will take responsibility of this? The responsibility lies with the UPA leadership. The society will not forgive them.

“You did not go towards the real culprits. To create a theory of Hindu terror, you caught the wrong people.”

The NIA court had in January 2014 framed charges against Aseemanand, Kamal Chauhan, Rajinder Chaudhary and Lokesh Sharma.

The Congress on Friday fielded actress Urmila Matondkar from Mumbai North Lok Sabha constituency two days after she joined the party.

Matondkar had joined the Congress after meeting Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday and had later said that she was “here to stay”.

“The Congress central election committee has approved the candidature of Urmila Matondkar as party candidate to contest the ensuing general elections from Mumbai North parliamentary constituency in Maharashtra,” a party statement said.

After joining the party, Matondkar had said she felt the need to join the Congress party as the freedom to express was under attack in the country and there are numerous examples in this regard in the last five years.

She had said the Congress party has participated in the freedom struggle and it stood for freedom.

Agencies

Puducherry, Mar 29 : AICC Puducherry Secretary-in-charge Sanjay Dutt on Friday termed the upcoming Lok Sabha polls as a mandate between the ideologies of Mahatama Gandhi and Nathuram Godse with Congress representing the Gandhian thoughts and principles.
Addressing a press conference here, he said the lines are very clearly divided no matter how much Mr Modi try to divert attention by raising irrelevant issues to hide his failure in every field.
Reminding Mr Narendra Modi of his promise of delivering Rs 15 lakh into the bank accounts of every Indian, Dutt said “Rahul Gandhi had promised waiver of agricultural loans of farmers during the campaign in MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan assembly elections, and within ten days of coming into power he delivered his promise.”
Dutt accused Mr Modi of not fulfiling the promises he had made during 2014. “He promised of curbing terror attacks and still we are witnessing terror attacks in the country, he promised of stabilizing price rise and presently we are facing the highest rate inflation”, he said.

Dutt said Modi is ‘Chowkidar’ for only the likes of Ambani, Adani, Nirav Modi etc and it is very clear that the total policy was of ‘Loot, Jhoot and Scoot?. “How can a person escape from the country without the support of the government”, he said.
“It is clear that they left the country with the support of the government”, he said adding that before leaving all of them gave donations to BJP which is the part of loot officially and unofficially every one knows, he added.

Mentioning the new NYAY scheme Dutt said, “As far as the congress party is concerned it wanted to empower all the people of the country. Rahul Gandhi along with P Chidambaram had explained how the scheme is going to be implemented. All doubts were cleared press conference and now those raising doubts are against the poor.”

Panaji, March 29 (Nasheman News) People of Goa will vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the coming Lok Sabha polls as homage to late Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar who died on March 17, incumbent Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Friday.

Speaking to the media after outgoing Lok Sabha MP and Union Ayush Minister Shripad Naik filed his nomination papers for the North Goa seat, Sawant admitted that campaigning for the elections, in the absence of Parrikar, would be a difficult proposition. 

“Because of the work and development which Manohar Parrikar has carried out for so many years, people will vote for us as a homage to the late leader. Definitely, they will vote for us as a mark of respect and remembrance to him and help us win both (Lok Sabha) seats,” Sawant said.

He said the poll campaign would be “quite difficult” in Parrikar’s absence, but added that the body of work put in by him over the years as well as support from the allies, would see the party through in the polls.

“Without Parrikar, the campaigning is quite difficult for us, we know that. We are going into elections without Parrikar for the first time. But the people of Goa are with us. Alliance partners are with us.”

Sawant said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government had spent Rs 15,000 crore for infrastructure development in Goa, which includes highway expansion, an upcoming international airport and new bridges which would help the BJP win the Lok Sabha polls.

Sawant’s comment however, comes at a time when the Goa Chief Electoral Officer is probing a complaint against him for conducting a state-wide programme of distribution of Parrikar’s ashes, which were immersed in water bodies across Goa earlier this week.

The complaint filed by a city lawyer also quoted a part of Sawant’s speech where he reportedly said that in Parrikar’s absence, the late Chief Minister’s ashes will help fetch the BJP the winning votes in the forthcoming general elections as well as the by-polls to the three Assembly seats.

Bengaluru, Mar 29 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Karnataka has demanded the State Police to register criminal complaints against the JD(S) and the Congress leaders, who Yesterday allegedly threatened the IT officials with dire consequences for conducting raids on various business persons, civil contractors and those who were close to the leaders of the two parties.
Addressing a press conference here on Friday, BJP State Spokesperson G Madhusudan charged that Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and his cabinet ministers, including Dr G Parameshwara, D K Shivakumar and others gathered near the IT office and criticised the IT authorities and used abusive languages. Chief Minister and his Cabinet Ministers organised public meeting without taking permission from the Election Commission.
While demanding the State police to register case against those who were present during the protest against the IT authorities, the BJP leader also urged Governor Vajubhai Vala to take serious note of Chief Minister’s attitude in coming out in the street and addressed the gathering in front of the IT office.
“It is highly unethical on the part of the Chief Minister and his cabinet members, joined hands to protect the tax evaders and corrupt elements in the society”, the BJP leader charged.
It may be recalled that both the Congress and the JD(S) leaders including Kumaraswamy and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Dr Parameshwara had lead a protest rally
against the IT officials, for having conducted raids in multiple locations on Thursday, targeting the Congress and the JD(S) supporters.

The CM and several Congress leaders staged a protest outside the I-T Dept’s office on Thursday alleging that the BJP was misusing constitutional agencies for political gains.

On Thursday, the Income Tax officials went knocking on the doors of several influential politicians, businessmen and government officials in Karnataka. Late on Wednesday night, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy told the media that Income Tax officials would raid the homes of JD(S) leaders and their associates. Within a few hours, the I-T officials conducted search and survey operations across 28 locations in Bengaluru, Mandya, Hassan, Shivamogga and Kanakapura.

The Congress-JD(S) coalition has dubbed the raids as a political move by the BJP, which was indulging in “revenge politics” in order to “scare away” opposition parties. In order to express their outrage, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Congress legislative party chief Siddaramaiah, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President Dinesh Gundu Rao, Deputy CM Dr G Parameshwara and Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar held a protest outside the Income Tax Department’s office in Bengaluru.

Dubbing the DG and IG of the Income Tax Department of Goa and Karnataka — Balakrishna as a BJP stooge, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy alleged that the chief of the I-T Department was corrupt.

“The director who is here is not an honest officer. I know how many flats he owns in Mumbai and how he misused his power for personal gains. I am asking him not to be BJP’s agent… The leaders at the Centre have held backroom talks with him and promised him governorship after retirement,” Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy alleged.

Kumaraswamy also claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP National President Amit Shah were using the state machinery and constitutional institutions to target opposition parties. Kumaraswamy also alleged that PM Modi and Amit Shah were on their way to change the Constitution of India.

“Ever since the BJP came to power at the Centre, Narendra Modi has been misusing constitutional agencies. They are on their way to change the Constitution of India framed by Ambedkar and establish a dictatorship. We are not against Income Tax raids. We are against the fact that the purpose of the raids is to target opposition parties. That is what we are protesting,” Kumaraswamy added.

Speaking to the media during the protest, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah questioned why the CRPF was brought in for the raids and why the state police force was not intimated about the I-T Department’s search operation.

“When I-T raids are conducted, the state police protection is requested. Why was CRPF brought in? The country’s institutions are under threat. When a month ago, BJP leaders tried to bribe legislators with crores of rupees, did the I-T officers take note of it? Were they sleeping? Has it not come to their notice? Why have they not questioned how these leaders are getting the money to offer bribes? How many BJP leaders’ homes have been raided? A local BJP leader sends lists to Amit Shah. That list is forwarded to the I-T department, which conducts raids,” Siddaramaiah added.

Chief Minister Kumaraswamy also stated that the EC had seized Rs 2 crore in Shivamogga last week and had handed over the case to the I-T Department, which has not announced the leaders who were being investigated. Hinting that the money belonged to a BJP leader, Kumaraswamy said, “In Hosanagar, election officers seized Rs 2 crore cash and handed over the case to the Income Tax Department. Why have you not publicised whose money it was? EC seized Rs 1.5 crore near Vidhana Soudha last week right. Why is I-T Dept not investigating whose money it was? They are indulging in petty politics to cow down the opposition parties.” 

Recalling the illegal mining scam involving Janardhana Reddy and BJP leaders, which had shaken the state in 2011, Kumaraswamy said that “time and again” BJP leaders have “indulged in corrupt practices”. “Everyone knows how corrupt BJP leaders in the state are. We all know how the BJP looted the state. They flew in officials in airplanes and booked 300 Ola cabs for them to conduct raids. The media is saying that Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy is scared. My door is always open. Send anyone. I will welcome them,” Kumaraswamy added.

Agencies