A panel of female journalists has written to President Ram Nath Kovind demanding the dismissal of Union Minister M.J. Akbar who has been accused of sexual harassment by a dozen women in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

“We are extremely concerned that he continues to be a minister in the Union council of ministers even as he pursues whatever legal course of action he plans.

“You will agree this is highly unethical and improper and would cast a cloud over any investigation of his alleged misdeeds, besides undermining the independence, justice and fair play that any citizen can expect from such proceedings,” the Network of Women in Media in India (NWMI) said in the letter to the President on Monday.

Akbar, the Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs, has sued the woman who had first named him in the #MeToo campaign — journalist Priya Ramani, for defamation.

NWMI said that a criminal defamation charge is “a clear attempt to bully, intimidate and silence those who are bringing to light systemic abuse of women by men in powerful positions”.

“It is designed to push women back into silent compliance and will silence the voices of the many who have not yet spoken up,” it said.

The panel demanded that Akbar should submit himself to an independent investigation and that the Ministry of External Affairs should ask him to step down from office pending investigation.

Requesting that the case against Ramani be dropped, the panel wrote: “We would like to point out that Section 499 of the IPC (Indian Penal Code), which pertains to defamation, cites exceptions in case of ‘imputation of truth which public good requires to be made or published’.”

It said that all support should be extended by the government to women in their struggle for justice and that Union Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj should “take workplace harassment seriously and not encourage intimidatory tactics against women who have complained”.

IANS

Former Union Minister and senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh’s son Manvendra Singh, who quit the Bharatiya Janata Party in September, is likely to join the Congress on Wednesday, Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sachin Pilot said on Tuesday.

Manvendra Singh had exited BJP on September 22.

He will join Congress on the auspicious day of Maha Durgaashtami on October 17 in New Delhi at 10 a.m., Pilot told IANS.

Speculation regarding his joining the Congress party was doing the rounds soon after he quit the ruling party during a mammoth Swabhiman Rally organised at Pachpadra in Rajasthan’s Barmer.

However, he did not open his cards during or after the rally.

Singh is a sitting legislator from Sheo and should join the Congress along with his wife. A few other BJP members might also join the Congress, informed sources said.

Singh’s relationship with the BJP turned sour in 2014 when the party refused to give a ticket to his father and former Defence Minister Jaswant Singh.

The latter contested the elections as an independent candidate but lost to the BJP candidate Sonaram Chaudhary.

Other BJP leaders who left the saffron party over allegations of being neglected were seniors like Ghanshayam Tiwari and Usha Punia among others.

Earlier, when Manvendra Singh announced his departure, Pilot had said that BJP needs to do an introspection as to why so many senior leaders were the saffron fold.

A bus accident in West Bengal’s Hooghly district left five persons dead and many others injured on Tuesday, police said.

“The bus overturned and fell into the Dakatiya Khaal (a canal) on Haripal Road this morning. The injured were rushed to hospital,” a police official said.

The rescue operation was still underway and the cause or extent of damage due to the accident was not yet clear, he added.

Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy’s wife Anitha on Monday filed her nomination to contest the Assembly by-poll from Ramanagara constituency, about 50 km southwest of here.

Anitha filed her nomination for the November 3 election, accompanied by the Chief Minister, a Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leader said.

By-election is being held on November 3 in two Assembly seats — Jamkhandi in northwestern Bagalkot district and Ramanagara city in Ramanagara district. Tuesday is the last day to file nominations.

The vacancy in the two seats was caused following the resignation of the Chief Minister from Ramanagara seat and owing to the death of Congress legislator Siddu Nyamagouda in a road accident on May 28, after being elected from Jamkhandi constituency.

Kumaraswamy, who contested and won from two adjacent Assembly segments, retained the Channapatna seat.

Anitha, 55, declared total assets worth Rs 94 crore and said another Rs 7.88 crore worth of assets belong to her husband.

Backed by the Congress, she is contesting against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s L. Chandrashekar.

Anitha had earlier won a by-election in 2008 from Madhugiri Assembly seat but lost the by-election for Channapatna constituency in 2012.

In the Jamakhandi seat, Congress candidate and son of late legislator Nyamagouda, Anand Siddu Nyamagouda, and BJP’s Shrikant S. Kulkarni are in the fray.

The JD-S is backing the Congress in Jamakhandi.

Scrutiny for the nominations will take place on Wednesday and the last date for withdrawal of candidatures is October 20.

By-election for three Lok Sabha constituencies in the state — Shivamogga, Ballari (ST) and Mandya — will also be held on November 3.

Coalition partners JD-S and Congress are also contesting the ensuing Lok Sabha by-election together.

BJP’s state unit president and former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa’s son B.Y. Raghavendra is in fray from the Shivamogga seat, contesting against Janata Dal-United (JD-U)’s Mahima J. Patel, the son of late former Karnataka Chief Minister J.H. Patel (1996-1999).

On the other hand, senior Congress leader V.S. Ugrappa is in fray from Ballari seat against BJP’s J. Shantha.

Shantha, a former member of Parliament in Lok Sabha in 2009, is the sister of BJP’s legislator from the state, B. Sriramulu.

Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) will be used for the by-polls.

In the 28 Lok Sabha seats from the southern state, the BJP has 15, Congress 9 and the JD-S 1, while three seats are vacant.

In the 224-member Assembly, the BJP has 104, Congress 79 and the JD-S 36.

IANS

The boys were among 50 students from Siddaganga Pre-University College in Tumakuru district who had come to Dobbespet to take part in the National Service Scheme (NSS) camp for service.

The craze for selfie claimed the lives of three teenage students as they drowned in Nijagalkere lake on the outskirts of Bengaluru Monday, police said.

Three students, in the age group of 16-17, went to the Siddheshwara shrine.

Suddenly, one of them slipped and started drowning as he was posing for the shot.

The other two jumped in to save him and they too drowned, police said.

The bodies have been recovered.

PTI

A 25-year-old Indian man has been killed in a car crash in New Zealand’s Queenstown, the media reported.

Harpreet Singh, who hailed from Punjab, had come to New Zealand as a student seven years ago and moved to Queenstown 6-7 months ago, New Zealand’s news magazine The Indian Weekender reported.

The incident happened on early Sunday morning when his car collided with a tourist bus carrying 15 people near Devils Staircase, south of Queenstown. He later succumbed to his injuries, while the passengers and the driver of the bus were safe.

Singh was supposed to travel to India to meet his family later in December.

“He was a smart, bright and a generous person. We have lost a gem,” said Singh’s paternal grandfather, who lives in New Zealand.

Singh’s father died three years ago. He is survived by his mother and a younger sister who is studying MBBS, both living in India.

Singh’s body was taken to Invercargill and the news report said that his funeral arrangements will be made in Auckland once coroner released his official documents and the body.

IANS

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday hit out at Narendra Modi, accusing the Prime Minister of insulting the people of India.

“The Prime Minister said from the ramparts of the Red Fort that the nation had been asleep for 70 years,” he said here ahead of next month’s Assembly election in Madhya Pradesh. “This is an insult to every section of the society.”

On August 15, Modi had criticized the Congress that has ruled for long years since India’s Independence in 1947. He had said that India was earlier a sleeping elephant, which had woken up and started running.

President Donald Trump finds India and China competing with the US, Gandhi said at a public meeting here. “We have reached this stage because of the contribution of farmers, workers, small businessmen and women over the past 70 years.”

He called the Modi government at the Centre a “government of the country’s top 15 businessmen”.

“The Centre is not ready to waive off loans of farmers but has done so for 15 top businessmen. The Congress had waived off farmers’ loans,” Gandhi added.

The Congress leader reached Gwalior by a special plane on Monday and then went to the Pitambara Peeth temple in Datia, accompanied by party leaders Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Madhya Pradesh goes to polls on November 28.

IANS

Accusing the Congress of turning itself into an organisation with an anti-India mindset, the BJP on Monday sought an apology from its President Rahul Gandhi and sacking of Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu for his analogy between visiting Pakistan and south India.

BJP Spokesperson G.V.L. Narasimha Rao told the media that the Congress has been following a double-pronged strategy — hoping to make an entry in Pakistan’ politics by showing its “love and affection” for it and by following a “break India campaign”.

“Break the country is the new slogan of Rahul Gandhi. He is following a strategy creating division and disaffection between different regions of the country. The Congress is no longer a political party but has become an organisation with anti-India mindset,” Rao said citing recent incidents of migration of north Indians from Gujarat and Congress’ stand during action against urban naxals.

“This was done with a political narrative and the genesis of all this goes back to the manner in which Cambridge Analytica, a company which was retained by Congress, creates social and communal conflicts and caste divide,” he said.

The BJP’s attack on the Congress comes in the wake of Sidhu’s recent remarks at the Khushwant Singh Literature Festival in Kasauli, where he drew an analogy between visiting Pakistan and south India.

Implying that Pakistan’s culture was more similar and familiar to Punjab than south India, he had said: “I can’t understand the language, it’s just one or two words. Not that I don’t like the food, but I cannot have it for a long time, the culture is totally different. When I go to Pakistan, the language is the same, like you know, when you abuse in English 10 times, one abuse in Punjabi overpowers all.”

Hitting out at Sidhu, Rao said that his analogy was an attempt to poison the minds of people to divide different parts of India and to create a negative and adverse image of south India.

“You should apologize and you have to sack Sidhu from Punjab cabinet. Nothing short of sacking will satisfy people from South. We will certainly raise this issue. We will hold protests against Sidhu and Rahul Gandhi. We will take to streets. Rahul Gandhi must apologize and sack Sidhu within this week. Otherwise be ready to face political consequences when you visit south,” Rao said.

He said Sidhu had no business to insult people of south India.

“You may love your leader, you may love your pasta and pizza or you may love Karachi kulche we have no problem but you have no business to say that I like Pakistan more than South India.

The BJP leader also accused the Congress of insulting former Prime Minister late P. V. Narasimha Rao, saying Sonia Gandhi’s hatred against South India did not allow Rao’s body to be taken to Congress headquarters in Delhi and his body was forcibly taken to Hyderabad despite the wishes of his family members, who wanted his cremation in Delhi.

“Rao (P.V.Narasimha), who was the real father of economic reforms, was not even cremated properly. Rahul Gandhi should apologize for ill treating a great statesman like Rao,” he said.

He took a dig at the Congress for not giving due credit to Rao in the Congress’s campaign and functions in South India specially in Telangana and said if the Congress does not do so the BJP will tell people to throw the party into the Hussain Sagar lake in Hyderabad.

IANS

Madhya Pradesh unit Congress chief Kamal Nath on Monday accused Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s government for the bad road condition in the state.

All previous records of corruption pale when compared to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s rule of corruption in the state, the Office of Kamal Nath tweeted sharing a broken road photo in the state.

He also shared a video showing a car stuck in a muddy road, saying the Chouhan government should stop hiding its failure.

Chouhan responded to the Congress accusation saying the photos were of Bangladesh roads.

“Earlier, Digvijayji (former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh) brought Pakistan’s Bridge to Bhopal, and now Kamal Nathji took Bangladesh’s road to Madhya Pradesh,” he tweeted in Hindi.

IANS