With just two days to go for the election of the new mayor, Congress leaders are divided over the party candidate.

As per the notification issued by the urban development department, the Mayor’s post has been reserved for a woman (general). Gangambike Mallikarjun (Jayanagar- Lingayat) and Sowmya Shivakumar (Shantinagar- OBC) are in the race for the mayor post.

Gangambike is supported by the Congress heavyweights including Ramalinga Reddy, Shamanur Shivashankarappa etc. She is playing the lingayat card stating that since last 45 years no lingayat has become the city mayor.

But Sowmya with the support for DCM G Parameshwar and Shantinagar MLA Haris is also posing tough competition. A meeting convened by KPCC president Dinesh Gundurao with the corporators and the leaders failed to yield a result.

“The issue has been referred to former CM Siddaramaiah who will take a final decision in this regard,” said sources.

The JDS is also yet to announce its Deputy mayor candidate. Meanwhile, the BJP is likely to field its candidates for both the posts with the support of a few independent corporators.

PTI

The state Congress leadership has spilt the beans on cabinet expansion, but along with the date the mindset of the majority of the elected representatives to is out. Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President Dinesh Gundurao said that the cabinet expansion will be carried out only after October 10 as the inauspicious ‘Mahalaya Amavasya’ falls on October 10.

“Even though I don’t believe in the concept of auspicious and inauspicious days, many leaders are staunch believers of the same. So we have decided to take up the expansion after October 10,” he said that the posts of the corporation and boards too will be carried out simultaneously.

He also stated that there is no confusion in the party. “This government will last for five years. There are no dissidence activities,” he said.

“Filling up of the corporations and board chairman posts will also be carried out simultaneously along with the cabinet expansion,” he said.

He also informed that soon leaders will visit each district and hold a meeting with the activists. “Based on the input we receive the party will finalize its candidates,” he added.

PTI

With the weather clearing up on Thursday search and rescue operation for over 1,000 people, mostly tourists, began early in the Himachal Pradesh hills for the third day.
Two Chetak helicopters additionally deployed along with three the Indian Air Force’s sped up the rescue in the Lahaul Valley in the Middle Himalayas. The rescue operation started at 7 a.m., an official said.

Nearly 500 people were still reported to be stuck in Suraj Tal lake and Zingzing Bar areas along Keylong-Leh road.

Over 300 labourers of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), a wing of the Ministry of Defence, involved in construction of roads in forward areas have also been stranded since September 22 following incessant rains that lead to a number of landslides severing road links.

The BRO is making every effort to provide food items and medicines to those still stuck but have somehow been reached.

So far a total of 898 persons have been rescued to safety till Wednesday and they included 12 foreigners, Additional Chief Secretary Manisha Nanda said here.

“Over 700 people have been rescued by road via the Rohtang tunnel in the past two days. We expect to rescue another 200 by road on Thursday,” a senior government functionary monitoring the rescue operation told IANS.

Nanda said packets of eatables have been air dropped at Kunzam Pass.

Most people who got stuck at the Baralacha Pass were travelling to and from Manali to Leh in Jammu and Kashmir.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Wednesday apprised Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the state suffered losses totalling approximately Rs 1,250 crore due to the heavy rains.

Modi has assured the state of all possible central assistance.

Early snowfall in the higher reaches, cloud burst and heavy rains devastated large parts of the state from September 22 to 24. Kullu and Lahaul-Spiti were the worst affected.

Heavy snowfall on the Rohtang Pass (13,050 ft) has cut off the Lahaul and Spiti Valleys affecting a large number of tourists and hampering water and electricity supply. They have been stranded at number of isolated locations.

The BRO has been clearing the snow from various roads on a war footing. Some stretches had over eight feet of snow.

IANS

Rail-blockades in many stations and sporadic incidents across West Bengal districts partially hit normal life in a 12-hour called shutdown by the BJP on Wednesday.

Vehicular traffic though remained near normal.

Following the killing of two youths during a clash between agitating students and the police last week over the recruitment of new teachers at a school at Islampur in North Dinajpur district, the Bharatiya Janata Party called the shutdown claiming the two were shot dead by the police.

They have demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the incident.

The shutdown supporters put up rail blockades and clashed with the police in many stations in the suburbs in South 24 Parganas district’s Diamond Harbour, Lakhikantapur, Canning; North 24 Pargans’ Jaggadal, Kakinara, Madhaygram; Hooghly’s Konnagar; East Midnapore’s Mecheda and Howrah’s Phuleswar.

Train services were disrupted both in Howrah and Sealdah division of the Eastern Railway.

Fresh obstructions were made at Titagarh, Aranghata (Ranaghat Gede section), Krishnanagar, Barasat, Pyradanga (Kalyani Ranaghat section) and Bhabla (Barasat Bangaon) in the Sealdah division.

In the Howrah division, agitators obstructed train movement at Bansberia (Bandel Katwa section) and at Baidyabati (Howrah Bandel section).

The BJP activists, who took out rallies in many places, vandalised a number of state government buses in Howrah and Coochbehar districts.

In Kolkata, though, people hit the streets in the morning and many public and private buses, taxis, autos were seen plying normally on the roads. Most shops though remained closed.

State Minister and Trinamool Congress’ Secretary General Partha Chatterjee had said that the government would take all measures to maintain public utility services.

State BJP President Dilip Ghosh has said there would be repercussions if the ruling Trinamool deploys hooligans or uses the administration to foil the movement.

The state government has issued a circular stating its offices would remain open on Wednesday and no leave would be granted. It also urged banks, educational institutions including schools and colleges to remain open.

Additional police personnel have been deployed throughout the state to prevent any disruption or violence in connection with the shutdown.

IANS

The Saudi king inaugurated a high-speed rail line connecting the holy cities of Mecca and Medina on Tuesday.

King Salman bin Abdulaziz declared, in a ceremony held in the Saudi city of Jeddah, that the service has formally begun and boarded one of the new trains for the inaugural trip between Jeddah and Medina, a spokesman for the construction consortium told Efe news agency.

“We thank Allah for the growth and prosperity in all fields in our country, and we thank Allah Almighty for His grace. Thank you,” the king said, according to the Saudi official news agency SPA.

Initially, the routes of the line will be limited and eight daily trips will be offered between Mecca and Medina for four days a week (Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday).

The 450 km Haramain rail line connects Mecca, Jeddah, King Abdulaziz International Airport, King Abdullah Economic City in Rabigh and Medina.

A consortium including 12 Spanish firms along with two Saudi firms has been tasked with building the second phase of the project.

“This inauguration is a milestone for Spanish engineering, which has demonstrated the ability of our companies and engineers to build a high-speed train under extreme weather conditions,” Iranzo said, according to a statement from the consortium.

The inauguration was attended by Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman and other Saudi officials, as well as by Spain’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Alvaro Iranzo, and the president of the High Speed Spanish Consortium, Jorge Segrelles, among others.

Bashar Al Malik, executive director of the Saudi railway company, told EFE that the actual start of service will begin on October 4.

He pointed out that the commercial operation of the line will begin within nine days, but without giving more details.

Al Malik said he expects the high speed line to overcome the difficulties and obstacles that have caused its delay, mainly due to sandstorms.

The Spanish consortium said in a statement that tickets will be able to be reserved “in the coming weeks.”

Regular trains will start operating on the line from next month between the stations of Makkah Al Mukarramah, Madinah, Sulaymaniyah in Jeddah and King Abdullah Economic City, while trains to Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport will begin around mid-2019.

The line is aimed at doubling the number of visitors and pilgrims to the holy cities and is in line with Saudi Arabia’s development plan, Vision 2030, which aims to expand the economy and reduce its dependence on oil.

With a fleet of 35 trains, carrying up to 417 people each, the service is expected to ferry around 60 million passengers yearly.

The trains will cover the distance between Mecca and Medina in under two hours, less than half the time that it takes to cover the same distance by road.

(IANS)

Amid unrelenting Congress offensive against him in the Rafale deal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday hit out at the main opposition party, accusing it of throwing muck, indulging in lies and trying to form an “international alliance” to oust him.

But the Congress kept up the pressure with its chief Rahul Gandhi asking why the price of the fighter jets was not being disclosed and party accused the government of violating the norms in selection of the offset partner.

On its part, the BJP opened another front alleging that there was a nexus between Rahul Gandhi’s brother-in-law Robert Vadra and arms dealer and middleman Sanjay Bhandari due to which the Rafale deal with French firm was cancelled in 2012.

A senior Indian Air Force official also pitched in with support for the deal to purchase 36 fighter jets from France, saying it was better than the previous deal.

Modi, who addressed ‘Karyakarta Mahakumbh’ (workers grand conclave) in Bhopal, echoed BJP’s earlier attack about “design” between the Congress and Pakistan to remove him in the wake of Rafale deal controversy.

Modi accused the Congress of indulging in a slander campaign and said the main opposition party has become so weak that it has to beg small parties to forge alliance in the coming elections.

“What has happened to the 125-year-old Congress? We have decided to fight elections on the issue of development, but they want to fight the election by breaking the society. They want to capture power through mischief. They want to use a handful of people to spread falsehood and a storm of lies to capture power,” he said.

“Best wishes for their new path. But we are following the path of strong organisation,” he said.

Modi said Congress was not succeeding in getting allies and even if they get one, “I don’t see them succeeding”.

“So they are trying to forge an alliance internationally. Now will a foreign country decide who will be the country’s Prime Minister? After losing power, you have lost your balance,” he told the Congress party.

Modi said Congress had left no stone unturned to “abuse” him since he joined politics in 2001 and people have rejected the charges.

“The more muck they (Congress) throw, more lotuses will bloom, in every booth, every block, every village, every city and every corner of the country, he said, adding “if destruction is written in their fate, then there is no need for us to cry.”

Rahul Gandhi, who was in Amethi, continued his attack a day after he had alleged that country’s “chowkidar” (watchman) had committed “chori” (theft) in Rafale deal.

Gandhi questioned Modi’s and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman’s “silence” on the demand for disclosing the price of the fighter jets.

“First, the question is: why did the Defence Minister lie ? Then suddenly you get the price of the aircraft Rs 526 crore versus Rs 1,600 crore. Even other countries have bought Rafale aircraft but not for Rs 1,600 crore,” he said.

Referring to the offset agreement between French manufacturer Dassault and an Indian private firm, Gandhi said for 70 years HAL has been making aircraft while the private firm given the contract had not made any aircraft.

“He (Modi) always says that he wants to be the ‘chowkidar’ of the nation, not the Prime Minister. But he has given away the money belonging to the people of the country to a private firm.”

Congress leader Kapil Sibal, who addressed a press conference at party’s headquarters, said an offset partner can be chosen only with government’s clearance and the Modi government is “lying.”

“On a bare bone text reading of Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2013/2016, it makes amply clear that an offset partner cannot be selected without thorough evaluation and scrutiny by the Defence Minister and the Defence Acquisition Wing of the Ministry,” he said.

He claimed that the contract of 126 jet aircraft was done by the Congress after the same number was demanded by the Air Force.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra alleged that the then government mounted pressure on the French firm Dassault Aviation to give works to Bhandari’s company.

“Bhandari, who has close links with Vadra, formed a company named Offset India Solutions (OIS) in 2008 and he formed a joint venture as he tried to enter into an offset clause in the Rafale fighter jets deal through the back door,” he alleged.

He said Dassault made it clear that they do not want to enter into any kind of deal with the OIS. “And this was the reason why the Rafale deal was then scrapped after years of negotiations as Vadra was not getting the commission out of the deal,” he alleged.

Air Force Deputy Chief Air Marshal R. Nambiar told the media here that the deal for 36 Rafale aircraft by the Modi government was “much better” than the one negotiated earlier for 126 planes, contending that “people are misinformed” about the issue.

“All and all, it was a very good deal, much better than what was obtained in 2008,” the Deputy Chief Air Marshal said.

(IANS)

Five people of a family were killed while two others sustained critical injuries on Tuesday after their van fell into a canal in Odisha’s Puri district, police said.

The incident occurred between Rua and Bhailapur on the Nirakarpur-Puri road.

The injured have been admitted to Chandanpur hospital.

The accident took place when the driver of the vehicle lost control, the police said.

The family from Ganjam district was on its way to Puri to visit the Jagannath Temple.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the next of the kin of the victims.

IANS