Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday announced a cash reward of Rs 50 lakh for Meerut resident Saurabh Chaudhary, who bagged gold in the Men’s 10 metre Air Pistol final in the ongoing 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.

An official spokesman said Adityanath also declared that Chaudhary will be given the post of a gazetted officer in the state government.

Adityanath congratulated Chaudhary for the feat which has brought laurels to the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Chaudhary, 16, clinched the gold after producing an Asian Games record score of 240.7. It was India’s third gold medal at the Games.

A leader of Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal-United on Monday demanded reservation for the poor among the upper castes in the state.

Rishi Mishra said: “I will meet Chief Minister Nitish Kumar soon in connection with this demand.”

He said he will also stage a day-long protest here on October 2.

Mishra’s demand was supported by JD-U spokesperson Sanhay Singh, who said the poor among the upper castes deserved reservation.

A day after the opposition CPI-M urged the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government to contribute funds to the flood-ravaged Kerala, the Tripura government on Monday night said that it will donate Rs 1 crore.

“The council of ministers in its meeting today (Monday) decided to donate Rs one crore for the relief of the flood-affected people of Kerala,” Education and Law Minister Ratan Lal Nath told the media .

Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb chaired the cabinet meeting, which also formally adopted a condolence resolution for the demise of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) on Sunday urged the BJP-led government in Tripura to donate funds to the flood-hit people in Kerala, pointing out that no saffron party-ruled state has yet donated any amount to the southern state.

CPI-M central committee member Bijan Dhar said: “Some non-BJP ruled states and many organisations and individuals have come forward to help the state (Kerala), which was hit by one of the worst natural catastrophes of the century.”

Dhar, also the secretary of the Tripura state committee of the Left party, said that the CPI-M would launch an 11-day long fund collection drive on Tuesday across the state to help the affected people of Kerala.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said the contest in the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha polls will be between the AAP and the BJP in Delhi as the Congress will only get nine per cent of the total votes.

“Direct fight is between the Aam Aadmi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party. The Congress will only get nine per cent votes,” he said in a tweet in Hindi.

He also said that people have a general feeling that if all the seven MPs in Delhi were from AAP, the metro fare would not have gone up.

“People think: Only AAP is fighting for the rights of people. The MPs from the BJP/Congress never think about the people of Delhi and no sealing and hike in metro fare would have occurred if all the seven MPs were from AAP,” he added.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had bagged all the seven seats in Delhi.

[IANS]

New Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said people are unhappy with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which will cause it to suffer major losses in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) head also said the common man is angry with the BJP for “creating hurdles” in the works of the Delhi government under him.

“The public is not very happy with the BJP MPs. They are all the more angry with the party as it has created hurdles in the works of the Delhi government. The BJP will suffer major losses in 2019,” Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.

[IANS]

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has written to his new Pakistan counterpart Imran Khan that India desires “constructive engagement” with Islamabad but Pakistan quickly clarified that there was no offer of a bilateral dialogue.

Modi wrote to Imran Khan expressing India’s commitment to build good neighbourly relations and pursue meaningful and constructive engagement with Islamabad.

He also talked about a shared vision to bring peace to make the subcontinent free of terror and violence.

Informed sources said in New Delhi that Modi wrote to Khan on Saturday, congratulating him after he took oath as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Modi expressed India’s commitment to build good neighbourly relations between New Delhi and Islamabad and pursue meaningful and constructive engagement for the benefit of the people of the region.

He expressed the belief that the smooth transition of government in Pakistan would strengthen people’s belief in democracy.

Modi recalled their telephonic conversation in which they spoke of a shared vision to bring peace, security and prosperity in the subcontinent to make it free of terror and violence.

In Islamabad, the Foreign Ministry denied that Pakistan’s new Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had stated that Modi made an offer of a dialogue.

“In response to a query regarding the controversy being unnecessarily created by sections of the Indian media, the Foreign Minister had not stated that the Indian Prime Minister had made an offer of a dialogue,” the Ministry said in a statement.

“The Indian Prime Minister in his letter to Khan had mentioned something similar to what the Foreign Minister elucidated earlier that the way forward was only through constructive engagement.”

Earlier on Monday, Qureshi said that there was a need for “continued and uninterrupted” dialogue with India, which was the only way forward for the two neighbours to resolve outstanding issues.

Qureshi, the ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) Vice Chairman, was sworn-in earlier in the day along with 15 other members from Imran Khan’s 21-strong cabinet, Dawn news reported.

“Pakistan looks forward to a mutually beneficial, uninterrupted dialogue with India to resolve all issues,” the Ministry said.

“Any attempts to instigate controversy and vitiate the environment are counter-productive and against the spirit of responsible journalism.”

A case was filed against cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu in a Bihar court on Monday for insulting Indian Army by hugging Pakistan Army Chief at the swearing-in of Imran Khan as Prime Minister of that country.

Lawyer Sudhur Ojha filed the case in Muzaffarpur’s Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court.

Ojha said he has filed the case under Indian Penal Case sections involving sedition. In his complaint, he said Sidhu’s gesture hurt the people of the country.

“The court has admitted the case and will hear it next week,” he said.

Sidhu, a minister in Congress-led government in Punjab, is under attack for hugging the Pakistan Army Chief, by the BJP and Akali Dal leaders.