Ahmedabad: If an unverified audio clip is to be believed, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani sounds tense and is heard admitting that the condition of the BJP is bad in the state.

The leaked audio clip which is making rounds in the social media is a conversation between Vijay Rupani and Naresh Sangitam from Surendra Nagar. Rupani is heard saying it has become very difficult to woo the Jain community in the area.

He further adds that Prime Minister called him to say that he made a Jain the CM even though they are only 5 percent of the population.

Even in a television interview earlier, Rupani did not deny the fact that he will have a difficult time in the polls. However, he seemed confident that BJP rule will retain in the state as people from Gujarat are aligned with the BJP’s ideology and not of the Congress.

The following is an English translation of the conversation:

Naresh: Yes, sir! Jai Jinendra.
Vijay Rupani: Namaskar. Jai Jinendra.
Vijay Rupani: Naresh bhai, we don’t have to fight within ourselves, we must regain our form. Because, there is only one Jain chief minister in the entire country.
Naresh: Absolutely.
Vijay Rupani: Narendra bhai had called me, he said, there are not even five percent Jains in Gujarat, still we made a Jain the CM. Are the Jains of Surendra Nagar ready to support us?
Naresh: Yes, why not?
Vijay Rupani: Our condition is bad here, mine is even worse.
Naresh: We will not let your condition deteriorate. We will support you.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said achieving a 10 per cent GDP growth rate is challenging and will depend on how the world is moving.

Speaking at the HT Leadership Summit here, he said India has done well by growing at 7-8 per cent during the last three years. To scale to 10 per cent rate is “very challenging” and it will not depend on domestic factors only but on how the world is moving, he said.

On reforms, he said India has structurally reformed and there is no finishing line in reforms. Jaitley said the Goods and Services Tax (GST) started with different tax rates and they have rationalised rates on many items.

Going forward, future rationalisation of rates would depend on revenue collections, he said, indicating the merger of 12 per cent and 18 per cent rates into one while keeping a “thin” line of luxury and demerit items in the top 28 per cent band.

Currently, the GST has four rates of 5 per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent and 28 per cent. The finance minister said a cogent GST mechanism has been developed and no country in the world has 5 per cent tax rate.

(PTI)

New Delhi: The Congress today released its final list of 14 candidates, besides leaving two seats for its allies, on the last day of filing of nominations for the second phase of Gujarat assembly elections. The party had late last night released its third list of 76 candidates.

In the fourth and final list of candidates, the party released 14 new names, besides changing its candidate for Manjalpur constituency where Chirag Zaveri has been fielded in place of Purvesh Borela. The Congress also kept two seats of Morvahadaf (ST) and Vaghodia for the Bharatiya Tribal Party, headed by former JD (U) MLA Chhotubhai Vasava, which has allied with the party.

The Congress has entered into a seat-sharing agreement with Vasava’s newly-formed party giving it five seats in the Gujarat assembly polls. Vasava, a tribal leader and MLA from Jhagadia in Bharuch district, floated a party after a split in the JD(U) and will contest from the seats of Jhagadia, Dediapada, Mangrol, Morva Hadaf and Vaghodia.

The Congress, which has been seeking to dislodge the BJP from power in the western state, earlier announced the names of 86 candidates in two phases. The Congress has been out of power in the crucial state for over two decades.

The polling for the two-phase election to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will take place on December 9 and 14 and votes will be counted on December 18. Eighty-nine seats of Saurashtra and South Gujarat region are going to polls in the first phase, while the remaining 93 seats in central and northern region would go for polls in the second phase.

(PTI)

Ahmedabad: Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani today announced his decision to contest the Gujarat polls from the Vadagam (SC) seat of Banaskantha district as an Independent candidate with outside support of the Congress.

The moves come after sitting MLA Manibhai Vaghela said the state Congress asked him not to contest the polls from the seat “as a part of an agreement” with Mevani. Vaghela said the Congress has given an indirect support to Mevani for Vadgam seat, reserved for a Scheduled Caste (SC) candidate.

“The party has asked me not to contest from the Vadgam seat this time. Though Mevani will contest the polls as an Independent, he will have Congress’ support. Thus, there won’t be any Congress candidate on this seat,” Vaghela told PTI.

Mevani today announced that he will file his nomination as an Independent candidate for the Vadgam seat. In a message posted on social media, the face of the Dalit agitation in Gujarat claimed that he decided to jump into the poll battle after being “persuaded” by youth and numerous agitators.

He even requested other opposition parties as well as aspiring independents not to file their papers. “Since the ruling BJP is our key enemy, I request aspiring candidates of other parties and independents not to file their papers, so that we can have a direct battle with the BJP. This is people’s battle against dictatorship and we will continue our fight after winning this election,” he said.

Mevani will be in a direct contest with BJP’s Vijay Chakravarthi. Earlier this month, Mevani had a meeting with Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi during the latter’s visit to south Gujarat. After the meeting, Mevani had said that the opposition party gave him an assurance that more than 90 percent of his demands will be incorporated in its manifesto.

Stopping short of declaring an open support to the Congress after the meeting, Mevani had said that he would ask his community members to defeat BJP in the Gujarat polls. Mevani, who has been critical of the ruling BJP in the state and shot to fame after the Una Dalit flogging incident last year, had discussed 17 demands of his community in the meeting with Rahul Gandhi.

The Dalit leader maintained that he had no plans to join any political party. Of the three young caste leaders, OBC leader Alpesh Thakor has already joined the Congress, while Patidar community leader Hardik Patel recently announced his decision to back the opposition party after accepting its proposed reservation formula.

The 182-member Gujarat Assembly will go to the polls in two phases – on December 9 and 14. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 18.

(Agencies)

(Photo: PTI/File)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today refused to entertain a petition of a woman who claimed to be the daughter of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

A bench of Justices M B Lokur and Deepak Gupta also refused to allow the plea of the woman to conduct DNA test for the purpose of proving her parentage.

Senior Advocate Indira Jaising, who appeared for the woman, had also sought cremation of Jayalalithaa as per Hindu rites since she was an Iyengar Brahmin. The court, however, said the petitioner is at liberty to approach the high court.

(Agencies)

Over 50 billionaires and tycoons from 100 plus countries, including Heera Group’s Dr. Nowhera Shaikh, are expected to join an exclusive Billionaires Club spearheaded by NRI industrialist Sohan Roy’s Indywood.

The launch of the club will be held as part of Indywood Film Carnival and is expected to give a boost to foreign direct investment in entertainment sector in the country. The launch will be held at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad on December 1.

According to Sohan Roy the club is a novel initiative and aims to attract tycoons, investors and corporates from across the world to the entertainment industry in India.“There are a lot of opportunities in the entertainment sector especially movies, animation and graphics. The Indian film industry according to a report prepared by Deloitte-Indywood is expected to grow at 11 per cent CAGR reaching $3.7 billion by 2020. In the coming years, the volume of foreign direct investment will play a decisive role in conceiving and implementing mega projects. Billionaires Club is a new step in this direction to educate movers and shakers about the vast opportunities in the sector and how it can be tapped effectively,” he said.

Roy said the Indywood consortium will produce 1,000 movies in the next five years and many of the mega film projects would be produced by renowned billionaires and investors. “The Indian film industry is the largest in the world in terms of number of films produced with around 1,500 to 2,000 movies being produced every year in more than 20 languages. Despite this, the Indian film industry’s gross realisation has been substantially lower than its global counterparts,” said Roy.

Patna: A BJP leader on Friday announced a “reward” of Rs one crore to anyone who slaps RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav for his objectionable comments against Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.

However, the BJP state unit distanced itself from the comments and issued a statement condemning the remarks of Anil Sahni, the party’s media in-charge for the Patna district.

The BJP said it will take disciplinary action against Sahni for his “reckless utterances”.

“We will give a reward of Rs one crore to anybody who slaps Tej Pratap Yadav. The RJD leader had threatened to thrash our respected Deputy CM inside his house (during the marriage of his son on December 3). We wish to pay Yadav in the same coin,” Sahni had said.

“We will also organise demonstrations in front of Yadav’s house to put pressure on him to apologise to Sushil Modi,” he had said.

The BJP leader was reacting to a recent video footage in which Yadav, the elder son of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and a former state minister, was purportedly shown threatening to disrupt Sushil Modi’s son’s marriage and using the words “ghar mein ghus kar maarenge (will beat inside his house)”.

Yadav’s comments drew strong reaction from Sushil Modi, who urged Lalu Prasad to persuade his son against making provocative speeches.

However, in response to Sahni’s remarks, a strongly-worded statement was issued by BJP state unit spokesman Suresh Rungta, who said, “Sahni has spoken in his personal capacity. The party condemns his statement and has nothing to do with it”.

“The BJP has always been a votary of decorum and decency in public discourse… Sahni will therefore certainly face disciplinary action by the party,” Rungta added.

(PTI)