Gandhinagar/New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday announced its first list of 70 candidates for the first phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections, giving tickets to six of the defecting Congress MLAs.

Staying ahead of the opposition party in the announcement, the saffron party list shows that it has repeated most of the sitting MLAs in their constituencies.

The noteworthy fact about the list is that six of the 14 Congress MLAs who had defected to the saffron party in August have been given tickets to contest from their constituencies.

It remains to be seen how the opposition Congress party reacts to it and how it challenges it before the Election Commission of India (ECI) and in the judiciary regarding the anti-defection law.

In the list, the saffron party has mostly repeated its sitting MLAs – contrary to what was speculated. It was speculated, and as the duo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah have been known for, that many of the sitting MLAs will be denied tickets.

Chief Minister Vjay Rupani has been nominated to contest from his traditional Rajkot West constituency, while Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel will contest from Mehsana, his traditional constituency, and state BJP chief Jitubhai Vaghani will contest from Bhavnagar West.

Earlier, Jitu Vaghani had refused to contest the election.

Surprisingly and contrary to speculation, both the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) members, Varun Patel and Reshma Patel, have not been included in the first list of candidates.

Two BJP MLAs, Vadhwan constituency’s Varshaben Doshi, and BJP MLA from Dhari constituency, Nalin Kotadia, have been dropped. Instead, Dhanjibhai Patel is to contest from Vadhwan and Dileep Sanghani will be contesting from Dhari.

On Thursday afternoon, BJP national president Amit Shah had summoned the party leaders at the state headquarters for a meeting, which continued till late night. The meeting was attended by state BJP president Vaghani, Deputy Chief Minister Patel, state Home Minister Pradeepsinh Jadeja and leader Bhikhubhai Dalsania.

On Friday morning, the BJP chief held a meeting with Prime Minister Modi and other senior leaders of the party in Delhi as well as Gujarat senior leaders, before announcing the list.

The state goes to polls in December, where the first phase for 89 seats will be held on the 9th and for the remaining 93 seats it will be held on the 14th. The results will be announced along with that of Himachal Pradesh on December 18.

(IANS)

New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Tuesday turned down the Delhi government’s plea to exempt women drivers and two-wheelers from the odd-even vehicle rationing scheme, saying there was “no logic” to the proposal.

The top green tribunal also asked the Delhi government to choose a spot in the city by 4 p.m. on Tuesday and sprinkle water from helicopter on the area to know the efficacy of the step in reducing air pollution.

Rapping the Delhi government for its plea, the tribunal asked why should exemption be given to two-wheelers when they are a major cause of pollution.

“On what basis are you asking exemption for two-wheelers,” NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said.

On Delhi government counsel Tarunvir Singh Khehar raising the issue of women’s security, the tribunal said: “Why don’t you run Women’s Special buses?”

The tribunal also rapped the Delhi government over “delay” in the procurement of 4,000 additional buses and noted that sprinkling of water on pollution hotspots was not being done properly.

“Why don’t you act upon those who are responsible for pollution. How many people have you penalised or challaned so far,” Justice Kumar asked.

Following the tribunal’s order, the Delhi government withdrew its petition.

The tribunal said the Delhi government could move a fresh petition before it on the traffic rationing scheme.

It said Delhi government could use helicopters, if necessary, to sprinkle water at a pollution hotspot in the city to know its efficacy.

“Choose one place in Delhi by 4 p.m. and sprinkle water and thereafter calculate the particle pollution to know how much difference does it make,” the tribunal said.

The tribunal also allowed the National Highways Authority of India to go ahead with construction of the Delhi-Meerut Highway at the eastern periphery of the city but said there should be no dust pollution.

The Delhi government had on Saturday decided to halt the odd-even traffic restriction scheme, which was scheduled to be implemented from November 13 to 17. It moved the NGT on Monday with a review petition seeking exemptions for two-wheelers and women.

(IANS)

New Delhi: The odd-even car rationing scheme will be rolled out in Delhi for five days from November 13 as part of a graded response plan to tackle the alarming pollution situation in the city, the state government announced Thursday.

The scheme will be in place from 8 am to 8 pm and there will exemptions for women drivers and two-wheelers,

Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said.

“The exemptions will be similar as last year and there is no need for people to panic,” he told reporters.

The minister also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to call a meeting of chief ministers of Delhi and adjoining states to find a solution to the crisis.

The Delhi government has directed DTC to hire 500 buses from private contractors to tackle the rush of commuters during the odd-even implementation week.

“Delhi Metro has also promised to provide 100 small buses during the period. Schools will be free to provide their buses voluntarily. However, there will be no compulsion,” Gahlot said.

CNG vehicles will be exempt but will need to have stickers in place. These will be available at 22 IGL stations across Delhi from 2 pm tomorrow.

“The old stickers which were issued in the last edition of odd-even will be valid too,” the minister said.

Under the policy, private vehicles are allowed to run based on the last number of their licence plates.

Odd-numbered cars are allowed to run on odd dates while even-numbered cars can only run on even dates.

In 2016, the scheme was enforced twice — January 1-15 and April 15-30.

(PTI)

As the Congress government in Karnataka went ahead with 18th century ruler Tipu Sultan’s birth anniversary celebrations today, protests erupted at many places in the state. Tipu Sultan died in 1799, but it was only in 2015 that the state government decided to officially celebrate his birthday while describing him as one of the earliest freedom fighters. However, the decision met with resistance from the right wing which sees him as a bigoted tyrant who forcefully converted thousands and killed thousands.

This year, too, the BJP and their sympathisers protested against the celebrations.

In Madikeri, the district headquarters of Kodagu in Karnataka, protestors stoned a bus as part of their agitation against the celebrations of Tipu Jayanti. They were taken into protective custody. Prohibitory orders have been imposed in Kodagu district, which historically was at odds with Tipu. It is said he killed thousands of people there. Kodagu saw the worst of protests in 2015. Extra security has been deployed here this time.

Richard D’Souza, District Collector, Madikeri confirmed to NDTV that the three state government functions in Kodagu went off peacefully. In Madikeri, elected BJP representatives did try to go on the stage to disrupt proceedings but they were removed from the location.

Schools in rural Kodagu functioned normally but some schools in Madikeri remained shut as some school buses remained off the roads.

The SP of Kodagu, Rajendra Prasad, told NDTV that apart from stone pelting, the situation remained under control. He said besides 1,500 policemen, personnel from the Home Guard and the KSRP were also on duty. 200 CCTV camera are in place to catch hold micreants.

In Bengaluru, police commissioner T Suneel Kumar had said no processions would be allowed either for or against Tipu Jayanti today. He said, “The government is celebrating Tipu Jayanti in various parts of Bangalore and we have made elaborate security arrangements. About 11,000 policemen will be on this job.”

Mr Kumar said no preventive arrests have been done so far. He added that Section 144 – prohibitory orders preventing the gathering of people – may be imposed if he felt the situation required it.

The debate over Tipu had gained fresh momentum last month after President Kovind praised Tipu Sultan in his speech and called him “a man who died a historical death”. The President was speaking in Bengaluru at an event to mark the 60th anniversary of the state legislature building, the Vidhana Soudha.

The mention of Tipu led to charges by the BJP that the Congress had written his speech for him, which was denied both by the Karnataka state government and the President’s office.

(Agencies)

Jaipur: Bajrang Dal on Friday held a demonstration against the release of the upcoming Bollywood movie Padmavati and demanded a ban on it.

Dal members, hundreds in number, gathered outside the collectorate here and handed over representations addressed to the Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje to an administration official demanding the ban on the movie.

“It is clear from the promos that the objectionable facts related to Rani Padmavati have been shown in the film,” said Ashok Singh, state coordinator of the Bajrang Dal. “We are demanding a complete ban on the film which the filmmaker made with distorted facts,” Singh said.

“The government should not allow the movie release in the state. If the movie is released the government will be responsible for any loss or harm to cinema halls due to our protest,” Singh said. Similar protests were also held at other district headquarters in the state, he said.

Promos of the film are out, stoking the controversy over the Deepika Padukone-Ranveer Singh-Shahid Kapoor starrer, slated for release on December 1. Dal, along with Shri Rajput Karni Sena, has been opposing the film fearing that the movie would depict a romantic relationship between Rani Padmavati (Padukone) and Allaudin Khilji (Singh).

(Agencies)