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New Delhi: The CBI has registered a new case against Lok Sabha MP Karti Chidambaram, son of former finance minister P Chidambaram, for allegedly receiving illegal gratification, officials said on Tuesday.
Following the registration of the FIR, the CBI on Tuesday morning started searches at nine premises of Chidambaram in Chennai and other cities in the country, they said.
Detroit (US)(AP): Tesla CEO Elon Musk gave the strongest hint yet Monday that he would like to pay less for Twitter than his USD 44 billion offer made last month.
Musk told a Miami technology conference that a viable deal at a lower price would not be out of the question, according to a report by Bloomberg News, which said it viewed a livestream video of the conference posted by a Twitter user.
Also at the All In Summit, Musk estimated that at least 20 per cent of Twitter’s 229 million accounts are spam bots, percentage he said was at the low end of his assessment, according to the report.
The appearance came a few hours after Musk began trolling Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, who posted a series of tweets explaining his company’s effort to fight bots and how it has consistently estimated that less than 5 per cent of Twitter accounts are fake.
In all, the day’s events bolstered theories from analysts that Musk either wants out of the deal or is seeking a lower price, largely due to a huge decline in value of Tesla stock, some of which he has pledged to finance the Twitter acquisition.
Twitter shares closed Monday down just over 8 per cent at 37.39, below where the stock was just before Musk disclosed that he was Twitter’s largest shareholder. Musk made the offer to buy Twitter for 54.20 per share on April 14.
On Friday Musk tweeted that his plan to buy Twitter was placed on temporary hold as he tried to pinpoint the number of fake accounts on the social media platform. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said the hold was pending details of Twitter’s calculation that fake accounts are less than 5 per cent of its users.
In tweets on Monday, Agrawal acknowledged Twitter isn’t perfect at catching spam. He wrote that every quarter, the company has made the estimate of less than 5 per cent spam.
Our estimate is based on multiple human reviews of thousands of accounts that are sampled at random, consistently over time, Agrawal wrote.
Estimates for the last four quarters were all well under 5 per cent, he wrote. The error margins on our estimates give us confidence in our public statements each quarter.
Musk, using his favourite platform, responded with a smiling emoji of poop, then asked how Twitter’s advertisers know what they’re getting for their money.
Tesla shares closed Monday down nearly 6 per cent at USD 724.37. They have lost about one-third of their value since the trading day before Musk disclosed his Twitter stake.
Musk did not immediately return messages seeking comment. The All In Summit said in an email that it would post the video of Musk’s appearance in the coming days.
New Delhi: Delhi Parents Association (DPA) on Monday wrote to Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) demanding that the summer vacation be declared in city’s schools immediately in view of the deadly scorching heat.
A tormenting heatwave swept through the national capital and its neighbouring areas on Sunday with the mercury leaping to 49.2 degrees Celsius at Mungeshpur in northwest Delhi and 49.1 degrees Celsius at Najafgarh in the southwest parts of the city.
Maximum temperatures reached unbearable highs of 48.4 degrees Celsius at Sports Complex, 47.5 degrees Celsius at Jafarpur, 47.3 degrees Celsius at Pitampura and 47.2 degrees Celsius at Ridge.
“We call upon you to immediately declare summer vacations in schools without delay in view of the deadly heat scorching in Delhi. Many children are falling ill due to extreme heat. And the attendance of children in schools is decreasing,” DPA president Aparajita Gautam said in the letter.
“It is getting so hot in Delhi after 72 years. Yesterday, on 15 May 2022, the temperature in many areas of Delhi reached almost 50 degree Celsius. While some safety rules and suggestions were also issued by the Union Ministry of Education to protect the children, even the neighboring states changed the school timings.
But no such step was taken by the Delhi government. In the guidelines issued by the central government, it has been made clear that it is not safe for children to come out between 12-3 pm,” she added.
Gautam noted that the main purpose of summer holidays is to save the children from the wrath of the heatwave.
“We have been seeing for so many days that children are getting sick due to the ever-increasing heat and the attendance rate in schools is falling continuously. Therefore, in this view the schools should be closed immediately without delay and holidays are to be declared,” she said.
Ahmedabad: Gujarat police have booked filmmaker Avinash Das for sharing a photo of Union Home Minister Amit Shah with Jharkhand cadre IAS officer Pooja Singhal, who was recently arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case, an official said.
Police Inspector H M Vyas of Ahmedabad Police’s Detection of Crime Branch said Das (46) shared the photo on his Twitter handle on May 8.
The photo shows Shah and Singhal at a public event five years ago, but Das tweeted it to mislead people and defame the minister’s reputation, the official said.
Das has also been booked for allegedly insulting the national flag by posting on March 17 a morphed picture of a woman wearing a tricolour on his Facebook account, the official said.
A case has been registered against Das under IPC 469 (forgery) and section 67 of IT Act for the May 8 Twitter post, he said. Das has also been booked under sections of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act and IT Act for the March 17 Facebook post, the official added.
The ED on Wednesday arrested Jharkhand mining secretary Singhal in a case of money laundering involving alleged diversion of MGNREGA funds, and also seized over Rs 18 crore in cash from the house of a chartered accountant, allegedly linked to Singhal.
Das has directed the 2017 film Anaarkali of Aarah’, starring Swara Bhaskar, Sanjay Mishra and Pankaj Tripathi.
Ahmedabad: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday asserted he will not let the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, where a court-mandated videography survey has been completed, meet the fate of the Babri masjid that was demolished in December 1992.
The Lok Sabha MP from Hyderabad said he will continue to speak on the Gyanvapi masjid issue, which he termed as an attempt to weaken the Constitution, as he was not scared of either Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath.
Addressing a rally at Vadgam in Gujarat, where Assembly polls are due by the year-end, Owaisi said the accusation that the AIMIM by fielding its candidates will hurt the chances of the opposition Congress to win the elections in the BJP-ruled state was misplaced.
The president of the Hyderabad-based All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) said people question him for speaking on the issue of Gyanvapi mosque.
“I will speak because I have not sold my ‘jameer’ (conscience), nor will I ever do so. I speak because I am only scared of Allah and not any Modi or Yogi. I speak because the Constitution that was framed by Babasaheb Ambedkar gives me the freedom of expression,” he said.
The AIMIM leader said he will not let the Gyanvapi mosque meet the fate of the Babri masjid in Ayodhya that was demolished nearly three decades ago.
Owaisi said he will not be deterred by criticism directed at him for protesting against the court order directing a survey of the medieval-era mosque in Varanasi.
“I am pained (by the survey) because the Indian Constitution is being weakened, the judgement of the Supreme Court is being ignored, and those who question me should read section 4(2) of the 1991 law (the Places of Worship Act),” he said.
The Act prohibits filing of any suit or initiating any other legal proceeding for a conversion of the religious character of any place of worship, as existing on August 15, 1947.
A court on Monday directed the Varanasi district administration to seal the spot in the Gyanvapi masjid complex where a Shivling was reportedly found during a court-mandated videography survey, which concluded after three days. The mosque is located close to the iconic Kashi Vishwanath temple and the Varanasi court is hearing a plea by a group of women seeking permission for daily prayers before the idols on its outer walls.
Owaisi said “bhakts of Godse (Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi)” are spreading hatred in the country against Muslims by invoking issues like hijab, job jihad and others.
The AIMIM leader sought people’s support for his party for the upcoming elections and said the Congress, which is out of power in the state for nearly three decades now, was not in a position to speak on behalf of Muslims of Gujarat.
“People say Owaisi and the AIMIM (by contesting polls) will benefit the BJP. I would like to ask the Congress party as to when you last formed a government in Gujarat? …Owaisi and the AIMIM were not there all these years, so why were you defeated?” he asked.
The Lok Sabha MP questioned the Congress over defection of its MLAs to the ruling BJP and having only three Muslim legislators in its fold in a House of 182.
“Remember, you (Muslims) cannot change the government, but using your votes, you can help our representatives win and go to the Gujarat Vidhan Sabha to become your voice,” he said.
Owaisi is in Gujarat to make preparations for the Assembly elections. He has said the AIMIM intends to contest the upcoming polls and the party is in the process of figuring out the seats on which it will field its candidates.
His visit comes at a time when several office-bearers of the Gujarat AIMIM have quit their posts accusing the state unit of working for the benefit of the BJP.
Bengaluru, May 16: Congress is facing a phobia of regional parties, JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy said on Monday while taking a swipe at the grand old party leader Rahul Gandhi for his critical comments on those parties.
In an apparent sarcastic note, he asked the former Congress president to elaborate to regional parties about ideological commitment, while saying that the national party has no presence in most parts of the country.
He said the Congress toppled the I K Gujral-led United Front government, demanding that DMK be kept out of the Cabinet by citing the links of the Dravidian party with the LTTE in the backdrop of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. But, the same Congress in the later years shared a cordial, political relationship with that party.
“Is sharing power with the same DMK for 10 years in UPA-1 and -2 governments, led by Manmohan Singh, an ideological commitment?” he questioned in a tweet.
In his address at his party’s “Chintan Shivir” (brainstorming camp) in Udaipur, Gandhi had claimed that regional parties cannot fight the BJP and the RSS as they lack ideology. The Congress can fight them, he had said.
Noting that Rahul Gandhi claims that Congress alone has the strength to defeat the BJP, the former Chief Minister said he (Rahul) should not forget that his party enjoyed power for 10 years on the strength of regional parties.
“Is joining hands (with BJP) for the immoral operation ‘Lotus’ through the back door, after coming to our (JD-S) door with an alliance proposal and forming a coalition government with us, an ideological commitment? Is destroying alliance partners ideology-based politics?” he further questioned the Congress.
As 2018 polls threw up a hung verdict, Congress and JD(S), which fought elections separately, joined hands to form a coalition government in Karnataka under the leadership of Kumaraswamy.
However, the government fell after 14 months due to dissidence within, and with MLAs from both parties resigning and joining the BJP.
Stating that Congress is facing a phobia of regional parties, Kumaraswamy said, “It has no presence in most of the States like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha. Congress is in its last days in Karnataka. It will be better if Rahul Gandhi understands that.
Bengaluru, May 16: As he is all set to join the ruling BJP, senior politician Basavaraj Horatti on Monday resigned as the Chairman of Karnataka Legislative Council, and also as an MLC.
Thanking the leadership of his former party JD(S) — H D Deve Gowda and H D Kumaraswamy — for the opportunity, Horatti said they still consider him as their family member.
“I have resigned today as the Chairman of the Karnataka Legislative Council along with that also as MLC…I will be joining the BJP tomorrow, most probably at the party office in Bengaluru,” Horatti told reporters here.
“Sometimes sudden changes happen. As some in my constituency and well-wishers were putting pressure on me insisting that I change, I had to accept it… I first got elected as an independent and thereafter got associated with the then Janata Dal and its breakaway JD(S). In 42 years of my political life, this is my first change,” he added.
Horatti had earlier this month met Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the latter’s visit to Bengaluru. He is likely to be fielded as the party’s candidate for the upcoming MLC polls from West Teachers’ constituency.
With this, Horatti, who has been elected as MLC seven successive times from 1980, has ended his long association with the JD(S).
Stating that he has not changed the party for the sake of power, in response to a question, the veteran politician said he never aspired for power and has effectively worked as minister and council chairman in the past.
Horatti said he has no misunderstanding with Deve Gowda or Kumaraswamy and has affection towards them. “I in fact spoke to Kumaraswamy, before making this decision…”
The senior politician also maintained that he is joining the BJP without any preconditions and none of his family members are interested in joining politics as of today.
Considered to be among the senior-most MLCs, the 76-year-old was seen as a prominent Lingayat face of the JD(S) from north Karnataka.
He had been education minister in the state, and was elected as the Chairman of the Legislative Council in February 2021.
Horatti has addressed his resignation letter to the Deputy Chairman, the position which is lying vacant for some time now.
“I have resigned, the cabinet will decide on the appointment of a pro-term Chairman (as Chairman and Deputy Chairman posts are vacant), and send it to the Governor for approval….the post will not be kept vacant, they will do it immediately,” he said.
Kodagu: In light of the alleged armed training camp held at Kodagu by certain fringe right wing organisations which were circulating on social media platforms, Kodagu SP M A Aiyappa on Monday said that arms were not used during the training and justified that it was an annual camp organised by VHP and Bajrang Dal with the consent of the school authority.
“No armed training was held. It was an annual camp by VHP and Bajrang Dal for their youth workers. They have consented to the school authorities in advance. However, it has come to our knowledge through social media posts that air guns were used during the training camp. The district police are investigating in this regard,” he said.
Further, he said, “according to the regulations of the Arms Act and Arms Rules, one does not require special permission for the purchase and use of air guns. We will provide additional information in this regard after a detailed investigation.”
However, he clarified that no complaint in this regard has been registered so far while confirming that the current investigations are carried out based on social media posts alleging use of arms at the camp.
Colombo: A no-confidence motion tabled by the Opposition against Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was defeated in Parliament on Tuesday, in a comfortable win for the embattled President amidst nationwide protests demanding his resignation due to the country’s worst-ever economic crisis.
The motion by Opposition Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP M A Sumanthiran to suspend Parliament’s standing orders in order to debate an expression of displeasure over President Rajapaksa was defeated with 119 MPs voting against it, the Economy Next newspaper reported.
Only 68 MPs voted in favour of the motion, it said, giving the 72-year-old President a comfortable victory.
With the motion, the Opposition sought to demonstrate how nationwide calls for President Rajapaksa’s resignation are reflected in the country’s legislature, the report said.
The main Opposition Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) MP Lakshman Kiriella had supported the motion.
According to SJB MP Harsha de Silva, among those who voted against the motion was Sri Lanka’s newly-elected Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Human rights lawyer Bhavani Fonseka tweeted after the vote that the motion’s defeat exposed MPs who protect President Rajapaksa.
On Tuesday, Parliament met for the first time after the appointment of new Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, as the country looks to undertake major constitutional reforms amid the worst economic crisis.
Sumanthiran, who moved the motion, wanted the standing orders suspended to carry on with the debate.
The government, however, objected to suspending the standing orders. The Speaker then ordered a vote on the question of suspending the standing orders.
The government won the vote and forced the adjournment motion moved on the violence suffered by the ruling party politicians since May 9.
The police on Monday said that some 78 ruling party politicians had suffered damage to properties.
The Opposition said the motion of displeasure could be moved on Friday. Sri Lanka is witnessing an unprecedented economic crisis.
The Rajapaksa government had taken some arbitrary decisions like banning chemical fertiliser imports in favour of organic farming and resisting turning to the International Monetary Fund which led to the country’s worst economic crisis since its independence from Britain in 1948.
A crippling shortage of foreign reserves has led to long queues for fuel, cooking gas and other essentials while power cuts and soaring food prices heaped misery on the people.
The economic uncertainty also triggered a political crisis in Sri Lanka and a demand for the resignation of the powerful Rajapaksas.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa sacked his Cabinet and appointed a younger Cabinet as a response to the demand for his resignation. A continuous protest opposite his secretariat has now gone on for well over a month.
On May 9, Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned as the prime minister to make way for the president to appoint an interim all political party government. Wickremesinghe was appointed the country’s new prime minister on Thursday.
BHOPAL: Police have clamped Section 144 of the CrPC in Madhya Pradesh’s Neemuch and lodged four cases in connection with the clashes between two communities on Monday night after a Hanuman idol was allegedly installed near a dargah.
Tension had spread after people from the minority community objected to placing of the idol on Monday. The plot where the Hanuman idol was placed is a government land which earlier housed tehsil office, hospital and library.
Rioting and arson soon descended in the locality, forcing the police to fire tear gas shells for dispersing the two sides. While a teenager identified as Mohd Younis was injured, some police personnel sustained minor injuries. The chain of events prompted the administration to impose prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC in entire Neemuch City police station area.
This is the second communal clash in Madhya Pradesh in a little over a month after the Khargone riots in April. According to Neemuch police superintendent Suraj Verma, four cases of rioting have so far been lodged in connection with the violence and nine persons (identified through video footage to be involved in the violence) were rounded up.
“Since decades, a dargah has existed on the same land. When the Hanuman idol was placed in the same land on Monday, the other group objected to it. After being alerted about the tense situation, police rushed to the spot and asked both the groups to come to the district police control to resolve the issue amicably. While the people were dispersing from the spot, some elements from both sides pelted stones.
The stone-pelters damaged three-four motorbikes and set ablaze one of the two-wheelers…,” Verma told TNIE. “We’re identifying other culprits by going through the video footage (collected from the area).”
As a precautionary measure, heavy police force has been deployed in large numbers in the affected area of Neemuch town and prohibitory orders have been imposed under Section 144 of the CrPC in entire Neemuch City police station area till July 16 on the order of additional district collector Neha Meena.