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Maharashtra bypolls: Shiv Sena's Trupti Sawant defeats former CM Narayan Rane from Bandra (East)

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Trupti Sawant

Mumbai: Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane today lost to ruling Shiv Sena’s Trupti Sawant in Bandra (East) Assembly bypoll, his second consecutive defeat in six months, raising questions over his fate in Congress.

NCP nominee and late R R Patil’s wife Sumantai Patil won in Tasgaon-Kavathe Mahankal Assembly constituency of Sangli district by over 1.12 lakh votes as the Sharad Pawar-led party retained the seat. No major party had put up candidate against her.

63-year-old Rane, who joined the Congress in 2005 after being expelled from Shiv Sena, has ironically tasted defeat in the constituency which is the home turf of Sena founder late Bal Thackeray and where party chief Uddhav Thackeray now resides at ‘Matoshree’.

Trupti Sawant, whose husband Bala Sawant’s death necessitated the bypoll, secured 52,711 votes, retaining the seat for Sena. Rane garnered only 33,703 votes, losing by a margin of 19,008 votes. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) candidate Rehbar Khan was a distant third with 15,050 votes.

This is the second defeat within six months for Rane, who lost last year’s Assembly polls from his home turf Kankavali in coastal Konkan region.

Shiv Sena workers celebrated the defeat of the Congress heavyweight outside his residence and ‘Matoshree’ by bursting crackers, waving saffron flags and shouting party slogans.

“I do not know what will happen to Rane’s career now but it is anybody’s guess. We were confident of Trupti Sawant’s victory. We have once again shown that there is no place for political opportunism in the country,” Sena MP Arvind Sawant told reporters here.

It was the first electoral test for the BJP-Shiv Sena combine which formed the government after contesting the polls as rivals last year. Despite strains in their ties over a host of issues, BJP and Sena projected a united front to fight the Congress.

Sena, for which the outcome is a morale booster as it came a year ahead of the crucial Mumbai municipal elections, bettered its performance over the last Assembly election by polling 11,827 more votes.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar had also campaigned actively for Rane.

For MIM, which claimed that it had turned the fight in Bandra (East) into a triangular one, the result showed a sharp decline compared to the 24,000 votes polled by its candidate in the last election.

Knives are already out for Rane as his outbursts have riled many within the party. He made adverse remarks over the AICC’s decision to appoint former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan as the MPCC president.

On former MP Sanjay Nirupam being appointed as MRCC chief, Rane had said he was not a suitable candidate for the post and had even raked the Congress leader’s ‘north Indian’ origin.

“Rane should leave politics for his two sons, who are already active in politics,” BJP minister Girish Mahajan said.

Rane’s one son Nilesh is a former Lok Sabha member while the other Nitesh is a Congress MLA.

Former AAP leader Anjali Damania suggested that Rane should take “political sanyas” after two consecutive defeats.

If Rane had won the bypoll, it would have given the state Congress an aggressive face to take on BJP and Shiv Sena, according to observers.

As chief minister (February-October 1999) in the Shiv Sena-BJP government and subsequently as revenue and industries minister in Congress-NCP government (2006-2014), Rane is known for his hold in administration.

Not one to mince words, Rane often landed himself in trouble with his uncharitable remarks against the Congress leadership.

In 2008, he was suspended from Congress for adverse comments against AICC leaders following their decision to make Ashok Chavan the Chief Minister to replace Vilasrao Deshmukh, who was removed following the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai.

The party position is the Assembly remains unchanged as both the Sena and NCP have retained their seats in the bypolls.

(Agencies)

Modi government’s policies helping transfer of resources to haves: Medha Patkar

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Medha Patkar

Mysuru: The policies of the Central government are facilitating the transfer of resources from the have-nots to the haves, said social activist Medha Patkar here on Tuesday.

Targeting the land acquisition ordinance and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to farmers on his radio programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’, she said ‘Mann Ki Baat’ is one-sided, as the prime minister is not bothered about the concerns of the farmers.

Patkar was in the city to support the Badanavalu Satyagraha, which will be launched at Badanavalu near Nanjangud in the district on April 19. The Satyagraha, led by theatre person Prasanna, aims at raising awareness on sustainable developmental practices.

On the ordinance proposed to amend the Land Acquisition Act, she said, the consent clause was essential, despite complaints regarding the existing Act.

“Our demands regarding the ordinance are based on fundamental rights. No other country has such rules. The whole agenda of the ordinance is to enable corporates to take away lands and everything attached to it,” she said.

When a company is handed over land, all resources, including water and minerals in the region, are given to it. This has a devastating effect on the local population. There is no level playing field. The situation is such that the Adanis and Ambanis will soon be able to own several districts or states in the country, she said.

Successive governments had failed to consider agriculture as an industry and encouraged corporate industrialisation. Such industrialisation is taking a toll on both economy and democracy.

“Sharing of the revenue generated by harnessing natural resources is not taking place,” she said, citing the coal mines as an example.

(Agencies)

Government notifies new law on judges' appointment

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Supreme Court India

New Delhi: Government on Monday brought into force a controversial law to appoint members to the higher judiciary, two days before a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court hears a clutch of petitions challenging the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act.

The notification bringing into effect from on Monday the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act along with a Constitutional Amendment Act (99th Amendment Act) to give constitutional status to the new body was issued by Department of Justice in the Law Ministry.

A bunch of petitions moved by the Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association (SCAORA), Bar Association of India and some individual lawyers challenging NJAC and the Constitition amendment will come up for hearing before the Constitution Bench on Wednesday.

Functionaries in the Law Ministry said with the notification, technically the collegium system has come to an end. But, at the same time, they said the new body may take some time to come into into being.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will now have to call Chief Justice of India H L Dattu and Congress’ Mallikarjun Kharge, the leader of single largest opposition party in Lok Sabha, to nominate two eminent persons to the NJAC.

The NJAC will have to ratify the rules governing its functioning in the first meetings before they are notified. The draft rules are ready with the government.

Under the collegium system, which came into existence in 1993 after a Supreme Court judgement, five top judges of the apex court recommend transfer and elevation of judges to Supreme Court and 24 High Courts.

The government can return the recommendation to the collegium under this system. But it has to accept the recommendation if it is reiterated by the collegium.

The collegium system had come under fire for lacking transparency by politicians and some eminent jurists, who contended that judges appointing judges without any say of the Executive has led to complaints of nepotisim and favouritism.

But successive CJIs have defended the system saying it has stood the test of time and was working without any hitches.

On April 7, a Supreme Court bench while referring the matter to a larger bench had refused to stay the implementation of the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act.

Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda had last week said the government would like to have a “united show” in running the new body to recommend appointment and transfer of Supreme Court and High Court judges with the judiciary as it will be headed by the Chief Justice of India.

He said from nominating two eminent persons to the NJAC to ratifying the rules, the CJI has an important role.

NJAC was signed into an Act by President Pranab Mukherjee on December 31, 2014.

According to the new Article 124 A inserted in the Constitution, two eminent persons will be nominated to the Commission as members by the committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha or where there is no such LoP, then the leader of single largest Opposition party.

One of the eminent persons will be nominated from among the persons belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, minorities or women.

The eminent persons will be nominated for a period of three years and will not be eligible for renomination.

The NJAC will be headed by the Chief Justice of India. Two senior-most apex court judges, the two eminent persons and the Law Minister will be the members of the high-level panel. Secretary, Justice in the Law Ministry will be the convenor of the NJAC.

President Mukherjee’s signing the two bills into a law paved the way for the scrapping of the 20-year-old collegium system.

Once new system comes into place, the task of selecting and transferring Supreme Court and high court judges will finally shift from the collegium to a committee headed by the Chief Justice of India.

The NJAC Act provides for the procedure to be followed by the NJAC for recommending persons for appointment of judges of the Supreme Court, and Chief Justice and other judges of the 24 high courts.

The Constitutional Amendment Act grants constitutional status to the composition of the proposed commission. It was done following demands by jurists and judges who felt that without a constitutional status, the composition could be altered by a future government by an ordinary legislation.

A government bungalow at Mathura Road here has already been earmarked for NJAC and there are plans to appoint initial staff from the existing strength of the three departments — Legal Affairs, Legislative and Justice — of the Law Ministry.

An earlier attempt by the then BJP government in 2003 to scrap the collegium system had failed. The then Law Minister Arun Jaitley had moved a bill in this regard but the Lok Sabha was dissolved when the bill was pending with the Parliamentary Standing Committee.

(PTI)

Haryana govt to give Cabinet Minister status to Ramdev

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Baba Ramdev

Chandigarh: The Haryana government today decided to give “status equivalent to Cabinet Minister” to Ramdev, who has been appointed as the state’s brand ambassador to promote yoga and ayurveda.

“Ramdev, Brand Ambassador for promotion of yoga and ayurveda in Haryana, will be given status equivalent to Cabinet Minister,” Haryana’s Health and Sports Minister, Anil Vij tweeted today.

Vij had earlier said a herbal forest would be developed in the state where plants of thousands of species of ayurvedic herbs would be grown under the supervision of Ramdev.

The emphasis on yoga and ayurveda would lead to an amalgamation of tradition and modernity and inclusion of yoga in the school syllabus would turn Haryana into a model state based on Indian values and traditions, Vij had said.

Yoga would be made a compulsory subject in Haryana’s schools for which ‘yogshalas’ will be constructed in all the towns and about 6,500 villages of the state under the guidance of Ramdev, he said.

Notably, last month, Haryana Assembly had witnessed uproarious scenes as the BJP government came under sharp attack from opposition Congress for allegedly “going out of way to please Ramdev by making him the brand ambassador” for promotion of yoga and ayurveda in the state.

(PTI)

Karnataka state government drops ordinance on BBMP

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Vidhana Soudha

Bengaluru: Following a meeting with various ministers from Bengaluru, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has decided to drop it’s controversial ordinance for constituting three new municipal bodies in Bengaluru in place of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

According to the media reports the ministerial panel has decided not to re-submit the controversial ordinance to the Governor but have decided to convince the court.

The ordinance sought to constitute three new local bodies in Bengaluru to replace the BBMP by amending the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act.

The opposition parties including BJP and JD(S) opposed the bill stating the ordinance was aimed at delaying the polls to the civic body.

It is said that the Governor Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala denied giving consent to the ordinance keeping in mind the upcoming BBMP elections.

A single judge bench of Karnataka High Court had ordered to hold BBMP polls before May 30. Now the government has filed a writ appeal against the order before a divisional bench.

(Agencies)

No voting right if people do not go for family planning: Sakshi Maharaj

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Sakshi Maharaj

Unnao: Known for making controversial statements, BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj has demanded that a strict law for family planning be brought in for all to check population growth and those who do not follow it should be stripped of their voting right.

“When Hindus go for sterilisation, Muslims should also opt for it. There should be one law for everyone. There will be no appeasement of any section in our regime,” he said on the sidelines of a function here.

“I don’t say Muslims and Christians should be sterilised. But there should be family planning and a uniform law for all. When we talk of four-child issue, there is a lot of hue and cry, and when they have 40 children from four wives no one says anything,” the saffron-robed MP said last evening.

Stressing that population growth was a major challenge before the country, he said the issue has to be addressed through family planning.

“There should be family planning. When the country gained independence, the population was only 30 crore. Today it is 130 crore. Who is responsible for it?…There should be one law for everyone be it Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs or Christians.

“Whether for one, two, three or four kids… unless we have a common law for everyone, the country will not benefit…So both the government and the opposition should come together to bring a strict law and those who do not follow it should be stripped of their voting right,” the 59-year-old MP from Unnao said.

“You cannot discriminate between women of different communities,” he said.

His remarks come after Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut in an editorial demanded scrapping of voting rights of Muslims, saying they are used as vote bank.

“Balasaheb had once said withdraw Muslims voting rights. Owaisi brothers are doing politics of Muslim votes. They are threat to the nation,” wrote Raut in the party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.

Asked about Raut’s statement, Sakshi Maharaj said he had not gone through his statement.

Sakshi was earlier at the centre of a controversy when he asked Hindu women to have at least four children, sparking condemnation from the opposition which alleged that the ruling party was trying to polarise the atmosphere.

BJP on its part had distanced itself from the remarks of Maharaj, who was also served a show cause notice, and urged its workers and public representatives to refrain from making such comments.

Sakshi had also drawn flak for describing Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse as a “patriot” and was forced to apologise in Parliament.

(PTI)

No plans to ban beef in state: Siddaramaiah

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Photo: The New Indian Express

Photo: The New Indian Express

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has made it clear that there will not be any ban on beef in the state.

When he was asked a question by scribes on the beef ban in light of a protest held in Bengaluru on Thursday April 9 against the beef ban in Maharashtra, Siddaramaiah said “Let the people decide what they want to eat. We do not have the right to question their choices”

“Pork, chicken, mutton and let them eat what they want. Who am I to tell them? “Siddaramaiah added.

The protestors on Thursday at town hall premises had cooked beef biryani on the spot and had eaten it in public to register their opposition to the ban in Maharashtra.

Some prominent faces were also seen in the protest including writers Girish Karnad and K Marulusiddappa. The protest was organized by the activists of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI).

BJP unhappy

Meanwhile BJP has strongly criticized the participation of Girish Karnad and K Marulusiddappa in the protest by terming the act as ‘A shameful act which a civilised society cannot accept.’

Leader of the opposition in the legislative council K S Eshwarappa has demanded apologies from both the writers for participating in the protest.

“I know they are famous. Whatever they say will get some publicity. But they should have used their popularity for good causes. They should not use their talents for anti social propaganda. If they do not know to promote good causes, they should shut up. Hindus have been watching them patiently. But nobody knows when their anger will explode.” Eshwarappa said.

No knowledge of law?

Veteran freedom fighter H S Doreswamy has said that Girish Karnad and K Marulusiddappa should have had the basic knowledge of prevailing laws which prohibit the slaughter of cows.

He said that even Jammu and Kashmir where the Muslims are in majority has some laws against the killing of cows. He asked not to compare cow to other animals.

Girish Karnad had said during the protest, “The act of banning beef eating is provocative. I may or may not eat beef but I will stand by the right of others for whom the meat is a crucial source of affordable nutrition. It is about people’s right to food and their right to life.”

(Agencies)

Subramanian Swamy launches Hindutva outfit – Virat Hindustan Sangam

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Subramanian Swamy (Photo credit: Jagran)

Subramanian Swamy (Photo credit: Jagran)

New Delhi: BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday announced the formation of an organisation that would push for Hindutva issues like securing the disputed Ram Mandir area for building a temple by persuading Muslims to accept an alternative site.

The outfit Virat Hindustan Sangam will empower the youth to articulate the “values” of Hindutva, like scrapping of Article 370, Uniform Civil Code, Ram temple and beef ban, he told a press conference.

Indicating that the new body will also act as a pressure group on the ruling BJP, he said it would provide a list of candidates to the party for consideration and work closely with the Sangh parivar.

Asked what will be his priority issue, he said it would be construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya.

“We will take up from January 1, 2016 the Ram temple issue. I will want the government to follow the Saudi Arabian example of offering the Waqf Board a site across the Saryu river for building a mosque…And leave the Ram temple premises completely for temple.

“We hope to complete it by the end of 2016 because of our activism both in courts and in terms of pushing the government,” he said, adding that he would have finished most of his legal work in the Supreme Court by then.

He also batted for scrapping of Article 370, an issue put on the back burner, saying it is in the party’s manifesto and it would have to do it by 2019 when next Lok Sabha election is scheduled.

His organisation, he said, will be open to Hindus or those Muslims and other Indians who acknowledge their Hindu ancestry.

(PTI)

BJP appeals to governor not to clear proposed ordinance to trifurcate Bengaluru

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vidhana soudha

Bengaluru: Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today petitioned Governor Vajubhai Vala requesting him not to approve the proposed ordinance by the government to trifurcate the city and to advise it to hold Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) elections as directed by the High Court.

BJP leaders led by Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Assembly and Former Deputy Chief Minister R Ashoka, former Ministers Suresh Kumar, Somanna and Arvind Limbavali among others, marched to the Raj Bhavan and submitted a memorandum to the Governor.

The JDS, led by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, also staged a protest in the city opposing the state government’s move to trifurcate Bengaluru City.

“We understand that the state government is contemplating trifurcation of Bangalore City by issuing an ordinance before the BBMP elections that are due after its dissolution on April 21. The Bangalore city BJP unit strongly condemns the state government’s cavalier approach and its unilateral decision to impose their writ against the wishes of people of Bangalore,” BJP in its memorandum said.

Flaying the ‘haste’ at which the state government was going about on the issue, BJP informed the Governor that the three member committee formed under the Chairmanship of B S Patil (former Chief Secretary) is yet to submit its final report but the state cabinet has approved the trifurcation after hurriedly obtaining an interim report from the panel.

Questioning the state cabinet’s decision to split BBMP into three corporations citing efficient administration and governance, the BJP said it was being done with an ulterior motive to postpone the BBMP elections scheduled for May.

The Karnataka High Court has passed orders to ensure that the BBMP polls are conducted before May 30, 2015, BJP in its memorandum said, adding, that the ordinance route was only aimed at creating legal hurdles for the elections.

(PTI)

BJP marks 35th foundation day, Advani not officially invited

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a. Photo: Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times

L. K. Advani. Photo: Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times

New Delhi: The BJP held its 35th foundation day function at the party office here but party patriarch L. K. Advani was not “officially” invited for the event, sources said.

They said that Advani’s office got to know about the function through an SMS that was also sent to the media.

The foundation day function had special significance this year for BJP, which came to power with an absolute majority for the first time in last year’s general elections, as it has also become the largest political party in the world with about 9.5 crore members.

A Bharatiya Janata Party functionary, who did not want to be named, told IANS that there “had been a lapse” in the way the invitation for the function was sent to Advani.

Party sources said that normally a letter or a circular is sent about a function held in the party office.

They said since many party officials returned from Bengaluru on Sunday and there was not much time to prepare for the function, a SMS was sent communicating the time for the function.

Another functionary, however, said that no circular or invite was sent for the function as it is an event held every year in the party office.

Among the party’s founding members and its three-time president, Advani did not make a speech at the party’s national executive that ended in Bengaluru on Saturday – the first time in all such meetings which he has attended.

Apart from party president Amit Shah, the foundation day function was attended by union ministers M. Venkaiah Naidu and Thawar Chand Gehlot andgeneral secretary Ram Lal.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who led the BJP to a sweeping victory in the Lok Sabha elections 10 months back, tweeted to greet BJP activists on the birth anniversary. “On the BJP’s ‘Sthapana Diwas’, my greetings to all the BJP ‘karyakartas’ and well-wishers,” he said.

“BJP’s phenomenal growth is due to the efforts and hard work of generations of selfless ‘karyakartas’ who devoted their lives to our nation,” he said.

The BJP would “leave no stone unturned to fulfil people’s aspirations and create an India that is strong, developed and inclusive”, Modi added.

The BJP was founded on April 6, 1980, after its earlier incarnation, Bharatiya Jana Sangh, merged into the Janata Party along with other parties in 1977.

Shah, in his address, asked party workers not to work with posts in mind.

Noting Syama Prasad Mookerjee had laid foundation of Jana Sangh with 10-12 youth, he said the party in its reincarnation as BJP was the “largest political party in the world” with about 9.5 crore members.

“Our journey is the most interesting of all political parties in the world,” he said.

Shah said the BJP was in power at the centre and in 12 states and BJP workers had “greater responsibility” and had to work for the poor, farmers and the disadvantaged sections.

“The party was formed to make India Jagat (world) guru,” he said and added that the Modi government was working to make India a front-ranking nation in terms of development.

(IANS)

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