Nasheman

India's largest selling Urdu weekly, now also in English

You are here: Home / Archives for Congress

Modi’s rule ‘most disappointing’ for country: Congress

by

bjp-congress

New Delhi: Terming the performance of two- year-old Modi Government as the “most disappointing” for any dispensation since independence, Congress today said there is little to celebrate for the country,as it fielded a battery of senior leaders to counter government’s claims of development and delivery.

“Modi ji why are you celebrating. Is there prosperity all around in the nation,” party spokesperson Kapil Sibal said adding, these were “two years of hollow promises”.

Attacking the NDA government on a wide range of issues from economy and employment to foreign policy, the Congress leaders also contrasted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s performance vis a vis his predecessor Manmohan Singh under UPA rule.

The opposition party alleged that the NDA government is “surviving just on advertisements” and challenged it for a debate.

“Singh did not talk much but his work was bespeaking. Modi ji keeps on talking but his work speaks of nothing…. I challenge Modi government, any of its minister to come and debate with us,” Sibal said.

“Modi ji why are you celebrating….Is Varanasi (Modi’s Parliamentary constituency) clean now? Have the youths got employment? Did the farmers’ suicide stop. What has happened in last two years that you are celebrating?”

The AICC also released a short film titled “pragati ki tham gai chaal, do saal, desh ka bura haal (The pace of progress is halted, the country in a bad shape in two years)”, slamming the government on 10 issues, besides making a power-point presentation which projected the government’s performance as “abysmal”.

Addressing the joint press conference, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, AICC Communication Department Chairman Randeep Surjewala and Sibal alleged that the two-year tenure of the government is full of “hollow promises”.

(PTI)

Panama Papers: Congress wants removal of Amitabh from ‘Save Tiger Project’

by

Amitabh Bachchan

New Delhi: With actor Amitabh Bachchan’s name figuring in the Panama Papers leaks, the opposition Congress in Maharashtra on Thursday sought his ouster as state’s ambassador for the ‘Save Tiger project’ even as a BJP MLA objected to the ‘vilification campaign’ against the Bollywood megastar.

“Till Bachchan gets a clean chit in the Panama Papers case, he should be removed as tiger brand ambassador as well as from advisory panel on the development of part of the Bandra Kurla Complex as International Finance and Services Centre,” the Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil said while raising the issue in Lower House.

Incidentally, Bachchan visited Mantralaya on Thursday to attend a meeting of the panel.

“It would be improper if Bachchan continues to occupy the two posts especially when his name has allegedly figured in the Panama Papers,” the opposition leader said.

The Papers are a leaked set of 11.5 million confidential documents that provide detailed information about more than 214,000 offshore companies listed by corporate services provider Mossack Fonseca.

“Bachchan should be removed from the two posts till the inquiry launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard is complete,” the opposition leader said.

BJP MLA Yogesh Sagar objected to the ‘vilification campaign’ against a star of Bachchan’s repute.

Bachchan, whose name figured in the leaks as allegedly having links with offshore entities in two tax havens, had already denied any connection with those companies, saying his name may have been “misused”.

“I do not know any of the companies referred to by Indian Express – Sea Bulk Shipping Company Ltd, Lady Shipping Ltd, Treasure Shipping Ltd, and Tramp Shipping Ltd. I have never been a director of any of the above-stated companies. It is possible that my name has been misused,” he had stated after the Indian Express newspaper broke the story.

(Agencies)

Digvijaya slams Centre’s clause for Urdu writers

by

Digvijaya Singh

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Saturday slammed the union Human Resource Development ministry’s proposal asking Urdu writers to declare that “the content in their books will not be against the government or the country”.

“It is condemnable. If they have introduced such a clause then it should be there for the writers of all the languages. Why are they only targeting Urdu writers. It is being done because their (BJP) only agenda is to divide the country on communal lines and rule,” said Singh.

The National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) has recently introduced a form, requiring authors of the books that it acquires annually, to declare that the content will not be against the government or the country.

NCPUL, that provides monetary assistance to Urdu writers, comes under the union HRD ministry-led by Smriti Irani.

The form handed out to the writers reads: “I son/daughter of confirm that my book/magazine titled which has been approved for bulk purchase by NCPUL’s monetary assistance scheme does not contain anything against the policies of the government of India or the interest of the nation, does not cause disharmony of any sort between different classes of the country, and is not monetarily supported by any government or non-government institution.”

Asked about the controversy over the ‘Bharat mata ki jai’ slogan, Singh said: “One should not be surprised. To hide their failures in governance and development they keep raising such issues of love jihad, ghar wapsi, ramzada-haramzada and now Bharat mata ki jai.”

(Agencies)

PM attacks Congress, then reaches out to Oppn for support

by

modi

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today reached out to the opposition, saying he needs their support for ‘improvement’ in his government, even as he attacked the Congress over disruptions in Parliament while skipping the raging issues like JNU and Dalit student’s suicide.

Modi, speaking in the Lok Sabha, used wit and barbs as he responded to the attack by Congress over various initiatives of his government, including ‘Make in India’ and MNREGA.

Slamming the Congress for disrupting Parliament and stalling bills, he said the main opposition party was doing so because of “inferiority complex” of its top leaders. He also invoked the statements made by Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and first President Rajendra Prasad by reading out their statements against stalling of legislative business.

He deploredthe ‘tu tu, mai mai’ (blame game) attitude by political parties for “scoring points”, saying the officialdom rejoices over this and nation suffers.

“This government also needs improvement which cannot happen without your help. I am new, you are experienced. I need the benefit of your experience. Governments will come and go. Let us work shoulder to shoulder,” Modi said while replying to a debate on Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address which was approved later.

He said a democratic country like India cannot be left at the mercy of the bureaucracy as he sought to underline the importance of the Legislature, saying even a single MP of any party should be treated like “Prime Minister”.

In his 75-minute speech, Modi, however, did not respond to the specific issues raised by Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders, like his visit to Pakistan, blackmoney, JNU and Dalit student Rohith Vemula’s suicide.

(PTI)

 

Congress attacks Subramanian Swamy’s cavalcade with eggs, ink

by

subramanian swamy

Kanpur: Congress workers today tried to stop the cavalcade of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy here and allegedly threw eggs, tomatoes and ink on it.

Police used mild force to disperse the protesters in which some of them received minor injuries.

BJP district President Surendra Maithani said Swamy’s cavalcade was on its way to VSSD college from circuit house around 11 AM for a seminar on global terrorism when protesters threw eggs, tomatoes, ink and garbage on it at Narwana Chowk.

Congress district President Harprakash Agnihotri led the protest of his party workers.

Maithani alleged that police and the district administration were informed prior to Swamy’s visit but no security arrangements were made.

(Agencies)

Congress leads in ZP, TP polls; BJP wins in DK, Udupi

by

bjp-congress

Bengaluru/Mangaluru: The Congress in the state managed to secure a lead in more than 12 of the 30 zilla panchayats (ZP) in the recent elections held in two phases.

Trends indicated that the Congress was leading in Bidar, Chamarajanagar, Chitradurga, Gadag, Haveri, Kalaburagi, Kolar, Koppal, Ramanagaram, Tumakuru, Uttara Kannada and Yadgir ZPs.

The story was different in other districts with the BJP leading in Ballari, Bengaluru Urban, Chikkamagaluru, Davanagere, Kodagu and Shivamogga and in coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi.

The JD(S) secured a lead in Mandya and Mysuru.

The counting of votes began on Tuesday morning at 8. The fate of 17,000 candidates was decided in the two phased-elections held on February 13 and 20.

(Agencies)

BJP wins two seats, Congress won in Karnataka by polls

by

BJP

Bengaluru: The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday won two seats and the ruling Congress one seat in the by-elections held to the state assembly in Karnataka.

The BJP’s Y.A. Narayanaswamy won from the high-profile Hebbal assembly segment of the Bengaluru North parliamentary constituency by 19,149 votes, defeating C.K. Abdul Rahman Sharief of the Congress and Ismail Sharief Nana of the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S).

Narayanaswamy, a two-time lawmaker from the state legislative council, bagged 60,367 votes, while Abdul, the grandson of former union minister C.K. Jaffer Sharief, secured 41,218 votes and Nana 3,666 votes.

Similarly, in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) reserved Devadurga constituency in Raichur district, about 510 km from Bengaluru, the BJP’s K. Shivana Gouda Nayak won by 16,871 votes, defeating A. Rajashekhara Nayak of the Congress and Karemma G. Nayak of the JD-S.

In a family battle, the contestants being relatives, Shivana polled 72,647 votes, while Rajashekhara got 55,776 and Karemma 9,156 votes.

In Bidar in the state’s north, about 690 km from here, Congress nominee Rahim Khan won by 22,721 votes, defeating Prakash Khandre of the BJP and Md Ayaz Khan of the JD-S.

Rahim polled 70,138 votes, Prakash 47,417 and Ayaz 4,421.

Hebbal registered the lowest voting of 45 percent in the bypolls on Saturday, while it was 61 percent in Bidar and 67 percent (the highest) in Devadurga.

The BJP retained Hebbal and wrested Devadurga from the Congress, while the ruling party wrested Bidar from the BJP.

The by-elections were necessitated by the death of lawmakers — R. Jagadish Kumar of the BJP from Hebbal, Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli of the BJP from Bidar, and Venkatesh Naik of the Congress from Devadurga.

(IANS)

DMK, Congress join hands for Tamil Nadu assembly polls

by

Congress-DMK

Chennai: Congress and DMK today entered into an alliance to face the coming Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, joining hands after three years.

Senior Congress leader and leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad met DMK president M Karunanidhi at his residence and announced the tie-up with the regional party which he described as “the most dependable partner”.

Azad told reporters after meeting the DMK patriarch here that issues such as seat sharing and being part of the DMK led government were not a priority now and that the main goal was to ensure that DMK comes to power.

He said that the election would be fought under the DMK leadership and put on Karunanidhi’s party the responsibility of roping in more constituents into this alliance, including DMDK.

As to what had changed between 2016 and 2013 when DMK snapped ties accusing the Congress of betraying Sri Lankan Tamils, Azad said that there were “compulsions and pressures” in politics and that the two parties had won elections together in the past also.

The DMK-Congress split had also come against the backdrop of the arrests of former Union Minister A Raja and Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi, a Rajya Sabha MP, in the alleged spectrum allocation scam.

Congress had contested the last Lok Sabha elections on its own and had drawn a blank. It had contested the last Assembly elections along with DMK but secured just five seats. Assembly strength in the state is 234.

Congress is out of power in the key southern state for nearly five decades and has generally been aligning with either of the Dravidian party- DMK or AIADMK. It has contested alone too but without much success.

(PTI)

Maharashtra Civic Polls: Congress tops the table, BJP-Sena suffer setback

by

congress

Mumbai: Congress registered an impressive performance, leading the seat tally by winning in 105 wards in the municipal council and nagar panchayat polls and bypolls for 345 wards held across Maharashtra.

While NCP and Shiv Sena finished second and third, the BJP had to be content with only 39 seats, finishing fourth in the overall seat tally.

The results of the polls held on Sunday were declared late yesterday.

The final tally showed Congress on the top with 105 wards, followed by the NCP that won 80 wards and Sena that bagged 59 wards.

The polls were held in Raigad, Nandurbar, Ahmednagar, Nanded, Osmanabad, Hingoli, Washim and Chandrapur councils and nagar panchayats. The by-elections were conducted in Ratnagiri, Jalgaon, Latur, Yavatmal, Wardha and Bhandara.

A major setback for the BJP has come at Jamkhed in Ahmednagar district, which is the home turf of Minister of State for Home Ram Shinde, and at Chandrapur, which is represented by Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar.

Congress-NCP leaders described the outcome as a reflection of the people s disillusionment with the ruling party.

Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil said, “The results show the people’s confidence in the Congress is back and that people are disillusioned with the BJP led regime.”

The results come ahead of Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi’s Mumbai visit on January 15 and 16.

Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Dhanajay Munde of NCP said, “The results show failure of the BJP-Sena-led government in Maharashtra.”

During elections to 59 nagar panchayat and municipal councils in November 2015, BJP was in the lead with 254 wards, followed by Congress with 239, NCP with 201 and Shiv Sena with 126 wards.

(PTI)

Congress leads in Karnataka legislative council polls

by

congress

Bengaluru: The ruling Congress led in 13 of the 25 Karnataka legislative council seats for which elections were held and counting of votes was in progress on Wednesday.

Biennial polling for the council was held in 20 districts across the state on December 27.

According to trends from all the counting centres, in the remaining 12 seats opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) led in six and four seats respectively, while independents are ahead in the two remaining seats.

“Counting of votes is underway peacefully at 20 centres across the state amid tight security and all results are expected by evening,” an election official told IANS.

A record 99.6 percent voting was registered on Sunday.

A Congress spokesperson said the party’s candidates in Bellari, Bengaluru urban, Bidar, Hassan, Raichur-Koppal and Udupi have won among the 13 seats.

Members of urban and local bodies and lawmakers from the state legislative assembly and parliament from the state form the electorate for the council polls.

In all, 125 candidates, including eight women, are in the fray.

The Congress contested for 21 seats, while opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 20 seats and the JD-S 18 seats.

In the 75-member council, the Congress has 28 seats, the BJP 30, JD-S 12, and independents four. One seat is vacant.

Of the total, 25 members are elected by the assembly and parliament lawmakers, 25 from local bodies, 11 are nominated by the state governor and seven are elected from the graduates’ and teachers’ constituencies.

(IANS)

KNOW US

GET INVOLVED

PROMOTE

Archives