News

No Modi wave in country, only Modi slaves: Kapil Sibal

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Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal on Saturday questioned the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for being myopic about their prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s close aide Amit Shah, who is a three time murder accused, and added that there is no Modi wave in the country, but only Modi slaves. “Jaitley talks about the prime minister being myopic. I want to ask him, why he and his party is being Myopic about Amit Shah who is the prime evangelist so to say, and prime organizer of all his campaigns and has been accused in three time murder case,” said Sibal.

TNGOs not to allow Seemandhra staff in Telangana

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Telangana Non-Gazetted Officers Association president Devi Prasad on Saturday announced that the TNGOs would not allow the employees from Seemandhra region to work in the Telangana state.

Speaking to the reporters here, Devi Prasad said that the employees should be distributed among the two States on the basis of region right from the State Secretariat to the village level. He said utmost transparency should be maintained in the division of employees leaving no room for controversies in future.

Gujarat development model about snatching lands and rights of the poor: Rahul Gandhi

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Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s Gujarat model is all about snatching the rights and lands of farmers and giving them away to big businessmen like Gautam Adani. “He (Modi) gave 45,000 acres of land of the farmers to one businessman for rupees 1 per square meter. Earlier, there was Sushma Swaraj, Yashwant Sinha, and Jaswant Singh in the BJP, but now on one side there is Modi, and on the other there is Adani,” said Gandhi, while addressing a rally in Amreli.

EC should file a criminal case against Baba Ramdev: Modhwadia

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Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia on Saturday said the Election Commission should file a crimminal case against yoga guru Baba Ramdev for his comment on Dalit women. He said Baba Ramdev”s statement reflected his dirty mindset. “Baba Ramdev”s comment on Dalit women reflects his mindset. He is on the same path as Asaram Bapu. Looking at this, I think there should be an investigation done on his personal life,” said Modhwadia. “The Bharatiya Janata Party is full of such babas. The Election Commission should file a criminal case against him,” he added.

MIM to conclude campaign at Khilwat Ground on April 28

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The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen will organise a public meeting at Khilwat Ground in the Old City on April 28 to conclude its election campaign in Telangana.

The meeting will be held from 11 AM and will be attended by all the MIM candidates of Telangana region. MIM President Asaduddin Owaisi and floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi will address the meeting. (INN)

Kodanda Reddy welcomes Rahul’s promises

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Congress senior leader and TPCC Disciplinary Action Committee chairman Kodanda Reddy on Saturday welcomed the promise made by AICC Vice-President Rahul Gandhi of giving loan waiver of Rs 2 lakh to the farmers.

Speaking to media persons here, Kodanda Reddy said that the lakhs of farmers would benefit from the schemes. He appealed to the farming community to vote in favour of Congress candidates to ensure that their loans up to Rs 2 lakh get waived off after party comes to power in Telangana.

T-Congress accuses KCR of promoting land grabbers

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Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee chief spokesperson Dr Shravan Kumar on Saturday accused TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao of promoting land grabbers in Telangana.

Speaking to media persons at Gandhi Bhavan here, Shravan Kumar alleged that KCR gave about 55 per cent of party tickets to land grabbers. KCR gave preference to those facing cases of land grabbing and other criminal charges and ignored the genuine workers. He alleged that KCR was promising to feed cow milk to the people although he was feeding the “donkeys”.

Eight women rescued from Delhi brothel

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Eight women, including a minor, were Saturday rescued from a brothel in central Delhi, police said. The brothel in-charge has been arrested.

A raid was conducted at a brothel in Kamla Market area on information by a non-governmental organisation.

Of the rescued women, four are from West Bangal and the other four from Maharashtra, Assam, Bihar and Jharkhand.
(IANS)

Egypt reports first case of MERS virus

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Egypt’s state news agency says authorities have detected the first case of a SARS-like virus in the country.

MENA says a 27-year-old civil engineer was diagnosed today after returning from Saudi Arabia, where the Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS, has been centred. It says the man was quarantined upon his arrival at Cairo airport yesterday and transported to a nearby hospital.

Saudi Arabia’s Health Ministry said late yesterday that five more people in the kingdom have died from MERS.

People determined to crush “divisive forces”: Shakeel Ahmed

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Congress General Secretary Shakeel Ahmed today claimed that the party will make a “clean sweep” in the state as people were determined to crush the “regressive and divisive forces” whose face stood exposed.

Ahmed, incharge of party’s Punjab affairs, asserted that the party would make a “clean sweep” in Punjab by winning all the 13 Lok Sabha seats, polling for which is scheduled to be held on April 30.

At present, Congress, which is in opposition in Punjab Assembly, has eight LS seats while the remaining five with the SAD-BJP combine.

SP to play key role in third front govt formation: Mulayam

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Discounting the possibility of BJP or Congress coming to power, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today claimed the third front would form the government at the Centre.

“It is unlikely that BJP or Congress will form the government at the Centre. It is the third front which will wrest power,” he said at an election rally in Kanpur.

Yadav said even if BJP got enough seats in Lok Sabha to form the government, leaders in Narendra Modi’s party would prevent him from becoming the Prime Minister.

Repolling in one Bengal booth Sunday

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Repolling will be held in one booth Sunday in West Bengal’s Malda district following an electronic voting machine (EVM) error during Thursday’s polls, a Election Commission official said Saturday.

“Repolling has been scheduled in the Malda South parliamentary constituency due to EVM error during Thursday’s polls,” Amit Ray Chaudhury, officer on special duty in the chief electoral officer’s office, told reporters here.

Sonia, Rahul, Modi to address rallies in Himachal

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Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi to hold election rallies in Himachal Pradesh next week, party leaders said Saturday.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi will address her first public meeting and canvass for the party candidates in Kullu town, some 250 km from Shimla, state vice president and former minister Harsh Mahajan told IANS.

A day before her visit, party vice president Rahul Gandhi would address two public meetings – at Bilaspur and Solan towns.

Modi will address three public rallies in the state April 29.

Polling officials arrested over rigging in Assam

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Two days after the final phase of the Lok Sabha polls in Assam, police Saturday arrested six people, including the presiding officer, four colleagues and a polling agent of a political party, over allegations of casting of votes under influence, officials said.

The incident of rigging took place at polling station No.35 at Bornijora L.P. School in Jalukbari assembly segment of the Gauhati Lok Sabha constituency.

Re-polling in the booth will be held Monday, according to the orders of the Election Commission.

Rahul again hits out at Gujarat development model

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Lashing out yet again at the Gujarat model of development, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Saturday said BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was claiming credit for the work of other people.

Gandhi also alleged that Modi favoured only one industrialist in the state.

“There is a partnership between Modi and Adani,” he alleged, asserting that all senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders like L.K. Advani, now-expelled Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha and Sushma Swaraj were sidelined for Modi’s partnership with Adani.

Congress, NCP threaten to ban Ramdev in Maharashtra

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The Congress and NCP Saturday strongly protested against Baba Ramdev’s comments on Rahul Gandhi, with both parties threatening to ban the yoga guru from entering Maharashtra.

“The daughters of Dalits are not stranded without shelter. Ramdev has insulted the entire Dalit community,” said Nationalist Congress Party executive president Jitendra Awhad.

He termed Ramdev’s statement that Rahul Gandhi visits the homes of Dalits for honeymoon and picnic as “shocking”.

Delhi Daredevils to nurture cricketing talent in Dubai

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As part of their endeavour to promote cricket and identify and nurture talent at the grassroot level, Delhi Daredevils will be associating with UAE-based G Force Cricket Academy to train budding talent in the city.

In a first of its kind initiative, the Daredevils support staff would be holding five-day clinics in the country spread over the next one year.

No achievement of Congress in Himachal: BJP MP Anurag Thakur

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The Congress government in Himachal Pradesh did not have any development model and was not able to “digest” the good work done by the previous BJP governments, BJP parliamentarian Anurag Thakur said Saturday.

“The Congress can’t list out a single achievement in its last 15-month tenure. It is not able to digest the good work done by the BJP governments which made the state famous at the international level,” Thakur said at an election rally in this town, part of the Hamirpur parliamentary constituency from where he is re-contesting.

‘Partition impacted on several languages’

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Languages are fluid, ever changing with cultural exchanges, getting crushed during political turmoil, yet connecting with people from different sides of the border, said literary experts Saturday while discussing the impact of partition on languages like Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi and Sindhi.

Knight Riders elect to bowl against Kings XI

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Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir won the toss and elected to field against Kings XI Punjab in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium here Saturday.

Squads:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Jacques Kallis, Gautam Gambhir (captain), Manish Pandey, Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Suryakumar Yadav, Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Morne Morkel.

Compensation for families of poll staff killed in Jharkhand

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The families of eight people, who were killed in a landmine blast in Jharkhand’s Dumka district Thursday on their way back from a polling booth, would get Rs 20 lakh each as compensation, an official statement said.

“The kin of five security personnel and three polling staff killed during election duty April 24 will be given Rs 20 lakh each. The district administration has sent a proposal in this regard,” the district authorities said in the statement Saturday.

Five people were also injured in the attack when the bus they were travelling in hit a landmine planted by the Maoists.
(IANS)

Four killed in Afghanistan suicide attack

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At least four people were killed and seven others injured Saturday in a suicide bombing attack in Afghanistan.

“A terrorist detonated his explosive-laden rickshaw next to a police van in Ghazni city killing four people including himself, two police and a civilian,” deputy provincial police chief Assadullah Insafi told Xinhua.

Seven people, including four policemen and three civilians, sustained injures in the attack, and some of them are in critical condition, he added.

The official blamed the attack on Taliban militants.
(IANS)