Politics

Jaipur, July 18: The Congress’ women’s wing today demanded due representation to women in the ongoing organisational elections in some states including Rajasthan.

Raising the demand at a PCC meeting here, Mahila Congress President Prabha Thakur said merely nominating women to a few posts in the organisation was not enough.

“They will have to be given key posts and assignments so that they could play active role in politics,” Thakur said.

–Agencies

Chennai, July 18: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M Karunanidhi today described as “baseless” various charges levelled against him and his government by Opposition AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa.

Karunanidhi, in a letter to his party men, refuted the charges made by her during AIADMK’s recent protest meeting at Coimbatore.

On the charges made by Jayalalithaa on the expired and spurious drug scam, the Chief Minister said he had already given a detailed reply on the issue in the state Assembly.

New Delhi, July 18: JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav today criticised the arrest of TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu at Nanded, saying Maharashtra Government was initiating a “wrong tradition” and demanded his immediate release.

In a statement here, Yadav said the action of Maharashtra Government in this regard has been “inappropriate” and the party condemns the arrest of Naidu.

“This is initiating a wrong tradition in politics. The Maharashtra government should immediately release him and he should be permitted to go to the Babli dam site,” Yadav said.

Mumbai, July 18: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has urged former Maharashtra chief minister and union minister A. R. Antulay to provide his legal expertise and knowledge in the vexed Maharashtra-Karnataka boundary issue, currently being heard in the Supreme Court, a party leader said.

Thackeray specially invited Antulay to his bungalow, ‘Matoshri’ in Bandra, late Saturday night and requested him to use his legal acumen and his long political and administrative experience to help strengthen Maharashtra’s case in the Supreme Court, Sena MP Sanjay Raut told IANS.

Guwahati, July 18: The ruling Congress party in Assam and its ally, the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), Sunday literally sounded the poll bugle ahead of next year’s assembly elections by taking the opposition head on and claiming to form the government for the third straight term.

“The opposition parties, especially the AGP (Asom Gana Parishad), have just taught the people of Assam how to launch agitations and nothing else,” Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said.

Panaji, July 18: Goa unit of National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), which has launched a campaign demanding handing over of police-drug peddler nexus case to CBI, has apprised Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi about the menace.

“We apprised Rahul Gandhi about the situation in the state and explained him why we took up the signature campaign demanding handing over enquiry on the nexus to the CBI. He was shocked to know the facts behind the drug nexus,” Sunil Kawthankar, chief of Goa unit of NSUI told reporters today.

New Delhi, July 18: The BJP today appeared to have decided to brazen it out in the fight with the opposition with Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa giving a clean chit to the Reddy brothers facing allegations of illegal mining and ruling out their dismissal from the cabinet.

“101 per cent. There is no charge against them. There is no evidence against them. Let them (opposition) approach the high court,” Yeddyurappa told reporters here when asked if he was giving a clean chit to the Reddy brothers G Janardhan Reddy and G Karunakar Reddy.

Mumbai, July 18: Congress which has set its eyes on wresting the Mumbai Municipal Corporation, Asia’s largest civic body, from the Shiv Sena-BJP in the 2012 is alarmed by the possible Muslim support to Raj Thackeray-led MNS.

The meeting of prominent Muslim clerics here with MNS president Raj Thackeray on the occasion of his birthday last month has sent alarm bells ringing in the Congress.

Just like elsewhere in the country, Congress sources said, Muslims and Dalit support is crucial for the party here.

New Delhi, July 18: Mayawati-led BSP has emerged as the third largest party in the Rajya Sabha, relegating the CPI(M) to fourth position in yet another bad news for Marxists ahead of the Assembly polls in West Bengal and Kerala.

The strength of CPI(M) has come down from 16 to 15 while that of BSP has risen from 13 to 18 in the 245-member Upper House after the last month’s biennial elections to 55 seats.

While the BSP’s graph is rising in the Upper House, the Samajwadi Party, its arch rival in Uttar Pradesh, has suffered the sharpest erosion in its strength (five from 11).

New Delhi, July 18: The Terror side exhibited by the Rashtria Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) cadre in vandalising media houses is clearly not shared by its political offspring, the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Besides party spokespersons denying RSS’s alleged links with terror, there has been no structured comment by any senior BJP leader. L. K. Advani, Nitin Gadkari, Arun Jaitley or Sushma Swaraj, none of them have commented on the issue.

New Delhi, July 18: Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh Saturday said he and Home Minister P. Chidambaram are “still close friends” despite his calling the latter “intellectually arrogant” in a newspaper column.

Patna, July 17: Virtually kicking off a joint campaign for the assambly polls in Bihar slated for the year end, RJD chief Lalu Prasad and his LJP counterpart Ramvilas Paswan on Friday accused the ruling NDA of unleashing ‘a reign of corruption and terror in the state’.

“Today’s meeting marks the beginning of end of the NDA rule synonymous with a reign of corruption and terror,” the two leaders told a gathering at Sigheshwar in Madhepura district.

New Delhi, July 16: Congress today welcomed the tendering of apology to the Muslim community by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav for having aligned with Kalyan Singh but ruled out any allinace with that party in Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

“Apology is always welcome…but there is no question of any alliance in the assembly elections of UP,” Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, who is in-charge of party affairs in the state, told reporters.

Bangalore, July 16: The JDS today announced its support to the proposed Congress-led “Bellary chalo”, a padayatra from Bangalore to Bellary to protest against illegal mining and demanded a CBI probe into the issue.

Talking to reporters here, JDS leader H D Devegowda said his party would chalk out programmes to join hands with Congress after their July 18 meet to give final shape to the padayatra.

New Delhi, July 16: Congress today welcomed the tendering of apology to the Muslim community by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav for having aligned with Kalyan Singh but ruled out any allinace with that party in Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

“Apology is always welcome…but there is no question of any alliance in the assembly elections of UP,” Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, who is in-charge of party affairs in the state, told reporters.

Chennai, July 16: Days after AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa asked partymen to leave the issue of poll alliance to her amid speculations that she might woo Congress, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today sought to remind Congressmen of her criticism of their leader Sonia Gandhi.

Karunanidhi, in the DMK mouthpiece ‘Murasoli’, said that Jayalalithaa had steered clear of criticising Congress and the Centre (on the price rise issue) and had asked partymen to leave the decision on alliance to her during AIADMK’s demonstration against price rise in Coimbatore recently.

Bangalore, July 16: Senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu today charged the UPA government with failing to corner Pakistan on terror issue and criticised External Affairs Minister S M Krishna for not defending Home Secretary G K Pillai when he was being “openly castigated” by Pakistan Foreign Minister S M Qureshi.

Naidu insisted that any talk with Islamabad should focus on the issue of terrorism.

“What is the dialogue ? What is the basis ? (it should be) terrorism…putting an end to terrorism. Pakistan’s support to terrorism should be the main focus,” he told reporters here.

New Delhi, July 16: With reports of alleged links of RSS leaders with acts of terror, Congress today asked the right wing outfit to come clean on the issue and also called on the BJP to make its stand clear on “terror links” of such leaders.

“We call upon the RSS to come clean regarding all links of its senior leaders with terror. We also call on the BJP to make its stand clear on terror links of the leaders of RSS,” party spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan told reporters.

Muzaffarnagar, July 16: Leading Islamic seminary Darululoom Deoband today termed as a step in the “right direction” SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav’s apology to the Muslim community for aligning with Kalyan Singh, who has been blamed for the Babri Masjid demolition.

“It is a step in the right direction,” Deputy Vice Chancellor of the seminary Maulana Abdul Khalique Madrasi said.

Another cleric and member of All India Muslim Personal Law Board Maulana Mohd. Islam Kasmi also welcomed Yadav’s apology.

Patna, July 16: Bihar government will clear its position on the alleged irregularities in execution of welfare and development schemes after studying the High Court order for CBI probe, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi today said here.

“The state government will make its position on the issue of the alleged irregularities soon”, Modi said, when mediamen approached him for his comments on the order of the court.

“We are yet to study the order of the High Court… Let us go through it”, he said.

Lucknow, July 16: In a surprising development, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Mulayam Singh Yadav has apologised to Muslims for joining hands with those responsible for the demolition of the “Babri mosque” in December 1992. The reference is to BJP rebel and former Uttar Pradesh (UP) chief minister Kalyan Singh.

Lambasting her arch rival, she said Mulayam was shedding “crocodile tears” and Muslims would not be swayed by such a “political gimmick” anymore. The UP CM also pointed out that Kalyan’s son Rajbir was a cabinet minister in Mulayam’s government from 2003 to 2006.

Bangalore, July 16: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa today called on Governor H R Bhardwaj, who is gunning for the removal of Reddy brothers from the state ministry, and conveyed the government’s stand against a CBI inquiry into the illegal mining scam at this stage.

Yeddyurappa, accompanied by state Home Minister Dr V S Acharya and Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs S Suresh Kumar, held discussions with the governor for about 40 minutes at the Raj Bhavan.

New Delhi, July 16: Congress leaders from Jharkhand today met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and discussed the possibilities of government formation in the state, which is under President’s Rule.

The leaders met Gandhi and also apprised her of the status of membership drive and organisational elections in the state.

Lucknow, July 15: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Thursday termed as a “political gimmick” her rival and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s public apology to Muslims for associating with former BJP leader Kalyan Singh before the 2007 state assembly polls.

“The apology was nothing more than a political gimmick being played by Mulayam, whose game was to simply misguide and mislead the Muslim community,” Mayawati said in a statement issued here.

New Delhi, July 15: BJP today alleged that sub-standard material was being used in some of the key Commonwealth Games projects being implemented by various government agencies in Delhi.

Delhi BJP president Vijendra Gupta, after visiting the Yamuna Sports Complex along with some other party leaders, claimed the team found use of sub-standard material in construction work at the the important venue.

Yamuna Sports Complex will host boxing, cycling and wrestling events of the Games to be held from October 3 to 14.