Politics

Raipur, January 12: The by-poll for Chhattisgarh’s Sanjari Balod assembly constituency in Durg district is to be held Feb 14, the election commission said Wednesday.

The filing of nomination papers will begin from Jan 21. The scrutiny of nomination papers will take place Jan 29, after the last date of filing of papers. The counting of votes will be held Feb 17.

The seat fell vacant after the sitting legislator of the state’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Madanlal Sahu, died following cardiac arrest in August last year. The main contest will be between the BJP and the Congress.

New Delhi, January 12: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday demanded a probe into the “illegal transfer” of land in Kandivali in Mumbai in which the names of a former minister and an ex-Army chief have cropped up.

Scenting another opportunity to corner the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, the principal opposition party also demanded “an immediate comprehensive” audit of all real estate assets in the possession or ownership of the Defence Ministry nationwide.

Gandhinagar, January 12: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi kicked off the state’s 5th biennial global summit here Wednesday with investment commitment of a whopping $333 billion on the first day — 35 percent more than the $243 billion attracted in 2009.

As Modi posed for a series of photo-ops in groups for over two hours, Gujarat Principal Industry Secretary M. Sahu announced that 2,766 memoranda of understanding were signed on Day One of the two-day conclave, worth an astounding Rs.15 lakh crore.

Patna, January 12: BJP president Nitin Gadkari today met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to offer condolence on the death his mother Parmeshwari Devi.

Deputy Chief Minister S K Modi, state BJP president C P Thakur, senior party leader Ananth Kumar and state minister Nandkishore Yadav were also present at Kumar’s house.

Parmeshwari Devi, 92, had died on January one after protracted illness.

–Agencies

Srinagar, January 12: PDP today expressed surprise over holding of a police recruitment rally without any “prior notice” and alleged that the ruling National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir done this to favour its candidates.

“It is surprising that the recruitment was started without any prior notice, information or advertisement and it seems it is meant only for those recommended by the ruling party,” the People’s Democratic Party said in a statement here.

New Delhi, January 12: Five years after courting controversy for praising M A Jinnah, senior BJP leader L K Advani still seems to be haunted by it as he remarked that he had “personally” experienced what the Pakistan founder would have gone through by advocating for a secular State.

“I personally have experienced what referring to Jinnah as a person who basically wanted a secular state with a Muslim majority….,” Advani said, leaving his statement incomplete but giving enough hint as to what he meant to say.

New Delhi, January 12: Publicly, the Congress tried to play down the former MP, Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy’s show of strength here on Tuesday, saying it posed no threat to the party government in Andhra Pradesh at all. “There has been no threat to the Congress in the past, nor is there any in the present, nor will there be in the future,” party spokesman Manish Tiwari said.

New Delhi, January 12: The Congress Tuesday defended the government on Hindutva activist Swami Aseemanand’s leaked confession about his role in the 2007 Samjhauta train blast, saying that a democratic nation “doesn’t sweep things under the carpet”.

“The difference between a democratic state and a non-transparent state is that a democratic state does not sweep things under the carpet. That is the manner in which a democracy gets strengthened,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters here.

Kolkata, January 21: Rejecting Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s warning, the youth wing of BJP on Wednesday said it would go ahead with its proposed ‘Tiranga Yatra’ from Kolkata to Kashmir. “Opponents to this march know very well that if youth become aware of the Kashmir issues, they will lose political ground.

That is why they are creating controversies on the march and trying to give it a political colour,” Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha National President Anurag Thakur said.

New Delhi, January 12: Alleging that the BJP-RSS ideology was giving rise to sectarianism, Congress today asked them to go in for “self-introspection” for their own political good.

“I think they should seriously introspect within, and they should try and see that such ideologies which give birth to such sectarianism need to be purged. I think this is the time for self-introspection…” Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters here.

He said that if the BJP and the Sangh fail to carry out self-introspection, they will have nobody else but “themselves to blame.”

New delhi, January 12: Uncertainties grip the forthcoming Budget Session as the Opposition led by the BJP appears to be in no mood to relent over its demand for a JPC probe in the 2G scam.

The Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and BJP’s master strategist, Mr Arun Jaitley, made it categorically clear that there would be no compromise on the JPC issue. “We will insist on a JPC,” Mr Jaitley said while the Lok Sabha Speaker, Ms Meira Kumar, on Monday signalled that she would like to make a fresh attempt to break the deadlock in Parliament.

New Delhi, January 11: With problems galore in Andhra Pradesh, Congress high command appears to be adopting a wait- and-watch approach on issues thrown up by the Srikrishna Committee on Telangana and the challenge by Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.

“Ambivalence is the name of the game on Telengana,” said a senior party leader on condition of anonymity.

His contention was that sometimes no decision is the best decision on contentious matters as passage of time helps resolve such issues dispassionately.

New Delhi, January 11: The government should further rationalise tax structure and continue with stimulus measures to sustain growth as the global economic recovery remains fragile, stakeholders of different industry groups said Tuesday.

In their pre-budget consultations with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee here, heads of top industry lobbies urged the government to incentivise employment intensive industries and reduce duties to boost manufacturing growth.

Shillong, January 11: Having donned many hats, actress Kirron Kher has said that she thinks of herself as a social activist, who came into politics for emotional reasons.

“I am basically a social activist. I want good governance from which all should benefit. It is an emotional reason that brought me to politics,” Kher said here.

Also describing herself as an entertainer, the actress said she would continue to do both, politics and acting, side by side.

Ahmedabad, January 11: Gujarat is witnessing a rise in tourism thanks to its effective campaigns to promote the state’s culture and tradition, Chief Minister Narendra Modi said Tuesday.

“Gujarat is achieving new milestones in tourism. And considering the progress we have made so far, there is no looking back,” Modi said while inaugurating the 21st International Kite Festival in Ahmedabad.

According to Modi, the change-over began after his campaigns on promoting the state’s culture and tradition.

Lucknow, January 11: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Tuesday asked the youth to join politics for development of the country but steered away from controversial questions on corruption and inflation during his interaction with a cross-section of students here.

Gandhi faced a volley of questions during his interaction with the students in a programme organised by the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) here, but chose to deflect many of the queries.

Lucknow, January 11: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi chose to feast on Lucknow’s famed tunde kebabs instead of having dinner at the five-star Taj hotel on Monday night, party sources said.

Gandhi, who is to address the National Students Union of India (NSUI), the Congress’ student wing, on Tuesday was scheduled to go to the five star hotel at the upscale Gomti Nagar. However, he chose to eat tunde kebabs, flat minced meat kebabs cooked in little oil over slow fire.

The Congress general secretary is staying at the VVIP guest house in the city.

New Delhi, Jan 11: It was a bad start to the UPA government this new year. With spiralling food prices, host of corruption and scams, the UPA believes in tackling one problem at a time.

For this very purpose, key ministers in the UPA government have got into a huddle to discuss on how best to handle the insane food inflation levels. A high-level meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be attended by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahuwalia on Tuesday, Jan 11.

Chennai, January 10: Nine AIADMK members were on Monday suspended from the Assembly till the end of the session on January 13 for disrupting the address of the Governor on Friday, but the Speaker’s action saw two walkouts and a mock session by the opposition.

Finance Minister and leader of the House K Anbazhagan moved the resolution seeking action against the AIADMK members which was adopted by voice vote.

Lucknow, January 10: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi chose to feast on Lucknow’s famed tunde kebabs instead of having dinner at the five-star Taj hotel here Monday night, party sources said.

Gandhi, who is to address the National Students Union of India (NSUI), the Congress’ student wing, here Tuesday was scheduled to go to the five star hotel at the upscale Gomti Nagar. However, he chose to eat tunde kebabs, flat minced meat kebabs cooked in little oil over slow fire.

The Congress general secretary is staying at the VVIP guest house in the city.

Ahmedabad, January 10: Sharing his vision for future generation, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today said that he wanted to make each and every youth of the state employable.

“In a modern society one is judged by what he knows, rather than whom he knows. The meaning of knowledge has changed. It is not limited to the minds of experts or printed in books. It is now a form of energy,” Modi said at the International Round Table Conference for Academic Institutions held at the Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University (PDPU) in Gandhinagar.

Allahabad, January 10: Activists of the Samajwadi Party’s student wing Monday held protests against Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi as he arrived here to interact with students at an educational institute.

Raising slogans like “Go back Rahul” and “We don’t want Rahul here”, several members of the Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha waived black flags at Gandhi and even tried to stop his cavalcade in Dhoomanganj area. They attacked Gandhi for “not being serious towards restoration of students’ union elections in central universities in Uttar Pradesh”.

Srinagar, January 10: The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Monday condemned “the harassment of Kashmiris especially the youth in and outside the state”.

In a statement here, party president Mehbooba Mufti said ‘It was appalling that state governments had now issued blanket advisories against Kashmiris.”

The PDP chief was reacting to the reported instructions issued by ‘the Maharashtra government to its police to keep all Kashmiris in the state under watch following an alert by the Jammu and Kashmir police’.

Surat, January 10: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has said that there is no place for radicals in the organsiation.

Speaking at a rally in the city, Mohan Bhagwat said, “RSS has always asked members with extremist views to leave.”

The RSS chief also trained his guns at the Congress on the question of saffron terror and said that the ruling party was indulging in diversionary tactics.

“The Congress is deliberately linking the RSS to terror. They are trying to divert attention. That’s why they have coined the term Hindu terror,” he said

Kolkata, January 10: Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee discussed the law and order situation in West Bengal with Congress heavyweight Pranab Mukherjee here and the formation of an alliance ahead of the assembly polls later this year.

Banerjee, the union railway minister, and Mukherjee, the finance minister, held talks Sunday night.

“Whenever we get time, we talk between ourselves either in Kolkata or in Delhi. It is just one such meeting,” said Banerjee after coming out of Finance Minister Mukherjee’s south Kolkata residence.