Mumbai, June 26: Congress members on Thursday demanded the removal of Municipal Commissioner Jairaj Phatak, calling him an RSS man and accusing him of favouring the ruling Shiv-Sena-BJP combine in the BMC.
Alleging discrimination against the Opposition, Congress leaders have written a letter to Chief Minister Ashok Chavan asking him to sack Phatak.
Patna, June 25: LJP today charged Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with deliberately trying to divide Dalits for votes and threatened to launch a state-wide stir if “discrimination” against the community continued.
Referring to the state government’s bid to keep Ravidas (chamaras) and Paswan (dusadhs) out of the ‘mahadalit’ category, LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan said it reflects “dirty politics” to divide Dalits for votes, something his party will “never tolerate”.
He was talking to reporters at the site of a dharna organised by Dalit Sena, headed by Ramchandra Paswan, a former party MP.
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet has appointed the Infosys Chief Nandan Nilekani as the Chairman of National Authority for Unique Identity.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni said the new authority will function under the planning commission, and Nilekani will be enjoying cabinet status.
Ms Soni said the authority will have the responsibility to lay down plans and policies to implement the Unique Identification Scheme and will operate the unique identification number database for the citizen’s of the country.
New Delhi, June 25: Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday sent a “Chadar” (holy cloth) to the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer on the occasion of annual ‘Urs’.
Senior party leaders who would carry the Chadar arrived at Gandhi’s residence and touched the holy cloth, symbolising their participation in the offering.
Puducherry, June 25: The ruling Congress in Puducherry is all set to stake claim to the lone Rajya Sabha seat here which has been vacated by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, V Narayanasamy following his election to Lok Sabha.
The party’s move to contest the seat comes a day after its ally DMK denied reports that its local unit wanted to stake a claim for the seat.
New Delhi and Kolkata, June 25: The increasing dissonance between Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s politics and the Union government’s West Bengal policy has become a source of concern for Congress leaders. While the Congress had braced itself to deal with Mamata’s mercurial temper, it hardly expected trouble to start so soon in its second innings. But the Lalgarh crisis has brought matters close to boiling point.
Lucknow, June 24: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Varun Gandhi, who courted controversy with his alleged hate speeches during the run-up to the recent Lok Sabha elections, on Wednesday held a closed-door meeting in Lucknow with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leaders, party sources said.
The meeting assumes significance against the backdrop of the demand by a section of the party to make him the BJP’s Uttar Pradesh president.
New Delhi, June 24: Former law minister H.R. Bhardwaj was Wednesday appointed governor of Karnataka, replacing incumbent Rameshwar Thakur who has been transferred to Madhya Pradesh, officials said here.
The veteran Congress leader was dropped from the Manmohan Singh cabinet after the Congress-led new United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was formed.
Thakur, who is currently the Karnataka governor, has been transferred and appointed the governor of Madhya Pradesh for the remainder of his term, a Rashtrapati Bhavan statement announced.
Jammu, June 24: Reaffirming his party’s commitment to Hindutva, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh Tuesday said the electoral “victory or defeat is not a referendum on the ideologies and commitment of the party”.
Sharing the dais with Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohanrao Bhagwat at a function in the Jammu and Kashmir winter capital, the BJP leader said his party was committed to Hindutva and “would not give up that ideology simply because it lost elections”.
New Delhi, June 24: The Uttarakhand BJP legislative party has chosen state Health Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank as state’s next Chief Minister. Considered to be close to BC Khanduri, Nishank is a strong leader from Garhwal and is known to be close to the RSS.
The decision was taken at a crucial meeting of Uttarakhand BJP MLAs in the national capital on Wednesday. Senior party leaders M Venkaiah Naidu and Thawar Chand Gehlot also attended the meeting as central observers besides dissident leader B S Koshiyari and state unit president Bachchi Singh Rawat.
–Agencies
Lucknow, June 24 : BJP Pilibhit MP Feroze Varun Gandhi today held a meeting with the senior Uttar Pradesh RSS leaders here to discuss strategies for strengthening the party in the State.
The meeting was held in the backdrop of bickerings within the party over Mr Gandhi’s controversial hate speech during the just concluded BJP’s national executive.
Mr Gandhi had an hour-long discussion with RSS regional pracharak Ashok Beri at the local RSS headquarters this morning, state BJP sources said.
Chandigarh, Jun 24 : Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi today ruled out the possibility of induction of his brother Chand Mohammad in the party founded by their father and former chief minister Bhajan Lal.
”There is no place for him in our party,” Mr Bishnoi said while responding to reporters’ queries about his brother Chand Mohammad alias Chander Mohan who was removed as Haryana Deputy Chief Minister after his controversial marriage with Fiza.
New Delhi, June 24: A huge setback in the Lok Sabha Elections 2009 has left Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati shell-shocked.
During the election campaigns Mayawati could never hide her ambitions to become the country’s prime minister. However, the Lok Sabha Elections results have shattered the her dreams. She is quite literally on a rampage, targeting not only her senior party leaders but even state bureaucrats and top cops whom she feels were not faithful during the elections.
–Agencies
New Delhi, June 24: The Rail Bhavan drives the world’s largest railway network. Yet, officials in the railway ministry’s headquarters are chugging along direction-less.
With the rail budget scheduled for July 3, the babus are working overtime to put together the final document because railway minister Mamata Banerjee has been away, in West Bengal, for most of the time.
Jammu, June 24: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Rajnath Singh Tuesday said peace and stability in Pakistan was in ‘our interest’ and India should offer ‘all support’ to combat terrorism in that country.
‘The BJP wants peace and prosperity of Pakistan’ as its stability was in ‘our interest’, Rajnath Singh told reporters here on the sidelines of a function to mark the death anniversary of the Jana Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, who died in a state prison June 23, 1953.
Madikeri, June 23: Opposition leader in the Lok Sabha and senior BJP leader L K Advani today said he was not interested in the post of party President.
Mr Advani, who arrived here alng with his family members for a five-day holiday, told newsmen that he saw some reports in Delhi media projecting him as the aspirant for the top post of the party. “The party has enough leaders and many new leaders have come up and they shall assume the mantle.”, he added.
Jammu, June 23: Reaffirming his party’s commitment to Hindutva, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh Tuesday said the electoral “victory or defeat is not a referendum on the ideologies and commitment of the party”.
Sharing the dais with Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohanrao Bhagwat at a function in the Jammu and Kashmir winter capital, the BJP leader said his party was committed to Hindutva and “would not give up that ideology simply because it lost elections”.
Jammu, June 23: The authorities in Jammu University Monday evening said they have cancelled the reservation of the varsity auditorium for a joint function of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).
RSS chief Mohanrao Bhagwat and BJP president Rajnath Singh are expected to visit the Jammu and Kashmir Jammu Tuesday to observe the death anniversary of the founder of Jan Sangh, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, who died in a state prison June 23, 1953.
Bhagwat and Rajnath Singh were to address a function in the university auditorium.
Azamgarh, June 23: A 73-YEAR-OLD local BJP leader was shot dead outside his house at Raidopur Colony in Azamgarh in the early hours of Sunday. The incident created a sensation in the posh colony. Police suspected old enmity led to the killing. A manhunt has been launched for the assailants. The BJP leader’s son has lodged an FIR.
Kolkata, June 23: CPI(M) trade union wing CITU today said, if was approached, it would support any agitation by the Air India employees, who are currently facing the possibility of having their June month’s salaries delayed.
“Though, we do not have presence among Air India employees, we are open to support (them),” CITU state secretary Kali Ghosh said here today.
On the proposal for wage cut in AI, he said, CITU was opposed to it.
Patna, June 23: Intensifying his attack on Bihar’s NDA government led by Nitish Kumar, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad today alleged that there was “complete breakdown” in law and order situation of the state and nobody felt secure and protected under the present regime.
“There is a complete breakdown in law and order. We can rather say that there is no law and order worth the name prevailing in Bihar at present,” Prasad said while addressing a dharna organised by his party’s city unit to highlight law and order problems in the state.
Puducherry, June 23 : The Puducherry unit of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) today sought the lone Rajya Saba seat for the party, which fell vacant following the election of Mr Narayansamy to the Lok Sabha.
In a resolution adopted at the executive committee meeting of the party here, it pointed out that the DMK was supporting the Congress and had strve hard for the victory of the DPA candidate V Narayanasamy in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
New Delhi, June 23: His foray into politics might not have translated into big wins for the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the recent Lok Sabha elections, but for Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt that part of his life is unforgettable.
New Delhi, June 23: Speculations are rife that though his Delhi dreams woke up to a crude reality after the poll fiasco, chief minister Narendra Modi’s position as a party man will be on the rise nationally.Though the possibility of him holding a key post in the ministry at the centre was dashed, Modi can grow more in the party by getting a ‘key’ position in near future, party insiders say.
Panaji, June 23: Saying that “ministers going to casinos is bad”, Goa Congress chief Subhash Shirodkar Monday said the involvement of Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) cabinet ministers in casino-related controversies was “in bad taste”.
“I can only say that the casino episode is in bad taste,” Shirodkar said at a press conference at the party headquarters here.