Shashank

Rejecting opposition demands for Sushma Swaraj’s resignation, the government, the BJP as well as RSS today defended the External Affairs Minister over the Lalit Modi travel documents issue, asserting that she had done no wrong and only acted on “humanitarian” grounds.

“We want to make it clear that whatever she has done is right. We justify it and the government completely stands by her,” Home Minister Rajnath Singh said after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the controversy.

Swaraj also reportedly talked to the Prime Minister.

People in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, have been asked to stay indoors after heavy flooding triggered by relentless rain has freed animals, including tigers, lions, bears, hippopotamus and wolves, from a city zoo.

The flood has killed eight people, with a zoo keeper believed to be among the dead, reported the BBC.

A hippopotamus was cornered in one of the city’s main squares and sedated with a tranquiliser gun. Other animals have been recaptured or killed. However, it’s unclear how many are still missing.

Four persons of a family were today killed when a wall collapsed on them due to incessant rains in Tangedu Pally village in neighbouring Rangareddy district in Telangana, police said.

K Srinivas (30) and his wife Lavanya (26) along with their two sons were found dead by the villagers this morning under the debris, they said.

A case has been registered and their bodies were sent for post-mortem, they added.

Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan says his chemistry with “ABCD 2” co-star Sharaddha Kapoor is special as they have been friends since childhood.

The 28-year-old actor, who shared screen space with actresses like Alia Bhatt, Nargis Fakhri, Ileana D’Cruz, Huma Qureshi among others in his previous outings, said he sees Shraddha on top of her game in the next five years.

Telangana BJP President G Kishan Reddy on Saturday said that his party was re-thinking on its alliance with the Telugu Desam Party.

Addressing a press conference here, Kishan Reddy said that the Telangana unit of BJP believes that the tapes and videos related to ‘Cash for Vote’ case were not fake. “We gave our report about the same to BJP top leaders,” he said. However, he said that a decision on continuing alliance with the TDP would be taken only after the completion of investigation into the ‘Cash for Vote’ case.

A 30-member team, led by Deputy Chief Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali, will go on a study tour to Delhi and and Nagpur.

The team, comprising of legislators from Greater Hyderabad and senior officials of GHMC, HMWSSB and other departments, would visit New Delhi on Monday while it will go to Nagpur on Tuesday. During the visit, the team members would study the lifting of garbage in Delhi and Nagpur and will also visit a power plant at Jahangirpur in Delhi where electricity is being generated using garbage.

Deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari today slammed two corporate colleges for indulging in dictating the government with wrong publicity and for monopolizing engineering education that fetched bad name to the State at national level.

Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy has said the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and Courts would look after the infamous ‘Note for Vote’ case and bring it to a logical end.

Speaking to the media here on Saturday, Kishan Reddy said they have submitted a report to the Centre in this regard and suggested both Telangana and AP Chief Ministers K Chandrasekhar Rao and N Chandrababu Naidu respectively to stop trading charges and concentrate on development of their States. He said it was not proper for both the CMs to provoke the people.

Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee will be staging a Dharna against TDP president and AP Chief Minister ‘Chandrababu Naidu’s Corrupt Practices’ at Indira Park here on June 15 from 10.30 am.

According to party sources, APCC president N. Raghuveera Reddy and senior leaders would garland Dr BR Ambedkar statue at Tank Bund and proceed towards Indira Park to stage dharna. (NSS)

Swaraj Abhiyan, Telangana today launched its nationwide Jai Kisan Movement in the presence of Members of Steering Committee of Telangana and farmers.

Lok Satta founder-president Jayaprakash Narayan shot questions at AP Chief Minister and TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday with regard to ‘Note-for-Vote’ scam through Twitter, a social network.

Dr JP asked Chandrababu to tell whether TDP MLA Revanth Reddy tried to buy one MLA vote with Rs 5 crore was true or not and if true the issue took place at the directions of Naidu. Why action was not initiated till now against Revanth Reddy if Revanth Reddy approached nominated MLA Elvis Stephenson to buy his vote on his own, JP asked.

Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) Telangana State Committee has called upon workers to participate in ‘Karmika Porubata’ in large numbers from June 15 to July 10 across the Telangana State demanding that the government ensure Rs 15,000 as minimum wage and restrict working hours to eight and extend PF and ESI benefits to the workers.

“The Cash-For-Vote scam is yet another sad reminder of the sorry state of politics in the two new States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Not only the political parties are indulging in deplorable actions during elections, they continue the vote buying and divisive brand of politics even after elections”, observed Loksatta party.

Five workers were grievously injured in an explosion occurred in Bharat Dynamics Limited, a Defence laboratory at Kanchanbagh here on Saturday, according to Arup Kumar Maiti, GM (BD).

Telangana Finance Minister was injured when the car he was travelling in turned turtle near from Karimnagar on Saturday evening.

The accident occurred when Etala was going to Karimnagar from Huzurabad. While the minister’s convoy was about 12 kilometres away from Karimnagar, the bullet proof car in which Eatala was travelling, lost control and turned turtle. Besides Eatala, two other persons and driver were also injured in the accident. They were immediately rushed to a nearby private hospital in Karimnagar.

Endowments Minister A Indrakaran Reddy today said 65 per cent of works of Godavari Pushkarams have been completed so far and the rest will be over by end of this month. The State government released Rs 412 crore out of Rs 572 crore for the pushkarams to be conducted in a grand manner.

Telangana State BJP president G Kishan Reddy today called upon all political parties to join Yoga Day being organized near Sanjivaiah Park on June 21 here.

Speaking to mediapersons here on Saturday, Kishan Reddy said Yoga was not related to any religion; it is an art to maintain health perfectly, he said. He appealed to the people to attend the Yoga Day in large numbers and make it a grand success. He also said 177 countries have come forward to organize Yoga Day on June 21.

Condemning the missive written by AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to enforce Section 8 of AP Reorganisation Act on Hyderabad, Telangana Commercial Taxes Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav today opined that the former may face dungeon in a few days in connection with his active role in “Cash-for-Vote” scam if a section of media reports are to be believed.

Congress Deputy Floor leader in Telangana Assembly T Jeevan Reddy has demanded that the Telangana government ensure jobs to locals in the proposed private and public sector industries being set up with government subsidies as per rule of reservation.

As many as 22 persons were killed when a Multi Utility Vehicle (MUV) Toofan fell into the Godavari river in Dowleshwaram near Rajahmundry of East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh in the early hours of Saturday.

“We will not rest unless the Telangana Government orders a judicial probe into the Alair encounter,” said Samajwadi Party Maharashtra unit President and MLA Abu Asim Azmi.

Samajwadi Party’s Telangana unit women’s cell chairman Nagalaxmi donated Rs. 1 lakh each to the families of three Muslim youth who were killed in an alleged encounter with the police at Alair of Nalgonda district on April 7.

BJP President Amit Shah will be on a two-day tour to poll-bound Bihar during which he will also take part in a yoga event in Patna on June 21, the International Yoga Day, which the Narendra Modi government is celebrating in a grand way across the country.

Shah will hold a meeting with the state party leaders to fine tune NDA’s strategy for the Assembly election in which it is locked in a keen contest with the RJD-JD(U) alliance spearheaded by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad, the party said in a statement.

India is committed to eliminate child labour as well as to usher in a governance of transparency and accountability, Minister for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatraya said today.

“Government of India is committed to usher in a governance of transparency and accountability…We are committed on the issue of elimination of child labour and are bringing a Bill in the Parliament for a complete prohibition of employment of children below 14 years,” an official statement said quoting Dattatraya.

Islamic seminary Darul Uloom today said that reciting mantras during ‘Pranayam’ and ‘Surya Namaskar’ is “un-Islamic” but refused to issue fatwa against it.

Darul Uloom’s Mufti Abul Qasim Nomani today told reporters that there is no harm if Yoga is practised as physical exercise, asserting that it is not prudent to associate Yoga with any particular religion.

“People of different religions in Hindustan live their lives in their own way. Islam also talks of exercise to keep the body fit. But it is inappropriate to forcibly impose any particular way of life on them,” he said.