The Election Commission (EC) Tuesday partially relaxed the ban imposed on the movement of Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia in Amritsar parliamentary constituency.
The EC, which had Monday ordered that Majithia would not be allowed to move anywhere in the Amritsar parliamentary constituency except for his polling station, has reconsidered its order, Punjab chief electoral officer V.K. Singh said Tuesday.
Taking a big step in its “long-term vocation” in India, Spanish brewing company Mahou-San Miguel Tuesday announced the total acquisition of its Indian subsidiary Arian Breweries & Distilleries.
The Spanish group entered into a joint venture with the Indian company in 2012 and so far owned half of it.
“This acquisition confirms the long-term vocation of Mahou-San Miguel in the nation, where good initial results and encouraging perspectives for market expansion predict a future of growth,” the company said in a statement.
After triggering a row over his “yeh dil maange more” comments, Narendra Modi tonight asserted that he holds Kargil martyr Capt Vikram Batra as well as his parents in high esteem and would quit politics rather than even thinking about disrespecting such citizens.
The BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate denounced the controversy over his usage of the phrase used by late Batra and wondered “what kind of politics is this” that one even cannot remember martyrs.
The Majlis Bachau Tahreek on Tuesday accused MIM leaders for spreading false propaganda, especially in Yakutpura and Chandrayangutta constituencies, to divert the attention of voters.
A former militant was critically injured when a separatist guerrilla fired at him when he was travelling in a bus in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district Tuesday, police said. Three other passengers were also injured.
Police said a guerrilla travelling in the vehicle from Pattan town got down at Sangrama on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road in Baramulla and immediately fired at Abdul Khaliq Dar, an ex-militant travelling in the same vehicle.
Senior Pakistan players Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal do not feature in a list of 36 players selected for a month-long training camp to be held at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore starting May 6.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) though has included a number of out-of-favour players like Nasir Jamshed, Yasir Hameed, Imran Farhat, Taufiq Umar, Faisal Iqbal and Muhammad Sami in an effort to build a better team for the 2015 World Cup.
BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi Tuesday appealed to voters to ensure his party’s victory in 300 Lok Sabha constituencies, but his use of Kargil hero Vikram Batra’s off-quoted phrase “Yeh dil maange more” sparked a controversy with Batra’s parents raising objections.
The Bharatiya Janata Party defended Modi saying the martyr’s quote was not the family’s property, but the Congress attacked the BJP for insulting the war hero.
The government Tuesday disclosed to the Supreme Court the names of 26 people who had accounts in banks in Liechtenstein, revealed to India by German authorities.
A bench of Justice H.L.Dattu, Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai and Justice Madan B. Lokur were given these names by Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran in two sealed covers having 18 and 8 names respectively.
The stage is set for polling in all the 26 Lok Sabha constituencies in Gujarat, and the fortunes of a number of bigwigs, including BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and several Congress union ministers, shall be sealed Wednesday.
As in the past two Lok Sabha elections — in 2009 and 2004, the main fight is largely between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress.
Modi is contesting from Vadodara and also from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh — where polling shall take place May 12.
At least 36 people were killed and 85 others injured Tuesday when a car bomb exploded in Syria’s central province of Homs, a media report said.
Most of those killed in the explosion at the Abbasiyeh roundabout in the al-Zahra district of Homs were women and children, SANA news agency reported.
Earlier Tuesday, 14 students were killed and 50 injured when mortar shells hit a religious school in Damascus’s central district of Shaghour.
Syria’s Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front militant group has been accused of both the attacks.
(IANS)
The Congress campaign for the Lok Sabha election was being led by party vice president Rahul Gandhi and not his sister Priyanka, union minister Jairam Ramesh said Tuesday.
“Media creates a hype. Rahul Gandhi is the vice president of the party… he’s going from state to state. Priyanka Gandhi is campaigning in two states. Would you like to see her as a future leader? That’s her choice. She is charismatic. We have a vice president under whom we are running this election,” the union rural development minister said in an interview to CNN-IBN news channel.
“The tail cannot wag the body, the body can wag the tail,” Congress leader Digvijay Singh said today rejecting the idea of extending outside support to a Third Front to form government to stop Narendra Modi.
Talking to reporters, Singh insisted that the dominant political party should lead the government for greater stability and effective functioning of any coalition arrangement.
An estimated 70 per cent of the electorate today cast their vote in the re-polling held at 12 polling stations across nine Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka.
“We have estimated 65 to 70 per cent voter turnout at re-polling held in 12 polling stations today,” Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer Anil Kumar Jha told PTI.
“Polling was normal and peaceful,” he added.
The CEO had recommended re-polling at 11 polling stations due to technical problems in EVMs and polling station at Turuvekere in Tumkur Lok Sabha constituency because of human error committed by election officials.
The National Gallery of Australia (NGA) would not contest the Indian government’s request for return of antique idols, the Indian high commission said Tuesday.
Tarun Kumar, first secretary in India’s high commission in Australia, said he expected a decision to be made regarding the return of the artefacts within a month, Canberra Times reported Tuesday.
He added that the deadline has now passed and it has been reported that the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) and the Art Gallery of New South Wales will not contest the Indian government’s request for the return of the idols.
There can be no peace with Israel without first defining the borders of a future Palestinian state, president Mahmud Abbas said today.
“Since the creation of Israel, nobody knows what the borders are. We are determined to know our borders and theirs, without that there will be no peace,” he said as Washington’s nine-month deadline for reaching a peace deal expired, leaving the process in tatters.
In a televised address, Abbas laid out his conditions for returning to the crisis-hit peace talks with Israel which have made no progress since they were launched on July 29 last year.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) Tuesday restrained the release of any sewage or sludge in and around water bodies at Dheerpur here and issued notice to the central and city governments on a plea seeking protection of wetlands in the national capital.
Andrew Raymond Rodick, a British national whose body was found in a plastic sack in Delhi, died of deep injuries on his head and face inflicted by heavy objects, the initial autopsy report said Tuesday.
The post-mortem examination conducted on the body of 40-year-old Rodick said he died of excess bleeding due to the injuries, according to police sources.
The final report will be released after receiving the forensic details, including the viscera report.
Russia Tuesday accused the United States and NATO of staging “unprecedented” military activity near its borders.
In a telephone conversation with his US counterpart, Chuck Hagel, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the Western military activity had been growing substantially, and was “accompanied by provocative statements”, Xinhua reported citing the Russian defence ministry.
Shoigu’s remarks came after NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said earlier April 15 that the bloc had decided to take “further military measures” to respond to the crisis in Ukraine.
Delhi experienced the hottest April 29 since 2010 as Tuesday’s maximum temperature settled at 41 degrees Celsius, two notches above the season’s average. Hot weather is expected in the city Wednesday too, the Met office said.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the maximum temperature in 2010 too was 41 degrees.
Delhi residents had a tough time as the city reeled under the scorching sun and the sky remained clear through the day. Those riding two-wheelers in particular were seen covered in scarves to protect themselves.
BJP today reacted sharply to Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s comparison of Narendra Modi with Hitler and Mussolini, alleging if there was any leader who had practiced their policies it was Indira Gandhi who imposed Emergency and suspended fundamental rights.
“India does not need Hitler or Mussolini, that is why Narendra Modi is needed. Congress has a history of fascism…. Chidambaram is partially right when he says India does not need fascism. That is why we need to remove Congress,” BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said.
With Mukhtar Ansari’s Quami Ekta Dal deciding to support Congress candidate Ajai Rai against Narendra Modi from this Lok Sabha constituency, BJP today alleged it was an “unholy alliance at the altar of vote bank politics”.
BJP, whose Prime Ministerial candidate is in fray from Varanasi as well as Vadodara seats, said Congress party has sealed this pact as it was unable to counter the “massive support and popularity” of Modi in this holy city.
International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) president Adham Sharara will step down from his presidency Sep 1.
ITTF Tuesday said Sharara will be replaced by Thomas Weikert, now deputy president of ITTF and also the head of the German Table Tennis Association, reports Xinhua.
Sharara will announce his plans to step down from his presidency at a press conference which will be held in the Yoyogi Gymnasium Wednesday.
(IANS)
Multi-faceted artiste M.V. Devan passed away here Tuesday, his family said. He was 86.
Devan was a painter, sculptor, writer, art critic and orator, all rolled into one.
A highly gifted personality, he was also a former chairman of the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi from 1974 to 1977.
Born in Kannur district in 1928, he left for Madras (now Chennai) in 1946 to study painting.
He learned the basics of painting at the Government School of Arts and Crafts in Madras under Debi Prasad Roy Chowdhury and K.C.S. Paniker.
Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Watson won the toss and elected to bat against Kolkata Knight Riders in an Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium here Tuesday.
Squads:
Rajasthan Royals: Ajinkya Rahane, Karun Nair, Sanju Samson, Shane Watson (captain), Stuart Binny, Steven Smith, Rajat Bhatia, James Faulkner, Kane Richardson, Pravin Tambe, Iqbal Abdulla.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (captain), Manvinder Bisla, Jacques Kallis, Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Robin Uthappa, Suryakumar Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Sunil Narine, Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav.
(IANS)
A section of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s family which has been campaigning for the declassification of secret files on him, Tuesday alleged the Netaji Research Bureau (NRB) – the oldest such centre in the country – had become a political tool in the hands of the ruling Trinamool Congress.