Page 2 - Indian Politics

Nagaland polls: Only 6 candidates file nominations, deadline tomorrow

A total of only six candidates have submitted their nominations so far for the February 27 Nagaland assembly polls, an official said. The deadline for nomination submission is Tuesday. Of the six, two are from the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) and one from its ally, the BJP. There are also two Independents, while one contestant belongs to the Rising People's Party, a new entrant in Nagaland politics, the official said. The NDPP and the BJP are contesting on a 40:20 seat-sharing arrangement in their bid to return to power for the second time in a row in the northeastern state. The Naga Peoples' Front (NPF) has announced 22 candidates, and the Congress released the names of 25 nominees so far. Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), National Peoples' Party and the Nationalist Congress Party have also named their candidates. Elections to the 60-member assembly will be held on February 27.

Congress' 85th plenary session to be game changer for politics: Venugopal

All India Congress Committee general secretary K C Venugopal on Sunday claimed the three-day 85th plenary session of the party to be held in Raipur from February 24 will be a "game changer" for Indian politics. Venugopal along with senior party leaders Pawan Bansal and Tariq Anwar reached Chhattisgarh's capital to take stock of preparations for the plenary session to be held at the Rajyotsava Sthal in Nava Raipur. Talking to media persons at the airport here, Venugopal said, We have come here to take stock of the preparations for the plenary session scheduled to be held from February 24 to 26. This plenary is going to be a game changer of Indian politics." To a query, he targeted the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre said, ''The BJP is only spreading lies in the country. They talked about Bharat Jodo Yatra too. The yatra became one of the biggest political movements in the country. The entire BJP was against it. The BJP can do politics." The Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Congr

Elderly woman refuses freebies from Meghalaya poll candidates, returns them

An elderly woman in Meghalaya, where Assembly poll will be held later this month, has allegedly refused to accept freebies from contestants in East Khasi Hills district and has returned the 'gifts' given to her family. Purity Phawa, president of the women's organisation in her locality, reportedly even told candidates' agents in person that she wants to elect legislators and not distributors. Election to all the 60 seats in the state Assembly will be held on February 27 and counting will be held on March 2. Phawa's family, which resides at Lumdiengjri in West Shillong constituency, had reportedly received freebies from the agents of ruling National People's Party candidate Mohindro Rapsang and United Democratic Party (UDP) contest Paul Lyngdoh on January 28 and 30 respectively. I was not at home when the freebies arrived. When I returned, my daughter told me that the candidates had sent us a pressure cooker and two sets of imported bowls on January 28 and 30, Phawa told PTI o

Raut sends notice to Narayan Rane for 'baseless allegations' against him

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Friday said he has sent a legal notice to Union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Narayan Rane for making "baseless allegations" against him on public platforms. Raut said Rane should prove his allegations or else apologise to him. "Narayan Rane has been making baseless allegations against me and Shiv Sena. He should prove his charge or else apologise. I have sent a legal notice to him through my lawyer Sarthak Shetty. Jai Maharashtra," Raut said in a tweet. Rane, one of the bitter critics of former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and his faction of the Shiv Sena, has been engaged in a war of words with Raut. Of late, the verbal duel between the two leaders became uglier and more personal. Rane, a former chief minister, had quit the Sena over his differences with Thackeray.

Amit Shah to visit K'taka on Feb 11 to take part in co-operative convention

Union Minister for Home and Co-operation Amit Shah will be visiting Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district to participate in a co-operative convention on February 11. The convention is being held at Puttur in connection with the golden jubilee celebrations of the central arecanut and cocoa marketing and processing co-operative limited (CAMPCO). The event will be held at the Vivekananda educational institution at Tenkila at 3 PM, CAMPCO sources said. He will also be visiting CAMPCO's chocolate factory in Puttur. This is the first visit of Shah to Dakshina Kannada ahead of the Assembly elections in the state. BJP Sankalpa Abhiyan campaign is presently going on in Puttur taluk. The BJP leader is also expected to take part in the convention at Puttur as part of the campaign, party sources said. BJP had won seven of the eight Assembly seats in Dakshina Kannada district in the 2018 elections.

T'gana Assembly session to begin from Feb 3 with Governor's address

The Telangana Assembly Session is all set to start from Friday with Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan's address in the joint session (Assembly and Council) on the first day. Sources said Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao government has already provided a speech copy to the Governor. "Letters have been set to all MLAs and MLCs regarding the joint session and Governor's speech. The duration of the session will be decided in the Business Advisory Committee meeting after the Governor's speech," sources told PTI. The government likely to table the State Budget next week. The Governor has already issued a notification summoning the Assembly session beginning from February 3, ending speculation on whether there would be her speech or not in the session. After the patch-up with the Raj Bhavan, the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao-led government on January 30 evening approached Soundararajan requesting her to give assent to the Budget document and address the session for which she agreed

Development, tribal welfare to be BJP's poll planks for polls: Tripura CM

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha Thursday said development with a special focus on the overall upliftment of indigenous people will the main poll plank of the BJP-IPFT combine in the ensuing election to the north-eastern state's assembly. In an interview to PTI, he also decried the 'Greater Tipraland' demand espoused by rival Tipra Motha party floated by the scion of the former royal family of the tribal state Pradyot Manikya DebBarma. Saha who became the chief minister of the state replacing Biplab Kumar Deb just nine months before the crucial elections, claimed that the party will get a comfortable majority in the election and will form the next government on its own strength. The BJP is contesting in 55 seats in the 60-member Assembly and has left five seats for its ally IPFT, which has been hamstrung by defections to another trib; party- Tipra Motha. "During the electioneering, the party leaders right from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Union Home Minister Amit Shah to party

Centre confusing people in name of implementing CAA: Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday alleged that the BJP-led central government is confusing people in the name of implementing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Banerjee also claimed that she and her party Trinamool Congress have been taking care of the Matua community people, whose roots are in Bangladesh, and blamed the BJP for trying to approach them as a friend in the name of the CAA. "In the name of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, they (Centre) are confusing people. We have been taking care of the Matuas for a long time, but when polls approach, the BJP goes to them, claiming to be their friends... screaming CAA," Banerjee said at a government programme here. The Matuas, originally hailing from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), started migrating to West Bengal in the 1950s, mostly due to religious persecution there. The CAA facilitates the grant of citizenship to migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities from Afghanista

Political parties seek early end to first half of Budget session: Joshi

Leaders of different political parties on Tuesday urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to adjourn the first half of the Budget session on February 10 instead of February 13, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said. The demand was made during a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee of the Lok Sabha. The Speaker has said he will consider the demand, the minister said. The Budget session of Parliament started on Tuesday and is scheduled to go on a break on February 13. However, with February 11-12 being a weekend, a demand was made to conclude the first half of the session on February 10. The session as per schedule will resume on March 13 and conclude on April 6.

Sisodia seeks approval from LG for sending teachers to Finland for training

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday wrote to Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena asking him to approve the government's proposal to send teachers of state-run schools to Finland for a training programme. The Delhi government had on January 20 sent the proposal to the Lt Governor''s Office to allow the teachers to visit Finland, days after Saxena asked the government to first conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the programme. In the letter, Sisodia said "politics" should not be played on "such sensitive issues'' and urged Saxena to clear the file. "The file has been doing the rounds in your office since October last year. The file was again sent to you on January 20 but there has been no decision yet," Sisodia wrote in the letter. "If the file is not cleared, the teachers' proposed training in March will also not happen," he said. Sharing the letter on Twitter, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also urged the LG to allow the teachers to attend the training programme. "I u

Assembly polls 2023: Economic snapshots of 3 poll-bound northeastern states

Let us analyse the economic issues and present a brief political scene of the poll-bound states of Tripura, Nagaland, and Meghalaya

Ramcharitmanas row: VHP attacks SP on Swami Prasad Maurya's elevation

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has hit out at Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav after he appointed Swami Prasad Maurya as party's general secretary despite his controversial remark on Ramcharitmanas

Bharat Jodo Yatra Leaves behind trail of issues, hope for 2024 elections

The curtains may have come down on the Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra here but it has left behind a trail of people's issues, enthused party cadres, controversies and a hope that the grand old party could mount a challenge in the general elections next year. Congress watchers feel the yatra has found some answers the party had been looking for on the road to 2024 but questions remain whether it will yield electoral dividends going forward. The yatra culminated at the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) headquarters in the Lal Chowk area here with unfurling the national flag after traversing 12 states and two Union territories in over 140 days after its launch on September 7 last year, clocking over 4,000 km. During the course of the yatra, Rahul Gandhi addressed 12 public meetings, over 100 corner meetings, 13 press conferences. He had over 275 planned walking interactions and more than 100 sitting interactions. Whether it leads to a lasting impact on the electoral fortunes of the Congre

Rahul Gandhi unfurls flag at 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' campsite at PCC office

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday hoisted the national flag at the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' camp site here and followed it with a fun snowball fight with his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Donning a white T-shirt and a sleeveless jacket, the former Congress chief hoisted the flag at the camp site in Panthachowk to the tunes of the national anthem played to mark the culmination of the yatra, amid a fresh snowfall in the city. In a brief address to the 'Bharat Yatris', Gandhi thanked them for their love, affection and support through the 136-day foot march, which began in Kanyakumari on September 7 last year. The Gandhi siblings later joined Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and scores of other party leaders at the Pradesh Congress Committee office on the Maulana Azad Road where another flag hoisting ceremony was held. The national anthem was playing after this. The local administration had made stringent security arrangements for the programme as Lal Chowk was off limits for ...

Voting underway for five legislative council seats in Uttar Pradesh

Voting for five legislative council seats -- three graduate and two teachers' constituencies -- is underway. Polling for the biennial election in 39 districts of the state is scheduled to end at 4 pm and counting of votes will be taken up on February 2, the election office said. The districts where polling is taking place are Prayagraj, Kaushambi, Fatehpur, Banda, Chitrakoot, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Kanpur Nagar, Kanpur Dehat, Unnao, Bareilly, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur, Badaun, Rampur, Moradabad, Amroha, Bijnor, Sambhal, Bahraich, Shravasti, Gonda, Balrampur, Basti, Siddharth Nagar, Sant Kabir Nagar, Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Deoria, Kushinagar, Azamgarh, Mau, Sultanpur, Ayodhya, Amethi and Ambedkar Nagar. In total, 6.32 lakh people are eligible to vote in the three graduate constituencies -- Gorakhpur- Faizabad, Kanpur and Bareilly-Moradabad -- and of them 3.93 lakh are men and 2.39 lakh women. As many as 5,392 people will cast their votes in two teachers' ...

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India committed to working closely with Nepal to further boost ties: Envoy

India's political leadership is committed to working closely with the Prachanda-led government in Nepal for giving further impetus to bilateral ties, India's Ambassador here Naveen Srivastava has said. Hosting an event to celebrate the 74th Republic Day on Thursday, Srivastava said the exchange of high-level visits from both the countries had added a new dimension to Indo-Nepal relations. Vice President of Nepal Nanda Bahadur Pun, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' along with ministers, parliament members, former prime ministers, leaders of various political parties, were among those who attended the reception. India's political leadership was committed to working in close relation with the Prachanda-led government for giving further impetus to the bilateral ties, he underlined. Prachanda, who was sworn in as Prime Minister last month, has said that he will travel to India on his first foreign visit. Earlier in the morning at a special function, Ambassador Srivastava ..

Delhi BJP to discuss organisational issues in 2-day executive meet

In the aftermath of its defeat in the MCD polls, the senior leaders of Delhi BJP will take stock of the existing organisational issues within the party at a state executive meeting on Friday. The two-day executive committee meeting will also discuss roadmaps for the upcoming events including the 2024 Parliamentary and 2025 Delhi Assembly elections, a senior party functionary said. A political proposal will be presented in the meeting that will seek to "expose" the Kejriwal government's alleged "corruption and failure to deliver" besides highlighting various initiatives and development works in Delhi by the BJP-ruled central government, he said. A discussion on the party's performance in the past six months will include its defeat in the 2022 Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections at the hands of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), an office bearer said. Some announcements of programmes in view of the 2024 Lok Sabha and assembly polls are also expected, he said. The first day of the

Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra resumes today from J-K's Banihal

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi resumed his Bharat Jodo Yatra from Jammu and Kashmir's Banihal on Friday en route to the Valley. Enthusiastic Congress workers and supporters carrying the tricolour turned up in large numbers to receive the Gandhi family scion. Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah also joined Gandhi at Banihal. Donning a white T-shirt like Gandhi, Abdullah started walking with the Congress leader, along with hundreds of Congress party supporters. "The Bharat Jodo Yatra is not aimed at improving the image of Rahul Gandhi but for improving the situation in the country," the NC leader told reporters upon his arrival in this highway town of Banihal, 120 km from Srinagar. Abdullah said he joined the yatra as he was more concerned about the image of the country. "We have not joined this for the image of an individual but for the image of the county," he said. The NC leader further said Gandhi did not start the yatra f

Realising dreams of leaders, common people: J'khand CM Soren on R-day

Listing the welfare measures he has initiated for Jharkhand thus far, Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Thursday said he is committed to "realising the dreams of leaders and common people who had fought for the creation of a separate state". Unfurling the Tricolour at Dumka Police Line, on the occasion of the 74th Republic Day, Soren said his government has received more than 55 lakh applications under its ambitious 'Aapki Sarkar Aapke Dwar' outreach scheme. Governor Ramesh Bais, who unfurled the national flag at Ranchi's Morabadi ground, urged people to take a pledge to build such a Jharkhand, which is free from social discrimination and inequality. If both the government and the citizens discharge their duties and responsibilities honestly, we will certainly succeed in building a strong and prosperous Jharkhand, Bais said. In Dumka, the chief minister described the adoption of the 1932 Khatiyan-based domicile policy by his government, for defining locals, as a major step taken to ..