Cong is finished in MP, BJP will win all seats: Bharti

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Cong is finished in MP, BJP will win all seats: Bharti

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national vice president and former Union Minister Uma Bharti has claimed that the Congress in Madhya Pradesh is finished and the BJP will win all the seats in the upcoming assembly by-elections.

The former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister was in Lucknow to record her statement in the Babri mosque demolition case.

Talking exclusively to IANS, Bharti said, “In Madhya Pradesh, many Congress leaders have joined hands with the BJP, so there is no opposition left there. The BJP will win all the 24 assembly seats that will go to polls soon.”

Bharti was earlier reported to have been miffed over caste equations in the Shivraj Chouhan cabinet expansion. She is said to have expressed displeasure that her suggestions had been ignored but later said that she only spoke about the social imbalance in the cabinet.

On this issue, she said that she has spoken to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state BJP president B.D. Sharma. They will try to find a solution to the issue, she said.

Asked if she is in political exile, Uma Bharti said, “I have not been in exile at all. I am the BJP’s national vice president. I decided not to contest elections in 2019. Why do you think the only fighting elections is the only way to be in politics?”

On contesting elections in the future, she said, “I had announced not to contest the 2019 elections and then had also said that I will contest the 2024 general elections. I never said I will not contest.”

Uma Bharti and Sadhvi Ritambhara had played a very active role during the Ramjanmabhoomi movement. On the question of participation of women in the Ram temple trust, Bharti said, “The trusts are not formed on the basis of gender, they are for a goal. How does it make a difference, the trust is for Lord Ram. I do not mind it. There are seers and saints in it. I have no objection to it.”

To a question on what changes she sees in the politics of Madhya Pradesh after Jyotiraditya Scindia joined the BJP, the senior BJP leader said, “We already are a big party in Madhya Pradesh. Scindia’s arrival made a difference to the Congress, which is now finished in the state.”

Asked whether her political experience has benefited the BJP in Madhya Pradesh and if she gives advice to Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the 61-year-old BJP leader said, “I have not come to that age yet, I am younger than Shivraj. But, if they come asking for advice, I am always there.”

On the question as to who is the best in her eyes among the chief ministers of BJP-ruled states, she said, “Will you make us fight? I won’t tell you. That is my answer.”

On being reminded about her pledge to clean the Ganga which is still very dirty, the former Union Minister said that all the projects of Nirmal Ganga have stopped due to the lockdown. The Sisamau drain, the largest drain in Kanpur and the most notorious for polluting the Ganga, has been closed. “The sacred river will be cleaned in three phases – the first phase is of 3 years, the second for 7 years and the last phase will be of 10 years. There is no dearth of funds. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself is taking a keen interest in it. That is why he has created a separate ministry,” she said.

Uma Bharti has also been involved in UP politics, where the opposition has alleged that the ruling party is trying to suppress their voice. Responding to this, Bharti said, “The voice of the opposition is weak, that is why it is being suppressed. If they are strong, who will suppress their voice?

In response to another question, Bharti said a grand Ram temple will be constructed in Ayodhya. The whole country is very happy about this. It is a matter of great pride, she said.

Kanpur killings: Priyanka asks Congress leaders to ‘expose’ BJP

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Kanpur killings: Priyanka asks Congress leaders to ‘expose’ BJP

Criticizing the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi termed it as “jungle raj” during a video conference with party leaders on Saturday. The virtual meeting was called to discuss what Congress called the deteriorating law and order situation in the state.

Priyanka alleged during the course of the meeting that, “Uttar Pradesh has turned into a jungle raj. Even police personnel are not safe here. The law and order in the state have collapsed because of the alliance between criminals, ruling party leaders, and officials.” She said that the morale of criminals has been boosted in the state.

This sharp attack comes soon after eight police personnel, including a circle officer, were shot dead and six policemen seriously injured when a local criminal, Vikas Dubey, and his gang sprayed bullets on them in Vikru village under Chaubeypur police circle in Kanpur in the wee hours of Friday.

Alleging that criminals are enjoying political protection, Priyanka Gandhi asked Congress leaders to “expose” the BJP in front of the people. She has asked party workers to run a campaign against the state government for this purpose. The meeting also discussed the strategy for the forthcoming panchayat elections the state where law and order will be one of the main electoral issues for Congress.

Congress State President Ajay Kumar Lallu along with Aradhana Mishra, Rajiv Shukla, Jitin Prasad, Brijlal Khabari, Pradeep Jain, Imran Masood among others attended the virtual meet.

Earlier, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also raised questions about the safety of the common people in Uttar Pradesh. “Another proof of hooliganism in Uttar Pradesh. When the police are not safe, how will the public be?” Rahul Gandhi said, quoting a news report.

Accountability needs to be fixed: Priyanka on Kanpur firing

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Accountability needs to be fixed: Priyanka on Kanpur firing

Alluding to the recent killings in Uttar Pradesh, Congress General Secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, on Friday emphasized the need to fix accountability in the state.

“As the news about the incident in Kanpur came to the fore, a family of four were also killed in Prayagraj. Father and daughter were murdered in Ghaziabad. Looking at this Jungle Raj, the accountability will have to be fixed,” said Priyanka, quoting a news report.

She also paid condolences to the family of eight police personnel who lost their lives in an encounter with criminals in Kanpur. She asserted that the law and order situation in the state is in shambles and demanded strict action.

Her brother and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also raised questions about the safety of common people in Uttar Pradesh. “Another proof of hooliganism in Uttar Pradesh. When the police are not safe, how will the public be?” he said.

Eight police personnel, including a circle officer, were shot dead, and six policemen seriously injured when a local criminal Vikas Dubey and his gang sprayed them with bullets in Kanpur.

PM visits forward location in Ladakh amid tension with China (Ld)

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PM visits forward location in Ladakh amid tension with China (Ld)

Amid ongoing tension at borders with China in Eastern Ladakh, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a visit to Leh and forward locations on Friday morning to review the ground security situation, barely 18 days after a violent stand-off.

Sources said that Modi reached Ladakh early morning and briefed by the Army, Air Force and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police at one of the forward locations in Nimu. Located at 11,000 feet above sea level, Nimu is among the tough terrains, surrounded by the Zanskar range and on the banks of the Indus.

The Prime Minister, accompanied by Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane, will also interact with injured soldiers at the military hospital in Leh, in what will be a morale booster for the forces.

General Rawat will review the tri-services preparedness against the aggressive People’s Liberation Army (PLA), as well as understand the proposed de-escalation and disengagement process at the four stand-off points.

Modi’s visit comes just a day after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh called off his own visit to Ladakh. Singh was to visit the Eastern Ladakh region to interact with soldiers deployed at the hostile border on Friday. He had plans to interact with the soldiers injured during the barbaric attack carried out by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army on June 15. In the attack, India lost 20 soldiers and the Chinese Army too had casualties, figures still unknown.

On June 17, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had stated that the sacrifice made by 20 soldiers who went down fighting against the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) at Galway Valley on June 15 night “will not go in vain”.

He also said that while India wants peace, it will give a “befitting reply” if provoked. “India’s integrity and sovereignty are supreme for us, and no one can stop us from defending it. Nobody should have any iota of doubt about this,” said Modi. “Indian troops went down fighting (maarte, maarte mare hain),” he had said.

Modi also said that the whole country is with the families of those who sacrificed their lives for the country. “India will defend every stone every inch of its territory. India is a peace-loving country which has always tried to maintain cooperative and friendly relations with neighbors.”

Adhir Ranjan slams ED for grilling Ahmed Patel

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Adhir Ranjan slams ED for grilling Ahmed Patel

Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has slammed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for grilling party treasurer Ahmed Patel, who has been interrogated for the third time on Thursday for links with promoters of Sterling Biotech.

Congress leader leveled allegation that Sterling Biotech promoters have links with Rakesh Asthana, an IPS officer.

Chowdhury alleged, “Modi Ji’s most trusted man Mr. Rakesh Asthana, IPS, has been implicated as a recipient of bribe money which has been exposed in Sandersara diary. I am flagging the attention of Narendra Modi Ji, but Congress party’s leader Ahmed Patel Ji has been grilled for 3 consecutive days by ED to unearth the nexus between Patel Ji and notorious Sandesara case.”

A team of Enforcement Directorate (ED) again on Thursday arrived at Patel’s residence for the third time in less than a week to question him in connection with its probe into a multi-crore bank fraud case by the Gujarat-based Sterling Biotech.

The ED had earlier questioned Patel on June 27 and June 30 for several hours under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

A team of financial probe agency officials arrived at the 23, Mother Teresa Crescent Road here on Thursday morning to record Patel’s statement once again.

Goa Speaker urges MLAs to undergo Covid test ahead of session

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Goa Speaker urges MLAs to undergo Covid test ahead of session

Two days after a ruling BJP MLA tested positive for Covid-19, Speaker of the Goa assembly Rajesh Patekar on Thursday urged all legislators to get themselves tested.

“Definitely, it is better to have tests done. MLAs often have to rush to sites where COVID cases are detected. People expect MLAs to help. By default they come in contact with some persons there when they reach the spot,” Patekar told reporters here.

“I request all MLAs to go for self-testing. It is my appeal to them,” Patnekar said.

The Speaker’s comment comes a few days after Goa Governor Satya Pal Malik convened the monsoon session of the state legislative assembly from July 27.

On Wednesday, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had said, that the BJP MLA who had tested positive was part of a meeting of the ruling legislators, but added that social distancing norms were followed at the meet, which was held last month.

Privatising trains, govt taking away lifeline of poor: Rahul

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Privatising trains, govt taking away lifeline of poor: Rahul

Former Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi on Thursday sharpened his attack on the Narendra Modi government over its moves to allow private firms to run passenger trains. He said the government was taking away the lifeline of the country from the poor, and the people will give a befitting reply.

“Rail is the only lifeline of the poor and the government is taking it away from them. Snatch whatever you want to. But remember — the people of the country will give a befitting reply,” Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet attaching a news report.

His remarks came a day after the Indian Railways announced a major push for the private entities in the Indian Railways. The Railways have invited the request for qualifications for private participation for passenger train operations on 109 pairs of routes through 151 modern trains.

The national transporter on Wednesday said that it plans to allow private entities to operate passenger trains and the project would entail private sector investment of about Rs 30,000 crore.

The objective of the initiative is to introduce modern technology rolling stock with reduced maintenance, reduced transit time, boost job creation, provide enhanced safety, provide world-class travel experience to passengers, the Railway Ministry said.

The 109 (origin-destination) pairs of trains have been formed into 12 clusters across the Indian Railway network. Each train shall have a minimum of 16 coaches.

According to the railway ministry, this is the first initiative of private investment for running passenger trains over the Indian Railways network. The move began last year with the introduction of Lucknow-Delhi Tejas Express by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).

Anandiben takes oath as MP’s acting Governor

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Anandiben takes oath as MP’s acting Governor

Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel was on Wednesday afternoon sworn in as acting Governor of Madhya Pradesh by the state High Court Chief Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal.

Anandiben has been the state Governor in the past.

She arrived here to take additional charge following extension in leave by Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon, who has undergone a surgery at AIIMS, Lucknow.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, his predecessor Kamal Nath, Bhopal MP Pragya Singh Thakur, state Minister Tulsi Silawat and former minister Bhupendra Singh were among those present at the brief ceremony.

Anandiben will administer the oath of office to new ministers who will be inducted into the Shivraj Singh Chouhan ministry on Thursday.

Bengal BJP chief allegedly attacked by Trinamool men

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Bengal BJP chief allegedly attacked by Trinamool men

West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh was allegedly attacked by Trinamool Congress-backed miscreants at Rajarhat-New Town located on the north-eastern fringes of Kolkata.

The incident took place when the state BJP president went there with his supporters to talk to people in the locality.

“I went there with some of my supporters to talk to people and had tea at Rajarhat market area. But Trinamool supporters stopped me on the way and heckled my party men. When my security personnel tried to stop them, the miscreants also heckled them. I have shifted to a new house in the area. Local Trinamool supporters must be having some serious problems with that. I don’t understand why,” Ghosh said.

He further alleged that some of his party members were beaten by Trinamool-backed goons. “They also vandalized some of our vehicles,” he said.

“My party colleagues will lodge a complaint with the local police. I will also inform the Kolkata Police commissioner about the incident,” Ghosh added.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress’ Lok Sabha leader Sudip Bandopadhyay said that it was a small incident. “Every day I hear about such allegations from the state BJP. But we don’t need to worry. It was a very small incident,” he said.

Senior Congress leader and the party’s Lok Sabha MP from Berhampore in Murshidabad Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury condemned the attack on the state BJP chief. “This is absolutely uncalled for. I condemn such attacks,” he said.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said: “Such incidents of Trinamool-sponsored political hooliganism are happening everywhere in Bengal. The ruling formation here is attacking all their political opponents.”

Rahul assures nurses to raise compensation issue before govt

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Rahul assures nurses to raise compensation issue before govt

Former Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday assured the nurses working as the frontline fighters against the COVID-19 pandemic that he will take up their issues with the government. He told them that he will write on their behalf to the government to compensate the families of the nurses who died while performing their duties.

As part of the series of interactions, Rahul Gandhi held a conversation with nurses on the Doctor’s day.

While interacting with the former Congress Chief, Vipin Krishnan, a nurse working at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, who along with his wife, has been infected with corona, informed him that two nurses in the national capital died due to COVID pandemic. “Rahul ji I would like to bring something to your attention. Two nurses have died in Delhi, they were from South India. However, they are yet to receive the compensation of Rs one crore announced by the Delhi government,” Krishnan told the Congress MP from Kerala’s Wayanad. Krishnan further said that the government should do something for them. “I want to bring this to your notice since you are the opposition leader,” he said.

Responding to the AIIMS staff, Rahul Gandhi said, “I’ll write a letter and see if we can expedite that.” Krishnan to a question of the Rahul Gandhi over the condition of the medical facilities in Delhi and India said, “I would like to highlight some statistics. We have 1.2 million registered allopathic doctors in India. We have around 3.7 million registered nurses in India. When we are coming to the ratio, it is 1:1500 for doctors and 1.7:1000 nurses in India. The WHO recommended ratio is 1:1000 doctors and 3:1000 nurses when coming to the recommendations of the WHO.

“Running short in the scenario of human resources, but still we are fighting hard. But in our country, the scenario is entirely different. There is a sea of difference between government hospitals and private hospitals in India,” Krishnan said.

To this, Rahul Gandhi asked Krishnan, what difference does he see. Krishnan said, “When we look into the private sector, there is a lot of discrimination. Private nurses are saying that their salaries are being cut. How will they care for their families during this pandemic? In such a situation, I think the government must help them and pay their entire salaries.”

Rahul Gandhi also asked about testing not being allowed in many hospitals in Delhi to which the AIIMS nurse said, “This is indeed a sad state of affairs. I want to inform you about some statistics. On May 27, the infection rate in Delhi was 13.7 percent we were doing 7,000 tests per day. By June 12-13, our infection rate had crossed 30 percent and we are doing under 5,000 tests per day.

“This is surprising given that our deaths and infection rates are increasing, but we have reduced testing. I don’t understand what is happening,” Krishnan said.

The Congress leader then said that a doctor from a private hospital had told him that it becomes impossible for them to work if they cannot test Covid-19 patients.

Slamming the government, Rahul Gandhi said, “I think a little bit is that the governments are trying to manage the perception, they are trying to give a sense that the problem is not as bad as it is.

“But I believe that we have to face the problem, so we should accept the problem, define the problem accurately, and then fight the problem. I don’t know how you react to that,” he said. To this, the AIIMS staffer said, “You are absolutely correct. We have a pandemic situation and AIIMS Director (Randeep Guleria) has said that we will peak in June-mid July.

“Even the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has stated that they are expecting 5.5 lakh cases. We are having 10,000 beds in Delhi. Can you imagine the depth of the situation where 5.5 lakh people are coming, of course, they won’t come at the same time, but average one lakh patients a day. I can’t imagine the depth of the situation. What will he do?” Krishnan questioned.

In earlier interactions, Rahul Gandhi had conversations with former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, Nobel Laureate Abhijeet Banerji, epidemiologist Johan Geseicke and industrialist Rajiv Bajaj.

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