BJP, Cong spar over Lalit Modi tweets

June 26, 2015

New Delhi, Jun 26: On the back foot in the row over its leaders' purported help to Lalit Modi, BJP today alleged links between the former IPL boss and the Gandhi family as it pointed to claims by him of "running into" Priyanka Gandhi in London.lalit

BJP, which charged that it was these links which had "prevented" Modi's extradition under UPA rule, demanded that Congress President Sonia Gandhi make a statement on the matter.

That invited a sharp attack from the opposition, which said that Lalit Modi's tweets were a case of "chhota Modi" helping "bada Modi" (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) through "lies".

Seeking to turn the tables on Congress, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, "Today's big revelation is the fact that Lalit Modi had met the Gandhi family. Only yesterday he met Priyanka Gandhi and Robert Vadra. Why have they met him?

"Let me categorically put today that the issue is about Lalit Modi and Gandhi family... BJP demands Sonia Gandhi make a statement why the Gandhi family has been in touch with Lalit Modi all these years.

Patra further claimed that the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram "did not want Lalit Modi's extradition from Britain despite the fact that UK was ready for extradition".

"Who was preventing them? The Gandhi family," he alleged. "The matter starts and ends at the door of 10, Janpath."

But lashing out at BJP over the charges, Congress said that running into anybody in a restaurant was not a crime and that Lalit Modi was working at the behest of BJP to divert attention to "non-issues".

Congress's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that BJP should tell its "black money stooges to not rely on red-herrings" to divert attention from the issue.

The government must answer to the people about the allegations against External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, he added.

"I can say with full responsibility that neither Priyanka Gandhi nor Robert Vadra ever interacted with Lalit Modi socially. If you see somebody in a restaurant, it is not a crime. 'Chhota Modi' is helping 'bada Modi' with lies.

"It is a diversionary tactic of BJP to turn the attention towards non-issues. The government should speak about real issues and not hide behind Lalit Modi," Surjewala told reporters.

Lalit Modi had last night tweeted, "Happy to meet the Gandhi family... in London. I had run into Robert and Priyanka separately".

Reiterating his party's demand for the sacking of Swaraj and Raje, Surjewala said they had helped a fugitive accused of "fraud of gigantic proportions".

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News Network
August 8,2020

New Delhi, Aug 8: The Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Friday directed the governments of four states -- Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, to analyse the factors driving the high COVID-19 mortality and devise ways and means to reduce the mortality.

Apart from the higher case mortality, these states account for 17 per cent of India's active cases, high daily new cases, low tests per million, and high confirmation percentage.

In a high-level virtual meeting, Bhushan advised state administrations to adhere to measures suggested by central advisories and guidelines to prevent and reduce mortality due to coronavirus infection.

According to the health ministry, 16 districts in these four states are reporting maximum virus fatalities. It includes -- Ahmedabad and Surat in Gujarat; Belagavi, Bengaluru urban, Kalaburagi and Udupi in Karnataka; Chennai, Kanchipuram, Ranipet, Theni, Thiruvallur, Tiruchirappalli, Tuticorin and Virudhnagar in Tamil Nadu; and Hyderabad and Medchal-Malkajgiri in Telangana respectively.

"The districts were advised to ensure that the advisories, guidelines and clinical treatment protocols issued by the Health Ministry are adopted and effectively implemented to reduce the mortality among COVID-19 patients and other preventable deaths among all sections of the people, particularly those with co-morbidities, pregnant women, the elderly and children," said the health ministry official.

"States were advised to ensure optimum capacity utilization of testing labs, increase tests per million population and reduce confirmation percentage, in addition to ensuring timely availability of ambulances with target zero refusal," the official further said.

"States were also advised to analyze availability and need for projected beds and oxygen, and plan in a timely manner. States and district administration have also been advised to ensure good infection prevention and control practices to control infection in the healthcare workers," said the official.

Principal Secretary (Health) and MD (NHM) from the four States along with district surveillance officers, district collectors, commissioners of the municipal corporation, Chief Medical Officers, and Medical Superintendent of Medical Colleges participated in the meeting.

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News Network
May 25,2020

Raipur, May 25: A union minister was caught on camera issuing threats to district administration officials in Chhattisgarh saying that she “knows how to take people to a room and beat them with belts"

Officials were taken aback when Renuka Singh, Minister of State for Tribal Affairs, delivered this dialogue during her visit to the quarantine centre at Balrampur, around 400 km from Chhattisgarh capital Raipur on Sunday.

Dilip Gupta, a resident of Balarampur district in Chhattisgarh, had accused the chief executive officer and tehsildar of the district panchayat of assaulting him in a quarantine centre in the area following a quarrel over shoddy facilities. Renuka Singh took cognizance of the matter and reached the quarantine centre to speak to Dilip Gupta.

The minister, on reaching the quarantine centre, received details of the incident from Gupta and his family and lashed out at the officials for "beating him up".

In a video, Renuka Singh is seen cautioning the officials to not think of BJP workers as "weak".

"Ye bhagwadhaari BJP ke karyakartao ko kamzor mat samajhna. Janpad me baithke aur aap tehsil me baith ke jo bhed-bhaav kar rahe hain BJP ke karyakartao ke sazth, bhool jaiye (Don't think of saffron-wearing BJP workers as weak. Forget the discrimination that you are showing towards BJP workers)," Renuka Singh said, lambasting the officials.

However, the minister did not stop there and went on to threaten the officials saying she knows how to 'thrash people with a belt'. 

"Andheri kothri me le jaa ke na main belt khol ke thokna jaanti hu bohot acche se (I very well know how to lock people in a dark room and thrash them with a belt)," Renuka Singh can be heard saying in a video from the incident.

Dilip Gupta, who was put under quarantine after he recently arrived from Delhi, had reportedly complained about the quality of food and basic facilities in the centre and had even uploaded a video on social media over the same after officials failed to address his issues.

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News Network
January 28,2020

Kolkata, Jan 28: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday said she is ready for talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of Citizenship Amendment Act but the Centre has to first withdraw the contentious law.

Banerjee said protesting against the decisions of the centre doesn't make opposition parties anti-national and iterated that she will not implement CAA, NRC or NPR in the state.

"It is good that the prime minister is ready for talks but the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) must be revoked first. They (Centre) did not call an all-party meeting before taking a decision on Kashmir and CAA.

"We are ready for talks but first withdraw this Citizenship Amendment Act," Banerjee, a staunch critic of the BJP, said addressing a protest programme against CAA through paintings.

The West Bengal assembly had on Monday passed a resolution against the CAA to become the fourth state after Kerala, Punjab and Rajasthan, to do so. The state assembly had on September 6, 2019, passed a resolution against the NRC.

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