BJP set to retain power in Gujarat, headed to win in Himachal Pradesh

Agencies
December 18, 2017

Ahmedabad/Shimla, Dec 18: The BJP today headed for a victory in Gujarat and was set to retain power and also stayed on course to oust the Congress in Himachal Pradesh, according to official counting trends available for most of the seats in the two states.

Prem Kumar Dhumal, BJP's chief ministerial candidate in Himachal Pradesh, was trailing behind Congress's Rajinder Rana in Sujanpur, according to early trends.

Seeking a sixth straight term, the BJP was ahead in 100 seats while the opposition Congress is leading in 70 seats, the Election Commission(EC) trends available for 175 of the 182 seats at stake showed. At this stage, the BJP had a vote share of 49.2 percent while it was 41.5 percent for the Congress.

Early trends indicated a neck and neck race in Gujarat giving slight jitters to BJP workers.

In the 2012 Assembly elections, the BJP had won 115 seats while the Congress emerged victorious in 61 seats.

The EC figures showed the NCP, Bhartiya Tribal Party and an independent candidate leading in 5 seats together.

BJP Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who was earlier trailing after the count of postal ballots, is now leading in over Congress' Indranil Rajyaguru in Rajkot West seat.

However, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel is trailing from Mehsana against Congress candidate Jivabhai Patel by 3,000 votes. Mehsana was the epicentre of the Patidar reservation agitation.

Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia is trailing in Porbandar by just 50 votes after counting of three rounds, against BJP leader and fisheries minister Babubhai Bokhiriya.

Congress' Alpesh Thakor is leading in Radhanpur seat against Lavingji Thakor of BJP.

Senior Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil is trailing against BJP's Virendrasinh Jadeja from Mandvi seat.

State BJP chief Jitu Vaghani is leading over Dilipsinh Gohil of Congress in Bhavnagar West.

The elections for 182-seat Assembly were held on December 9 and 14, after an acrimonious campaign, which was dominated by a face-off between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

The BJP has been in power in the state since 1995, winning consecutive elections in the home state of Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. In Himachal Pradesh, the BJP was ahead in 37 seats while the ruling Congress is leading in 22, according to early Election Commission trends for 62 of the 68 seats.

Congress veteran and six-time Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his son Vikramaditya Singh are leading from Arki and Shimla(Rural) respectively, according to early trends.

Main rivals BJP and Congress contested all the 68 seats at stake. The hill state witnessed a record 75.28 percent turnout.

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Agencies
February 26,2020

Hyderabad, Feb 26: Hyderabad Police on Tuesday registered a case against well-known poet Imran Pratapgarhi for his statement asking why there was "no Shaheen Bagh in Hyderabad".

According to Charminar Police, the complaint was registered by Sub-Inspector S Guruswamy, who was on duty at the QQ Stadium on February 24 where an Ehtaji Mishaira (Poetry Program) against the Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register Commission and National Population Register was held.

Permission for the said event was granted by Hyderabad Additional Commissioner of Police to the program organisers with certain guidelines including that poetry program should be held on February 24 from 6 pm to 9 pm, and no speaker should give provocative speeches in the program.

However, police said that the program was started by the organisers at 6 pm and continued till 9:48 pm even after police officers asked them to end the event by 9 pm. The program was attended by around 3,000 members at QQ stadium.

According to police, while addressing the meeting Pratapgarhi said: "Mujhe hairath hai us Hyderabad mein koi Shaheen Bagh kyu nahi hai (I am surprised why there is no Shaheen Bagh in Hyderabad)", which is "provocative" and may cause fear to any section of the public.

In this regard, a case has been registered against organisers for disobeying public servants' orders and the poet has been booked for delivering provocative statements under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Further investigation is underway.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Mohammed Ali Shabbir took to Twitter to condemn the police action.

"Hyderabad Police booked a case against poet Imran Pratapgarhi for expressing surprise on why there is no Shaheen Bagh in Hyderabad. For police, this sentence is provocative. Is Shaheen Bagh not a part of India?," Shabbir tweeted.

"Shame on TRS Government and Hyderabad Police for targeting a poet for no-fault," he added.

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News Network
March 9,2020

Mumbai, Mar 9: India's Yes Bank will not be merged with State Bank of India, which is set to infuse funds in the beleaguered lender, the newly appointed administrator leading the rescue plan said in a television interview on Monday.

"There is absolutely no question of a merger," Prashant Kumar, the administrator, told the CNBC TV18 channel.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday took control of Yes Bank, after the lender - which is laden with bad debts - failed to raise the capital it needs to stay above mandated regulatory requirements.

Placing Yes Bank under a 30-day moratorium, the central bank imposed limits on withdrawals to protect depositors and said it would work on a revival plan. The move spooked depositors, who rushed to withdraw funds from the bank.

Kumar, a former finance chief at SBI, assured depositors their money was safe and that the moratorium on Yes Bank might be lifted much before the deadline on April 3 and normal banking operations might resume as early as Friday.

He also mentioned that the withdrawal limit of Yes Bank may be removed by March 15, 2020.

SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar said on Saturday the state-run bank would need to invest up to 24.5 billion rupees ($331 million) to buy a 49% stake in Yes Bank as part of the initial phase of the rescue deal, adding that the survival of troubled lender was a "must".

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News Network
January 20,2020

Langkawi, Jan 20: Malaysia will not take retaliatory trade action against India over its boycott of palm oil purchases amid a political row between the two countries, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Monday.

India, the world’s largest edible oil buyer, this month effectively halted imports from its largest supplier and the world’s second-biggest producer in response to comments from Mahathir attacking India’s domestic policies.

“We are too small to take retaliatory action,” Mahathir told reporters in Langkawi, a resort island off the western coast of Malaysia. “We have to find ways and means to overcome that,” he added.

The 94-year-old premier of Muslim-majority Malaysia has criticised New Delhi’s new religion-based citizenship law and also accused India of invading the disputed region of Kashmir.

Mahathir again criticised India’s citizenship law on Monday, saying he believed it was “grossly unfair”.

India has been Malaysia’s largest palm oil market for the past five years, presenting the Southeast Asian country with a major challenge in finding new buyers for its palm oil.

Benchmark Malaysian palm futures fell nearly 10% last week, their biggest weekly decline in more than 11 years.

New Delhi is also unhappy with Malaysia’s refusal to revoke permanent resident status for controversial Indian Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, who has lived in Malaysia for about three years and faces charges of money laundering and hate speech in India.

Mahathir said even if the Indian government guarantees a fair trial, Naik faces the real threat of vigilante action and that Malaysia will only relocate the preacher if it can find a third country where he would be safe.

“If we can find a place for him, we will send him out.”

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