NDA's Prez pick: Nitish happy, Mayawati positive; Cong calls it 'unilateral decision'

TNN
June 19, 2017

New Delhi, Jun 19: The BJP's pick for Presidential nominee seems to have left the opposition divided with at least two prominent leaders welcoming decision to nominate Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind as NDA's candidate for President's post.ram-nath

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday expressed happiness over Ram Nath Kovind's candidature for the President's post while BSP chief Mayawati making it clear that her party's stand will be positive provided opposition does not field any dalit for the top post.

"Kovind has discharged his duties in an unbiased manner as the Bihar Governor. He has worked as per the Constitution and upheld the dignity of the Governor's post. His was an ideal relation with the state government," Nitish Kumar said after meeting Kovind at Raj Bhavan.

Nitish congratulated Kovind, a dalit leader from the Bharatiya Janata Party, on his nomination as the National Democratic Alliance candidate, and added that "I am personally glad he is the presidential candidate".

However, Nitish did not commit on his party's support for the NDA nominee.

"It is difficult to say at this point of time. I had talks with Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and Congress President Sonia Gandhi on this issue. We will discuss the issue later and decide," Nitish said.

The Congress, however, spurned the BJP's appeal for consensus on its choice for President and said the opposition would take a call on contesting the election after a meeting on June 22.

The BJP has taken a "unilateral decision", Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said soon after the announcement of Ram Nath Kovind as the NDA's candidate for President's post.

"Congress does not want to comment on this issue as we want to take a unanimous decision with all other opposition parties on the presidential elections. The final call will be taken in a meeting of all opposition parties on June 22," Azad told reporters here.

Terming the BJP's efforts to reach out to the opposition through its senior leaders as a "formality and a PR exercise", Azad said the ruling party should have built consensus before announcing the candidate.

"But they informed us after announcing this decision so there is no scope for consensus now... we were not expecting this from the ruling party. But it is their will, they are free to take a one-sided unilateral decision," Azad added.

No names were discussed when senior BJP leaders M Venkaiah Naidu and Rajnath Singh met Congress president Sonia Gandhi last week, the Congress leader said.

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Asked to comment on the BJP fielding a Dalit candidate for the top constitutional post, Azad said, "...I don't want to comment on this...I don't want to comment on the merits and demerits of the candidate."

He added that minorities, backwards and dalits were not priorities for the BJP-led government. Atrocities on Dalits in Saharanpur were a clear example of this.

Discussing whether Nitish Kumar would attend the June 22 meeting, Azad said he had himself called the Bihar chief minister who had assured him that there would be somebody from his Janata Dal-United.

Comments

Shankar
 - 
Monday, 19 Jun 2017

This was a shakuni move by BJP.
Amidst all the anti-dalit atrocities, nominating a dalit candidate would have been an obvious strategy by the opposition. But the NDA foresaw it and played the move themselves.
The opposition is now left with either agreeing to this or nominating a muslim candidate (depending on support from others in the alliance).

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News Network
April 22,2020

Mangaluru, Apr 22: Iftar parties, Taraweeh and weekly Friday prayers in mosques have been banned in the district during Ramadan amid Coronavirus theat, Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh said here on Wednesday.

In a release issued here, she said, “As per the guidelines issued by the State government and Wakf Board, arranging Iftar gathering, and offering Taraveeh Namaz and Friday Namaz at mosques or dargas during the month of Ramadan has been prohibited as a precaution measure to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Therefore, offer prayers at homes instead of going to mosques," the DC said.

“No one can perform Namaz in the mosques except the muezzin and the Pesh imam and the staff of the mosque. Also, gathering neighbors and offering collective prayers at anybody's home is also not allowed. Masjid administration committees must follow the directives of the government, Wakf Board and the District Administration”, the DC urged.

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coastaldigest.com news network
July 18,2020

Mangaluru, Jul 18: Days after Air India operated a flight from Qatar to Mangaluru,  the Karnataka Cultural Foundation (KCF) chartered a flight from Doha to this coastal city to repatriate the stranded NRIs. The flight landed at Mangaluru International Airport on July 16.

This KCF operated flight left the Hamad International Airport Doha at 9:35 am and reached Mangaluru international Airport at 16:10 pm on Thursday. 

The flight had over 174 NRIs, included pregnant women, patients in need of urgent medical treatment, senior citizens, and those who were stuck with expired visit visa and job loss. With the timely intervention Dr Arathi Krishna has helped a patient to make his approval from embassy, who had to leave for medical treatment on emergency basis.

Starting from the registration of travellers, KCF has provided all with the necessary documental, health-related information and each of them have been met by KCF representatives along with snacks and PPE kit to be worn during the journey as a precaution against the spread of the pandemic. 

Organization workers were constantly in touch with each of its passengers, supporting them for their safety and serve them during journey and stay at the hotels and this will continue until the quarantine is completed.

KCF, the proud organization of Kannadigas has been working in the public sphere, and this initiative of charter flight and their dedication on this have been praised by travellers.

On their successful charter, KCF thanks Dr Arathi Krishna, former vice-chairman of Karnataka State NRI Forum for her extensive support on acquiring relevant documental clearances. Sindhu B Rupesh, the deputy commissioner of Mangaluru, Dr Yathish Ullal, assistant commissioner of Mangaluru, Meena Nagaraj, the nodal officer, Bengaluru, are also praised for their timely approvals and permissions for this charter.

The untiring efforts, hard works by the workers and leaders of SSF, SYS and Karnataka Muslim Jama-ath have been appreciated and background supports by Moulana Shafi Sa-adi, the member of Karnataka state Waqf Board is also remembered by KCF Qatar.

The members of KCF Qatar have been tirelessly working behind this grand success, the chairman Abdul Raheem Saadi and general convener Muneer Magundi have thanked all its members, including Embassy officials and Indigo Airlines for all cooperation.

Comments

Shamshuddin Mohammed
 - 
Sunday, 19 Jul 2020

Mask use for covid19 they use as tie

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Agencies
July 30,2020

New Delhi, Jul 29: Air Commodore Hilal Ahmad Rather has become a buzz name in Kashmir overnight. Hilal saw off the first batch of Rafale jets which took off from France to India on Monday. Among other things, he has also been associated with the weaponisation of the Rafale aircraft for acclimatisation to Indian requirements.

Hilal is presently India's Air Attache in France.

The career details of this officer of the Indian Air Force (IAF) read like the decoration scroll of the best flying officer anywhere in the world.

Born in the south Kashmir's Anantnag district to middle-class parents, Hilal's father, late Mohammad Abdullah Rather retired as a deputy superintendent of police (Dy SP) in J&K police department. He has three sisters and is the only son of his parents. Hilal studied in Sainik School in Nagrota town of Jammu district.

He was commissioned in IAF as a fighter pilot on December 17, 1988, became flight lieutenant in 1993, wing commander in 2004, group captain in 2016 and air commodore in 2019.

He graduated from defence services staff college (DSSC). He also graduated from air war college (USA) with distinction. He won the sword of honour in NDA. Hilal is also the recipient of Vayu Sena Medal and Vishisht Seva medal.

With an impeccable record of 3,000 accident-free flying hours on mirage-2000, MIG-21 and Kiran aircraft, Hilal's name will now forever be associated with Rafale in India.

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