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Congress calls Modi 'frog, national embarrassment', BJP at his defence

August 17, 2013

Modi_frogNew Delhi, Aug 17: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh continued to generate heat on Friday, with UPA ministers and Congress leaders attacking him sharply for hitting out at the Prime Minister on Independence Day and the BJP springing to his defence.

External affairs minister Salman Khurshid said in Uttarakhand, "What should I say about Modi? He is like a frog just out of the well and at a loss to find the right place for himself in the big wide world."

Reacting to Khurshid, BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman questioned the use of non-diplomatic language in criticism, recalling that terms like frog, monkey, snake, and maut ka saudagar have been used in the past.

She also defended Modi’s attack on the PM on Independence Day, saying the Congress could not question the timing of the attack at a time when the economy was deteriorating and the rupee was falling.

Minister for information and broadcasting Manish Tewari dubbed Modi’s attempt to compete with the PM as “crass” and “cheap”.

“The Prime Minister addresses the nation from the Red Fort as a symbol of faith and aspiration of 120-crore people. If one thinks that he can compare himself from the Prime Minister’s address made from the Red Fort, then nothing can be more ridiculous than this,” Tewari said.

“This is a very crass and cheap attempt on which we would not like to make any comment.”

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh used BJP patriarch LK Advani’s tacit disapproval of Modi’s speech a day back to hit out at the Gujarat CM. "On Modi's Independence (Day) Speech, I and Advani ji are on the same page. Modi's abrasive hunger for power has no limits," Singh wrote on microblogging site Twitter.

Advani had reacted to Modi’s attack on the Prime Minister on Thursday saying: “Today on Independence Day, without criticising anybody, we all should realise that India has unlimited potential for the future.” Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut had also agreed with the patriarch.

However, the BJP tried to brush aside Advani’s tacit criticism of Modi. "There is no conflict of interest at all because Advaniji has not taken any name. It is very clear that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is answerable to the nation. He has failed, therefore we have every right to question him. But no personal criticism should be made," senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu said in Kolkata.

"But yes, there can be criticism of his performance. The Prime Minister is accountable to the nation."

In Delhi, Sitharaman said the BJP took everything said by Advani seriously and introspected on it, while underlining that the national economy was the prime concern.

Union minister Anand Sharma termed Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi as a "national embarrassment".

Sharma said that as per social indices, Gujarat has the highest school dropout rate, high malnutrition deaths compared to other states and low availability of safe drinking water.

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Agencies
July 31,2020

New Delhi, Jul 31: With the highest single-day spike of 55,079 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, India's coronavirus tally breached the 16 lakh mark on Friday, informed the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

With this latest spike, the total cases in the country stand at 16,38,871. Among these cases 5,45,318 are active. A total of 10,57,806 patients have been cured/discharged/migrated.

779 deaths due to COVID-19 have been reported in the country in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 35,747.

As per the Union Health Ministry, Maharashtra has a total of 1,48,454 active cases and recorded 14,729 deaths due to COVID-19.
Tamil Nadu has a total of 57,962 active cases and 3,838 deaths in the state.

Delhi has a total of 10,743 active cases and 3,936 deaths.

The Indian Council of Medical Research on Friday informed that a total number of COVID-19 samples tested up to 30th July is 1,88,32,970 including 6,42,588 samples tested yesterday.

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News Network
June 18,2020

New Delhi, Jun 18: With the highest single-day increase of 12,881 COVID-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours, India's coronavirus count has reached 3,66,946 on Thursday.

This includes 1,60,384 active cases and 1,94,325 cured, discharged and migrated patients, according to the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry.

Meanwhile, with 334 deaths being reported due to the infection, the toll due to the virus stands at 12,237 in the country.

There is a big increase in the number of confirmed cases in the country today as compared to the recent days when the spike had been limited to under 11,000 cases.

Maharashtra with 1,16,752 cases continues to be the worst-affected state in the country with 51,935 active cases while 59,166 patients have been cured and discharged in the state so far. The toll due to COVID-19 stands at 5,651 in the state.

The number of confirmed cases in Tamil Nadu also crossed the 50 thousand mark on Thursday and reached 50,193. The national capital is the third-worst affected by the infection in the country with the count reaching 47,102 today.

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News Network
January 17,2020

Mumbai, Jan 17: A 68-year-old convict of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, Jalees Ansari, went missing on Thursday morning while being on parole, officials said.

Ansari, a resident of Mominpura in Agripada here who is serving a life term, is suspected to be involved in many bomb blast cases across the country, an official said.

He was on parole for 21 days from the Ajmer Central Prison, Rajasthan, and was expected to surrender before prison authorities on Friday, he said.

During the parole period, he was ordered to visit the Agripada Police Station everyday between 10.30 am and 12 pm to mark his attendance, he said.

However, Ansari did not visit the police station on Thursday during the designated time, the official said.

In the afternoon, his 35-year-old son Jaid Ansari approached the police station with a complaint about his “missing” father, he said.

According to the complaint, Jalees Ansari woke up in the early hoursand told family members he is going to offer namaz, but did not return home.

On his complaint, the Agripada Police registered a missing case, he said.

The Crime Branch of the Mumbai Police and the Maharashtra ATS have launched a massive manhunt to trace him, he said.

Jalees, who is known as Doctor Bomb, was allegedly connected with terror outfits like SIMI and Indian Mujahidin and taught terror groups how to make bombs, he said.

He was also questioned by the NIA in 2011 in connection with the 2008 bomb blast in Mumbai, he said.

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