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Congress, RJD call for handshake with JD-U

May 19, 2014

Congress RJDJDUNew Delhi, May 19: Days after the BJP swept the Lok Sabha polls, the RJD and the Congress called for an urgent "understanding" with the JD-U to prevent any further split in "secular" votes.

"We do not rule out an arrangement with the JD-U (Janata Dal-United) to consolidate the secular votes in the future," Bihar Congress leader Premchand Mishra said.

Hinting at a possible realignment between the Lalu Prasad-led RJD and the JD-U, the two offsprings of the erstwhile Janata Dal, he said "vested interests" should give way to "larger interests" in Bihar, which has 40 Lok Sabha seats.

"If there is any scope for understanding between parties with secular ideologies, it should be exploited. False egos and previous animosity should not stand as obstacles to what can defeat the communal forces," Mishra said in a telephonic interview.

The Congress and the RJD, which were in an alliance, won only two and four seats respectively despite jointly polling a respectable 28.5 percent of all votes.

The ruling JD-U was crushed, winning just two seats. The BJP bagged 22 seats and its ally, the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) of Ram Vilas Paswan, six.

The RJD attributed the failure to convert the vote share into seats to the "spoiling factor" played by the JD-U.

RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwary said: "It wouldn't be right to say we have rejected any possibility of teaming up with the JD-U."

Tiwary said the RJD realises that the "secular" camp can have an advantage over the Bharatiya Janata Party in vote share if the JD-U was aligned with the RJD and the Congress.

Together with JD-U's 15.8 percent vote percentage, the Congress and the RJD would have had nearly 10 perent more votes than the BJP and the LJP which polled 29.4 percent and 6.4 percent votes respectively.

"RJD candidates got two-three lakh votes in every constituency and we could have won more seats if the JD-U hadn't played the spoiler," Tiwary said.

RJD leader Lalu Prasad retains his "iron will" to battle the communal forces and may make "significant decisions" in this regard, he said, indicating a possible coming together of Lalu Prasad and JD-U leaders Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav.

"We are observing the developments in the state," he added.

Both the Congress and the RJD contend that it was opportunism on the part of the LJP to desert them and join the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance just ahead of the Lok Sabha battle.

"Ram Vilas Paswan had said he would abide by whatever decision (Congress president) Sonia Gandhi takes. But suddenly he became a part and parcel of the NDA," Mishra said.

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News Network
July 24,2020

New Delhi, Jul 24: India reported the highest single-day spike of 49,310 coronavirus cases on Friday, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The total COVID-19 positive cases stand at 12,87,945 including 4,40,135 active cases, 8,17,209 cured/discharged/migrated.
With 740 deaths in the last 24 hours, the cumulative toll reached 30,601.

Maharashtra has reported 3,47,502 coronavirus cases, the highest among states and Union Territories in the country. A total of 1,92,964 cases have been reported from Tamil Nadu till now, while Delhi has recorded 1,27,364 coronavirus cases.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 3,52,801 samples were tested for coronavirus on Thursday and overall 1,54,28,170 samples have been tested so far. 

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Agencies
July 30,2020

Kochi, Jul 30: The Kerala High Court on Thursday refused to grant the extension for the stay of a 74-year-old US citizen, Johnny Paul Pierce, who had earlier said that he felt safer to remain in India than in the United States amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The single-judge bench of Justice CS Dias, which considered the writ petition, observed that the grant or extension of visa to foreign nationals fall exclusively within the domain of the Government of India (GoI) and that judicial review in such matters is minimal.

The power of the GoI to expel foreigners is absolute and unlimited, the bench said.

"In view of the categoric declaration of law by the Supreme Court, the plea of the petitioner to permit him to stay back in India cannot be accepted, as it falls within the purview of the guidelines and the discretion of the Government of India," the order said.

"The petitioner cannot be heard that the guidelines/policies/regulations formulated by the Government of India, that an American national though has been granted a visa having validity of five years has to leave India within 180 days, is irrational or unreasonable," it added.

The High Court, which was hearing a plea to permit the US citizen to stay in India for a further period of six months, said that the petitioner does not have a case that there is an infraction of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

"The petitioner was well aware of the visa conditions when he arrived in India, and it is too late in the day for him to raise a grievance on the visa conditions," the bench said noting that the petitioner's love for India was heartening.

The High Court also directed the Foreigners Registration Officer to consider the petitioner's representation within a period of two weeks in accordance with the applicable guidelines and policies.

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News Network
January 18,2020

New Delhi, Jan 18: Lieutenant Governor (LG) Anil Baijal has granted the power of detaining authority to the Delhi Police Commissioner under the National Security Act (NSA), according to a notification. The NSA allows preventive detention of an individual for months if the authorities feel that the individual is a threat to the national security, and law and order, sources said.

In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (3) of section 3, read with clause (c) of Section 2 of the National Security Act, 1980, the Lt Governor is pleased to direct that during the period January 19 to April 18, the Delhi Police Commissioner may also exercise the powers of detaining authority under sub-section (2) of the section 3 of the aforesaid Act, the notification stated.

The notification has been issued on January 10 following the approval of the LG.

It comes at a time when the national capital has been witnessing a number of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

However, the Delhi Police said it is a routine order that has been issued in every quarter and has nothing to do with the current situation.

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