Jayalalithaa holds talks on successor in Bangalore jail

September 28, 2014

Bangalore, Sep 28: Jailed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa Sunday discussed the issue of her successor with a few cabinet ministers following her conviction for corruption.

Jayalalithaa"Jayalalithaa has advised cabinet colleagues and party leaders to convene a meeting of all lawmakers (legislators) in Chennai later in the day and elect a leader to serve as chief minister," an AIADMK leader said.

The meeting lasting a hour was held over breakfast in the visitors' room of the Central Jail in the city's outskirts.

Jayalalithaa was jailed late Saturday after a special judge sentenced her to four years in prison for amassing wealth illegally when she was chief minister in 1991-96.

Among those who met Jayalalithaa were Tamil Nadu Finance Minister O. Panneerselvam, Excise Minister Natham Viswanathan, Transport Minister Senthil Balaji and former chief secretary Sheela Balakrishna.

They "sought her advise on how to elect a new leader", the party official said but declined to be quoted by name.

As Panneerselvam had served as interim chief minister over a decade ago in similar circumstances, speculation is rife that Jayalalithaa would advise her legislators to elect him as the party's leader in the Tamil Nadu assembly.

"Panneerselvam is the front-runner for the chief minister's post as he is the senior most cabinet minister in our government and a trusted aide of Jayalalithaa over the last three decades," the AIADMK leader said.

"Jayalalithaa wants a new leader to take over at the earliest to assuage the hurt feelings of the lawmakers and thousands of party cadres across the state over the verdict," the party member said.

Jayalalithaa's lawyers are expected to meet her later in the day to discuss remedies to secure bail from the high court.

After spending Saturday night in the special cell in the women's wing of the jail, the 66-year-old Jayalalithaa woke up at 5.30 a.m. Sunday and went for a brisk walk on the lawns.

"She is fine. She had sugarless coffee and went through three Tamil newspapers and an English daily that her personal assistant brought for her," a jail official said.

The jail warden, however, refused to allow a special chair brought from Chennai for the use of Jayalalithaa, who suffers from back pain.

"As per the prison manual, we cannot allow outside things like furniture unless the court permits and doctors recommend," the warden said.

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Agencies
February 11,2020

New Delhi, Feb 11: People of Delhi have explained the true meaning of nationalism through their mandate, AAP's prominent face Manish Sisodia said as he clinched victory on the Patparganj seat.

Sisodia, who retained his seat for the third time, said the BJP indulged in "politics of hate", but people refused to be divided.

"I am happy to have won the Patparganj seat again. The BJP indulged in politics of hate, but I thank the people of Patparganj. Today, Delhi's people have chosen a government which works for them and explained the true meaning of nationalism through their mandate," he told reporters.

Sisodia, who was the Deputy Chief Minister and led the government's education reforms agenda, defeated BJP's Ravinder Singh Negi by a margin of over 3,500 votes.

The initial trends saw a seesaw battle between Sisodia and Negi.

In 2013, Sisodia had won by a margin of 11,000 votes and in 2015 by over 28,000 votes.

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News Network
July 10,2020

New Delhi, Jul 10: With the highest single-day spike of 26,506 COVID-19 cases and 475 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the total number of COVID-19 cases in India reached 7,93,802 on Friday, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Out of the total number of cases, 2,76,685 are active, 4,95,513 have been cured/discharged/migrated and 21,604 have died so far due to the infection.

With as many as 2,30,599 COVID-19 cases, Maharashtra continues to remain the worst-affected state, followed by Tamil Nadu (1,26,581) and Delhi (1,07,051).

Meanwhile, 2,83,659 samples were tested for coronavirus on Thursday, taking the total number of samples tested up to July 9 to 1,10,24,491, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

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News Network
February 14,2020

Washington, Feb 14: The United States has called for making Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed accountable for his involvement in the planning of "numerous acts of terrorism, including 2008 Mumbai attacks". "We continue to call for Hafiz Saeed to be held accountable for his involvement in the planning of numerous acts of terrorism, including 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 innocent people, including 6 Americans," US State Department spokesperson said on Thursday (February 13, 2020).

US State Department spokesperson said this while commenting on the Saeed`s conviction in terror financing cases.

The spokesperson said Hafiz Saeed`s conviction on terror financing is a step towards curtailing the operation of a terrorist group that threatens peace and stability in South Asia.

"We urge Pakistan to continue to take appropriate legal action against individuals who commit acts of terrorism, raise funds for, or advocate for terrorism," the official said.

On Wednesday, Alice Wells, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of US for South and Central Asian Affairs had termed the conviction of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed as an "important step forward" towards holding terrorist organisation LeT "accountable for its crimes".

"Today`s conviction of Hafiz Saeed and his associate is an important step forward - both toward holding LeT accountable for its crimes and for #Pakistan in meeting its international commitments to combat terrorist financing," she tweeted.

"And as @ImranKhanPTI has said, it is in the interest of #Pakistan`s future that it not allow non-state actors to operate from its soil," she said in another tweet.

An anti-terrorism court in Lahore, Pakistan on Wednesday sentenced Mumbai terror attack mastermind and chief of the banned Jamaat-ud -Dawa (JuD) Hafiz Saeed to five-and-a-half years in prison each in two terror financing cases.

Pakistan based Dawn reported that he was slapped with a prison sentence of five-and-a-half years and a fine of Rs15,000 in each case and the sentences of both cases will run concurrently.

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