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Jitan Ram Manjhi quits NDA to join RJD-led Grand Alliance

Agencies
February 28, 2018

Patna, Feb 28: Former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi said that his Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) will quit the ruling NDA in the state and join the opposition ‘Mahagathbandhan’ later tonight.

The ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (Grand Alliance) currently comprises the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress. The announcement was made by Manjhi outside his residence, in the presence of RJD leaders Tejashwi Yadav, Bhola Yadav, Tej Pratap Yadav and others who had called on the former Bihar chief minister. “We will quit the NDA and join the Mahagathbandhan. A formal announcement to this effect will be made later tonight when the reasons for this major decision will also be made public,” Manjhi said.

Tejashwi Yadav, who is the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, said “the hollowness of the claims by the BJP-led NDA about its cohesion stands exposed. We welcome Jitan Ram Manjhi, a father figure and a champion of social justice, to the Mahagathbandhan”.

The development came two days after Manjhi had demanded that the NDA field at least one member from his party for the six Rajya Sabha polls in the state scheduled next month and warned that the HAM would not campaign in support of candidates of the BJP and the JD(U) for by-polls in two assembly and one Lok Sabha seat scheduled for 11 March.

Formerly with the JD(U), Manjhi had quit the party in 2015 after being forced to step down as the chief minister to make way for the return of Nitish Kumar. He later on formed the HAM and joined the NDA. Kumar, who was then with the Grand Alliance, returned to the NDA in July last year. Asked whether Manjhi has been promised a Rajya Sabha seat, Tejashwi Yadav said “decisions regarding Rajya Sabha candidates will be taken at an appropriate time.

“Today’s development underscores the simmering discontent within the arrogant NDA. Upendra Kushwaha (Union minister and RLSP chief) has expressed his discomfiture in the BJP-led alliance many times. It is time for people like him to take a decision,” Tejashwi said.

Meanwhile, Bhola Yadav, a close confidant of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and a party general secretary, told reporters outside the Vidhan Sabha, “Manjhi joining the Grand Alliance is just the beginning. A number of legislators of Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) are also in touch with us”.

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News Network
April 27,2020

Riyadh, Apr 27: The government of Saudi Arabia has signed a SR995 million (approx. Dh972m) contract with China to provide Covid-19 tests for nine million people in the Kingdom.

The Saudi Press Agency, SPA, reported that the decision came "as a result of a phone call made today (Sunday) between the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Chinese President Xi Jinping."

The contract includes providing necessary equipment and supplies, making available of 500 Chinese specialists and technicians who are specialised in performing tests, establishing six large regional laboratories throughout the Kingdom; including a mobile laboratory with a capacity of performing 10,000 tests per day. Saudi cadres will also be trained to conduct daily tests and comprehensive field tests, under the new agreement

The contract was co-signed by the National Unified Procurement Company and Chinese company Huo-yan Laboratories by Dr. Abdullah Al Rabeeah, Advisor at the Royal Court, on behalf of the Government of Saudi Arabia, and Chinese Ambassador to the Kingdom Chen Weiqing, as a representative of the Chinese Government.

The contract is one of the largest contracts that will provide diagnostic tests for the novel Coronavirus.

Tests were also purchased from several other companies from the United States, Switzerland and South Korea, bringing the number of available tests to 14.5 million, covering around 40 percent of Saudi Arabia's population, SPA added.

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Agencies
August 6,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 6 : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that Congress is known for adopting a soft Hindutva agenda and that there was nothing new in the remarks of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi on Ayodhya temple construction.

"I am not surprised regarding, Priyanka Gandhi's remark on Ayodhya. From Rajiv Gandhi and Narasimha Rao, Congress had followed a similar stance. I don't think Congress has any stand when it comes to secularism. 

If it was the case, then our country would not have reached such a level," the chief minister said when asked about the 'Bhumi Pujan' ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya on Wednesday.

"There is nothing new on Rahul Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi's position on the issue. They are following the Congress' soft Hindutva agenda. There is no element of surprise," Vijayan said.

Further, Vijayan said that CPI(M) Politburo had made clear the party's viewpoint on the Ayodhya temple construction.

"When it comes to Ayodhya issue. I want to ask who had allowed worship there. It was Congress. Who had allowed to lay the idol there? It was Congress. 

Who gave permission to Karseva? It was Congress. Even when it came to demolition of Babri Masjid too who shut their eyes and gave a silent nod for it- wasn't it the Congress regime at the centre? And Muslim League (IUML) was part of it. These are all part of our history," said Kerala Chief Minister.

He said instead of involving in discussions on it, more time should be utilised towards containing the COVID-19 spread in the country and helping the poor who are suffering due to the pandemic.

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News Network
May 12,2020

New Delhi, May 12: A total of 12 special evacuation flights from across the globe will bring home stranded Indians on the sixth day of 'Vande Bharat Mission' on Tuesday.

The special flights include Air India flight from Manila to Ahmedabad, London to Hyderabad, Newark-Mumbai-Ahmedabad, AI flight from Singapore to Delhi, AI flight from Dhaka to Srinagar, Dammam to Kochi, Kuala Lumpur to Mumbai, Manila to Delhi, Muscat to Chennai, Dubai to Kannur, Dubai to Mangalore and Singapore-Bengaluru-Kochi.

Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, India is conducting 'Vande Bharat' Mission -- its biggest ever repatriation exercise since independence -- to bring back stranded Indians from abroad, including from the US, the UAE and the UK.

On the fifth day of Vande Bharat Mission, as many as 1,667 Indian nationals were repatriated from different countries in eight special flights.

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