Is Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala, the confidante of PM Modi, in race for Gujarat CM post?

News Network
December 21, 2017

Bengaluru, Dec 21: Rumours are doing rounds that Bharatiya Janata Party high command is considering many senior leaders including Karnataka Governor Vajubhai R Vala for the post of chief minister of Gujarat, where the saffron party faced a tough challenge from Congress in recent polls.

The 78-year-old Vala, who hails from Sangh Parivar, shares close ties with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah.

Vala started his political career at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and subsequently joined Jan Sangh in 1971. He was the Mayor of Rajkot in the 1980s. Later he contested Gujarat assembly elections from Rajkot and served as the Cabinet Minister holding finance, revenue portfolios from 1998 to 2012. He was the finance minister in Gujarat for two terms. He holds the record of presenting budget in Gujarat Legislative Assembly; 18 times as the finance minister. He was elected as the Speaker of assembly in December 2012 and served till August 2014

Soon after becoming Prime Minister, Modi appointed Vala as the Governor of Karnataka in 2014. Both the leaders are said to be close since the time the latter vacated the Rajkot II constituency to enable Modi to contest byelections and become member of the Gujarat Assembly in 2002. Modi emerged victorious in the byelections. The BJP had replaced Keshubhai Patel with Modi as the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2001. 

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coastaldigest.com news network
July 23,2020

Mangaluru, Jul 23: A nurse who was serving as a frontline COVID warrior at the Wenlock Hospital in Mangaluru and has recently tested positive along with her 7-year-old son has complained to the Deputy Commissioner against the harassment meted out by some miscreants who have been spreading false rumours against her.

Health official said that some people in her area have given false complaints against her to government officials thus inflicting mental torture on her and her family.

In her letter, the nurse has stated that the attitude of the people forcing her to consider quitting the job. "I have served the people by treating my work as worship. Anti-social elements have been torturing me now. I am very much hurt," the she said. 

The nurse’s house at Moodbidri has been sealed after she was tested positive. However, her husband and younger child were tested negative.

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News Network
February 29,2020

Kochi, Feb 29: The Kerala Non-Resident Indians' Commission on Friday passed a resolution to request the Centre and Election Commission (EC) to make appropriate amendments in the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951, to ensure voting rights to the non-resident Indians working abroad. According to People’s Representation Act, 1951, None-Resident Indians (NRIs) can vote by proxy.

The Commission is a statutory body constituted for the welfare of Non-Resident Keralites working outside India.

The Centre had introduced a bill for this purpose which was passed by the Lok Sabha in 2018, but the same has since lapsed.

Therefore, the Kerala NRI Commission decided to request the Centre to consider introducing the bill in the next session of Parliament considering the interest of the NRI community at large.

The resolution was moved by commission member and NRI entrepreneur Shamsheer Vayalil, who is also a petitioner in the writ petition, filed regarding this in the Supreme Court.

"The central government may consider introducing the bill in the next session of the Parliament session considering the interest of the NRI community at large," read the resolution which will now be sent to the Ministry of Law and the Election Commission (EC).

Commission chairman Justice PD Rajan said the right to vote for NRIs is a genuine demand.

"This is the time that we step up pressure on the agencies concerned to implement this. Voting from the workplace would be a different experience for them. It would be a decisive step," he said.

This fresh development comes at a time when a petition filed in the Supreme Court on the same topic last week came before a bench headed by Justice Deepak Gupta, which considered the case and said it will be heard in April.

"We are expecting a favourable decision from the Supreme Court. We would also approach the NRI commission in other states and request them to raise the same demand," said Vayalil.

If implemented, millions of NRIs around the world would be able to exercise their franchise in the electoral processes of the nation. According to the estimate of the Ministry of External Affairs, there are about 3.10 crore NRIs.

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News Network
January 5,2020

Madikeri, Jan 5: Frequent attacks by Tigers on their cattle in South Kodagu region has left the dairy farmers a worried lot and causing concern for their life.

Several farmers have been rearing cows to supplement their income when low prices of pepper and coffee affect their earnings. At least 13 cows have fallen prey to Tigers in the months of November and December last year.

The Forest Department provides a compensation of Rs 10,000 if a cattle is killed by a tiger or in the attack. The compensation amount is meagre when it comes to the loss incurred by the farmers.

Though the Forest Department has submitted a proposal to increase the compensation amount to the government, no action has been initiated in this regard.

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