BJP may back PA Sangma as President candidate

May 21, 2012

Bjp_May_Back

New Delhi, May 21: Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Sunday stepped up her advocacy for P A Sangma as president, rallying support across the political spectrum. She called up BJP veteran L K Advani, who is believed to have told her that he was "positively inclined" towards Sangma personally but a decision would only be taken only after consultations within the party and with NDA leaders.

The NDA is likely to discuss its strategy by Tuesday in light of the intense lobbying for the former Speaker by the AIADMK chief.

Jayalalithaa also spoke to CPM general secretary Prakash Karat, CPI's A B Bardhan, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal, the AIADMK said.

YSR Congress leader Jaganmohan Reddy is also learnt to be in favour of Sangma's candidature. In a coordinated move, Jayalalithaa and her Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik had floated Sangma's name on May 17.

While Jayalalithaa and Patnaik had propped up Sangma as a "tribal" candidate, Advani is learnt to be of the view that the NCP leader's credentials as a "Christian" has greater weight as the tribal block is fragmented, while the Christian block less so.

In fact, Advani is learned to have received a letter from the Council of Churches, a body of Christian clerics, who without naming Sangma, seem to be backing him. The letter pointed out that there had been presidents from other minority communities -three Muslim presidents and one belonging to the Sikh community - implying that a Christian should get the top job this time.

After Jayalalithaa's phone call to Mulayam, SP said it was not a hurry to decide on the presidential candidate and that the party had not taken a decision on whom to support. The CPI said it would decide on the issue after a party meeting on May 23.

Interestingly, the Nationalist Congress Party, to which Sangma belongs, has ruled out supporting his candidature, saying it would go with the UPA decision.

Lok Janshakti Party chief Ramvilas Paswan said in Tiruchirapalli on Sunday that his party would support the UPA candidate for presidency. Asked about Sangma's candidature, he said, "All are our friends. But we will support only the candidate chosen by UPA."

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News Network
January 18,2020

Shirdi, Jan 18: The administrative body of Sai Baba's Samadhi calls for the indefinite closure of the Shirdi temple after Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray reportedly said Pathri in Parbhani is Sai Baba's birthplace.

"We have announced to close Shirdi against rumours from January 19," said B Wakchaure of Saibaba Sansthan Trust.

"A meeting of villagers will be convened Saturday evening to discuss the issue. Devotees will not face any difficulty if they come to Shirdi," Mr Wakchaure added.

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Bloomberg
July 27,2020

New Delhi, Jul 27: India’s coronavirus epidemic is now growing at the fastest in the world, increasing 20% over the last week to more than 14 lakh confirmed cases, according to Bloomberg’s Coronavirus Tracker.

Infections in the South Asian nation of 130 crore people have reached 14.3 lakh, including 32,771 deaths, India’s health ministry said, with daily cases close to a record 50,000 on Monday. India is only trailing the US and Brazil now in the number of confirmed infections, but its growth in new cases is the fastest.

Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are among the states where the maximum number of daily cares are being reported. The world’s second-most populous country has been ramping up testing, with 515,472 samples taken on Sunday, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research.

Still, India and Brazil have some of the world’s lowest testing rates, with 11.8 tests and 11.93 tests per 1,000 people respectively, compared to the US with 152.98 tests per 1,000 and Russia with 184.34, according to Our World in Data, a project based at the University of Oxford in the UK.

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News Network
February 21,2020

Aurangabad, Feb 21: The All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) will seek an explanation from its leader Waris Pathan over his alleged '15 crore Muslims can be heavy on 100 crore' remark he recently made in Karnataka, a party leader said here on Friday.

Pathan had made the purported remarks while addressing an anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) rally at Kalaburagi in North Karnataka on February 16.

"We have to move together. We have to take Azadi (freedom), things that we don't get by asking, we have to take it by force, remember it...(We maybe) 15 crore, but are heavy on 100 (crore), remember it," Pathan can be heard purportedly saying in a video of his speech that has gone viral.

Talking to reporters here, AIMIM's Maharashtra unit chief and Aurangabad MP Imtiyaz Jaleel said, "Our party does not support the statement made by Waris Pathan. The party will seek an explanation from him over the remarks."

"If needed, we will come out with a set of dos and don'ts for the party workers to be while giving speech," he said.

"BJP leaders Anurag Thakur and Yogi Adityanath had also given some hateful statements, but none questioned them about it," Jaleel added.

On Thursday, a young woman had raised "Pakistan Zindabad" slogan in Bengaluru during a protest against CAA, NRC and NPR, where AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi was also present. Owaisi had denounced her action.

Talking about the incident, Jaleel said, "That event was not organised by the AIMIM. It was organised by JD(S) and leaders of all parties were there. Asaduddin Owaisi stopped the woman and also condemned her act. But it is being projected that it was AIMIM's stage."

Meanwhile, the BJP and the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) held protests in Aurangabad against Pathan, seeking stern action against him.

The BJP protested in Gulmandi area and burnt an effigy of Pathan.

"Waris Pathan has hurt the feelings of 100 crore people. He has tried to divide the people of the country. The state government should take action against him and send him out of Mumbai," BJP MLA Atul Save said.

The MNS took out a symbolic funeral procession of Pathan and raised slogans against the AIMIM.

"The language of Waris Pathan was disgusting. He should be banned from giving public speeches in the state and also be arrested," MNS lader Prakash Mahajan said.

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