Mamata, Mulayam want Manmohan as President

June 14, 2012

mamat

New Delhi, June 14: No Prime Minister has ever gone on to beco­me the President of the Indian Republic. But the record may have to be rewritten, and the country may also have a new Prime Minister, if the Congress’ two powerful partners in the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) have their way.

Dropping a bombshell, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday jointly proposed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s name as the ruling alliance’s nominee for candidature for the July 19 presidential election.

Their joint proposal, made in the national capital in the evening, came after a brief meeting between them that in turn followed Mamata’s separate meeting with UPA chairperson and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. Singh’s was not the only name they proposed as possible candidates. But the two other names the Mamata-Mulayam duo tossed up – former president A P J Abdul Kalam and former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee – may not find favour with the Congress. Kalam will certainly not be acceptable to the Congress.

“We discussed three names ... A P J Abdul Kalam, Manmohan Singh and Somnath Chatterjee,” Mulayam told newsmen in Mamata’s presence, bringing the Prime Minister’s name in the reckoning for the first time. Before the two leaders went back into another huddle, Mamata, also the West Bengal chief minister, added: “We decided the names based on the persons who are honest, know the Constitution and can work for the nation. It will be good to have a President elected unanimously by all political parties.”

It wasn’t immediately clear if the two powerful allies of the Congress were acting as troubleshooters for the Congress leadership, and if the dramatic proposal was part of any thinking in the ruling political establishment to use the Presidential election to also bring about a change in the leadership of the UPA government.

As such, the UPA leadership has been criticised for creating a situation of “policy paralysis” in the country. The image of Singh has taken a beating in the facing of a mounting economic crisis. The Mamata-Mulayam proposal could also be an oblique hint of a lack of confidence in Singh’s leadership of the government.

Earlier during the day, just a few hours before proposing Si­ngh’s name for Rashtrapati Bh­avan, Mamata met Sonia for consultations on the Presidential election. Emerging from that meeting, Mamata told mediapersons that Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was the Congress’s first choice for Rashtrapati Bhavan, and the second choice being that of incumbent Vice President Hamid Ansari.

Adding to the intriguing proposal, there were strong suggestions within the ruling establishment that the UPA’s presidential nominee would be announced only after Prime Minister Singh returns home from his visit to Mexico and Brazil on the night of June 23. There is time till June 30 to file the nomination papers for the July 19 election. Singh leaves for Mexico on Saturday, the day the Election Commission is scheduled to issue the formal notification calling for the election.

The Congress did not react immediately to the Singh-as-President proposal of the Mamata-Mulayam duo. But the leading UPA partner cannot take the proposal lightly. Between them, the Trinamool Congress and the Samajwadi party command 10.6 per cent of the votes in the Electoral Colleague that elects the President.

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News Network
July 5,2020

New Delhi, Jul 5: World's largest, 10,000-bed Sardar Patel COVID Care Centre and Hospital (SPCCCH) at Radha Soami Satsang Beas in Chhatarpur area of the national capital has made operational on Sunday.

Inaugurated by Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Anil Baijal, the facility has been created on an emergency basis by the South Delhi District Administration with support of the Ministry of Home Affairs in a record time of 10 days.
Notably, this coronavirus treatment centre which is set up in Chhatarpur area of the national capital is said to be the "largest" of its kind in the world.
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"The Sardar Patel COVID Care Centre and Hospital has been developed to help the citizens of Delhi and NCR who are affected by the coronavirus. Our team of doctors and medical staffs will take care of this facility. Sardar Patel COVID Care Centre and Hospital will have 10 per cent of beds with oxygen facility," the Delhi LG said after the inaugural.
Talking about the facilities at the new coronavirus centre, Baijal further stated, "We have counsellors for mentally traumatised patients. We have a team of good psychiatrists and specialists in medicine."

The facility will function as an isolation centre for mild and asymptomatic COVID positive patients. 10 per cent of the beds will have oxygen facility in case the patient develops severe breathlessness and requires tertiary hospital care, read a statement.

Operationally, the facility has been linked to the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital and Madan Mohan Malviya Hospital. The referral tertiary care hospitals are Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital.

ITBP will be running the first 2,000 beds with their 170 doctors/specialists and more than 700 nurses and paramedics, the statement added.
Most of the basic infrastructure such as beds, mattresses and linen has been donated by various civil society organisations and non-governmental organisations. 

A recreational centre has been made available to the patients along with a library, board games and skipping ropes. People admitted to the facility will be provided five healthy meals a day along with immunity-boosting chawanprash, juices and hot kadha, the statement added.

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News Network
June 10,2020

Chennai, Jun 10: DMK MLA J Anbazhagan who had tested positive for coronavirus and was on ventilator support from June 3 passed away at a hospital in Chennai on Wednesday.

Coincidently, today is the 62nd birthday of the MLA.

"Anbazhagan J, who has been fighting for his life with severe COVID 19 pneumonia rapidly deteriorated early this morning. In spite of full medical support including mechanical ventilation at our COVID facility, he succumbed to his illness. He was declared dead at 08:05 hours on the 10th of June 2020," the hospital said in a statement.

In 2001, Anbazhagan was elected from T Nagar Assembly constituency. He served for five years.

Later in 2011, he was elected to Tamil Nadu Assembly from Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni seat. The DMK leader was re-elected from the same constituency in 2016.

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News Network
March 26,2020

New Delhi, Mar 26: Despite repeated assurances by the Centre and state government of no shortage of food and essential services in Delhi, many daily wage earners have started fleeing the national capital on foot to return to their native villages in nearby Uttar Pradesh and other states because of the hardships being faced by them.
Most daily wage earners who are fleeing have complained that they are doing so because they will die of hunger due to lack of resources at their disposal.
"I am going to Azamgarh, my native place which is more than 800 kilometers from here. We have started walking towards our village. On the roads, if we get some vehicles then it will be all right otherwise we will continue on foot. I used to work in the construction sector but all work has stopped, we therefore have no other means to buy our rations. Atleast, food is guaranteed in our homes," Ghanshyam, a daily wage earner, told ANI here.
Rani, another daily wage earner, who was fleeing Delhi along with her family said, "Who would want to leave on foot, but what other options do we have. Our children will die of hunger, even if they are saved from the disease. That is why we are leaving."
While the government has been assuring that it will provide food and other essentials to the low-income groups, the people complained that they are yet to receive any help.
The departing of people has started despite repeated warnings by governments to prevent the influx of persons living in other states to curtail the spread of coronavirus.
Prince, who used to reside in Mongolpuri area of Delhi, said, "If we continue to stay the landlord will pester us for rent. The prices of all commodities are rising with each passing day, this way we will have nothing left to survive. We did not get any help from the government. I am, therefore, returning to Kasganj, which is close to 300 kilometres from Delhi. We will at least get food served twice a day in the village, nobody is offering us even water here."
Earlier on Tuesday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced Rs 5,000 for each construction worker under Construction Workers Welfare Board Fund.
Addressing a video conference here, he said, "The Delhi government will give Rs 5,000 to each construction worker as their livelihood has been affected due the outbreak of coronavirus."
He also said that the number of night shelters in the city has been increased and more food is being distributed to homeless people.
He also said that due to curfew, several people were not able to get food, and urged the public to send such people to the nearest shelters of the Delhi government, where food was being arranged.

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