Rahul an international leader, can contest in Italy too: Narendra Modi

September 18, 2012
Modi_international

Rajkot/Patna, September 18: Taunted by Congress that Rahul Gandhi had a national stature while he was a state leader, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Monday took a swipe at the party, saying the young leader was an "international leader" who can also contest elections in Italy.

Raking up the issue of foreign origin of Congress president Sonia Gandhi again, the BJP stalwart, who spent his 62nd birthday on Monday continuing his month-long campaign in poll-bound Gujarat, also said he was proud to be a regional leader of the state.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who has steadfastly opposed making Modi a prime ministerial candidate in the next Lok Sabha elections, also greeted his Gujarat counterpart and wished him a long life. The forthcoming assembly polls is expected to be a new arena for a Modi-Nitish faceoff.

"Recently a Congress leader made a statement that Rahul Gandhi is a national leader of Congress and I am a regional leader. I am happy to be a leader of Gujarat but I do not agree to consider Rahul as national leader," Modi said, addressing Swami Vivekananda Youth Convention in Rajkot.

"I am proud to be a regional leader of Gujarat. Rahul is not a national leader but an international leader and he can contest elections in India as well as in Italy," Modi said, once again targeting the Gandhi family over the foreign origin of Rahul's mother.

Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi had last week made the comment when he was asked whether the forthcoming election in Gujarat will be a "Modi Vs Rahul" battle. He had said comparison cannot be made as Rahul is Congress's national leader while Modi is regional leader of Gujarat.

Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh had also on Sunday described Modi as a regional leader and Rahul a national one.

Modi's birthday was celebrated by the BJP in Bihar with a state minister from the party cutting a cake at its office in Patna.

Animal husbandry and fisheries minister Giriraj Singh cut a 62-kg cake during the occasion celebrated under the banner of the Narendra Modi Fans Association (NMFA). Singh has publicly backed Modi's candidature as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate.

Alleging that the UPA government is deceiving people, Modi criticised the Manmohan Singh government for not fulfilling promises made in Congress election manifesto in 2004.

"In 2004, Congress in its manifesto had promised to give job to one crore youths but according to a report issued by the Government of India, Gujarat is the leader in giving jobs with 72 per cent of share," Modi said addressing a large gathering of youths.

"I want to ask a question to UPA government and its Prime Minister that if you are not able to fulfil your promises then why do you make them...only to deceive people?" he asked.

Modi again slammed the UPA over FDI in retail in India and said the government's policy would prove fatal for Indian retailers.

"The UPA's policy of foreign trading (FDI in retail) in India would prove to be fatal and Gujarat has opposed the policy to ensure the security of retailers in the state," he said.

He also condemned the Prime Minister's "silence and soft approach" to national issues and said, "In the last eight years, Singh has held his head high only twice, first time while signing the nuclear treaty with the US and second time giving permission to foreign trading in India, and both the times he worked for the benefits of foreign governments."

On his birthday, Modi also made several announcements including giving taluka status to Vinchhiya town of Jamnagar district and increasing age restriction from 25 to 28 and 28 to 30 for recruitment in state government offices.

Olympics medallist Gagan Narang, cricketers Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Jaydev Shah and BCCI vice president Niranjan Shah were among those present at the youth convention.


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Agencies
May 31,2020

Mumbai, May 31: Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday alleged that the event held in Ahmedabad to welcome US President Donald Trump in February was responsible for the spread of coronavirus in Gujarat and later in Mumbai and Delhi, which some of his delegates had visited.

Raut also hit out at the Centre saying that the lockdown was implemented without any planning, but now the responsibility of lifting the curbs was left to the states.

The Sena MP said that despite the opposition BJP's attempts to pull down the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, there was no threat to it as its survival is the 'majboori' (compulsion) of all the three ruling allies- Sena, NCP and Congress.

"It can't be denied that the spread of coronavirus in Gujarat was because of the massive public gathering held to welcome US President Donald Trump. Some of the delegates, who accompanied Trump, also visited Mumbai, Delhi, which led to the spread of the virus," Raut said in his weekly column in Shiv Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

On February 24, Trump along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken part in a road-show in Ahmedabad, which was attended by thousands of people. After the road- show, the two leaders had addressed a gathering of over one lakh people at Motera cricket stadium, run by Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA).

Gujarat had reported its first coronavirus cases on March 20, when samples of a man from Rajkot and a woman from Surat tested positive for the disease.

Raut said that any move to pull down the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government and impose President's rule in the state citing its failure to curb the coronavirus pandemic would be suicidal.

"The state had witnessed how President's rule was imposed and lifted as per will six months ago," he said.

"If the handling of coronavirus cases is the basis of imposing President's rule, then it should be done in at least 17 states, including the BJP-ruled ones. Even the central government has failed to curb the pandemic as it had no planning to fight the virus," he said.

"The lockdown was imposed without any planning and now without any plan, the responsibility of lifting it has been left to the states. This chaos will further worsen the crisis," he said.

The Sena MP said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has made an excellent analysis of how the lockdown has failed.

"It is shocking that people can indulge in politics by demanding President's rule in Maharashtra for the rise in the coronavirus cases," he said.

BJP MP Narayan Rane had recently met Maharashtra Governor B S Koshyari and demanded imposition of President's rule in view of the the Shiv Sena-led state government's "failure" in tackling the coronavirus pandemic. However, the BJP had later said that it was not trying to destabilise the government.

Speaking about the stability of the government, Raut said that the survival of the MVA government was the 'majboori' (compulsion) of each of the three alliance partners.

"Even if there are internal conflicts among the ruling partners, there is no threat to the government as the allies know that its survival is the 'majboori' of each one of them," Raut said.

He said that the Devendra Fadnavis-led government, in which the BJP and Shiv Sena shared power, saw internal conflicts between the ruling allies, but it completed its full five-year term.

Slamming Fadnavis, who is now the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, for predicting downfall of the MVA government saying it will fall on its own due to its internal bickering.

"If the Fadnavis government, which witnessed deep internal conflicts between BJP and Sena, didn't fall, how can this one collapse? The Fadnavis government survived despite the (Sena) ministers carrying their resignation letters in their pockets," Raut wrote.

Fadnavis, in an online media interaction held earlier recently, said he had no intention to destabilise the MVA government and said it would collapse on its own.

"What Fadnavis means is that all attempts (of the BJP) to create discord among the three allies and break the MLAs has failed. Now the opposition hopes that something would happen among the allies and the government would be fall apart," he said.

Raut said NCP president Sharad Pawar is the prominent leader, who laid the foundation stone of the "Thackeray sarkar", and only he can predict the future of the government.

"He continues to say the government is stable and even the Congress is not going anywhere. MVA legislators are not up for sale in horse-trading. Hence, if the opposition says that the government will fall, it is wrong," he said.

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News Network
August 8,2020

Kozhikode, Aug 8: Minister of State (Mos) for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Saturday reached Kozhikode where Air India Express flight (IX-1344) crash-landed yesterday. 

He is likely to meet those injured in the crash and their family members.

At least 17 people including two pilots have lost their lives in the incident. However, the four-cabin crew members are safe, said the Air India Express in a statement. 

The injured are admitted to hospitals in Malappuram and Kozhikode, as per the state government officials.

Informing about his visit to Kozhikode, Muraleedharan tweeted: "Taking off to #Calicut by @airindiain
special flight. Hope to visit the crash site at the Calicut Airport and also meet those injured in the crash and their family members."

Muraleedharan on Friday expressed grief after an Air India Express plane carrying 190 passengers including 10 infants skidded while landing at Karipur Airport in Kozhikode.

"Deeply anguished to hear about the mishap in Calicut airport involving the flight from Dubai to Calicut. Was informed that the plane overshot the runway and seemingly nosedived," the Minister tweeted.

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Agencies
July 29,2020

New Delhi, Jul 29: Coronavirus infections in India continue to mount as the country's total case tally crossed the 15-lakh mark.

India added 48,513 fresh cases in 24 hours, taking the total tally to over 15.3 lakh, according to the Health Ministry’s 8 a.m. update on July 29.

Key Figures

Total number of confirmed coronavirus cases: 15,31,669
Active cases: 5,09,447
Cured/discharged/migrated: 9,88,029
Deaths: 34,193
Number of fresh cases in 24 hours: 48,513
One-day recoveries: 35,175
One-day deaths: 768
India’s coronavirus epidemic is growing at the fastest pace in the world, increasing 20% over the last week, according to Bloomberg’s Coronavirus Tracker. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are among the states where the maximum number of daily cares are being reported.

Fresh cases continued to come in at a heightened pace, hovering just below 50,000 for the last six days.

Moderna Inc.’s vaccine candidate against Covid-19 protected against the virus in a trial that inoculated 16 monkeys, an encouraging step on the path to a defense for humans against the pandemic. Pfizer Inc., however, is preparing for the novel coronavirus to endure, leading to long-term demand for a seasonal shot to protect against Covid-19.

“There is a likely scenario that either the vaccine’s immunity will not be lasting forever,” said Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla in an interview Tuesday, “or that the virus will mutate, or that the virus will find ways to come back again and again.”

Even as the transmission rate of Covid-19 remains high in India, the pace of recovery has risen too. On Wednesday, India reported its third day of over 35,000 recoveries.

Global Update

Flare-ups in virus cases from Hong Kong to Europe are proving difficult for policy makers to wrangle. The U.S. neared 150,000 deaths from Covid-19, even as daily infections slowed in some hard-hit states. China reported 101 new cases, up from 68 a day earlier, with 98 of the total from local infections, mostly in Xinjiang.

Philippine health authorities warned that hospitals and infirmaries risk getting overwhelmed.

Globally, confirmed Covid-19 cases have topped 16.6 million with over 658,000 dead.

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