It could be cricketer Azharuddin vs Asaduddin Owaisi in Lok Sabha elections 2014

March 10, 2013

Asaduddin_in_Lok_Sabha

Hyderabad, Mar 10: In what may turn out to be one of the most interesting poll contests in 2014, the Congress might field former cricketer Md Azharuddin against MIM's Asaduddin Owaisi from the Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency.

The MIM and Congress have fallen apart of recent, and its president Asaduddin has taken on chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy after dubbing him as communal. The move to pit Azhar against his friend Asaduddin is Kiran Kumar Reddy's move to get back at the MIM, said sources. Incidentally, the CM and Azhar too are good friends from their cricketing days.

Azhar met Kiran Kumar Reddy at the AP Bhavan in Delhi on Saturday. "I do have interest in AP politics," the former Hyderabadi cricketer told the media after the meeting. When asked if he would contest from Hyderabad on the Congress ticket, Azhar said: "It all depends on the Congress high command." Azhar was all praise for the chief minister's performance, but feigned ignorance about the falling out between the Congress and MIM. According to the sources, the CM took time out of his busy scheduled to meet Azhar, thus making it clear that it was a significant meeting.

Azharuddin, who was banned from playing cricket for India after his alleged involvement in the match-fixing cases, joined the Congress just before the 2009 elections and won with a thumping majority from Moradabad Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh. Recently, a city court had set aside the life ban imposed on Azhar by the Board of Control for Cricket in India .

The CM's game plan, according to the sources, is to cut the MIM to size in Old City, its bastion, by fielding the cricketer-turned-politician.

"Kiran wants to disprove Asaduddin's remark that it was the Congress that benefitted from associating with the MIM, and prove that it was other way round. In what appears to have become a personal war, Kiran wants to prove that minus the Congress, MIM would not get more than two seats in the Assembly," a close aide of Kiran Kumar told STOI.

If Azhar does end up as the Congress candidate from Hyderabad constituency, the going will not be easy for Asaduddin. "If the TDP again fields Zahid Ali Khan, the Muslim votes will get split and it will not be

easy for the MIM to retain the seat. And the BJP too can add to the MIM's discomfiture by fielding a Hindu candidate. Azhar's entry should be a wake up call for the MIM," said the sources. Analysts believe that it was Owaisi who ensured that Azhar did not contest Lok Sabha from Andhra Pradesh in 2009 and had him dispatched to UP.

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News Network
January 15,2020

Mumbai, Jan 15: A relative of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was killed and three others injured when their car met with an accident on Mumbai-Nashik highway, police said on Wednesday.

The mishap took place at Sinnar in Nashik on Tuesday night when the CM's sister-in-law Vina Karande and six other relatives were returning from Shirdi in a sports utility vehicle (SUV), Nashik (Rural) Superintendent of Police Aarti Singh said.

The car driver apparently lost control over the wheels, following which the vehicle overturned on a roadside while passing through a narrow bridge, located around 190 km from here, the official said.

They were rushed to a hospital in Nashik where Ajay Karande, husband of Vina Karande, died during treatment, the official said.

The three others were undergoing treatment at the hospital, the police said, adding that their condition was reported to be out of danger.

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News Network
February 29,2020

New Delhi, Feb 29: The father of Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma, whose body was pulled out of a drain in northeast Delhi's riot-hit Chand Bagh, complained to police that goons had assembled at the residence of former AAP counselor Tahir Hussain and were throwing petrol bombs from the rooftop.

According to the FIR which was registered on Thursday on the basis of the complaint lodged by Ankit's father Ravinder, the goons were also firing from the rooftop.

On Tuesday, Ankit returned from his office at 5 pm and then went outside to buy groceries. When he did not return, the family started looking for him and later filed a missing report, the FIR stated.

They got to know from their neighbours that a body has been recovered from a drain… later it was found to be that of Anikt, it said, adding the body had multiple stab injuries on the face, head, back, and chest.

The family has alleged in the FIR that it was Hussain and the goons at his residence who killed Ankit. In the FIR, Hussain has been accused of murder, destruction of evidence and abduction.

Soon after the FIR was registered on Thursday, the AAP suspended Tahir Hussain from the primary membership of the party till the police completed its probe.

The death toll in Delhi's communal violence rose to 42 on Friday as the situation showed some signs of returning to normalcy and clouds of smoke cleared to reveal the extent of the damage from the worst riots in the city in over three decades.

A total of 148 FIRs have been registered and 630 people have been either arrested or detained so far in connection with the communal violence, a Delhi Police spokesperson said.

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News Network
April 3,2020

New Delhi, April 3: With 478 cases reported in the last 24 hours, the highest spike so far, India's tally of positive coronavirus cases on Friday rose to 2,547 including 162 cured/discharged and 62 deaths, as per the latest data of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

As many as 647 positive coronavirus cases have been reported so far from across 14 States whose linkage can be traced to the Tablighi Jamaat cluster at Nizamuddin, the Centre said on Friday.

"A total of 647 cases of positive coronavirus cases have been reported from across 14 States whose linkage can be traced to the Tablighi Jamaat cluster at Nizamuddin," Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

"The cases can be traced in Andaman and Nicobar, Assam, Delhi, Himachal, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh," added Aggarwal.

The Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi has emerged as a hotspot for COVID-19 after several positive cases from across India were linked to the gathering including deaths in Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Telangana.

An FIR was earlier registered against Tablighi Jamaat head Maulana Saad and others under the Epidemic Disease Act 1897, in the national capital.

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