BJP must declare Modi is not its PM candidate: Nitish

June 15, 2013

NitishPatna, Jun 15: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has set his terms for staying in the NDA. He has asked the BJP to publicly declare that Narendra Modi will not be its prime ministerial candidate in the 2014 elections. Since BJP can't give such an undertaking, a parting of ways between it and JD(U) is now expected in a day or two.

Speaking to media, Nitish Kumar said: "They (the BJP) will have to address our basic concern immediately and in public. Private assurances will not do." While he didn't mention the Gujarat CM by name, there is no ambiguity whatsoever about what he meant by "basic concern".

JD(U) has publicly proclaimed that only a "secular" person, who does not have rough edges in his personality and can pull everyone along, is fit to be the country's prime minister. It has also held that Modi does not fulfil the eligibility criteria.

As BJP is likely to find it impossible to meet the condition, considering the groundswell for Modi among the party cadre, the 17-year-old partnership between it and JD(U) is on the rocks. This is an unavoidable reality and split in the NDA is now inevitable by Monday.

Both Nitish Kumar and his colleague, JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav, recognize the inevitability of Gujarat leader being anointed BJP's choice for country's top political job, and has conveyed their assessment to BJP leaders, — among them, L K Advani, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari — who have appealed to the JD(U) to not precipitate matters.

They also don't subscribe to the optimism of Modi's opponents that his projection as PM candidate was not a done deal yet. "The way it has been hailed and celebrated by the BJP leaves no doubt whatsoever that his appointment as the chairman of the campaign committee is a key step towards Modi's projection as the party's PM candidate," said a JD(U) source.

According to political sources here, Nitish Kumar has responded to Advani's plea for a reconsideration of the JD(U)'s imminent departure from NDA by saying that he doubted anybody in the BJP could now thwart Modi's march to the top of his party.

"They (BJP leaders calling JD(U) leaders) all come off as helpless to stop what is unfolding, leaving us with no option but to chart out our independent path," said a senior JD U source familiar with the conversations that BJP leaders have had with Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav.

Sushma Swaraj's effort on Friday when she, according to JD(U) sources, invoked anti-Congressism to get Nitish Kumar to back off from his plan to withdraw from the NDA, failed to concinve the CM.

JD(U) will start rolling out the withdrawal drill after Sharad Yadav reaches here to explain to party legislators and functionaries why the JD(U) is compelled to break away. The exercise will be a formality, considering that all the important leaders favour a withdrawal from the NDA. In any case, Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav, who were authorised by the party in April to take the final call, are clear that their vparty won't have any truck with a Modi-led BJP.

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News Network
May 30,2020

May 30: A Delhi court on Saturday granted interim bail for 10 days to former municipal councillor from the Congress Ishrat Jahan, who has been booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, to get married.

She has been booked under the anti-terror law in a case related to communal violence in northeast Delhi in February.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana granted the interim relief from June 10 to June 19 to Jahan on furnishing two sureties of Rs 1 lakh.

The court directed her not to tamper with any evidence or influence the witnesses in the case.

According to the interim bail plea, filed through advocates S K Sharma and Lalit Valeecha, Jahan's marriage was fixed in 2018 for June 12, 2020.

The plea further said that Jahan would not tamper with any evidence or influence the witnesses if granted bail.

The petition, also filed through advocates Tushar Anand and Manu Prabhakar, claimed that Jahan has been falsely implicated in the case.

It alleged that upon bare perusal of the contents of the FIR, no incident of violence can be attributed to her and the wild and baseless allegations made against her were not only irresponsible and false, but also caused serious harm to her reputation.

Jahan, who is also an advocate, was only a supporter of ongoing peaceful protests and it was one of the fundamental rights of the citizens to protest and register their dissent against any unreasonable measure of the government, the plea said.

Besides Jahan, Jamia Millia Islamia University students Asif Iqbal Tanha, Gulfisha Khatoon, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, Meeran Haider, president of Jamia Alumni Association Shifa-Ur-Rehman, suspended AAP councillor Tahir Hussain, activist Khalid Safi, JNU student Natasha Narwal and former student leader Umar Khalid have also been booked under the anti-terror law in the case.

The police had claimed in the FIR that Khalid and his associates had instigated people to start riots in the area and it was a "premeditated conspiracy".

Communal clashes had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24 after violence between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled out of control, leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured.

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News Network
March 29,2020

Theni, Mar 29: A young man under home quarantine for coronavirus after return from Sri Lanka suddenly ran out of his house and fatally bit a 80-year old woman in his neighbourhood in a village near here, police said on Saturday.

The woman with injuries in her neck was hospitalised late Friday after the incident but died on Saturday without responding to treatment, they said.

The man, a resident of Jakkamanayakanpatti and engaged in seasonal business in clothing, was overpowered and handed over to police, who arrested him and investigations were on.

He had recently returned from Sri Lanka and directed to remain under quarantine by health authorities as per the protocol for foreign returnees to check coronavirus spread.

He came out of his house on Friday evening and all of a sudden, denuded himself and began running through the street.

Shocked family members including his father gave a chase even as he caught hold of Nachiyammal, seated on her house’s front yard and bit hard her neck.

The man’s kin overpowered him and admitted the woman to nearby Bodi Government Hospital where doctors on Saturday said she succumbed to her injuries, not responding to treatment. Health authorities were unavailable for comments immediately.

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Agencies
February 18,2020

Mumbai, Feb 18: A group of citizens on Tuesday demanded a thorough inquiry into the death of special CBI judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya in 2014.

The group has written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, seeking a time-bound probe into the death of Loya.

Loya, who was hearing the high-profile Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case of Gujarat, died of a cardiac arrest in Nagpur on December 1, 2014, when he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleague's daughter.

Social activist Ashok Pai, addressing a press conference on behalf of the group, also demanded proper compensation for the judge's family, saying he was on an "official" tour.

Pai said on Tuesday he met NCP president Sharad Pawar, whose party is a key constituent of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra, and raised these demands with him.

Pawar assured to look into the demands, he said at the press conference at the Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh.

"We have handed over a letter to Maharashtra Assembly speaker Nana Patole and dispatched a copy of the letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray (seeking a probe into Loya's death)," Pai said.

As the matter relates to "mysterious" death of a sitting judge of the CBI, all facts about it must be made public after a detailed and time-bound probe, Pai said.

The Loya death case had reached the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court had held that Loya had died of "natural causes" and had rejected PILs seeking an SIT probe into the death, questioning their motive.

The SC had held that petitions were moved by political rivals to settle scores which was a serious attempt to scandalise the judiciary and obstruct the course of justice through a "frontal attack" on its independence.

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