It will be ‘Dharam Yudh’ in LS polls: Jaitley

July 22, 2013

JaitleyChandigarh, Jul 22: Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley on Sunday said with slew of graft cases surfacing during the UPA government, corruption has taken the shape of a “small scale industry”, and the upcoming Lok Sabha polls will be a fight between morality and immorality.

“Upcoming Lok Sabha election will not just be a political fight but a ‘Dharam Yudh’ (fight for justice) between morality and immorality,” said the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha.

Mr. Jaitley was addressing party workers in Chandigarh on Sunday.

Speaking on the graft cases, he said, “With 2G, coal scam, Bofors scam running into several lakhs of crores, corruption during the UPA government has taken a form of small scale industry.”

Mr. Jaitley also attacked the Centre over CBI, alleging that Congress has been “misusing” the agency to not only save its ministers and other Congressmen but also to keep itself in power.

“Every time Congress government needed numbers for survival, the CBI suddenly went soft on the SP and BSP leaders who are facing probe for disproportionate assets.

“They have even attacked IB for vote bank politics, however Congress should remember CBI does not gets votes it is the people who vote and the mood of the people is clearly with BJP,” he said.

The BJP leader said that Congress was indulging in “crony Capitalism” and Congressmen have become “name lenders” as in the Coal scam, where the blocks were allotted “with name chits being passed on to the screening committee”.

“So large has been the degradation that even the status report to the Supreme Court was fudged to save those from the PMO and the Coal Ministry,” he claimed.

He also attacked former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal. “It seems the whole Bansal family is running an industry of postings and promotions,” he said.

“The government may have manipulated the CBI, but there is a clear overlap in the Railgate phone conversations and the file movements,” he said.

“Under these circumstances of failure on all the fronts there is no leadership in Congress to inspire or infuse confidence, and it seems to be ducking a political fight by going without a head,” he said.

On the other hand, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been leading not only in all the opinion polls but also in the psyche of the country, Mr. Jaitley said.

On the economic front, Mr. Jaitley said that today even Indian businessmen are not willing to invest in the country.

In such circumstances, irrespective of the policy changes being made, FDI is not going to come, he claimed, adding that “the current account deficit is becoming unmanageable, but instead of working to improve the economy, the Congress government wants to open the coffers to buy votes.”

“Our borders have become porous and our relations with neighbours have touched a nadir. Pakistan has beheaded our jawan and is spreading terrorism in our country, still the Prime Minister is extending the hand of friendship,” he said.

He claimed that when Atal Bihari Vajpayee had initiated peace talks with Pakistan they were on the pre-condition that there would be no terrorism against India emanating from the Pakistan soil which was accepted by Pakistan.

Taking about Chandigarh, he said, “It is unfortunate that an important and respected city like Chandigarh was on the country’s centre stage recently due to the corruption of its elected Member of Parliament Pawan Kumar Bansal.”

Chandigarh Parliamentary Constituency is an indicator of the national mood, and this time the whole country will be looking towards Chandigarh to see if the city voters will take a moral high ground and root out the corrupt.

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News Network
May 18,2020

New Delhi, May 18: The nationwide tally of COVID-19 cases crossed one lakh on Monday with more people testing positive for the deadly virus in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and other states, even as a much-relaxed fourth phase of the lockdown began with restarting of market complexes, autos, taxis and inter-state buses in various parts of the country.

The death toll due to COVID-19 crossed the 3,000-mark too.

With an aim to reboot numerous locked down economic activities, authorities across the country ordered reopening of markets, intra-state transport services and even of barber shops and salons in some states, barring in containment zones.

However, schools, colleges, theatres, malls and religious gatherings are among those that would remain shut down, at least till May 31.

India has been under a lockdown since March 25, which was first supposed to be for 21 days or toll April 14, but was later extended till May 3, then further till May 17 and now for another two weeks till May 31.

However, a number of relaxations have been given in the current fourth phase, while states and union territories have also been granted significant flexibility for deciding the red, orange or green zones in terms of the quantum and severity of the virus spread.

In its morning 8 AM update, the Union Health Ministry put the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases 96,169 and the death toll at 3,029.

It also said that 36,824 people have so far recovered from the infection.

However, a news agency tally of figures announced by different states and UTs as of 9.40 PM put the number of those having tested positive for the infection at 1,00,096, with a death toll of 3,078 and recoveries at 38,596 across the country.

Maharashtra topped the nationwide tally with over 35,000 confirmed cases and 1,249 deaths, followed by Tamil Nadu with 11,760 confirmed cases and 81 deaths.

Gujarat has also reported 11,746 confirmed cases, while its death toll is higher than that of Tamil Nadu at 694.

Delhi has also crossed the 10,000 mark in terms of the number of confirmed cases, while its death toll has now reached 160.

Gujarat, during the day, recorded 366 new COVID-19 cases and 35 deaths, including 31 from the worst-hit Ahmedabad, taking the state's case count to 11,746 and the number of fatalities to 694, a health department official said.

Maharashtra reported 2,033 new cases, taking the tally to 35,058.

This was the second consecutive day when the state has reported more than 2,000 COVID-19 cases.

Mumbai alone reported 1,185 fresh cases and 23 more deaths, taking the total count of the city to 21,152 and the fatalities to 757.

Of the 1,185 new cases, 300 samples were tested positive in private laboratories between May 12 and 16.

Kerala also saw 29 new cases -- all but one being returnees from overseas and other states --  raising concerns about the state witnessing a possible third wave of the dreaded virus infection.

The state was first to report the virus infection, but at least twice it has already been seen as having flattened the curve of the infection.

The nationwide count of confirmed infections incidentally crossed the crucial one-lakh mark on a day when the fourth phase of the nationwide lockdown kicked in with several relaxations for economic and public activities, barring in containment zones or areas identified as serious hotspots of the virus infection.

Revising its strategy for COVID-19 testing, ICMR also said on Monday that returnees and migrants who show symptoms for influenza-like illness will be tested for coronavirus infection within seven days of ailment and stressed that no emergency clinical procedure, including deliveries, should be delayed for lack of testing.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in its revised strategy for coronavirus testing in India also added that all hospitalised patients who develop symptoms for influenza-like illness (ILI) and frontline workers involved in containment and mitigation of COVID-19 having such signs will also be tested for coronavirus infection through RT-PCR test.

Besides, asymptomatic direct and high-risk contacts of a confirmed case are to be tested once between day five and day 10 of coming in contact, the new document stated.

Asymptomatic contacts of a confirmed case were being tested once between day five and day 14.

The Health Ministry also said that for every one lakh population, there are 7.1 coronavirus cases in India so far as against 60 globally.

It also said the recovery rate of coronavirus cases in India stood at 38.39 per cent.

Besides, India also joined nearly 120 countries at a crucial conference of the World Health Organisation in pushing for an impartial and comprehensive evaluation of the global response into the coronavirus crisis as well as to examine the origin of the deadly infection.

Since the first case of the deadly coronavirus was reported in China last December, more than 47 lakh people have tested for this virus across the world and over 3 lakh have lost their lives.

India is the 11th most affected country, while the US tops the chart with over 14.9 lakh confirmed cases so far.

China's official tally of confirmed infections is less than 84,000, while it has reported more than 4,600 deaths.

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News Network
February 18,2020

New Delhi, Feb 18: Election strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor on Tuesday questioned the Nitish Kumar government's development model, even as he sneered at the chief minister for making ideological compromises to stay in an alliance with the BJP.

Kishor, who has been vocal about his opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), said Kumar needs to spell out whether he is with the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi or those who support Nathu Ram Godse.

"Nitish ji has always said that he cannot leave the ideals of Gandhi, JP and Lohiya... At the same time, how can he be with the people who support the ideology of Godse? Both cannot go together. If you want to stay with the BJP, I don't have any problem with it but you cannot be on both sides," he said.

"There has been a lot of discussion between me and Nitish-ji on this. He has his thought process and I have mine. There have been differences between him and me that the ideologies of Godse and Gandhi cannot stand together. As the leader of the party you have to say which side you are on," he added.

In a direct assault on Kumar's model of governance, Kishor said Bihar was the poorest state in 2005 and continues to be so.

"There has been development in Bihar during the last 15 years, but the pace has not been as it should have," he added.

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News Network
June 4,2020

New Delhi, Jun 4: India on Thursday witnessed a record single-day spike of 9,304 coronavirus cases taking the country's tally to 2,16,919, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The ministry informed that 260 more deaths due to coronavirus were reported in the last 24 hours.

The total number of cases in the country now stands at 2,16,919 including 1,06,737 active cases, 1,04,107 cured/discharged/migrated and 6,075 deaths.

Maharashtra has so far reported 74,860 cases, more than any other state in the country.

In Tamil Nadu, 25,872 cases have been detected so far while Delhi has reported 23,645 coronavirus cases.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 1,39,485 samples were tested in the last 24 hours whereas 42,42,718 samples have been tested till date.

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