Rahul Gandhi will take over as Congress President soon, confirms Sonia

Agencies
October 14, 2017

New Delhi, Oct 14: Congress President Sonia Gandhi has confirmed that her son Rahul Gandhi will take over as the next party chief soon.

"You (the media) have been asking me about Rahul (taking over the party) for a long time. It will be done soon," said Sonia, speaking on the sidelines of former president Pranab Mukherjee's book launch in New Delhi.

On Friday, the Uttarakhand Congress has passed a resolution urging Rahul Gandhi to take over as party president. The Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and four other state units have also passed similar resolutions.

Recently, the ball was set rolling for long-pending organisational polls which would also entail elections to the post of the President of the All India Congress Committee (AICC). The state Congress chiefs met in Delhi to finalise the election schedule.

The chances of Rahul finally taking over the reins of the party are high this time around. The build-up to his elevation has been slow and has been dragged for a while. That Sonia Gandhi doesn’t want to continue at the helm and wants Rahul to take over completely is a known fact. Over the past one year, it has been Rahul who has been calling the shots and taking major decisions.

As a part of the takeover strategy, Rahul has been the main face which Congress has been pitting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last three years.

So, when Rahul was in the US recently, he attacked Modi for what he called his divisive politics and failed economics. And when senior ministers rushed in to defend the PM and attack Rahul, the Congress smiled as it saw in the retaliation an acknowledgement of the fact that Rahul was being seen as the main adversary to Modi.

The target-Modi strategy is also fraught with a huge risk as Congress is left with limited options for the next general elections.

“Rahul vs Modi is an unequal fight, for it’s a fight between ‘democracy & tyranny’, between ‘devolution & usurpation of authority’, between ‘inclusive growth & crony capitalism’. And yes, Rahulji’s and Congress’s vision will win, for India must win for our values to be protected and preserved for posterity,” said Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala.

On the other hand, many Congress leaders like Kamal Nath have been of the view that dual power arrangement between Sonia and Rahul confuses party workers. The leadership issues, this section feels need to be sorted out to have clarity on power and command structure.

Rahul as party president will make one thing clear — that 2019 will be a Modi versus Rahul election.

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Agencies
June 14,2020

Mumbai, Jun 14: A 42-year old man suddenly collapsed and died due to natural causes onboard Air India's Lagos-Mumbai flight on Sunday, the national carrier said.

The flight was part of Vande Bharat Mission, under which the Central government is operating special repatriation flights to bring back stranded Indians from abroad amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Air India's flight AI 1906 departed from Lagos in Nigeria at 7 pm Indian Standard Time on Saturday and landed in Mumbai at 3.45 am on Sunday.

"A passenger aboard AI 1906 of June 13 from Lagos to Mumbai passed away due to natural causes today.

"A doctor onboard along with our crew, trained to handle such medical emergencies, made a valiant attempt to revive the passenger, aged 42, who had suddenly collapsed, through resuscitation etc but all their efforts went in vain," the airline's spokesperson said.

He was declared dead onboard by the attending doctor. Mumbai International Airport Limited doctors attended to the passenger after the flight landed at 3.45 am and after all the procedures were complete, the body was sent to a hospital as per protocol, the spokesperson noted.

Relatives of the deceased were informed and aircraft was taken for full fumigation as per the norms, the spokesperson said.

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Agencies
February 26,2020

New Delhi, Feb 26: The death toll in northeast Delhi communal violence over the amended citizenship law rose to 20 on Wednesday, according to GTB Hospital authorities.

On Tuesday, the death toll was 13.

"The death toll has risen to 20 today," Medical Superintendent of GTB Hospital, Sunil Kumar, told PTI.

Earlier, at least four bodies were brought to the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital from the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital, a senior official said.

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News Network
June 16,2020

New Delhi, Jun 16: Jet fuel or ATF price on Tuesday was hiked by 16.3 per cent while petrol price was increased by 47 paise per litre and that of diesel by a record 93 paise on the back of firming international oil rates.

Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price was hiked by ₹5,494.5 per kilolitre (kl), or 16.3 per cent, to ₹39,069.87 per kl in the national capital, according to a price notification by state-owned oil marketing companies.

This is the second straight increase in ATF price this month. Rates were hiked by a record 56.5 per cent (₹12,126.75 per kl) on June 1.

Simultaneously, petrol and diesel prices were hiked for the 10th day in a row.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to ₹76.73 per litre from ₹76.26, while diesel rates were increased to ₹75.19 a litre from ₹74.26, the price notification said.

In 10 hikes, petrol price has gone up by ₹5.47 per litre and diesel by Rs 5.8 a litre.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

The hike in diesel rates is the highest daily increase since the state-owned fuel retailers started daily revision in rates in May 2017.

Hike for 10th consecutive day

Tuesday’s increase in petrol and diesel price marks the 10th straight day of rise in rates since oil companies on June 7 restarted revising prices in line with costs, after ending an 82-day hiatus.

The freeze in rates was imposed in mid-March soon after the government hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel to shore up additional finances.

Oil PSUs Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) instead of passing on the excise duty hikes to customers adjusted them against the fall in the retail rates that was warranted because of fall in international oil prices.

The June 1 hike in jet fuel price had come after seven consecutive reductions in rates since February. ATF price in Delhi before the reduction cycle began in February was ₹64,323.76 per kilolitre, which got reduced to ₹21,448.62 last month.

Industry officials said the hike was necessitated because benchmark international rates have bounced back from a two-decade low.

While ATF prices are revised on 1st and 16th of every month, petrol and diesel prices are revised on a daily basis.

Oil companies used to revise ATF prices on the first of every month, but adopted fortnightly revisions on March 21 to pass on the benefit of falling international oil prices to airlines.

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