Sena shocks NDA, supports Pranab

June 20, 2012

pranab_1


Patna/New Delhi, June 20: Struggling to find a candidate of its own to contest the presidential election, the BJP-led NDA found itself in acute embarrassment on Tuesday as alliance partner Shiv Sena came out openly in support of the UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee.

Sena supremo Bal Thackeray made known his party position through party mouthpiece Saamna: “Let bygones be bygones. Let us unanimously support Pranab Mukherjee and show the world that “hum sab ek hai” (we are all united).

Thackeray’s stand came a day after Mukherjee telephoned him and his son Uddhav seeking support for his candidature.

The Sena statement has come as a jolt to the NDA as BJP has been desperately trying to put up a fight against Mukherjee. The coalition suffered a setback on Monday as former president A P J Abdul Kalam declined to contest despite strong efforts made by BJP veteran L K Advani.

Another NDA ally, the JD(U) is also in favour of a consensus on Mukherjee. The saving grace for the NDA is that the Bihar party has not gone public.

With Sena gone out of the NDA as far as presidential elections are concerned, the BJP is now doing evaluating supporting the candidature of P A Sangma, who is insisting on remaining in contest. BJP is not sure which way JD(U) will behave if it insists on the Sangma candidature. The NCP, a UPA partner, on Tuesday expressed confidence that party leader Sangma will opt out of race for Presidential elections and ultimately support Mukherjee.

“He (Sangma) is a senior leader. We are meeting on June 21 and he will attend the meeting. We are confident he will support the UPA candidate,” said NCP general secretary D P Tripathi after meeting Pranab Mukherjee.

Asked about his meeting with Pranab Mukherjee, he said: “It was a courtesy call. We are an ally of UPA, so I came to meet him”.

Hailing Mukherjee as the “right candidate”, Thackeray said : “The farce that is on for the top post of President is not justifiable. The country’s prestige is at stake for political gains. Those who have no merit are also in the race.”

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News Network
March 9,2020

New Delhi, Mar 9: Petrol and diesel prices registered a drop across the country on Monday as global oil prices plummeted around 30 per cent after Saudi Arabia slashed prices and set plans for a dramatic increase in crude production in April.

In New Delhi, petrol price fell by 24 paise intra-day and stood at Rs 70.59 per litre. Diesel in the national capital was retailed at Rs 63.26 per litre on Monday as against Rs 63.51 on Sunday.

The retail price of petrol in Kolkata saw a drop of 23 paise to Rs 73.28 per litre. The diesel price fell by 25 paise in the eastern metropolitan city to retail at Rs 65.59 per litre.

In Mumbai, petrol price was Rs 76.29 per litre as against Rs 76.53 a day earlier. Diesel was retailed at Rs 66.24 per litre, 26 paise lower than on Sunday.

In Chennai, petrol was retailed at Rs 73.33 per litre, 25 paise lower than a day earlier. Diesel price saw a fall of 26 paise to retail at Rs 66.75 per litre in the southern metropolitan.

Global crude oil prices fell by as much as a third following Saudi Arabia's move to start a price war with Russia amid worries over the spread of coronavirus.

Brent crude futures were down 13.29 dollars or 29 per cent at 31.98 dollars a barrel by 04:33 hrs GMT after earlier dropping to 31.02 dollars, their lowest since February 12, 2016.

Brent futures were on track for their biggest daily decline since January 17, 1991 at the start of the first Gulf War.

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News Network
May 7,2020

Visakhapatnam, May 7: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday announced an ex- gratia payment of Rs one crore each to the kin of those killed in the styrene gas leak incident at LG Polymers Limited near here.

The NDRF had put the death toll from the leak at 11.

The chief minister announced a committee to probe into the mishap and also said the government would talk to the LG Polymers management seeking job for the kin of the deceased in any of its businesses.

Speaking to reporters after conducting a review meeting, Reddy also announced Rs 10 lakh each to those undergoing treatment on ventilator support and Rs 25,000 to those who took treatment as out-patients after developing health complications due to inhalation of the styrene vapour.

Earlier, he held a review meeting at the Andhra Medical College with District Collector Vinay Chand and others.

The gas leak victims undergoing treatment in various hospitals would be paid Rs one lakh each. The 15,000-odd population in the five villages that were affected by the gas leak would be paid Rs 10,000 each, the chief minister added.

Reddy further announced constitution of a high-level committee, headed by the Special Chief Secretary (Environment and Forests), to probe into the mishap and make recommendations to prevent such tragedies in the future.

Earlier, he visited the King George Hospital and consoled the victims of the gas leak.

Accompanied by his Deputy holding the health portfolio A K K Srinivas and Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney, Reddy flew down to the port city and went straight to the KGH.

He met the gas leak victims undergoing treatment and enquired about their well-being.

At the review meeting, the Collector informed the Chief Minister that the gas spread was limited to a 1.5 to 2 km area from the epicentre of the leak and that the locals were evacuated to safety.

Of the two styrene tanks in the plant, the leak occurred from one that was holding about 1,800 kilo litres of the chemical.

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Agencies
June 6,2020

New Delhi, Jun 6: Bookings for select destinations in the USA, Canada, UK and Europe etc under Phase3 of Mission Vande Bharat opened at 5 pm on Friday, according to Air India.

"#FlyAI: Bookings for select destinations in USA, Canada, UK & Europe etc under Phase3 of #MissionVandeBharat opened at 5pm today. Around 60 million hits received till 7pm on our website & 1700 seats sold through website alone in 2 hrs. Bookings continue & tickets are being issued," the national carrier said in a tweet on Friday.

The third phase of the mission will begin from June 11 and continue till June 30.

Air India will operate five flights in the third phase of Vande Bharat Mission to evacuate almost 1,200 Indians nationals stranded in the United Kingdom between June 18 to June 23.

Air India will operate 70 flights in the third phase of Mission Vande Bharat to evacuate Indians stranded in the US and Canada between June 11 to June 30, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had said. 

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