Vote split: Cong shocked as BJP’s ally JDU decides to field over 100 candidates in Guj

News Network
November 27, 2017

New Delhi, Nov 27: The unexpected decision of JD(U), which is an ally of BJP, to field more than 100 candidates in the Gujarat Assembly elections has left the Congress worried.

The Opposition believes that BJP supremo convinced JD(U) to take the poll plunge to spoil the chances of Congress and its allies in the state.

The Congress and its allies are also closely watching the whirlwind campaign of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that kick-started on Monday with a rally in Bhuj. The party's leaders are already apprehensive about Modi's ability to swing the elections in favour of the BJP almost single-handedly.

"The JD (U), at the most can boast of support in 8-10 constituencies. By contesting 100 seats, the JD (U) is punching way above its weight," a senior Congress leader said.

Chhotubhai Vasava, a JD (U) rebel who supported Congress leader Ahmed Patel in the crucial Rajya Sabha election in the state in August has been given a free hand to put up candidates on eight seats.

Vasava is contesting the elections under the banner of the Bhartiya Tribal Party, but some of his candidates will be in the fray on a Congress ticket.

The Congress is leaning on JD (U) rebel Sharad Yadav for campaigning in the areas where Vasava has fielded or backed candidates.

Yadav said Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Gujarat Congress chief Bharatsinh Solanki have been in touch with him on strategising for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.

There are at least a million migrant voters- mostly from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar -in the industrial belt of Surat and Ankleshwar, who are also the target of Yadav's campaign.

Asked about the JD (U)'s decision to field 100 candidates in the Gujarat elections, Yadav said that he suspected that the BJP will have the final word in the selection of candidates for Nitish Kumar's outfit.

"I hear they are fielding some Chhotubhai from Jhagadia Assembly seat from where Bhartiya Tribal Party's Chhotubhai Vasava is in the fray. This is only to confuse voters and cut our votes," Yadav said.

Comments

shaji
 - 
Tuesday, 28 Nov 2017

BJP is tryig to win election by any means.  It will not mind to kill its own party supporters to get sympathy from voters.  Their leaders are licking foots of everyone to get votes.   However i am sure that voters are aware of the fraud and cheating of bjp leaders and they have decided to throw them out.

 

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News Network
February 19,2020

Feb 19: Pay increases across India’s organized sector will probably grow at the slowest pace since 2009 this year, according to a survey from Aon Plc.

Companies will increase average pay by 9.1% in 2020, down from 9.3% in 2019 and 9.5% the previous year, Aon said in a report published Tuesday. The small increase reflects a deep slowdown in Asia’s third-largest economy, where growing pessimism about job prospects have led many to cut down on consumption -- the main driver to growth.

India still leads the Asia-Pacific region in pay rises, but that is mainly due to higher inflation and a “war for key talent and niche skills,” Aon said.

“There is a general air of caution about the economy as we enter into 2020,” Tzeitel Fernandes, partner for rewards solutions at Aon, told reporters in New Delhi. “Low GDP projection and weak consumer sentiment are the reasons behind our lowest ever prediction.”

E-commerce companies and start-ups will probably get the biggest salary increases, projected at an above-average 10%, while financial institutions will hand out 8.5%. Unsurprisingly, the auto sector witnessed the biggest drop in growth -- down to 8.3% from 10.1% in 2018, according to Aon. The survey covered more than 1,000 companies across over 20 industries.

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Agencies
January 14,2020

Microsoft's Indian-origin CEO Satya Nadella on Monday voiced concern over the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), saying what is happening is "sad" and he would love to see a Bangladeshi immigrant create the next unicorn in India.

His comments came while speaking to editors at a Microsoft event in Manhattan where he was asked about the contentious issue of CAA which grants citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

"I think what is happening is sad... It's just bad.... I would love to see a Bangladeshi immigrant who comes to India and creates the next unicorn in India or becomes the next CEO of Infosys," Nadella was quoted as saying by Ben Smith, the Editor-in-Chief of New York-based BuzzFeed News.

In a statement issued by Microsoft India, Nadella said: "Every country will and should define its borders, protect national security and set immigration policy accordingly. And in democracies, that is something that the people and their governments will debate and define within those bounds.

"I’m shaped by my Indian heritage, growing up in a multicultural India and my immigrant experience in the United States. My hope is for an India where an immigrant can aspire to found a prosperous start-up or lead a multinational corporation benefitting Indian society and the economy at large".

The Centre last week issued a gazette notification announcing that the CAA has come into effect from January 10, 2020.

The CAA was passed by Parliament on December 11.

According to the legislation, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014, due to religious persecution will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.

There have been widespread protests against the Act in different parts of the country.

In Uttar Pradesh, at least 19 persons were killed in anti-CAA protests.

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Agencies
August 6,2020

Mumbai, Aug 6: Former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan said on Thursday that overly focusing on what sovereign rating agencies think can take one's eyes off what needs to be done for the economy.

"It is also important to convince both domestic and international investors that after the crisis associated with the pandemic is over, we will return to fiscal responsibility over the medium term, and the government should do more to convince them of that," Rajan told the Global Markets Forum.

India was placed under one of the strictest lockdowns in the world in late March for more than two months to stem the spread of the coronavirus, but cases have continued to rise steadily since the government eased restrictions in June, stymieing hopes of an economic recovery.

The government has announced several initiatives to help the poor and small- and medium-size businesses, but actual cash outgo from the government's measures has been estimated at just about 1% of GDP.

Several attribute the fiscal prudence to fear of a downgrade after Moody's cut India's rating and outlook in early June followed closely by a change in outlook from Fitch.

The central bank on its part too has reduced the key lending rate by 115 basis points on top of the 135 bps last year and is widely expected to cut rates by another 25 bps later on Thursday.

"The RBI and government have certainly been cooperating, but it seems like it is elsewhere, the ball is in the government's court to do more," Rajan said.

He said the RBI needs to focus on whether credit is reaching the stressed areas of the economy and also if the viable firms were able to access credit and not the unviable ones.

"And I think that's where it has to focus its attentions, because resources, as you well know, are limited in India today."

Recently analysts, however, have cited the growing possibility the RBI may prefer to pause and cut rates only at its October meeting.

Government officials too have suggested the possibility of any more fiscal stimulus being announced, would only come in the second half of the fiscal year, once a recovery has taken root and coronavirus cases have peaked.

"What India should focus on at this point is protecting its economic capabilities, so that when it has dealt with the virus it can go resume activity in a reasonable way. That should be the focus," Rajan said.

"And if it does that, there is no reason why the rating agencies will not see that as an appropriate policy".

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