Cong leader likens AAP govt in Delhi to RJD rule in Bihar

January 10, 2014

Cong_leaderNew Delhi, Jan 10: Reflecting the unease in party over praise of AAP by its leaders, a Congress leader today likened it to early days of Lalu Prasad's rule in Bihar in the nineties while another slammed Union Minister Jairam Ramesh for praising Arvind Kejriwal's party.

"AAP govt reminds me of the early days of Lalu Raj.Oath at JP's Statue, call to fight corruption, Janta Darbar, hair cut& bath to poor children etc.," AICC general secretary in-charge for Delhi Shakeel Ahmed tweeted.

The term 'Lalu Raj' has more than often been used by parties opposed to the RJD as well as analysts to describe lack of development initiatives, lawlessness and lack of governance in Bihar during those days.

Ahmed's remarks came a day after party general secretary in-charge for organisation Janardan Dwivedi yesterday expressed the angst of party workers over prevailing situation.

"Let the Marxist parties take care of what they say. Perhaps the situation of chaos and anarchy suits them. They get a chance to do their politics in such a situation...this is a historic fact most of us know and accept.

"As far as Congress is concerned, every single worker and leader is unhappy that such a situation arose. He feels hurt. He is also angry," Dwivedi had said yesterday when asked about the praise of AAP by some leaders from Left as well as from Congress mainly Union Minister Jairam Ramesh.

Party leader Anil Shastri, who is Chairman of AICC Hindi department and a Special Invitee of Congress Working Committee tweeted, "Jairam has been all praise for AAP. This will go against the Congress in the LS elections. He should speak about his govt's achievements."

Shastri also commented on Twitter "Jairam says Lok Pal bill should have been passed two yrs ago. He was a Minister in the govt. Why did he not push it for the sake of party?"

He also attacked the minister over the latter's barbs against VIP culture after his car got stuck in traffic.

"Jairam is upset over his car being stopped by Delhi traffic. What about the inconvenience caused to general public due to VIP movements ?," Shastri tweeted.

In a terse reaction to queries on Ramesh's views, Dwivedi said such remarks can only come from a person who is not a political worker and has got prominence in the party without undergoing the 'rigour', but added that he was not referring to any particular individual.

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News Network
August 7,2020

New Delhi, Aug 7: The Congress on Thursday demanded the removal of Karnataka minister KS Eshwarappa from the cabinet and his arrest for his statement that grand Krishna and Vishwanath temples would come up in Mathura and Kashi respectively after "liberating" them.

Mr Eshwarappa made the statement while reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi laying the foundation of the Ram temple in Ayodhya yesterday.

"By asking kar sevaks (volunteers) to launch a similar campaign, the minister (Eshwarappa) is trying to disturb peace in the society," Congress Karnataka unit chief DK Shivakumar said at a press conference in Ballari today.

"Such people should be arrested immediately, police officials should register a case against him and the Chief Minister should remove him from the cabinet,"he said.

Rural Development and Panchayat Raj minister Eshwarappa had said on Wednesday that he was of the firm opinion that "if not today, tomorrow, Mathura and Kashi temples will be liberated and grand temples would be built there."

"A place of devotion has to be built in both Kashi and Mathura. There too, grand temples have to be constructed. The mosques have to be removed from there," he said.

Mr Eshwarappa, a former BJP state president, said the centres of Hindu belief, Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura were a kind of a symbol of "slavery" as "temples of our Rama, Krishna and Vishwanath were destroyed and mosques built."

Stating that Mr Eshwarappa is not an individual but a minister who represents the government, Mr Shivakumar on Thursday sought to know from the Chief Minister whether this was his government's stand.

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News Network
June 6,2020

United Nations, Jun 6: The COVID-19 pandemic, which has presented challenges for several nations, could be an “opportunity” for India to speed up the health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat, especially with a focus on primary healthcare, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said.

WHO Director-General Ghebreyesus was responding to a question on the COVID-19 situation in India, where the number of coronavirus cases are increasing rapidly. India went past Italy on Friday to become the sixth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic.

India saw a record single-day jump of 9,887 coronavirus cases and 294 deaths on Saturday, pushing the nationwide infection tally to 2,36,657 and the death toll to 6,642, according to the health ministry.

"Of course COVID is very unfortunate and it's challenging for many nations but we need to look for opportunities too. For instance for India, this could be an opportunity to speed up Ayushman Bharat, especially with a focus on primary health care. I know there is a very strong commitment from the government to speed up the implementation of Ayushman Bharat and with primary healthcare and community engagement, I think we can really turn the tide,” Ghebreyesus said during a press briefing in Geneva on Friday.

Ayushman Bharat is the world’s largest health insurance scheme and was launched by the Narendra Modi government in 2018. Last month, Modi had said that the number of people who have benefited from the scheme crossed the one crore-mark.

The scheme aims to cover more than 500 million beneficiaries and provide coverage of Rs 500,000 per family per year.

Referring to the Ayushman Bharat scheme, Ghebreyesus added that “using and speeding up what has started could actually help in India and that's what WHO was very appreciative by the way when Ayushman Bharat started. And this could be a very good opportunity actually to test that and speed up and use it to really fight this pandemic.”

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Agencies
March 16,2020

New Delhi, Mar 16: Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde on Monday said that rules for preventing overcrowding in the courts to avoid the spread of coronavirus cannot be relaxed for journalists alone on the basis of profession.

"Can't make an exception on the basis of profession," CJI Bobde said while asking journalists to share information and notes and suggesting that a system can be put in place to facilitate daily media briefing by Secretary-General.

Video conferencing facility being contemplated may be brought into place but not sooner than one week from now and reporters may take turns to attend hearings, CJI Bobde said.

He said that the court does not wish to prevent any reportage.

Attorney General KK Venugopal and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the Chief Justice of India about the crowded corridors on account of restricted entry inside courtrooms.

CJI Bobde said that he himself wishes to assess and take stock of the situation and may do so tomorrow at 10.30 am.

This comes after the top court introduced several precautionary measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus and allowed only restricted entry of lawyers, litigants, and journalists in the courtroom.

Thermal-screening of the lawyers, litigants, and media persons were also conducted in the Supreme Court on Monday amid coronavirus fears.

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