Congress CMs wary of sharing dais with PM Narendra Modi

August 21, 2014

New Delhi, Aug 21: Shaken by the booing of their Haryana counterpart Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Tuesday, Congress chief ministers are wary of sharing the dais with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in election-bound states, fearing that BJP would use these events to embarrass them by orchestrating protests.

CM Prithviraj ChavanMaharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan has decided to skip a function in Nagpur where he was to lay the foundation of Metro with Modi on Thursday. At the same time, Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren has asked the PMO to ensure that he is not put in an embarrassing position when he joins Modi at a function in Ranchi on Thursday.

Chavan announced his decision to skip the foundation-laying ceremony of Nagpur Metro, pointing to a pattern in the booing of Hooda and his own experience at an earlier event with the PM in Solapur where Modi chose to attack the now-dislodged UPA government.

"In my opinion, the recent incidents in Solapur and Haryana in the presence of Modi had adverse impact on our federal structure. Under such circumstances, I decided not to attend the Nagpur event,'' Chavan told reporters.

The concern of CMs coincide with Congress's resentment over the Kaithal incident where Hoodda was heckled with Modi by his side. Congress circles feel the protest was organized by the BJP to paint rival CMs as unpopular, and could be part of a saffron strategy in poll-bound states where BJP is on a strong wicket electorally.

In fact, much before Chavan announced his decision, Congress managers started mounting pressure on the party leadership to direct its CMs to keep an arm's length from Modi till the elections. A party leader said Sonia Gandhi was apprised of the concern in writing.

Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand and Haryana are set for assembly polls later this year and most of the PM's visits are focused on these states.

BJP, however, dismissed Congress's decision as a political antic meant to cover up the discontent facing them. "Our government respects all CMs — be it ours or of other parties. When the PM goes somewhere, the CM sits next to him and he (PM) accords all due respect to him. But if the people are angry with the CMs, what can the government do about it," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said.

"The situation in Maharashtra and Haryana is such that the CMs are not ready to face the public. When public asks questions from them, they demand answers. People in Haryana seem to be angry with Hooda and that is not our fault. Hooda should introspect," Hussain added.

His colleague Sudhanshu Trivedi further said, "BJP workers are, of course, expected to exercise restraint but Congress is fooling itself by passing off the protest against Haryana CM as something which was staged by his political opponent. What happened at Kaithal was a spontaneous eruption of public grievance against 10 years of the worst kind of corruption and usurpation of farmers' land by Hooda government for its masters and favourite businessmen."

He added, "Congress would have done itself a service by engaging in self-introspection rather than decide to skip PM's function and play victim to garner sympathy which is not there.. Those who are in public life should be take adulation and protest in the same stride."

Trivedi also said BJP never displayed such synthetic outrage during the years Congress was in power.

AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmed justified the concern expressed by the Jharkhand CM. "There is a political design behind the incidents. PM is visiting Jharkhand on Thursday and CM Soren should be cautious. It's not only about Congress CMs. All self-respecting CMs of the Opposition should avoid political functions of Modi, which are being held in the name of public functions," he said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 27,2020

Srinagar, Mar 27: Over 180 people with undeclared recent travel histories have been traced and shifted into quarantine in Srinagar, officials said.
"COVID-19: Over 180 persons with undeclared recent travel histories have been traced and shifted into quarantine this past week in Srinagar. Some 200 more complaints are being verified. Just hoping no one is infected as it's just too hard to even imagine the possible consequences." Srinagar district administration tweeted.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had earlier on Thursday reported 88 new COVID-19 cases, which is the highest in a single day, taking the total countrywide tally to 694.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
July 2,2020

Mumbai, Jul 2: The Shiv Sena on Thursday termed the ban on 59 Chinese apps by the Indian government as a "digital strike" and asked if these apps were a threat to the national security, how did they operate for so many years.

An editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' sought to know when did the Centre realise these apps were a threat to the national security.

By banning the Chinese apps, Prime Minister Narendra Modi protected the interests of Indian internet users and his courage has be lauded, the Marathi publication said.

India on Monday banned 59 apps with Chinese links, including TikTok, UC Browser, SHAREit and WeChat, saying they were prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity and security of the country.

"If these apps were a threat to national security, how is it that these apps were functioning without any hurdles for so many years. If the opposition says the government neglected national security,then what will the Centre's stand be?" the Shiv Sena asked.

It said questions should be raised on all the previous governments for "allowing national data to go out of the country".

China has expressed displeasure over the Indian government's decision, the Marathi daily said, adding that Chinese soldiers are "still not ready to leave the Galwan Valley (in Ladakh)".

The Sena said it took the sacrifices of 20 soldiers for the government to realise Indian data was being illegally taken out of the country.

"The government took revenge by a digital strike," it stated.

There have been complaints earlier that users' data on Chinese apps was illegally sent out of the country, and apps like TikTok were "promoting vulgarity", it said.

"Many TikTok stars had reportedly joined the BJP," the Sena claimed. "What will happen to them?" it asked.

There is a need to break China economically, but that will not happen by banning its apps. The issue is about trade and investment between the two countries, it said.

"The largest Chinese investment is in Gujarat.

Chinese company Huawei has got the contract to set up 5G network in India. This company having keys to India's digital economy is akin to the Chinese Communist Party owning the Indian economy in future," it said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
April 21,2020

New Delhi, Apr 21: Tablighi Jamaat leader Maulana Saad Kandhalvi, who has been booked by the Delhi Police for holding a religious congregation here during the lockdown, on Monday urged the followers of the organisation to pray at home in the month of Ramzan.

"I request all, both in India and abroad, to strictly follow the guidelines and instructions of the local or national governments and till the time restrictions are in place and please observe prayers at home. And even in this, we should not invite people from outside," he said in a statement.

Ramzan begins later this week.

While addressing an online briefing on Sunday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal cited the Tablighi Jamaat congregation last month, a major hotspot, and the large inflow of travellers from other countries to Delhi as the reasons for the spread of the virus, and said the city was "fighting a difficult battle".

The Delhi Police crime branch, had on March 31, lodged an FIR against seven people, including the cleric, on a complaint by the Station House Officer of Nizamuddin police station for holding the congregation in alleged violation of the orders against large gatherings to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Later, the Indian Penal Code Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) was added to the FIR.

The cleric is wanted by the Delhi Police and he responded twice to them. He is currently under home quarantine.

In an audio message released earlier this month, Kandhalvi had said he was exercising self-quarantine after several hundreds who visited the congregation at Nizamudddin Markaz tested positive for coronavirus.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.