INX Media case: No bail for Chidambaram; CBI pastes notice on his door

Kolkata, Jan 28: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday said she is ready for talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of Citizenship Amendment Act but the Centre has to first withdraw the contentious law.

Banerjee said protesting against the decisions of the centre doesn't make opposition parties anti-national and iterated that she will not implement CAA, NRC or NPR in the state.

"It is good that the prime minister is ready for talks but the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) must be revoked first. They (Centre) did not call an all-party meeting before taking a decision on Kashmir and CAA.

"We are ready for talks but first withdraw this Citizenship Amendment Act," Banerjee, a staunch critic of the BJP, said addressing a protest programme against CAA through paintings.

The West Bengal assembly had on Monday passed a resolution against the CAA to become the fourth state after Kerala, Punjab and Rajasthan, to do so. The state assembly had on September 6, 2019, passed a resolution against the NRC.

Mumbai, Mar 3: The country will turn "peaceful" if Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "bhakts" follow him in quitting the social media, the NCP said on Tuesday, taking a dig at the PM over his tweet that was thinking of giving up his social media accounts.

NCP chief spokesperson and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik also said that Modi's decision will be "in the interest of the country".

His comments came a day after Modi said he is contemplating giving up social media presence.

"This Sunday, thinking of giving up my social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & YouTube. Will keep you all posted," the prime minister said on the micro-blogging site.

Taking a swipe at the prime minister, Malik in a tweet said, "Yesterday, Modi ji gave hint of giving up the social media from Sunday. Some leaders are also talking about giving up (the social media). The country will turn peaceful if all the bhakts (followers) give it up."

"Modi ji's decision will be in the interest of the country. We welcome it, Modi ji take decision," Malik tweeted with the hash tag "ModiQuitsSocialMedia".

Earlier, the Congress took a swipe at the prime minister, with Rahul Gandhi tweeting "Give up hatred, not social media accounts" after tagging Modi's post.

Within minutes of Modi's tweet on Monday, scores of netizens urged him not to quit the various social media platforms as 'No Sir' trended on Twitter.

The prime minister is one of the most-followed world leaders on social media. He has 53.3 million followers on Twitter, 44 million on Facebook and 35.2 millionon Instagram.

The Twitter handle of Prime Minister's Office has 32 million followers.

In September 2019, PM Modi was the third most followed world leader on the microblogging site, behind only US President Donald Trump and his predecessor Barack Obama.

The Prime Minister was the first Indian to cross the 50-million followers mark on Twitter.

Mumbai, Jan 28: Flag carrier Air India has kept one of its 423-seater jumbo planes ready in Mumbai for the evacuation of Indian citizens from Wuhan in China in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in that country, an official source said on Tuesday.

The airline is awaiting necessary approvals from the ministries of external affairs and health to operate the special flight, the source said. The health ministry's nod is required because the operating crew has to fly in a virus outbreak territory.

"We have kept a Boeing 747-400 ready in Mumbai to operate an evacuation flight to China whenever we get a go ahead from the government," the source said.

Some 250 Indians are to be evacuated.

At a meeting of top secretaries called by the cabinet secretary on Monday, the government decided to be prepared for possible evacuation of Indian nationals in Wuhan.

Accordingly, Ministry of External Affairs will make a request to the Chinese authorities for evacuation of Indian nationals, mostly students, stuck in Wuhan city. The Ministry of Civil Aviation and Ministry of Health will make arrangements for transport and quarantine facilities respectively, an official release said on Monday.

Wuhan along 12 other cities have been completely sealed by the Chinese authorities to stop the virus from spreading. The death toll climbed to 80 with 2,744 confirmed cases.