Sena chief blasts Congress for Sachin’s Rajya Sabha innings

April 30, 2012
sena

Mumbai, April 30: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has taken strong exception to Sachin Tendulkar's nomination to the Rajya Sabha by the Congress-led UPA.

"What is Tendulkar going to do in the Rajya Sabha? He has no scope there,'' Thackeray said. He was talking informally to mediapersons at his Bandra residence on Sunday on the sidelines of a function to honour him for his contribution to the contemporary media as cartoonist. 'Cartoon Watch', a Raipur-based magazine, felicitated Thackeray.

Questioning the role of matinee idols and cricketing stars in the Rajya Sabha, Thackeray said, "It's time to take a close, hard look at the contribution of film stars to the Upper House. What did Hema Malini do in the Rajya Sabha all these years?'' he asked caustically, "Nominating Sachin Tendulkar to the Rajya Sabha is the Congress party's Dirty Picture.''

The Thackeray Senior's tirade against Tendulkar is in sharp contrast with his estranged nephew, MNS chief Raj Thackeray's wholehearted support for his best friend's new assignment.

Addressing a press conference last week, Raj Thackeray had said there was no political context to Tendulkar's RS nomination. "It's a gesture of honour for his sterling contribution to Indian and world sports,'' he said.

"Tendulkar is not going to campaign for the Congress party because the UPA government has offered him a seat in the RS. Lata Mangeshkar was nominated to the Upper House by the BJP-led NDA a few years ago. But neither did she join the BJP nor helped the BJP garner votes,'' said Raj, adding, "It would be cheap to politicize the issue.''

Shorn of rhetoric, the Master Blaster finds himself caught in a cross-fire between the Sena and the MNS, say political observers.

Meanwhile, Bal Thackeray slammed Anna Hazare for his conspicuous silence on the "malpractices'' of his close colleagues such as Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Kiran Bedi. Thackeray said Bedi, Kejriwal and Sisodia all have skeletons in their cupboards. "However, Hazare doesn't utter a word on their misdeeds. He keeps mum on his colleagues.''

"Hazare talks of weeding out corruption from public life. Who will reform his corrupt colleagues?'' the Sena chief asked.

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Agencies
July 28,2020

New Delhi, Jul 28: India on Wednesday reported 47,704 more COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the country's count of coronavirus cases to 14,83,157, informed the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Out of the total cases, there are 4,96,988 active cases in the country while the number of patients cured/discharged and migrated stands at 9,52,744.

With 654 deaths due to COVID-19 in the country reported in the last 24 hours, the death toll rises to 33,425.

The recovery rate among COVID-19 patients has increased to 64.23 per cent. The recoveries to deaths ratio is 96.6 per cent:3.4 per cent, informed the Centre.

As per the data provided by the Ministry, Maharashtra continues to be the worst-affected state from the infection with 1,48,905 active cases and 13,656 deaths due to COVID-19. Tamil Nadu has a total of 53,703 active cases and 3,494 deaths.

Delhi has a total of 11,904 active cases and 3,827 deaths.

The Health Ministry further informed that more than 5 lakh COVID-19 tests were conducted in a single day over two consecutive days. On 26th July, India tested a total of 5,15,000 samples and on 27th July, a total of 5,28,000 samples were tested.

The total number of COVID-19 samples tested up to July 27 is 1,73,34,885 including 5,28,082 samples tested yesterday, said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

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News Network
April 11,2020

New Delhi, Apr 11: As India battles the Covid-19 crisis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday held a video conference with chief ministers primarily to take their feedback on whether the 21-nation-wide lockdown be extended beyond April 14 to stem the tide of the infections.

The Central government is understood to have also obtained views on the issue from all the relevant agencies and stakeholders involved in the efforts to contain the spread of the pandemic.

The video conference, which began at 11am, comes amidst indications that the central government may extend the nationwide lockdown with some possible relaxations even as Punjab and Odisha have already announced extending the lockdown beyond April 14 when the current spell of 21-day shutdown across the country ends on Tuesday.

The Union Home Ministry has sought views of state governments on various aspects, including whether more categories of people and services need to be exempted. In the current lockdown only essential services are exempted.

This is for the second time the prime minister is interacting with the chief ministers via video link after the lockdown was imposed.

During his April 2 interaction with chief ministers, Modi had pitched for a "staggered" exit from the ongoing lockdown.

A PTI tally of numbers reported by various states as on Thursday at 9.30pm showed a total of 7,510 having been affected by the virus nationwide so far with at least 251 deaths. More than 700 have been cured and discharged. However, the last update from the Union Health Ministry put the number of confirmed infections at 7,447 and the death toll at 239.

Addressing floor leaders of various parties who have representation in Parliament, Modi had on Wednesday made it clear that the lockdown cannot be lifted in one go, asserting that the priority of his government is to "save each and every life".

According to an official statement after the Wednesday interaction, the prime minister told these leaders that states, district administrations and experts have suggested extension of the lockdown to contain the spread of the virus.

Before the lockdown was announced on March 24, the prime minister had interacted with the chief ministers on March 20 to discuss ways and means to check the spread of the novel coronavirus.

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Agencies
February 10,2020

New Delhi, Feb 10: After an hour-long standoff between the security forces and the students on Monday, the police resorted to a lathi-charge on the protesters near Holy Family hospital which is within walking distance of Jamia Millia Islamia.

A scuffle ensued when police confronted the protesters who tried to push forward towards Parliament. The lathi-charge was made to push back the protesters.

In the melee that ensued, many from both sides fainted.

Some security forces personnel resorted to the lathi-charge while others pushed back the protesters when they threw water pouches at the security forces and abused them.

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