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JD(U) snubs BJP for unilaterally announcing its stand on Prez election

May 1, 2012

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New Delhi, May 1: Indicating fissures in the NDA over the issue of Presidential election, the JD-U today snubbed the BJP for unilaterally announcing its stand on the issue.

"Whatever Sushma Swaraj has said is the opinion of the BJP. This is not our party's view. The issue was not discussed in any NDA meeting. BJP has not discussed the issue with us," JD-U President Sharad Yadav told reporters here.

He also said that the country is in a bad shape and "everybody needs to be on the side of caution on this issue".

He was reacting to Swaraj's statement yesterday that BJP will not support the candidature of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari or any candidate put up by the Congress for the Presidential election.

Asked whether JD-U agrees with the stand of Swaraj, Yadav merely said, "Ours is a different party and their's is another. Neither have we discussed this issue with the BJP nor have they done it with us so far."

Yadav, who is also the NDA convener, also referred to the statement of SAD leader Sukhbir Singh Badal to hammer home his point that the issue has not been decided by NDA as yet.

Badal said that there has been "no formal meeting" of the alliance so far and hence he cannot comment that who will be NDA's Presidential candidate.

"This will be the decision of the collective leadership. I am just a member of the alliance", was his refrain when asked whether they support the candidature of former President Abdul Kalam.

Swaraj had said that the party was open to the idea of backing former President A P J Abdul Kalam if parties like Samajwadi Party mooted his name.

Yadav said the NDA has not yet discussed any name for the Presidential candidate.

The JD(U) has not discussed any probable candidates for the Presidential elections yet, Yadav said, adding that the party will form an opinion after having internal discussions.

"Whenever such a discussion takes place, the JD(U) will express its views. But, she (Swaraj) has given the opinion of her party. She has not said this after any consultation with us. I do not know whether she consulted any other NDA ally on the issue", he said.

Sources in JD-U said that the unilateral announcement by Swaraj has foreclosed options of building a consensus on the issue.

Asked whether the NDA should have settled with a Vice President like Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal for the alliance and backed UPA's candidate for the President's job, a party leader speaking on the condition of anonymity said, "all such options have been closed by the statement".

The leader also made it clear that there was no discussion in the NDA even on supporting or putting up the name of former President Abdul Kalam as the alliance candidate this time, thereby indicating that the BJP may be proposing his name but Kalam is still not the NDA candidate.

The leader pointed out that even in 2007, when the BJP was proposing Kalam's renomination, NDA ally Shiv Sena had not supported his candidature. Sena had then backed Pratibha Patil's candidature in the name of Marathi pride.

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News Network
April 7,2020

Jammu, Apr 7: Old habits will just no longer do, a Jammu and Kashmir administration employee found to his dismay on Tuesday when he was sent to a quarantine centre for blowing his nose and spitting on the road.

The man, who works as an accountant in the civil secretariat here, had gone to meet a relative in Paloura on the outskirts of the city when he was nabbed, officials said.

The neighbours panicked when they saw him blowing his nose and immediately called the police, which rushed to the spot with a medical team and a magistrate, they said.

He was immediately taken to a quarantine facility set up at the IIT hostel in the Janipur area and his samples taken for a coronavirus test.

Given the high levels of anxiety over the spread of COVID-19, news of his being taken by police started circulating widely. There were also some WhatsApp messages that he was trying to deliberately spread the infection and was arrested by police.

However, police officials said they had not arrested him and merely put him in a quarantine centre. It was not clear how long he would be in the centre.

The employee told police officials he had an itch in his nose and nothing more.

"Be responsible citizens and stop spreading rumours or fake news," an official said, requesting people to be more responsible.

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Agencies
February 6,2020

Mumbai, Feb 6: The Reserve Bank of India, for the second straight time, on Thursday kept its key policy rate unchanged at 5.15 per cent, maintaining its accommodative policy stance as long as it was necessary to revive growth.

The central bank retained GDP growth at 5 per cent for 2019-20 and pegged it at 6 per cent for the next fiscal.

"Economic activity remains subdued and the few indicators that have moved up recently are yet to gain traction in a more broad-based manner. Given the evolving growth-inflation dynamics, the MPC felt it appropriate to maintain status quo,” the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) said.

The six-member committee voted unanimously to hold rates, but also said that there is “policy space available for further action”.

Between February and October 2019, the RBI had reduced repo rate by 135 basis points.

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News Network
February 11,2020

New Delhi, Feb 11: As the counting of votes for the Delhi Assembly polls began, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday raised doubts on EVMs, alleging that no machine having a chip is tamper-proof.

He called upon the Election Commission and the Supreme Court to take a fresh look at the use of EVMs in the country.

"No machine (which) has a chip is tamper-proof. Also please do for a moment think, why no developed country uses EVM," Singh said in a tweet.

"Would CEC and Hon Supreme Court please have a fresh look on EVM voting in India? We are the largest democracy in the world, we can't allow some unscrupulous people to hack results and steal the mandate of 1.3 billion people.

"If they match the votes in the counting unit. Declare the result. If they don't match then count the ballots of all polling booths in the assembly. It would convince everyone and save time also as this has been the consistent argument of CEC in favour of EVM," the Congress leader said.

Polling for the 70-member Delhi Assembly polls was held on Saturday.

The Election Commission on Sunday announced that the final voter turnout was 62.59 per cent, five per cent less than 2015.

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