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BSP unusually silent as corruption probe looms

May 18, 2012

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Lucknow, May 18: The skeletons are tumbling out of the corruption cupboard, but Uttar Pradesh's former ruling party, the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP), is unusually quiet — not even reacting to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's allegation that it was involved in scams of over Rs400 billion (Dh26.8 billion).

Yadav, who is from the Samajwadi Party (SP), accused his predecessor Mayawati late on Tuesday of presiding over the plunder of the state and said her government was involved in scams of over Rs400 billion. The normally pugnacious Mayawati, who is now in the Rajya Sabha, has been quiet.

And her party has gone into a huddle in the state, trying to fight the growing public perception in the wake of evidence that the Mayawati government was mired in a series of political and financial irregularities.

Even BSP leaders like Mayawati's close aide Swamy Prasad Maurya, who has been accusing Yadav and the SP of indulging in political vendettas, have chosen not to speak on the issue.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior BSP leader said that much of the party was still smarting from the debacle in the state assembly polls two months ago and was not mobilised enough to take on the onslaught by the SP government. The party's tally in the assembly slipped from 206 to a paltry 85.

"Behenji [Mayawati] is sitting in Delhi, attending parliament, as we are faced with such an attack against us. How do we cope with all this? Nobody knows," a BSP office-bearer told IANS.

Maximum mileage

The SP is extracting the maximum mileage out of the situation.

Yadav told reporters late on Tuesday that scams were being unearthed slowly and steadily and a commission would be constituted soon.

"In [the] days to come you will see many more multi-crore scams being unearthed," he said.

Health minister Ahmad Hassan told IANS: "It is beyond doubt that Mayawati had her hands in the loot and I am sure that in due course of time, the long arm of the law will catch up with her and her cronies."

Yadav has already directed officials to escalate the probe into the sprawling Dalit Prerna Sthal park in Noida, which was inaugurated by Mayawati near the end of her five-year term.

Ombudsman's report

The Lokayukta has already given his report against many ministers of the BSP government, said a senior official.

The SP government is understood to be on the verge of okaying the demand for a CBI probe against some ministers, he added.

As former chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajnath Singh put it: "If the chief minister alleges that there were scams to the tune of Rs400 billion, we have to take the charge seriously. And the complicity of Mayawati in such scams cannot be ruled out, direct or indirect."

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News Network
July 10,2020

New Delhi, Jul 10: With the highest single-day spike of 26,506 COVID-19 cases and 475 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the total number of COVID-19 cases in India reached 7,93,802 on Friday, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Out of the total number of cases, 2,76,685 are active, 4,95,513 have been cured/discharged/migrated and 21,604 have died so far due to the infection.

With as many as 2,30,599 COVID-19 cases, Maharashtra continues to remain the worst-affected state, followed by Tamil Nadu (1,26,581) and Delhi (1,07,051).

Meanwhile, 2,83,659 samples were tested for coronavirus on Thursday, taking the total number of samples tested up to July 9 to 1,10,24,491, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

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Agencies
July 30,2020

Kochi, Jul 30: The Kerala High Court on Thursday refused to grant the extension for the stay of a 74-year-old US citizen, Johnny Paul Pierce, who had earlier said that he felt safer to remain in India than in the United States amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The single-judge bench of Justice CS Dias, which considered the writ petition, observed that the grant or extension of visa to foreign nationals fall exclusively within the domain of the Government of India (GoI) and that judicial review in such matters is minimal.

The power of the GoI to expel foreigners is absolute and unlimited, the bench said.

"In view of the categoric declaration of law by the Supreme Court, the plea of the petitioner to permit him to stay back in India cannot be accepted, as it falls within the purview of the guidelines and the discretion of the Government of India," the order said.

"The petitioner cannot be heard that the guidelines/policies/regulations formulated by the Government of India, that an American national though has been granted a visa having validity of five years has to leave India within 180 days, is irrational or unreasonable," it added.

The High Court, which was hearing a plea to permit the US citizen to stay in India for a further period of six months, said that the petitioner does not have a case that there is an infraction of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

"The petitioner was well aware of the visa conditions when he arrived in India, and it is too late in the day for him to raise a grievance on the visa conditions," the bench said noting that the petitioner's love for India was heartening.

The High Court also directed the Foreigners Registration Officer to consider the petitioner's representation within a period of two weeks in accordance with the applicable guidelines and policies.

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News Network
March 30,2020

New Delhi, Mar 30: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday interacted with Indian ambassadors and high commissioners abroad and urged them to remain alert to developments in global efforts against COVID-19 including breakthroughs to help the country's fight against the coronavirus.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla were also present during the interaction through video-conferencing.

"Coming together for India PM interacted with Indian Ambassadors/High Commissioners abroad and urged them to remain alert to developments in global efforts against COVID-19 including breakthroughs to help our national efforts to fight COVID19," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a tweet.

"PM appreciated the efforts of our missions in helping Indians abroad, in particular, students and workers," he added.

The number of positive coronavirus cases in the country stood at 1,071 on Monday. It includes 29 deaths and 99 people, who have been cured of the highly contagious virus.

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