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BJP may back PA Sangma as President candidate

May 21, 2012

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New Delhi, May 21: Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Sunday stepped up her advocacy for P A Sangma as president, rallying support across the political spectrum. She called up BJP veteran L K Advani, who is believed to have told her that he was "positively inclined" towards Sangma personally but a decision would only be taken only after consultations within the party and with NDA leaders.

The NDA is likely to discuss its strategy by Tuesday in light of the intense lobbying for the former Speaker by the AIADMK chief.

Jayalalithaa also spoke to CPM general secretary Prakash Karat, CPI's A B Bardhan, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal, the AIADMK said.

YSR Congress leader Jaganmohan Reddy is also learnt to be in favour of Sangma's candidature. In a coordinated move, Jayalalithaa and her Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik had floated Sangma's name on May 17.

While Jayalalithaa and Patnaik had propped up Sangma as a "tribal" candidate, Advani is learnt to be of the view that the NCP leader's credentials as a "Christian" has greater weight as the tribal block is fragmented, while the Christian block less so.

In fact, Advani is learned to have received a letter from the Council of Churches, a body of Christian clerics, who without naming Sangma, seem to be backing him. The letter pointed out that there had been presidents from other minority communities -three Muslim presidents and one belonging to the Sikh community - implying that a Christian should get the top job this time.

After Jayalalithaa's phone call to Mulayam, SP said it was not a hurry to decide on the presidential candidate and that the party had not taken a decision on whom to support. The CPI said it would decide on the issue after a party meeting on May 23.

Interestingly, the Nationalist Congress Party, to which Sangma belongs, has ruled out supporting his candidature, saying it would go with the UPA decision.

Lok Janshakti Party chief Ramvilas Paswan said in Tiruchirapalli on Sunday that his party would support the UPA candidate for presidency. Asked about Sangma's candidature, he said, "All are our friends. But we will support only the candidate chosen by UPA."

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News Network
March 7,2020

New Delhi, Mar 7: No country in the world says everybody is welcome, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday, hitting out at those criticising India over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

Jaishankar criticised the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for its criticism on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, saying its director had been wrong previously too and one should look at the UN body's past record on handling the Kashmir issue.

"We have tried to reduce the number of stateless people through this legislation. That should be appreciated," he said when asked about the CAA at the ET Global Business Summit. "We have done it in a way that we do not create a bigger problem for ourselves."

"Everybody, when they look at citizenship, have a context and has a criterion. Show me a country in the world which says everybody in the world is welcome. Nobody says that," the minister said.

The external affairs minister said moving out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) was in the interest of India's business.

Asked about the UNHRC director not agreeing with India on the Kashmir issue, Jaishankar said: "UNHRC director has been wrong before.

"UNHRC skirts around cross-border terrorism as if it has nothing to do with country next door. Please understand where they are coming from; look at UNHRC's record how they handled Kashmir issue in past," he added.

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Agencies
February 11,2020

New Delhi, Feb 11: Cheaper lending rates in the country along with the government's booster via tax cuts seem to have had little effect on vehicle sales in January, with car sales decreasing by over 14,531 units, or slightly over 8 per cent, compared to January last year.

According to Rajan Wadhera, President of industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), which gives out the auto sales numbers, the overall slump in vehicle sales in India was due to the "rising cost of vehicle ownership and slower growth in GDP".

Barring three-wheelers, all other segments showed de-growth.

Vehicle sales across segments have been declining for over a year now. SIAM sales data last month compared with that of January 2019 showed that domestic passenger vehicle sales slipped 6.2 per cent to 262,714 units. The decline in car sales stood at 8.1 per cent, and two-wheelers 16.06 per cent.

Sales of commercial vehicles, an indicator of industrial health in the economy, slipped by 14.04 per cent to 75,289 units last month, while the vehicle sales across categories registered a de-growth of 13.83 per cent to 17,39,975 units from 20,19,253 units in January 2019, SIAM said.

However, Wadhera said, they were hopeful that recent government announcements on infrastructure and rural economy would support growth of vehicle sales, especially in the commercial and two-wheeler segments.

"We are looking forward to the early announcement of an incentive-based scrappage policy in the context of the recent assurances by the government," Wadhera said.

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Agencies
August 5,2020

Ayodhya, Aug 5: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday recalled the significance of the path of 'maryada' associated with Lord Ram in the backdrop of the situation created by COVID-19 and emphasised the importance of social distancing and wearing face masks.

He said that the current situation demands 'maryada' should be 'do gaz ki doori, mask hai zaroori' and exhorted everyone to follow it.

In his speech after laying the foundation stone of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the Prime Minister said the temple of Lord Ram will inspire and guide humans for ages to come.

He said that the path of `maryada' followed by Lord Ram is all the more necessary today in the situation created by COVID-19.

"The `maryada' (need) today is do gaj ki doori, mask hai jaroori (keep distance of two yards, wear mask). The Almighty may keep all the citizens healthy and happy, this is my prayer. The blessings of Mother Sita and Shri Ram be always there on the citizens," he said.

The Prime Minister termed the occasion as historic and said that India is starting a glorious chapter when people across the country are excited and emotional to have finally achieved what they had been waiting for centuries.

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