Prez poll threatens to split UPA

June 15, 2012

kalam


New Delhi, June 14: The ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) on Thursday appeared headed for an internal confrontation over the next month’s presidential election as Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee declared that former president A P J Abdul Kalam would be her candidate for the top post.

Mamata announced that she will field Kalam if the Congress went ahead with the nomination of either Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee or Vice-President Hamid Ansari.

The stage for the confrontation was set early during the day when the Congress rejected the possibility of nominating Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, or accepting Kalam or former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee as the UPA candidate. The three names were jointly proposed by Mamata and Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday.

Congress general secretary in-charge of media affairs Janardhan Dwivedi came out publicly rejecting the three names, and objected to the Trinamool Congress’s announcement on Wednesday that Mukherjee and Ansari were the Congress’ first and second choice candidates respectively.

The Congress leadership held a series of meetings during the day to deliberate on the party’s nominee, with party chief Sonia Gandhi separately confabulating senior leaders like Mukherjee, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and Defence Minister A K Antony separately and then together in the party’s core group.

The party leadership also held consultations with other UPA allies like the NCP chief Sharad Pawar and senior DMK leader T R Baalu. Both of them pledged support to the candidate the Congress would choose. The UPA leaders were expected to meet on Friday morning, to decide on a nominee.

While the Congress leadership rejected the three names proposed by Mamata, it scrupulously avoided naming either Pranab or Ansari as likely candidates. Indeed, the party clarified that Sonia had not mentioned to the Trimanool Congress leader during their meeting on Wednesday that Pranab and Ansari were its probable candidates in that order.

All that Sonia had told Mamata was that these two names had figured during the party’s consultations with its UPA allies.

Curiously, in the midst of all these, CPI leader A B Bhardhan, who was among the first to favour a woman candidate for the 2007 presidential election, proposed during the day that the next president should be a dalit woman. He did not take any names, but speculations were that he could be having Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar in mind.

And, with Mamata on a confrontation course, the Congress seemed intent on reaching out to the Left parties for support in the election. Mukherjee reportedly spoke over phone to former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who in 2008 was against the CPM leadership’s decision to withdraw support to the UPA-I government.

However, the CPM leadership in the national capital maintained silence, though it criticised the UPA’s handling of the presidential nomination.

But, Mamata was categorical about her choice. She asserted that she will contest the UPA choice with Kalam as her candidate, particularly if the Congress choice were to be either Mukherjee or Ansari. She met Mulayam late in the evening after throwing up a challenge to the Congress.

While Mulayam, who had earlier favoured a seasoned politician for the post of President, maintained silence, Mamata declared: “Kalam is our and Mulayam Singh Yadav's number one candidate. He will be the best candidate."

She will not be attending the Friday’s scheduled UPA meeting. But said she was not walking out of the UPA either. “As far as the Trinamool is concerned, we are in the UPA. We don’t want to topple the government. But if the Congress does not want us, it is left to them. The ball is in the Congress’ court.”

Mamata’s latest stand may be music to the ears of the opposition NDA and other parties like the Biju Janata Dal and the AIADMK. They may be willing to endorse Kalam.

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News Network
May 28,2020

New Delhi, May 28: The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police will file 12 chargesheets against 536 Tablighi Jamaat members from three countries, officials said on Thursday.

Till now, the police has already filed chargesheets against 374 foreigners from 32 countries.

The officials said the charges against the Tablighi Jamaat members pertain to violation of visa rules, government guidelines regarding the Epidemic Disease Act and acting negligently in a way that was likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life.

The Tablighi Jamaat, a religious organisation in Nizamuddin in South Delhi, had allegedly organised a congregation in March in violation of mass gatherings.

The Tablighi Jamaat’s Nizamuddin Markaz (centre) had become a coroavirus hotspot in the national capital.

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Agencies
April 24,2020

New Delhi, Apr 24: The Jamia Coordination Committee (JCC) on Friday accused Delhi Police of framing two of its members - Meeran Haider, Safoora Zargar, along with student leader Umar Khalid, as part of "an imaginary conspiracy behind the recent North East Delhi riots".

While Haider was arrested on April 2, Zargar was taken in custody on April 10 for their alleged involvement in fuelling the riots.

"These arrests by the police have little ground, and the charges seem to have no rhyme or reason. Safoora was even granted bail in the case she was initially arrested in, following which she was arrested and had heavier charges placed against her," the JCC said in a statement.

Meeran, Safoora and Umar have been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), which allows curbing of fundamental rights in order to protect the sovereignty of India. The JCC, however, claimed that in this case, the Act is being used to suppress their voices.

"This Act has been used against many activists working to protect constitutional morality, a list which now includes members of the JCC, a wholly constitutionalist collective of students and alumni," the JCC said, defending its members.

JCC maintained it had no role in Delhi riots, but apprehended that more people will be arrested by the Delhi Police as part of its conspiracy against students and protestors.

"It is almost certain that more protesters will be framed and arrested in the conspiracy invented by the Delhi Police. JCC reiterates that it played no part in the riots, and this fact will be proved before any court of law," it said in a statement.

It also demanded political parties, and university administration take a stand for the two accused JCC members and student leader Umar Khalid.

The JCC came into existence after a violent face-off between Delhi Police and unruly anti-CAA protestors left Jamia Millia Islamia vandalised. It was after this, that a group of students from the Jamia Millia formed it to decide upon the future course of actions in protest against the CAA and the police action.

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Agencies
August 6,2020

New Delhi, Aug 6 : With a single-day spike of 56,282 new COVID-19 cases and 904 deaths in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 tally reached 19,64,537 on Thursday.

With the increase of 904 deaths, the toll due to the disease now stands at 40,699 in the country, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

The COVID-19 count includes 5,95,501 active cases and 13,28,337 cured/discharged/migrated patients.

Meanwhile, as per the MoHFW, the percentage of discharged patients stands at 67.62, while the active cases are at 30.31 in the country as of today.

The deaths reported due to the infection are currently at a little above two per cent of the total confirmed cases in the country.

Maharashtra with 1,46,268 active cases and 3,05,521 cured and discharged patients continues to be the worst affected. The state has also reported 16,476 deaths due to the infection.

Tamil Nadu has 54,184 active cases while 2,14,815 patients have been discharged after treatment in the state. 4,461 deaths have been reported due to COVID-19 in the state.

Andhra Pradesh with 80,426 active cases is the third on the list. There are 1,04,354 cured and discharged patients and 1,681 deaths reported from the state.

The national capital's active cases tally once again crossed the 10-thousand mark with 175 new cases being reported. Delhi now has 10,072 active cases and 1,26,116 cured and discharged patients. 4,044 people have lost their lives due to the disease in the Union Territory so far.

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