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
March 7,2020

Srinagar, Mar 7: Two more accused, including a man who allegedly bought chemicals online for making improvised explosive device (IED) to be used in an attack on a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama last year, were arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday, an official said.

The terror attack left 40 CRPF personnel dead in south Kashmir's Pulwama last year.

Waiz-ul-Islam, 19, from Srinagar and Mohammad Abbass Rather, 32, from Pulwama were arrested by the NIA, taking the number of those arrested in the case in the past week to five.

"During initial interrogation, Islam disclosed that he used his Amazon online shopping account to procure chemicals for making IEDs, batteries and other accessories on the directions of Pakistani Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists," the official said.

He said Islam personally delivered the items to the JeM terrorists after buying them online as a part of the conspiracy to carry out the attack.

"Rather is an old overground worker of the JeM. He has disclosed that he gave shelter at his home to Jaish terrorist and IED expert Mohd Umar after he came to Kashmir in April-May 2018," the official said.

Rather also sheltered other JeM terrorists - suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dar, Sameer Ahmed Dar and Kamran, a Pakistani -- at his house before the Pulwama attack, the official said.

"He also facilitated safe shelter for the JeM terrorists, including Adil, at the house of accused Tariq Ahmed Shah and his daughter Insha Jan of Hakripora, who were arrested on March 3," the official said.

He said Islam and Rather will be produced before the NIA special court in Jammu on Saturday, while further investigation in the case continues. The NIA took over the case to probe the conspiracy behind the February 14, 2019, attack in Pulwama.

The last video of Adil, which was released by the JeM from Pakistan after the terror attack, was filmed at the home of Tariq Ahmed Shah. On February 28, the NIA achieved a major breakthrough in the case when it arrested 22-year-old Shakir Bashir Magrey, a furniture shop owner and resident of Pulwama.

Magrey had given shelter and other logistical assistance to suicide bomber Adil. He was introduced to Adil in mid-2018 by Pakistani terrorist Mohammad Umar Farooq and he became a full-time OGW of the JeM.

The explosives used in the attack were determined through forensic probe to be ammonium nitrate, nitro-glycerin and RDX. During investigation into the attack, the identity of the suicide bomber to be Adil Ahmad Dar was confirmed through DNA matching with that of his father.

The other key terrorists involved in the attack have been found to be JeM's south Kashmir divisional head Muddasir Ahmad Khan, killed in an operation by the security forces on March 11 last year; Pakistani terrorists Muhammad Umar Farooq and IED expert Kamran, both killed on March 29 last year; the owner of the car Sajjad Ahmad Bhat, a resident of Anantnag who was killed on June 16 last year, and Qari Yassir, JeM's commander for Kashmir who was killed on January 25 this year.

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News Network
June 27,2020

Hyderabad, Jun 27: Ahead nurse working with a state-run hospital here died on Friday while undergoing treatment for COVID-19, a hospital official said.

The nurse, who was due to retire this month-end, tested positive about 10 days ago, he said.

The woman, who had been on medical leave for about 20 days, is suspected to have contracted the virus when she attended a private function in a neighbouring district, he said.

She was treated at the hospital for two days after she was found positive for COVID-19.

However, she was shifted to another government hospital as the symptoms continued unabated and sugar levels were high, he said.

The woman, who had comorbidities like diabetes and hypertension, died today.

Meanwhile, about 20 healthcare personnel, including doctors and paramedical staff, have so far tested positive for COVID-19 at the state-run Gandhi hospital, according to a hospital official.

He also said that there are around 50 patients whose family members have not come forward to take them home though the patients can be in home quarantine.

Family members have cited reasons such as residents not allowing a positive patient to return to the villages and presence of children at residences, for not taking them home, he added.

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News Network
January 6,2020

Hyderabad, Jan 6: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday expressed solidarity with students of Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, following violence in the campus and said the "cruel attack" was meant to "punish"the students as they "dared to stand up".

"In solidarity with the brave students of JNU. This cruel attack is meant to 'punish' JNU students because they dared to stand up. It's so bad that even Union Ministers are tweeting helplessly. Modi Sarkar must answer why cops aresiding with goons," the Hyderabad MP tweeted.

The AIMIM has also tweeted expressing solidarity with the "students of JNU". "AIMIM stands in solidarity with the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University. Who feels threatened by the voice of students?," the party said in a tweet.

Violence broke out at the JNU on Sunday night as masked men armed with sticks and rods attacked students and teachers and damaged property on the campus, prompting the administration to call in police which conducted a flag march.

At least 28 people, including JNU Students' Union president Aishe Ghosh, were injured as chaos reigned on the campus for nearly two hours.

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