It will be Rahul Gandhi versus Narendra Modi in 2014 Lok Sabha polls: Beni Prasad Verma

August 20, 2012

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Barabanki, August 20: In comments that can stoke a fresh controversy, Union minister Beni Prasad Verma today said the next Lok Sabha elections will see a direct fight between Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi.

A day after he said that the SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav was "dreaming" of becoming Prime Minister, Verma today said that parties like Samajwadi Party do not have all India presence and hence cannot form a government at the Centre.

"The government (at the Centre) will either be of Congress or Modi. Why they (SP) are misleading. Does the public not understand all this.... If Rahul Gandhi is our candidate, then the election in 2014 will be Rahul Gandhi versus Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. No other party is in between," Verma said.

The Union minister, however, steered clear of drawing a parallel between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi saying "If Rahul Gandhi will become Prime Minister, he will do so with the blessing of Manmohan Singh".

Verma also hailed the Prime Minister as a "frank" person saying the country will never get such a "gentle" person as Prime Minister. "The whole world considers him an honest persons except the Opposition parties in our country," he said.

Verma said that he always wanted Rahul Gandhi to become the Prime Minister but the decision on when has to be taken by the Congress President and the Prime Minister.

"Who fights for Muslims. It is Congress, which fights for them at the national level. Small insignificant parties have misled them. Congress is concerned about Muslims, Hindus, Christians and all and on the other had there are the traders of votes, who are concerned only about their votes," he said.

Asked to comment on the statement of Samajwadi Party leader Mohan Singh that he should be sacked from the Union Cabinet, Verma said he would not like to react to "small time" leaders who have managed to get a Rajya Sabha membership.

"If he can, let him have me removed from the Cabinet. My ideology will remain the same...I don't take cognizance of seasonal frogs," he said.

Verma, however, refused to comment on Singh's statement that SP would withdraw support if he does not apologize.

He had yesterday alleged that due to interference of Samajwadi party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav in UP government, it could not function properly.

"Due to interference of Mulayam, the state government cannot function properly and he is responsible for this", Verma had said while talking to reporters yesterday. Verma said he would not blame chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, saying he is "like my son". On Mulayam Singh stating that a third front government at the Centre will emerge in 2014 if SP won 60 seats in UP, Beni said that Yadav was dreaming of becoming Prime Minister but it would not happen.

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News Network
February 4,2020

New Delhi, Feb 4: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday accused Arvind Kejriwal of having a "partnership" with Pakistan and appealed to the people in Delhi to not vote for the AAP chief as it will make Pakistan happy.

Ramping up his attack on the Shaheen Bagh protest, Adityanath said that the protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is merely an excuse for people to vent their anger against the scrapping of Article 370.

"You must have seen their partnership on 370. Arvind Kejriwal used to speak in the same voice as Imran Khan on Article 370. You must have heard it.

"Now when elections are taking place in Delhi, who is speaking in favour of Arvind Kejriwal? It is the ministers of Pakistan. They are aware that Kejriwal is feeding 'biryani to protesters at Shaheen Bagh'," he said, referring to Pakistan minister Fawad Chaudhry's tweet asking Indians to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Adityanath addressed three rallies on Monday in the national capital ahead of assembly elections.

"Will Pakistan decide who Indians should vote for. If voting for Kejriwal will make Pakistan happy, should it be done," he asked at a rally in Mehrauli.

Adityanath said his Delhi counterpart Kejriwal has become a "toy in the hands of anti-social and anti-India elements".

Addressing a rally in Vikaspuri in west Delhi, he said that Kejriwal is not bothered about key issues such as providing clean drinking water but is concerned about Shaheen Bagh, the anti-citizenship amendment act protest site.

At another rally in Uttam Nagar in west Delhi, Adityanath said Kejriwal has played with the emotions of the people of Delhi for the last five years.

"He obstructed the development of Delhi. And knowingly and unknowingly, he became a toy in the hands of anti-social and anti-India elements," Adityanath said.

The protest at Shaheen Bagh, he said, has disrupted traffic across the capital.

"A guest with an appointment to meet him at 9.30 am could only reach at 11. He told me he had left as early as 7 am but got stuck because of the traffic in Shaheen Bagh," he said.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister also slammed Kejriwal for "sympathising" with elements who he said gave anti-India slogans in Jawaharlal Nehru University.

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News Network
June 23,2020

New Delhi, Jun 23: The meeting between Indian Army's 14 Corps Commander Lt Gen Harinder Singh and his Chinese counterpart got over after around 11 hours, sources said.

"Today's meeting between the Corps Commander-level officers of India and China is over. The meeting which started at 11:30 am went on for around 11 hours. More details awaited," sources said.

The meeting started at around 11:30 am at Moldo on the Chinese side of Line of Actual Control (LAC) opposite Chushul to defuse the tensions in Eastern Ladakh sector due to Chinese military build-up, the sources said.

This is the second meeting between the two corps commanders. They had met on June 6 and had agreed to disengage at multiple locations. India had asked the Chinese side to go back to pre-May 4 military positions along the LAC.

The Chinese side had not given any response to the Indian proposal and not even shown intent on the ground to withdraw troops from rear positions where they have amassed over 10,000 troops.

India is also likely to discuss the change in rules of engagement on the LAC where the forces have been empowered to use firearms in extraordinary circumstances, sources had said.

They said India will also ask China to honour the commitment given during June 6 talks to disengage in the Galwan valley completely and other places.

The build-up of Chinese air assets including strategic bombers by the PLA Air Force in fields near Indian territory close to Ladakh is also likely to figure in discussions.

India and China have been involved in talks to ease the ongoing border tensions since last month.

However, last week as many as 20 Indian soldiers lost their lives in the face-off in the Galwan Valley after an attempt by the Chinese troops to unilaterally change the status quo during the de-escalation in eastern Ladakh.

The Indian intercepts have revealed that the Chinese side suffered 43 casualties including dead and seriously injured in the violent clash.

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Agencies
April 24,2020

New Delhi, Apr 24: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has termed the government decision to freeze Dearness Allowance of Central government employees for a year as "insensitive and inhuman."

The former Congress President in a tweet said: "Lakhs and crores are being spent on the Bullet Train and New Delhi's Central Vista which should have been suspended, but the government has deducted DA of Central government employees and pensioners... It is insensitive and inhuman."

"The tragic part is that by deducting this amount from January 1, 2020 up to 30th June, 2021 for a period of 1.5 years, the government of India proceeds to deduct almost Rs 38 thousand crore from the income of these middle class government employees and pensioners, who rely completely on the pay and pensions that they receive," said Randeep Surjewala, chief spokesperson of Congress.

There are about 50 lakh such serving government employees and about 62 lakh pensioners.

"Even more tragic and objectionable is the fact that the government of India has not even spared our armed forces. The government has deducted Rs 11 thousand crore of the 15 lakh serving armed forces personnel and nearly 26 lakh military pensioners. What is their fault? They are serving the nation in times of all types of crises," said Surjewala.

The Congress alleged that the government did not spare the savings scheme.

Instead of curbing the wasteful expenditure, the government has been constantly hitting at the income of government employees and the middle class, it added.

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