DMK turns down PM's offer of berths in Union Cabinet

September 26, 2012

karuna_Nidhi

Chennai, September 26: Ahead of the Union cabinet reshuffle, the DMK, a key member of the ruling UPA, has declined Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's offer of two cabinet or a few minister of state berths for the party.

The PM on Tuesday despatched minister of state in the PMO V Narayanasamy to meet DMK chief M Karunanidhi and make the offer. But senior DMK leaders said Karunanidhi conveyed to the minister that he was at the moment not interested in recommending any party representative for inclusion in the Union cabinet. Narayanasamy met Karunanidhi at his CIT Colony residence in Chennai for about 30 minutes during which he discussed the PM's offer. After the exit of Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, which has 19 MPs, from the UPA, the DMK with 18 representatives in the Lok Sabha is the Congress' largest ally.

"Though our senior MPs wanted use the opportunity to get a good portfolio or two, Kalaignar (Karunanidhi) appears to be of a different view. He has been thinking about the stability of the government and it is one of the reasons for not accepting the offer," a senior DMK leader said. "Many of our district secretaries are against continuing with the alliance with the Congress. They have been expressing their views to Kalaignar and asking him to distance the party from the Congress," said a former state minister.

Senior DMK leaders point out that anger against the UPA government has been growing following a series of anti-people measures like fuel price hike and cap on subsidized LPG cylinders. "Such issues are also likely to cast a shadow on our prospects. The party wishes to keep its options open on alliances for the next Lok Sabha elections," the leader said.

DMK seniors also point out to Karunanidhi's recent statements and comments against the Centre. "We have been supporting the government as we have no other option. At the same time, we have started to maintain a distance from the Congress," said a party MP. Karunanidhi is probably keen to maintain the same strategy by declining to have more representatives in the Union cabinet. "If we accept the offer and get new portfolios, the parties in the state will target us even more. We don't want to damage our image further," the MP said.

But a section of Union ministers and MPs in the party feel that Karunanidhi should accept the offer and strengthen the party's presence in the Union cabinet. "When I suggested this view, Kalaignar pointed out that the present ministers themselves did not have any power, how will the new ones wield more power," he said.

The DMK got three cabinet and four MoS berths in the UPA2 when it came to power. After the resignation of A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran, M K Alagiri is the only cabinet-rank DMK minister in the Manmohan Singh ministry. S S Palanimanickam, S Gandhiselvan, S. Jagathratchagan and D Napoleon are ministers of state.


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Agencies
July 23,2020

Jaipur, Jul 23: Four days after the Special Operation Group (SOG) sent a notice to Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in connection with the purported audio clips indicating his alleged involvement in horse trading of MLAs in Rajasthan, a city court has directed the Rajasthan police to probe a complaint alleging Shekhawat's role in a credit society scam worth Rs 840 crore.

The additional district judge Pawan Kumar, on Tuesday, directed the additional chief judicial magistrate's court to send the complaint against Shekhawat to the SOG.

Shekhawat, his wife and other partners have been named in the complaint in the Sanjivani Credit Cooperative Society scam in which around 50,000 investors allegedly lost about Rs 840 crore.

The Jaipur unit of the SOG has been probing the scam since last year after an FIR was registered on August 23, 2019.

Now, Jaipur ADJ Court-8 ordered a fresh inquiry in the case against Gajendra Singh accepting the revised application filed by Lagu Singh and Guman Singh and said that "this is a serious matter and hence SOG should investigate this".

Both the applicants had invested a huge amount in Sanjivani credit cooperative society.

It is alleged in the complaint that a multi-storey building has been built with the money instead of a theatre which was proposed earlier and many properties were also bought in Ethiopia with the money.

An SOG investigation also reveals that a large amount of money has been deposited into accounts of Shekhawat and his wife at different time spans, said sources.

Earlier, Shekhawat was not mentioned in the chargesheet filed by the SOG in connection with the case. Later, a magistrate's court also rejected the application to include him in the chargesheet. The applicants then approached the additional district judge's court with a revised application.

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News Network
March 19,2020

New Delhi, Mar 19: Lawyer of Mukesh Singh, who is one of the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, on Thursday mentioned a petition before the Registrar of the Supreme Court seeking an urgent hearing in the matter.

Advocate Manohar Lal Sharma, through the petition, sought directions to bring call record, documents and reports of his client through any probe agency and passed appropriate directions and measure to ensure justice in the matter.

The petition, however, has not sought a stay on the execution, which is scheduled for the morning of March 20. The petition is likely to be taken up for hearing today.

Earlier today, the apex court dismissed the curative petition of Pawan Gupta, another convict in the matter, who claimed juvenility at the time of the crime.

This comes as the four convicts -- Mukesh Singh, Akshay Singh Thakur, Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta -- are scheduled to be hanged at 5.30 am on March 20.

Meanwhile, several other petitions are also pending in the matter in different courts.

The case pertains to the brutal gang-rape and killing of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012, by six people including a juvenile in the national capital. The woman had died at a Singapore hospital a few days later.

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coastaldigest.com news network
August 7,2020

 

Kozhikode: An Air India Express flight from Dubai with 190 people on board overshot the Kozhikode tabletop runway on landing there today. The Boeing 737 “fell off” the runway into the valley, broke into two causing death and devastation. 

According to reports, around 20 people were dead including two pilots.

An Air India spokesperson said: “Air India Express flight IX 1344 operated by Boeing 737 aircraft from Dubai to Calicut overshot the runway at Kozhikode at 7.41 pm Friday. No fire reported at the time of landing. There are 174 passengers, 10 infants, two pilots and five cabin crew on board. Rescue operations are on and passengers are being taken to hospital for medical care. We will soon share the update in this regard.”

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is probing this accident. “Prima facie, the aircraft landed beyond the touchdown point and fell into a valley. It has broken into two. We suspect some casualties. More information is awaited,” said a senior DGCA official.

Taking to twitter, defence minister Rajnath Singh wrote: “Devastating news from Kozhikode, Kerala. I am deeply anguished by the loss of lives due to an accident carrying several passengers on Air India flight. In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured.”

Foreign minister S Jaishankar tweeted: “Deeply distressed to hear about the Air India Express tragedy at Kozhikode. Prayers are with the bereaved families and those injured. We are ascertaining further details.”

While, senior BJP leader from Kerala K J Alphons tweeted: “Second tragedy of the day in Kerala: Air India Express skids off the run way at Kozhikode, front portion splits , pilot dies and lots of passengers injured . All passengers evacuated. Very lucky the aircraft didn’t catch fire.”

More details are awaited.

Watch video | Air India flight from Dubai skids off runway in Kerala, splits into two pic.twitter.com/qgGxEEG2e3

— coastaldigest.com (@coastaldigest) August 7, 2020

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