Poll trends disappointing, need to rethink caste management: Moily

Agencies
May 15, 2018

Senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily today described early trends suggesting a BJP victory in the Karnataka Assembly polls as "quite disappointing and attributed his party's loss to wrong caste management.

The Congress should not have raised the Lingayat issue before the polls, Moily said, adding that the party had not managed caste equations well in its electoral strategy.

He also defended Congress president Rahul Gandhi and praised him for engaging in a positive campaign as against the negative campaign carried out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah in the run-up to the May 12 election.

The BJP today appeared headed for a simple majority in the Karnataka Assembly, with its candidates leading in 115 constituencies, leaving the ruling Congress way behind, according to trends in 220 of the state's 222 seats.

The result is quite disappointing. Had it been on a development ground or a social justice ground, the Congress should have had won. I think somewhere there was something wrong with caste management in Karnataka. That plays an important role, Moily told news channels.

The BJP's "negative campaign" had won the election for the party , the Congress leader added .

They (Modi and Shah) never raised development issues. But at the same time, we should acknowledge somewhere we have not managed the caste equations very well, he added.

Moily said a section of party members had been voicing concern at various levels over the Congress taking up the Lingayat minority status issue.

...Maybe that is one factor that has backfired on us. We need to examine that. I think on the Vokkaliga front also... somewhere we did not handle it well," he said, adding that there was need for introspection.

The Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka had written to the Central government, recommending that it consider representations of the Lingayat and Veerashaiva community for recognition as a religious minority.

The Karnataka government had made the demand after the state cabinet decided to recommend to the Centre that a religious minority status be granted to Lingayats and Veerashaiva Lingayats.

The decision was seen by the BJP and other political opponents as a move by the Siddaramaiah government to cut into the vote bank of BJP, which banks significantly on the support of the Lingayat community.

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News Network
July 25,2020

Bhopal, Jul 25: Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Saturday he has tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

Chouhan made the announcement in a series of tweets.

“My dear countrymen, I had symptoms of COVID-19 and after the test, my report has come back positive. I appeal to all my colleagues that whoever came in contact with me, must get their corona test done. And my close contacts should quarantine themselves,” Chouhan said in a tweet in Hindi.

“If COVID19 is treated on time, a person is completely cured. I have been reviewing the status of corona infection every evening since March 25. I will try to review corona situation through video conferencing as much as possible now,” he added.

The chief minister said the review meeting will now be held by home minister Narottam Mishra, urban development and administration minister Bhuppendra Singh, health education minister Vishvas Sarang and health minister Dr Prabhuram Choudhary in his absence.

“I will also continue to do everything possible to help control COVID19 in the state during treatment,” he said.

One of Chouhan’s ministerial colleagues tested positive for Covid-19 late on July 22.

The chief minister along with the minister, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s state unit president VD Sharma and state unit general secretary (organisation) Suhas Bhagat had visited Lucknow in a government plane on July 21 to attend the funeral of MP governor Lalji Tandon who died away in the Uttar Pradesh capital, his hometown. during hospitalisation.

The minister is admitted to a private medical college’s teaching hospital in Bhopal.

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Kannadiga
 - 
Saturday, 25 Jul 2020

Why so priority for him. There are so many  better person here in our State and District Talk and Right about them.

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News Network
June 2,2020

New Delhi, Jun 2: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Moody's Investors Service downgrading India's sovereign rating to the lowest investment rate and said that the global rating agency has rated his handling of the country's economy "a step above junk".

"Moody's has rated Modi's handling of India's economy a step above JUNK. Lack of support to the poor and the MSME sector means the worst is yet to come," the Congress leader tweeted citing a media report on Moody's downgrading the nation.

On Monday, Moody's downgraded the country's rating to "Baa3" from "Baa2". This comes at a time when the government is facing criticism from the Opposition over its handling of the COVID-19 situation and measures to boost the economy.

The government has already announced a stimulus package of Rs 20 lakh crore to deal with the situation.

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Agencies
July 30,2020

New Delhi, Jul 30: India's gold demand in 2020 is expected to fall to the lowest level in 26 years with domestic bullion prices hitting a record high and as falling disposable incomes could curtail retail purchases, the World Gold Council (WGC) said on Thursday.

Lower demand by the world's second-biggest bullion consumer could limit a rally in global prices, which hit a record high earlier this month, although it could also reduce India's trade deficit and support the ailing rupee.

"Fast rising gold prices could act as headwinds," said Somasundaram PR, the managing director of WGC's Indian operations.

Local gold futures have jumped 35% so far this year after rising a quarter in 2019.

India's gold consumption in the first half of 2020 plunged 56% on-year to 165.6 tonnes. Meanwhile, the coronavirus-triggered lockdown also slashed demand by 70% in the June quarter to 63.7 tonnes, the lowest in more than a decade, the WGC said in a report published on Thursday.

Millions of Indians have lost their jobs or taken a pay cut after the country imposed a lockdown on its 1.3 billion people to curb the spread of the virus that has infected more than 1.5 million Indians.

Consumption is generally high during the June quarter due to weddings and key festivals such as Akshaya Tritiya, but lockdown restrictions kept shoppers indoors this year.

The weak demand in the first half could drag down India's gold consumption in 2020 to the lowest since 1994, when demand stood at 415 tonnes, Somasundaram said, adding that it is still difficult to provide an estimate for full-year demand as the coronavirus crisis is still unfolding.

"Indian demand has previously jumped as much as 300 tonnes in a quarter. Latent demand could come out in the second half," Somasundaram said.

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