Will Hamid Ansari get a second term?

June 23, 2012

Hamid_Answ

New Delhi, June 23: Vice President Hamid Ansari -- who was a strong contender for the UPA’s presidential candidate, as West Bengal chief minister Mamata Bannerjee revealed after she met Congress President Sonia Gandhi – may be offered a second term in his current job. A few days ago, Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh, responding to a question in a TV interview on the possibility of a second term for Mr Ansari as VP, said, “It’s not a bad idea. Mr Ansari has conducted himself admirably as vice-president.”

Indeed, what Mr Singh said publicly is being said privately in Congress circles: one party source even pointed out that of the last 11 VPs, six became President; of the remaining five, Krishan Kant died in office, BD Jatti and B.S. Shekhawat ended their vice presidential tenures when the party/coalition that had elected them as VPs were no longer in power, while G S Pathak and M Hidayatullah completed their terms when there was no vacancy in Rashtrapati Bhawan as two Presidents, Dr Zakir Hussain and Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed died in office. There is also a historical precedent for a vice president getting a second tenure: S Radhakrishnan was VP for two terms, before he became the country’s second President. It is against this backdrop that Mr Ansari’s supporters in the Congress are making a case for a second tenure as VP for him.

Of course, with Mr Ansari having lost the Presidential nomination, other Muslim names have surfaced for the VP’s job – the Congress’ Mohsina Kidwai and K Rehman Khan and the National Conference’ Saifuddin Soz. Finally, those who feel a counter is needed to former Speaker Purno Sangma emerging as the opposition’s presidential candidate have put forward the name of former Nagaland chief minister SC Jamir.

Early on in the negotiations that preceded the selection of its presidential candidate, when the UPA was still unsure of mustering the numbers for its nominee for Rashtrapati Bhawan, there was talk of the possibility of a quid pro quo with the National Democratic Alliance: in that context, Shiromani Akali Dal supremo P.S. Badal’s name was taken, and the BJP’s Jaswant Singh made a bid for the job.

But with that stage over, the Congress, a senior party functionary said, is determined to keep the VP’s job within the UPA. Those who have signed up to back Mr Pranab Mukherjee for President – the UPA with or without the Trinamool Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the CPI(M), the Forward Bloc and the Janata Dal- United – will also play a role in who will be the next VP.

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News Network
May 19,2020

New Delhi, May 19: The number of coronavirus cases crossed the one lakh mark in the country on Tuesday, while the death toll due to the infection touched 3,163, according to the Union Health Ministry.

A total of 134 deaths and 4,970 COVID-19 cases were reported in the country in the past 24 hours since 8 pm on Monday, it said.

The total number of coronavirus cases has risen to 1,01,139, the ministry said.

The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 58,802 while 39,173 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said.

"Thus, around 38.73 per cent patients have recovered so far," a senior health ministry official said.

The total confirmed cases include foreigners.

Of the 134 deaths reported since Monday morning, 51 were in Maharashtra, 35 in Gujarat, 14 in Uttar Pradesh, eight in Delhi, seven in Rajasthan, six in West Bengal, four in Madhya Pradesh, three in Tamil Nadu, two each in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, and one each in Bihar and Telangana.

Of the 3,163 fatalities, Maharashtra tops tally with 1,249 deaths. Gujarat comes second with 694 deaths, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 252, West Bengal at 244, Delhi at 168, Rajasthan at 138, Uttar Pradesh at 118, Tamil Nadu at 81 and Andhra Pradesh at 50.

The death toll reached 37 each in Karnataka and Punjab and 35 in Telangana.

Jammu and Kashmir has reported 15 fatalities due to the disease, Haryana has 14 deaths while Bihar has registered nine and Kerala and Odisha each have reported four deaths.

Jharkhand, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh each have recorded three COVID-19 fatalities, while Assam has reported two deaths.

 Meghalaya, Uttarakhand and Puducherry have reported one fatality each, according to the data provided by the ministry.

According to the ministry's website, more than 70 per cent of the deaths are due to comorbidities, the existence of multiple disorders in the same person.

According to the health ministry's data updated in the morning, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 35,058, followed by Tamil Nadu at 11,760, Gujarat at 11,745, Delhi at 10,054, Rajasthan at 5,507, Madhya Pradesh at 5,236 and Uttar Pradesh at 4,605.

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 2,825 in West Bengal, 2,474 in Andhra Pradesh and 1,980 in Punjab.

It has risen to 1,597 in Telangana, 1,391 in Bihar, 1,289 in Jammu and Kashmir, 1,246 in Karnataka and 928 in Haryana.

Odisha has reported 876 coronavirus infection cases so far, while Kerala has 630 cases. A total of 223 people have been infected with the virus in Jharkhand and 196 in Chandigarh.

Tripura has reported 167 cases, Assam has 107, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh have 93 cases each, Himachal Pradesh has 90 and Ladakh has registered 43 cases so far.

Goa has reported 38 COVID-19 cases, while the Andaman and Nicobar Islands has registered 33 infections.

Puducherry has registered 18 cases, Meghalaya has 13 and Manipur has seven cases. Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Dadar and Nagar Haveli have reported a case each till how.

"814 cases are being reassigned to states," the ministry said on its website, adding "our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR".

State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said.

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News Network
July 25,2020

New Delhi, Jul 25: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday accused the government of benefitting by making profits during the coronavirus-induced lockdown when people were in trouble.

He tagged a news report that claimed the Indian Railways was making profit by running 'Shramik trains' for transporting migrants during the pandemic.

"There are clouds of disease and people are in trouble, but one seeks to benefit -- this anti-people government is converting a disaster into profits and is earning," he said in a tweet in Hindi.

The news report claimed that the railways made a profit of Rs 428 crore by running Shramik special trains during the lockdown that transported migrants to their native places.

In another tweet, he lauded the efforts of the Himachal government in conducting a survey to select 'one district, one product', saying he had suggested this sometime back.

"This is a good idea. I had suggested it some time back. Its implementation will need a complete change of mindset," he said on Twitter.

He also tagged a report that stated the state Industries Department is conducting a baseline survey in all districts to select one district, one product for centrally-sponsored Micro and Small Enterprises Cluster Development Programme (MSE-CDP). 

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News Network
January 31,2020

Jan 31: President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday hailed the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act as "historic" in his address to joint sitting of both houses of Parliament, prompting protests by some opposition members.

He also said that debate and discussion on any issue strengthens democracy while violence during protests weaken it.

"The Citizenship Amendment Act is a historic law. It has fulfilled wishes of our founding fathers including Mahatma Gandhi," he said.

"Debate and discussions strengthen democracy, but violence during protests weaken democracy," he said without directly referring to the anti-CAA protests in the country some of which have witnessed violence.

In a reference to abrogation of Article 370, Kovind said there is happiness among people of India that people in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh have got rights on par with the rest of the country.

The president said Parliament has created record in the first seven months of the new government headed by Narendra Modi by enacting several landmark legislations.

"My government is taking strong steps for making this decade as India's decade and this century as India's century," he said.

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