News Analysis India

Tag: BJP

  • Internet services suspended in Howrah amid protests over comments on Prophet

    By PTI

    HOWRAH: Internet services were suspended in West Bengal’s Howrah district on Friday evening amid violent protests over controversial comments against Prophet Mohammad by two suspended BJP spokespersons.

    The internet will remain suspended till 6 am on Monday, said an order issued by the Home and Hill Affairs Department. Voice calls and SMS services will remain active, it added.

    Internet services were suspended to prevent the spread of any rumour for unlawful activities, the order said.

    The decision was taken after a request was received from the additional director general and Inspector General of Police (Law and order), in the view of the recent events in some areas, it said.

    Howrah, where West Bengal secretariat Nabanna is located, witnessed violent protests since Thursday over the comments made by the now-suspended BJP spokespersons, Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal.

  • Stone pelting, protests in UP cities over Prophet remark; 136 arrested

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: People pelted stones at police personnel in Prayagraj and Saharanpur and protests broke out after Friday prayers in at least four other cities in Uttar Pradesh over a non-suspended BJP leader’s recent remarks on Prophet Mohammad.

    Police have arrested more than 130 people from six districts of the state.

    In Prayagraj, some motorcycles and carts were set on fire and an attempt was made to set ablaze a police vehicle. Police used tear gas and lathis to disperse mobs and peace was later restored, they said, adding that one policeman was hurt in the region.

    “As many as 136 protesting miscreants were arrested from six districts of the state till 9.45 pm on Friday,” Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said. He said 45 protesters were arrested from Saharanpur, 37 from Prayagraj, 23 people from Ambedkar Nagar, 20 from Hathras, seven from Moradabad, and four from Firozabad district.

    There was slogan-shouting against the now-suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma over her remarks during a TV debate, which also triggered outrage in several Islamic nations.

    In Saharanpur, protesters demanded the death sentence for her. There were also protests in Bijnor, Moradabad, Rampur and Lucknow over the controversial remarks. Sloganeering took place in Lucknow.

    According to the local people, stone pelting continued for over 15 minutes in Prayagraj. They said some of the miscreants pelted stones at the police personnel deployed on the main road and the situation escalated when more people joined the stone pelters.

    Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said, “Minor force was used to stop some people involved in the violence. The situation in Prayagraj is now peaceful. I would like to appeal to people to use democratic ways of protest without resorting to violence.”

    Uttar Pradesh’s Director General of Police (DGP) D S Chauhan said no life has been lost because of the proper arrangements made by the state police. “Because of our preparedness, no life has been lost. We will take strict action against those found involved in the violence,” he said.

    Additional Director General (ADG), Parayagraj Zone, Prem Prakash said a constable of Rapid Action Force (RAF) was injured during stone pelting in the region. Additional police force and teams of RAF were rushed to the spot. The police also fired tear gas shells and used force to stop the miscreants, he said.

    In Saharanpur, people holding placards raised slogans against Nupur Sharma. Some of them also turned violent after the security personnel tried to stop them. This led to brief stone pelting in the Nehru market area of the city.

    Some madrasa students also raised slogans in the Deoband area. The protesters also raised slogans demanding capital punishment for the suspended BJP leader.

    District Magistrate Akhilesh Singh told PTI, “Police had to retort to force when the protesters refused to hear the appeals of peace by police personnel. The protestors are being identified using CCTV footage for further action.”

    Four people, including the district president of AIMIM, were arrested in Bijnor as a precautionary measure.

    Superintendent of Police Dharamveer Singh said AIMIM district chief Abdullah along with one Iftekhar, Mahroof and Akil were arrested for inciting communal hatred.

    According to the police, the accused called a gathering near Purani Musfi area in Bijnor. The arrests were made on the complaint of people from the Muslim community, the SP said.

    People demanded action against the BJP leader and waved banners with “Arrest Nupur Sharma” written on them in Rampur and Moradabad.

    In Kanpur, which was the epicentre of communal violence last week, the Friday prayers were held in a peaceful manner with no reports of any untoward incident. The prayers were held under a watertight security vigil by police personnel.

    A heavy police force was deployed in the area with senior police and administrative officials present on the spot. This comes following clashes last week in Kanpur over the remarks on the Prophet at a TV debate some days earlier.

    A high alert was issued across the state after that, and a heavy police force was deployed to ensure that violence does not occur again.

  • RS polls: BJP suspends Rajasthan MLA for voting in favour of Congress candidate

    By PTI

    JAIPUR: The BJP on Friday suspended its Rajasthan MLA Shobharani Kushwah for cross-voting in favour of Congress candidate Pramod Tiwari in the Rajya Sabha elections.

    Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria issued an order stating Kushwah voted for Tiwari despite a whip and that she was being suspended from the BJP’s primary membership.

    In the letter, Kataria also asked the MLA to clarify why she voted against the whip.

    BJP state president Satish Poonia said the party high command has been informed about the matter.

    The Congress fielded three candidates for the four Rajya Sabha seats in Rajasthan, while the BJP fielded one, besides supporting an independent candidate.

  • Raut’s statements against Medha Somaiya prima facie defamatory, says court; issues summons

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, prima facie, made defamatory statements against BJP leader Kirit Somaiya’s wife Medha Somaiya, a Mumbai court held while issuing summons to the Sena leader in a defamation case filed by her.

    Metropolitan Magistrate (Sewree court) P I Mokashi had issued summons to Raut on Thursday, and the detailed order was made available on Friday.

    The magistrate has directed the Sena leader to appear before the court by July 4.

    The issuance of a process marks the beginning of criminal proceedings before a metropolitan or judicial magistrate based on a complaint lodged by an individual.

    Once the process is issued, the accused person has to appear before the court.

    Somaiya, in her complaint, filed through advocate Vivekanand Gupta, has claimed Raut had made baseless and completely defamatory allegations against her and her husband, accusing them of being involved in a scam worth Rs 100 crore in the construction and maintenance of some public toilets under the jurisdiction of the Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation.

    “The statements made by the accused to the media are per se defamatory. The statements have been made to malign my character in the eyes of the general public,” the complaint had stated.

    She had urged the court to issue a notice to Raut and begin proceedings against him on the charges of defamation as defined under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code.

    The magistrate held that documents and video clips produced on record, prima facie, reveals the accused has made defamatory statements against the complainant (Medha) on April 15 and 16 , 2022 so that it will be seen by the public at large and read by the public in the newspapers.

    It is also, prima facie, proved by the complainant that words spoken by Raut were such that it has harmed the reputation of the complainant, the court said.

    Thereby, ingredients of section 500 is, prima facie, proved against the accused, the court added.

    IPC section 499 pertains to defamation, while section 500 spells out punishment for the offence, which may be simple imprisonment for a term that may extend to two years or fine or both.

  • Chandigarh Diary: BJP-JJP prepare to give fight to Congress in RS poll

    Express News Service

    BJP-JJP prepare to give fight to Cong in RS pollIndependent MLAs backed by the BJP -JJP coalition in Haryana have been lodged in a Chandigarh resort owned by the Badal family. The stated purpose of the sojourn is a ‘training camp’ for the legislators, mostly first-timers, to apprise them on the process for the RS poll.  Meanwhile, the alliance top brass – with Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, CM Manohar Lal Khattar, BJP state chief O P Dhankar and Deputy CM and JJP leader Dushyant Chautala – has huddled around to chalk out a plan to defeat Congress’ Ajay Maken and ensure win of independent Kartikeya Sharma, son of former Congress leader Venod Sharma.

    Signature campaign fails to take offA Change.org signature campaign has been put forth by supporters of Amritsar (North) MLA and former IPS officer Kunwar Vijay Partap to elevate him as Home Minister. The AAP legislator took voluntary retirement to fight the assembly elections. His supporters have expressed resentment over him being denied a state cabinet berth. They apparently want Kunwar to be appointed home minister as law and order condition in the state is ebbing away. But with just 75 signs, the signature campaign desperately needs some traction. Former MLA Navjot Kaur Sidhu had expressed her resentment for ignoring Kunwar in the state cabinet.

    Gharachon: Home to Mann’s trusted aidesThe most trusted lieutenants of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann come from Gharachon village in Sangrur district of Punjab. As Gurmail Singh the AAP candidate for the  by-elections of Sangrur Lok Sabha seat is the sarpanch of this village, the seat fell vacant after Mann resigned from the Lok Sabha before taking over as the CM. Also, Rajbir Singh Ghuman is the OSD of the chief minister and Sukhvir Singh his ‘political adviser’ belong to this little-known village. The local public is known to approach them for any work over the local MLAs. As all three of them are considered close aides of Bhagwant Mann.

    Harpreet BajwaOur correspondent in Chandigarh [email protected]

  • Haryana Cong MLAs reach Delhi from Raipur, to arrive in Chandigarh hours before RS polls Friday

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Haryana Congress MLAs who were lodged in a resort in Chattisgarh’s Raipur reached Delhi Thursday evening and are expected to arrive here Friday morning to cast their votes in the Rajya Sabha elections, sources said.

    The ruling BJP-JJP MLAs remained lodged at a resort here for the second day as both sides braced for a keen contest on one of the two seats going to the polls.

    #WATCH | Haryana Congress MLAs arrive in Delhi, from Raipur in Chhattisgarh, ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/MT4jNPiox8
    — ANI (@ANI) June 9, 2022
    In a late-evening development, lone Indian National Lok Dal MLA Abhay Singh Chautala declared his support to Kartikeya Sharma, who has entered the fray as an Independent candidate backed by the BJP-JJP combine and most Independents.

    The BJP has fielded former minister Krishan Lal Panwar while Ajay Maken is the Congress nominee. The Congress had shifted its MLAs to Raipur a week ago fearing poaching of its legislators.

    Sources said they left the resort there on Thursday evening and reached Delhi. They are expected to reach Chandigarh in the morning. After reaching Chandigarh, they will have breakfast at Hooda’s residence here and proceed from there to cast their votes, sources said.

    Speaking to reporters in Delhi, senior Congress leader Vivek Bansal, who is the party’s Haryana affairs incharge, exuded confidence that Ajay Maken will win comfortably.

    Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda also said the party candidate will win comfortably.

    Senior party leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who had been in Delhi for the past few days, reached here on Thursday evening. It is learnt that both Hooda and party leader Kuldeep Bishnoi reached here in the same flight from Delhi.

    Earlier, Bishnoi, who is the MLA from Adampur in Hisar, did not go to Raipur as he was reportedly upset with the party for ignoring him in the recent reshuffle in its state unit. He had lobbied for the post of the state unit chief, which went to former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda loyalist Udai Bhan.

    Another senior leader, Kiran Choudhary, too, did not go to Raipur reportedly due to health reasons. “We have got sufficient numbers and our candidate will win comfortably with 31 votes,” Hooda had told PTI on Wednesday.

    The BJP-JJP too had shifted their MLAs to a resort in Chandigarh. They are attending a “training session” in connection with the voting process, Haryana BJP chief O P Dhankar had said.

    BJP’s senior leaders, including Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Dhankar, too had joined them.

    While the BJP with 40 MLAs has sufficient votes to win one seat, the contest has spiced up for the second seat with the entry of media baron Kartikeya Sharma. He is also supported by most Independents and Gopal Kanda, lone MLA of the Haryana Lokhit Party. A candidate needs 31 votes to win the elections.

    Indian National Lok Dal MLA Abhay Singh Chautala on Thursday declared his support to Sharma after a meeting of his party.

    Replying to a question, Abhay Singh Chautala said the media baron’s brother Manu Sharma, who had helped his father in the past, approached him for support. Now, by supporting Kartikeya Sharma, he is repaying the debt, he said.

    Chautala said there is no question of supporting the Congress, “which has looted the country”. “For me, there is also no question of voting for the BJP candidate as the party pursued anti-farmer policies,” he said.

    He said if he abstains from voting, then it would mean benefitting the Congress candidate in the fray, which he can never do.

    The INLD leader also lashed out at Bhupinder Singh Hooda, saying he can go to “any extent to serve his political interests”.

    Independent MLA Balraj Kundu, who is yet to make his stand clear on whom he will support, was on Thursday evening approached by Sharma’s father and former Union minister Venod Sharma, who sought support for his son.

    Venod, who had also remained a minister in the erstwhile Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led government, had floated his own outfit Jan Chetna Party. The media baron’s father-in-law Kuldeep Sharma is a senior Congress leader and a former speaker of the state Assembly.

    On Thursday, Balraj Kundu told reporters that he will reveal his strategy on Friday.

    Kundu took a dig at the BJP, saying its leaders used to take potshots at the Congress for lodging their legislators in a resort over fears of poaching but now they too have done the same thing. “Why the BJP and the JJP are lodging their MLAs in a resort here. One thing is clear from this that both outfits don’t have faith in their MLAs and they fear cross-voting,” he said.

    Haryana Assembly Secretary and Returning Officer for the polls R K Nandal said on Thursday the polling will be held from 9 am to 4 pm. The votes will be counted soon thereafter.

    The votes will be marked by a special pen provided by the Election Commission. Each MLA after casting his vote will hand over the pen to the officer deputed by the poll body, Nandal told reporters.

    Nandal said that Haryana’s Chief Electoral Officer and one central observer, who is Manipur’s Chief Electoral Officer, will be present to oversee the poll process.

    In the 90-member Haryana Assembly, the BJP has 40 MLAs while the Congress has 31.

    The JJP, which is an ally of the BJP, has 10 legislators while the Indian National Lok Dal and Haryana Lokhit Party have one each and seven are independents.

    Two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana will fall vacant in August with the terms of media baron Subhash Chandra and BJP leader Dushyant Gautam expiring.

  • Ensure your vote doesn’t turn invalid due to some mistake: Fadnavis tells party MLAs on RS polls eve

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: On the eve of elections to six Rajya Sabha seats in Maharashtra, senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday held a meeting here with the MLAs of his party, where he advised them to ensure that their votes do not turn invalid due to some mistake.

    The former chief minister was speaking to the BJP MLAs at a hotel. “You have been instructed on how to exercise the preferential voting for the Rajya Sabha. You will have to ensure that your vote will not become invalid due to some mistake,” the Leader of Opposition in the state Legislative Assembly said.

    “We have told you how to vote and you should do it accordingly,” he added.

    Union Railway Minister and election in-charge for the BJP Ashwini Vaishnav was also present at this meeting.

    Fadnavis, who tested negative for COVID-19 on Thursday, days after being found infected, joined the meeting and addressed the MLAs.

    After more than two decades, Maharashtra will witness a contest in the Rajya Sabha polls as there are seven candidates in the fray for six seats.

    Polling will be held at the Vidhan Bhavan, the state legislature complex, here between 9 am and 4 pm.

    Union minister Piyush Goyal, Anil Bonde, Dhananjay Mahadik (BJP), Praful Patel (NCP), Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar (Shiv Sena) and Imran Pratapgarhi (Congress) are in the fray for the six seats of the Upper House of Parliament.

    The contest is for the sixth seat – between BJP’s Mahadik and Sena’s Pawar. Every vote has become crucial after BJP decided to field its third candidate in the election.

    The BJP has 106 MLAs in the lower house of the Maharashtra legislature while it claimed to have support of some independent and small parties as well.

  • Wrong economic policies of govt have put burden of inflation on common people: Rahul

    “If you think inflation will go down in the coming times, then you are under a misconception. Get ready for a fresh onslaught from the Modi government in the coming days,” he said.

  • Despite numbers not in its favour, Oppn likely to put up joint candidate for presidential poll

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The opposition is likely to put up a joint candidate for the July 18 presidential election despite not having numbers on its side and consultations in this regard have already begun.

    Sources said that Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge has reached out to leaders of some opposition parties and sought their views for a joint opposition candidate who can be fielded.

    Some opposition parties are of the view that they should not give a walkover to the ruling dispensation but put up a fight, the sources said.

    CPI Rajya Sabha member Binoy Viswam said the Congress had reached out to him to discuss a “common candidate”.

    “Mallikarjun Khargeji called and consulted about a common candidate for the presidential election. I told him that the CPI would support a common candidate with secular credentials and progressive outlook. He replied that Madam Soniaji and the Congress Party also have the same position,” Viswam said in a tweet.

    “Consultations for the presidential election have begun among various opposition parties,” a senior opposition leader told PTI, adding that once a consensus is arrived at, a joint candidate may be put up.

    The BJP-led NDA is comfortably placed to win the presidential election with its vote share touching the 50 per cent mark of the total electors.

    While there are 776 MPs of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, each having 700 votes, there are as many as 4033 legislators in states with different votes who will also elect Ram Nath Kovind’s successor.

    Though the final list of electors will be notified after the bye-elections to three Lok Sabha seats and the Rajya Sabha polls to 16 seats, the NDA has 440 MPs in its favour while the opposition UPA has around 180 MPs, besides 36 MPs of Trinamool Congress who normally support the opposition candidate.

    The Congress and the BJP are likely to win six more Rajya Sabha seats in the June 10 election and the UPA partners may bag three seats more.

    According to rough calculations, the NDA has around 5,35,000 votes out of a total of 10,86,431 votes of all electors. This includes 3,08,000 votes with the support of its MPs along with that of its allies.

    The NDA candidate may get the support of some regional parties including the AIADMK, the BJD and the YSRCP for its candidate in the presidential poll. Among the states, the BJP has the maximum of 56,784 votes from Uttar Pradesh where it has 273 MLAs. Each MLA in Uttar Pradesh has the maximum vote of 208.

    The NDA will get its second-highest votes among states from Bihar where with 127 MLAs, it will get 21,971 votes as each legislator has 173 votes, followed by 18,375 votes from Maharashtra where it has 105 MLAs and each has 175 votes.

    With 131 MLAs, the NDA will get 17,161 votes from Madhya Pradesh, 16,464 votes of 112 MLAs from Gujarat and 15,982 votes of its 122 MLAs in Karnataka.

    The UPA, on the other hand, has a little over 1,50,000 votes from among its MPs and will get around the same number of votes from its legislators in states.

    Opposition candidates in the past too have been getting a little more than 3 lakh votes in the previous elections for the highest post in the country. The value of the vote of a Member of Parliament has gone down to 700 from 708 in the presidential polls this time due to the absence of a legislative assembly in Jammu and Kashmir.

    The value of the vote of an MP in a presidential election is based on the number of elected members in legislative assemblies of states and union territories, including Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir.

    Election will be held on July 18 to elect incumbent Kovind’s successor, the Election Commission announced on Thursday. The nominations can be filed after the issue of notification on June 15 till June 29, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar told a press conference.

  • BJP set to declare all-out war against KCR at Telangana meet

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: The BJP has decided to go all out against the KCR-led Telangana Rashtra Samithi government as a part of its ‘Look South India’ mission. The BJP’s two-day national executive committee meeting in Hyderabad beginning July 2 will see all BJP top guns blazing.

    The polls for the 119-member (plus one nominated) Telangana Assembly are due later this year. In 2018, the assembly was dissolved and elections were held the same year. The BJP could secure only one seat. However, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, it won 4 of the 17 seats with a vote share of 19.45 per cent.

    The BJP has come round to the view that K Chadrashekhar Rao (KCR) was pulling out all stops against the BJP in his bid to emerge as a key player in the projected Opposition unity for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. “We take it as a challenge,” said a senior party leader.

    BJP chief JP Nadda, Prime Minister Modi, among others are expected to attend the national executive.The PM had on Tuesday met BJP corporators from Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. Arun Singh, national general secretary and BJP’s headquarters in-charge, has informed office-bearers that discussions in the natio nal executive will centre on organizational issues, future programmes and preparations for the assembly elections.

    The party’s national leaders, besides amplifying “good governance” and ending the “dynastic misrule” of TRS, will also aggressively respond to controversies maligning the Modi government over a sacked party spokesperson’s uncharitable remarks on a religion. “Though the party has directed its spokespersons to avoid speaking on controversial issues, the national executive could also devise a way to counter such controversies,” said a senior party source.