She also paid tributes to war heroes, including Major Somnath Sharma, the country's first Param Vir Chakra recipient, and said the history and tradition of the state has been glorious.
Tag: NDA
-
Murmu has better chances to win prez polls after Maha development: Mamata
Banerjee stressed that “a consensus candidate is always better for the country”.
-
I am confident Droupadi Murmu will be a great President: PM Narendra Modi
By PTI
NEW DELHI: Soon after Droupadi Murmu was named as the BJP-led NDA’s presidential candidate, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the former Jharkhand governor has devoted her life to serving society and expressed confidence that she will be a “great President”.
Smt. Droupadi Murmu Ji has devoted her life to serving society and empowering the poor, downtrodden as well as the marginalised. She has rich administrative experience and had an outstanding gubernatorial tenure. I am confident she will be a great President of our nation.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 21, 2022
The BJP parliamentary board on Tuesday named Murmu, a tribal leader of the party from Odisha, as the ruling NDA’s candidate for the presidential election. “Droupadi Murmu Ji has devoted her life to serving society and empowering the poor, downtrodden as well as the marginalised,” Modi said on Twitter.She has rich administrative experience and had an outstanding gubernatorial tenure, he said. “I am confident she will be a great President of our nation,” Modi said.
The prime minister said that millions of people, especially those who have experienced poverty and faced hardships, derive great strength from the life of Droupadi Murmu. “Her understanding of policy matters and compassionate nature will greatly benefit our country,” Modi said.
-
Four NDA candidates, three of RJD elected unopposed to Bihar council
By PTI
PATNA: Seven candidates were on Monday declared elected unopposed to the Bihar legislative council.
According to the Bihar Vidhan Sabha secretariat, certificates were handed over to the respective candidates, four of whom were fielded by the ruling NDA and the remaining by the opposition RJD.
The biennial polls have enabled the RJD to raise its tally in the upper house by three.
The party fielded Mohd Qari Sohaib, Munni Rajak and Ashok Kumar Pandey, a Muslim, a Dalit woman and a Brahmin respectively, in a bid to prove that it cared for all sections of the society.
In the NDA camp, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) played hard ball and persuaded the BJP to agree to a “50-50 formula” even though the saffron party has many more MLAs than its coalition partner.
The JD(U) fielded Afaq Ahmed and Ravindra Singh, both national-level office bearers in the party, in a move aimed at boosting the morale of committed workers.
Moreover, Ahmed’s candidature sends across the message that the JD(U) remains steadfast in its commitment to secularism, the increasing clout of BJP notwithstanding. Singh is a Kurmi, the caste to which the chief minister belongs. His candidature underscores the point that fellow caste men of Kumar, the de-facto leader in the JD(U), will continue to be respected.
The second-most prominent Kurmi face in the party, Union minister RCP Singh, was recently denied another term in the Rajya Sabha, in a slap on the wrist for the bureaucrat-turned-politician with vaulting ambition.
The BJP has sought to assuage the Bhumihar community, who have of late grown indifferent towards the party, by fielding Anil Sharma of Jehanabad district. Its other candidate Hari Sahni is a Nishad, a sizeable OBC group which has been miffed with the BJP over the manner in which the saffron party got rid of its former protégé Mukesh Sahani.
According to saffron camp insiders, lack of support from Bhumihars and Nishads had led to its huge defeat in Bochahan assembly seat where by-election was held a couple of months ago.
-
No separate squadrons for NDA women cadets
Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The first batch of women cadets joining the National Defence Academy (NDA) will be housed together with male cadets. They will be sharing the premises of the squadrons with the male cadets.“The fresh batch of cadets, including the 19 women, will join the NDA in June,” an officer said. This includes 10 cadets in the Army, six in the Air Force and three in the Navy. Explaining the reason behind the decision, another officer said, “Had the women been housed in separate squadrons it would have defeated the purpose of joint training.”
Women were allowed in the NDA after SC’s intervention. “Initially, the women cadets will be housed in buddy pairs, and the same number of cadets will join further,” said the officer.The NDA is a training institution where the cadets opt for permanent Commission into the Army, Air Force and Navy. The academic calendar is divided into six terms and a group of 120-140 cadets lives together in a block, which is called squadron.There are a total of 18 squadrons, with 20-30 cadets from each term staying together. All the competitions and joint training are organised among these squadrons.
The women cadets passing out of the NDA will be granted permanent commission from their service academies. The Air Force has opened all the streams, including the fighter pilot, for women. In the Army, women join in the support arms and services, since Infantry, Armored and Artillery are not open for them yet. In the Navy, they will be commissioned into all streams except submarine and warships.
-
Rajasthan communal clashes: CM Gehlot says PM Modi should appeal to people to shun polarisation
By PTI
BARMER: A day after communal clashes broke out in Rajasthan’s Karauli district, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday alleged that an environment of religious polarisation had been created in the country after the BJP-led NDA came to power at the Centre and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should appeal to people to shun this unfair division.
He said peace, brotherhood and harmony are important for development.
“(In view of) the atmosphere which has been created in the country after the NDA government came to power, I believe that the prime minister himself should appeal to the people of the country that this polarisation in the name of religion and caste is not justified and is not in the interests of the country,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the incident that happened yesterday in Karauli and even today, there was a fight in Beawar over a small issue and one person was killed. If religions (of the persons involved) are different then in the name of religion, people polarise and make it an issue,” he told reporters in Barmer.
Gehlot also targeted the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh, saying fake encounters took place there. He said doing fake encounters is easy but the country will progress when the rule of law is established. “Only then justice will be done,” he said.
On the Karauli violence, Gehlot said he was worried since Saturday evening when he came to know about the incident. “I have directed the DGP to take stern action against all those who were involved in the matter, they may be from any community or any religion. A message should go to them that the rule of law will be established in Rajasthan, this is my belief.”
Incidents of arson and vandalism were reported on Saturday after stones were pelted at a motorcycle rally taken out to celebrate the Hindu New Year when it was passing through a Muslim-dominated locality, according to police. At least 35 people were injured in the violence.
The chief minister said that inflation and unemployment are key challenges today. Targeting the Centre over inflation and increasing fuel prices, he said that such a big deception never happened in the country.
He said that prices were not increased during elections in five states and now the fuel prices have started increasing. “The people of the country should understand their governance model,” he said.
-
Will deferring Assembly polls cost BJP presidential elections?
By IANS
NEW DELHI: Amid the possibility on deferring the upcoming Assembly elections due to threat of Covid’s rapidly-spreading Omicron variant, the Election Commission had, recently, said that all the parties want the elections at the scheduled time, but the opposition is indicating that the BJP is pushing for elections for their benefit even amid the threat of third wave.
Sources in the opposition camp say that the deferment of election means that BJP will not be that comfortable in the Presidential elections which is likely to be conducted in June-July in 2022, as the President is indirectly elected by an electoral college consisting of the elected members of both houses of parliament and the Assemblies.
The electoral colleges comprises 776 MPs of both the houses and 4,120 MLAs of all the states and Union Territories. The electoral college has 1,098,903 votes, and a majority is 549,452 votes. As per the value of votes is considered, UP has highest number of votes, approximately 83,824 followed by Maharashtra and West Bengal.
The BJP has brute majority in the assemblies of UP, Goa, Manipur, and Uttarakhand and any deferment will lead to the assemblies being dissolved and will put the game in the opposition camp. If it joins hands and puts up a joint candidate, the BJP will find it tough to win the election. The only way would be the division in the opposition camp which may be a difficult task.
If the opposition puts a candidate like NCP supremo Sharad Pawar who is capable of mustering support from others like the Trinamool Congress, the BJD, the TRS, the YSRCP, the CPI-M, the CPI and the other parties, then the BJP will have a tough task as it only the BJP will be having government in big states like MP, Gujarat and Karnataka.
The past NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee has to field A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to get support from non-NDA parties, while UPA candidates Pratibha Patil and Pranab Mukherjee had attracted support from many political parties.
-
Caste census on PM Narendra Modi’s government agenda next?
Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Will the Narendra Modi government bite the bullet to go ahead with a nationwide caste census? Yes, feel insiders from the NDA constituents. Like the decision to repeal the farm laws, the ruling dispensation is said to be mulling over a rethink on the contentious issue of caste census ahead of the polls in states including Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.
“A deep consideration to review the BJP stand on the nationwide caste census is going on. If everything goes well after considering all pros and cons, the BJP-led government may take another dramatic decision on it soon,” a party insider says, adding that the inputs received on the BJP’s stand have not been favourable.
In September, the central government had ruled out the possibility of a caste-based census through the Census-2021 exercise. After sustained attack by opposition parties and unease among its alliance parties, the BJP had shifted the onus of conducting such exercise on state government.
Given that Friday’s announcement to set aside the three agriculture laws is the second major volte face of the government after it put land acquisition on hold in 2015, the sources indicate that there may be an announcement of a caste census with the caveat of being again voted to power after 2024 general elections.
Those in the know from the NDA admit that the latest decision was taken in the wake of the Lakhimpur-Kheri episode. The decision to repeal the farm laws in principle was taken soon after former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, they say.
“It may have been Amarinder’s condition for a pre-poll alliance or because of mounting pressure from the Opposition and farmers. Or, it may be because of the unfavourable inputs the party had received in its internal survey. But it is a strategic move ahead of the polls in five states,” said a senior NDA leader.
Incidentally, the PM’s announcement to repeal the farm laws caught its allies in Bihar by surprise. “It was his (Modi) decision to bring the laws and again it is his decision to repeal. What can we comment on it?” said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
-
NDA announces candidates for Bihar assembly by-polls
By PTI
PATNA: The ruling NDA in Bihar on Friday announced its candidates for bypolls to Tarapur and Kusheshwar Asthan assembly segments, which have been necessitated by death of the incumbents.
The candidature of Rajeev Kumar Singh from Tarapur and Awadh Bhushan Hazari from Kusheshwar Asthan, a reserved seat, was announced at a press conference jointly addressed by JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan and state BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal, among others.
Both seats were won by the JD(U) in the assembly polls last year.
Tarapur fell vacant after Mewa Lal Chaudhary succumbed to COVID 19.
The party’s candidate from the seat happens to be an old lieutenant of Nitish Kumar.
The Kusheshwar Asthan candidate is the son of MLA Shashi Bhushan Hazari, who breathed his last at a Delhi hospital while undergoing treatment for Hepatitis B.
Filing of nomination papers for the two seats will take place till October 8 while the last date for withdrawal is October 16.
Voting will take place on October 30.