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Sudan’s war turns courtyards into temporary graveyards

Khartoum,: Nearly a year and a half after his sister's death, Moheddine Saleh still keeps a vivid memory of how his sister was buried...

Mamata Banerjee seeks UN intervention in Bangladesh crisis

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Monday, sought the intervention of the United Nations (UN) in the ongoing crisis in neighbouring Bangladesh. She...

Jay Shah begins tenure as ICC Chair, outlines plans on Olympics & women’s cricket

Dubai: As he commences his tenure as Chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Sunday, Jay Shah has given an outline of his...

Trinamool Congress underlines two key points of opposition to Waqf (Amendment) Bill

Kolkata: The ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal at its "Minority Gathering" programme here on Saturday underlined two key points for their opposition to...

Congress cries foul at MahaYuti for ‘using’ Maha public buses in poll campaign

Mumbai, April 18 (IANS) The Congress on Thursday lodged a complaint against the ruling MahaYuti ally Shiv Sena for allegedly violating the model code of conduct by using some 1,000 Maharashtra state transport buses for a poll campaign, here.

Congress Chief Spokesperson Atul Londhe has written to the Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) pointing out the unauthorised use of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC)'s buses for displaying publicity material of the ruling MahaYuti alliance.

"The banners have a huge picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with the Bow and Arrow symbol of the Shiv Sena and photos of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar. As per the Election Commission of India's letter no. 437/6/INST/2015-CCS dated 29.12.2015, the use of government and PSUs properties is banned for electoral campaigning. Despite this ban, the ST officials have allowed the illegal use of over 1,000 buses for the election campaign of Shiv Sena candidates," said Londhe's letter.

He called upon the CEO to take immediate and decisive action to address these violations, and cancel the candidature of all the LS candidates of Shiv Sena plus initiate appropriate disciplinary measures against the Shinde-led party.

Londhe also demanded action should also be taken against the senior officials of the Planning and Commercial Department of MSRTC for violation of Model Code of Conduct and ECI instructions in this regard to ensure the integrity of the election process.

--IANS

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Why is Pinarayi Vijayan being treated softly by BJP, ask Rahul & Shivakumar

Thiruvananthapuram, April 18 (IANS) Top Congress leaders and star campaigners, now in Kerala, on Thursday, wanted to know why Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is being treated softly by the BJP government.

This was asked by Rahul Gandhi while speaking at an election rally in Kannur, as well as by Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar while campaigning in Wayanad.

“I am 24x7 attacking BJP and Vijayan is 24x7 attacking me and I don’t know why. Two Chief Ministers are now in jail and I know that if anyone attacks BJP, they attack back using ED, CBI and other agencies. But no one knows why BJP is not sending CBI and ED to question the Kerala CM,” said Gandhi.

At Wayanad, Shivakumar asked the same question: why the BJP government is not taking action against Kerala CM.

Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, campaigning in the state capital also had the same thing to ask when he told a rally that BJP and CPI-M are hand in glove and that’s why the Kerala CM is allowed a free run.

Kerala goes to the polls on April 26 to elect 20 new Lok Sabha members to the Parliament.

--IANS

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Dubai rains: Anand Mahindra gives life lesson to Sanjiv Kapoor

New Delhi, April 18 (IANS) Giving a life lesson to former Jet Airways CEO-designate Sanjiv Kapoor, who responded to Anand Mahindra’s post on Dubai rains, the Mahindra Group Chairman on Thursday told him that it’s always good to "pause before you punch, reflect before you react".

Mahindra had shared a video of roads in Dubai flooded with stagnant water on X, saying, "Nope. Not Mumbai. Dubai."

The post caught the attention of Kapoor, who reposted it and wrote, "Incorrect analogy. Dubai was not built for such heavy rains - rains that would flood most cities. A better analogy would be if it suddenly snowed heavily in Bombay, which was obviously not built to handle snow at all. Would people in snowy Oslo mock Bombay?"

However, in a subsequent post, he clarified his stance, saying maybe it is not mocking Dubai.

But, "the point remains Dubai was not built for heavy rains, no matter what the source of the rain (seeding, etc.)".

Now, Mahindra has reacted to Kapoor’s post, saying, "I’m glad you subsequently retracted your comment implying that I was mocking Dubai, Sanjiv."

"In fact, the only purpose of my post was to highlight how atypical this weather was for Dubai," he added.

Giving an example of Kapoor's analogy, which he mentioned in his post, Mahindra said, "If it had ever snowed in Mumbai, I might well have said: 'Nope. Not Oslo. Mumbai' -- for the very same purpose of highlighting how atypical this weather was for Mumbai; not to mock Mumbai."

"I recommend that it’s always good to: PAUSE before you PUNCH, REFLECT before you REACT," he added.

--IANS

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Constituency Watch: Can division of anti-BJP votes make a dent in Trinamool fortress Diamond Harbour?

Kolkata, April 18 (IANS) Much before the announcement of the Lok Sabha poll schedule on March 16, the Diamond Harbour constituency in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district was the most talked about seat in the state. And it continues to remain so with polling scheduled on June 1, the last day of the seven-phase elections starting Friday.

The main reason for the public curiosity about this seat is its two-term sitting MP and Trinamool Congress General Secretary, Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who has been renominated this time as well.

Diamond Harbour was in the news since the beginning of the year after Nawsad Siddique, the lone All India Secular Front (AISF) representative in the West Bengal Assembly, expressed his desire to contest the seat, which has a substantial number of minority voters.

Given that Siddique is a popular face among the minority population in the state, a perception was formed that if he contests, Siddique could give a tough fight to Abhishek Banerjee. However, that possibility fizzled out after the AISF fielded Majnu Laskar from Diamond Harbour.

Interestingly, the BJP announced its candidate for the seat quite a few days after naming its nominees for the 41 other Lok Sabha constituencies in the state. On Tuesday, the party announced Abhijit Das, popular as Bobby, as the BJP candidate from Diamond Harbour. The delayed nomination seems to be part BJP's strategy considering Bobby’s long association with Diamond Harbour.

Besides contesting against Abhishek Banerjee from Diamond Harbour in 2014, Bobby was the BJP’s organisational district president for quite some time. He also has the experience of working as the co-convener of the party’s state election management team.

The CPI-M has fielded its young face and student leader Pratik Ur Rahaman, who has been associated with Diamond Harbour since his college days as a leader of the party's student wing, the SFI.

Rahaman is focussing more on door-to-door campaigns, raising issues of corruption, particularly the multi-crore cash-for-school jobs case in the state.

Going by recent electoral history, including the 2021 Assembly elections, Diamond Harbour has been a Trinamool stronghold since 2009, when veteran politician late Somen Mitra won from here on a TMC ticket, ending decades of CPI-M domination.

In 2019, Abhishek Banerjee was re-elected by a margin of over 3.20 lakh votes. In the 2021 Assembly elections, the Trinamool swept all seven seats under the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency.

A booth-wise analysis shows that the consolidation of minority votes in favour of Trinamool in both 2019 and 2021 led to landslide victories for the ruling party.

However, with the AISF candidate in the race now and the CPI-M fielding a strong candidate, both representing the minority community, it needs to be seen how far the Trinamool gains from the consolidation of minority votes this time.

Diamond Harbour was traditionally a red bastion from 1967 to 2009, handing the CPI-M 13 victories in a row.

The constituency has given the Lok Sabha some of the most respected Parliamentarians such as Jyotirmoy Basu, Amal Dutta, and Samik Lahiri.

However, the equation changed in 2009 when Somen Mitra won, and the trend continued since then with Abhishek Banerjee scripting back-to-back victories in 2014 and 2019, and the Trinamool sweeping the Assembly polls.

--IANS

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EAM Jaishankar to undertake three-nation Southeast Asia trip to bolster bilateral ties

New Delhi, March 16 (IANS) External Affairs Minister (EAM), S Jaishankar, will embark on a three-nation tour to Singapore, the Philippines, and Malaysia from March 23 - 27 to strengthen bilateral relations.

The visit to the Southeast Asian nations will provide an opportunity for engagement on regional issues of mutual concern, a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) release said on Saturday.

Focused on enhancing bilateral relations, the visit comes just after EAM Jaishankar's trip to Japan to take stock of bilateral ties and explore ways to transform the Special Strategic and Global Partnership between the two countries.

Dr Jaishankar last visited Singapore in October 2023 to deepen the Strategic Partnership between the two countries, where he met President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.

At the invitation of Dr Jaishankar, then Malaysian Foreign Minister, Zambry Abdul Kadir, paid an official visit to India in November 2023, to co-chair the sixth India-Malaysia Joint Commission Meeting in New Delhi.

In June 2023, EAM Jaishankar and Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, Enrique A. Manalo, co-chaired the fifth meeting of the Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation at Hyderabad House in New Delhi.

The two leaders held wide-ranging and substantive discussions on regional and international issues of mutual concern, according to an MEA release.

Acknowledging that both countries have a shared interest in a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific region, the two nations underlined the need for peaceful settlement of disputes and adherence to international laws.

--IANS

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Will Bengal see a repeat of the ‘unique developments’ witnessed during 2019 LS polls?

Kolkata, March 15 (IANS) The 2019 Lok Sabha elections saw too many 'unique developments' in West Bengal, which was not the case in the previous polls.

The first was in the results, which virtually marked the beginning of the emergence of the BJP as the principal opposition force in the state, replacing the CPI(M)-led Left Front and the Congress to a large extent.

In 2019, the BJP ended up winning 18 out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, marking a big jump from its tally of 2 seats in 2014, and a single seat in 2009.

Besides the impressive tally, what was more noticeable was the sharp penetration of the BJP in the rural pockets of the state, which have a sizeable backward class and tribal population.

A dedicated vote bank for the CPI(M)-led Left Front for nearly three decades, these areas started strengthening the base for the Trinamool Congress since 2009, when for the first time signs of the collapse of the Red fort in West Bengal started to become evident.

Another major development in the 2019 elections was the Left drawing a blank in West Bengal for the first time since Independence. While Congress somehow saved its face to some extent by winning two seats, the Trinamool Congress ended with 22 seats, 12 less than its 2014 tally of 34.

However, this time the BJP’s central leadership is hopeful of increasing its tally further in West Bengal, with some surveys already making projections on similar lines.

Incidentally, a day before the announcement of election results in 2019, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had claimed "42 out of 42" seats for the Trinamool.

Probably having learnt a lesson from the 2019 results, the Trinamool leadership, including the Chief Minister, has refrained from announcing any figures in its favour so far this time.

The 2019 elections were also unique in terms of different poll-related arrangements.

The state had voted in all seven phases last time, just like Uttar Pradesh which has far more Lok Sabha seats (80) as compared to West Bengal (42).

Sensing that the number of phases will be the same this time as well, if not more, the Trinamool leadership has already started raising demands for holding single-phase polls in the state.

In 2019, a total of 350 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) were deployed in West Bengal, much higher than the previous two elections.

This time, the Election Commission of India has already announced the deployment of 920 companies of CAPF, the highest among all Indian states. Interestingly, the deployment of CAPF in 2019 in West Bengal started only after the poll dates were announced and the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into force.

However, this time the deployment started much before the election dates were announced. Already, 150 companies of CAPF have been deployed in West Bengal with the announcement of poll dates scheduled on Saturday.

The Trinamool has also raised objections to the early deployment of CAPF in the state. According to the ruling party, the CAPF personnel deployed in advance are occupying several educational institutions, affecting the academic process there.

--IANS

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