India

Kurnool (Andhra Pradesh), Oct 19 (IANS) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that the BJP has the objectives of maintaining caste hierarchy, ensuring that women remain subservient to men and dividing India along regional lines.

The Congress MP was interacting with mediapersons at Adoni in Kurnool district during his Bharat Jodo Yatra.

He alleged that Congress has got two-three objectives. "It's first objective is to maintain caste hierarchy and eventually kill the Constitution, second make sure women are always subservient to Indian men and third is to divide India along regional lines," he said.

Rahul claimed that the views of Congress are diametrically opposed to BJP's objectives. "We want to protect the Constitution. We want to protect the rights of women and we bring communities and religions together. That is what Bharat Jodo Yatra is aimed at and it is doing this successfully," he said.

The Congress leader said people had started asking what is the need for violence hatred, why should we hate each other and why should we kill each other. These questions are being asked as a result of Yatra, he said.

Alleging that the hatred and violence being spread in India and the country is being divided, he said that the Yatra's aim is to unite the country again and to stand up to the violence.

"We are getting an opportunity to connect with people through Yatra. We are learning a lot," he said while evading a direct reply on why Congress was losing elections.

Rahul Gandhi claimed that the Congress party represents every single Indian person. "It does not discriminate between caste, community, religion and state. It is everybody's party. We defend the rights of poor people, rights of farmers, labourers, medium businesses and we want to bring harmony to the nation. Unlike most parties, Congress listens to people and has free and fair elections inside it. It has a culture of listening and carrying people along. Have ever heard of anybody publicly dissenting in BJP. Can you dissent in the YSR Congress or TDP. Dissent is not tolerated. These are dictatorships. Congress party is the only democratic and open minded party in the country," he said.

Replying to another query, he alleged that BJP's policies completely destroyed the strengths of the Indian economy. "Job creation in our economy has always happened on the back of small and medium business and a strong agriculture sector. Demonetisation and GST have destroyed both the systems. For the first time in their lives, farmers are paying GST on farming inputs. Ask any small business, they will tell you about devastation. Lakhs of small businesses have gone out of business and this has crippled job creation," he said.

The Congress MP also alleged that during the BJP rule there has been massive transfer of wealth from poor and middle class to a handful of rich people. "Third richest person in the world is an Indian. He is a close associate of the Prime Minister, a friend of the Prime Minister. Everybody knows how he became third richest. These people have access to the entire banking system while farmers can't access it. These people can have unlimited debt. The entire economy is crippled. Lot of work has to be done to bring the economy back to life," he said.

"The idea whether a strong or weak rupee is good or bad has more nuances. There are advantages of a strong rupee and there are disadvantages. Both those have to be taken into account," he said when asked about the falling value of Indian rupee against the dollar.

Rahul said the Congress party's idea of GST was one unifying tax. He claimed that their vision of GST was a tax that would develop out of a conversation with the states.

"The BJP imposed GST without a conversation with states. They have forced the GST. They have five different levels of GST. It is not there anywhere in the world. We are against the basic design of GST. We will bring GST, one simple tax after conversation with stakeholders. We are confident we can give a GST that will actually simplify people's lives," he said.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Oct 19 (IANS) Congress central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry has rejected the allegation levelled by team Shashi Tharoor regarding the party presidential poll, and said there was no basis of the complaint as there was no specific allegation.

He said on Wednesday that they have prepared a detailed reply on their allegations and said the letter should not have been leaked to the media. There were only two complaints about two ballot boxes during the counting, he said.

Mistry said, "Shri Mallikarjun Kharge and Dr. Shashi Tharoor were the candidates of the election of the President of Indian National Congress. The polling was held on 17th October, 2022 and counting took place today, i.e. 19th October, 2022 in the presence of the authorised Agents of the contested candidates. The total votes polled are 9,385. Mallikarjun Kharge got 7897 votes, Shashi Tharoor 1072. Invalid votes 416 Votes

"As per the Article XVIII (d) of the Constitution of Indian National Congress, I hereby declare Shri Mallikajun Kharge elected as President of Indian National Congress," he said.

--IANS
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Srinagar, Oct 18 (IANS) A hybrid terrorist belonging to terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), who lobbed a grenade in which two non-local labourers from Uttar Pradesh were killed in Harmen area of South Kashmir's Shopian district, has been arrested, Police said on Tuesday.

"Hybrid terrorist of proscribed terror outfit LeT, Imran Bashir Ganie of Harmen area, Shopian, who lobbed grenade arrested by Shopian police. Further investigation and raids are going on," Jammu and Kashmir Police quoting Additional Director General Police (Kashmir zone), Vijay Kumar tweeted.

The deceased victims were identified as Monish Kumar and Ram Sagar, both of whom are residents of Uttar Pradesh's Kannauj.

Soon after the attack, police parties reached the spot and an operation was started.

--IANS
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Lucknow, Oct 18 (IANS) Ahead of Diwali, the Uttar Pradesh government has announced an increase in dearness allowance and dearness relief of its employees and pensioners from 34 per cent at present to 38 per cent from July 1.

In a tweet on Monday midnight, the Chief Minister's office said, "Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has decided to increase the rate of dearness allowance and dearness relief from the present 34 per cent to 38 per cent with effect from July 1, 2022, keeping in mind the wider interest of the state employees and pensioners/family pensioners."

Further details are awaited.

--IANS
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Mainpuri (Uttar Pradesh), Oct 18 (IANS) The 15-year-old rape victim, who was allegedly raped by a relative and then set on fire, succumbed to her burn injuries during treatment at the Saifai Medical College hospital in Uttar Pradesh's Etawah, police said.

The girl was raped three months ago by a relative, who lives in the same village, police added.

On October 6, when she complained of a pain in her stomach, her mother took her to a community health centre where the doctor declared her pregnant.

When the victim's mother raised the matter with the mother and sister of the accused, they offered to get her married to the alleged rapist and took the girl with them.

On October 8 late evening, the accused allegedly set the girl on fire with petrol.

Superintendent of Police (SP), Kamlesh Dixit said that the girl was rushed to a community health centre hospital from where she was referred to the Saifai Medical Collage with critical burn injuries.

The victim's parents told mediapersons that they had been getting threats from the accused, and were forced to cremate their daughter in Etawah on Monday instead of the village where they live.

The SP said that the police have arrested the accused and his mother, while his sister, alleged to be complicit in the crime, is still absconding.

--IANS
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Farrukhabad (Uttar Pradesh), Oct 18 (IANS) On the complaint of a class 9 girl student in Nawabganj of Uttar Pradesh's Farrukhabad district, the school principal has been booked under the POCSO Act and other sections of the IPC, police said.

The girl had accused the manager-cum-principal of locking her up in a room and chopping off her hair.

The student, along with her family, also met Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Subhash Chandra Prajapati and complained about the matter.

The girl warned that she will end her life if stern action is not taken against the accused.

The student alleged that the accused had chopped off the hair of other girls in the past.

According to the complainant, the accused had made it mandatory for all the girls to make two braids but when she went with one braid, the principal chopped off her hair.

Merapur police station Inspector, Digvijay Singh said that on the basis of the complaint, a case has been registered against the accused principal, Sumit Yadav, under the IPC's sections 354-A (physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures) and 342 (wrongful confinement) and the provisions of the POCSO Act.

"Efforts are on to arrest the accused principal," he added.

--IANS
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Kolkata, Oct 17 (IANS) The West Bengal unit of BJP on Monday announced a reshuffle in its core committee with the induction of megastar Mithun Chakraborty.

A total of 24 leaders have been provided berths in the core committee, thus making it the biggest ever core committee of the party in the state.

However, another actor-turned-politician and former Rajya Sabha member, Rupa Ganguly, has not found a place in the new core committee.

The 24-member committee includes four permanent invitees -- the party's in-charge for West Bengal Sunil Bansal, and central observers for the state, Mangal Pande, Amit Malviya and Asha Lakra.

The state BJP has given the charge of the party's women's wing to another actor-turned-politician and Lok Sabha MP, Locket Chatterjee. Similarly, fashion designer-turned-politician and party MLA, Agnimitra Paul, has been given the charge of the observer of the state unit of the party's youth wing.

The other members in the core committee include state BJP President Sukanta Majumdar, national vice-president Dilip Ghosh and leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari, among others.

Mithun Chakraborty joined the BJP just before the 2021 Assembly polls. He was also quite active in campaigning at that point of time.

However, after the polls, he went for a sabbatical and attributed the low-key affair to health-related problems. However, during the last few months, he has become active again. Now after his induction in the core committee, the actor is expected to play a bigger role in the party in Bengal.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Oct 17 (IANS) The Gujarat government has told the Supreme Court that the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case were released since they completed 14 years in prison and their behaviour was found to be good, and also the Centre approved their release.

In an affidavit, the state Home Department's Under Secretary said: "I say that the state government considered all the opinions and decided to release 11 prisoners since they have completed 14 years and above in prisons and their behaviour was found to be good."

"The Government of India conveyed the concurrence/ approval of the Central Government under section 435 of the CrPC for premature release of 11 prisoners vide letter dated July 11, 2022," it added.

The affidavit said the state government considered the opinions of seven authorities --the Inspector General of Prisons, Gujarat, the Jail Superintendents, the Jail Advisory Committee, the District Magistrate, the Police Superintendent, the CBI, the Special Crime Branch, Mumbai, and the sessions court, Mumbai.

"After approval of the state government, orders have been issued on August 10, 2022 to release the prisoners. Hence, in instant case, the state has considered the proposals under policy of 1992 as directed by this court and not granted under the circular governing grant of remission to prisoners as part of celebration of 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav'," added the affidavit.

The affidavit said that all the convict prisoners have completed 14+ years in the prison under life imprisonment and opinions of the concerned authorities have been obtained as per the policy of July 9, 1992, and submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs, by letter dated June 28, 2022 and sought the approval/suitable orders of the Centre.

The affidavit said the state government is empowered to take the decisions on the proposal of premature release of prisoners under the provision of Section 432 and 433 of the CrPC. "However, considering the provision of Section 435 CrPC, it is indispensable to obtain the sanction of the Government of India in cases in which the investigation of the offence was carried out by a central investigation agency. In the present case, the investigation was carried out by the CBI and the state government has obtained the approval/suitable orders of the Government of India," it added.

The Gujarat government's response came on a plea has been filed by CPI-M's former MP Subhasini Ali, journalist Revati Laul, and Prof Roop Rekha Verma, challenging the release of 11 men convicted for the gang-rape of Bilkis Bano and multiple murders during the 2002 Gujarat riots. Another plea challenging the release of the convicts was filed by Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra.

The Gujarat government denied each and every assertion made by the petitioners and said the petition is not maintainable in law nor tenable on facts. "The petitioner, being a third stranger, has no locus to challenge the remission orders by the competent authority strictly as per applicable law in the instant case under the garb of a PIL," said the affidavit.

The affidavit submitted that it is well established that a PIL is not maintainable in a criminal matter and the petitioner is in no way connected to the proceedings which either convicted the accused in question nor with the proceedings which culminated in grant of remission to the convicts. Thus, a petition, at the instance of a mere busybody, (and) which has political machinations, is liable to be dismissed, it added.

On September 9, the apex court directed the Gujarat government to file all records, which formed the basis for granting remission to all the accused in the case. It directed the state government to file its response within 2 weeks and also asked advocate Rishi Malhotra, representing some of the accused, to file a response.

A convict in Bilkis Bano case has told the Supreme Court that the petition challenging Gujarat government's remission order is "speculative and politically motivated".

The plea filed by Radheysham Bhagwandas Shah said: "This court not only on the ground of locus and maintainability but also on the ground of such speculative and politically motivated petition should dismiss the said petition with heavy hand and imposed an exemplary cost so that such political motivated petition by strangers should not be encouraged in future by others."

--IANS
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New Delhi, Oct 17 (IANS) The Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia, on Monday termed the excise policy case as "completely fake and fabricated".

Addressing the media at his residence on Monday evening after nine hours of interrogation by the CBI at its headquarters here in connection with the case, Sisodia said, "During questioning, I understood that this is not a case about excise policy or corruption. The case is only aimed at making 'Operation Lotus' a success in Delhi."

Sisodia also alleged that he was pressured to quit the Aam Aadmi Party and join the BJP at the agency headquarters.

"I was pressured to join the BJP. 'These cases will go on like this... They will make you CM', I was told," Sisodia said, adding that the officials even suggested that in case of a switch, he would be offered the Chief Minister's post.

The Deputy CM added, "I told them that I find joy when a rickshaw puller's son joins the IIT. Today, I understood that the CBI is not investigating any scam... the case against me is just meant to make Operation Lotus a success here," he said.

"The BJP keeps saying that there was a scam of Rs 10,000 crore, but no scam happened. Today I understood that the whole case is fake and fabricated," he added.

Refuting Sisodia's allegations, the CBI said in a statement, "Some sections of the media have aired a video in which, after leaving the CBI office, Manish Sisodia has stated on camera that during his questioning, he was threatened to leave his political party and similar such insinuations.

"The CBI strongly refutes these allegations and reiterates that the examination of Shri Sisodia was carried out in a professional and legal manner strictly as per the allegations against him in the FIR. The investigation of the case will continue as per law."

The statement also said: "Manish Sisodia was today examined by CBI in connection with the ongoing investigation into Delhi excise policy case. He was examined strictly on the allegations in the FIR and the evidence collected so far during the course of investigation. His statement will be verified in due course and further action be taken as per the requirements of the investigation."

--IANS
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Mumbai, Oct 17 (IANS) In a major last-minute political development, Maharashtra's ruling ally Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday stepped out of the fray in the by-elections to the Andheri East Assembly constituency.

This paves the way for a smooth election for Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray party nominee Rutuja Ramesh Latke on November 3.

Hours after the announcement by state BJP President Chandrashekhar Bawankule, candidate Murji Patel withdrew his nomination papers on Monday evening - the last date for withdrawal.

Bawankule also assured that Patel would not contest as an independent or rebel, while Latke welcomed the development.

The BJP's change of heart came after appeals from a MLA of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray, and other leaders from different parties.

Latke thanked the BJP, NCP MNS and others for the move, saying that after the elections, she would work wholeheartedly for the development of Andheri East and fulfil her late husband Ramesh Latke's dreams.

State Congress President Nana Patole, NCP President Jayant Patil, Shiv Sena spokesperson Sushma Andhare and others took jibes at the BJP for deciding to withdraw from the contest.

Patole wondered whether it was linked with the ensuing BCCI elections, Patil said that the BJP was scared of defeat, and Andhare claimed Latke's victory was guaranteed prompting the BJP to leave the contest.

However, Raj Thackeray thanked the BJP for its move saying it will uphold the old political traditions in Maharashtra.

Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that after getting the requests from various quarters, he discussed the matter with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Bawankule and other state and central BJP leaders before deciding to bow out.

He and other BJP leaders dismissed the Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders' contentions and emphatically said that its nominee (Patel) would have romped home to victory by a huge victory margin.

--IANS
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