Regional

Bulandshahr (UP), April 18 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Thursday that while SP, BSP and Congress used to run their governments on riot policy, the BJP runs it on the policy of development.

“BJP is necessary for faith, security and prosperity. People of SP, BSP and Congress are under curfew. During their rule, a curfew was imposed for months but today there is no curfew in the state. These people used to create chaos in the state by instigating riots. They used to run riot policy, we run the policy of development. In our government, the path of 'Ram-Ram' journey will remain open for the common people of the state and 'Ram Naam Satya' for the mafia criminals,” he said while addressing an election meeting in Bulandshahr.

The chief minister said that before 2014, terrorism was on the rise.

“Today, we all are in new India. People who witnessed the 2014 elections know what kind of India was at that time. They should tell the present generation and new voters that before that there was resentment and distrust among the people. Terrorism, Naxalism and separatism were becoming rampant in the country. Corruption was at its peak in all the institutions of the country. The youths were disappointed and the farmers were committing suicide,” he stated.

He said that in the past 10 years, people have seen a changing India. Problems like Naxalism and terrorism etc. have been solved.

“Congress gave the problem and the entire country including Jammu, was brought under the grip of terrorism. There were explosions every day, and innocent people died. Families were devastated, but Congress remained a spectator. Even once these people were not ready to speak against terrorism but today Article 370 has been abolished,” he said.

The chief minister further said that Asia's largest airport being built in Jewar is an example of development. Secunderabad and Jewar will benefit the most from this. He said that the economy of the country and the state has strengthened.

“We are going to provide a rapid rail facility. Metro is coming. Rail connectivity, the junction of the dedicated freight corridor in Dadri, the country's largest logistics centre is also going to be built here, where lakhs of jobs will be created,” he said.

Yogi Adityanath also enumerated the development schemes and said that the Ayushman card has taken care of the health issues that people face.

By solving the problems of builder-buyers in Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Authority, the cases pending for years are being closed and the buyers are being given rights.

He further said, “This election is between the family of selfishness and the family of PM Modi (India of 140 crore people).

People of SP, BSP and Congress cannot even think outside their families. Now there is a better environment for security investment. After 500 years, Ram Lalla got the opportunity to celebrate His birthday at His birthplace. You must have seen the consecration of Suryavanshi Ram with the tilak applied by the rays of Lord Surya. The entire Sanatan was glowing after seeing that aura.”

The chief minister gave the credit for the prosperity that India got to PM Narendra Modi and said that a development-oriented government will be possible only with lotus flower (BJP symbol).

--IANS

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Hyderabad, April 18 (IANS) Union Tourism and Culture Minister G. Kishan Reddy on Thursday exuded confidence that BJP will win 12 out of 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana.

The state BJP chief called upon party leaders and workers to ensure that the party wins the maximum number of seats in the state.

Kishan Reddy was speaking after accompanying party candidate Eatala Rajender to file nomination papers from the Malkajgiri seat.

He said that the Congress party came to power in Telangana by accident. He also remarked that as long as Rahul Gandhi is the leader of Congress, the BJP will have no problems.

He also claimed that the Centre allocated Rs 10 lakh crore to Telangana during the last 10 years. A day before filing the nomination, the state BJP chief released the report to the people.

He stated that Telangana received Rs 2.03 lakh crore towards its share in central taxes. The Centre also spent Rs 6.02 lakh crore on various development and welfare schemes in the state.

Union Minister Reddy, who is seeking re-election from Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency, also released a report, listing the development works undertaken in the constituency and the state during the last five years.

He also highlighted the development of national highways, railway projects, rail manufacturing unit in Kazipet, PM Mitra Textile Park in Warangal, new fertiliser plant set up in Ramagundam, funds given to Hyderabad Metro project under Viability Gap Funding, Sri Konda Laxman Bapuji Horticulture University set up in Siddipet district, Sammakka Sarakka National Tribal University coming up in Mulugu, Bibinagar AIMS, Hyderabad IIT, National Animal Resource Facility for Biomedical Research, distribution of free ration launched during Covid-19 pandemic and fertiliser subsidy for farmers.

The union minister also explained the works taken up for modernisation of railway stations in his constituency.

He said airport-like amenities will be provided at Secunderabad, Kachiguda, Nampally and Begumpet railway stations. A new railway terminal is being built at Cherlapally.

He said MMTS phase-II works were completed and services were launched. The services will be extended to Yadadri with the Centre bearing the entire cost of the project.

Kishan Reddy also mentioned the launch of four Vande Bharat trains from the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, the regional ring road around Hyderabad and proposed outer ring rail, road projects for traffic decongestion and other projects.

--IANS

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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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Bengaluru, April 18 (IANS) Mansoor Ali Khan, son of former Union Minister K. Rahman Khan and the sole Muslim candidate not only from the Congress but from any major party in Karnataka in the coming Lok Sabha polls, has been fielded from Bangalore Central parliamentary constituency where he faces the challenging task of wresting the seat regarded as a BJP stronghold.

While sitting BJP member P.C. Mohan has won the seat in the last three elections, the Congress, which won five out of eight Assembly constituencies that comprise the parliamentary constituency in the 2023 elections, is hopeful this time.

Making it more of a prestige issue is the fact that out of the five seats it holds are those won by Power Minister K.J. George, Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, and Housing and Wakf Minister Zameer Ahmad Khan.

The Congress has tasked the ministers to ensure the victory of Mansoor Ali Khan but infighting hampered his campaign in the initial stages, including the absence of top leaders of the Congress at the time of filing of nomination.

Congress MLA from Shanthinagar Assembly constituency N.A. Haris was lobbying for the ticket for the seat for his son Mohammed Nalpad while Political Secretary to the Chief Minister Naseer Ahmed was also an aspirant, and both remained aloof from the campaign earlier.

Apart from them, the three ministers also remained absent during the nomination, but cite the change of dates for filing of nomination as the reason.

Sources within Congress say that the leaders are not happy with the choice of the candidate.

However, Mansoor Ali Khan is well educated and the trustee of KK Educational and Charitable Trust, established by his father, which has made significant contributions in the field of education.

Taking up intensified campaigning in the constituency, he has been claiming that there has been no development there for 15 years now.

On the other hand, BJP candidate P.C. Mohan, seeking his fourth consecutive term, is confident of retaining the seat due to his people connection, simple nature, and availability to the public.

Mohan had defeated Congress MLA Rizwan Arshad by 70,968 votes in the 2019 polls and by 1.37 lakh votes in 2014. However, in 2009, he won against Congress' H.T. Sangliana by around 35,000 votes. He was elected from Bengaluru's Chickpet Assembly constituency twice - in 1999 and 2004.

The BJP cadres are looking to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bengaluru on April 20 and are confident that this will give them a boost. The BJP, which holds the C.V. Ramannagar, Rajajinagar, and Mahadevapura assembly segments, is also hopeful that the alliance with the JD-S will fetch them more votes.

--IANS

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Jalna (Maharashtra), March 16 (IANS) Just ahead of the announcement of the Lok Sabha election schedule, Shivba Sanghatana leader, Manoj Jarange-Patil on Saturday warned that the Maharashtra government would face the wrath of the Marathas in the parliamentary polls.

Speaking to the media in Jalna, he said if justice was not given to the Marathas in the name of the Model Code of Conduct that would come into force soon after the poll dates are announced then the Maharashtra government would face the long-term repercussions of its actions.

“The government has still not fulfilled its promises of withdrawing cases against the Maratha men and women… The draft on ‘Sage-Soyare’ (family bloodline) has not yet been notified. If you don’t decide now, then the Marathas will take the decision,” he said in a grim warning.

He said that the previous rulers had concern for the cause of the Marathas, but the present regime is not bothered about the community and it is being blatantly ignored.

“If Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis do not want to face the wave of displeasure of the community, then they must immediately implement all the promises made to the Marathas,” demanded Jarange-Patil.

He reminded the government that the Marathas had been protesting for over seven months since August and cautioned against humiliating them more “or they can turn the tide against you.”

Meanwhile, following a call by Jarange-Patil for candidates from five villages to file their nominations, members of the Maratha community are likely to contest the Lok Sabha elections in large numbers.

This could upset the political calculations of the two major contending alliances – the ruling Mahayuti of the Shiv Sena-BJP-NCP(AP) and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi of Congress-Shiv Sena (UBT)-NCP(SP) and their Maratha candidates.

--IANS

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Chennai, March 16 (IANS) Protests are being carried out in Puducherry and Tamil Nadu on Saturday over arrest of fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy.

At least 12 fishermen from Puducherry and three from Tamil Nadu were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy personnel along with their costly mechanised boats on Friday.

Antony John and R. Selvam, leaders of the Fishermen association of Tamil Nadu, told IANS that the fishers were protesting at Myladuthurai and Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu.

Another group of fishermen is protesting at Puducherry, the association's leaders said.

Of the three fishermen arrested from Tamil Nadu, two are from Nagapattinam and one from Myladuthurai.

The fishermen are blocking the road at Nagaattinam while a demonstration is being carried out at Myladuthurai against the arrests.

Fishermen are shouting slogans at Puducherry main road against the arrests and impounding of boats.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M. K. Stalin has written to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar seeking his intervention for release of the fishermen.

In 2024 itself, Sri Lankan Navy has arrested 125 fishermen from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on charges of crossing International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) and poaching in Sri Lankan waters.

Six costly mechanised boats were impounded by the Lankan Navy.

While some of the arrested fishermen were released, their mechanised boats are still in custody of Sri Lankan authorities.

--IANS

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Jammu, March 16 (IANS) The Army, on Friday, arrested one suspicious person near the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district.

“The person was nabbed in Nowshera sector of the LoC, late Friday night,” officials said.

“He is shifted to a nearby army camp where questioning is going on,” he added.

There was no official word on whether any weapon was recovered from the possession of the nabbed person.

--IANS

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Kolkata, March 16 (IANS) Sheikh Alamgir, the younger brother of the suspended Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan, the accused mastermind behind the January 5 attack on ED and CAPF personnel at Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas District, is being grilled by the CBI.

Sheikh Alamgir arrived at the Nizam Palace office of the CBI in central Kolkata on Saturday morning along with a few other associates of the suspended leader, to face interrogation by the central agency sleuths in the matter.

On March 13, the CBI issued a notice to Sheikh Alamgir asking him to be present at its Nizam Palace office on March 14, but he did not turn up on that date.

However, ending speculation on whether he would appear to face the CBI’s interrogation, he reached the Nizam Palace office at around 11.45 am on Saturday.

He was accompanied by some other close associates of Sheikh Shahjahan, who had also been summoned by the CBI for interrogation in connection with the attack on ED and CAPF sleuths.

Meanwhile, the ED on Saturday issued a notice to Sheikh Alamgir for interrogation in connection with the multi-crore ration distribution case in West Bengal.

The ED sleuths have also issued a similar notice to Sheikh Siraz, another brother of Sheikh Shahjahan, who is currently in the custody of the CBI.

Both Alamgir and Siraz have been asked to be present at the ED’s office at the Central Government Office (CGO) complex at Salt Lake.

In the latest raids at multiple locations at Sandeshkhali the ED had secured crucial clues linking two aspects of the PDS case to Alamgir. They are, the investment of the scam proceeds in the fish export business owned by his brother Shahjahan, and the subsequent diversion of the funds abroad using the hawala route.

According to sources, since Alamgir played an important role in day-to-day operations of the fish export business, his interrogation has become imperative.

--IANS

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Chennai, Mar 16 (IANS) With the Election Commission of India set to announce the 2024 poll dates today, political parties will soon announce the list of candidates from Tamil Nadu.

However, regarding the Thoothukudi seat, the INDIA bloc, headed by DMK, is to retain its representative Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, daughter of iconic DMK leader and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Late M. Karunanidhi, and sister of present Chief Minister M. K. Stalin.

Kanimozhi is well accepted across the constituency and has the advantage DMK enjoys in the state.

The port city of Thoothukudi, however, elected both AIADMK and DMK from this constituency.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Kanimozhi had won the Thoothukudi seat with a margin of 3,47,209 votes, defeating her nearest opponent, Tamilisai Soundararajan of NDA. While Kanimozhi polled, 5,63,143 votes, Tamilisai could garner only 2, 5,934 votes.

The Thoothukudi Lok Sabha constituency comprises Vilathikulam, Thoothukudi, Tiruchendur, Srivaikuntam, Ottapidaram and Kovilpatti assembly segments.

Of these six assembly constituencies, five are with INDIA bloc and one seat, Kovilpatti, is won by AIADMK's Kadambur S.Raju. This shows that the DMK-led INDIA bloc is strong in Thoothukudi Lok Sabha constituency.

In 2019, Kanimozhi had defeated Tamilisai of BJP who contested as a joint NDA candidate supported by AIADMK, BJP and PMK. However, with NDA now split with AIADMK and BJP not seeing eye to eye, and PMK undecided on the alliance, Kanimozhi seems to be in a pivotal position in this high profile constituency without a significant opposition.

--IANS

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Mumbai, March 16 (IANS) Actress Deepika Singh has shared that even after her busy schedule, she continues to pursue her passion for dance, honing her skills, and spending time with her child, which helps her find balance and stay true to herself.

Deepika is currently playing Mangal in the show 'Mangal Lakshmi', which is a story of two sisters striving to uphold each other's dignity in their relationships.

In the current storyline, Mangal is juggling between portraying a loving mother, a supportive wife, and an ideal daughter-in-law.

Similarly, in her real life, Deepika, who is best known for her work in 'Diya Aur Baati Hum', is juggling between her motherhood days, acting, and professional dance.

Talking about the same, Deepika shared: "Balancing motherhood, acting, and dance is certainly a challenge, but it's also incredibly rewarding for me. Each role brings its own set of joys and responsibilities, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to pursue my passion while being there for my child. I believe hard work is the key to success."

The actress said the love she receives from her family is the key strength that helps her to balance these diverse roles and manage everything at the same time.

"When I go home after a late shift and hug my child, it’s the best feeling for me. My child enjoys co curriculars and hence he has willingly asked to join classes which keep him busy. Being a mother and an artist at the same time has helped me grow both personally and professionally," she added.

In the current episodes, Lakshmi almost catches Adit (Naman Shaw) at Saumya's (Jia Mustafa) house, but he narrowly escapes. However, Mangal sustains an injury due to Adit's actions and is rushed to the hospital by Lakshmi (Sanika Amit) and Kartik (Shubham Dipta).

Meanwhile, Mangal, is preparing for her new house Griha Pravesh in full swing. Later, Adit invites his colleagues to the house for the Griha Pravesh puja.

'Mangal Lakshmi' airs on Colors.

--IANS

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