THE HEADLINES
- Arvind Kejriwal invites Prime Minister to swearing-in ceremony; Mr Modi says he cannot attend due to prior engagement.
- Prime Minister says he is apalled by the temple dedicated to him in Gujarat.
- Nitish kumar slams delay in trust vote in Bihar Assembly.
- Delhi Police questions Shashi Tharoor for the second time in Sunanda Pushkar murder case.
- Haryana government gives clean chit to Dera Sacha Sauda Chief in connection with arms training to his followers.
- 48 bidders shortlisted for 7 coal blocks reserved for power sector, says Coal Secretary.
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Delhi Chief Minister designate Arvind Kejriwal today called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence. He invited Mr Modi for the swearing ceremony of his government on Saturday. After the meeting, Manish Sisodia, who accompanied Mr. Kejriwal said, they had a good talk with the Prime Minister and told him that there is a majority government at Centre and Delhi and hence this is a golden opportunity for the two governments to work in close coordination. Mr. Sisodia also said that they demanded full statehood for Delhi and Mr Modi has assured to look into it. Mr Sisodia said that the Prime Minister will not attend Mr Kejriwal's oath-taking ceremony because of his prior engagements in Maharashtra.
He won't be able to attend the ceremony. Due to pre Scheduled programme from about 2 months he would have been happy to be a part of the event but will not be able to attend it. On the full statehood issue to Delhi, he said that he will consider it.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that he is appalled at the news of a Temple built in Gujarat which has been dedicated to him. In a tweet, Mr Modi said it is shocking and against country`s great traditions and urged people not to do so. He said if people have time and resources, they should devote the same towards fulfilling the dreams of a Clean India.
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JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar has accused Bihar Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi of encouraging horse trading of MLAs and vitiating the political atmosphere in the state. Talking to reporters in New Delhi, Mr Kumar condemned Governor's decision to allow Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi to prove his majority on the floor of the House on the 20th of this month. He alleged that the governor is acting at the behest of central government.
In the process of government formation in Bihar there should not be any delay. We have also said that the present government should be given an opportunity to prove majority in the house.
Yesterday Mr Kumar met President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapti Bhawan and paraded 130 MLAs, who are supporting him as leader of JD(U) legislature party. Our correspondent has filed this report:
Fate of Manjhi government will be decided on February 20. Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi reiterated that he would prove his majority on the floor of the House. He refused to disclose his strategy on how to win majority when his rival Nitish Kumar is claiming to have support of 130 MLAS . The Manjhi government needs support of 117 legislators in the assembly which has an effective strength of 233 legislators in 243 member house. Meanwhile, sources claimed that Chief Minister is planning to extend his cabinet. As per norms of the constitution, he can induct 27 more ministers as his present Cabinet has only eight ministers. K.K. LAL, AIR NEWS, PATNA.
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The Delhi Police has said that the SIT set up to probe the Sunanda Pushkar murder case will again question her husband, Congress leader and former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor today. Talking to reporters yesterday, Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi said, Mr Tharoor will be questioned again as police need to obtain some clarifications from him. Our correspondent reports that Sunanda was found dead in mysterious circumstances at a hotel in Delhi in January last year. The Delhi High Court yesterday refused to entertain a PIL seeking CBI probe into Sunanda Pushkar's death.
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Haryana Government has given clean chit to Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh against the charges of arms training being imparted secretly to his followers on the premises of Dera headquarters'. Submitting an affidavit Haryana's Additional Home Secretary told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that a committee set up by the government to probe the allegations have found neither illegal arms nor proof of any arms training at Dera headquarters or its branches. The government affidavit states that the Dera's security personnel have licensed weapons, which are regularly inspected by the authorities. Notably, Punjab and Haryana High Court had issued notices to Ram Rahim and the Haryana government over allegations of arms training by serving and former Army men to the sect's followers . Earlier, the court had sought details about other Deras whose activities are similar to Satlok Ashram from a Senior advocate Anupam Gupta, who was appointed the amicus curiae in the Hisar-based Satlok Ashram's Rampal case. Submitting report, the amicus curiae had told the court that the Dera followers are being trained in arms handling by serving and former Indian Army personnel. Gupta had also submitted a letter, circulated internally by the Indian Army warning its officials to abstain from getting directly or indirectly involved with the Dera Sacha Sauda in any manner.
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The Panchkula special CBI court has allowed permission to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh to go abroad from February 20 to March 3rd for the promotion of his film ‘MSG- Messenger of God". The court has also directed the dera chief to furnish security bonds of Rs 10 lakh, each, for the three criminal cases pending against him in the court. The defence counsel of the dera on Tuesday moved an application seeking permission for the Dera chief to go abroad for promotion of his film from February 20 to March 5. The film is to be released on February 13 in the country.
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Gujarat High Court today rejected anticipatory bail plea of social activist Teesta Setalwad in the Gulberg society fund embezzlement case. Justice JB Pardiwala had on January 30 reserved the order on the bail petitions filed by Setalwad, Javed Anand, Tanvir Jafri, whose father Ehsan Jafri, a former Congress MP, was killed during the 2002 Gujarat riots, and Firoz Gulzar, a resident of Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad. They are accused of misusing funds to the tune of Rs 1.51 crore. All the accused now face arrest. Setalwad, who has been espousing the cause of the victims of 2002 Gujarat riots, and others, have been contending that the case was filed against them with political motives and they had not misused the funds. On March 25, 2014, the sessions court had rejected their pre-arrest bail applications.
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Delhi BJP President Satish Upadhyay has said that the party could have avoided Arvind Kejriwal-centric and negative campaign which probably helped the AAP leader get sympathy. Speaking at a programme yesterday, Mr Upadhyay said, BJP put Kejriwal on the centre-stage by its negative campaign. He said this would be part of the party’s introspection. Asked if the objectionable remarks made by Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti had hurt the campaign, Mr Upadhyay admitted that such remarks could have been avoided. He said the AAP may have won a huge mandate but governing Delhi is not an easy task as there are multiple authorities. He said, BJP may not be able to oppose AAP's policies in the Delhi assembly, but it will do the job outside. Another party leader Jagdish Mukhi questioned delays in announcing the polls and naming Kiran Bedi as the chief ministerial candidate. He maintained that the delay in announcing both the Chief Ministerial candidate and the party nominees may have cost the BJP dearly. He said in politics, opportunities once missed are lost forever.
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Government today said auctioning process of coal mines is going as per schedule and technical bids for Schedule II and Schedule III have been finalised. Briefing media in New Delhi today, Coal Secretary Anil Swarup expressed confidence that process for coal allocation would be completed by 31st March. He said 48 bidders have been shortlisted for the 7 blocks reserved for the power sector and 86 bidders have been shortlisted for the 16 blocks for the non-regulated sector. Mr Swarup said two mines in Schedule II have been put on hold as per directions of Jabalpur High Court and three mines under Schedule III have been put on hold on Delhi High Court orders. He said, in all 110 blocks are under consideration for either allocation or auction and of them only 5 have been impacted due to intervention of Courts.
We received in all 69 applications for 36 blocks so the government has taken a decision to add another mine blocks to the list of blocks that have to be alloted, so originally there were 36 blocks as a part of the overall 101 blocks that we have considered new. This list goes upto 110 and the mines or the blocks for allocation to state goes up from 36 to 45.
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After a strong opening, the Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange soon gave up all its gains, and had declined 5 points, to 28,529 in afternoon trade, amid volatility, a short while ago. But earlier in the morning, the Sensex had climbed 152 points. The Nifty at the National Stock Exchange had managed to gain 4 points, to 8,631 a short while ago.Other key Asian markets in Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore were trading mixed today. Wall Street's Dow Jones Industrial Average had ended flat in yesterday's trade.
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New Delhi is in touch with Chief of Madison police of United States and sought his intervention in the case of assault on Indian national, Suresh Bhai. The Indian national was attacked in the US by Police and left partially paralyzed. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said, Consulate General in Atlanta is in touch with Madison police chief and providing all necessary consular assistance.
Consulate General in Atlanta got in touch with Madison Police Chief there and sought his intervention in the matter, he was quick to respond. He indicated that he too was concerned about the report on this matter. He has ordered inquiry into it & he will share the outcome of that inquiry in a transparent manner.
Mr Akbaruddin said, the Ministry also took up the issue with US Embassy in Delhi and expressed serious concern. Meanwhile, the family of the 57-year-old Indian man, who has been left partially paralysed after a police officer forced him on ground , will file a law suit. This was disclosed by the victim's son, Chirag Patel.
Dad went to walk in my community where every body walks. So he went there and somebody called the 911. Police calls the suspicious person and police come over there. He didn't know english he tried to tell them in broken english that he is walking and he told the house number 148 which is my house number. Police took him to the ground his body just paralyzed on the spot. We requested audio and visual recording from the police, they are refusing to provide it. We are gone a go and file a law suit against the city.
Many rights organisations have termed the incident as "police brutality" and "racial profiling". Several Indian-American organisations and rights bodies not only condemned the brutality against Sureshbhai Patel, who was visiting his son in Alabama, but also demanded action against the police official whose aggression last week has left him paralysed. Patel is currently undergoing treatment for fused vertebrae.
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Maharashtra government is planning to launch "Model Village Scheme" on the lines of "Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojna" launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Under the scheme, every MLA and MLC in the state will be asked to adopt three villages of their choice for overall development. More from our correspondent:
The Model Village Scheme will be implemented through Rural Development Department. According to official sources a formal proposal in this regard will soon be kept before state cabinet for its approval. The 366 members of both legislative assembly and legislative council will asked to choose three villages each in phased manner. Ministries of Rural Development and Finance are currently working on the modalities of the scheme which has a potential to transform a total of 1098 villages in the state. An all inclusive growth and making these villages self reliant without endangering environment will be the main agenda of the scheme.WITH LUBNA YUSUF MOOSA AND DEEKSHA, FOR AIR NEWS.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has paid tributes to Swami Dayananda Saraswati on his birth anniversary today. Mr Modi said in a tweet that Swami Dayananda Saraswati has made a remarkable contribution to education. The Prime Minister said, his emphasis on social reform made him a personality ahead of his time.
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The ICC Cricket World Cup gets underway with inaugural ceremonies being held in Melbourne in Australia and at Christchurch in New Zealand later today. Australia and New Zealand are co-hosting this edition of the World Cup. Cricketing action starts this Saturday, with New Zealand taking on Sri Lanka at Christchurch and Australia locking horns with arch-rivals England at Melbourne. Team India will take on arch-rivals Pakistan on the 15th at the Adelaide. The mega event will see 49 matches spread over 43 days. The final will be played on the 29th of next month at Melbourne.
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