THE HEADLINES:
- Patna High Court stays Nitish Kumar's election as the leader of JD(U) legislature Party; Nitish Kumar meets President alongwith MLAs supporting him.
- Aam Aadmi Party Chief Arvind Kejriwal gets down to business ; proposes full fledged statehood to Delhi in his meeting with the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh .
- Income Tax Department issues notice to AAP seeking explanation for two crore rupees donation; Party says it will cooperate in the investigation.
- Sensex gains 178 points to close at 28,534.
- IN NATIONAL GAMES : Services win the men's Hockey title, while Punjab bag the honours in the women's section.
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The Patna High Court has stayed Nitish Kumar's election as the leader of the legislature party. The Court has also stayed the operation of the notification issued by the Bihar Assembly Speaker Udai Narayan Choudhary who had given recognition to election of Nitish Kumar as leader of the legislature party in the state assembly. The court listed the case for further hearing on February 18th.
Mr. Rajeshwar Raj, a party MLA and supporter of Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, had filed a PIL against election of Nitish Kumar as leader of the JD(U) legislature party. Mr. Raj has termed as illegal the meeting of JD(U) legislative party in which Nitish Kumar was elected as the leader, removing Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi.
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The Janata Dal(United) today urged the President Pranab Mukherjee to ask Bihar Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi to find out early solution of the current deadlock in the state. A delegation comprised of JD(U), RJD, Congress, CPI under the leadership of Samajwadi Party Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav met the President this evening and handed over a memorandum claiming support of 130 MLAs. Briefing reporters after the meeting, JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar said, Mr. Mukherjee assured the delegation that he will look into the situation. Mr. Kumar said he enjoys full majority in Bihar and inordinate delay in government formation is not appropriate. Mr Kumar also said that it is not proper to wait for the forthcoming budget session which is scheduled to start from 20th of this month for floor test, but immediately a special session of the assembly should be convened for the purpose.
Our prayer was that there should be no delay in government formation in Bihar. We also said that we want to give an opportunity to the present government to prove its majority. But it should be at the earliest, so that decision is taken immediately.
Mr Kumar also hit out at BJP alleging that it wants to bifurcate the JD(U) and it is willing to impose President rule in Bihar. On the occasion, RJD Chief Lalu Prasad said they have full majority and they are expecting the Governor to take an early decision on the current political crisis.
There is power tussle between JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar and Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi for the top post in the state. Mr. Kumar is claming the support of majority of party legislators. Earlier, the MLAs assembled at Sharad Yadav's residence in the national capital and they were taken to Rashtrapati Bhawan .
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BJP today said it will decide whom to support in Bihar on the floor of assembly when trial of strength takes place. Briefing reporters in New Delhi, party spokesman Shahnawaz Hussain rejected JD(U) allegation that the BJP is behind the current political crisis. He said it is the internal affair of the JD(U) and BJP has nothing to do with it.
BJP has nothing to do with it. Nitish Kumar's aspirations and greed for power are responsible for whatever is happening within their party. BJP is not responsible.
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Delhi Chief Minister designate Arvind Kejriwal got down to business, as he met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu separately seeking Center's support in the Development of Delhi. Mr.Kejriwal during the meeting with Home Minister sought Central cooperation in granting full statehood to Delhi. This was stated by his party colleague Manish Sisodia while talking to reporters after the meeting.
Aam Aadmi Party's majority government will be in Delhi and BJP's majority government is at the centre. Both the parties have same view on granting statehood to Delhi. It is high time to work in tandem.
Mr Sisodia also informed that Mr. Kejriwal invited Mr. Raj Nath Singh for the swearing in ceremony of the new government in the city on Saturday.
Earlier, Arvind Kejriwal met Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu and sought cooperation from the Centre on the issues of unauthorized colonies .
Mr. Venkaiah Naidu said, he has assured Mr Kejriwal that the Centre will cooperate for the development of Delhi and work as Team India.
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The Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson Atishi Marlena has said that her Government in Delhi will provide marshals in all DTC buses for women security. Talking to All India Radio, she stated that fifty fast track courts would also be established across Delhi to deal with cases relating to women.
We are looking for having marshals in DTC buses. Because there is lot of harassment women undergo on an everyday basis in DTC buses. We are looking to provide safety button on each mobile phone that via Wi-Fi, or GPS would provide the location of the women in distress to the police of the women security forces that we are looking to form.
This talk can be heard in our News Analysis Programme immediately after this bulletin.
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The Aam Aadmi Party today said it will contest the Assam Assembly polls next year. In a press conference in Guwahati, AAP leader Manorom Gogoi said, the results of the Delhi Assembly election have shown that there is scope for a strong, honest and alternative politics.
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The Income Tax Department has issued a notice to Aam Aadmi Party, seeking an explanation for donations of over 2 crore rupees to the party. The notice was issued after the AAP Volunteer Action Manch, AVAM had accused AAP of receiving two crore rupees last year from four dubious companies through cheques. The department has asked the party to reply to the notice by Monday. The department has also issued a notice to Congress party on the alleged funding of 10 lakh rupees and asked them to explain their sources of political funding. Welcoming the notice, AAP spokesperson Atishi Marlena said, the party will cooperate in the investigation. She also demanded that funding of every party should be looked into by the SIT.
Reacting to the notice, Congress leader PC Chacko said that politics and law should not be mixed. He also said that IT department has every right to send notice.
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In Jharkhand, six out of a total of eight MLAs belonging to Jharkhand Vikas Morcha, JVM, joined the BJP in Ranchi today. Our Ranchi Correspondent reports that the rebel JVM MLAs had earlier requested the Speaker of Jharkhand Assembly to grant them seats alongside the ruling BJP combine as they planned to merge with the BJP.
The JVM, on the other hand, had expelled the four of the six rebel MLAs, two days ago.
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The President, Pranab Mukherjee today warned that any deviation from the Constitutional principles and provisions would weaken the democratic fabric of the country. Inaugurating the 46th Conference of Governors in New Delhi, Mr Mukherjee said that prevalence of peace and communal harmony must be ensured.
On international relations, the President said India follows a policy of maintaining peaceful relations with all countries and disputes should be resolved through peaceful means. The President said, India's demographic dividend of largest workforce should be tapped to make it a powerful engine for growth, otherwise, it could create social tension. Mr Mukherjee said skill development is also important for the success of the Make-in-India campaign.
On the development of North East, the President said much needs to be done for infrastructure development and harness its tourism potential.
The two day conference is being attended by twenty-one Governors and two Lt. Governors.
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The Government has asked the states and Union Territories to complete Socio Economic and Caste Census, SECC before March 15th otherwise central assistance for building rural houses and welfare pensions would be blocked.
A government note said, 2015-16 and onwards, this SECC data will be the base on which the beneficiaries for the Indira Awas Yojana and the National Social Assistance Programme will be selected so far as the Rural Development Ministry is concerned and those states who fail in selecting the beneficiaries from this data base would not receive financial assistance.
The Centre's move came in the wake of a PIL petition filed by human rights' body People's Union for Civil Liberties in which they alleged that non-completion of SECC by states and Union Territories is the main reason for delay in implementation of National Food Security Act.
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The Centre today reviewed the status of rising cases of Swine flu being reported from different states. Health Secretary, B. P. Sharma chaired a high level meeting with senior officials of the ministry and other agencies and took stock of the situation. An official release said, a total of 5,157 cases of swine flu were reported since 1st of January this year so far and the virus claimed 407 lives. The death cases of death were largely reported from States like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Telangana.
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The Supreme Court today up held a Delhi High Court verdict which dismissed a petition seeking quashing of the appointment of former Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma as Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), saying it cannot meddle with the constitutional procedure.
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A Kolkata court today rejected the bail plea of West Bengal Transport Minister Madan Mitra arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam. Mitra had moved the court of South 24 Parganas district and sessions judge Samaresh Prasad Chowdhury seeking bail, contending that the CBI has no direct evidence to prove his complicity in the scam. The court, however, refused to grant him bail.
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Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik today urged the Centre to waive off about 1,450 crore rupees charged for the deployment of central forces in the Maoist-affected areas of the state. In a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Mr Patnaik said, it is the responsibility of both the Centre and the states to fight left-wing extremism in various parts of the country, including Odisha, by pooling their resources.
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THE BUSINESS WORLD
Rising for the second straight day, the Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange gained 178 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 28,534. The Nifty at the National Stock Exchange climbed 62 points, to 8,627. But the rupee weakened 6 paise, to a fresh one-month low of 62.25 against the dollar, on dollar demand from banks and importers.Gold declined 50 rupees, to 27,830 rupees per ten grams in Delhi. Silver held steady at 38,100 rupees per kilo. Pradeep Kumar, AIR News, Delhi.
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External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has said the age old concepts of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam and Sarva Dharma Sambhava are part of Indian culture and civilization. Her comments have come in the wake of US President Barack Obama's statement that religious conflict has produced acts of intolerance in India which would have shocked Mahatma Gandhi. Inaugurating an international conference on Indian Diaspora and Cultural Heritage in New Delhi today, Ms Swaraj said, it is the adherence to these ideas and ideals which has made India the oldest continuous civilisation in the world, with a history going back five thousand years.
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Services won the Men's Gold and Punjab bagged the honours in the women's section in the hockey competition of the 35th National Games in Kerala today. In the men's final SSCB defeated Odisha 7-2. Punjab's women got the better of Haryana 3-1 in their final. The men's bronze was picked up by Haryana after a 7-6 win overJharkhand. However, Jharkhand pulled off the women's bronze with a 2-0 win over Odisha.
In overall standings, Services Sports Control Board(SSCB) remained in the top spot on the 11th day of competitions with 107 medals (66 gold, 19 silver and 22 bronze).
Haryana rose to the second spot with 71 medals (30 gold, 25 silver and 16 bronze) while Maharashtra slipped to third on account of lesser gold medals with a total tally 27 gold, 40 silver and 36 bronze.
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Make in India will be the main theme of Aero India show to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 18th this month in Bengaluru. The Director of Aeronautical Development Agency, P S Subramanyam informed media persons in Bengaluru today that Aero India show to be held for five days will display aircrafts, helicopters, missiles, radars and other avionics subsystems designed and developed in India. Over 400 companies in Public and Private sector will display their products in the International Aerospace Exhibition during the show.
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