Mamata wishes PM Modi on his 69th birthday
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday wished Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his 69th birthday.
Ms. Banerjee, who is likely to meet the Prime Minister in New Delhi on Wednesday for discussions on various issues, wrote on her Twitter handle, “Birthday greetings to Prime Minister @narendramodi ji.”
Mr. Modi too took to the micro blogging site to thank Ms. Banerjee, whom he referred to as ‘ Didi ’. Replying in both English and Bengali, he tweeted ‘Thank you so much Mamata Didi’.
West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar too extended his greetings to PM Modi.
"I join millions in wishing him on his birthday and pray for his good health and long life," Mr. Dhankhar said in his message.
Centre can't evade responsibility for the economic slowdown by diverting attention from it, says Priyanka
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra once again took to Twitter to hit out at the Narendra Modi government over the state of the economy.
In a tweet in Hindi, the Congress general secretary said that the BJP government cannot evade responsibility for the economic slowdown by diverting attention from it as “people are watching“.
Her remarks came over a media report that automobile firm Mahindra’s plants will be closed for 17 days.
“One more company has suffered due to economic slowdown and people have lost their jobs,” she said.
After HC stay, Mayawati says UP govt move to include 17 OBCs in SC list ‘selfish, political’
After the Allahabad High Court stayed the notification to include 17 Other Backward Castes in the SC list, BSP president Mayawati on Tuesday said such government decisions are “guided by total selfish political motives” but affect the entire society.
She said the move was “most unfortunate“.
“The news of the high court staying the forcible declaration of 17 OBCs as Scheduled Castes in Uttar Pradesh is naturally in limelight today. Such decisions guided by total selfish political motives do not affect any party/government but the entire society gets affected by it. Most unfortunate,” Mayawati tweeted in Hindi.
Staying the notification on Monday, the high court directed the state government to file its reply in three weeks on a petition against its decision to declare 17 OBCs as SCs.
Chandrababu Naidu blames YSRCP for former AP Speaker’s death, demands CBI probe
Terming the death of former Speaker of Andhra Pradesh, Kodela Siva Prasada Rao, who allegedly committed suicide, as “murder,” TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday demanded a CBI investigation into the circumstances leading to the incident.
Blaming the Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government for the death of Rao, Naidu said, “I have seen 11 chief ministers in my career and I my self have held the post for so manyyears.
I have never seen such a chief minister ( Jaganmohan Reddy). This (suicide) is nothing but murder by the government.”
“The entire case has to be investigated by the CBI. Intellectuals in this country should debate on the government’s attitude,” he told reporters in Hyderabad.
ECI may announce poll dates for three States on Thursday
A team of officials from the Election Commission of India (ECI) will visit Maharashtra on Tuesday to assess preparations before announcing dates for the Assembly election. The team, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, is likely to hold meetings over the next two days with officials from the State government, Maharashtra Police, Railways, Income Tax, Excise and other departments involved in preparation for the elections due in October.
“The three-member team will hold meetings for the next two days and is likely to announce a date on September 19 (Thursday),” a senior official said. Assembly elections are due in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand this year. Officials said Maharashtra could see polling in two phases, while Jharkhand, which had voted in five phases in 2014, may see a different pattern this time.
Why PSA against Abdullah now, asks Kapil Sibal
Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Tuesday hit out at the BJP over the detention of Farooq Abdullah under the Public Safety Act and questioned whether the step was prompted by MDMK chief Vaiko’s plea in the Supreme Court seeking a directive that the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister be produced before it.
Abdullah has now been detained under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA), which enables authorities to detain any individual for two years without trial.
The 81-year-old patron of the National Conference has been under house arrest since August 5 when the Centre announced abrogation of the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and bifurcation of the state into Union territories.
“Now PSA (43 days later).Earlier BJP said 92% of people in J&K welcome dilution of Article 370; that normalcy prevails. Then Amit Shah in Parliament: Farooq Abdullah neither detained nor arrested,” Sibal said in a tweet.
“If no danger to public safety then, why now? Because Vaiko filed petition?” he said. -- PTI
Yediyurappa promises separate Secretariat for Kalyana Karnataka
Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa has promised a separate Secretariat for Kalyana Karnataka region.
Speaking to mediapersons at Kalaburagi airport on Tuesday, he promised to increase the amount of special grants to Hyderabad Karnataka Regional Development Board (HKRDB).
“The people of this region have changed the region’s name from Hyderabad Karnataka to Kalyana Karnataka. I am happy that the region is renamed when I am Chief Minister. I know that mere changing the name would not do much for the development of the region. I will establish a separate Secretariat to focus on the development of the region. I would also increase the amount of special grants to HKRDB. We have some financial crunches this year as the State is hit by floods. I will increased the budgetary allocations to HKRDB from next budget onwards,” he said.
Six Rajasthan BSP MLAs write to Assembly speaker to merge legislative party with Congress
In a politically significant development in Rajasthan, all six BSP MLAs on Monday night gave a letter to the state assembly speaker to merge the legislative party with the Congress.
“The BSP MLAs met me and handed their letter about this,” Speaker C.P. Joshi told PTI.
MLAs Rajendra Singh Gudha, Jogendra Singh Awana, Wajib Ali, Lakhan Singh Meena, Sandeep Yadav and Deepchand said they were merging their legislative party with the Congress.
“All the six BSP MLAs were in constant touch with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and today they have came into the fold of the Congress,” a Congress leader said.
