Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis. (File Photo)
Mumbai: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Tuesday that he had been informed by former governor B S Koshyari that MVA leaders had written a letter with a threatening tone to the ex-governor over MLC nominations and refused to withdraw it.
The deputy CM’s remarks come a day after Koshyari defended his stand to sit on the nominations for 12 Members of the Legislative Council under the governor’s quota when Uddhav Thackeray led the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state.
Koshyari had said that MVA leaders had tried to browbeat him over the MLC nominations.
Speaking to reporters in Pune, Fadnavis said, “As per my information, MahaVikas Aghadi leaders had visited Raj Bhavan and met (then) governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari. The governor told me that MVA leaders had written a letter in a threatening tone. He had even asked them to re-submit a fresh letter but due to their ego, they refused to do it.”
The MLC nominations were a major flashpoint between the then MVA government and Koshyari, who recently resigned as the Maharashtra governor.
Leaders from MVA, which comprises the Thackeray group, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress, had also accused Koshyari of acting at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which was in the opposition then.
Vijayawada: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national spokesperson Kommareddy Pattabhiram’s wife, Chandana, on Tuesday threatened to sit on an indefinite hunger strike in front of the Director General of Police’s office demanding information about his whereabouts.
She told reporters that Pattabhiram disappeared when he went to the TDP office at Gannavaram near Vijayawada on Monday evening after it was attacked by the supporters of YSR Congress Party MLA Vallabhaneni Vamsi.
టీడీపీ జాతీయ ప్రధాన కార్యదర్శి Pattabhi Ram Kommareddy గారి భార్య చందన మీడియా పాయింట్స్
గన్నవరం పార్టీ కార్యాలయం దాడి విషయం తెలిసి నా భర్త అక్కడికి వెళ్లారు
అక్కడ పోలీసులు అదుపులో తీసుకున్నారు,
డ్రైవర్, పీఏ పోలీస్ స్టేషల్ ఉన్నారు, కానీ నా భర్త అక్కడ లేరు
She said Pattabhi’s car was also found damaged on the road.
“We don’t know whether he was arrested by police or kidnapped by YSRCP goons. We have not received any information since last night,” she said.
Chandana reiterated that if anything happens to her husband, Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy and the DGP will be held responsible.
“The car driver and the personal assistant (PA) of my husband are at the local police station, but my husband is missing. I have absolutely no knowledge where the police have shifted him,” Chandana said.
Pointing out that even his phone is switched off, she said that if anything happens to him both the Chief Minister and the DGP will be responsible.
Supporters of MLA Vamsi had attacked the TDP office at Gannavaram on Monday evening. They set afire a vehicle in the premises and ransacked the office.
They were angry over some remarks made by TDP leaders against their leader.
The TDP leaders say they had only found fault with Vamsi for making personal remarks against TDP president Chandrababu Naidu and his son Nara Lokesh.
BJP to kickstart Muslim outreach programme across India next month. As a part of the programme, the Bhartiya Janta Party has identified key areas of improvement of sentiments about BJP among Muslims. Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the party to make an outreach to “deprived and downtrodden” sections in all communities. PM Modi also asked the party leader to perform activities that makes the community feel better.
Reportedly, in order to appease the minority community, the BJP leaders are going to beat themselves up. Speaking to The Fauxy, a BJP leader said “The community is very much against the party and they wish harm on the party leaders, hence, if we harm ourselves, the community people will be happy to see that“.
Another BJP leader said “If we beat ourselves they will feel that we are one of us as it is one of their essential religious practices“.
Sources suggest that the Modi led government is deliberately delaying the CAA and NRC process to appease the Muslim community ahead of 2024 General Elections.
[ Disclaimer: With inputs from The Fauxy, an entertainment portal. The content is purely for entertainment purpose and readers are advised not to confuse the articles as genuine and true, these Articles are Fictitious meant only for entertainment purposes. ]
Muslim delegations submitted memoranda demanding a free and fair inquiry by a sitting High Court judge into the Medak Police torture victim Mohammed Khadeer Khan’s death.
The memorandums were presented to the Bhuvanagiri and Rangareddy district collectors to be forwarded to Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR).
“A very sad part of this incident is that when the matter came out in public Smt Rohini Priyadarshi IPS Superintendent of Police without any investigation of inquiry denied police torture and supported her subordinates and tried to save them,” said the memo calling for the suspension of the superintendent during the inquiry.
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party vice president Mohammed Hamed, BRS party general secretary Shaker Baig, BRS party spokesman Syed Abdul Rawoif from Jalpally Municipality met the district collector of Rangareddy and submitted a memorandum demanding an inquiry into the death of Mohammed Khadeer Khan Medak Police and asked for ex-gratia to be given to his family.
Yadadri Bhuvanagiri District Muslim Joint Action Committee (JAC) submitted a memorandum to the Bhuvanagiri district collector, demanding a free & fair inquiry by a sitting High Court judge into the Medak police torture incident.
The Muslim leaders demanded that a compensation of Rs 25 lakhs, a double bedroom flat, and a government job should be given to the family of Khadeer Khan.
The memo also stated that the sub-inspector and constables responsible for the death of Khadeer Khan should be dismissed and arrested for murder under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Daily wage laborer, Mohammad Khadeer, 35, succumbed to the injuries he had sustained due to torture by police.
In a statement, while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Medak, he alleged that he was kept in custody for five days and beaten up by policemen though he kept telling them that he was innocent.
“The cops said the person involved looks like me,” he said. Khadeer Khan was taken from his sister’s house in Medak to the police station. He was picked up under the suspicion of being involved in a theft case.
The police let him off on February 2. Due to the alleged torture, Khadeer could not stand on his feet, and his kidneys were also damaged. His wife Siddeshwari alleged that police used third-degree methods on him. On February 9, he was admitted to a hospital in Medak.
As Khadeer’s condition kept deteriorating, he was referred to Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad for better treatment. However, he succumbed to his injuries on February 17 and is survived by his wife and two children.
Khadeer’s death triggered public outrage. Local Muslim community leaders urged Bharat Rastra Samithi (BRS) MLA M. Padma Devender Reddy to take action against the policemen involved.
Subsequently, the MLA spoke with the Medak Superintendent of Police (SP) Rohini Priyadarshini, demanding an investigation into the incident.
Circle inspector Madhu, sub-inspector Rajasekhar and constables Prashanth and Pavan Kumar of Medak town have been suspended, said Medak Superintendent of Police Rohini Priyadarshini on Sunday.
AIMIM MLA from Hyderabad, Kausar Mohiuddin visited Medak and attended the funeral on Saturday morning. He slammed the police for the restrictions imposed on the funeral and questioned if Khadeer was a “naxalite or terrorist”.
Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president A Revanth Reddy on Sunday demanded the government provide ex gratia of fifty lakh rupees to the kin of the deceased.
Congress leader Mohammed Ali Shabbir on Sunday demanded that the Telangana government set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe into the death of Khadeer Khan.
Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray on Monday held an urgent meeting with his close associates at the Shiv Sena Bhavan in Mumbai to decide their future course of action, specially after losing the ‘Shiv Sena’ name and poll symbol ‘bow and arrow’ to the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Leaders close to Thackeray, including Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut, Subhash Desai, Anil Desai and Anil Parab, were present in the meeting held at the Sena Bhavan located in Dadar area.
Thackeray has also invited several district level leaders of his camp to discuss the future course of action.
The Election Commission on Friday recognised the Shinde-led faction as the real Shiv Sena and ordered allocation of the ‘bow and arrow’ poll symbol to it, in the process delivering a big blow to Uddhav Thackeray, whose father Bal Thackeray founded the outfit in 1966.
The EC allowed the Thackeray faction to retain the name Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the flaming torch’ poll symbol, given to it in an interim order in October last year, till the conclusion of the upcoming Assembly bypolls in the state.
Former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had on Sunday said all political parties need to open their eyes and remain cautious in the wake of the Election Commission’s decision of recognising the faction led by CM Eknath Shinde as the real Shiv Sena.
Raipur: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Monday called the Enforcement Directorate’s raids at the premises of Congress leaders in the state a “politically motivated” move and claimed the Bharatiya Janata Party was afraid of the Congress and misusing central agencies to crush the voices of political opponents.
Their intention is to impact the Congress’s upcoming plenary session in Raipur where a roadmap for the 2024 general elections will be discussed, Baghel said addressing a press conference at the party’s state headquarters ‘Rajiv Bhawan’.
एक डरा हुआ प्रधानमंत्री है, वो ‘भारत जोड़ो यात्रा’ की सफलता से डरा हुआ है, वो गौतम अडानी पर हो रहे खुलासों से डरा हुआ है, वो अपनी हार देखकर घबराया हुआ है.. इसलिए एजेंसियों को आगे कर रहा है।
AICC general secretary and state in-charge Kumari Selja, Chhattisgarh Congress chief Mohan Markam, state ministers and other party leaders were also present during the press conference.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday conducted searches at multiple locations in Chhattisgarh, including at premises linked to Congress party leaders, as part of an ongoing investigation into the coal levy money laundering case, officials said. The raids come ahead of the three-day plenary session of the Congress from February 24 in Raipur.
“Whenever the Congress takes any major step, such acts (raids by central agencies) happen The BJP-led Centre is scared of the Congress. The BJP was nervous when the Congress took out the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ and now they are afraid of the plenary session going to be held in Raipur,” Baghel said.
ये डरे हुए लोग हैं।
ED की Raid से साफ है कि BJP कांग्रेस से डरी हुई है।
‘भारत जोड़ो यात्रा’ की सफलता से बेचैन और कांग्रेस के अधिवेशन से घबराई हुई है।
इस घबराहट में BJP निम्न स्तर के हथकंडे अपना रही है।
They have resorted to low-level acts to create hindrances ahead of the conclave out of their frustration, he claimed. “But, we are not afraid of such acts and we will emerge stronger and make the event a grand success. When we were not afraid of the Britishers, then why should we be afraid of them (BJP),” Baghel said.
The CM termed the raids as “politically motivated” and said the action was carried out to garner political benefits.
Earlier, Baghel in a tweet said such acts will not weaken the morale of party leaders who are engaged in the preparation of the party’s upcoming plenary session.
“Today the ED has raided the residence of many of my colleagues, including the treasurer of the Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee, the party’s former vice-president and an MLA,” he said.
“There is a plenary session of the Congress in Raipur after four days. Our spirits cannot be broken by stopping our colleagues from engaging in preparations for the session through such acts. The BJP is disappointed with the success of ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ and the truth of Adani being exposed. This raid is an attempt to divert attention. The country knows the truth. We will fight and win,” the CM tweeted.
छत्तीसगढ़ प्रदेश कांग्रेस कमेटी के कोषाध्यक्ष, पार्टी के पूर्व उपाध्यक्ष और एक विधायक सहित मेरे कई साथियों के घरों पर आज ईडी ने छापा मारा है।
चार दिनों के बाद रायपुर में कांग्रेस का महाधिवेशन है। तैयारियों में लगे साथियों को इस तरह रोककर हमारे हौसले नहीं तोड़े जा सकते। 1/2
Addressing the press conference, Kumari Selja also targeted the Centre and accused it of adopting oppressive policies against political opponents.
“It is evident by the oppressive policies of the Narendra Modi-led Centre that it is so afraid of the opposition, particularly the Congress. They are not allowing the opposition to raise their voice inside Parliament as well as outside,” she claimed.
According to officials, the searches are underway since early morning at over a dozen locations related to MLA Devendra Yadav in Bhilai (Durg district), Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee treasurer Ramgopal Agrawal, chairman of Chhattisgarh State Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board Sushil Sunny Agrawal and party’s state spokesperson R P Singh in Raipur.
The raids also covered premises of some other ruling party leaders and MLAs.
The officials said the ED is investigating those who have been “beneficiaries” of the proceeds of crime of the alleged coal levy scam perpetrated during the tenure of the current government.
The ED investigation relates to “a massive scam in which an illegal levy of Rs 25 was being extorted for every tonne of coal transported in Chhattisgarh by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen”, the agency has alleged.
Nine persons including state administrative service officer Saumya Chaurasia, Suryakant Tiwari, his uncle Laxmikant Tiwari, Chhattisgarh cadre IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi and another coal businessman Sunil Agrawal have been arrested by it till now in the case.
Jaipur: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, who has been trying to strengthen his party’s base in poll-bound Rajasthan, on Sunday said party leaders are visiting every assembly constituency in the state to strengthen the organisation.
Owaisi, who is on a two-day visit to Rajasthan, also said that it is too early to announce the number of seats his party will contest in the assembly polls.
Assembly elections in Rajasthan are due later this year.
“We have come to Rajasthan to strengthen our party ahead of the upcoming state assembly elections. My visit was pre-scheduled. Core committee members are visiting every assembly constituency to strengthen the organisation,” the Hyderabad MP told reporters in Tonk.
“Core committee will announce on how many seats the party will contest in the elections. It is too early to comment,” he said.
When asked whether his party has any big face to contest against Congress’ Sachin Pilot, the AIMIM chief said, “There are several faces. When he can land through parachute, then we can also.”
Speaking about the deaths of Junaid and Nasir who were allegedly abducted by cow vigilantes from Bharatpur and their charred bodies were found in Haryana, Owaisi said, “Both Haryana and Rajasthan governments are not serious. Haryana government is saving the accused. If Rajasthan government is serious, then it should send police and arrest the accused.”
Former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio and four allies are charged with seditious conspiracy, a plot to violently keep Trump in office anchored in part by preventing Congress from certifying the election on Jan. 6, 2021.
The prospect of Trump appearing on the witness stand seems remote, but until Thursday, the intention of the defendants to call the former president was uncertain.
“We’re going to ask the government for assistance in serving Mr. Trump,” Pattis said.
The Proud Boys defense attorneys have hinted at times throughout the trial that Trump bears responsibility for the actions of their own clients and thousands of others who marched on the Capitol at his urging. Putting him on the witness stand, while still a longshot, would give them a chance to probe his mindset under oath in a way that federal investigators have been unable to so far.
Other Jan. 6 defendants have sought Trump’s testimony but gotten no support from judges, who found their claims to need the former president’s testimony dubious. But the Proud Boys may have the clearest case, given Trump’s explicit reference to the group during the debate and the group’s centrality to the riot that unfolded on Jan. 6.
Prosecutors say the Proud Boys are singularly responsible for the violence that unfolded, helping trigger key breaches of police defenses — including the actual breach of the building itself, when Dominic Pezzola, one of the five defendants, used a stolen riot shield to smash a Senate-wing window.
U.S. District Court Judge Tim Kelly didn’t give any indication Thursday about whether he would permit the subpoena of the former president.
Tarrio has been a figure of interest to investigators not just for his role on Jan. 6 but for his ties to figures in Trump’s orbit like Roger Stone. Tarrio took a White House tour on Dec. 12, 2020 that drew alarm from the Secret Service and may have reached the ears of then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
Prosecutors have also shown evidence of Tarrio’s close relationship with a D.C. police officer who appeared to repeatedly give him inside information about law enforcement matters — including Tarrio’s own subsequent arrest on Jan. 4 for burning a Black Lives Matter flag at a pro-Trump rally in December.
Prosecutors are expected to call North Carolina Proud Boy Jeremy Bertino – who pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy and is cooperating with the government – to the stand on Tuesday. During arguments related to pieces of evidence the government intends to introduce, prosecutors displayed messages showing Bertino lamenting the group’s failure to stop the transfer of power on the night of Jan. 6.
“We failed. The House is meeting again. That woman died for nothing,” Bertino said, referencing Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer as she attempted to breach the House chamber.
Bertino was also in a series of leadership chats ahead of Jan. 6 but didn’t go to Washington in part because of injuries he suffered when he was stabbed during a melee in December.
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#Proud #Boys #leaders #facing #Jan #charges #intend #subpoena #Trump
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation could prompt a major rethink around her plans to fight the next UK general election as a de facto referendum on independence, the Scottish National party’s leader in Westminster has suggested.
After the shock announcement of the first minister’s departure on Wednesday, Stephen Flynn said the special conference due to be held next month on Sturgeon’s plan should be pushed back to give the new leader time to set out their intentions.
“I think it’s sensible that we do hit the pause button on that conference and allow the new leader the opportunity to set out their vision,” he told Sky News.
That proposal was supported by Mike Russell, the party’s president, who told BBC Scotland on Thursday: “There is a question to be asked as to whether that should be postponed whilst the leader comes into place.”
Russell, one of the SNP’s most senior figures, said Sturgeon had touched on that prospect in her speech on Wednesday. Although he supported Sturgeon’s stance on how to fight the next general election, he said: “I think it’s a matter that needs to be discussed.”
The conference was organised to approve Sturgeon’s highly controversial proposal but it is one Flynn and others inside the SNP have widely criticised, and is deeply unpopular with voters. There is speculation at Holyrood it may now be repurposed as a leadership hustings event for SNP members in the Edinburgh area.
Jostling will begin in earnest among potential replacements for Sturgeon, who served as the first female first minister and spent decades in frontline politics – outlasting all the leaders both in Holyrood and Westminster she worked alongside.
The SNP’s national executive committee is scheduled to meet online at 6.30pm on Thursday to discuss the timing for a leadership contest. Russell has said he expects that process to be “shortened” and for there to be a “contested election”.
Nicola Sturgeon: the moments that marked her leadership – video
Sturgeon’s push to use the next general election, expected to be held in 2024, as the main battleground for another independence push caused controversy within the SNP. Some believe she was anticipating heavy opposition to the plan, and the outgoing first minister acknowledged in her resignation statement it would have been dishonest to chair the conference, knowing she was minded to quit soon after.
Flynn, who became Westminster leader of the SNP in December, said party figures were “going to be discussing and debating the merits” of the treatment of the next general election as a de facto referendum.
But he added: “I personally think that party conference should be paused, for obvious reasons. I think the new leader should have the opportunity and indeed the space to set out their position, their values and their intentions going forward.”
Asked if the position of treating the next general election as a de facto referendum was “dead” on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday, he said the party should give the next leader space to set out their “agenda”.
As speculation mounted about who could replace Sturgeon, Flynn said he had “not seen anyone throw their name in the ring yet” and declined to say who he would most like to see lead the SNP.
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Flynn ruled out taking up “the big task” himself, and said he had “no doubt there’ll be a number who will consider themselves as being capable of taking on the challenge”.
While Sturgeon has said she will remain as first minister until her successor is chosen, the SNP’s national executive committee has not yet published a timetable for the election of its next party leader.
Early possible contenders to succeed Sturgeon include Keith Brown, the SNP’s deputy leader; the finance and economy secretary, Kate Forbes; the constitution secretary and former Westminster leader of the party, Angus Robertson; the deputy first minister, John Swinney; and the health secretary, Humza Yousaf.
A protracted leadership election, given pressures on the NHS and the cost of living crisis, is likely to be capitalised on by opposition parties. Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said the Scottish government should focus on issues that “really matter to people”.
Kenny MacAskill, the deputy leader of the pro-Scottish independence Alba party, argued on Thursday that Sturgeon’s departure should lead to a recognition that the cause was about more than “one individual or one party”.
He told the Today programme the SNP was “one part of the independence movement” and should use Sturgeon’s departure “to recalibrate, to recognise that there have been strategic flaws, to look for a new direction”.
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#SNP #top #leaders #urge #overhaul #Sturgeon #independence #plan
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
Tuesday’s rally was the latest chapter in a continuing saga over whether Florida will ultimately allow students to enroll in the College Board’s upcoming class on African American history.
The Florida Department of Education first raised public concerns about the course in January by rejecting a pilot version on the grounds that it “significantly lacks educational value” and violates the state’s “anti-woke” law. State officials later elaborated that the course denial was prompted by lessons that delve too far into political agendas, broaching topics such as queer studies and abolishing prisons.
Those topics, however, are not mandatory in the official framework of the African American history course that was released Feb. 1, a turn of events that led Democrats to criticize the College Board for allegedly caving to conservatives. Officials with the College Board, however, maintain that Florida, nor any other state, influenced the course that has been under development for nearly a decade and will debut in the 2024-2025 school year.
In wake of the tense back-and-forth between the organization and Florida, DeSantis this week suggested that the state could turn away from the College Board and seek a different vendor for students to take college-level courses. He hinted that the Florida House could propose legislation to tackle just that, but nothing has been filed as of Wednesday.
The Florida Department of Education, for its part, said Wednesday the College Board has yet to submit the African American Studies course to the state for its review.
“Florida students are going to have that ability (to earn college credit) — that is not going to be diminished,” DeSantis said Tuesday at an event in Jacksonville. “In fact, we’re going to continue to expand it. But it’s not clear to me that this particular operator is the one that’s going to need to be used in the future.”
Democratic lawmakers contend that the DeSantis administration picked the fight with the College Board to help the governor’s case as a potential 2024 GOP nominee.
“That’s the rub with this guy: if you dare to speak out against him, he will come after you,” state Rep. Fentrice Driskell (D-Tampa), the House Minority Leader, said at the rally Wednesday. “That is his MO, he wants us to be intimidated and afraid.”
Alongside Democrats, Black clergy and Sharpton called for voter registration efforts as a way to stand up to the DeSantis administration for allegedly whitewashing history by opposing the African American Studies course. They also criticized DeSantis’ efforts to end diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, programs at colleges across the state.
Sharpton called DeSantis a “baby Trump” and claimed his messaging will bring together voters in opposition, citing the 2020 election when President Biden defeated former President Donald Trump.
“After Disney one day, after Blacks the next day,” Sharpton said Wednesday. “Just like a baby — give him a pacifier and let some grown folk run the state of Florida.”
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#Black #leaders #rally #Tallahassee #Floridas #denial #race #studies
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
