Tag: renews

Pilot targets Gehlot again, renews demand for probe into ‘BJP corruption’

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Jaipur: Making clear that he is not backing down from the stand he has taken against his own government in Rajasthan, Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Monday renewed his demand for a probe into alleged corruption during the term of the previous BJP government.
The former chief minister recently went on a daylong fast over this, defying the party’s central leadership even after it termed his proposed move “anti-party activity”.
Pilot target had appeared to be Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot — he criticised the Gehlot government for “inaction” in “corruption cases” at a time when the party is gearing up for the year-end assembly polls.

Addressing a gathering in Jhunjhunu on Monday, the dissident leader stuck to his position.
“I am asking for action even today. It’s been a week now but no action has been taken,” he said, repeating his demand for “an inquiry against those involved in corruption.”
“Action should be taken if the evidence is found. It is the responsibility of all of us to give Rajasthan clean politics,” he said.
He said he will not compromise on the issue of corruption.
Due to his scheduled public events in Jhunjhunu and Jaipur, Pilot also skipped a meeting with All India Congress Committee in-charge for Rajasthan Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and state Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra.

The three are holding separate meetings with all Rajasthan Congress MLAs in the run-up to the polls. Monday was the turn of the MLAs from the Ajmer division, under which Pilot’s Tonk constituency falls.
In Jhunjhunu’s Khetri town, Pilot told reporters that an investigation should be carried out as soon as possible because the entire Congress, including Rahul Gandhi, has been fighting “corruption” by the BJP government at the Centre.
“In Rajasthan, elections are seven months away. You want an effective and transparent inquiry into all those scandals that broke out when the BJP was in power, and I think we should do it as soon as possible,” Pilot said.
“Be it Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh or UP, we have always exposed the BJP’s corruption,” he said.
Replying to a question over the inflation relief programme announced by Gehlot, he said, Pilot said he welcomed such relief schemes.
“But in politics credibility and what you say is also important. When we go to the polls seven months later, we will be told you made the allegations — either you were lying or you didn’t have enough courage (to follow through),” he said.
An MLA told reporters that he mentioned Pilot when he met party leaders during their interactions with legislators.
“I told them about the influence of Sachin Pilot in Ajmer. He has been an MP from Ajmer and there is a big number of his supporters there,” Masuda MLA Rakesh Pareek said
Pilot’s fast last week put the party’s central leadership in a quandry on whether to take action against him or not.
“If there is any issue with his own government, it can be discussed at party forums instead of the media and in public,” Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa had said in a statement the night before Pilot’s dharna.
“This is clearly anti-party activity,” he had then said.
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#Pilot #targets #Gehlot #renews #demand #probe #BJP #corruption
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 17, 2023
Biden renews push to ban assault weapons in wake of Nashville shooting

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“I came down because I heard there was chocolate chip ice cream,” Biden said. His speech quickly shifted to calling on Congress to ban assault weapons in the wake of the shooting.
Three adults and three children were confirmed dead following a mass shooting Monday morning at The Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville.
The 28-year-old female suspect, who has not been identified, was killed in an altercation with police. The woman had at least two semi-automatic rifles and a handgun, police said.
Biden called the shooting “heartbreaking” and a “family’s worst nightmare.”
“We have to do more to stop gun violence; it’s ripping our communities apart — ripping the soul of this nation,” Biden said. “And we have to do more to protect our schools, so they aren’t turned into prisons.”
Biden has focused on reinstating the assault weapons ban that he helped pass in 1994 as senator, but which lapsed in 2004. The president doesn’t appear to have the votes for an assault weapons ban in Congress.
“How many more children have to be murdered before Republicans in Congress will step up and act to pass the assault weapons ban,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday.
At an event in Washington on Monday, first lady Jill Biden also spoke about the shooting.

“I am truly without words. Our children deserve better. We stand, all of us, we stand with Nashville in prayer,” Jill Biden said.
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#Biden #renews #push #ban #assault #weapons #wake #Nashville #shooting
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 28, 2023
JNU renews contract of campus security firm despite controversies

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New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Tuesday said it has renewed the contract of Cyclops Security a firm whose staff has been accused of mishandling student protesters and committing theft on the campus.
The JNU Teachers’ Association and several student bodies have raised the demand of replacing the firm.
“This is for information of all that w.e.f. 01.02.2023 at 0700 hours new Security Service Contract with Cyclops Security will start,” the JNU administration said in a statement.
“All new Civilian Security Guards will take over the duties from Ex-Serviceman officers Security Guards. All JNU Residents are, therefore, requested to cooperate with the new security guards,” the notification added.
The administration said that security is the collective responsibility of all residents and their active cooperation with the security staff is required for a safe and secure campus.
Several incidents of theft on the campus have been reported in recent years. JNUTA too highlighted the issue of increasing incidents of theft last year in a statement.
“The Cyclops Security and Allied Services Pvt Ltd have to be held responsible for what can be described at best as their complete dereliction of duty to carry out the services they were hired for,” JNUTA had said in a statement last year in March.
Cyclops Security has been in charge of JNU’s security since the time of the previous Vice-Chancellor, M Jagadesh Kumar. However, despite multiple thefts, the security firm has not been dismissed.

Following the 2020 clashes on the campus, the security agency was accused of colluding with ABVP by allowing them to enter the premises of the University and attack staff and students.
On 5 January 2020, masked people armed with rods and sticks attacked several students and teachers and injured scores of them.
After the incident, Jagadesh Kumar had said that the administration was in the process of appointing a new security agency.
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#JNU #renews #contract #campus #security #firm #controversies
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 31, 2023
Newsom renews call for federal action on gun safety after 2 mass shootings in California

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California has some of the most stringent gun policies in the nation, which the governor says helps explain why the state has a gun death rate 37 percent below the national average. Some of those restrictions, however, are in jeopardy following a Supreme Court decision in June on a concealed carry law in New York that invited challenges on a wide range of firearm laws.
Even with California’s laws, people can just bring weapons into the state from elsewhere — which is why Congress should take actions such as restricting the size of magazines and banning assault weapons, Newsom said.
“We can’t do this alone,” Newsom said. “And with all due respect, we feel like we are.”
The governor made the trip to Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco, after the killing of seven farmworkers Monday, apparently by another worker. It came less than 48 hours after the attack by a gunman at a dance hall during a Lunar New Year celebration in Monterey Park, a small city east of downtown Los Angeles.
Newsom had harsh words for McCarthy, who represents the Bakersfield area, for not making any public statements addressing either shooting.
“I’m still waiting for Kevin McCarthy, the leader of the House of Representatives, who purports to represent the people of the state of California,” he said. “We haven’t heard one damn word from him, not since Monterey Park, not what happened here, not one expression of prayers, condolences, nothing, and it should surprise nobody.”
The Speaker addressed the shootings at a press gaggle on Tuesday in the Capitol, around the same time Newsom was speaking in Half Moon Bay.
“Let me begin by expressing my condolences to the families in California with the recent violence over the last couple days,” McCarthy told reporters.

Newsom said he was in the hospital in Southern California visiting victims and family members when he was pulled aside and informed of the second shooting in Half Moon Bay.
The governor, like others in his party, has doubled down on the need for gun restrictions in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision. Last year the Democrat-dominated legislature passed a dozen more restrictions, and new bills are in the works for this year.
While the state does have a lower rate of gun death than the national average, it’s been impossible to insulate it from tragedies like the ones seen this week. Increasingly, California Democrats have been looking to Washington to place protections in areas that state policies simply can’t cover.
“We can figure this out — we can,” Newsom said. “We know what to do. It’s not complicated. We do. And we don’t have to do this again and again and again.”
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#Newsom #renews #call #federal #action #gun #safety #mass #shootings #California
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 25, 2023