Dia Mirza, Sharman back Rajkumar Hirani, call for due process

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January 15, 2019

A day after Rajkumar Hirani was accused of sexual assault by a woman who worked with him on his 2018 film “Sanju”, his frequent collaborators Dia Mirza and Sharman Joshi Monday described was one of the most decent persons to work with in the Hindi film industry.

In an article on HuffPost India, the woman, who calls herself “an assistant”, alleged that Hirani sexually abused her more than once between March and September 2018.

She detailed her allegations in an email dated November 3, 2018, to Hirani’s frequent collaborator and “Sanju” co-producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

Dia, who has worked with Hirani on films “Lage Raho Munna Bhai” and “Sanju”, said she was “deeply distressed” by the allegations as the director was someone she respects a lot. The actor said she hopes a due official enquiry is conducted in the matter.

“I am deeply distressed by this news. As someone who has known and respects Raju Sir for 15 years I can only hope that a due official enquiry is conducted. He is one of the most decent human beings I have ever worked with and I think it would be grossly unjust on my part to speak on this as I do not know the details.

“As for the #MeToo movement it rightfully encourages women to speak up and seek due process,” Dia told an agency.

Sharman, whose portrayal of Raju Rastogi in Hirani’s blockbuster “3 idiots” became immensely popular, hoped the phase the director is going through currently will pass.

“Raju Sir, is a man of immense integrity, character, honour, compassion and truthfulness, all the virtues one would imagine are non existent in people today, someone I am absolutely inspired by and have learnt from and because of whom I believe I have gone onto being a better person.

“All I want to say is that this too shall pass and I can imagine how demeaning it might be to even stand up for yourself in a situation such as this,” the actor told the agencies.

After the HuffPost India article went viral on the Internet, the filmmaker released a statement in which he said he was “shocked” when the claims were brought to his notice two months ago.

He said he suggested the case be referred to a “committee or a legal body” but the complainant chose to go the media instead.

“I was completely shocked when these allegations were brought to my notice about two months back. I had suggested immediately that it is essential to take this matter to any committee or any legal body.

“The complainant has chosen to go to the media instead. I want to very strongly state that this is a false malicious and mischievous story being spread with the sole intention of destroying my reputation,” Hirani said in a statement.

Crisis in K’taka: BJP will stake claim to power if Cong-JDS govt falls, says Sadananda Gowda

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January 15, 2019

The BJP would stake claim to power in Karnataka if the Congress-JDS coalition government falls, Union minister D V Sadananda Gowda said here on Tuesday, hours after two Independent legislators in the state withdrew support from the seven-month-old Kumaraswamy dispensation.

Gowda said that the Kumaraswamy government would collapse on its own due to squabbling and that the Congress-JDS ‘friendship” was on the “brink of divorce”.

“The friendship is at the brink of divorce. It is time for break-up. A party with 37 seats has formed the government. It will collapse on its own due to squabbling. If the government collapses, we will certainly form the government,” he told reporters here.

Gowda was replying to a query on whether there was any likelihood of the BJP staking claim to power in the event of the collapse of the coalition government.

The Congress and JDS had formed the government after the May 2018 assembly polls threw up a fractured verdict with the BJP emerging as the single largest party with 104 seats in the 224-member Assembly.

The Congress had secured 79 seats and the JDS 37.

BJP Lok Sabha member Prathap Simha said it was everybody’ wish to see Yeddyurappa as the next chief minister and the party would not sit quiet after winning 104 seats.

“We do have the wish to see Yeddyurappa as the next chief minister. How can we sit quiet after winning 104 seats? When these people (Congress and JD-S) formed the government we were quite depressed because public opinion was in favour of the BJP. Indeed, numbers matter in democracy,” said Simha.

He, however, sought to know why the coalition government was sitting on shaky ground.

“Why is the coalition government so shaken? Are the ruling party MLAs so weak? Is it so that the MLAs are so depressed with this government? Are no development works happening? Had it happened then, the MLAs would have focused on their constituency,” Simha said.

Navi Mumbai airport to be operational by mid 2020: Fadnavis

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January 15, 2019

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said that the Navi Mumbai airport is likely to be operational by the mid next year.

Speaking at the Global Aviation Summit here, Fadnavis also said that as many as nine more airports are in the pipeline in the state besides the Navi Mumbai airport.

“The Navi Mumbai airport will be operational by mid 2020,” Fadnavis said.

The airport has capacity to add 1 per cent to our GDP, he added.

While Pune airport is being developed to cater to one of the major IT hubs in the country, Nagpur airport is being developed for its strategic location in national and international flight routes, he further said.

All metros in India are around an hour distance from Nagpur by flight and this connectivity has called for more attention to its infrastructure development, the Chief Minister added.

A passenger and cargo hub will also be created in Nagpur, Fadnavis said that adding the state is looking to increase cargo capacity to 40 per cent by 2025 from 28 per cent at present.

No BJP Rath Yatra for now; SC says Bengal’s worry “Not Unfounded”

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January 15, 2019

As per the Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday, the BJP cannot hold a “Rath Yatra” in Bengal for now. The apex court said that the concerns of the state government “cannot be said to be unfounded”. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked the BJP to revise its plan, address the apprehensions of the Mamata Banerjee government and seek permission again.

The top court, however, said that the Bengal unit of the BJP can hold rallies and meetings in the state.

The Bengal government had said in court that the “Rath Yatra’s” route is planned through communally sensitive areas and will create law and order problems. The state government had also cited intelligence reports to say the rallies would be communally polarising. However, the BJP had argued that “It is our right to hold rallies and yatra in a democracy and state can’t stop our constitutional rights”.

The top court has asked the Bengal government to consider the revised schedule of the BJP for ”Rath Yatra” keeping in mind the fundamental right of speech and expression under the Constitution.

The Supreme Court was hearing a petition by the Bengal unit of the BJP that had challenged the December 21 order of the division bench of the Calcutta High Court, which had set aside the order of a single-judge bench allowing the procession.

The rallies, according to the original schedule, were supposed to be flagged off by BJP president Amit Shah from Cooch Behar district on December 7, Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas on December 9, and from Tarapith temple in Birbhum on December 14.

The BJP has now decided to cut short its 40-day programme to 20 and the fresh yatras would start from Bahrampur, Diamond Harbour, Midnapore and Kolkata North Lok Sabha constituencies, a lawyer associated with the matter said, adding that the decision was taken in view of the upcoming school examinations and the 2019 general elections.

Delhi HC seeks Centre’s response on plea for SIT probe into phone tapping of NSA Ajit Doval

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January 15, 2019

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought response of the Centre on a plea seeking setting up of a SIT to investigate alleged illegal phone tapping of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao also issued a notice to the agency and sought its response on the plea which contended that such activities are “very dangerous for the country”. The petition, filed by Sarthak Chaturvedi, has alleged that some CBI officials have abused their powers by violating the existing guidelines on phone tapping and surveillance. It has questioned as to whether permission was received for tapping the phone of Doval and others by the CBI.

2 MLAs withdraw support: No threat to Cong-JD(S) Govt, says Gowda

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January 15, 2019

Amid allegations of the BJP trying to poach the MLAs of the ruling coalition in Karnataka, former prime minister and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda on Tuesday asserted that there was no threat to the government headed by his son H D Kumaraswamy.

“It is not in anybody’s hands, including the media. However much you cry hoarse, nothing will happen because it is in the hands of God. When a party (JDS) of 38 MLAs gets the blessings of a national party (Congress), it is all the wish of God,” Gowda said.

His comments came just before two MLAs — H Nagesh (Independent) and R Shankar of the Karnataka Pragnyavantha Janatha Party — withdrew support to the Congress-JD(S) coalition.

Both the Congress and the BJP have been accusing each other of trying to lure away each other’s legislators.

The BJP has shifted its MLAs to a resort in Haryana’s Nuh district near the national capital, the source said on Tuesday.

On Sunday, state Water Resource Minister D K Shivakumar had alleged that three Congress MLAs were camping in a hotel in Mumbai.

Gowda said it was an “illusion” to think that the Congress-JD(S) government was in trouble.

Gowda also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over allegations that Rs 60 crore and ministerial positions were offered to the MLAs of the ruling coalition by the BJP.

“Does it look good that a national party (BJP) is hoarding its 104 MLAs? I am not talking about Amit Shah but Modi, who talks a lot throughout the day,” he said.

Will take care of Mayawati’s farm loan waiver concerns: MP CM Kamal Nath

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January 15, 2019

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Tuesday said his government will take care of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati’s concern over waiving off loans of farmers who had borrowed from money lenders.

Nath was answering a question on Mayawati’s concern over 100 per cent benefit to farmers under the scheme, including those who had borrowed from money lenders.

“I had called Mayawatiji in the morning to wish her on her birthday. I assured her that I will take care of her concern on the issue of loans taken by farmers from sahukars (money lenders) and will take action on it,” Nath told reporters.

He was speaking after formally launching the Jai Kisan Rin Mukt Yojana (farm loan waiver scheme) as promised by the ruling Congress in its manifesto for the Assembly polls.

The state government had announced the loan waiver scheme soon after assuming charge in Madhya Pradesh and Nath formally launched this scheme on Tuesday.

BSP, with two MLAs in the MP Assembly, is an ally in Nath government.

Two MLAs deny their support for Congress-JDS govt in Karnataka

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January 15, 2019

In a blow to the Congress-JDS coalition in Karnataka, two MLAs on Tuesday withdrew support to the government headed by H.D. Kumaraswamy.

H. Nagesh (Independent) and R. Shankar (KPJP) have written to Governor Vajubhai Vala conveying their decision. In separate identical letters which are available to the media, the lawmakers said that they were withdrawing support extended to the coalition government of the Congress and the JDS with immediate effect.

The MLAs are now staying in a Mumbai hotel has requested the governor to take “necessary action.” Both the Congress and the BJP have been accusing each other of trying to lure legislators.

The BJP MLAs are presently camping in Gurgaon, amid reports that some Congress and Independent MLAs are staying at a hotel in Mumbai.

Kelly’s songs with other artists being taken down

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January 15, 2019

Taking cue from Lady Gaga, a number of artists are taking down collaborations with R. Kelly from streaming services.

Kelly’s collaborations with Celine Dion– ‘I’m Your Angel’, 1998 and Chance the Rapper– ‘Somewhere in Paradise’, 2015 appear to be in the process of being removed.

‘I’m Your Angel’ had been removed from YouTube but not other streaming services and ‘Somewhere in Paradise’ was taken down from streaming services but not YouTube.

Last week, about 12 hours passed between Gaga’s announcement that she wanted to remove her 2013 collaboration with Kelly titled ‘Do What U Want’ from streaming services and the iTunes store, and the actual removal.

A performance of the song from the American Music Awards that year remains on YouTube; that clip is owned by ABC, which broadcasted the show, rather than Gaga’s label, Interscope Records.

Kelly has been accused of sexual abuse and misconduct by multiple women over the past two decades. However, the accusations against the 52-year-old singer resurfaced in the wake of a recent documentary series ‘Surviving R. Kelly’ that chronicles allegations of abuse, predatory behaviour, and paedophilia against him.

In ‘Surviving R. Kelly’, Chance the Rapper told Cassius reporter Jamilah Lemiux that “Making a song with R. Kelly was a mistake. At the time, it wasn’t even present in my mind that people could feel any type of way about his presence on a track of mine. I think for a long time I was only able to understand R. Kelly’s situation and presence in the world when it comes down to his trial and his accusations and his accusers as a victim. I don’t know if that’s because I’m from Chicago [as is Kelly] or because he made great music or because he is a black man.”

Jenna Jameson ‘in awe’ of her body post Keto diet

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January 15, 2019

Former porn star and entrepreneur Jenna Jameson is following a strict Keto diet that has helped her lose more than 80 pounds since she gave birth to her daughter, Batel, in 2017.

“The before pic shows a tired new mom in absolute love. Sore but elated. Batel was only 2 weeks… and I am still in awe of the fact that my body made a perfect 8 lb baby. I honour that beautiful body,” Jameson wrote on Instagram alongside a photograph holding daughter Batel when she was first born and now.

“Batel is now 21 months and I’m still in awe of this body that continues to nourish her. I hope that all of you mommys understand how magical you are,” she added.

Besides that, Jameson also shared another before and after shot of her physical transformation.

“Truth. I thought I was still sexy in my before pic. I was right,” she wrote.

The Keto diet is a low-calorie, high-fat diet in which alcohol and sugar (including most fruit) are banned, as well as beans, starchy vegetables, and most grains. Instead, Keto dieters focus on proteins, leafy vegetables, fats and oils.

Last week, Jameson quit Twitter over anti-Semitic remarks.

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2018 was a transformative year for me. I awakened health wise, I shed half of me and I celebrated 3 years #sober ?? 2019 is going to be even better, I can feel it! My beautiful daughter will be turning 2 and able to express her self better (I’m so excited for her to talk) ?. I also have so many business irons in the fire that I can’t wait to share with y’all. My Poshmark is absolutely my passion (link in bio) and its only growing! Thanks to you guys ? Well, let’s all wave bye to 2018 and welcome in a beautiful new year! I love you ? #weightloss #intermittentfasting #beforeandafterweightloss #ketotransformation #postpartumbody #keto #newyearseve #newyear #goals #beforeandafter

A post shared by Jenna Jameson (@jennacantlose) on Dec 31, 2018 at 2:46pm PST