Launching a blistering attack on BJP Prime ministerial candidate, NCP chief and Union Minister Sharad Pawar today sought to know how could people trust Narendra Modi, who did not even meet the family of a Congress MP who was allegedly burnt near the Gujarat capital.
“When Modi was Chief Minister, a Congress MP was burnt 20 kms away from state capital but this CM did not even bother to meet the bereaved family. How can such a person assure well-being of the country?” Pawar said.
He was addressing a campaign rally for NCP minister Sunil Tatkare who is contesting the Raigad Lok Sabha seat.
“We saw a lot of Lok Sabha polls but right from Nehru’s era we have not heard a prime ministerial nominee being declared before polls,” Pawar said.
But BJP declared their nominee even before the poll process was set in motion, he said. This tantamounts to insult of the constitution, he added.
Whenever Modi goes he says he wants to make India Congress-free. The party is one which drove out British and made India free, Pawar said.
“What sacrifice did these (BJP) leaders make for the country. And what sacrifice did those in earlier Jan Sangh make for the country? We should not allow these people to succeed,” Pawar said.
The food security act has benefited 7.3 crore people in Maharashtra, Pawar said.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said though the seat sharing formula was decided earlier, Congress and NCP decided to swap Raigad Lok Sabha seat to ensure that the Shiv Sena candidate did not get benefit of division of votes as was the case earlier.
Chavan expressed confidence that the ruling alliance would bag all the 48 seats in the state.
The progress achieved by the UPA in last ten years is one which has never been achieved (by other governments) in the history of the country, Chavan said.
Modi is using marketing techniques imported from other countries and by doing so his “dictatorial tendency” is coming to the fore, the CM said.
He has sidelined seniors like Advani and Jaswant Singh, Chavan said.
Suspected Shiv Sena members on Tuesday allegedly ransacked an NCP office situated in Wagle Estate area of the city and also thrashed some party workers present there, police said.
The attack came within days after city NCP vice-president Nilesh Sadhu filed a complaint with police against local Shiv Sena activist Ravi alias Macchi Hevoor for allegedly burning down a banner of NCP office in the area on Sunday night, they said.
Hevoor was arrested and later released on bail.
According to the complaint filed by NCP, Hevoor along with a handful of party workers, vandalised the office and also attacked NCP workers present there, police said.
An offence has been registered under various sections of IPC in this regard, but no arrest was made so far, police said.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday reserved order on an application moved by Jaidev, estranged son of Shiv Sena chief late Balasaheb Thackeray, seeking to restrain the beneficiaries of his father’s will from selling or disposing of the family properties.
Uddhav Thackeray, Executive President of Sena and son of the Sena patriarch, who passed away in November 2012, is one of the beneficiaries of the will purportedly left behind by the senior Thackeray.
After hearing arguments from both the sides, Justice R D Dhanuka reserved order until on Thursday on Jaidev’s plea for interim relief to stop Uddhav and others from dealing with the family properties in any manner either by selling or disposing of or creating third party rights on such assets until the legal row on Thackeray’s will is decided by the Court.
Uddhav, who was anointed party’s Executive President by his father, had earlier moved the High Court to probate the will of Thackeray, who died on November 17, 2012.
The probate petition of Uddhav, filed in January 2013 by solicitor firm Kanga and Company, has been converted into a testamentary suit as it was opposed by his brother Jaidev, who has not got any share in the property, said a lawyer involved in the case.
A probate petition is filed to get the will of a deceased person certified by a court. The estate left behind by Thackeray includes property and bank deposits worth Rs 14.85 crores, according to the will signed by the Sena patriarch.
A copy of the will has been attached to the probate petition filed by Uddhav. Jaidev has contested the will in an affidavit, saying the property was valued much more than the declared worth.
According to him, the Bandra bungalow ‘Matoshri’ is itself valued at Rs 40 crore. Jaidev has contended that although he had separated from his father some years ago, he had cordial relations with him and that the senior Thackeray could not have signed such a will in which he has not been given any share in the family property.
Jaidev is currently staying separately with his third wife. His divorced wife Smita also stays separately.
Jaidev’s lawyer Seema Sarnaik argued that at this juncture, her client was simply asking for protection of properties in the form of interim relief by restraining the beneficiaries from disposing of the assets left behind by Thackeray in his will.
Uddhav’s lawyers argued Jaidev’s application was not maintainable and should be dismissed. According to the will, Thackeray has given the first floor of his bungalow to his grandson Aishvarya, son of Jaidev and his divorced wife Smita.
The second floor has been bequeathed to Uddhav and his sons Aditya and Tejas. The ground and third floors have been given to Uddhav. No share has been given to Jaidev and Madhavi, the widow of Thackeray’s eldest son Bindumadhav, who died in a road accident some years ago.
Madhavi has not contested the will. Thackeray had named former Sena MP and senior advocate Adhik Shirodkar, lawyer Anil Parab, architect Shashi Prabhu and Ravindra Mhatre, former personal assistant to the late Sena supremo as executors of the will.
Dr. Jalil Parkar, his personal physician, is the witness in whose presence Thackeray had signed the will.
Samajwadi Party candidate from Mumbai North Central parliamentary constituency, Farhan Azmi on Wednesday claimed that sitting MP Priya Dutt was feeling the heat for the first time as she is locked in a fierce contest.
“My primary rival is Poonam Mahajan of BJP. Priya is feeling the heat and her morale is low. She is not stepping out of her house,” Farhan told reporters in Mumbai.
He said his father and state SP chief Abu Asmi Azmi had rejected Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan’s pleas to withdraw from the fray in Mumbai North Central. According to Farhan, 80 per cent of the crowd with Priya on Tuesday while filing her nomination were outsiders.
“She has no local support. Only Bandra MLA Baba Siddique was present. There were no other MLAs and corporators,” he claimed. He expressed confidence that he would sail through in the elections with help of youth, muslims and non-muslim North Indians in the constituency.
Farhan said his campaigning for the last six days in Chandivali, Kurla, Bandra east and Kalina areas have given him positive feedback. “Poor people in the constituency are living in inhuman conditions and throughout the campaign, I will be sporting a black band on my forehead as a mark of protest that the local MP has not done anything to uplift the living standards of the poor,” he added.
Hitting out at Priya, Farhan cited the example of Priti Rathi, who was a victim of acid attack at Bandra Terminus. “There are Congress MLAs, corporators and MP from this area. But, none went to meet her when she was battling for her life and after she died no one consoled her family,” he said adding that he had offered Priti Rs 10 lakh compensation and a job in his company after recovery, but she succumbed to her injuries.
Samajwadi Party never contested against Sunil Dutt, Farhan said adding that late Dutt did good work for the poor. “But Priya has shamed her father,” he charged.
Farhan also said that the party will replace it’s candidate Kamaal Khan fielded in Mumbai North West . “It was a mistake to nominate him and it was after his name was announced that we came to know about his derogatory tweets.
Kamaal should have apologised for the tweets after his candidature was announced. The decision regarding his candidature would be taken in a day or two,” he said.
Nowadays, India is also becoming a junk food hub. Now, ‘Khaoo Gullies’ are over taken by fast food centres and cafeterias. Dieting is one of the biggest challenges today. Lifestyle diseases like obesity, heart disease and blood pressure are common in every Indian family and death due to this is also on rise. As the junk food hubs have occupied the city space, so the fitness, slimming and cosmetics surgery centres are also mushrooming in metropolitans. Size zero has become a fashion statement but, control over food habit is yet to be inculcated in city’s busy yet modern lifestyle. Health food, health tips and slimming products in the market have taken lives for granted. No medical norms are followed while gulping these tablets, powders. There are thousands of advertisements and commercials claiming to help lose weight without any efforts.
I was going through a report where few diet experts did a research and have drawn a conclusion that Indians are consuming junk food more often than in the past and they have warned that this may possess a major risk to their international fast food chains, for spoiling Indian dietary patterns is not enough. They said that fast food have reached rural markets in the form of potato chips and soft-drinks and have recommended for remedial measures to be taken. Potato chips and other packet snacks are available even in remote villages, where you may not find a school or a ration shop. These things have reached where still government supplies have not been reaching. You can get soft-drink in remote villages where you may not get clean water. McDonald’s and Pizza Hut may not have reached there but packet foods and soft drinks are making one addicted to them.
If you want to reduce this trans-fat-laden junk food then it is suggested that it should be banned in schools because it is difficult for children to resist them. Commercial advertisement should also be banned because this also influences children the most. Homemade food should be encouraged in schools as we grew up consuming traditional food in school. Problem of junk food was not just limited to food items like burgers and pizzas but, traditional Indian snacks prepared using vegetable fats were also a big threat. We should not just ban burgers but all the products which contain high quantity of trans fat. Everything that tastes good is bad for health. It is either made with ghee and butter or with trans fats sourced from vegetables. So, whatever contains trans fats is unhealthy regardless of whether it is commercial or not. There are mixed reaction over it.
These days, young generation prefers fast food but report suggests that they should avoid these foods. As far as traditional recipes are concerned, we should go for that. The contrary opinion suggested that junk food was a necessity given the changed nature of people’s daily lives and now comes in many variants. Nowadays, people consume their food ‘fatafat’. Mothers also use microwave in their kitchen. This habit we have seen in children whose both parents are doing jobs. Nowadays, we are getting baked potato chips. We cannot tell if it is fat free, whether it has more than 0.2 grams of trans fats per serving. A recent report by the Centre for Science and Environment has accused many brands for labelling their products trans-fat-free even though they contained it in large amounts. Trans-fat consumption increases the risk of coronary heart disease leading to recommendations by health experts that they be consumed only in traces.
Earlier, in Indian celebrations and functions one consumed high calorie food and fat diet, we Indians generally believe in feasting or fasting, both has to have special pattern of rich food (which necessarily is not healthy). Fasting is a holy belief, where they claim to be on fast but, eat food like sabudana, peanuts, sweet potatoes containing high calorie compared with one time average meal of staple food of India. The mix and misconceptions of fasting and celebrating festivals, birthdays or any ritual offerings is defined as having unusual food (fried, heavy fats and sweets). It might be one of the reasons; an average Indian suffers with cholesterol, sugar and obesity. Size zero or looking good is only limited to the glamour industry.
If we look into wider prospects, there are many liposuction, grooming centres, etc, which claim to be miracle place for women who want to look 10 years younger than their age but still looking at Ekta Kapoor, Tina Ambani, Farha Khan and Saroj Khan, it seems like a myth. The scientific research says, no matter how much you botox your face, how many surgeries you go through, unless and until your system is not habituated to its detox cycle, i.e. perspiring, working out, stretching muscles, no artificial remedies are ever permanent.
Here, I would like to get certain things into notice; in one way, the commercialisation of Ayurveda and Indian traditional methods such as Massage (malish), yoga, etc has become ‘Page 3’ affair and costly for common man and on the other hand, fast food centres, foreign techniques, western lifestyle, addictions and show off business have taken over an average Indian’s life. People earn to survive eating basic food but land up in spending on chain of food hubs and to eradicate the side effects of it, they again relay on foreign products.
In short, overweight or slim is not the parameter of healthy life. Respect your body and say no to cosmetology, dieting, using foreign products, botox, slimming pills, etc. It just needs willingness and respect for your own self. There comes the beauty within.
President Pranab Mukherjee has rightly echoed the sentiments of the people by saying that they are desirous of more efficient administration, more responsive and citizen friendly approach of the administrative machinery that comes in contact with the people on almost day to day basis. When Ajit Singh’s father, Chaudhary Charan Singh was the Minister, the “kisans” of western UP used to say , “Tu na sune to main Chaudhary dhure jaoon” ( if you don’t listen to me properly and be responsive, then I will approach Charan Singh. They indulged in this act frequently hence the revenue officers and consolidation of holding officers was always afraid and performed their work properly.
The present situation is such that if I say that I will approach the Secretary with my complaint, the lower level officials will mock and say, “Jake dekho, milte hain kya”. The British officers of the ICS, used to tour regularly and pitched tents to stay in villages and often rode on horse backs. Upon return to office, they will write their experiences in a big bound register to pass the communication from one officer to his counterpart. Present officers mostly move from their AC rooms to the bath room and back and will accompany only those during evenings, who will entertain them with two Ws. ( hope you get it). You will say, they will demand money, which they will definitely do later. Their first demand is W with four letters and followed by second W comprising five letters. After this, you can get any work done from them and obtain whatever information regarding the tenders needed by you.
We tend to blame only the politicians. They are mostly fools and rather gullible and eager to make maximum money in five years, unsure whether they will get re-elected. This is not the case with the officers and PAs to the ministers, who are permanent employees. These officials will receive hefty pension after retirement and even plum postings with the corporate whom they favour during their service tenure. They are very cunning too and will develop friendship with the minister so that they can rely on him during troubled times.
Good and honest officers must be recognized and rewarded. It is not that all of them are bad, many of them are good and honest. However, they often pass their time and look forward to the next promotion. Let us hope the new government after these elections, encourages and rewards pro-active officers and improve their competence by providing continuous training and retraining. The head of the department should be asked to publish a report in newspapers monthly providing information pertaining to the work done and tasks planned.
Notwithstanding the bitter of words between rival political leaders in the poll season, the Gandhi cousins – Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Varun Gandhi have shown affection towards each other despite representing different ideologies.
Rahul Gandhi, who today accompanied his mother and party president Sonia Gandhi to Rae Bareli to file her nomination papers, appreciated his cousin Varun for endorsing his work in Amethi constituency.
Reacting to Varun’s statements, Rahul said that he was very happy that people are appreciating the work he has done in his parliamentary constituency. The Congress vice president said he would continue to work for the development of Amethi.
Varun’s comments, made to a group of teachers and activists, may have patented a controversy but they were unsurprisingly embraced by Rahul, 43, who is running for Parliament from Amethi for the third time in a row. “What Varun is saying is right…I am very glad that others are appreciating the work I’ve done in Amethi,” the Congress vice president said, smiling, after he chauffeured his mother, Sonia, in a white SUV through her constituency of Raebareli where she filed her nomination papers for the national election.
Varun Gandhi won the last election from Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh. When he shifted to Sultanpur this time, he ruled out campaigning against Rahul in Amethi, a constituency represented in the past by both their fathers, Sanjay and Rajiv Gandhi. Varun spoke of “lines of decency I would never cross.”
Varun and Rahul are the grandsons of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Varun’s father, Sanjay, represented Amethi in Parliament when he died in a plane crash in 1980. His older brother, Rajiv, who was Rahul’s father, then made Amethi his constituency; he was assassinated in 1991. Sonia Gandhi represented Amethi till 2004, when Rahul entered politics and contested his first election from there.
Varun, a MP from Pilibhit, had recently praised Rahul for the implementation of various programmes, including revival of small scale industries in Amethi.
The BJP leader went on to say that the work done in Amethi should be replicated in Sultanpur as well. Varun is contesting the upcoming General Elections from Sultanpur.
However, Varun, son of late Sanjay Gandhi, today clarified his comments were made during his interaction with teachers and members of NGOs. Varun said his remarks were made in response to questions whether he was aware of various initiatives taken by Congress in Amethi.
In a major development, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday upheld the conviction of three convicts by the trial court in the 12-year-old Nitish Katara murder case.
The Delhi High Court, while passing the order, said Nitish Katara’s murder was a case of honour killing and there is no need for a re-trial.
A division bench of Justice Gita Mittal and Justice JR Midha also dismissed the appeals of the three convicts challenging the trial court verdict of May 2008, which awarded them life imprisonment for abducting and killing Nitish Katara in 2002.
The High Court said that the trial court had rightly found three convicts – Vikas, Vishal Yadav and Sukhdev Pehelwan – guilty of kidnapping and murdering Nitish Katara in 2002.
The bench passed the order while responding to a plea moved by politician DP Yadav’s son Vikas and nephew Vishal seeking a retrial in the case.
The bench also posted for April 25 the appeal of Katara’s mother Neelam Katara who had sought death sentence to the three convicts – Vikas, brother of Katara’s girlfriend Bharti, his cousin Vishal and contract killer Sukhdev Pehalwan – who are serving life terms in the Tihar Central Jail.
Victim’s mother and a key petitioner in the case, Neelam Katara has hailed the Delhi High Court order. However, the convicts are expected to challenge the Delhi High Court ruling in the Supreme Court.
At least five pleas challenging the trial court order were filed in connection with the case. While three pleas had been filed by the convicts, the other two had been filed by the prosecution and Nitish Katara’s mother Neelam Katara who has sought death sentence.
The prosecution’s case is built on the argument that the Yadav brothers killed Nitish as they didn’t approve of his relationship with their sister Bharti Yadav. According to prosecution, Vikas and Vishal killed Katara on the night of February 17, 2002 after abducting him from a marriage party in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad.
Seeking death penalty for the convicts, the prosecution had told the high court that Nitish Katara and Bharti Yadav were in an “intense relationship” and her family’s opposition to their friendship led to the killing of Katara, son of an Indian Administrative Service officer.
The prosecutor sought death penalty for the convicts and said, “If the court does not give death penalty, my appeal would press for the maximum punishment.” Senior counsel Ram Jethmalani, appearing for Vishal Yadav, had sought a re-trial. Jethmalani said the trial was not conducted in accordance with law.
“We are very very much willing for the re-trial, and we wish the re-trial to start from the prosecution of witness no.1,” Jethmalani told the bench. Vishal was convicted in 2008 along with his cousin Vikas for kidnapping and murdering.
A tug of war was Wednesday witnessed in a Delhi court between the National Investigation Agency and the Special Cell of Delhi Police for seeking the custody of top Indian Mujahideen operatives Tehseen Akhtar and Zia-ur-Rehman alias Waqas.
The special cell sought 15 days police custody of Akhtar alias Monu, Waqas and three other suspected IM operatives in connection with an illegal arms factory case but NIA countered their submissions, saying they need to take custody of Akhtar and Waqas in the 2013 Hyderabad’s Dilsukhnagar blasts case.
As soon as the proceeding began before Additional Sessions Judge Daya Prakash, NIA told the court that being a federal central agency, they have the right to formally arrest both the accused wanted in the blasts case.
The special cell, however, opposed NIA’s submissions saying the probe agency cannot curtail the rights of the local police to investigate any case.
“You cannot curtail the rights of the local police in the name of NIA Act… NIA is only seeing the gravity of their case but they are not seeing the gravity of our case,” special cell prosecutor Rajiv Mohan said.
NIA’s prosecutor Ahmed Khan, however, submitted that the NIA Act has overriding effect and it was a special law.
He also said that the special cell was duty bound to inform NIA after arresting the accused.
Advocate M S Khan, who appeared for Akhtar and Waqas, told the court that his clients were in custody of the special cell for the last 10 days but the police was not saying what they have done during this period.
The special cell, however, said they are yet to arrest some more wanted accused persons, including IM’s co-founder Riyaz Bhatkal, and for that they need sustained custodial interrogation of these accused.
Besides Akhtar and Waqas, Mohd Maroof, Wakar Azhar and Mohd Saqib Ansari were also produced before the court.
AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday vowed to defeat BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in Varanasi and denied speculation that he might join the BJP.
Addressing impromptu meetings in east Delhi in support of AAP candidate Rajmohan Gandhi, Kejriwal launched a vicious attack on both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress.
“If my aim was to reach Parliament, then I would have fought the Lok Sabha election from a safe seat,” the former Delhi chief minister thundered from atop an open vehicle.
“I want to defeat Modi. That is why I am fighting election from Varanasi. It is also important to defeat (Congress vice president) Rahul Gandhi. That is why (AAP’s) Kumar Vishwas is contesting in Amethi. Both Modi and Rahul (Gandhi) need to be defeated… They lead two parties that believe in corruption,” he said.
Kejriwal pointed out that while the BJP had fielded the tainted former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa in Karnataka, the AAP had put up Rajmohan Gandhi, a grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, in east Delhi.
“This is the difference between the BJP and AAP,” he said.
It was the second straight day of campaigning in Delhi by Kejriwal for the Aam Aadmi Party, whose minority government collapsed Feb 14 after just 49 days.
He denied reports in a section of the media that he might end up joining the BJP.
“I have never said that, and I will never join any of these parties,” Kejriwal asserted, as the AAP cavalcade wound its way through some of the more thickly populated areas of east Delhi.
Some 800 supporters accompanied him, some on foot and others on motorcycles. Whenever he stopped to make short speeches, hundreds gathered to hear him.
Kejriwal recalled the attacks on him in Gujarat and Bhiwani in Haryana, and also how he was pelted with eggs when he went to Varanasi.
“It is the BJP and Congress who are responsible for these incidents,” he said. “They want to crush us. But we will never bow to them. We will fight against corruption till our last breath.”
Earlier, about a dozen men waved black flags at Kejriwal and shouted slogans against him at Geeta Colony.
Notwithstanding the bitter of words between rival political leaders in the poll season, the Gandhi cousins – Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Varun Gandhi have shown affection towards each other despite representing different ideologies.