NEW DELHI, (ANI): The Supreme Court (SC) expressed concern on Wednesday about the fire in forest of Uttarakhand and said that cloud seeding, depending on rain, was not the answer to stop the fire. A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta said cloud seeding, depending on rain not the answer and government has to take preventive measures. The bench while expressing concern on the fire in forest said that photographs and videos of fire are going viral.

Uttarakhand government told the bench that there were 398 forest fires from November 2023 till today and all of them are man-made. It was further told that a total of 388 criminal cases have been lodged in connection with forest fires and 60 people have been names in these cases. Senior advocate-petitioner Rajiv Dutta told the bench that the condition in forest due to fire is devastating. “Five people have died,” Dutta said, adding that people who have to douse fire don’t have proper equipment. He said once fire is over the land mafia come to change the land use saying it’s no longer a forest.

The bench asked Uttarakhand government and petitioners to share their reports with Central Empowered Committee (CEC) and it will look into it and give its opinion. The apex court now posted the matter for hearing on May 15. The petitions highlighting the extent of forest fires in Uttarakhand have been pending in the Supreme Court for years.

The apex court in 2021 had agreed to examine plea to direct the Uttarakhand government to take measures to prevent the occurrences of forest fires causing large-scale destruction of flora and fauna in the hill State. (ANI)

NEW DELHI, (PTI): Former Congress leader Radhika Khera and actor Shekhar Suman joined the BJP on Tuesday.

Khera, the former national coordinator of the Congress’s media department, resigned from the party’s primary membership on Sunday, days after her altercation with another leader at the party’s Chhattisgarh office.

In her resignation letter to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Khera also claimed she was facing opposition in the party for her visit to the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Suman, a popular TV actor who also worked in many Bollywood films, has returned to politics after a gap of about 15 years. He had fought the 2009 Lok Sabha elections from Patna Sahib seat in Bihar on a Congress ticket but came third in the contest which was won by Shatrughan Sinha, who was then with the BJP.

Both Khera and Suman joined the BJP at its headquarters here in the presence of its senior leaders, including party national general secretary Vinod Tawde and national media department in-charge Anil Baluni.

Addressing a joint press conference with the BJP leaders, Khera claimed she left the Congress as she was being mistreated since she visited Ayodhya along with her family members for ‘darshan’ of Lord Ram.

She also alleged that the Congress has become ”anti-Sanatan and anti-Hindu and anti-Ram”.

”I could reach here due to a safe and secured government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi (at the Centre). I could not have reached here if I had not got protection from the BJP government in Chhattisgarh,” she claimed.

”I was punished in Congress for being a Hindu, a Sanatani girl and a devotee of Lord Ram. This is no more Mahatma Gandhi’s Congress,” she charged.

Suman expressed gratitude towards God for guiding him to join the BJP, saying one has to do what Lord Ram desires.

”Until yesterday, I did not know that I would be sitting here. I have come here with a very positive thought. I thank God who ordered me to come here,” he told reporters.

Suman hailed Modi and said under his leadership, India has witnessed significant development over the past decade, with its ”position, status, and fortune undergoing positive transformations”.

”It is the duty of every Hindustani to be part of this stream and energy,” he said, adding, ”I am fortunate that I have got the opportunity”.

He thanked Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP chief JP Nadda and other leaders of the party for giving him an opportunity to fulfill his social responsibility and commitment to fostering a positive change.

Suman, who is well known for a number of TV series including ”Dekh Bhai Dekh” and late night show ”Movers n Shakers” hosted by him, is in limelight with Leela Bhansali’s web series Heeramandi. He is portraying the character of Nawab Zulfikar in the web series. Welcoming Khera and Suman to the BJP fold, Tawde said he was confident that they will contribute to achieving Modi’s resolve of making India a developed country.

Referring to Suman’s famous ”Movers n Shakers” TV show, the BJP leader said in lighter when, ”We will see who will move and shake now”. (PTI)

NEW DELHI: In a severe shock to the Aam Aadmi Party convener and Delhi CM, the Delhi High court in its order said: “after going through the evidence and material placed by the arresting agency (Enforcement Directorate) and perusal of the papers and other material concerning the arrest, Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest is fully legit and as per the process of law. It also said that there is enough evidence to remand Kejriwal to further custody and deny him bail”.

Regarding the other points raised by Kejriwal’s lawyers, the court said that those points cannot be taken into consideration at this stage and can be examined only at the time of trial, during evidence and cross-examination.

According to a PTI report, the Delhi unit of the BJP said, the Delhi High Court has shown a mirror to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and exposed their ”lies” by rejecting his plea challenging his arrest in the ”liquor scam”.

The Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, who had raised the issue of alleged irregularities in the now scrapped excise policy (2021-22) of the Delhi government in the Assembly, said that Kejriwal should now give up his ”insistence” on running the government from jail and immediately resign from the chief minister’s post.

”If Kejriwal and his party still remain adamant, then the President of India will be left with no other option but to dismiss the government,” Bidhuri said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, the Delhi High Court dismissed Kejriwal’s petition challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case stemming from the alleged excise scam, saying there was no contravention of legal provisions and that due process was followed.

Besides his arrest, Kejriwal, currently in judicial custody in Tihar jail till April 15, had also challenged his subsequent remand in Enforcement Directorate’s custody, which the court said was not illegal.

The Aam Aadmi Party said it was hopeful of getting relief from the Supreme Court and called the excise policy case the ”biggest political conspiracy” to crush Kejriwal and the AAP governments in Delhi and Punjab.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said the court order proved that Kejriwal was the ”main conspirator” in the ”liquor scam” and there was ”a lot of crucial evidence” against him.

The ”lies” of AAP in the excise policy case have also been ”exposed” by the court order, he stated.

(With inputs from PTI)

RAMPUR, (PTI): BJP president JP Nadda on Monday came down heavily on the Congress, accusing it of committing scams in all the three worlds and said the party did not spare the sky, underground and water.

Addressing an election rally in Rampur on Monday in favour of the BJP candidates, Nadda attacked the INDIA bloc and said, ”Modi ji is saying to end corruption and that none of the corrupt persons will be spared. All of them will go to jail.” Further quoting Modi, he said the ‘gathbandhan’ (alliance) is saying that the corrupt should be ”saved” and they are ”engaged” in it.

”Did the Congress not commit the coal scam? Did the Congress not commit CWG scam, 2G scam, 3G scam, AugustaWestland scam, submarine scam?” he said.

In other words, the opposition bloc committed scams in all the three ”loks” (worlds), Nadda said.

”They did not spare the ‘nabh’ (sky), ‘paataal’ (below the surface of the Earth) and ‘jal’ (water). The Congress committed corruption in the three worlds,” he said.

He also alleged that Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav committed the laptop scam, the Gomti (river) front scam and food grain scam.

Similarly, senior RJD leader Lalu Prasad committed fodder scam and job in lieu of land scam, he further alleged.

Attacking DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, the BJP chief said, ”Do you know that the income of Stalin is Rs 1.32 lakh crore. There is no source of this income. (Former Jharkhand chief minister) Hemant Soren of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) also committed the scam.

”Has (Delhi Chief Minister) Arvind Keriwal not committed the liquor scam? This ‘ghamandiya’ (arrogant) alliance is nothing but an alliance of the corrupt people,” he said.

Nadda also said former Congress presidents Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, the DMK ministers and the ministers of the Mamta Banerjee government are on bail.

He asked the audience whether Soren, Kejriwal, AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain, TMC ministers, KCR’s daughter K Kavitha and veteran SP leader from Rampur Azam Khan are in jail or not.

”All these leaders of the ‘ghamandia’ alliance are either on bail or in jail,” he said.

Listing the ”parivarvadi” (dynastic) parties, he said, ”Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi; rest of it (in Congress) is full stop. In the National Conference (NC), there are Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah; in the PDP, there are (late) Mufti Mohammad and Mehbooba Mufti; in Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), there was Parkash Singh Badal, and now there is Sukhbir Badal; and there is the Chautala family.” After Mulayam Singh Yadav, it was Akhilesh Yadav and then Dimple (Yadav). They have even left ‘chacha’ (Shivpal Yadav), rest of it is full stop, he said, and cited the examples of Lalu Yadav-Rabri Devi-Tejashwi Yadav-Tej Pratap, Mamta Banerjee and (her nephew) Abhishek Banerjee, KCR-KTR-Kavitha, Karunanidhi-MK Stalin-Udhayanidhi and Uddhav Thackeray and Aditya.

”(There are) Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule. They have pushed away Ajit Pawar,” he said.

”They have to save their families and indulge in corruption,” Nadda said.

Modi has changed the ‘dhaara’ (wave) and culture of politics. Now, there is the politics of development, he said.

”When some people tried to divide the country on the caste lines, Modi ji said he will move on the path of GYAN, where G stands for ‘gareeb’ (poor), Y stands for ‘yuva’ (youth), A for ‘annadata’ (farmers) and N for ‘nari shakti’ (women power). If their power increases, then the country moves forward,” Nadda said.

He also said, ”The 2024 election… is an election for the development of the country. It is an election to develop the country. Earlier, vote bank politics was done by dividing people. But, Modi ji changed the definition of politics.” Today, there is no vote bank politics but there is only politics of development, he said.

”Modi ji is moving ahead with the mantra of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas. Be it village, poor, youth, Dalit, tribal, farmer or women, Modi ji took care of all sections,” he said.

Therefore, today around 25 crore people of India have come out of the poverty line and the extreme poverty in the country has reduced to less than 1 per cent, the BJP president said.

Comparing the present day scenario of Rampur with its past, Nadda said earlier the women were not safe here, traders faced difficulties in doing business and would close their shops before the sunset, and parents were nervous till the time their children, including daughters, safely returned to their homes.

”We know the mafia raj which had prevailed earlier. Today, our daughters are going to their schools and colleges without any fear,” he said, and added that the picture has changed because of the BJP, and due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

He also said electricity has been provided to every village of Rampur, roads are being built under the rural road scheme. Today a new story of development is being written in Rampur.

”There was a time when we used to call Uttar Pradesh a ‘BIMARU’ state. Today the same state is becoming ‘Uttam Pradesh’,” Nadda said.

According to the election schedule, eight parliamentary constituencies in UP will vote in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls on April 19. These are Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Nagina (SC), Moradabad, Rampur and Pilibhit. Counting of votes will be held on June 4. (PTI)

BENAULIM: Move away Girish Chodankar, Captain Viriato and Amit Patkar. There is a new contender in town. Actually speaking not a new contender at all, but one with a lot of political baggage. A little birdie from Varca has confirmed that Valanka Alemao is desperately lobbying for the South Goa constituency Lok Sabha ticket.

In addition to Valanka, it seems Pratima Coutinho has also thrown her hat into the ring and seems to be a contender for the ticket.

In fact, when we reported yesterday that a ‘secret’ survey was being undertaken by the Congress high command to figure out which candidate among all the aspirants had the maximum personal votes in South Goa, our source mentioned that they were looking at a female candidate as well, because her name seemed to be in the list or at least it was so claimed.

As reported earlier, even Churchill Alemao was planning to contest as an independent but seems to have ditched the idea. He has expressed his support for the BJP candidate Pallavi Srinivas Dempo for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, which will be held on May 7th in Goa.

Valanka Alemao was not available for comment. In case she responds to this story, we will update the post accordingly.

NEW DELHI: The Congress Central Election Committee (CEC) is likely to meet today (Friday). The party poll manifesto is also expected to be released today or tomorrow (Saturday), reports said.

According to a Congress spokesperson, the AICC leadership is working on the Congress national manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections, which is expected to be released in Jaipur on April 5, followed by the release of the Telugu version of the manifesto in Tukkuguda at a rally on April 6.

Senior Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Party president Mallikarjun Kharge are supposed to attend the Tukkuguda meeting on April 6.

Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi accompanied by Priyanka Gandhi, filed his nomination on Thursday from Wayanad and is expected to attend meetings at the party head office in Delhi today.

NEW DELHI, (ANI): The Enforcement Directorate on Friday issued a second summons to Shiv Sena (UBT) Lok Sabha candidate Amol Kirtikar for questioning in his alleged involvement in the ‘khichdi’ scam. “ED’s second summons! Khichdi thief still absconding. Such is the candidate for #MVA. Humble question, will you campaign from jail?” Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam asked in a post on X.

Kirtikar had skipped the first summons served to him on Wednesday after the party announced him as its candidate from the Mumbai North-West constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Amol Kirtikar’s father and senior politician Gajanan Kirtikar is now with the Eknath Shinde (Maharashtra chief minister) faction of the Shiv Sena and also the incumbent MP from the said seat.

Earlier on January 30, Sena (UBT) leader and MP Sanjay Raut’s brother, Sandeep Raut, reached the ED office for questioning and called the scam baseless and ‘politically motivated’. The ED summoned Sandeep Raut for questioning in connection with the alleged scam case on January 28.

On January 18, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Suraj Chavan and an alleged close aide of party leader Aaditya Thackeray were sent to ED custody in the case. Chavan was alleged to have been involved in financial irregularities worth Rs 1 crore linked to the distribution of “khichdi” to migrant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In June last year, the ED conducted raids at 15 locations in Mumbai, including Suraj Chavan’s residence, recovering documents in connection with the scam. The ED has alleged that agents linked to some politicians used influence to ensure the BMC awarded khichdi contracts to their associates. The khichdi suppliers cheated the BMC by supplying less than the agreed quantity and after submitting inflated bills, it was alleged. (ANI)

NEW DELHI, (ANI): The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the disqualification of six Congress leaders of Himachal Pradesh who had cross voted for the BJP candidate during the Rajya Sabha elections in the State and issuing notice to the respondents on their petition challenging the decision of the Legislative Assembly Speaker. “We are not going to stay the disqualification,” the apex court said.

A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta also denied the six MLAs permission to vote or participate in proceedings of the House. The top court listed the matter for the second week of May.

The court was apprised of the fact that date of the general elections has been announced and that the date of filing of nomination has been notified for this May. On February 29, Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania disqualified six Congress MLAs Sudhir Sharma, Rajinder Rana, Davinder K Bhutto, Ravi Thakur, Chaitanya Sharma and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal under the anti-defection law.

After the 2022 Assembly elections, the Congress had 40 MLAs, while the BJP had 25 in the 68-member state assembly. The remaining three seats are held by independents. In the voting of the Rajya Sabha election recently, the BJP, which has just 25 MLAs, managed to secure nine additional votes. The vote ended in a 34-34 tie, with three Independents and six Congress MLAs cross-voting for the BJP candidate.

BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan won the contest defeating the Congress nominee Abhishek Singhvi after the result was decided with a draw of lots. (ANI)