JALNA, (PTI): Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said making Narendra Modi prime minister for the third time would mean responding to every bullet fired from Pakistan with a cannon shell, and accused the Congress of promoting the agenda of the neighbouring country.

Shah was speaking at a campaign rally in Jalna Lok Sabha constituency in central Maharashtra for Union minister and BJP candidate Raosaheb Danve.

”Making Narendra Modi PM for the third time means responding to every bullet from Pakistan with a cannon shell,” he said.

In the BJP-led NDA, it is decided who would be the prime minister after the elections, but in the opposition’s INDIA bloc, decision was yet to be taken on the issue, the senior BJP leader said.

”Their leaders say they will become PM one by one. But such a huge country can not be run like a partnership company. They don’t have any vision. But Modi has worked for ten years and has an agenda of 25 years,” Shah said.

He also alleged that if there was anyone who takes forward Pakistan’s agenda, it was Rahul Gandhi’s Congress.

”PM Modi undertakes surgical and air strikes (against Pakistan), but Rahul Gandhi questions them. Modi ended Naxalism, but Rahul raises questions over it,” the Union home minister said.

The Congress-led opposition was talking about revoking the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, and if it came to power, it would commit the ”sin of putting a lock with the name Babri on it on (Ayodhya’s) Ram Mandir,” he alleged.

Shah also accused opposition parties of standing in the way of the construction of the Ram temple, and declining the invitation for its inauguration when Modi got the temple built.

”….they refused to attend the Ram temple inauguration so that their vote bank would not be disgruntled,” the Union minister further said.

Coming down heavily on the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, the BJP’s former ally, Shah claimed that Thackeray has now allied with a party (Congress) that wants to bring back triple talaq and run the country as per the Sharia law.

”Can this country be run on the basis of Muslim Personal Law? For the sake of some constitutional post, Uddhav is now sitting with such parties,” he alleged.

Referring to the alleged scam in the distribution of khichdi to migrant workers in Mumbai during the COVID-19 pandemic when Thackeray was chief minister, Shah alleged that leaders of Thackeray’s party were eating ”malai” (cream) from khichdi while Narendra Modi was serving the people. ”Uddhav Thackeray is lying at the feet of Sharad Pawar and Congress only for power. These parties opposed the renaming of Aurangabad (as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar). He will not utter a single word if people ask him about Ram Mandir, triple talaq, Article 370,” Shah said.

Congress preserved Article 370 for long and it was PM Modi who revoked it, Shah said. Former prime minister late Indira Gandhi gave the slogan `Garibi Hatao’ (remove poverty) but no Congress leader could do that, he said, adding that it was Modi who brought people out of poverty.

”Our government is giving ration to 80 crore people and providing free hospital treatment upto Rs 5 lakh,” he added.

A dry port was being developed in Jalna which will help transport the steel produced in the region across the globe, he said, adding, ”This too is the work of Narendra Modi and (deputy chief minister) Devendra Fadnavis.” Of the six assembly segments in Jalna Lok Sabha seat, five are with the BJP and its allies.

Jalna will go to polls on May 13, along with neighboring Aurangabad and Beed. (PTI)

ITANAGAR, (PTI): Taking a dig at the opposition INDIA bloc, BJP president J P Nadda on Wednesday termed it a ”ghamandiya (arrogant) alliance full of corrupt leaders”.

Nadda, who earlier in the day released the BJP’s manifesto for the April 19 simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh, also alleged that the opposition alliance was giving refuge to corrupt leaders.

Addressing an election rally here, Nadda said, ”The INDIA bloc is an alliance of arrogant people who indulge in corruption and dynasty politics. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi is against corruption, many of the opposition grouping’s leaders are involved in scams.” The BJP chief claimed that Modi has taken action against corruption, and the PM’s fight against it would intensify.

On one hand, the prime minister is waging a war against corruption, and on the other, the opposition alliance is protecting corrupt leaders. This is a coalition that only thinks of vested interests instead of working for the welfare of the people, Nadda alleged.

Rubbishing charges about the BJP-led central government targeting opposition leaders, he said the law will take its own course against all corrupt politicians.

The BJP chief said that the government is moving ahead with the resolution ‘Developed Arunachal, Developed India’.

”PM Modi always says that neither Delhi nor the government is far from the people of Arunachal Pradesh, which is reflected in the world-class infrastructure being created in the state. Now, it takes only two hours to travel from Delhi to Itanagar, which was impossible earlier,” he said, while referring to the Donyi Polo Airport opened at Hollongi in 2022.

Keeping in view the importance of Northeast, Modi has started working on Act East and ”act fast” policies to develop the region which is the gateway to Southeast Asia, he said.

Nadda said the region, which was once a hub of militancy, has witnessed a massive change after the BJP-led NDA government came to power.

As a result of constant efforts of the Centre, as many as 11 agreements have been signed with various insurgent outfits in the region, following which 9,500 militants have laid down arms and joined the mainstream, he added.

”The Northeast has witnessed a 70 per cent dip in insurgency-related activities, which clearly indicates that the people of the region want peace, progress and development,” Nadda said.

A total of 50,000 crore has been spent on creating railway infrastructure in the region while another Rs 18,000 crore has been earmarked for it, he said.

He claimed that the ”fragile” economy of India improved after Modi became the Prime Minister, and now India is the fifth-largest economy in the world superseding Great Britain, which ruled the country for centuries.

”In three years time, Modi is going to make India the third-largest economy of the world. In automobile manufacturing, India has taken the third spot by replacing Japan,” Nadda claimed.

The BJP chief said that the central government has enhanced grant-in-aid to Arunachal Pradesh by 38 per cent. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, (PTI): As summer scorches large parts of the country, weather scientists have picked up early signs of a favourable monsoon season this year in fading El Nino conditions and lesser snow cover over Eurasia.

In an interview with PTI, India Meteorological Department Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said large-scale climatic phenomena were conducive for the southwest monsoon, which is crucial for the largely rain-fed Indian economy.

”This year El Nino is fading. By the beginning of June, it may become a neutral condition,” Mohapatra said, referring to the warming of the central Pacific Ocean which is considered one of the factors to impact the southwest monsoon.

He said the second half of the July-September monsoon season may witness La Nina conditions, which refer to the cooling of the central Pacific Ocean.

”La Nina is good for the Indian monsoon. And neutral conditions are good. However, El Nino is not good. In 60 per cent of years, El Nino has hurt the Indian monsoon, but last year, it did not have a negative impact,” Mohapatra said.

”This year also the snow cover is less. That is another positive factor. So large-scale processes are conducive for monsoon,” he said.

The southwest monsoon delivers about 70 per cent of India’s annual rainfall, critical for the agriculture sector that accounts for about 14 per cent of the GDP and employs more than half of its 1.4 billion population.

India received ”below-average” cumulative rainfall of 820 mm compared to the long-period average of 868.6 mm in the 2023 monsoon season, which was attributed to a strengthening El Nino.

The IMD is set to issue the southwest monsoon forecast later this month.

The IMD considers three large-scale climatic phenomena for forecasting monsoon season rainfall.

The first is the El Nino, the second is the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) which occurs due to differential warming of the western and eastern sides of the equatorial Indian Ocean and the third is the snow cover over the northern Himalayas and the Eurasian landmass, which also has an impact on the Indian monsoon through the differential heating of the landmass. (PTI)

NEW DELHI: Delhi CM and Aam Aadmi Party Convenor Arvind Kejriwal was arrested late on Thursday evening by the Enforcement Directorate.

According to several media reports, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal today in the liquor policy case. AAP leaders Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj had earlier said they suspected the ED would arrest him today. Mr Kejriwal had skipped the central probe agency’s summons nine times.

The ED in a press note had called Mr Kejriwal a “conspirator” in the case.

Earlier in the day, a division bench of the Delhi High Court refused to pass orders for interim protection from coercive action to Kejriwal in the case. Kejriwal had moved the Delhi High Court challenging the summons issued to him by the central probe agency. He has also filed an application seeking interim protection. The matter is now fixed for hearing on April 22 with the High Court asking the ED to file its replies.

NEW DELHI, (PTI): The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Tuesday a plea by six rebel Congress MLAs, who had cross-voted in the recent Rajya Sabha polls in Himachal Pradesh, against their disqualification.

The Speaker of Himachal Pradesh Assembly, Kuldeep Singh Pathania, had disqualified the six on the Congress’ plea for ”defying” the party whip that required them to be present in the House and vote for the budget.

A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta and Prashant Kumar Mishra will hear on March 12 the plea against the February 29 decision of the Speaker.

The rebel lawmakers in their plea before the top court have made Pathania as well as state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harsh Vardhan Chauhan a party.

These Congress rebels, who had voted in favour of BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha polls on February 27, later ”abstained” from voting on the Budget. Senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi had lost the Rajya Sabha election owing to the cross-voting The disqualified MLAs are Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur and Chetanya Sharma.

Following their disqualification, the effective strength of the House has gone down from 68 to 62, while the number of Congress MLAs has shrunk from 40 to 34.

The rebel MLAs, in their petition, have alleged violation of the principle of natural justice, claiming they did not get adequate opportunity to respond to the disqualification petition.

For the first time in the history of Himachal Pradesh an MLA was disqualified under the anti-defection law aimed at checking defections.

Announcing the disqualification of the six MLAs at a press conference on February 29, the Speaker had said they attracted disqualification under the anti-defection law as they defied the party whip. He ruled that they ceased to be members of the House with immediate effect.

The petition seeking their disqualification was filed by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister before the Speaker for defying the whip that required them to be present in the House and vote for the budget.

Senior advocate Satya Pal Jain, who appeared for the rebel Congress MLAs, had argued that they were only given the show-cause notice and neither the copy of the petition nor the annexure was supplied.

Jain had said seven days were mandatorily allowed for replying to the notice but no time was given to them.

Under the anti-defection law, any elected member who gives up the membership of a political party voluntarily or votes or abstains from voting in the House, contrary to any direction issued by his political party, is liable for disqualification.

These MLAs had signed the attendance register but abstained from the House during the voting on the Budget, the Speaker said.

These members were issued notices for defying the whip through WhatsApp and e-mail and were asked to appear for the hearing.

The Assembly had passed the Finance Bill by voice vote after the Speaker suspended 15 BJP MLAs.

The Speaker had then adjourned the session.

In his 30-page order, he said the plea of the advocate of the rebel MLAs, Satya Pal Jain, for giving time to reply to the notice was not entertained as ”evidence was absolutely clear”.

The Speaker said delivering quick judgment was necessary in such cases to maintain the dignity of democracy and check the ”Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram” phenomenon.

The judgment had no link with cross-voting by these MLAs in the Rajya Sabha polls, the Speaker added. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, (PTI): The Election Commission on Friday said nearly 97 crore Indians will be eligible to vote in this year’s Lok Sabha elections.

It also said over two crore new young electors in age group of 18 to 29 years have been added in the voters’ list.

There has been a six per cent increase in registered voters from 2019, when the last Lok Sabha polls were held. The registered voters then were 91.20 crore.

”The largest electorate in the world -– 96.88 crore are registered to vote for the forthcoming General Elections in India,” the EC said.

The gender ratio has increased from 940 in 2023 to 948 in 2024, the poll panel said.

The Commission has put special emphasis on purity and health of the electoral roll along with disclosures and transparency in the revision of electoral rolls, an official pointed out.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar had explained at a press conference in Pune the various tasks involved in revision of electoral rolls along with participation of political parties at every stage. Over 2.63 crore new electors have been included in the electoral roll, out of which around 1.41 crore are women who surpassed the newly-enrolled male voters (1.22 crore) by over 15 per cent, the poll authority said.

The EC also underlined that effort were made to support persons with disabilities (PwD) by flagging around 88.35 lakh such voters in the electoral roll database. This, it said, will ensure accessibility and inclusivity on polling day.

In 2019, voters who had identified them as persons with disability stood at 45.64 lakh.

After a thorough house-to-house verification, names of over 1.65 crore deceased, permanently shifted, and duplicate electors were deleted from the electoral rolls. ”This comprehensive cleanup ensures the integrity and purity of the electoral process. It includes 67.82 lakh dead voters, 75.11 lakh permanently shifted or absent voters and 22.05 lakh duplicate voters,” it said.

According to data shared by the EC, the number of third gender voters increased from 39.68 thousand in 2014 to a little over 48,000. At the same time, more than two crore young electors, spanning the 18-19 and 20-29 year age groups, have been added to the electoral roll.

Over 10.64 lakh advance applications were received from those above 17 years of age for enrolment in the voters list. People who are not yet 18 will automatically get their voter identity cards once they attain the age of voting if they apply in advance.

While 1.85 crore voters have been identified as above 80 years of age, the total number of ‘centenarian’ (those who are 100 years and above) stood at 2.38 lakh. EC considers those who are 80 years and above as senior citizens.

As on February 8, Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of voters at 15,30 crore. Lakshadweep has over 57,000 registered voters.

According to a 2023 letter sent by the EC to political parties, India had 17.32 crore registered voters in 1951, which rose to 19.37 crore in 1957.

In the first Lok Sabha elections the voter turnout was recorded at 45 per cent. It was 67 per cent in the last parliamentary polls in 2019. (PTI)

MUMBAI: Most parts of the Mumbai Metropolitan region, including, several parts of Maharashtra, received light rainfall on Sunday and Monday. On Tuesday morning, several parts of Mumbai suburbs experienced moderate rains.

High tidal waves and gusty winds hit Mumbai, while other coastal parts of the state also witnessed strong winds as Cyclone Biparjoy intensified into an cyclonic storm in the Arabian Sea. The cyclonic storm also impacted flight operations in the region and Twitter users said there were more than eight go-arounds at the Mumbai airport on Sunday. Several flights were diverted or had difficulty while landing due to strong winds.

“Strong winds are possible along the Maharashtra and Gujarat coasts. High waves may occur in the sea along Gujarat and Maharashtra coast,” private weather forecaster Skymet Weather reported on Monday.

The severe cyclone Biparjoy over the east Central Arabian Sea intensified into an extremely severe cyclonic storm. It is expected to make landfall on Wednesday night or Thursday morning between the Gujarat and Pakistan coastal regions.

There was chaos at the Mumbai airport as passengers waited hours for their flights. Many airlines cancelled their flights in the wake of drastic wind and weather conditions, others were directed to abort landing in Mumbai on Sunday evening. Other flights were diverted or terminated at nearby airports.

NEW DELHI, (PTI): The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea challenging the decision to rename Aurangabad in Maharashtra to ‘Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar’, saying Bombay High Court is seized of the matter.

”Appear before Bombay High Court now. The high court is seized of the matter,” a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha and Justice JB Pardiwala told the petitioner’s counsel.

Mohammed Mushtaq Ahmed had challenged the approval granted by the state and the central governments to a proposal to change the name of the Maharashtra city.

The Aurangabad divisional commissioner, in a letter dated March 4, 2020, proposed that the city’s name be changed to ‘Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar’.

As soon as the matter came up for hearing, the counsel appearing for the state government told the bench that the high court is scheduled to hear the matter on Monday (March 27). The court then said that the matter should be decided there first. (PTI)