Union Home Minister Amit Shah will release the Bharatiya Janata Party's manifesto and address three rallies in poll-bound Jharkhand on Sunday. Shah arrived in Jharkhand capital Ranchi on Saturday night. "Union Home Minister Amit Shah will release the 'Sankalp Patra' for Jharkhand assembly elections in Ranchi on Sunday. He will also address three rallies at Ghatshila, Barkatha and Simaria assembly constituencies during the day," the BJP said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Jharkhand on November 4 and address two rallies. Modi's visit will be followed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh who is scheduled to hold a public meeting in Jamshedpur on November 5. Shah is likely to release 25 key points of the saffron party's manifesto to underline 25 years of Jharkhand’s formation and a 150-point document, marking the 150th birth anniversary of tribal icon Birsa Munda, BJP leaders said. Jharkhand was created on November 15, 2000, which also happens to be the birth anniversary of Birsa Munda. Earlier on October 5, the BJP had released five key points of its manifesto for the assembly polls, promising financial assistance of Rs 2,100 to women every month, five lakh jobs to youths and housing for all if voted to power. Jharkhand BJP president Babulal Marandi had released the ‘Panch Pran’ (five vows) in the presence of Union ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Annapurna Devi and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. According to the ‘Panch Pran’, households in the state will be able to purchase LPG gas cylinders at Rs 500. Besides, two cylinders would be provided free of cost in a year. Apart from this, 2.87 lakh vacant posts in government departments will be filled. The appointment process will start after the very first cabinet meeting, and by November 2025, 1.5 lakh posts will be filled, according to the 'five vows'. The party, if it comes to power, would also provide financial assistance of Rs 2,000 to graduate and postgraduate students for up to two years, so that they could prepare for competitive examinations. The BJP would launch the ‘Gogo-Didi’ scheme as part of its mission to empower women, and under the programme, women will get assistance of Rs 2,100 per month. Housing for all also features among the commitments in the party manifesto. Elections to the 81-member assembly in the state will take place in two phases on November 13 and 20, and votes will be counted on November 23. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
02 November,2024 11:26 PM IST | Ranchi | PTIMaharashtra NCP (SP) president Jayant Patil has claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) used the alleged 'irrigation scam' for 10 years to blackmail Ajit Pawar, evoking rebuttals from Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and the NCP chief, reported the PTI. Jayant Patil made the claim in a newspaper interview on Saturday, ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly election 2024. Ajit Pawar, who broke away from the undivided NCP and joined the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance last year, rejected Jayant Patil's remarks, according to the PTI. Speaking to reporters in Baramati, from where he is contesting the Maharashtra Assembly polls, Ajit Pawar asked, "Would I have waited for 10 years to join the BJP if I was blackmailed." Meanwhile, Devendra Fadnavis said Jayant Patil should not be taken seriously. "Look at his face. He is always smiling. What he says should not be taken seriously," said the senior BJP leader, as per the PTI. The alleged irrigation scam surfaced ahead of the November 20 polls after Ajit Pawar on Tuesday claimed that he was 'backstabbed' by his close colleague and former state home minister and NCP leader RR Patil who ordered an open inquiry against him. He claimed that a file mentioning RR Patil's remarks ordering an inquiry into the alleged irrigation scam was shown to him by Devendra Fadnavis after the latter became the chief minister in 2014. Ajit Pawar made these claims while addressing a rally for the Nationalist Congress Party candidate Sanjay Kaka Patil who is in the fray against the late Patil's son Rohit from Tasgaon in Sangli district. Ajit Pawar was the water resources development minister during 1999-2009 when the Congress-NCP combine was in power in Maharashtra. The Sharad Pawar-founded NCP split after Ajit Pawar's rebellion last year. Ajit Pawar subsequently got the party's name and the 'clock' symbol. Sharad Pawar now heads the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP SP), a constituent of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) which also comprises the Congress and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT). Polling for the 288 seats in the state for Maharashtra Assembly election 2024 will be held on November 20 and votes will be counted on November 23. (with PTI inputs)
02 November,2024 10:17 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondentThe BJP's Jammu and Kashmir unit will hold a meeting in Srinagar on Sunday to elect its legislature party leader ahead of the first assembly session in the Union Territory to be held on November 4 after a six-year gap. The BJP bagged its all-time high of 29 seats in the recently held Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. However, its MLA Devender Singh Rana, who won the Nagrota assembly segment by a margin of over 30,000 votes and was a frontrunner for the leader of opposition post because of his political stature within the party, died on Thursday following an illness. Known as the "voice of Jammu", he quit the National Conference along with his close associate and former minister S S Slathia and joined the BJP in October 2021. Last month, the BJP's parliamentary board appointed Union Minister Pralhad Joshi and the party's national general secretary Tarun Chugh as observers to elect the legislature party leader in Jammu and Kashmir. According to BJP sources, the meeting will take place in Srinagar on Sunday morning and will be attended by all 28 MLAs and senior party leaders, including its Jammu and Kashmir unit chief Ravinder Raina. They said the leader of the opposition will be chosen at the meeting, and the name will be forwarded to the party's central leadership. Five names are under active consideration but things will be cleared once the meeting takes place, the sources said. The National Conference (NC) has emerged as the single largest party in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls with 42 seats and has a comfortable majority in the 95-member House as its alliance partners Congress and CPI(M) have won six seats and one seat, respectively. The NC also enjoyed the support of six of the seven Independent MLAs and of the Aam Aadmi Party which has also opened its account in Jammu and Kashmir by winning the Doda segment. The PDP has won three seats and the Peoples' Conference one seat while five are nominated members. The first session of the newly elected Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly is scheduled to begin with the election of the Speaker followed by the lieutenant governor's address on November 4. According to the calendar issued by Pro-tem Speaker Mubarak Gul, the Assembly will make obituary references the next day while the discussion on the motion of thanks on the L-G's address will be held on November 6 and 7. Response to the motion of thanks on the L-G's address will be conducted on November 8. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
02 November,2024 06:31 PM IST | Jammu | PTIAs many as four sanitary workers, including two women from Tamil Nadu, were killed after being hit by a train near Shoranur Railway Station on Saturday evening, the Railway police said, reported the PTI. The Thiruvananthapuram-bound Kerala Express train reportedly hit the workers, it said. The New Delhi-Thiruvananthapuram train struck the workers around 3.05 pm while they were clearing garbage from the railway track near Shoranur bridge, located a few kilometers from the railway station. According to the PTI, the workers, contracted by the Railways for sanitation duties, were thrown from the track due to the collision's impact. While three bodies were retrieved from the area, efforts are being made to locate the fourth, which is suspected to have fallen into the Bharathapuzha River, police said. A team from the Railway Police reached the spot. "The workers may not have noticed the approaching train, which resulted in the accident, but further investigations are underway," said an officer with Shoranur Railway Police. Elephant killed after being hit by goods train in Odisha Meanwhile, in an another incident, an elephant was killed after being hit by a goods train in Odisha's Dhenkanal district on Saturday, police said, as per the PTI. The accident took place when a herd of around 40 jumbos was crossing railway tracks in Chinta Pokhari area, around three kilometres away, from the Meramundali railway station, a senior officer said. The animal was hit by a goods train around 2 am, a forest official said. Train services were disrupted till the elephant carcass was removed from the tracks, he said. The forest department maintained that it had issued an alert to the railway authorities on the movement of elephants from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm. The train driver, however, ignored the warning, the forest official said. The cause of the accident is being investigated by the railway authorities, and the elephant carcass was sent for post-mortem examinations, the official said. The forest department has also started a probe into the accident, the news agency reported on Saturday. (with PTI inputs)
02 November,2024 06:13 PM IST | Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) | mid-day online correspondentIndia has protested in the strongest possible terms the references made by a Canadian minister about Union Home Minister Amit Shah and such "absurd and baseless" allegations will have serious consequences for bilateral ties between the two countries, the Minister of External Affairs said on Saturday. The comments came after Canada's Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister David Morrison on Tuesday alleged that Shah ordered a campaign of violence, intimidation and intelligence-gathering targeting Sikh separatists inside Canada. Morrison had also told Canadian Parliament members of the national security committee that he had confirmed Shah's name to The Washington Post, which first reported the allegations. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said this revelation that high Canadian government officials deliberately leaked unfounded insinuations to international media as part of a conscious strategy to discredit India and influence other nations only confirms the view that the Indian government has long held about the current Canadian government's political agenda and behavioural pattern. Replying to queries during a weekly press briefing here, Jaiswal said such irresponsible actions will have serious consequences for bilateral ties. He said India summoned a Canadian High Commission representative on Friday and the official was served a diplomatic note to lodge the protest in strongest terms on the "absurd and baseless" references made by the Canadian deputy minister about India's Union Home Minister. While addressing the Parliament members, Morrison did not say how Canada knew of Shah's alleged involvement. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said a year ago that Canada had credible evidence agents of the Indian government were involved in the murder of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June 2023. Dismissing the allegations as absurd, Indian government officials have consistently denied that Canada provided evidence. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
02 November,2024 04:31 PM IST | New Delhi | PTIFormer Maharashtra minister Anees Ahmed returned to the Congress on Saturday after narrowly missing the deadline to submit his nomination as a Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) candidate, PTI reported. AICC in-charge Ramesh Chennithala welcomed Ahmed back to the group, which he had quit last week to contest the upcoming Maharashtra Elections 2024 as a VBA candidate from the Nagpur Central seat. There was a lot of commotion at the Nagpur collectorate on October 29, as Ahmed was only a few minutes late to file his nomination, PTI cited. According to PTI, Ahmed, a loyalist of the Gandhi family who had previously won the Nagpur Central seat thrice on a Congress ticket, stuck around till 8 pm on Tuesday, which was the last day of filling nominations, but his form was not accepted. The deadline for filling nominations for the November 20 Maharashtra Elections was till 3 pm. According to Ahmed, he had to he had to deal with various obstacles like road closure, vehicular restrictions and security protocols at the office of the Returning Officer (RO), PTI cited. He claimed he arrived at the collectorate before the 3 pm deadline, and Ahmed's associates were sitting there with his token number, but he was not allowed to enter the RO's office. Earlier, Ahmed's resignation from the Congress had raised concerns in the party that his candidature may divide the Muslim votes and damage its chances. This time, the Congress chose not to nominate Ahmed from the Nagpur Central constituency, which has a sizable Muslim population. Instead, they nominated Bunty Shelke, who was defeated by the BJP in 2019 by a close margin. Elections for the 288 assembly seat in Maharashtra will be held on November 20, while the vote counting will take place on November 23. The election officials have said that the nomination papers of 7,994 candidates were filed across the 288 assembly constituencies in Maharashtra. On the other hand, the nomination papers of 921 candidates were found invalid, the office of the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said in a statement on Thursday, reported PTI. The process of filing nominations by candidates began on October 22 and ended on October 29. (With inputs from PTI)
02 November,2024 03:11 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondentFour shops were destroyed in a fire in the Thane district of Maharashtra in the early hours of Saturday, no one was injured in the incident, an official said, PTI reported. The official said that a fire broke out around 2:22 am at a cluster of shops in a temporary shed in Thane's Shilphata area. The Shil fire station responded to a call, and a team of firefighters prevented the situation from escalating, said Yasin Tadvi of the disaster management cell to PTI. He said that the fire was brought under control by 3:16 am adding that three furniture shops and a scrap materials shop were damaged. As per reports, a gas cylinder also exploded in the fire at the site, PTI cited. The cause is still being investigated, officials said. Three jump from second-floor flat to escape a fire in Chira Bazaar; injured On November 1, Three men were injured after jumping from the second floor of a building at South Mumbai's Girgaon to escape a fire in their flat in the wee hours of Friday, officials said, PTI reported. The fire broke out around 3.20 am at the three-storey Oceanic building in Hemraj Wadi of Chira Bazaar area, the officials said while sharing an update on the Mumbai fire, reported PTI. An electrical short circuit triggered the fire, an official said. As the flames began engulfing their room, three men inside the house jumped from the second floor to save themselves, he said. However, all three suffered injuries, following which they were rushed to the civic-run Nair hospital. The trio has been identified as Kartik Mazi (26), Dipender Mandal (19) and Uppal Mandal (26), the official said, adding that they were allowed to go after preliminary treatment, reported PTI. Meanwhile, firefighters reached the spot and put out the fire, he said. (With inputs from PTI)
02 November,2024 01:40 PM IST | Thane | mid-day online correspondentAn elderly man was allegedly beaten to death in Haryana's Faridabad after he objected to people bursting firecrackers in his locality, police said on Friday. A case has been lodged on the basis of a complaint from the victim's son. According to the complainant, Vinod, three men -- Raju, Dheeraj and Nandu -- were bursting firecrackers in front of the victim's residence in the Housing Board Colony in Faridabad's Sector 18 on Thursday evening. When his father objected to it, a verbal spat ensued, the complainant said. Vinod managed to pacify the situation for the time being but at around 1 am, the three men came back and again started bursting firecrackers in front of their house, the complaint said. As Vinod's father came out of the house and objected to it, he was allegedly thrashed by the three accused. Vinod and his wife were also allegedly roughed up by the three men when they tried to intervene. The complainant's father succumbed to his injuries on the spot, police said, adding that a hunt is on to nab the accused. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
02 November,2024 12:57 PM IST | Faridabad | PTIThree children lost their lives after a fire broke out in a house in West Bengal's Howrah, a fire officer said on Saturday. The incident took place in Uluberia town on the occasion of Kali Puja. Upon receiving the information about the fire, two fire tenders immediately rushed to the spot and extinguished the fire. Divisional Fire Officer of Howrah, Ranjan Kumar Ghosh said that the charred bodies of three children (9 years old, 4 years old and 2.5 years old) have been recovered and sent to the hospital for further medical procedures. "We received information about a fire in a house. Two fire tenders immediately rushed to the spot as soon as the information was received. The fire has been extinguished but three children (9 yr old, 4 yr old and 2.5 yr old) lost their lives in this incident. The charred bodies were recovered from the house and it has been sent to the hospital for the post-mortem. The fire tenders did their work effectively otherwise more houses could have burnt in this incident," he said. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
02 November,2024 12:53 PM IST | Howrah (West Bengal) | ANIMember of Parliament (MP) from Bihar's Purnea Rajesh Ranjan, also known as Pappu Yadav, has changed his stance over the Lawrence Bishnoi gang's threat to Bollywood actor Salman Khan. Yadav, who had expressed solidarity with the Bollywood star, on Friday said that it is the responsibility of the government whether to save Salman Khan or not and he has nothing to do with it. In a Facebook Live session, Yadav also spoke about threats issued against him. Emphasising his commitment to his political commitments and principles despite potential dangers, he said he will be visiting Jharkhand on November 3 and dared his enemies to "come and eliminate" him. Yadav said that while life and death are beyond anyone's control, he remains focused on his duty, unshaken by the social media criticism suggesting that he is fearful or requesting security. "To live or to die is neither in my hands nor in yours, but to work and walk on the path of duty is in my hands," he said. Yadav also dismissed claims that he's seeking protection following the threat from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. Yadav had strongly criticised the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, which was allegedly involved in the murder of Maharashtra MLA Baba Siddique (a native of Bihar) in Mumbai, and even travelled to Mumbai to meet Zeeshan Siddique, the son of the deceased legislator. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
02 November,2024 12:33 PM IST | Patna | IANSMadhya Pradesh's Forest Department staff have destroyed the standing Kodo millet crop at an agricultural field in Umariya district following the deaths of 10 wild elephants at Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR). The step was taken on Friday after autopsy reports hinted that the mycotoxins in Kodo could have led to the death of the 10 elephants in the past three days. This comes a day after, investigating teams of the Forest Department collected samples from paddy fields, water bodies and fields where the elephants consumed kodo millets for analysis. Of the 10 elephants, four died on Tuesday, another four on Wednesday and two were reported dead early on Thursday. Three other tuskers stated in normal condition, and they are being continuously monitored by the multiple teams of veterinarians in jungles. Teams of wildlife health officers and veterinarians from Bandhavgarh and Jabalpur-based School of Wildlife Forensic and Health under the supervision of the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun (Uttrakhand), relentlessly tried to treat the elephants but could not save them. Preliminary probes and opinions of vets suggest mycotoxins associated with the standing Kodo (millet) crop, which was consumed by the elephants, could be behind the deaths. A large volume of Kodo was found in the elephants' stomachs, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) L. Krishnamoorthy stated, adding that a five-member panel has been formed to investigate the deaths. The BTR, which houses the densest population of tigers in MP, has become home to a big herd of wild elephants since 2018. More than 50 elephants originating from neighbouring Chhattisgarh, have reportedly made the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve their permanent habitat. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
02 November,2024 12:29 PM IST | Bhopal | IANSADVERTISEMENT
