India

Samajwadi Party’s Maharashtra chief Abu Azmi on Tuesday said women should not forget that “security starts at home” and that partying late night is not in the Indian culture, when asked about the harassment incident in Bengaluru during New Year’s eve.

“Partying late night in half attire, blindly following western culture, has never been our culture. Ladies hailing from well-to-do families, be it from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan or UP, they come out in decent attire and mostly with their family members,” he said, when asked about alleged harassment of women in Bengaluru during the New Year eve.

“I am saying what happened is very unfortunate. Undoubtedly, making security arrangement to thwart any eventuality is police’s job. But, as far as Bengaluru molestation is concerned, women and their guardians must also take precautions and think that security starts at home. Our women must think about their own security themselves,” Azmi told news agency PTI.

The new year celebrations at MG Road and Brigade Road in Bengaluru had turned into a nightmare for several women who were allegedly molested despite heavy police presence, sparking widespread outrage.

“But when few women in half dress come out on streets at late night with their friends, such incidents do occur,” said Azmi, an MLA from Shivaji Nagar in suburban Mumbai.

“The women are pride of our family and country. Therefore, it is our duty to safeguard them. If we allow them to follow western culture blindly, then I am sorry to say that people will misbehave them in such ways,” the SP leader said.

Azmi also defended Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara who had stoked a controversy by blaming the youngsters’ westernized ways for the incidents.

“He (Parameshwara) said the harsh reality. These kind of things do happen when women try to copy the westerners, not only in their mindset but even in their dressing,” he said.

“If my sister or daughter goes out with another man to celebrate the New Year and her father or husband is not with them, do you think she will be safe? I don’t think so,” he told CNN-News18 in a separate interview.

The Samajwadi Party, however, has condemned Azmi’s statement. Samajwadi Party leader, Juhie Singh, while speaking to the channel said, “It’s really unfortunate that Azmi thinks like that. The party condemns it. He should apologise.”

According to eyewitness accounts, dozens of women were molested, groped and lewd remarks were passed by miscreants late night on December 31 in Bengaluru despite the presence of over 1,500 police personnel deployed to control the crowds.

Meanwhile, the National Commission of Women (NCW) Chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam has come down heavily on the police and slammed Parameshwara’s remarks, demanding his resignation.

Incidentally, it is not the first time Azmi had made such remarks. Earlier this year, following the Jyoti Singh rape case, he had issued a similar statement,

“If you keep petrol and fire together then it will burn. There should be a law to ensure that there should be no ‘nangapan’. Those who wear less clothes should also be banned,” he had said.

Stung by the arrest of TMC MP Sudip Bandopadhyay, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using CBI, ED and Income Tax department against those who raised voice against demonetisation and dared him to arrest her and all TMC MPs. She asserted that their protest against note ban would continue.

“I just can’t think that Sudip Bandopadhyay, who is our party’s leader in the Lok Sabha will be arrested. I also have information that Modi wants to arrest many other TMC leaders like Abhishek Banerjee, Sovan Chatterjee (city mayor) and Firhad Hakim (minister),” she told reporters immediately after Sudip’s arrest by the CBI in connection with the alleged Rose Valley chit fund scam.

“I am shocked, but not scared. Let him arrest all of us. I openly challenge him to arrest me. Let me see his guts. He may silence others, but not me. He can’t suppress our voice. He can’t bulldoze people’s voice,” she said. “We will fight legal battle in every case,” she added.

Earlier, at a meeting in Medinipur she charged Modi with using CBI, ED and IT against persons who protested against demonetisation. The TMC supremo also convened an emergency meeting on Sudip’s arrest to chalk out the party’s action plan. TMC would launch dharnas to protest against Sudip’s arrest from tomorrow, she said, adding “politics cannot be done by resorting to vendetta”.

She alleged that Bandopadhyay was arrested due to “pressure from the PMO” and asked “why should Narendra Modi and Amit Shah not be arrested? “The party is behind Sudip. He has not done anything wrong. Even if he is in jail, the people of Bengal will keep him in their heart,” she said.

The TMC chief also said that it was the duty of the Centre, the Sebi and the RBI to keep a check on ponzi schemes in which they have “failed completely”. “I challenge Modi directly. You cannot do anything because Trinamool Congress is right and you are wrong. You cannot suppress the voice of the people. you have to withdraw restrictions (on withdrawal of cash)… Modi has no clue where this political vidictiveness will take him. We are not scared and will continue our demonstration against demonetisation,” she said.

Trinamool Congress MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay was on Tuesday arrested by the CBI after questioning in the Rose Valley chit fund scam case. The arrest came soon after another party MP Tapas Pal, accused in the same case, was sent to police custody.

Earlier in the day, Bandyopadhyay told media, “I said I will come to face CBI interrogation to know what is against me”. He also alleged political vendetta against him and the Trinamool Congress party by the NDA-ruled Central government.

Rose Valley scam, which was also being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate, encompasses a larger amount of money swindling as compared to the Saradha case.

سماج وادی پارٹی میں مچے گھمسان ​​کے درمیان پارٹی سمبل 'سائیکل' کو لے کر ملائم سنگھ یادو نے الیکشن کمیشن سے ملاقات کی ہے. اس دوران ان کے ساتھ شیو پال سنگھ یادو، امر سنگھ اور جیہ پردا بھی موجود تھیں. وہیں رام گوپال یادو بھی منگل کو اس معاملے میں الیکشن کمیشن جائیں گے.

دہلی روانہ ہونے سے پہلے ملائم سنگھ یادو نے کہا کہ سائیکل تو میری ہی ہے. اس کے علاوہ انہوں نے پانچ جنوری کو ہونے والے ہنگامی اجلاس بھی منسوخ کر دیا.

اس سے پہلے ملائم سنگھ پیر کی صبح دہلی میں واقع اپنی رہائش گاہ پر پہنچے تھے. یہاں شیو پال سنگھ یادو، امر سنگھ، جیا پردا کے ساتھ انہوں نے میٹنگ کی. اس درمیان اکھلیش خیمے کے لیڈر نریش اگروال نے کہا، نیتا جی، امر سنگھ اور شیو پال سے دور رہیے. یہ آپ کو ڈبونا چاہتے ہیں.

اس سے پہلے امر سنگھ نے میڈیا سے بات کرتے ہوئے کہا، نیتا جی نے ایک بار کہا تھا کہ امر سنگھ میرے دل میں رہتے ہیں. نیتا جی مجھے دل سے نکالیں تو نقصان پہنچے گا. ٹیم میرے لئے اہمیت نہیں رکھتا. اگر ان کے ساتھ رہنے پر ہیرو بنا ہوں، ھلنایک بننے کو بھی تیار ہوں.

ملائم سنگھ یادو کے قومی صدر کے معاملے پر شیو پال سنگھ نے کہا ہے کہ نیتا جی اس وقت قومی صدر ہیں، آگے بھی رہیں گے. ہم نیتا جی کے ساتھ مرتے دم تک رہیں گے.

ملائم سنگھ نے دہلی روانہ ہونے سے پہلے لکھنؤ میں میڈیا سے کہا، سماج وادی پارٹی کا چهن میرا دستخط ہے. میڈیا نے ہمیشہ میرا ساتھ دیا ہے. میری تصویر پاک صاف رہی ہے. ایک بار الزام لگے، لیکن عدالت نے بری کر دیا. میں بیمار نہیں ہوں.

The ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh is virtually split as party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday expelled for six years his son and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, along with senior party leader Ramgopal Yadav. The state has been plunged into a political crisis as Akhilesh Yadav is now Chief Minister but not a member of the ruling party.

Akhilesh Yadav, who had not spoken publicly on the matter till late Friday evening, is believed to have called a meeting of all the MLAs at 9 am on Saturday. If the party’s legislators re-elect him as their leader, Mulayam’s edict is as good as void.

Meanwhile, UP Governor Ram Naik said he was keeping a close watch on the situation. The State DGP and Principal Secretary (Home) reached the CM’s residence after taking stock of the security arrangements at Mulayam’s house.

Flanked by his brother Shivpal Yadav, Mulayam expelled Akhilesh and said the new Chief Minister will be chosen by the party. “We have to save the party. The party comes first. That is why we are expelling both Akhilesh and Ramgopal,” he said. Mulayam said Ramgopal, who had earlier been expelled and then taken back, had started acting targeting him, and such activities “cannot be tolerated”.

Ramgopal described the move as anti-constitutional and accused Mulayam of acting against the party.

The family feud, which has been simmering for the past couple of months because of the power tussle between Mulayam and Shivpal on the one side and Akhilesh and Ramgopal on the other, erupted this week when Mulayam released a list of candidates for the upcoming polls which did not include any of Akhilesh’s supporters.

Following this development, Akhilesh too released his alternative list of 235 candidates, which included all his loyalists who had been denied the party ticket. Mulayam clearly took exception to Akhilesh’s alternative list and saw it as a sign of open rebellion. “How can he (Akhilesh) release the list when the party has declared its candidates? Both Akhilesh and Ramgopal want to finish the party. I will not let it happen. I have built this party through hard work,” Mulayam said.

“I had made Akhilesh the Chief Minister with much fanfare,” he added.

With regard to the emergency meeting called by Ramgopal on Sunday, Mulayam said only the party president has the power to convene such a meeting. “The party cannot run on Ramgopal’s whims,” Mulayam said.

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu was temporarily suspended from Peoples’ Party of Arunachal on Thursday along with six other lawmakers for alleged anti-party activities. Khandu, Deputy CM Chowna Mein and 5 other MLAs were suspended from the party’s primary membership with immediate effect. The five other MLAs are Zingnu Namchom (Namsai), Passang Dorjee Sona (Mechuka), Chow Tewa Mein (Chowkham), Jambey Tashi (Lumla) and Kamlung Mossang (Miao). Due to the latest development, Khandu now ceases to be the leader of the PPA Legislature Party.

PPA President Kahfa Bengia said in an order that the MLAs were being placed under temporary suspension with immediate effect pending initiation of disciplinary proceedings. He also said that he was satisfied with the proofs of their indulgence in gross ''anti-party'' activities.

Bengia further directed party MLAs and PPA functionaries not to attend any meeting called by Khandu and said that any members failing to comply with the order would have to face disciplinary action of the party. The PPA is a member of the North East Democratic Alliance, a political coalition formed by the Bharatiya Janata Party along with other regional parties.

Khandu had replaced Nabam Tuki as the Congress CM, following a dissident campaign in July. Later in October, 43 Congress MLAs, including the CM has defected to join PPA, a regional political player in Arunachal. It had played a crucial role in ousting the Congress government in the state earlier in 2016.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday released his own list of 235 candidates for the UP assembly election.

The move comes a day after SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav released the official list of 325 candidates, denying tickets to several Akhilesh loyalists. Mulayam also ruled out projecting Akhilesh as the party's chief ministerial candidate.

Prominent among those figuring in the list are ministers Arvind Singh Gope, Pawan Pandey and Ram Govind Chaudhary, who are the hardcore Akhilesh loyalists denied ticket by Mulayam.

Sources said the candidates declared by Akhilesh are likely to contest on different symbols as independent candidates.

"The Chief Minister called us. He instructed us to go to our respective constituencies and prepare for the elections," Indal Singh, SP MLA from Malihabad, said after Akhilesh met today with legislators who were denied tickets.

"We will go to our constituencies, work hard, and again make Akhilesh our CM," said MLA Pawan Pandey, whose ticket was cut. Pandey, although expelled from SP, continues to be a minister in the Akhilesh government.

"We will contest the upcoming elections, come what may," said defiant MLA Atul Pradhan.

"The Chief Minister has done a lot for the development of the state and we will contest and win in his name," he said.

In a new twist to the day-long high drama, Mulayam's cousin and SP General Secretary Ramgopal Yadav said many in the party do not want to see Akhilesh as chief minister again. "But, the fact remains that people of the state want him back as CM," he claimed.

On Wednesday, Mulayam, along with his brother and state party chief Shivpal Yadav, had declared candidates for 325 of the 403 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh.

Akhilesh, who is in a bitter power tussle with Shivpal, was away on a tour of Bundelkhand when the list was released at a hurriedly-convened press conference.

The list announced by Mulayam and Shivpal, which includes 176 sitting MLAs, has left out several pro-Akhilesh ministers, including Ram Govind Chaudhary, Pawan Pandey and Arvind Singh Gope, and does not carry names of over 50 sitting MLAs.

Besides, 10 ministers, including Shivpal, sacked by the chief minister over the past few months have got tickets. These former ministers were in open defiance of Akhilesh and it paid off.

Hectic political activities began in the morning with party leaders gathering outside the residences of Akhilesh and Mulayam. A big crowd assembled outside Shivpal's residence also.

Akhilesh, clearly upset over being apparently kept out of the process to select candidates for the upcoming assembly polls, met his supporters at his 5-Kalidas Marg residence.

The meeting was attended by legislators and office bearers who did not figure in the party's official list, sources said.

Later, he spoke to Mulayam to convey his displeasure over the list of candidates from which names of his close confidants are missing, the sources said.

In a unanimous resolution adopted by AIADMK party members at the party’s general council meeting Thursday, former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s close aide V K Sasikala was appointed as the party general secretary. Sasikala accepted the party resolution after Chief Minister O Pannerselvam later meet her at Poes Garden. “From today Chinnamma will be the General Secretary of AIADMK and will soon formally take charge,” said Pannerselvam.

Passing the resolution at the party meeting to ratify her appointment, Panneerselvam said, “In tune with party rules, honourable Chinnamma is appointed AIADMK General Secretary and a resolution to this effect has been adopted unanimously by the general council.”

Significantly, the resolution that was adopted says “This general council adopts this resolution appointing Chinnamma VK Sasikala as the party general secretary till such time she is (formally) elected to that post in tune with party rule 20, clause 2.”

Hailing Sasikala’s contribution to the growth of the party, the resolution also says it “unanimously gives her all the powers bestowed on the position of general secretary (by the party rules) to administer the party.”

The resolution was moved by party presidium chairman E Madusudanan and Panneersevlam and Edapadi Palanisamy. The resolution makes it clear that Sasikala will be formally elected as party General Secretary at a later date in keeping with the stipulations of the party constitution. Till such time she is elected, the party has appointed her to the post giving her all powers of that post. Speaking to reporters flanked by senior leaders Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai and State Minister Edappadi Palanisamy, he said they were going to meet “Chinamma” to “apprise her of the party decision and to seek her concurrence,” for the party decision.

Former Union home secretary Anil Baijal was on Wednesday appointed as the new Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi. President Pranab Mukherjee, who is on a 10-day southern sojourn, gave his assent to the Centre's recommendation for acceptance of outgoing LG Najeeb Jung's resignation and naming of Baijal as his successor.

Baijal, a 1969 batch IAS officer, was home secretary in 2004 under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. His tenure was however short-lived as the UPA government, soon after taking over in May 2004, shunted him out. After retirement, he served on executive council of the think-tank Vivekananda International Foundation, several of whose former members have been appointed to senior positions by the Modi government including national security adviser Ajit Doval.

Baijal's appointment comes against the backdrop of a tumultous working relationship between his predecessor Najeeb Jung and the Arvind Kejriwal government. Jung's tenure saw him embroiled in many run-ins with the Kejriwal government, where the latter constantly challenged the former's supremacy in running affairs of the Government of NCT of Delhi.

Though Jung was a UPA appointee, the NDA government let him continue in the 'prized' post for two and half years. Even though Jung had offered to resign on two earlier occasions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told him to stay on. On December 22, however, Jung announced his resignation, saying that he would be going back to his first love - academics.

70-year-old Baijal, whose appointment papers were sent to the President earlier on Wednesday for approval, is known to be a reserved individual who prefers to go by the rule-book. He retired from government service in 2006 as secretary, urban development ministry. He had also served as vice-chairman of Delhi Development Authority earlier in his career.

Baijal was actively associated with the designing and roll-out of Rs 60,000 crore Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) launched by the Manmohan Singh government.

For Baijal, the foremost challenge will be to avoid confrontations and find a way to work with the Arvind Kejriwal government.