Month: August 2014

Jammu, Aug.25 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah today criticised Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for not visiting the border areas of the state which have come under firing from the Pakistan side. Shah said, “I would like to ask Omar Abdullah why he or any representative of his government has not visited these border areas which are being shelled by Pakistan.” He said, “I have visited Jammu and Kashmir four times and have seen the lives of the people here. I have visited several states of India including the states ruled by BJP.” He said that in the BJP ruled states of Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Goa there is 24 hour electricity supply in the villages and have an agricultural growth rate of more than 15 percent.

Chennai, Aug 25 (IANS) Expressing his happiness at the apex court’s order on the allocation of coal blocks, BJP MP Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, whose persistent enquiries had uncovered the scam, says the blocks should be allocated to government-run Coal India Ltd. Speaking to IANS over phone, Ahir said: “It is a landmark judgment. The allocations should be cancelled.” In the same vein, he added: “I will be more happier if the coal block allocations are cancelled and reallocated to Coal India, the public sector company.” According to Ahir, the judgment will ensure that nobody would dare to grab the country’s natural resources in this manner. Ahir, who represents Chandrapur parliamentary constituency in Maharashtra, is the man who blew the whistle on the coal block allocation scam of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime.

Mumbai, Aug 25 (ANI): Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury on Monday described the result of the bye-polls in Bihar as a clear indication of the change in political winds. The victories that they (RJD and Janata Dal-United) have scored in Bihar are a very clear indication of the change in the direction of the wind,” Yechury told mediapersons here after meeting RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav.

New Delhi, Aug.25 (ANI): The Congress hailed the results of the bye-polls in 18 constituencies across four states – Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Karnataka – that were declared today. Speaking to ANI, Congress’s Preneet Kaur, who won from Patiala, said, “We will struggle for our constituents for two and a half years. If they (Shiromani Akali Dal, an NDA ally) do the required work in that time, then it is good enough.

Hanoi, Aug 25 (IANS) Lauding India for its “indispensable and inseparable” role in southeast Asia and on the world stage, Vietnam Monday made a strong pitch for India to play a larger role in ASEAN in maintaining maritime safety and security and in settling territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas where it is locked in a bitter stand-off with China. Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, addressing the Third Round Table on ASEAN-India Network of Thinktanks, also welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reaffirmation of India’s Look East Policy and cooperation with ASEAN.