Political News

Kolkata, July 7 (IANS) Former Spain international Luis Garcia will be the marquee player of Atletico de Kolkata in the upcoming Indian Super League (ISL), the franchise announced Monday. Garcia will team up with compatriot and ex-Getafe midfielder Borja Fernandez, who will be the second foreigner in the ranks of the club which is partly owned by La Liga champions Atletico Madrid. The 36-year-old attacking midfielder, who had two stints with Atletico Madrid besides plying his trade for another Spanish giant Bercelona and Premier League club Liverpool, had announced his retirement in January. He had his best years with Liverpool, winning the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and the FA Cup.

Dubai, July 7 (IANS) The 46 Indian nurses rescued from a hospital in northern Iraq’s war zone have been offered job opportunities in India and Arabian Gulf countries by United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based Indian entrepreneur Azad Moopen, a company statement said. “We will recruit these repatriated and devastated nurses on priority at Aster Medcity, Kochi, MIMS Hospitals at Calicut and Kottakkal, and DM WIMS Medical College Hospital in Wayanad,” Moopen, chairman of the Dubai-based Aster DM Healthcare, said in a statement.

Gurgaon, July 6 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader O.P. Dhankar on Sunday justified his controversial statement saying the party would get girls from Bihar to ensure that men in Haryana can get married. If anyone has been hurt, they need to revisit my statement,” said Dhankar. It is my concern that there are illegal marriages being carried out here. He said that there must be more focus on this issue of illegal marriages, and added that the relations must be formed on the basis of respect.

Kolkata, July 6 (ANI): Opposition parties have attacked the Trinamool Congress Government in West Bengal over the gruesome murder of a college student in North 24 Parganas. There is total absence of law and order as police is acting as a tool of Trinamool Congress,” Samik Bhattacharya, BJP leader said. Standing up against criminal activities in his area cost a second year college student his life, forcing enraged locals to stage vociferous protests and block roads and rail lines. Twenty-year-old Sourav Choudhury was reportedly abducted by some assailants on Friday night and later hacked to death.

Patna, July 6 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Sunday defended party leader O P Dhankar after the latter made a controversial statement saying the party would get girls from Bihar to ensure that men in Haryana can get married. “I had a word with him (Dhankar). Media has quoted him out of context,” said Sushil Modi. “He (Dhankar) has said that this buying and selling of girls will be stopped and proper marriages will be carried out.

Kanpur, July 6 (ANI): Congress leader Sriprakash Jaiswal on Sunday warned that the BJP-led NDA Government’s move to bring consummable food items such as onions and potatoes under Essential Commodities Act and empowering officials would further accentuate corrupt practices. “Now they have included onions and potatoes under Essential Commodities Act, but they have no idea that with this step which increases the power in the hands of officials, they will only allow corruption to jump even further,” he said. He also hoped that the government will take remedial measures in order to stave off the price rise which is pressing hard on common man’s pocket. Their slogan during elections was to bring an end to price rise.

Moradabad, July 6 (ANI): A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) delegation visited Moradabad jail on Sunday to meet their party workers who were arrested after the Kanth violence. BJP Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Suresh Khanna criticized the inhuman behavior of the local police with the BJP workers saying that they were partial in illegally removing the mic from the temple which led to the violence.

New Delhi, July 5 (ANI): Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Saturday termed it unfortunate over Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje apparently seeking the repeal of National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (NREGA) and convert the same into a scheme. This has not come from any industrialised state like Gujarat or Maharashtra but mainly a agrarian rural state like Rajasthan,” Pilot told ANI. So in a year when there is a drought coming up why would a state government want to repeal this act and convert it into a scheme. Basically the state government is abdicating its responsibilty of executing this act,” he said.

Lucknow, July 5 (ANI): Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary, Alok Ranjan on Saturday said that 62 people have been arrested following the violence which occured in Kanth yesterday and added that the administration will not tolerate any move by anyone to vitiate the communal atmosphere in the state. Yesterday, BJP Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Sangeet Som and five others were released from police custody after being detained earlier for heading a Mahapanchayat in Kanth near Moradabad to protest against the administration’s decision to remove loudspeaker from a temple. Uttar Pradesh has been a hotbed for communal and political upheaval.