3rd legislator quits Jharkhand assembly
Ranchi: Another Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) legislator contesting the Lok Sabha polls has resigned from the assembly, said an official Saturday. The official told IANS that Vidyut Baran Mahto is fighting for the Jamshedpur seat on a BJP ticket. Mahto is the second JMM legislator to quit after Hemlal Murmu resigned Friday. The resignations follow Speaker Shashak Shekhar Bhokta’s notice to two JMM legislators who were fielded by the Bharatiya Janata Party as nominees in Lok Sabha polls. Both Mumrmu and Mahto have joined the BJP and are party candidates for the Rajmahal and Jamsahedpur Lok Sabha seat respectively. Chandra Shekhar Dubey, who is Trinamool Congress candidate from Dhanbad and has resigned from the Congress, Thursday also quit membership of the Jharkhand assembly. After the exit of three, the strength of the assembly has been reduced from 82 to 79. (IANS)
Maoists shoot at two, blast building
Ranchi: Maoist guerrillas shot at two people, torched a vehicle and blasted a school building at two places in Jharkhand, police said Saturday. Police said the Maoists injured two people by shooting at them in Khuti district’s Marangdih village Friday night. They also set a vehicle on fire in the same village. In another incident, Maoists blasted a school building at Khukra village of Giridih district, 160 Km from Ranchi, late Friday. Police recovered Maoist pamphlets from the spot, while the ultras said the security forces may have used the school building for living in during the Lok Sabha polls. (IANS)
Traders, weavers from Gujarat reach Varanasi to promote Modi
Varanasi: To examine the whole situation and create pro-Modi atmosphere in view of the nearing parliamentary polls, a group of traders and weavers from Gujarat has arrived in this city of Uttar Pradesh. The traders are not campaigning for Modi publicly, but are interacting with people and the businessmen to create favourable atmosphere for Bharatiya Janata Party prime minister pick and Gujarat Chief Mininster Narendra Modi. Notably, Mr Modi is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi Lok Sabha seat. Varanasi has a good population of Gujaratis, who are running their own business here. Many of them are also running school, colleges and other social institutions. (UNI)
Raj Babbar rebuffed
Ghaziabad: Congress candidate Raj Babbar was rebuffed Saturday by an official here when he tried to bypass a queue to submit his nomination papers. Ghaziabad Assistant Returning Officer Keshav Kumar turned down the film star-turn-politician’s request to take up his papers before other applicants. Kumar said that he would first take up the forms of the candidates who had come before him. Raj Babbar wanted his nomination paper be filed before 1.20 p.m., a time suggested by a priest. (IANS)
Azharuddin meets Meena leader
Jaipur: Former Indian cricket captain and Congress candidate from Rajasthan’s Tonk-Sawai Madhopur constituency Mohammad Azharuddin met Meena leader Kirorilal Meena at his residence here. Meena a member of National People’s Party is a MLA from Lalsot constituency and holds considerable sway among voters of the community and Tonk-Sawai Madhopur constituency has over three lakh such voters. While Azharuddin and Meena tried to downplay the meeting. Political analysts view it as a big move by Azharuddin to attract voters of the community. “It seems Azharuddin has tried to seek support from the Meena leader and if he is able to woo the voters of the community, then he will be a strong contender,” said Ravi Goswami, a keen political watcher. “Meena is good friend of mine. He is a tall leader. I came here to seek his guidance,” Azharuddin told reporters Friday night after meeting Meena for over 20 minutes. “Azhar is my friend and I will support him. We will try to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from the constituency,” said Meena. Meena an M.B.B.S. doctor by profession and was MP from Dausa constituency as an independent candidate before winning as an MLA in 2013 assembly elections from Lalsot constituency. (IANS)
Youths arrested for attacking minister
Chandigarh: Police have arrested three youths for allegedly attacking Haryana minister Kiran Chowdhary, who was pelted with stones during an election campaign at Koriyavas village in Narnaul three days back. “We have arrested three persons of the same village last evening,” Mahendergarh SP Jagat Singh Hooda said today. He said that further investigations in the case were under progress. The injured minister had been admitted to a private hospital at Gurgaon after the incident, though doctors had ruled out any internal injuries. The Minister of Excise and Taxation and Public Health and Engineering was pelted with stones by some miscreants when she was campaigning for her daughter and Congress MP Shruti Chowdhary in Narnaul, over 300 km from here. Shruti had blamed their political rival behind the attack. The Congress MP, grand-daughter of former Haryana Chief Minister, late Bansi Lal, is seeking re-election from Bhiwani-Mahendergarh parliamentary seat. (PTI)
Goa Church wants Catholics to engage in politics
Panaji: Goa’s influential Roman Catholic church wants its followers to both pray and actively engage in the political process to elect parliamentarians who will work for the good of the country. In a circular issued Saturday, the Archbishop of Goa and Daman, Filipe Neri Ferrao, exhorted Goa’s 26 percent Catholics to start a prayer campaign to internally think and choose the best possible elected representative for the state. The circular also calls active political participation as the “compelling need” of the times we live in. “It should make us constantly aware of our duties and responsibilities as citizens who not only cast their vote, but also actively participate in the political life of our state. This is indeed a compelling need of the present times,” the circular says. The circular comes a few days after a social organization backed by the Church issued a stinging critique of Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and the Gujarat chief minister, accusing both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders of misgovernance. The Church, during the last assembly elections, had a cosy relationship with the BJP, which eventually proved helpful for the saffron party helping it win an unprecedented simple majority in the 40-member Goa legislative assembly. In Saturday’s circular, the Church has reminded the Catholic faithful to fulfil “their solemn duty of exercising their franchise with a sense of responsibility to oneself and to our beloved nation, so that we may have a government which will uphold the principles of democracy”. (IANS)