Govt ready for discussion on any issue in Parliament: Venkaiah
New Delhi: Government on Friday said it is ready for discussion on any issue in Parliament even as it sought cooperation of all members for the smooth functioning of the House.Thanking all members and parties for the unanimous election of Sumitra Mahajan as the Speaker of the new Lok Sabha, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said he will require the support of all members for the smooth running of the House. He said government is ready to discuss any issue in Parliament in the healthy traditions of Parliamentary democracy. Naidu was talking to reporters after the unanimous election of Mahajan as Speaker. Inside the Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier thanked all political parties for unanimously electing Mahajan as the Speaker and keeping up the great tradition of electing the presiding officer without a contest. (PTI)
Former PMK MP joins AIADMK
Chennai: Former PMK MP M Ramadoss on Friday joined the AIADMK in the presence of party General Secretary and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. Ramadoss called on Jayalalithaa and joined the party by receiving the primary membership card from her, a party release said here. He emerged victorious in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls and lost to V Narayanasamy of Congress in 2009. He resigned from PMK then and took up an academician’s post in Puducherry. Ramadoss had contested the April 24 LS polls this year as an independent, but lost. (PTI)
JD-U seeks HC bench in western UP
New Delhi: JD(U) has urged Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to take measures for setting up of a high court bench in western Uttar Pradesh as Allahabad High Court is at least 600 km away from any part of the region which “deprives” people from pursuing justice in the higher court. JD(U) MP and spokesperson K C Tyagi has reminded Prasad that he had raised the demand in Rajya Sabha in September last year and Prasad, whose party BJP was in opposition then, had supported it. “This is a demand of about 10 crore people being raised for the last 30 years. One has to travel at least 600 km from any western UP district to reach Allahabad. The cost for the poor to fight legal battle at such a far-off place is prohibitive and it deprives them of justice,” he said in a letter to Prasad. (PTI)
Maoists trigger landmine blasts; close shave for policemen
Raipur: A group of police personnel had a close shave on Friday as Maoists triggered two landmine blasts in the insurgency-hit Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh. The rebels exploded landmine near Sarpanch Para village under Awapalli police station limits when the security personnel were walking on foot while patrolling the region, a senior police official told PTI. However, no injuries or causalities were reported in the incident, he added. The patrolling party was mobilised from Awaplli and when it reached near Sarpanch Para after covering a distance of two kms in the forests, the explosives went off. Soon after the explosion, ultras opened indiscriminate firing on the security personnel following which they retaliated, he said. After a short exchange of gunfire, naxals fled to the core forests, he said. During the search following the gun-battle, an improvised explosive device (IED) was detected at the spot, he said. (PTI)
Police acts on minor girls’ SMS, stops her marriage
Chennai: Acting on an SMS from a minor girl, police stopped her marriage scheduled to be held at a famous temple in a surburban area of the city on June eight, police said. The 17-year-old girl had sent an SMS to the police control room that she was being forced into marriage by her parents, a police release said. The teenager was taken to the Indian Council of Child Welfare, where officials assured her they would help her to resume her studies, said police. (PTI)
