Sonia urges PM to grant special status to AP
Hyderabad: Congress President Sonia Gandhi has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to to ensure that Special Status is granted to the State of Andhra Pradesh. In a letter to the prime minister on Thursday, Gandhi said, “I would like to draw your attention to my letter dated 2nd June, 2014, in connection with the implementation of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2013. I had requested for ensuring that commitments made to the people of successor state of Andhra Pradesh are fulfilled in letter and spirit. “But even after 8 months of division of the state of Andhra Pradesh, many of the investment and other commitments made by the Government of India have not been fulfilled,” she said. The letter was released to the media here by the AP Congress today. Recalling that the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced special category status to successor state of AP on the floor of Rajya Sabha, she urged Modi to accord the status immediately. “Please ensure that special category status to the state of Andhra Pradesh is announced immediately and our resolve to fulfil all these commitments in a time-bound manner is conveyed in the special address of the President to the both Houses of Parliament at the commencement of the ensuing Budget session,” she said. (PTI)
Boat controversy was a drama: Pak
Islamabad: Pakistan foreign office spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam Friday said that Pakistan had made it clear that none if its boats went missing as claimed by Indian officials, a media report said. “It has been proven from the contradictory statements issued by top Indian officials that the boat issue was a drama that has now been exposed,” Dawn online quoted Aslam as saying. Earlier Wednesday, Deputy Inspector General of the Indian Coast Guard, B.K. Loshali, denied reports which said that he had admitted ordering that a Pakistani boat be blown up in the Arabian Sea on New Year’s Eve. The claim was in sharp contrast to New Delhi’s official position that the boat had “suspected terror links” and that the crew had committed suicide by setting the vessel on fire. Loshali later issued a rejoinder which rejected the media report terming it as “not factual” and denied making any such claim. Responding to a question about Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar’s visit to Pakistan, the spokeswoman made it clear that all outstanding issues between the two countries would be discussed when he visits Islamabad. However, Aslam added that no dates for the foreign secretary’s visit had been finalised. (IANS)
Girl ‘gangraped’, 2 held
Howrah (WB): A 15-year old girl was gangraped, allegedly by five youths at Shyampur in Howrah district, a senior police officer said on Friday. The girl, who lost her way while returning home from a Shivratri festival with her mother on Wednesday, was found in an unconscious state at a deserted spot some distance away from her locality at Gadiara under Shyampur area yesterday, the officer said. The girl, who alleged she was forcibly taken to a spot by five local youths when she got separated from her mother was admitted to hospital and was being medically examined, the officer said. Two youths were arrested in connection with the incident while raids were on for the other named in the family’s complaint with the police. (PTI)
Nigerian woman gangraped in Delhi
New Delhi: A 35-year-old Nigerian woman was gang raped in a moving car here, police said Friday. Four people have been arrested. The woman was found in an unconscious state in Mayur Vihar area in east Delhi around 2.43 a.m. Friday. Police said when the victim was found, she was under the influence of alcohol. They received a call from a passerby who spotted the woman. “She told us that she had boarded the accused’s car in which she was gang raped in south Delhi’s Saket area,” an official said. Police added that the woman did not know the accused and had jumped out of the car in Mayur Vihar area. “We have arrested all the four accused, who are residents of Mayur Vihar area,” police said. (IANS)
Paswan not in favour of President’s rule in Bihar
New Delhi: Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Friday said that he does not favour imposition of President’s rule in Bihar after Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s resignation as it could give an opportunity to JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar to claim that he was “victimised”. Blaming Kumar for the high-voltage political drama in the state that culminated into the resignation of Manjhi, Paswan said that the former Bihar Chief Minister cannot live without power and it is better that he gets six months again as Chief Minister as people will be disenchanted with him. He also made it clear that NDA will continue to support Manjhi in future. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a coolie rally organised by his party, Paswan, who heads Lok Janshakti Party, a key NDA ally in Bihar, said that Nitish Kumar alone is responsible for the entire political turmoil. “First he (Kumar) divided the poor, then he divided the Dalits and Mahadalits. As a fish cannot survive without water, Nitish, too, cannot live without power. “It’s good that Kumar once again becomes Chief Minister now so that people get disenchanted with him within the next six months,” Paswan said. He also rejected the contention that BJP has got “exposed” in the chain of events in Bihar, an allegation levelled by Congress, JD(U) and RJD. (PTI)
Godse statue installation thwarted
Chennai: Efforts by Hindu Mahasabha to install statues of Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, were thwarted in Tamil Nadu with the state government refusing to grant permission, the state Assembly was informed on Friday. Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said two divisions of the Hindu fringe group had announced that they will install the statues at 13 places in the state on January 31 last, which was opposed by political parties and religious groups. Indian National League (Tada Raheem division) had threatened to install statues of Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru if the Mahasabha was allowed to install the statues of Godse, he said during the debate on the Governor’s address to the House. “With (respective) district administration and police not allowing permission, statues (of Godse) were not installed on January 31, 2015 as announced by them. The situation is being closely monitored,” he said. Responding to a mention by Manithaneya Makkal Katchi member M H Jawahirullah about damage caused to a wall of a dargah in Tiruvarur District recently, Panneerselvam said it happened following a jostling between two groups of Hindus and Muslims after the latter objected to some slogan-shouting by the others while crossing another dargah. (PTI)