Tharoor, Kharge wish each other the best as Cong prez poll sees 96% turnout; all eyes on Oct 19

News Network
October 17, 2022

taroorkharge.jpg

New Delhi, Nov 17: Around 9,500 or 96 per cent of 9,915 eligible Congress leaders and workers on Monday cast their vote to the elect a non-Gandhi as party chief for the first time in 22 years, even as the scales were tilted heavily towards veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge against his younger rival Shashi Tharoor.

Among those who voted at various parts of the country included party chief Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi and the two candidates among others.

“As per preliminary assessment, 9,497 out of 9,915 PCC delegates who are eligible to vote in the election cast their vote, accounting for 95.78 per cent of the total votes,” Congress’ Central Election Authority Chairperson Madhusudan Mistry told a press conference after the conclusion of voting.

The counting of votes will be held on Wednesday at the AICC headquarters.

There was no adverse incident during Congress presidential polls, Mistry said, adding he has not received any complaints.

Sonia along with Priyanka came to the AICC headquarters to vote. As she moved into the polling booth, Sonia told reporters, "I have been waiting for a long time for this day."

While former Finance Minister P Chidambaram was the first vote in AICC headquarters, others who voted there included Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh and senior leaders Janardhan Dwivedi and Salman Khurshid.

Kharge voted in Bengaluru while Tharoor voted in Thiruvananthapuram. Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal also voted in Thiruvananthapuram.

Both the candidates wished each other the best. Tharoor telephoned Kharge in the morning to "reaffirm my respect for him and our shared devotion to the success of Congress." Kharge tweeted, "my best wishes to Shashi Tharoor. Spoke to him earlier today, both of us are contesting to strengthen Congress to build a stronger and better nation for the future generations."

After the voting, Tharoor tweeted, "My thanks to all the Congress colleagues, workers, delegates across the country who had the courage to participate, to campaign, to dream and to vote today -- whatever the result of this election, it is a victory for you!"

Senior leader Anand Sharma, who was among the 87 leaders who cast their votes at the AICC headquarters said it was a good start and expressed hope that there will be an election to the Congress Working Committee.

Asked about elections to the CWC, Mistry said AICC members will be elected and the new president will take a call on plenary session and next president will take a call on the election of CWC and CEA Members.

He said the party had started its exercise for presidential polls two years ago and it gathered momentum in the last six months.

"The entire process was completed in a democratic manner. Congress once again proven that there is an internal democracy within the party. Other political parties should also take lessons from this," he said.

He emphasised the election was conducted through a secret ballot. Fifty people, including Rahul, voted at the polling booth set up at the Bharat Jodo Yatra camp in Karnataka's Bellary. 

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
November 18,2024

Advisors to US President-elect Donald Trump have instructed his allies and associates to refrain from using the inflammatory language they previously employed when discussing issues related to migrants and the deportation of asylum seekers, in a bid to avoid “looking like Nazis.”

US media reports said that Trump’s associates had been asked to stop using the word “camps” to describe potential facilities that would be used to accommodate migrants rounded up in deportation operations across the country.

The reports said the US president-elect’s allies had been ordered to stave off such charged terms as they would bring to mind “Nazis,” and be used against Trump.

“I have received some guidance to avoid terms, like ‘camps,’ that can be twisted and used against the president, yes,” one Trump ally told American monthly magazine Rolling Stone.

“Apparently, some people think it makes us look like Nazis.”

The presidential advisers also cautioned surrogates and allies to keep racist terms, which have dogged Trump’s campaign, out of their remarks.

They said with Trump’s heated rhetoric that used to compare undocumented immigrants to “animals” and his slight that they are “poisoning the blood of our country,” detractors did not need to reach too far to find parallels to Nazi Germany.

Stephen Miller, who Trump tapped to be his deputy chief of staff of policy, specifically used the word “camps” to describe holding facilities that he hoped the military could put together for immigrants.

Tom Homan, who served as the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is chosen by Trump to be in charge of the US borders, was no stranger to such language.

“It’s not gonna be a mass sweep of neighborhoods,” he said in an interview earlier this week. “It’s not gonna be building concentration camps. I’ve read it all. It’s ridiculous.”

Becoming a little more forthright about the new government’s aggressive deportation plans, Homan likened the early days of the Trump administration to the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003.

“I got three words for them – shock and awe,” he said. “You’re going to see us take this country back.”

Trump made immigration a central element of his 2024 presidential campaign but unlike his first run, which was mainly focused on building a border wall, he has shifted his attention to interior enforcement and the removal of undocumented immigrants already in the United States.

People close to the US president and his aides are laying the groundwork for expanding detention facilities to fulfill his mass deportation campaign promise.

The businessman-turned-politician deported more than 1.5 million people during his first term.

The figure do not include the millions of people turned away at the border under a Covid-era policy enacted by Trump and used during most of Biden’s term.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
November 12,2024

gazaresistence.jpg

The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement says its fighters have killed at least 20 Israeli soldiers in northern parts of the besieged Gaza Strip in just two days, in retaliation for the occupying regime’s genocidal war on the Palestinian territory.

In a statement on Monday evening, Hamas said that fighters of its military wing, al-Qassam Brigades, “killed at least five occupation soldiers” in northern parts of the coastal territory earlier in the day.

It added that Hamas fighters also killed 15 Israeli soldiers in the war-ravaged region on Sunday.

The resistance movement’s “qualitative operation … confirms once again the failure of the criminal Zionist entity to suppress and eradicate the Palestinian resistance, which continues to direct qualitative strikes against its terrorist soldiers,” Hamas further said on its Telegram channel.

Palestinians have increased their resistance operations in the face of intensified Israeli aggression in northern Gaza that has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 over the past weeks.

“Our valiant resistance is waging a war of attrition with the criminal enemy, inflicting daily losses on its soldiers and vehicles, and all of [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s bets and dreams of achieving any of his goals are failing,” the Gaza-based resistance movement added.

Hamas also vowed that Israel’s ongoing crimes and aggression against Gaza would be met with increased resistance and painful strikes, which will continue until the aggression against Palestinians ends and the regime fully withdraws from the blockaded territory.

As the war in Gaza enters its 14th month, the Health Ministry reports that Israeli attacks have killed at least 43,603 Palestinians and wounded 102,929 others.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
November 16,2024

Mangaluru: The Kavoor police in Mangaluru, Karnataka, have arrested three individuals from Kerala in connection with two separate cybercrime cases, including one involving extortion under the guise of a "digital arrest."

City Commissioner of Police Anupam Agrawal reported that one of the arrested individuals, Nisar, a resident of Ernakulam district, posed as a CBI officer. He allegedly threatened the complainant with arrest and extorted Rs 68 lakh. A case has been filed under sections 66 (C) and 66 (D) of the IT Act, and sections 308 (2) and 381 (4) of BNS.

In another case, the Kavoor police arrested two men, Sahil K P of Thiruvannur, Kozhikode, and Muhammad Nashath of Mappila Koyilandy, Kerala, in connection with a share trade fraud. The accused are alleged to have deceived the complainant by promising substantial profits from an investment in the stock market. Trusting the fraudsters, the complainant invested Rs 90 lakh, which was subsequently lost. A case has been registered under sections 66 (C) and 66 (D) of the IT Act, and sections 318 (4) and 3 (5) of BNS.

The accused were arrested in Koyilandi and presented before the court. The operation was carried out under the guidance of City Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal, led by Mangaluru North Sub-Division ACP Srikanth K, Kavoor Inspector Raghavendra Byndoor, Kavoor PSI Mallikarjuna Biradara, and staff members Ramanna Shetty, Bhuvaneshwari, Rajappa Kashibai, Praveen N, and Malatesh. 

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.