OMG! BJP kick-starts early 2019 poll preparations

News Network
August 17, 2017

New Delhi, Aug 17: The BJP has started early preparations for 2019 polls as party president Amit Shah got into a huddle with top leaders on Thursday to appoint managers to curate 120 Lok Sabha seats it never won.

Shah, said BJP sources, took a meeting of about a dozen union and UP ministers and ten general secretaries at the party's Ashoka Road headquarters, to identify leaders who can work as "palaks (managers)" on at least 6 Lok Sabha seats each which it had lost always. 

Among the union ministers, who attended the meeting and are likely to be assigned the task of palaks are Ravi Shankar Prasad, JP Nadda, Dharmendra Pradhan, Piyush Goyal, Narendra Singh Tomar, Prakash Javadekar and Nirmala Sitharaman. While general secretaries present were Ram Lal, Ram Madhav, Arun Singh, Anil Jain, Murlidhar Rao, Kailash Vijayvargiya, V. Satish, Shiv Prakash, Saudan Singh and BL Santosh.

Shah is keen to create a crack team to work on the ground on these parliamentary segments where union ministers will chip in heavily since the party does not have enough leaders to galvanise workers and voters to convert defeat into victory, explained BJP sources aware of the planning.

Other than palaks, the second rung of the team will have leaders who will be assigned other than their native constituencies. The BJP believes that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's image is intact despite opposition sweating out to erode his and the NDA government's credibility.

BJP wants to take an early lead in its preparations to outwit the opposition still struggling to put up a grand alliance to checkmate saffron surge. The opposition though had showcased its intent by fielding a common candidate of seventeen parties during president and vice president's elections.

The party has been doing the spade work at the booth level in these weaker areas such as West Bengal, Kerala, Odisha and in North East, except for Assam it had won comfortably, to compensate for states where the BJP had peaked in 2014 elections to win overall 282 seats. Those states are - Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh.

The party poll managers are confident of doing well in Congress held states of Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka in the coming assembly polls.

Shah also has been re-emphasizing Modi's message that the NDA government's welfare schemes like providing underprivileged women LPG cylinders through Ujwala scheme and providing toilets should be electorally milked in rural belts as it successfully did in Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.

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News Network
October 25,2024

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A substantial wave of Israeli settlers is migrating to Cyprus, fueling concern over what analysts are calling a “silent occupation” as Israeli buyers snap up properties across the island. Following Israel’s recent military offensives in Gaza and Lebanon, thousands of Israelis have reportedly relocated, seeking real estate and creating enclaves of secretive luxury resorts that cater exclusively to affluent settlers. This shift represents the third major wave of Israeli migration to Cyprus, driven by a mix of war fallout, economic pressures, and Israel's internal political unrest.

Dimitri Lascaris, an investigative journalist and activist, reports on the rapid real estate acquisition in Cyprus, revealing that Israelis have been “buying anything in sight” amid the recent regional crises. He warns of an underlying agenda, stating that Cyprus has historically been viewed by Zionist ideologues as a potential site for a Jewish settlement due to its proximity to Israel and suitability for European-style development. Lascaris draws a link to early Zionist ambitions for Cyprus, recalling the Third Zionist Congress of 1899 when David Trietsch and Theodor Herzl both championed Cyprus as a base for Jewish settlement—a precursor to claiming Israel itself by force.

This migration, which has swelled Cyprus’s Israeli community from 6,500 in 2018 to over 12,000 by April 2024, has sparked an influx of 250-300 Israelis monthly. This quiet but steady stream has led to a larger presence of Israelis in Cyprus, with many pursuing strategic real estate purchases despite legal restrictions. Under Cypriot law, foreign entities can only acquire 500 square meters of land. However, by registering as Northern Cyprus firms and securing at least 51% Turkish Cypriot ownership, Israeli companies can circumvent this rule, enabling them to buy extensive tracts of land.

Cyprus’s geopolitical position—close to Israel, with NATO membership and new gas reserves—amplifies the strategic importance of this quiet expansion. Additionally, the island hosts a significant UK military base at Akrotiri, which has served as a launch point for aircraft bound for Palestinian territories, further heightening the controversy around Israeli-Cypriot connections.

Economically, the high cost of living in Israel and divisive internal issues, such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious judicial reforms, have also driven migration from the occupied lands. According to a Hebrew-language report by Maariv, the first seven months of 2024 saw an exodus of 40,000 Israeli settlers—nearly triple previous years’ numbers—primarily to Cyprus and other nearby regions.

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News Network
October 25,2024

Udupi, Oct 25: A team of police from Udupi apprehended a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) at Kannur International Airport, Kerala, after he had been absconding overseas since 2019. 

Ashmath Ali (35) originally arrested on charges of recording a video of unnatural acts, had been out on bail granted by the second ACJ and JMFC court of Udupi on September 6, 2019.

Despite 18 arrest warrants issued in his name, Ali managed to evade authorities for years, frequently traveling abroad. 

Acting on a tip-off, sleuths from Kaup police station intercepted him as he landed at Kannur International Airport on October 21, marking the end of his prolonged evasion from Indian law enforcement. 

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News Network
October 18,2024

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Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has been martyred in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza's Rafah city, a senior Hamas official confirmed.

Khalil Hayya, head of Hamas in Gaza, delivered a statement on Friday, a day after reports of Sinwar's martyrdom. 

"We mourn the great national leader, the Mujahid Martyr Brother Yahya Al-Sinwar (Abu Ibrahim), Head of the Political Bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Commander of Al-Aqsa Storm Operation," he said.

He remembered Sinwar as "one of the noblest and bravest men, a man who dedicated his life to Palestine and gave his soul for the sake of Allah on the path to its liberation."

"He rose as a heroic martyr, advancing and never retreating, wielding his weapon, engaging and confronting the occupation army at the frontlines. He moved between all combat positions, steadfast and stationed on the honored land of Gaza, defending the land of Palestine and its holy sites, inspiring the spirit of endurance, patience, steadfastness, and resistance."

Referring to the history of Sinwar's struggle against the Israeli regime, Hayya noted that the fallen leader "attained the highest rank and the noblest medal, ascending as a witness and a martyr, content with the jihad and sacrifice he offered."

Naming a host of other resistance leaders assassinated by the Israeli regime in the past years, the Hamas official noted that "these sacrifices will continue to illuminate our path and drive us to more resilience and steadfastness."

"Hamas remains committed to the promise of its founding leaders and martyrs until the aspirations of our people are fully realized: the complete liberation and return, and the establishment of the Palestinian state on the entire national soil with Al-Quds as its capital, by Allah’s will," he said, adding, "This will become a curse upon the invading occupiers who are strangers to this land."

He underlined that the martyrdom of leaders "only strengthens Hamas and our resistance, making us more determined and steadfast in following their path, honoring their blood and sacrifices."

He highlighted that Israeli captives held in Gaza "will not return except with the cessation of aggression on Gaza, its withdrawal, and the release of our heroic prisoners from the occupation’s jails."

The charismatic leader of the Palestinian resistance movement had escaped many assassination attempts before and after Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on Oct. 7, 2023.

Sinwar, 62, played an instrumental role in coordinating and supervising the landmark operation that jolted the Zionist regime. 

Before becoming the Hamas leader in Gaza in 2017, Sinwar spent 22 years in an Israeli prison. He was released as part of a prisoner swap in 2011.

“Hamas will never abandon the path of resistance… Our resistance will continue until the liberation of all of Palestine,” he declared during a speech in Gaza in late October 2017.

Sinwar had been chosen as the overall Hamas leader after Israel assassinated Ismail Haniyeh in July.

Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran, where he was to attend the inauguration ceremony of new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

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