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 29,2024

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Kasargod, Oct 29: At least 154 people have been injured in a fireworks accident at the Anjootambalam Veererkavu Temple in Kerala's Kasaragod district. Among the injured, eight individuals are reported to be in serious condition, with one person in extremely critical condition. The tragic incident occurred just after midnight on Monday during the traditional Theyyam festival, which drew over 1,500 attendees to the temple.

Eyewitnesses stated that the accident was triggered when sparks from firecrackers ignited additional fireworks stored in a nearby room. As panic ensued, a stampede followed, leading to further injuries. Local authorities confirmed that 97 individuals have been admitted to various hospitals in Kasargod, Kozhikode, Kannur, and Mangalore for treatment.

A young girl present during the incident recounted, "The accident took place after sparks from crackers fell into a room where other fireworks were stored. Soon, we were all running away, and I fell down and got injured. My sister escaped unhurt."

Safety Protocols Ignored: Police Detain Temple Officials

Authorities have attributed the cause of the fire to negligence on the part of the temple officials. The police have taken two members of the temple committee into custody for questioning. According to local officials, the temple had stored low-intensity fireworks worth around Rs 25,000 for the festival, which concludes on Tuesday night.

Kasargod district Superintendent of Police (SP) D. Shilpa emphasized that the temple authorities failed to comply with safety protocols, noting that they did not secure the mandatory licenses required for the bursting of firecrackers. District Collector K. Inbasekar confirmed that a thorough investigation is underway, with forensic samples collected from the accident site.

Local CPI(M) MLA M. Rajagopal expressed his condolences, calling the incident "very unfortunate" and reinforcing that safety measures must be strictly adhered to during such celebrations. Kasargod MP Rajmohan Unnithan echoed these sentiments, pointing out the serious lapses on the part of officials responsible for ensuring safety during the festival.

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News Network
October 25,2024

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The accused wife and the victim husband

 

Udupi, Oct 25: A seemingly natural death has unraveled into a heart-wrenching case of betrayal and murder in Udupi’s Marne village. 

Balakrishna (44), who had been battling fever and severe illness for nearly a month, succumbed to his condition on October 20, despite extensive treatment at multiple hospitals. 

Diagnosed with jaundice, he was under care at KMC Hospital in Manipal, Wenlock Hospital in Mangaluru, NIMHANS Hospital in Bengaluru, and Victoria Hospital. But his symptoms persisted, and he was brought home on October 19, only to pass away at 3:30 am the next morning.

A complaint filed by his grieving brother, Ramakrishna (42), has now transformed Balakrishna's case into an alleged murder investigation. According to Ramakrishna, his brother’s wife, Pratima, had been in a relationship with Dileep from Hirgan. Allegedly, frustrated by Balakrishna's interference in her relationship, Pratima conspired with Dileep to eliminate him.

The complaint suggests that Pratima and Dileep plotted to gradually poison Balakrishna, lacing his meals with a toxic substance that steadily worsened his health. 

In the early hours of October 20, Dileep allegedly visited the home, where he and Pratima are accused of suffocating Balakrishna with a bedsheet, ending his life in a final act of betrayal. 

The Ajekar police have now registered a murder case, transforming Balakrishna's tragic death into a haunting investigation. They also have managed to arrest the victim’s wife and her boyfriend. 

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News Network
October 27,2024

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The Israeli regime’s forces have carried out intense bombing raids against six buildings in the city of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza Strip, killing at least 45 people.

Dozens more were also wounded after the raids targeted the structures, including a house belonging to a Palestinian family named as Abu Shidiq, on Saturday.

The attacks came as the severity of the regime’s aggression has forced the Palestinian Civil Defense to cease its activities in the northern side of the coastal sliver, leaving civilians there to their own devices.

Commenting on the situation, Director-General of the Gaza Health Ministry, Medhat Abbas said more than 900 Palestinians had been killed over the past weeks during the Israeli campaign that has targeted the northern areas.

Kamal Adwan Hospital, the last functioning hospital in the north, has been a special focus of the campaign that has either killed all of the facility’s doctors or forced them to flee, with the exception of three physicians, who remain there, he added.

“The occupation is committing genocide by destroying the health system in Gaza,” Abbas noted.

The regime embarked on implementing a so-called “Generals’ Plan” in northern Gaza earlier in the month, deploying hundreds of military vehicles and thousands of forces with immense firepower towards its realization.

The plan seeks to tighten the regime’s siege against the areas, cut off humanitarian aid to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians inside, and label those who remain there as combatants so it could target and kill them after declaring the areas "closed military zones.”

The plan is part of a genocidal war that the regime launched against the Gaza Strip last October, during which it has killed more than 42,924 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded another 100,833.

Also on Saturday, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil rights group, called on the United States, the regime’s biggest supporter, to stop the “systematic extermination of an entire population” in Gaza.

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