Kathua protest in Mumbai: Congress worker claims molestation by party youth

A woman Congress worker has complained to the party's city unit that she was allegedly molested by male colleagues on Sunday during a candle march held here to protest against the Kathua and Unnao rape cases. She complained to the party's Mumbai unit chief Sanjay Nirupam, who promised to take action against those found guilty. The protest march was organised by the party at Juhu. Talking to a news agency, Nirupam said the woman, who is a district-level party worker, sent a text message to him about the alleged incident.

In her message, the woman said, "The workers of Youth Congress and NSUI (party's students' wing) stooped to such low level that they touched, pushed and shoved women workers in an inappropriate manner, making us feel unsafe among our very own party's male colleagues.

"Sadly, some male workers did this to us only to get ahead in the march so that their faces were captured by the media. I want to know if women workers will be safe in similar events held in future?" her text message said. Nirupam said, "This incident is very unfortunate and I condemn it. I told the woman that he would take action if she identifies the persons involved. I told her that if she wished, he would help her file police cases against the accused. But she told me there was too much crowd, so it won't be possible for her to identify them."

BJP questions Congress' links with Cambridge Analytica for 2019 LS polls

The BJP on Wednesday questioned links between the Congress and Cambridge Analytica, a data mining firm accused of harvesting personal information from Facebook illegally to influence polls in several countries, and wondered if it will now depend on "data theft" to woo voters.

Party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad cited media reports about the opposition party's plan to use the firm's services for the next Lok Sabha elections and to boost its president Rahul Gandhi's profile. He asked Gandhi to explain the company's role in his social media outreach.


The firm, the Union minister said, has been accused of using "sex, sleaze and fake news" to influence elections and asked if the Congress too plans to walk the same path.

"The Congress must explain if it has engaged in data trade with Cambridge Analytica," he said, questioning the opposition party's "silence" despite numerous reports of its link with the company.

Prasad, the law and IT minister, used the occasion to warn Facebook of stringent legal action against any misuse of data of more than 200 million Indians on its platform.

Fodder scam: No relief for Lalu, SC orders trial for criminal conspiracy

In a major blow to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Supreme Court today allowed a plea by CBI opposing dropping of charges against him by Jharkhand High Court in the Rs 1000 crore fodder scam case.

Lalu Prasad Yadav will be tried on criminal charges for corruption during his term as Chief Minister of Bihar, the Supreme Court ruled today, rejecting his request for the more grave charges including criminal conspiracy to be deleted.

The apex court, while setting aside the 2014 order which had stayed the trial against Yadav after conviction in one of the cases, said the high court should have been consistent in its findings and not have given different views for different sets of accused in a case.

It also pulled up the CBI for delay in filing appeal against the high court order in the case and said the probe agency's director should have looked into this important matter and deputed an officer to pursue the case.

The CBI has challenged the 2014 order of the Jharkhand High Court quashing four pending fodder scam cases against him on the grounds that a person convicted in one case could not be tried in similar cases based on same witnesses and evidences.

The court earlier on April 20 reserved its judgement in the case and asked all parties concerned to give their submissions within a week.

The court also heard the plea filed by the former Bihar chief minister challenging his jail sentence in connection with the case.

The CBI had filed a plea in the apex court against the dropping of a conspiracy charge against Lalu Prasad by the Jharkhand High Court in one of the fodder scam cases.

READ MORE

MCD results: AAP loses, cries foul over EVMs as BJP wins big in Delhi

MCD results 2017 - The BJP was on Wednesday won 184 of the 270 seats, leaving the Aam Aadmi Party well behind on 46 seats with the Congress suffering another dismal day. The BJP also swept all three corporations. The BJP said it will not celebrate its victory in the civic polls but "dedicate" it to the 25 CRPF troopers who died in a Maoist attack in Sukma.

"We won't celebrate this victory and will dedicate it to the CRPF personnel who lost their lives in the Sukma Maoist attack," Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Manoj Tiwari told reporters.

Here is the complete winners list by ward and party:

South Delhi Municipal Corporation

The BJP won 70 wards, AAP 16 and Congress 12. Here’s the break-up:

BJP: Madipur, Punjabi Bagh, Raghubir Nagar, Rajouri Garden, Vishnu Garden, Hari Nagar A, Pratap Nagar, Keshopur, Mahavir Nagar, Janakpuri West, Janakpuri South, Milap Nagar, Vikaspuri, Sainik Enclave, Vikas Nagar, Mohan Garden North, Uttam Nagar, Bindapur, Dabri, Sagarpur West, Kakraula, Dwarka A, Dwarka B, Isapur, Raj Nagar, Dwarka C, Mahipalpur, Madhu Vihar, Mahavir Enclave, Sadh Nagar, Palam, Lajpat Nagar, Kasturba Nagar, Kotla Mubarakpur, Vasant Kunj, Dakshin Puri, Sangam Vihar B, Pushp Vihar, Khanpur, Greater Kailash, Chitaranjan Park, Molarband, Hari Nagar B, Jaitpur, Om Vihar, Madanpur Khadar East, Madanpur Khadar West, Mohan Garden South, Chhawla, Gopal Nagar, Roshanpura, Hauz Khas, Malviya Nagar, Vasant Vihar, Mehrauli, Said Ul Ajaib, Bhati, Tughlakabad Extension, Sangam Vihar E, Sri Niwas Puri, Kalkaji, Harkesh Nagar, Tughlakabad, Safdarjung Enclave, Raja Garden, R.K. Puram, Munirka, Chhatarpur, Sagarpur East and Pul Pehladpur

AAP: Tagore Garden, Tilak Nagar, Sitapuri, Bapraula, Manglapuri, Matiala, Bijwasan, Lado Sarai, Tigri, Deoli, Madangir, Chirag Delhi, Abul Fazal Enclave, Hastsal, Sangam Vihar C and Sangam Vihar D

Congress: Sarita Vihar, Badarpur, Aya Nagar, Andrews Ganj, Sidharth Nagar, Ranhola, Subhash Nagar, Khyala, Zakir Nagar, Govind Puri, Nangli Sakrawati and Daryaganj

INLD: Dichaon Kalan

Samajwadi Party: Ghuman Hera

Independents: Sangam Vihar A, Kapashera, Nawada and Najafgarh
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By-polls: BJP wins Delhi, HP, MP, Assam; Congress bags Karnataka seats

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday won the Assembly bypolls in Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Assam while it was leading in Rajasthan as results poured in for the nine seats where elections were held on Sunday.

There was some solace for the Congress in Karnataka where it won both the seats.

By-elections were held in nine Assembly constituencies in seven states on Sunday, besides the Srinagar parliamentary seat. Two seats each are in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh and one each in West Bengal, Assam, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi.

BJP takes Delhi ahead of municipal polls

The thumping victory in the national capital was sweet music for the BJP ahead of the municipal polls.

The BJP registered a victory in the Rajouri Garden Assembly by-poll, handing a humiliating defeat to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which finished a distant third and even lost its deposit.

BJP-SAD joint candidate Manjinder Singh Sirsa bagged 40,602 seats, over 50 per cent of the total votes polled, in a boost for the saffron party.

Congress' Meenakshi Chandela finished second with 25,950 votes while AAP's Harjeet Singh managed to get only 10,243 votes, less than one-sixth of the total votes polled.

BJP keeps Congress at bay in MP

In Madhya Pradesh, BJP retained the Bandhavgarh Assembly seat after defeating rival Congress by margin of over 25,000 votes while it was a close fight between Congress and BJP in Ater seat.

BJP nominee Shivnarayan Singh defeated Congress' candidate Savitri Singh from the seat in Umaria district by 25,476 votes, an election official said.

The bypoll was necessitated as BJP MLA Gyan Singh got elected to the Lok Sabha in November last year from Shahdol in a bye-election. (READ MORE)

Adityanath orders closure of all slaughter houses in UP

In keeping with the BJP's manifesto, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday directed police officials to prepare an action plan for closure of slaughter houses across the state.

He also ordered a blanket ban on smuggling of cows and said zero tolerance would be exercised in this regard.

Official sources did not specify the type of slaughterhouses which will be shut.

However, the BJP manifesto had said that all the illegal slaughter houses would be closed and there would be a blanket ban on all the mechanised slaughterhouses.

The BJP document had observed that due to cow smuggling, dairy-based industries have failed to flourish.

It noted that during the past state governments there has been a fall in cattle count, reflecting that bovine smuggling was rampant.

BJP Chief Amit Shah in his election meetings had emphasised that the moment his party comes to power in the state, it would ban all slaughter houses.

In his orders issued today, Adityanath also directed the police to act tough against anti-social elements.

He warned that those using police security as "status symbol" would come under the scanner and after review of their threat perception their security might be changed. (READ MORE)

Debacle in UP casts doubts about Rahul Gandhi's elevation to Congress chief

Several in the Congress believe Rahul Gandhi made poor choices in UP, for which he needs to take responsibility.

Some hard questions are being asked about Rahul Gandhi’s leadership following the Congress’s shocking election debacle in Uttar Pradesh, with the Narendra Modi juggernaut ensuring the BJP steamrolled all rivals.

In the immediate aftermath of the results, Rahul’s friend and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah summed it up that there is no leader today with a pan India acceptability who can take on Modi and the BJP in 2019.

While Abdullah’s blunt statement has not been taken kindly by the All India Congress Committee (AICC), many in the party are raising the same question.

Congressmen are suggesting that a naive Rahul played into the hands of Modi by agreeing to a pre-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP).

Former AICC spokesperson Rashid Alvi, however, put it differently. “Congress made a pre-poll alliance with SP and this alliance became an alliance of Muslim community. The BJP took advantage of it and played the game of polarisation in UP politics.”

Restructuring: Tata Motors rolls out VRS, moves to a flat five-level hierarchy

Former Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Harikesh Bahadur said that the politics of alliances in Uttar Pradesh doomed the party as partymen became “frustrated” because they were raring for a fight with the BJP all over the state.

Suggesting that the Congress opposition to demonetisation became counterproductive, Bahadur, who hails from eastern Uttar Pradesh, claimed that the note ban issue helped the BJP in a major way in rural areas.

Former Congress MP Sandeep Dikshit’s remarked that “In Congress it can’t be business as usual… We have to seriously decide if we are going to do the ideological and strategic change that is required” to make a comeback in the future, which reflected the deep frustration among partymen who see no light at the end of the tunnel. 

Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Umesh Pandit made it plain, demanding that Rahul quit owning moral responsibility for the debacle, the latest among a series of  defeats for the party, beginning from the Lok Sabha elections in May 2014. Read more

Ex-Googlers bring augmented reality to Holi selfies with a localised Snapchat

LATEST NEWS - Look at the first of the three pictures carefully. It is not a simple snap taken on Holi, the Indian festival of colors. In fact, the colors are not real at all! They’ve been put on the face using an augmented reality (AR) app — and it’s not Snapchat.

MaskUp, an Indian app, has launched ‘Holi selfie face filters’ to mark the festival being celebrated today.

And by doing so, it has gone where better-known apps like Snapchat, Face Swap, and MSQRD have not — that is, brought in a specific Indian context to AR.

The app has been devised by Chennai-based Makesto Infotech run by ex-Googlers Jeyashankher Ramamirtham and Pradnya Karbhari. MaskUp was launched on Play Store on January 14 as a very early beta.

“We currently have about 5,000 monthly active users. Holi is our first major experience launch,” says Jeyashankher.

All you need to do is switch on the app, click on the box showing colors, and tap on the screen. Out flies a cloud of color and settles on your face! And this happens every time you tap, with a different color erupting on screen each time.

Holi marks the onset of spring in India, and true to the spirit of the season, people go wild putting colors on each other – dry powder, water, or even sticky paint that could take days to come off. MaskUp recreates that look, with fairly whacky results.

A green blotch around your nose, red on your right cheek, blue on the left, and yellow around the eyebrows!(READ MORE)

11-year-old Pakistani girl writes to Modi, asks him to take steps towards peace, friendship

BREAKING NEWS - Congratulating Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) historic mandate in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections, an eleven year old Pakistani school girl wrote to him saying that he should now focus towards winning more hearts of Indians and Pakistanis alike, by becoming a bridge of peace between the two nations.

In her letter, Aqeedat Naveed highlighted the need for peace between India and Pakistan, and said that Prime Minister Modi can help speed up the process, reports DunyaNews.

"Once my father told me that winning of hearts is a marvelous job. Perhaps you have won the hearts of Indian people, therefore you won the election in UP. But I must tell you if you want to win more Indian and Pakistani hearts, you should take steps towards friendship and peace. Both countries need good relation. Let's make a peace bridge between India and Pakistan. Let's decide that we will not buy bullets, will buy books. We will not buy the guns, will buy the medicine for the poor people," Aqeedat wrote in the two-page letter.

Also Read : Congress debacle in UP raises questions about Rahul Gandhi's elevation to party chief

She further emphasised that the choice between peace and conflict lies open for both the nations, and signed off by congratulating the prime minister for the UP polls victory.

The fifth grader, who hails from Lahore, had earlier written a letter to Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj as well on the matter of peace and has also received several responses from officials in New Delhi.(READ MORE)

UP Assembly polls: Now, astrologers predict outcome

UP Polls - With the Election Commission banning opinion polls from February 4, astrologers have taken to predicting the outcome of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls that begin on February 11.

Representing diverse interest groups, while one set of soothsayers has forecast an outright win for the "gathbandhan" (Congress-SP alliance), another set has vouched for the exact opposite.

Pramod Gautam, chairman of Vedic Sutram, told IANS: "Phoney pundits should stop distorting a much respected and time-tested science. We base our findings on authentic birth charts of the key players."

Pratik Pandey of Astrosage.com said: "These days so many fake astrologers have flooded the market that they have created a credibility crisis. People have begun suspecting this esoteric science."

Releasing his predictions, at a press conference on Tuesday, Gautam, whose earlier predictions on three occasions were proved correct, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "clearly the winner as his stars continue to be favourable". This, he said, should benefit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in UP.(Read More)

UP polls 2017: Dialogue, drama, desperation as action begins

UP Polls - The action has begun in Uttar Pradesh. Election strategists, central and state ministers, Chief Ministers from other states and the Prime Minister himself are criss-crossing the sprawling state as they hard-sell their parties to voters.

More than a dozen hired choppers are clattering from one rally to the next, carrying leaders of all hues, making stopovers in small towns and dusty hamlets, while thousands of two- and four-wheelers are on the move, ferrying candidates and supporters.


Prime Minister Narendra Modi has addressed two major rallies in Meerut and Aligarh in one week, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has addressed more than 10, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh has been mingling with the Jat community and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati is explaining why she needs to return to power.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav have jointly held road shows in Lucknow, Agra and Kanpur. Their next stop is Varanasi, which sent Modi to the Lok Sabha. Many state ministers are spending nights in far-flung villages, many without electricity.(Read More)

UP polls 2017: Survey shows BJP leads, but 40% voters still undecided

Elections 2017 for the Uttar Pradesh state assembly, India’s largest state with more voters–138 million–than the population of the north American country of Mexico, start on February 11, 2017, but 40% of its voters said they still don’t know which political party they will vote for, according to a new survey conducted by by FourthLion Technologies, a data analytics and public opinion polling firm, for IndiaSpend.

The firm conducted 2,513 telephone interviews in Hindi of registered voters in Uttar Pradesh, and said their sample is representative of UP’s urban and rural voters as well as socioeconomic, age, gender and caste make-up. The survey was conducted between January 24 and January 31, 2017.

The first article on the survey analysed issues that voters said were important to them.

Overall, 28% of those surveyed said they would vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the party that heads the central government, if the polls were held immediately, while 18% of those surveyed would vote for the Samajwadi Party (SP) that currently leads the state, 4% would vote for the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) led by Mayawati, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh between 2007 and 2012, while 1% would vote for the Indian National Congress (INC).(Read more)

Punjab polls: AAP attracts youth, elderly prefer old loyalties

Punjab Polls - Amandeep Singh, 21, and his friends would be casting their first vote on February 4. They would also be breaking a tradition where parents or elders would decide the preferred candidate for other family members during an election. 

Singh wants to go with the new wave, whereas his parents want to stick with the Congress, represented by former Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal at Bhatinda. Deepak Bansal, a youngster who failed to crack the UPSC exams in two attempts, is contesting from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

“Times have changed. We youngsters want someone new,” Singh says, seated outside the kite shop of his friend, Sanjeev Singla, 28. 

“I am a postgraduate and selling kites for my livelihood. I would be again jobless once the kite season is over. I need a permanent job and I am hopeful the AAP government would help me,” adds Singla. The friends spoke minutes after Badal shook hands with them and sought their votes.

Badal, however, was confident he’d win. “It is a traditional Congress seat.”(Read More)

Owing to ill-health, Mithun Chakraborty resigns from Rajya Sabha

Breaking News - Actor-turned politician Mithun Chakraborty who was elected to the Rajya Sabha by Trinamool Congress (TMC), on Monday resigned from the Upper House citing health reasons.

He has submitted his resignation to Rajya Sabha Chairman, sources in TMC said.

Mithun, whose alleged involvement in Saradha scam made news in 2015, had attended the Upper House for three days only.

He has written to the Chairman that because of his health condition he is not been able to fulfil his duty in Rajya Sabha and that is why he is relinquishing his seat, sources added.

Chakraborty was elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 2014.(Read More)