Wednesday, August 14th, 2019

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Wednesday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his appearance on Discovery Channel’s Man vs Wild, saying that “fun and frolic” in Jim Corbett National Park would not resolve the country’s economic troubles. The episode, filmed inside the national park, was broadcast on Monday night. What Yechury said In posts on Twitter, the Left leader blamed the government for what he called a grave economic crisis that it had created since 2014. He said he had heard no coherent plan from theRead More

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will restart his ‘Mahajanadesh Yatra’ next week, having halted it because of floods, a BJP functionary said in Mumbai on Wednesday. New schedule Fadnavis began the mass contact tour from Amravati in the Vidarbha region on August 1, ahead of state assembly elections due in September-October. He paused it on August 6 after the opposition criticised him for campaigning while heavy rain was causing damage across the state. BJP leader Sujitsingh Thakur, who is organising the yatra, said it would resume on August 21. TheRead More

Income Tax officials in Kolkata have rejected West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s claim that the department sent notices to Durga Puja committees in the city, calling the reports factually wrong. On Tuesday the Trinamool Congress staged a day-long dharna over the issue, accusing the BJP-led central government of trying to intimidate the committees into falling in line. Party workers carried posters and placards and charged the Centre with hurting Bengali religious sentiments. The department’s version A senior I-T official said no tax notices had been sent to any pujaRead More

On Tuesday, ten legislators from the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) formally switched to the Bharatiya Janata Party at an event held in New Delhi, turning the BJP into the main opposition in Sikkim. Former Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling, who heads the SDF, did not make the switch. Reactions Dorjee Tshering Lepcha, one of the SDF leaders who changed sides, said joining the BJP had brought them into the political mainstream and that they would follow the wishes of the central leadership. He said people in Sikkim wanted growth underRead More

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has defended his government’s decision to revoke Article 370, which gave Jammu and Kashmir its special status, saying the move was about the nation and not about politics. Answering questions in New Delhi, he said Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh would now develop in line with the hopes and ambitions of the people who live there. Why the government acted The decision, among the most significant of his government’s first 75 days, has been welcomed by many and opposed by some. Asked why he expected the peopleRead More