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India and China being run by forceful leaders, says Time magazine

News

Apr 172015

The publication said among the lessons that can be drawn from the ‘2015 TIME 100 list’ is that Asia has a crop of strong leaders after years of being run by not-so-dynamic politicians. Photo: ReutersIn yet another boost for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s global image, Time magazine on Friday called Modi a froceful leader eager to put his stamp on history.

According to the magazine, both India and China are today run by “forceful leaders” eager to put their “stamp on history”, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi working to lead from the front after Manmohan Singh’s decade of “increasingly listless rule.”

Modi was named by TIME among the 100 most influential people in the world in its annual list on Thursday, with US President Barack Obama penning a flattering profile of him.

The publication said among the lessons that can be drawn from the ‘2015 TIME 100 list’ is that Asia has a crop of strong leaders after years of being run by not-so-dynamic politicians.

“China and India may be two of the most dynamic countries in the world, but for years their leaders were anything but,” TIME said, adding that from 2002 to 2012 China was run by the “colourless and cautious” President Hu Jintao, though most decisions were made not by him alone but through consensus among the top tier of the Communist Party.

In India, former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh presided over a decade of “increasingly listless rule”, ending in 2014 when he left office at the age of 81.

“But today, both China and India are run by forceful leaders eager to put their stamp on history,” it said.

TIME referred to Modi’s rock-star reception at the Madison Square Garden during his visit to the US last year, saying not many world leaders can get the kind of audience he commanded at the iconic city arena.

Unlike many of his predecessors, Modi has “worked to lead from the front, and he’s already carved out an impressive international profile – not too many other international leaders can pack Madison Square Garden for a speech, as Modi did last September”.

Obama notes that Modi has “laid out an ambitious vision to reduce extreme poverty, improve education, empower women and girls and unleash India’s true economic potential”.

TIME said that Chinese President Xi Jinping “is even more powerful” and more determined to exert direct control of his country.

In the ‘TIME 100’, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd writes that Xi is now “likely to be China’s most powerful leader since Mao”.

“That’s not always a good thing. While Xi is carrying out reforms that are needed to make China’s economy more sustainable, he’s also ruthlessly cracked down on civil society and challenged the US for global leadership,” said the magazine.

For more news from India Today, follow us on Twitter @indiatoday and on Facebook at facebook.com/IndiaTodayFor news and videos in Hindi, go to AajTak.in. ????????? ?????? ?? ?????? ?? ??? ????.?? ?? ???.

Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee conferred with Bharat Ratna

News

Mar 272015

Vajpayee is lauded as a statesman and has been often described as the moderate face of BJP. Photo:PTIFormer Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and founder member of Bharatiya Janta Party will be conferred Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award today.

President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be among a host of VVIPs who are likely to be present at the Krishna Memon marg residence of Vajpayee in Lutyens’ Delhi where he will be honoured.

The announcement for the prestigious award for Vajpayee, the first Prime Minister from outside the Congress party to serve a full five-year term, came on December 24, a day before he turned 90.

Vajpayee, who was Prime Minister from 1998 to 2004, and has faded from public life due to age-related illness, is lauded as a statesman and has been often described as the moderate face of BJP.

He has been credited with taking bold initiatives, notable among them being the historic bus journey to Lahore in 1999 when he signed the landmark Lahore Declaration with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with both sides pledging to push for peace and security.

Vajpayee’s detractors called him the “mask” of RSS but still always had good words for him.

The recommendation for Bharat Ratna is made by the Prime Minister himself to the President.

Since its inception, 43 people including former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bhadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi besides singing legend Lata Mangeshkar and the batting mastreo have received the prestigious award.

Arvind Kejriwal stung by ex-AAP MLA, Anjali Damania quits on Twitter

News

Mar 112015

Anjali Damania and Arnind KejriwalAs the Aam Aadmi Party battles internal dissent, an old audio tape purportedly showing the party’s national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal discussing his plans to break the Congress and buy its MLAs last year during the President’s Rule in Delhi surfaced on Wednesday. The AAP dismissed the audio, saying it was an attempt to defame the party.

The audio tape, released by AAP leader and former MLA Rajesh Garg, allegedly shows Kejriwal in conversation with him and planning the horse-trading of six Congress MLAs into the AAP. “Congress won’t support us. We have been trying for the last one and a half months,” Kejriwal is apparently heard saying in the tape.

The explosive conversation between Kejriwal and Garg

In the tape, whose authenticity could not ascertained, Kejriwal is allegedly heard telling former legislator Rajesh Garg to split the Congress as it was not ready to again support the AAP to form the government in Delhi. Garg told reporters that the conversation between him and Kejriwal took place sometime in July-August, 2014. Kejriwal had resigned on February 14, 2014 after 49 days in power over the failure to pass an anti-graft bill in the Delhi assembly.

The AAP chief was also reportedly heard telling Garg that Manish Sisodia, now Delhi’s deputy chief minister, was in touch with the Congress on the issue of forming the government. AAP leader Preeti Sharma Menon told reporters that such tapes are not new and were also released earlier to defame the party.

Anjali Damania quits AAP

The sting had its immediate fallout with senior AAP leader Anjali Damania quitting the party on Twitter. “I quit, I have not come into AAP for this nonsense. I believed him, I backed Arvind for principles not horse-trading,” she tweeted.

Mumbai-based Damania, a close aide of Kejriwal, was in New Delhi as the party prepared to act against Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan and his father Shanti Bhushan after an overwhelming number of AAP MLAs signed a letter asking for their ouster from the party’s National Executive. The two leaders were thrown out of the party’s Political Affairs Committee last week.

Kejriwal is currently in Bangalore for a 10-day naturopathy treatment at a city clinic. Sources said the Kejriwal camp was preparing the ground for launching an all out attack on the Bhushans and Yogendra Yadav ahead of the AAP National Council meeting later this month.

Majority of states now ruled by BJP or its allies

News

Dec 252014

The decisive verdict in Jharkhand and impressive gains in Jammu and Kashmir have strengthened the national character of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which now has a firm grip on the country’s polity, effectively toppling the Congress as the leading political force.

The BJP has won almost every Assembly elections after it lost power in Karnataka in May 2013. There has been no looking back for the party since then as it has formed governments in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in the first round of Assembly polls ahead of the general elections in May 2014. The party could not form the government in Delhi despite being the single largest party.

There has been no looking back for the party since then as it has formed governments in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in the first round of Assembly polls ahead of the general elections in May 2014. The party could not form the government in Delhi despite being the single largest party.

The massive victory in the Lok Sabha elections again proved that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s prominence was unassailable. The BJP then added Maharashtra and Haryana in its kitty after the Lok Sabha polls. Jharkhand will become the latest state to get a BJP chief minister.

The BJP will now have eight chief ministers from Haryana to Maharashtra, capturing the vast expanses of northern, central and western India. It has allies ruling in Punjab and Andhra Pradesh.

The BJP sees the poll victories as a verdict on Modi’s agenda of development. “The poll verdict is a lesson for those who oppose our government’s agenda of development and change. As the BJP won Jharkhand, it will also win polls in Bihar under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi,” BJP national president Amit Shah had said after the results on Tuesday.

The performance has galvanised the party and its young leadership. “I feel that under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi and due to his good governance and with the great contribution of national president Amit Shah ji, the party has done remarkableâ€¦ We will face Delhi and then in Bihar where the results will be in the favour of the BJP,” party leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy said after the election outcome on Tuesday.

The BJP’s next battleground will be Delhi and Bihar where elections are due. The party is likely to face a tough challenge from the Janata Parivar in Bihar, but the party hopes that Modi’s charisma will work in the state as well to demolish the challenge posed by Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad.

In Delhi, the saffron party is confident of countering the threat posed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

The biggest challenge for the party is in Uttar Pradesh, which it looks to capture from the Samajwadi Party. The BJP has already started ground work in the state where it made impressive gains during the Lok Sabha elections with a near clean sweep.

The saffron march was halted in the north at the Pir Panjal range as it got decimated in the Kashmir Valley despite sweeping the Jammu region. The BJP’s Mission 44+ in Jammu and Kashmir has fallen short, but it will play the role of a kingmaker.

Party sources said its control over much of north, western and central India is complete. It will then move to the east to directly challenge Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress before making inroads into the southern states.

The country’s political map is being painted saffron and if the BJP under Amit Shah continues its march, it will annihilate the little challenge still posed by the Congress.

UP gangrape: Akhilesh backs Rahul’s demand for CBI probe

News

May 312014

IndiaToday.in Badaun (UP), May 31, 2014 | UPDATED 19:03 IST

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday agreed to order a CBI probe into the horrific Badaun gangrape case after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi met the family members of two dalit sisters, who were allegedly gangraped and murdered with their bodies found hanging from a tree in Katra village in Badaun (Uttar Pradesh).

Badaun: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi interacts with the family members of two sisters who were gang raped and hanged from a tree at Katra Shahadatganj village. PTI Photo

“The Uttar Pradesh government is ready to recommend a CBI probe. Will soon send a request to the Centre,” said a statement issued by Akhilesh Yadav.

Rahul Gandhi on Saturday met the family of the two dalit sisters who were gangraped and murdered in Badaun and demanded a CBI probe into the case, saying Uttar Pradesh police cannot give them justice and the culprits should know that they cannot get away with such a heinous crime.

Badaun: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi at the site of crime at Katra Shahadatganj village where two sisters were gang raped and hanged from a tree. PTI Photo

“They have said that the honour of their daughters cannot be brought back with money. They said they want justice and they have no faith in the UP police as their people are involved. They said that the UP police cannot get them justice. I agree with them, there can be no price for a woman’s honour.

“I am also in agreement with them on what they have said about the CBI inquiry. CBI inquiry should happen,” Rahul said.

He, however, refrained from attacking the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh which has faced a lot of flak over the sensational crime amid allegations that the local police was hand in glove with the accused.

“Whosoever have committed this crime should know that they cannot do such things in India,” Rahul said

The Congress Vice President visited the home of the dalit girls and during the interaction, their family members complained that the police did not act when they approached the local police chowki.

Badaun: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi interacts with village women during his visit to the Katra Shahadatganj village where two sisters were gang raped and hanged from a tree. PTI Photo

“Had the police acted in time, our daughters would have been alive,” father of one of the victims told Rahul.

The Congress leader also walked to the spot where the victims had been found hanging from a tree.

“We want justice and not compensation. The manner in which the entire world saw our innocent girls hanging, we want that in the same manner it should watch the culprits being hanged. They should be hanged publicly,” said the father.

He said that the incident was “more gruesome” than December 16 gangrape case and demanded a CBI probe adding that there should be nothing less than capital punishment for the culprits.

Rahul was accompanied by AICC general secretary in-charge of UP Madhusudan Mistry, state PCC chief Nirmal Khatri and chairman of AICC Scheduled Castes department K Raju.

He assured the family of all possible help, Congress leaders said.

The two victims, who were cousins and aged 14 and 15, went missing from their house on the night of May 27. Their bodies were found hanging from a mango tree in the village in Ushait area the next morning.

This is Gandhi’s first visit outside his Parliamentary constituency Amethi in UP after the party’s debacle in the recent Lok Sabha polls.

The gangrape-murder incident had triggered protests in the area with villagers alleging police apathy, following which an FIR was registered against seven persons.

The incident also led to a nationwide furore. Home Minister Rajnath Singh was yesterday briefed by officials on the incident.

All the five main accused, including two policemen, have been arrested, police said today.

Badaun is 300 km from Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow.

Will he, won’t he? Nitin Gadkari’s fate hangs in the balance as LK Advani bats for Sushma Swaraj as BJP president

News

Jan 202013

The battle for BJP’s top post heated up with party sources saying that veteran leader LK Advani has put forward the name of Sushma Swaraj as party chief. Ever since Nitin Gadkari’s name got dragged in a corruption case and his much publicised rift with Narendra Modi, there has been speculation that the incumbent chief may not get another term as BJP president.

However, the RSS is firmly supporting Gadkari’s extension. The RSS is backing Gadkari for re-nomination and party sources indicate that he is the front runner for the post.

Meanwhile, there is an attempt by many senior party leaders to build a consensus for Sushma Swaraj’s nomination.

The final decision is expected to be announced later in the day today.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat at it again, says women should be just housewives and husbands should be the breadwinners

News

Jan 062013

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, who stoked a controversy a few days ago saying that rapes do not take place in rural but urban India, has created a fresh row now with remarks that a woman is bound by contract to husband to look after him.

“A husband and wife are involved in a contract under which the husband has said that you should take care of my house and I will take care of all your needs. I will keep you safe.

“So, the husband follows the contract terms. Till the time, the wife follows the contract, the husband stays with her, if the wife violates the contract, he can disown her,” Bhagwat told a rally in Indore on Saturday.

Reacting sharply to Bhagwat’s comment, CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat said, “I don’ think it is really surprising because at the end of the day, this is what RSS is. That is why I think it is the retrogade ‘samiti’ of India. These were the regents who when BJP was in power wanted a new Constitution of India based on ‘manushriti’. So when he talks in this language, he only reflects his ideology.” The RSS chief had created a flutter last week when he had said in Silchar in Assam that rape is mainly prevalent in urban India due to western influence and that such crimes against women do not happen in rural areas of the country.

Youth Congress activists burn an effigy of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to protest against his remark on rapes in India, in Bhopal.

The remark that came against the backdrop of the Delhi gangrape incident was slammed by Congress, CPI-M and women’s bodies while BJP and RSS defended it saying the comment should be taken in proper perspective.

Bhagwat had claimed that the incidents of rape were the result of adoption of western culture in society as a whole and that erosion of traditional Indian values were more pronounced in urban areas.

“Crimes against women happening in urban India are shameful. It is a dangerous trend. But such crimes won’t happen in Bharat or the rural areas of the country. You go to villages and forests of the country and there will be no such incidents of gangrape or sex crimes,” he had said.

“Where ‘Bharat’ becomes ‘India’ with the influence of western culture, these type of incidents happen. The actual Indian values and culture should be established at every stratum of society where women are treated as ‘mother’,” Bhagwat had said, demanding that the government take appropriate action to stop rape incidents and RSS will support any government initiative to change existing laws.

On the RSS chief’s husband-wife contract remark, Karat said, “I don’t know if he knows this but in India on the basis of caste system, we have the worst kind of oppression of Dalit and adivasi women.

“When these people talk about ‘Hindu Rashtra’ and Hindutva, it is based on this highly casteist, partriarchal framework and that is why I think what RSS spokesmen are saying reflect their inner thoughts,” she said, adding, “Because they believe women are subordinate to men and women are appendages to men.” RSS spokesman Ram Madhav said the projection of Bhagwat’s views on the marriage system in the Indian context is “totally false”.

“It is totally falsifying his views. He said the western marriage system is contractual where a man and a woman consider marriage as a contract whereas he also went on to say that Indian marriage system is a very sacred institution.

“In this, the woman has a place of great respect and the man has certain obligations towards the family and the way the whole thing was projected was as though Bhagwat was calling Indian marriage contractual. This is total distortion of what he has said,” according to Madhav.

On Bhagwat’s comment on the rape issue, Karat had then said, “Bhagwat neither understands India nor Bharat.” She had said government statistics of atrocities on women and sexual assault showed that the maximum number of victims belong to the poor, Dalit and tribal communities.

National Commission of Women(NCW) Chief Mamta Sharma had said Bhagwat should stop differentiating in terms of geography.

“We are all Indians. We are all citizens of India…Go to grassroots level and see what is the condition of the women there,” she had said.

However, Madhav had said the RSS chief’s statement should be taken in proper perspective.

“He has condemned the heinous crime of assaulting women, rape against women and he said it is an utterly wrong thing and that people who indulge in such things must be punished,” he added.

Headlines Today tracks down 3 men who teased reporter near AIIMS

News

Dec 182012

A day after three eve-teasers harassed a Headlines Today correspondent who was reporting from south Delhi on the recent incident of gang rape in the city, the men were tracked down to their houses on Tuesday.

The three depraved men- Sandeep, Nitin and Sunny- had mocked and harassed the reporter, Anjana Kashyap, as she stood roadside near AIIMS flyover while she was filing a ground report on how unsafe the city is for women.

Headlines Today tracked the three men to their houses in Gautam Nagar and even spoke to two of them.

Nitin admitted that he was driving the car that stopped next to Kashyap while she was facing the camera when some lewd comments were made at the correspondent. He told Headlines Today that he was surprised how he had been tracked down.

Though Nitin was hardly repentant, he apologised for the incident. He said that his friend’s comments were misinterpreted. He said Sandeep was speaking to him and not to the correspondent, as reported by the news channel.

Headlines Today even tracked down Sandeep’s house. He is known as Chao in the area. Sandeep was the man sitting in the back seat and passed the lewd comment at the reporter.

However, Sandeep was not at his home when Headlines Today visited there. His mother was initially in denial over the incident but then pleaded for mercy.

However, Sunny’s family remained in denial. They refused to give his whereabouts. Sunny sat next to the driver’s seat when the incident took place.

Gujarat Assembly polls live: Polling ends, 4 hurt in firing by BJP legislator’s bodyguard, MLA detained

News

Dec 172012

Ballotting closed on Monday evening in the second and final phase of the Gujarat assembly elections.

An average 55 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 3 PM in the second phase of Gujarat Assembly elections.

Around 1.98 crore voters will decide the fate of 820 candidates, contesting in the second phase of the election.

Meanwhile, the bodyguard of a BJP candidate and sitting MLA opened fire after some stones were pelted at the leader by some people in Tarsang village, resulting in the injury to four of them.

Jetha Bharwad, the MLA from Sahera in Panchmahal district and seeking a re-election, was later detained, DGP Chittranjan Singh said.

According to Panchmahal SP Sachin Badshah, “When Bharwad reached Tarsang village, suddenly some stone were pelted on him. His commando retaliated and opened 8-10 rounds of fire in which four people were injured, though they all are out of danger now,” he said.

Tarsang village is around 165 km from here.

Police detained Bharwad while he was still undergoing treatment for head injuries at a private hospital in Godhra town of Panchmahal.

“At present, Jetha Bharwad is under detention and further probe is underway to ascertain who exactly fired, Bharwad or his commando,” said Singh.

Meanwhile Congress candidate Takhatsingh Solanki, who is pitted against Bharwad from Sahera, claimed that Bharwad came to the village for bogus voting and that he staged the stone pelting.

“It was pre-planned by Jetha Bharwad so that he can terrorise the voters of my village and resort to bogus voting.

Otherwise he has no business to enter in my village at the time of voting,” Solanki claimed.

-Elections in the second phase are being held in 95 of the 182 constituencies. Counting of votes will be taken up on December 20.

-Of an estimated 19.8 million voters, 10.3 million are male and 9.5 million female.

-There are a total of 820 candidates in the fray including 49 women.

-The BJP is contesting all 95 seats, the Congress 92 and the Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) of former BJP chief minister Keshubhai Patel 84.

-Veteran BJP leader L K Advani exercised his franchise at a polling booth in Shahpur area here. Earlier in the day, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley and Chief Minister Narendra Modi cast their vote.

-Modi, who is contesting from Maninagar Assembly constituency, is locked in a direct contest with Congress candidate Shweta Bhatt, wife of suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt.

-A new entrant, Shweta is testing political waters for the first time.

-The constituencies where polling started include 17 in Ahmedabad city, 40 constituencies in five districts-Vadodara, Dahod, Panchmahal, Kheda and Anand-of central Gujarat, 32 seats in five districts -Patan, Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Gandhinagar and Banaskantha-of north Gujarat, and six seats in Kutch district.

Also in the fray are 84 candidates of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and 284 Independents.

Phase II: Gujarat Assembly Elections 2012

A woman gestures after casting her vote in Gujarat.

About 1.98 crore are eligible to vote in the second phase for which 820 candidates are in the fray. Chief Minister Narendra Modi is contesting from Maninagar in Ahmedabad.

Headlines Today editors and correspondents report from ground zero to give every single detail about the crucial state elections. Full Coverage of Gujarat Assembly Elections 2012

Kartikeya Sharma @kartikeya_197515:10 (IST): Sabarmati river front pic.twitter.com/P5cOHP0s

Mosiqi Acharya @Mosiqi14:30 (IST): LK Advani joins @narendramodi and Arun Jaitley at BJP HQ in ahmedabad. #GujaratElections

Mosiqi Acharya @Mosiqi13:35 (IST): 38% turnout upto 1.00 pm in 2nd phase of #GujaratElections.

Rahul Kanwal @rahulkanwal13:25 (IST): Headlines Today-ORG post poll projections for #GujaratElections start at 5 PM. Cutting edge analysis with @virsanghvi @MalikAshok @GVLNRAO

Mosiqi Acharya @Mosiqi12:50 (IST): BJP MLA Jetha Bharwad shot by rivals in shehra constituency in Panchmahal. BJP accuses Congress of goonda giri. #GujaratElections

Mosiqi Acharya @Mosiqi12:10 (IST): I have cast my vote. 🙂 #GujaratElections pic.twitter.com/9RtKlIxc

12:00 (IST) The Gujarat Congress filed a complaint against Chief Minister Narendra Modi accusing him of violating model of conduct.

In his complaint to the EC, Congress’s legal cell chairman Vijay Kinara accused Modi of using a long convoy when he visited Ranip, which is not his own constituency, to cast his vote earlier in the day during the second phase of polling.

Kinara also alleged that Modi addressed people and flashed victory sign, which he claimed was illegal. He demanded action against the chief minister.

Kartikeya Sharma @kartikeya_197511:50 (IST): Bun maska pic.twitter.com/W1HMIR7r

Kartikeya Sharma @kartikeya_197511:40 (IST): Chunavi chaai pic.twitter.com/9p4nOBPM

Kartikeya Sharma @kartikeya_197511:30 (IST): chaai and bun maska break. Very nice.

11:00 (IST): Congress is aiming to stage a comeback after being out of power for 22 years in the state. Speaking to Headlines Today, Congress leader Shanker Sinh Vaghela said that Congress is confident of winning Gujarat polls with two-third majority.

Kartikeya Sharma @kartikeya_197510:40 (IST): Modi says that high voter turnout means that BJP is in

Kartikeya Sharma @kartikeya_197510:35 (IST): Modi says that he will be voted back to power. Sure of a hat-trick

GAURAV C. SAWANT @gauravcsawant10:30 (IST): After casting his ballot @narendramodi: voter turn out will be even greater than phase I & will benefit BJP. (Cong says no. Advantage Cong)

Kartikeya Sharma @kartikeya_197510:20 (IST): Slight chill in the air in Ahemdabad. It is welcome.

10:15 (IST): Modi, who casted his ballot in Ranip (Ahmedabad), addressed his supporters after polling. Here are the highlights of Modi’s speech:

Gujarat CM Narendra Modi

Gujarat CM Narendra Modi shows the victory sign to his supporters as he reaches to cast his ballot at Ranip.

Our victory would be as grand as big voter turn-out in polls.
People of Gujarat will vote BJP to power for third consecutive time.
Voter trun-out in 2nd phase will surpass the 1st phase of polling.

Mosiqi Acharya @Mosiqi10:10 (IST): On the day of polling @narendramodi wears a saffron kurta.He may’ve stopped talking of hindutva but he’ll never cease to be a hindutva icon.

Mosiqi Acharya @Mosiqi10:00 (IST): People went crazy the moment @narendramodi arrived. The huge smile on his face, his candour charmed the crowd that turned out at Ranip.

10:00 (IST): Narendra Modi is seeking 3rd term as Gujarat chief minister, contesting polls from Maninagar.

9:45 (IST): Suspended Gujarat IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt’s wife Shweta Bhatt, who is pitted against Modi by Congress, after casting her ballot said that she is absolutely positive as she is fighting for the society.

9:30 (IST): Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi reaches Ranip to cast his vote amid much fanfare.

Mosiqi Acharya @Mosiqi9:26(IST): ‘I have no expectations,’ says Jagruti Pandya, widow of slain BJP leader Haren Pandya. Pandya fighting her first elections.

Mosiqi Acharya @Mosiqi9:25 (IST): JAGRUTI PANDYA, widow of slain Haren Pandya has been fielded by Gujarat Parivartan Party from ellisbridge.

Phase II: Gujarat Assembly Elections

Voters stand in a queue to cast their vote at a polling station in Gujarat.

Mosiqi Acharya @Mosiqi9:20 (IST): At Ranip in Ahmedabad where @narendramodi will cast his vote at 9.30am. #GujaratElections

Kartikeya Sharma @kartikeya_19758:40 (IST): Went to a temple with Vaghela. he says it is make or break for Congress.

Delhi court grants bail to Zee News editors in Jindal’s extortion case

News

Dec 172012

A Delhi court on Monday granted bails to Zee group editors Sudhir Chaudhary and Samir Ahluwalia days after they were arrested for their alleged roles in the case of Rs 100 crore extortion bid from Congress MP Naveen Jindal’s company.

The court of additional sessions judge Raj Rani Mitra announced its decision reserved on Saturday after a hearing lasting around five hours.

Zee News editor Chaudhary and Zee Business editor Ahluwalia were granted bail on the surety of Rs 50,000 each. They have been asked to surrender their passports.

The court had earlier also extended the interim protection from arrest granted to Zee group chairman Subhash Chandra and his son Punit Goenka till December 20 in the case. The Delhi Police had questioned the father-son duo in connection with the case filed by Jindal.

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