New Delhi/Dehradun, Congress Party on Wednesday defended its decision to select Vijay Bahuguna as Uttarakhand Chief Minister instead of senior leader Harish Rawat, saying there is no difference within the party and the matter will be solved after due consultations. Terming the ongoing row over the appointment of Bahuguna as hype created by the media, Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi said: "There is no difference within the party of any kind. This is an internal matter of the party. It is not necessary for the MLAs to be present there. It never happens that all the MLAs are present during the swearing-in-ceremony of the chief minister. This is media hype. The matter will be solved after due consultations within the party. "I assure you everything will be normal. Vijay Bahugunaji is the new chief minister of Uttarakhand, he has taken the oath of office. The party is committed to solve the problems the people of the state faced in the last five years," he added. Alvi further said Harish Rawat will surely attend the Parliament session. "There is no rebellion within the party. This is media hype. He (Harish Rawat) will surely come to the Parliament," he said. Meanwhile, ...
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Dehradun, Governor Margaret Alva says Congress has the required number and she will invite it for government formation when it elects its leader. The Congress on Friday said it would form the government in Uttarakhand with the support of three independents and a regional party member, ending days of uncertainty after a hung verdict in the hill state. Congress chief Yashpal Arya told reporters that he has letters of support from all the three independent members and the lone lawmaker from the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal-Panwar (UKD-P), Pritam Singh Panwar. Dinesh Dhanai, one of the independents, confirmed his support to the Congress. Uncertainty had engulfed government formation in the state following the election results Tuesday, with no party crossing the halfway mark of 35 members in the state assembly. The Congress emerged as the single largest party with 32 members followed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with 31. The BJP, which ruled the state in the last five years, had also maintained that it would try to retain power. But with four more legislators backing it, the Congress has 36 members supporting it in the 70-member assembly. The Bahujan Samaj Party ...
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New Delhi, Corruption and price rise were the main reasons why the Congress fared so badly in the five state elections, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) said Wednesday. "The overall results of the elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur constitute a setback for the Congress," the CPI-M said. "Part of this failure can be attributed to the people's discontent against price rise and corruption for which they hold the Congress-led UPA government at the centre responsible," it said in a statement. The CPI-M hailed the Samajwadi Party's victory as "remarkable". "The (Uttar Pradesh) verdict is not only against the Mayawati government, but the people have rejected the BJP and the Congress too. The BJP in particular has failed to make any headway. "The results show also that the BJP is not seen as a credible alternative to the Congress. "Apart from its performance in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP lost in Uttarkhand and its seats have been reduced in Punjab." The Congress lost power in Goa, it failed to win in Punjab, fared badly in Uttar Pradesh and just managed to be ahead by one seat in Uttarakhand. "The sole exception has been its ...
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Dehradun, It was a close contest in Uttarakhand with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leading in 23 seats and the Congress close behind with 22 seats in trends available for 59 of the 70 assembly constituencies. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was third with six seats and the Samajwadi Party (SP) had yet to open its account. Smaller parties bagged the remaining nine seats. ...
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New Delhi, The counting of votes in the assembly elections to the five states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa -- considered some sort of a semi-final before the next general elections -- began this morning at 8 am amidst tight security. Early trends have started pouring in. In Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party has taken an early lead. Surprisingly, the BJP is doing well in the state with strong early gains and is currently holding on to second position. The BSP and the Congress are both trailing. In Punjab, a close battle is on between the SAD-BJP combine and the Congress. Most are the gains are for the Akali Dal with the BJP leading in very ew seats. In Manipur, the Congress is surging ahead with early leads according to the trends coming in. Chief minister O Ibobi Singh and works minister K Ranjit of Congress were leading from Thoubal and Sugnu seats respectively in Thoubal district. In Uttarakhand, a neck-and-neck race is on between the Congress and the BJP. In Goa as well, a close battle is on between the BJP and the Congress. Elections were held in a total of 690 assembly seats -- 403 in UP, 117 seats in Punjab, 70 in Uttarakhand, 60 ...
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Dehradun, It was a close contest in Uttarakhand with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leading in 23 seats and the Congress close behind with 22 seats in trends available for 59 of the 70 assembly constituencies. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was third with six seats and the Samajwadi Party (SP) had yet to open its account. Smaller parties bagged the remaining nine ...
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Ahmedabad, Chief ministers of Tripura and Uttarakhand on Sunday joined the anti-NCTC chorus, taking to 12 the number of opposing states, even as their Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi accused the UPA of "attacking" the country's federal structure. With the Centre being accused of taking a "unilateral" decision, information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni said the campaign against terror should be fought jointly and not be politicized. The Centre had no desire to infringe on the states' rights, she said. The Left Front-ruled Tripura's CM Manik Sarkar wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the proposal to set up the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC), saying the "unilateral" order would only create "misunderstanding". He said it was "unfortunate and surprising" that the NCTC order which dealt with security, an issue closely related to states, had been issued without proper consultations. "Considering that 'Public order' and 'Police' is a state subject under the Constitution of India, this action of the MHA amounts to encroachment of the states' powers." The Tripura CM said that the need of the hour was for the states and the Centre to cooperate, but ...
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New Delhi, After Uttarakhand, Team Anna would launch a multi-city campaign in Uttar Pradesh from Thursday creating awareness about a strong Lokpal Bill but stay away from directly targeting any one political party. Arvind Kejriwal would not be part of the campaign as he is accompanying Anna Hazare for treatment to Bangalore. Team Anna would largely consist of Prashant Bhushan, Manish Sisodia, Kiran Bedi and Kumar Vishwas. Sisodia said, "We are going to constituencies as per the election schedule. I will be in UP throughout, while others could join the campaign at different places." On Thursday, Team Anna will campaign at Mahadev Talab Maidan in Fatehpur of Barabanki and in Ramlila Maidan in Gonda. Subsequent meetings have been planned in Faizabad, Basti, Varanasi and Allahabad. Ahead of the assembly polls, Team Anna had written a series of letters to leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi and BJP president Nitin Gadkari raising questions about the Lokpal Bill. Letter was also sent to UP chief minister Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. While in the letter to the PM, he was asked to show some courage to withdraw the ...
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United Nations, New Delhi will get a USD 90 million from the UN to improve agricultural livelihoods in Uttarakhand. The fund, obtained following a pact initiated yesterday between the government and the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), will go towards the Integrated Livelihood's Support Project, which aims to support and develop the food output system in Uttarakhand by improving the technologies for traditional food crops and livestock. IFAD stated, 'This project is a direct response from the Government of India to scale up the successful rural development programmes in the state.' The project will help agriculturists earn additional income by selling cash crops, according to the Rome-based agency, which was made available at UN headquarters. Production of off-season vegetables such as potatoes, tomatoes and peas will go up and better marketing arrangements will be in place. The project, which will cover 1,43,000 households, will also introduce new crops and products such as nuts, spices, medicinal and aromatic plants. Among those expected to benefit are small rural producers, women, scheduled caste households and young people. Though ...
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New Delhi, The Election Commission of India at a press conference here today, informed that states of Punjab and Uttarakhand registered a high voter turnout in the assembly elections. Deputy Election Commissioner, Alok Shukla, while briefing the mediapersons said that assembly in Punjab were completely peaceful and incident free with the poll percentage expected to cross 77 percent. "It was a very peaceful and completely incident free poll in Punjab today. The polling percentage at 5pm is approximately 70 percent but here is still polling going on in many stations, there is still queues in many [polling stations so it is expected that the poll percentage will cross 77 percent," said Sukla. He further added that police and security officials in the state seized large quantity of illicit liquor, contraband and cash, prior to the assembly elections. "In Punjab the cash seizure was 12.13 crores, illicit liquor seized was 32,758 litres of illicit liquor 7,18,181 bottles of IMFL (Indian made foreign liquor), 2,27,933 kg of lahaan, 37.54 kg of heroin, 2696 kg of poppy husk, 99.19 kg of opium, 3793kg of smack," he added. Meanwhile in the Uttarakhand, voter turnout was ...
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Dehradun, Union Commerce and Industry minister Anand Sharma today said that the "industrial package" in Uttarakhand was intact and that the BJP was "misguiding" people by claiming otherwise. During a press conference here today, Mr Sharma, when asked to respond to the oft-repeated claim of BJP leadership regarding the UPA government withdrawing the industrial package, claimed that except the "sunset clause" already present in the package regarding excise, all other concessions were in place in the hill state. The BJP government was "misleading" the public, he stressed. He also said if the Congress comes to power, the industry would get further boost and steps would be taken to create employment. He said stress would be laid on setting up food processing units and set up integrated food chain so that almost 60 per cent of fruits and vegetables, which now perishes, could be saved and job opportunities also increased. He also said the Congress would put an end to builder, mining and other mafia which was flourishing in the name of development and looting the state resources. Vital sectors like education, housing, industry, trade and tourism would flourish under ...
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Roorkee, Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led state government for not utilising the funds sent by central government, during her campaign in poll bound Uttarakhand's Roorkee city. "The state government has betrayed people of Uttarakhand for the past couple of years," Gandhi said. She blamed that the state government has not properly utilized the funds sent by central government. Gandhi urged the people of Uttarakhand to vote in favour of the Congress and help in 'developing' the north Indian state. She is scheduled to address another election rally at Uttarakhand's Tehri city. Uttarakhand will go to polls on Jan ...
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