The Calcutta High Court allowed the BJP to hold its three “rath yatras” in West Bengal days after the Trinamool Congress-led government denied permission to the party. The rallies are expected to cover all the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies of West Bengal. The BJP has reportedly proposed to take out “rath yatras” from Cooch Behar, Sagar Island and Tarapith on December 22, December 24 and December 26.
Former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, sentenced to life imprisonment in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh violence, on Thursday requested the Delhi High Court for 30 days to surrender. The court will hear his petition on Friday. A division bench had earlier asked him to surrender by December 31.
Meanwhile, BJP President Amit Shah on Thursday urged the Supreme Court to pronounce its verdict in the Ayodhya case “as soon as possible”. Shah said his party wants a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh “at the exact same spot” that is the subject of a title dispute case.
Chennai: 10 students detained for trying to stage protests against reopening of Sterlite plant
The Chennai Police on Thursday detained at least 10 students who tried to stage a protest in the city against the reopening of the Sterlite copper smelter plant in Thoothukudi.
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Centre has sought to raise capital infusion for public sector banks to Rs 83,000 crore, says Jaitley
The Centre has moved Parliament to increase the capital infusion it has planned for public sector banks for financial year 2018-’19 to Rs 83,000 crore, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday.
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Cheap publicity’: Plea seeking permission to offer namaz at disputed site in Ayodhya rejected
The Allahabad High Court on Thursday rejected a petition seeking permission to offer namaz at the disputed site in Ayodhya and imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on the petitioner saying the plea was filed for “cheap publicity”.
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Goa: Bombay High Court dismisses petition seeking Manohar Parrikar’s medical examination
The Panaji bench of the Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition seeking medical examination of Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. Upholding his right to privacy, the court said that ill health does not make one incapable of occupying a constitutional position.
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EVMs are being ‘tossed like a football’ in political discourse, says chief election commissioner
Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Thursday said the Election Commission is taking steps to ensure that incidents of Electronic Voting Machines malfunctioning are reduced to a minimum.
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CBI row: Verdict reserved on Rakesh Asthana’s plea seeking to quash FIR against him in bribery case
The Delhi High Court on Thursday reserved its order on petitions filed by Central Bureau of Investigation Special Director Rakesh Asthana and Deputy Superintendent of Police Devender Kumar seeking to quash a First Information Report against them in a bribery case. Asthana is accused of receiving kickbacks and extorting money from a businessman.
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Bihar: Former BJP ally Upendra Kushwaha joins Congress-led ‘grand alliance’
Rashtriya Lok Samta Party leader Upendra Kushwaha, who quit the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance earlier this month, joined the Congress-led “grand alliance” in Bihar on Thursday. Kushwaha had resigned from the Union Cabinet on December 10. He was the Union minister of state for human resource development.
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AAP asks Delhi BJP chief to fulfil promise to donate Rs 1.11 lakh as new metro phase gets approval
The Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday reminded Bharatiya Janata Party Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari of his promise to donate Rs 1.11 lakh to the party if the Delhi government gave a go-ahead to Phase 4 of the Delhi metro. The Delhi Cabinet had approved the construction work for the new phase earlier in the day.
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Tejashwi Yadav says he invited former BJP ally Upendra Kushwaha to join ‘grand alliance’
Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Thursday said he invited former Bharatiya Janta Party ally Upendra Kushwaha to join the Congress-led “grand alliance”. His statement comes amid speculation that the former Union minister and Rashtriya Lok Samata party leader will join the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance later on Thursday.
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West Bengal: Calcutta High Court allows BJP to hold rallies after state government’s refusal
The Calcutta High Court on Thursday allowed the Bharatiya Janata Party to hold its statewide public rallies in West Bengal after the state government had denied permission to the party. The High Court asked the administration to ensure there is no breach of law and order.
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Chamarajanagar temple food poisoning: 15 bottles of pesticide were poured into offerings, say police
Fifteen bottles of pesticide were poured into the offerings at a temple in Karnataka’s Chamarajanagar on December 14, leading to the deaths of 15 people so far, a police officer said on Thursday. Police have arrested four people so far, including Pattada Immadi Mahadevaswamy, a seer at the Mahadeshwara Hill Saluru Mutt.
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Goa: British tourist allegedly raped near Panaji, suspect at large
An unidentified man allegedly raped a British woman in Goa in the wee hours of Thursday, police said. The incident took place in Canacona town near Panaji when the tourist was going towards Palolem beach in South Goa district, said Inspector Rajendra Prabhudesai.
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Assembly bye-elections: Gujarat’s Jasdan and Kolebira in Jharkhand go to polls
Voting for bye-elections in Jasdan Assembly seat in Gujarat and Kolebira in Jharkhand began on Thursday morning, PTI reported. Votes will be counted on December 23. The polls assume significance after the Bharatiya Janata Party’s defeat in the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The party is in power in Gujarat as well as Jharkhand.
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Uttar Pradesh: Two men arrested for allegedly abducting and raping student in Agra
The Uttar Pradesh Police on Wednesday arrested two people for allegedly abducting an engineering student in Agra and raping her. Two other men involved in the alleged incident are absconding, said an unidentified police officer.
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1984 anti-Sikh violence: Sajjan Kumar asks Delhi High Court for 30 days to surrender
Former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, who was sentenced to life imprisonment on December 17 in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh violence, on Thursday requested the Delhi High Court for 30 days to surrender. The court will hear his plea on Friday.
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Tamil actor Vishal arrested while trying to enter producers’ council office in Chennai
The Chennai Police on Thursday arrested actor and producer Vishal Krishna for allegedly trying to use force to enter the locked office of a film producers’ body that he heads. A group of 300 producers who have sought his resignation had on Wednesday locked the office of the Tamil Nadu Film Producers’ Council.
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Parliament: Lok Sabha passes Consumer Protection Bill, Rajya Sabha adjourned for the day
The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed a legislation under which aggrieved consumers can file complaints through email and do not need to hire lawyers to fight their case. Union Consumer Affairs Minister Ramvilas Paswan had introduced the Consumer Protection Bill, 2018, which proposes to set up a mechanism to protect consumer rights.
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Manipur: Journalist jailed under NSA moves High Court against 12-month sentence
A Manipur journalist in jail under the National Security Act since last month moved the state’s High Court on Wednesday against a government order to keep him imprisoned for a year, The Imphal Times reported.
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Senior MNC executive under investigation for sexual harassment allegedly commits suicide
A Genpact India executive who was under investigation for sexual harassment allegedly committed suicide in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, on Tuesday, The Quint reported. In a note, Swaroop Raj, an assistant vice president at the global professional services company, reportedly denied the accusations levelled by two women.
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Ram temple: Amit Shah urges Supreme Court to settle Ayodhya dispute as soon as possible
If the court conducts daily hearings, “this is a case that will not go on for more than 10 days”, Shah said at a Republic TV event in Mumbai, urging the court to decide on the case as soon as possible.
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Sensex, Nifty 50 snap seven-day winning streak, rupee rises against US dollar
Indian markets ended lower on Thursday despite a sharp recovery from a decline in the early session. This was the first time the indices declined in eight days. The indices had declined in the morning trade following global trends and the influence of the United States Federal Reserve’s decision to increase interest rates.
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IRCTC scam case: Lalu Prasad Yadav granted interim bail by Delhi court
Moments before announcing the decision, the court adjourned the hearing of the case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation till January 19. The court adjourned the hearing to allow detailed scrutiny of documents.
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Lucknow: Apple executive’s murder was intentional, says special investigation team
An inquiry team headed by Lucknow range Inspector General Sujeet Pandey, which submitted its findings and recommendations to Director General of Police OP Singh, rejected Chowdhary’s claim that he had fired at Tiwari in self defence.
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Rahul Gandhi as PM: Mamata Banerjee refuses to discuss Stalin’s endorsement of Congress president
“It [the candidate for the prime minister’s post] can be discussed only after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, once the Opposition alliance emerges winners,” Banerjee told reporters at the state secretariat in Kolkata. “All parties will meet and decide on the issue. We will accept that.”
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Zika warning: US agency advises pregnant women not to travel to Rajasthan
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States has cautioned pregnant women against travelling to Rajasthan due to an outbreak of the Zika virus. At least 153 cases of the virus were reported in the state in October and November.
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‘It is done,’ tweets Rahul Gandhi after Rajasthan also waives farmers’ loans
The newly elected Congress governments in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh had announced the waivers on December 17, within hours of assuming charge.
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PNB scam: CBI arrests 10 people for committing Nirav Modi-like fraud
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday said it has arrested 10 people in connection with the Punjab National Bank scam, PTI reported.
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Mumbai hospital fire: Two arrested, toll climbs to nine
The Mumbai Police on Wednesday arrested two people in connection with the fire at the ESIC Kamgar Hospital in the city’s Andheri (East) locality in which nine people died.
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‘Cunning Congress party has humiliated all democratic institutions,’ claims Narendra Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday accused the Congress of having humiliated every important institution in the country, including the Supreme Court, the Army and the Comptroller and Auditor General, PTI reported.
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Bulandshahr violence: Former bureaucrats seek Adityanath’s resignation over ‘politics of hate’
A group of former bureaucrats, including former National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon and former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, have written an open letter demanding Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath’s resignation because of his “politics of hate”, reportssaid.
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