Heena Sharma Blog

Days after India banned 59 apps including TikTok and UC Browser, the United States on Tuesday said that it was also 'looking' at banning Chinese social media apps. “I don’t want to get out in front of the President (Donald Trump), but it’s something we’re looking at,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Pompeo said in an interview with Fox News, as reported by Reuters. TikTok, along with 58 other Chinese apps, including Tencent Holdings LTD’s WeChat and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s UC Browser, were banned in India last week following a border clash with China. India had banned apps for engaging in "activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order". Read More

Under a warm sun that marked the end of winter, Arvind Kejriwal took his third oath as Delhi chief minister in seven years. Keen to reshape his and his party’s image from that of disruptors to a centrist, problem-solving umbrella party, the 51-year-old bureaucrat-turned-politician sought cooperation from rival parties in making Delhi the “number one city”. Kejriwal reached out to supporters of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, and other parties, and said he was now their CM too and they should approach him unhesitatingly. He said he was keen to move beyond the bad blood of elections, and sought cooperation and blessings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Centre. “ I had invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi but he could not come as he may have been busy. We want to seek his blessings for smooth governance of Delhi,” Kejriwal said in his nearly 20-minute address. The prime minister, who was in his constituency Varanasi where he inaugurated several projects, later g...

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Monday said NCP chief Sharad Pawar's name should be considered by all political parties for the 2022 presidential election. Raut also claimed that by 2022, there will be enough numbers "on our side" to decide the presidential candidate. Pawar recently played a key role in bringing together the Congress and the Shiv Sena to form government in alliance with his party in Maharashtra. Talking to PTI, Raut said, "Sharad Pawar is a senior leader of the country. I think his name should be considered by all political parties for the post of President, the election for which will be held in 2022." Asked about the opinion of other political parties on fielding the former Union minister and four-time state chief minister, Raut said he has "merely proposed" Pawar's name. "I think other political parties can also propose other senior candidates for the post of President. By 2022, there will be enough numbers...

Likening the National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) with demonetisation, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said these exercises are "tax" on the poor, who will suffer the same way they did after the note ban in November 2016. He was talking to reporters at the airport here after attending the inaugural function of the National Tribal Dance Festival. "Whether NPR or NRC, it is a tax on poor people of the country. You understand demonestisation. It was a tax on poor people. Go to banks and give your money but do not withdraw money from your account. Entire money went to the pocket of 15-20 rich people. This (NPR or NRC) is the same thing," he said. He was responding to a query on the Centre's claim that the NPR has no link with NRC. "Poor people will have to go to officers and show their documents and give bribe. They will have to give bribe if there is a slight mistake in their names. Crores of rup...

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray will on Thursday evening join the league of seven leaders who got the chief minister's post in Maharashtra when they were still not member of either the state Legislative Assembly or Council. Congress leaders A R Antulay, Vasantdada Patil, Shivajirao Nilangekar-Patil, Shankarrao Chavan, Sushilkumar Shinde and Prithviraj Chavan are among the leaders who were not members of any of the state legislature Houses when they occupied the top post. The then Congress leader and current NCP chief Sharad Pawar also finds name among these leaders. Thackeray, 59, to be sworn in as chief minister at the Shivaji Park here on Thursday evening, will become the eighth such leader. According to provisions of the Constitution, any leader who is not a member of the Assembly or Council has to become member of the legislature within six months of taking oath of the post. Antulay became the first such leader in the state when he was sworn in as the chi...

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray will take oath as chief minister of Maharashtra on Thursday evening at the Shivaji Park here. With the swearing-in of 59-year-old Thackeray, the state will have a chief minister from the Sena after 20 years. The oath taking ceremony will be held at the sprawling Shivaji Park, where his father and Sena founder Bal Thackeray addressed his famous Dussehra rallies. The last Sena man to occupy the chief minister's chair was Narayan Rane in 1999, after Manohar Joshi, who in 1995 became the first CM from the party. The swearing-in ceremony follows days of dramatic political developments, which included a three-day government formed by an unexpected support from NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who has since returned to the Sharad Pawar-led party fold. The Sena, along with the NCP and Congress constituted the 'Maha Vikas Aghadi' to form a non-BJP government in the state. Read More

Politics News - In the wake of remaining tucked away in his south Mumbai living arrangement all through Sunday, NCP pioneer and recently blessed delegate CM Ajit Pawar met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis late night and had shut entryway dialogs. Prior in the day, the incomparable court gave notification to the Center, Maharashtra government, Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar on a request documented by the Congress-Shiv Sena-NCP consolidate looking for subduing of the representative's November 23 request welcoming the BJP pioneer to frame government. Senior BJP pioneers Chandrakant Patil, Vinod Tawade and Girish Mahajan went to the gathering held at the official living arrangement of the central priest. The zenith court guided the Center to put before it on Monday morning the letters of the senator Bhagat Singh Koshyari welcoming Fadnavis and of the BJP pioneer asserting some authority with regards to shape the legislature in the state. Read More

The NCP on Wednesday named its five members for a joint committee to be formed with the Congress for deciding a 'common minimum programme' before their possible alliance with the Shiv Sena for government formation in Maharashtra. NCP's legislature party head Ajit Pawar, its Maharashtra chief Jayant Patil, party veteran Chhagan Bhujbal, Mumbai unit president Nawab Malik and Leader of the Opposition in state Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde will be part of the committee. The decision was taken at a meeting of NCP legislators at the Y B Chavan Centre here on Wednesday. "The NCP has named the leaders to be part of the joint committee. The Congress will also name its members for the purpose," said a leader of the Sharad Pawar-led party. The panel is being formed after NCP chief Sharad Pawar and senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel met here on Tuesday and expressed the need to have a common minimum programme (CMP) before working out the possibility of ty...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi convened a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, apparently to discuss the political situation in Maharashtra. The meeting was convened amid an ongoing political stalemate in the state where no party has been able to form the government so far after the assembly election last month. The prime minister is to leave for Brazil this afternoon to attend the BRICS summit.

President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday accepted the resignation of Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant from the Union council of ministers with immediate effect, a Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson said. Sawant's resignation has been accepted on advice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to the spokesperson. As advised by the prime minister, the president has directed that Union minister Prakash Javadekar be assigned the charge of the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises in addition to his existing portfolios, the spokesperson added. Read More

Terming demonetisation as a " terror attack ", Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said those behind the "vicious" assault have yet to be brought to justice. His attack on the government came on the third anniversary of demonetisation. On November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced to the nation that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes would cease to be a legal tender. "It's 3 yrs since the Demonetisation terror attack that devastated the Indian economy, taking many lives, wiping out lakhs of small businesses & leaving millions of Indians unemployed," Gandhi said in a tweet. Those behind this "vicious attack" have yet to be brought to justice, the former Congress president said, using the hashtag 'DeMonetisation Disaster'. Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also hit out at Prime Minister Modi for the demonetisation move, describing him as "today's Tughlaq". Read More

In an apparent attack at the BJP, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday asked why people like BJP MLA and rape accused Kuldeep Singh Sengar are given the "protection of political power", while their victims are abandoned to battle for their lives alone. Priyanka Gandhi's poser in a tweet came a day after the Uttar Pradesh police filed a murder case against Sengar and nine others following a complaint by the Unnao rape survivor 's family, alleging "conspiracy" behind the Sunday's car crash in which the victim was severely injured and two of her family members were killed. The Congress leader also tagged portions of the FIR filed along with the tweet. "Why do we give people like Kuldeep Sengar the strength and protection of political power and abandon their victims to battle for their lives alone?" Priyanka Gandhi tweeted. "This FIR clearly states that the family was threatened and apprehensive. It even men...

Mumbai terror attack mastermind and JuD chief Hafiz Saeed was arrested Wednesday by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of Pakistan's Punjab Province, officials said. Saeed, who has several cases pending against him was travelling to Gujranwala from Lahore to appear before an anti-terrorism court when the arrest took place, officials said. He has been moved to an unknown location, they said. Saeed-led JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Taiba which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people. The US Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and the US, since 2012, has offered a USD 10 million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice. Under pressure from the international community, Pakistani authorities have launched investigations into matters of the JuD and LeT regarding their holding and use of trusts to raise funds for terrorism financing...

Iran's Revolutionary Guard said Thursday it had shot down a US "spy drone" over its territory after it violated Iranian airspace, according to Iranian state television. "The US-made Global Hawk surveillance drone was brought down by its Air Force" in the country's southern coastal province of Hormozgan, the Revolutionary Guard added, according to the English-language Press TV. Article Source -> Business Standard

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parliamentarian Om Birla is set to become the Speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha after Wednesday's election. Birla, 57, is a two term Lok Sabha Member of Parliament. He won from Rajasthan’s Kota-Bundi seat in the just concluded general election. Birla has been a three-term legislator in the Rajasthan Assembly. Not just BJP's allies in the National Democratic Alliance, but parties such as the Biju Janata Dal, YSR Congress and others are also likely to support his candidature. Birla’s nomination by the BJP leadership as the party's candidate for the Speaker’s post suggests that it is rewarding 'humble workers' who have come up through the ranks. With Birla’s nomination, the National Democratic Alliance has departed from the decade-and-a-half old trend of nominating an experienced parliamentarian to the post. In 2004, 10-term Lok Sabha MP Somnath Chatterjee was elected as the Speaker. Five-term Lok Sabha MP Meira Kumar succeeded ...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said his government had taken measures to set up a ' chowkidar ' in space and asked people to vote for a government that can take concrete decisions and not just raise slogans. Launching his campaign in eastern India with a rally in Jeypore area of Odisha's Koraput district, the prime minister said the NDA government wouldn't have been able to do any development work in the country without the support of the people. He sought blessings from his supporters for the 2019 lok Sabha elections and asserted that the NDA government has left no stone unturned to bring about development in the state. "The NDA government has been working hard to develop road and rail infrastructure in the state. There is no dearth of funds when it comes to development work in the country. "In the last five years, the government has been able to build homes for eight lakh families, light up 3,000 houses and provide gas connections to 40...

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant Wednesday proved the majority of his BJP-led government in the Assembly, comfortably winning a floor test in the House. Twenty MLAs voted for the motion of confidence in the two-day old government, while 15 opposed it. The special session of the House was convened by Governor Mridula Sinha to conduct the floor test, after Sawant was sworn in as the CM during wee hours of Tuesday. Besides 11 members from BJP, three each from Goa Forward Party, MGP and Independents supported Sawant during the head count conducted in the House. The Assembly session was presided over by Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo. All the 14 MLAs of Congress and one from NCP stood up against the motion. After winning the trust vote, Sawant appealed all the members to join hands with him to ensure that developmental work reaches every nook and corner of the state. Read More Article Source -> Business Standard

As China again blocked a UN resolution to designate JeM chief a global terrorist, Congress president Rahul Gandhi Thursday hit out at Prime Minster Narendra Modi, saying he was weak and scared of Chinese President Xi Jinping . The Congress chief attacked the prime minister and said he had not spoken on China blocking the resolution in the UN Security Council. The party accused the BJP of letting Masood off the hook again and also questioned Modi what was the use of "swinging" with Xi. "Weak Modi is scared of Xi. Not a word comes out of his mouth when China acts against India. NoMo's China diplomacy: 1. Swing with Xi in Gujarat. 2. Hug Xi in Delhi. 3. Bow to Xi in China," Gandhi said on Twitter. India's bid to designate the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed's chief as a global terrorist suffered a setback with China on Wednesday putting a technical hold on a proposal to ban him following the Pulwama terror attack . The proposal ...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued shooting for a film in the Corbett National Park for his " propaganda and publicity " till the evening of February 14 despite the Pulwama attack taking place in the afternoon that day, the Congress on Thursday alleged, citing reports in a section of the media. There was no immediate reaction from the Prime Minister's Office and the BJP over the allegations. The opposition party also accused BJP president Amit Shah of " politicisation of terrorism " in his speech in Assam following the attack in which 40 CRPF jawans died after a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the paramilitary force's convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama . Shah, while addressing a public rally at Lakhimpur in Assam, had said that the sacrifices of the 40 CRPF personnel will not go in vain as there is a BJP government at the Centre now and it, unlike the previous Congress dispensation, will not "comp...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday defended the introduction of the 10 per cent quota for the general category poor in jobs and education, even as he asked the Congress to clarify what was driving its ongoing allegations on the Rafale fighter jet deal . Addressing a public rally after launching a slew of infra projects here, Modi said the smooth passage of the bill which provides 10 per cent quota for the general category poor in jobs and education in the Lok Sabha is a strong answer by the Parliament to those spreading lies. Hoping the Rajya Sabha will pass the Bill Wednesday, Modi said the rights of deprived sections, including Dalits and tribals won't be affected because of this bill. He termed the passage of the bill in the Lok Sabha as a historic step aimed at uplifting the deprived sections. On the passage of the Citizenship Bill , seeking to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangaldesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, Modi assured people of Assam and ...