Raje was secret endorser of application
Fugitive businessman Lalit Modi named three senior United Progressive Alliance leaders who have allegedly helped him in recent years, while blaming Rupert Murdoch for the Sunday Times leak that that exposed External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's role in helping him obtain UK travel documents. In an interview aired on the India Today television channel, Modi said Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel, from the Nationalist Congress Party, and Rajeev Shukla from the Congress had previously helped him get travel papers. They had all held ministerial posts in the Manmohan Singh government. Pawar and Shukla denied these charges. Modi claimed that the Sunday Times report about Swaraj helping him obtain documents had been leaked by Rupert Murdoch to avenge a loss-making cricket broadcast deal. Meanwhile, the BJP faced further controversy after documents accessed by the Times Now channel suggested that Rajasthan chief minister and party senior member Vasundhara Raje may have secretly endorsed Modi's application for immigration to the UK in 2011. Modi is facing 16 Enforcement Directorate cases in India.
PM to free Pakistani fishermen on Ramzan
As a gesture of peace to mark the sacred month of Ramzan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Tuesday that India would release detained Pakistani fishermen. Modi conveyed the news to his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif over the phone when he called South Asian leaders to convey his wishes for Ramzan, which begins on Thursday. Modi's gesture comes a week after India and Pakistan engaged in a war of words over India’s denial of a visa to an official deputed to the Pakistani High Commission in Delhi.
SC asks for proof of support for judicial panel
Even as several states ruled by Bharatiya Janata Party governments claimed that their legislative assemblies supported the National Judicial Appointments Commission, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to prove that the new law had been debated by each state before it had been approved for ratification. The five-judge Constitution Bench was not fully convinced that the NJAC was, as claimed by the Centre, the “will of the people”. According to the government's submissions, 20 assemblies in the country have already ratified the 99th Constitution Amendment incorporating the NJAC in place of the collegium in Article 124 on judicial appointments.
IAF fighter crashes in Allahbad
An Indian Air Force Jaguar fighter crashed on Tuesday morning in Allahabad district while on a training sortie. Both the pilots ejected safely. According to police officials, a huge fire broke out when the aircraft hit the ground. There were no casualties, injuries or any other damage due to the crash. A court inquiry has been ordered into the incident. This is the fifth crash involving the Jaguar since 2011 and is the fourth crash involving an IAF combat plane this year.
Hindu trust will ask PM to fast track Ayodhya trial
Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders on Tuesday decided to ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi to set up a special bench of the Supreme Court to ensure a faster trial of the Babri Masjid case. At a meeting in Ayodhya on Tuesday, the VHP-controlled Ramjanmabhoomi Nyas Trust also asked "the Muslim community" to withdraw its claims to the Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura, and Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya, and to "hand over" these shrines to Hindus. The meeting came against the backdrop of Hindutva leaders accusing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led government of failing to how "positive signals regarding the temple’s construction".
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Fugitive businessman Lalit Modi named three senior United Progressive Alliance leaders who have allegedly helped him in recent years, while blaming Rupert Murdoch for the Sunday Times leak that that exposed External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's role in helping him obtain UK travel documents. In an interview aired on the India Today television channel, Modi said Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel, from the Nationalist Congress Party, and Rajeev Shukla from the Congress had previously helped him get travel papers. They had all held ministerial posts in the Manmohan Singh government. Pawar and Shukla denied these charges. Modi claimed that the Sunday Times report about Swaraj helping him obtain documents had been leaked by Rupert Murdoch to avenge a loss-making cricket broadcast deal. Meanwhile, the BJP faced further controversy after documents accessed by the Times Now channel suggested that Rajasthan chief minister and party senior member Vasundhara Raje may have secretly endorsed Modi's application for immigration to the UK in 2011. Modi is facing 16 Enforcement Directorate cases in India.
PM to free Pakistani fishermen on Ramzan
As a gesture of peace to mark the sacred month of Ramzan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Tuesday that India would release detained Pakistani fishermen. Modi conveyed the news to his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif over the phone when he called South Asian leaders to convey his wishes for Ramzan, which begins on Thursday. Modi's gesture comes a week after India and Pakistan engaged in a war of words over India’s denial of a visa to an official deputed to the Pakistani High Commission in Delhi.
SC asks for proof of support for judicial panel
Even as several states ruled by Bharatiya Janata Party governments claimed that their legislative assemblies supported the National Judicial Appointments Commission, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to prove that the new law had been debated by each state before it had been approved for ratification. The five-judge Constitution Bench was not fully convinced that the NJAC was, as claimed by the Centre, the “will of the people”. According to the government's submissions, 20 assemblies in the country have already ratified the 99th Constitution Amendment incorporating the NJAC in place of the collegium in Article 124 on judicial appointments.
IAF fighter crashes in Allahbad
An Indian Air Force Jaguar fighter crashed on Tuesday morning in Allahabad district while on a training sortie. Both the pilots ejected safely. According to police officials, a huge fire broke out when the aircraft hit the ground. There were no casualties, injuries or any other damage due to the crash. A court inquiry has been ordered into the incident. This is the fifth crash involving the Jaguar since 2011 and is the fourth crash involving an IAF combat plane this year.
Hindu trust will ask PM to fast track Ayodhya trial
Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders on Tuesday decided to ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi to set up a special bench of the Supreme Court to ensure a faster trial of the Babri Masjid case. At a meeting in Ayodhya on Tuesday, the VHP-controlled Ramjanmabhoomi Nyas Trust also asked "the Muslim community" to withdraw its claims to the Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura, and Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya, and to "hand over" these shrines to Hindus. The meeting came against the backdrop of Hindutva leaders accusing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led government of failing to how "positive signals regarding the temple’s construction".