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LIVE! 1st working day after impeachment verdict CJI holds court 15 minutes late

12:05  Swamy hails VP’s decision rejecting impeachment notice:  BJP leader Subramanian Swamy today hailed Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu’s decision of rejecting the impeachment notice moved by the Congress and seven other opposition parties against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. Naidu, the Rajya Sabha chairman, rejected the notice citing lack of substantial merit in it.

“The vice president should have rejected it (impeachment notice) the day it was filed because the content of the notice was made public,” Swamy told PTI after coming out of the CJI’s courtroom.

The BJP leader was among the first few litigants to mention their respective petitions for urgent hearing. He had mentioned for urgent hearing of his plea seeking enforcement of his fundamental right to worship at the disputed site at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh.

“Anyway, it’s a good decision,” he said on the rejection of impeachment notice. Senior advocate Harin Raval, who had worked as additional solicitor general during the UPA regime, however, refused to comment on the issue. PTI

12:04  1st working day after impeachment verdict CJI holds court 15 minutes late :  Supreme Court judges, including Chief Justice Dipak Misra, today initiated court proceedings at 10.45 am instead of the scheduled 10.30 am amid speculation that they held a brief meeting on the issue of the impeachment notice against the CJI.

CJI Misra, who usually holds his court at 10.30 am, entered the courtroom almost 15 minutes late and started hearing lawyers who wanted their petitions to be listed for urgent mentioning. BJP leader Subramanian Swamy was among the first few litigants to mention his petition for urgent hearing. The CJI’s courtroom was packed with lawyers including those who had no matters to argue for.

Besides the CJI, all other courts sat late at 10.45 am to undertake today’s court proceedings. Speculation was rife among lawyers that judges held a brief, informal meeting before they started today’s business.

Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu today rejected the notice given by opposition parties led by the Congress for impeachment of the CJI, citing lack of substantial merit in it. Naidu held extensive consultations with top legal and constitutional experts, including former chief justices and judges, before taking the decision, sources said. The rejection of the notice comes a day after he held the consultations to determine the maintainability of the motion. — PTI

12:03  1st working day after impeachment verdict CJI holds court 15 minutes late :  Supreme Court judges, including Chief Justice Dipak Misra, today initiated court proceedings at 10.45 am instead of the scheduled 10.30 am amid speculation that they held a brief meeting on the issue of the impeachment notice against the CJI.

CJI Misra, who usually holds his court at 10.30 am, entered the courtroom almost 15 minutes late and started hearing lawyers who wanted their petitions to be listed for urgent mentioning. BJP leader Subramanian Swamy was among the first few litigants to mention his petition for urgent hearing. The CJI’s courtroom was packed with lawyers including those who had no matters to argue for.

Besides the CJI, all other courts sat late at 10.45 am to undertake today’s court proceedings. Speculation was rife among lawyers that judges held a brief, informal meeting before they started today’s business.

Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu today rejected the notice given by opposition parties led by the Congress for impeachment of the CJI, citing lack of substantial merit in it. Naidu held extensive consultations with top legal and constitutional experts, including former chief justices and judges, before taking the decision, sources said. The rejection of the notice comes a day after he held the consultations to determine the maintainability of the motion. — PTI

11:55   Sensex rises over 100 pts, Nifty above 10,600:  The BSE Sensex was trading higher by 119.85 points in late morning deals on buying led by key frontline shares in IT, Teck, realty, healthcare, telecom, energy and auto sectors, despite weak Asian cues. Investors turned optimistic ahead of key corporate earning of index heavyweights this week.
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11:55  Need for Indians and Chinese to learn each other’s language: Swaraj:   External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today asked Indians and Chinese to learn each other’s language as it will help them overcome communication barriers, resulting in further strengthening the relationship between the two nations.

Swaraj, who is on a visit to Beijing, made the remarks during a programme, titled ‘Contribution of Hindi in India-China Friendship’, organised by the India Embassy.

“When two friends sit together, what do they want? They want to talk their hearts out to each other, share what they feel. And for that we need a language. I should be able to understand Chinese when you speak, and you should be able to understand Hindi when I talk,” Swaraj said.

“If there is an interpreter sitting between two friends, he may be able to translate the words but not the feelings with which I say something. So, it is essential that we learn a language, and understand it,” she said, a day after it was announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping would hold an informal summit from April 27 to 28.

“I want to say that the way India and China’s relation are strengthening, trade is increasing, we are working together on international forums, it has become increasingly important that you learn Hindi and we learn Chinese. So that when Indians visit China they don’t face difficulty, and when Chinese visit India, you don’t require an interpreter,” Swaraj said.

Swaraj said during her meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi yesterday, she had told him that people are the biggest strength for any foreign minister and when people of two countries love each other, it only strengthens the governments.

“And this, your love for Hindi… You may not be aware that two foreign ministers can’t strengthen the relations between Indian and China as much as these students learning Hindi can. You (students) all are doing great service (to the two countries),” she said.

The minister invoked “Dangal”, “Secret Superstar” and “Hindi Medium” to stress that Hindi films are gaining popularity in China, but said an understanding of the language instead of subtitles could improve their experiences of watching such films.

Noting that during the programme, a Chinese student learning Hindi had expressed that her dream was to visit India, Swaraj instructed the Ambassador to make arrangements for a visit of such students to India

“I want to tell her, that your dream would come true right here, right now. I am telling our Ambassador here to send a delegation of 25 Hindi students from here on India visit. “We will entertain you there and gift you Indian traditional clothes – Saree for girls and kurta pyjama for boys. I entrust our Ambassador here with the responsibility of sending a delegation of students learning Hindi here,” she said. PTI

File pic.

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11:28  Season of acquittals:  Leaders and spokespersons of the Bharatiya Janata Party were particularly exuberant all through last week, adopting a tone that was triumphant and aggressive. Looking at them from afar, it would seem that the party had won a war, or, at the very least, an election.

The reason for their exultation lay elsewhere. It was not victories in the battlefield but a series of court verdicts that the BJP leadership seized upon with unseemly glee. The verdicts were delivered by different courts on unrelated issues.  Read Manini Chatterjee’s column here

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11:09  Impeachment motion against CJI undermines independence of judiciary: VP:  

Rejecting the opposition parties’ impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu said that charges made against the CJI is on suspicion and assumption.

“Charges made on suspicion and assumption. Allegations seriously undermine the independence of the judiciary. None of the five allegations in the notice were tenable or admissible,” Naidu said in the 10-page order. 

He further said, “I’ve applied my mind to all five charges made out in impeachment motion and examined all annexed documents. All facts as stated in motion don’t make out a case which can lead any reasonable mind to conclude that CJI on these facts can be ever held guilty of misbehavior.”

“Motion undermines independence of judiciary. No credible or verifiable facts. MPs are unsure of their own charges against the CJI. Most of the charges are internal matters to be resolved by Supreme Court itself,” Naidu added. 

10:55  Third Front will not be successful if formed with sole aim of coming to power: Yechury :  

Re-elected Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Sitaram Yechury said that any non-BJP and non-Congress third front would not be successful if it was formed with the sole aim of coming to power.

     

Speaking at a public meeting in Hyderabad at the conclusion of the party’s 22nd”Congress, he said the third front should have a strong basis and policy under which it should be formed and would emerge only through public movements. 

     

He said the Telangana Chief Minister spoke with him some days back, wanting to bring a Non-Congress and non-BJP front.

    

“He asked my opinion. I said the third front exercise was done about 20 years ago in 1996. We formed a government under the leadership of Deve Gowda without BJP and Congress.”

     

Yechury said the question now what was the main expectation of the third front and on what policies would it be formed.

     

“The front that will be formed specifically to come into power will not work. We will take a decision based on the policies on which the front would be formed,” he said.      

Yechury said defeating religious-based politics and ‘religious fanatics’ was the prime objective

     

“We will decide what sort of strategy is to be followed during elections. They”(religious forces)”will not be defeated”through”mere”poll alliances. We will have to strengthen public”movements”to”defeat”them,” he opined.

10:45  Will talk to legal experts and take next step: Congress on rejection of impeachment :  

The Congress has reacted to rejection of their move to remove Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.

“This is a really important matter. We don’t know what was the reason for the rejection. The Congress and other opposition parties will talk to some legal experts and take the next step,” Congress leader PL Punia

 said.

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10:03  Naidu rejects impeachment motion against CJI Dipak Misra:  

Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu, who is also the Rajya Sabha chairman, has rejected the opposition’s notice for impeachment of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra

Leaders of the opposition parties had on Friday met Naidu and handed over the notice of impeachment against the chief justice of India bearing signatures of 64 MPs and seven former members, who recently retired.

The opposition parties, led by the Congress, initiated the unprecedented step to impeach the CJI by moving the notice levelling charges against him. 

The parties had briefed the media after handing over the notice to the Upper House chairman.

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09:37  Rahul to launch ‘Save the Constitution’ drive today:  

Congress president Rahul Gandhi will today launch his party’s nationwide ‘Save the Constitution’ campaign, aiming to highlight alleged attacks on the Constitution and Dalits under the Bharatiya Janata Party-led regime.

Seen as the party’s effort to reach out to the community ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the campaign launch is expected to be attended by former prime minister Manmohan Singh, party general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, its senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Sushil Kumar Shinde among others.

The campaign will continue till next year’s April 14, the birth anniversary of Dalit icon Bhim Rao Ambedkar.

Congress’s present and former Dalit lawmakers, those holding offices in zilla parishad, civic bodies and panchayat samitis, the party’s office-bearers attached to its regional units will also attend the event, aimed at sensitising the attendees on the current state of affairs with regard to the community.

The attendees are expected to take the message forward, holding similar campaigns in states to reach out to the community members, sources said.

“Ever since the RSS-supported BJP came to power at the centre, the Indian Constitution has been under severe attack, in one form or the other, thereby, denying the marginalised sections of society their constitutional rights,” chairman of Congress’s Scheduled Castes department Nitin Raut said in a statement.

He added: “The BJP-RSS combine is set to dismantle the social security available for SCs, STs and other weaker sections. The RSS ideology attacks the basic structure of the Indian Constitution. This would be countered by Congress Party.”

Raut also hit out at the Centre over the Supreme Court’s March 20 verdict allegedly diluting stringent provisions mandating immediate arrest under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities (POA) Act. Raut charged the government with “intentional failure” to place before the apex court background and relevant facts relating to the act “holistically”.

The action of the government is in itself an atrocity on the SCs and STs, he added.

Another party leader, wishing not to be named, said, “The community is being denied opportunities in spheres of education and jobs. The programme aims to highlight these issues nationwide.”

Dalits form roughly 17 per cent of the country’s electorate. 

There are 84 parliamentary seats reserved for candidates belonging to the scheduled castes. 

The BJP had bagged nearly half of the seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, reflecting on its success in politically key states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

The leader noted that only three-four of those seats were won by the Congress then. — PTI 

09:19  Informal Modi-Xi summit will enhance chemistry between them: Chinese envoy:  

China’s Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui has hoped that an informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping later this week in the Chinese city of Wuhan will enhance “good chemistry” between the two leaders and strengthen bilateral ties.

After a meeting with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced in Beijing that Modi and Xi will hold an informal summit in Wuhan city from April 27 to 28. 

“The summit will highlight the personal friendship and enhance the good chemistry between the two leaders. I believe with the guidance of our two leaders and through joint efforts of the Chinese and Indian people including you and me, China-India relations will turn a new page,”? Luo said in a video message while making a debut on Twitter.

Luo said Wuhan is his home town and that it will be an honour for him to witness the “historic” event in the city.

In a separate tweet, he said, “Smt. @SushmaSwaraj’s visit to China is part of the warm-up efforts for the informal summit between Chinese and Indian leaders.” — PTI

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09:08  BJP should win all polls for 50 yrs: Amit Shah to party workers:  

To make India a global leader, the Bharatiya Janata Party needs to serve the nation for a longer time and party workers should work hard to win all elections from panchayat to Lok Sabha for the next 50 years, its chief Amit Shah said on Sunday.

Shah urged the party cadre to not rest till it emerges victorious in states like Kerala, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu.

The BJP chief also elaborated on the measures taken by the government to empower women. In the Indian culture and society, women have a high stature equivalent to goddesses, he said. 

His comments come at a time when there has been wide-spread outrage over Kathua and Unnao rape cases which have again brought the issue of safety of women to the centre stage.           

Addressing the concluding session of the party’s ‘Mahila Morcha’ national executive meeting here, Shah said the top priority of the BJP government was to ensure security on borders and handling terrorism strictly by adopting a zero tolerance policy. 

“We have not entered politics for electoral success; we have joined it to make India great again and to ensure food, education and health facilities to the poor in the country,” Shah said according to a party statement.

He said the BJP wants to make India, developed, secure and a country that influences the world.

“And to make India a global leader the party needs to serve the country for a longer time. Therefore, party workers should unitedly work hard to win all the elections from panchayat to Lok Sabha for next fifty years,” he said.

He told party workers that they should not sit idle till the BJP does not win in Kerala, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu.

Speaking on issues related to women, Shah cited various steps and measures taken by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government to empower them.

“We hail from a culture where women have been give the place of a goddess. They were given priority and have very high stature,” he said. 

08:49  Shiv Sena leader Sachin Sawant shot dead in Mumbai:  

Shiv Sena leader Sachin Sawant was shot dead on Sunday nigth allegedly by two motorbike-borne assailants in suburban Kandivali in Mumbai, police said.

Udaykumar Rajeshirke, senior police inspector at the Kurar police station, said the incident happened around 8 pm when the 40-year-old leader was travelling in his car.

The two unidentified assailants stopped his vehicle and fired four rounds at Sawant, an up-shakha pramukh (deputy branch head of Shiv Sena), in Gokul Nagar area, a police official said.

Sawant was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead, he said

Rajeshirke said the police were in the process of filing a case and investigations are underway. Senior police officers refused to divulge details. 

The Kurar Police are investigating the matter. — PTI  

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08:42  AIADMK to join hands with BJP? Signs are visible, says TN ruling party :  

In politically significant remarks, the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has said that signs of its working together with Bharatiya Janata Party like a “double-barrelled gun” in the political arena were visible and “no one can sever ties” between the two parties.

Coming out strongly against the principal opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led persistent protests over the Cauvery imbroglio, the AIADMK said “whatever be the number of protests and  demonstrations, no one can sever the ties between the AIADMK and the BJP.”

No one can weaken the bond between “the Central and the State governments” either, the AIADMK said in its Tamil mouthpiece “Namadhu Puratchi Thalaivi Amma.”

The state’s ruling party said the protests by the DMK, its allies and friendly parties on the Cauvery issue were only aimed at spoiling the warmth between it and the BJP.

“The signs are (increasingly) becoming visible for the AIADMK and the BJP to work like a double-barrelled gun in Indian politics. The pathway is clear,” the daily said, while emphasising upon the need for the leadership of the two parties to chart out a roadmap for the purpose.

“A roadmap for it should be thrashed out by the high commands of both the parties. That is the need of the hour,” the AIADMK mouthpiece added.

“The state and the Central regimes led by the AIADMK and the BJP respectively are working responsibly and are headed towards a final resolution of the issue,” the daily said, referring to the Cauvery issue.

Under such circumstances, the AIADMK said, the main opposition DMK was holding “unnecessary protests” as it was “apprehensive” that the State and the Central governments, working in cohesion, would succeed in resolving the Cauvery issue. — PTI

Source: Rediff