11:27 Last rites of Ananth Kumar tomorrow in Bengaluru: The last rites of Union minister Ananth Kumar, who passed away in Bengaluru Monday, will be performed on Tuesday afternoon, Karnataka BJP said. The mortal remains of Kumar was placed at his residence in Basavanagudifor the entire day today, state BJP General Secretary N RaviKumar said in a statement. He said, by 8 am on Tuesday, it would be taken to Jagannath Bhavan, BJP state office at Malleshwaram, where arrangements would be made for party workers and his followers to pay their last respects.
Kumar’s body would then be taken to National College Ground in the city for public to pay their respects, and the last rites would be performed at 1 pm at Chjamarajapete crematorium, the statement added.
Kumar died at a private hospital in Bengaluru in the early hours of Monday after battling lung cancer for several months. PTI
11:19 Amit Shah pays tribute to Ananth Kumar : BJP President Amit Shah pays a floral tribute to Union Minister Ananth Kumar at the party headquarters in New Delhi. The national flag will fly at half mast throughout the country on Monday as a mark of respect to the Union Minister who passed away in the early hours, the Home Ministry announced. The Central government will also accord a state funeral to the Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister.
11:16 SC declines early hearing Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title case: The Supreme Court Monday declined early hearing of petitions in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case. A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice SK Kaul said it had already listed the appeals before the appropriate bench in January.
“We have already passed the order. The appeals are coming up in January. Permission declined,” the bench said while rejecting the request of early hearing of lawyer Barun Kumar Sinha, appearing for Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha. — PTI
11:12 Defying Naxals, 100-year-old woman votes in Chhattisgarh polls :
As voting for the first phase of the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections is underway, a 100-year-old woman, Viswas, cast her vote at a polling station in Dornapal district.
The woman was helped by her son as she visited the polling booth set up near her house. The woman looked very fragile but it did not stop her to exercise her franchise.
The first phase of the Assembly elections for 18 seats began on a full swing on Monday. Of these, 12 are Scheduled Tribe seats while one is a Scheduled Caste seat.
Out of the 18 seats, 12 are located in the sensitive Baster region dominated by the Maoists.
Talking about the preparations undertaken by the poll body and the government, Chief Election Commissioner, OP Rawat, said, “As many as 900 polling personnel have been air-dropped from helicopters so that they can reach safely. Over 16,500 polling personnel went by road. I we will be in a position to deliver peaceful elections.” — ANI
10:47 Ajit Jogi: ‘I will be the King, not the kingmaker’: “Raman Singh will certainly be defeated by the alliance we have created,” Ajit Jogi, Chhattisgarh’s first chief minister and one of Indian politics’s great survivors, tells Rediff.com’s Archana Masih. Read the report here.
10:41 In Jharkhand, children of Naxal-affected Chakulia’s Pochpani village carry bow and arrows to school to protect themselves from Naxals. Locals say the children have to pass through a forest area where a number of Naxals have been spotted.
10:37 In Dantewada, a differently-abled person reaches Chintagupha polling booth to cast his vote in the first phase of the Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections 2018.
10:23 10.7% voting in Chhattisgarh so far: Voting underway in interior areas of Kistaram, Palem and Bejji in Naxal-affected Sukma district in Chhattisgarh. An IED was detected near a polling booth in Konta’s Banda in Sukma. Nevertheless voters queued up at polling booths like this makeshift one under a tree, to cast their vote. 10.7% voter turnout recorded till 10 am in the first phase in 18 constituencies in the Naxal hotbed. At least 700 paramilitary companies have been deployed to keep the peace.
A thick security blanket, comprising over 1.25 lakh police and paramilitary personnel, was thrown across the 18 constituencies as they fall under the Naxal-hit areas of Bastar, Kanker, Sukma, Bijapur, Dantewada, Narayanpur, Kondagaon and Rajnandgaon districts.
Polling in 10 constituencies — Mohla-Manpur, Antagarh, Bhanupratappur, Kanker, Keshkal, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Dantewada, Bijapur and Konta — started at 7 am and would conclude at 3 pm, an election official said.
In the other eight constituencies — Khairgarh, Dongargarh, Rajnandgaon, Dongargaon, Khujji, Bastar, Jagdalpur and Chitrakot — voting began at 8 am and would end at 5 pm, he said.
10:17 Sensex, Nifty back in green, all eyes on macro data: The BSE benchmark Sensex recovered by over 155 points and the NSE Nifty breached the 10,600-mark in opening trade Monday on fresh buying by investors, ahead of release of macroeconomic data later in the day.
Traders said, fresh fund inflows by foreign funds and a bullish trend on other Asian bourses also influenced trading sentiments.
The 30-share Sensex was quoting 155.14 points, or 0.44 per cent higher at 35,313.69 points. The gauge had lost over 79 points on Friday. Reflecting the market’s better mood, all the sectoral indices led by consumer durables, IT, healthcare and banking were trading in the positive zone with gains up to 1.66 per cent.
Also, the NSE Nifty was trading higher by 46.55 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 10,631.75. Brokers said, building up of positions by domestic investors ahead of the release of index of industrial production data for September and inflation data for October later in the day, buoyed trading sentiment.
Among the Sensex constituents, Kotak Bank, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, Adani Ports, Infosys, HDFC Ltd, Tata Steel, M&M, TCS, ONGC, Coal India, Asian Paints, Bajaj Auto, L&T, Vedanta Ltd, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank were major gainers, rising by up to 1.49 per cent. — PTI
10:14 Why is Salman irked by Arjun and Malaika?: “Is it because Salman didn’t expect his protge, who once dated his sister Arpita (when both were young, nice and plump) to get seriously involved with his bhabhi? That shouldn’t matter either since Arjun and Arpita broke up ages ago and, at that time, the young Kapoor wasn’t even looking at Malaika.
“Could it be that Salman felt cheated that a fat boy he had brought into the house to use his gym, a boy on whom he prevailed to shed weight fast, had found chemistry with his bhabhi?”
Read the column here.
10:02 State funeral for Ananth Kumar; Tricolour to fly at half mast: The national flag will fly at half mast throughout the country on Monday as a mark of respect to Union Minister Ananth Kumar, who passed away in the early hours, the Home Ministry announced. The Central government will also accord a state funeral to the Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister.
“Following the unfortunate demise of Union Minister Ananth Kumar, it has been decided that the national flag will fly at half mast throughout the country today and a state funeral will be accorded,” a Home Ministry spokesperson said.
Kumar died at a private hospital in Bengaluru in the early hours of Monday after battling lung cancer for several months. A six-time MP, Kumar was in the inner circle of the central leadership of the BJP — be it during the heydays of Atal Bihari Vajpayee or L K Advani and now Narendra Modi. — PTI
09:51
Bengaluru: Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala pays last respects to Union Minister Ananth Kumar.
09:36 Sacrilege incidents: Parkash, Sukhbir Badal, actor Akshay Kumar summoned by SIT:
The special investigation team, probing police firing incidents at Behbal Kalan on sacrilege issue, has summoned former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, his son Sukhbir Singh Badal and actor Akshay Kumar.
While Parkash has been asked to appear before the SIT of Punjab Police on November 16, Sukhbir has been summoned on November 19 and Akshay has been asked to come on November 21 to the Circuit House in Amritsar.
The summon orders have been issued separately for the three by SIT member and IG rank officer Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, according to an official release.
The SIT is probing police firing incidents at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan in Faridkot in 2015 after a series of sacrilege incidents in the state. In police firing at Behbal Kalan, two persons were killed.
Notably, the actor’s name was mentioned in Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report on sacrilege incidents.
According to the report, a meeting between former deputy chief minister Sukhbir and Dera Sacha Sauda sect head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in connection with the release of latter’s movie ‘MSG’ was held at Akshay’s flat in Mumbai.
The meeting was held before the pardon given to Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a blasphemy case. However, Akshay had denied all the claims.
Kunwar Singh said the summons relate to investigation of cases originating from the various incidents of sacrilege in the year 2015.
The summons have been issued under Section 160 of the CrPC, requiring attendance at investigation, relating to the Bargari sacrilege case and the Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura police firing incidents, the release said.
The notice says the presence of the aforesaid person is necessary for the purpose of inquiry into the above-mentioned offence and the person summoned needed to give such information relating to the said alleged offence as he may possess. — PTI
09:35 K’taka declares 3-day mourning as mark of respect to Ananth Kumar:
The Karnataka government has declared a three-day state mourning till November 14 as a mark of respect to Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar, who died in the early hours of Monday.
The state government has also declared a holiday on Monday as a mark of respect to Kumar.
His last rites would be performed with all Government honour, an official release said.
Kumar died at a private hospital in Bengaluru after battling lung cancer for several months.
A government notification said, during state mourning there would be no official programmes.
The national flag would fly at half mast atop all government buildings, it said.
Condoling Kumar’s death Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said, he has lost a great friend.
“Our families had a friendship beyond politics. He always valued and gave priority to friendship. I have lost a great friend in his death, Kumaraswamy said in a statement.
Describing him as a “value-based politician”, who made significant contribution to the country as an MP and Union Minister, the Chief Minister said, his pro people attitude and activities had made him the “apple of the eye of Bengalurians”.
Kumaraswamy will directly arrive to the National College Ground from Mysuru Monday and will pay his last respects to the departed leader, the Chief Minister’s Office said. — PTI
09:28 Shiv Sena loves us ‘secretly’: Fadnavis :
The Shiv Sena “secretly” loves the Bharatiya Janata Party while the latter shows its affection openly, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said.
On the Sena’s demand that the names of Aurangabad and Osmanabad be changed to Sambhaji Nagar and Dharashiv respectively, Fadnavis said the state government had cleared the proposal but there were litigations pending in this connection.
The Maharashtra chief minister said an expansion of the state cabinet was likely before the winter session of the Maharashtra legislature.
Fadnavis’ government has 38 ministers and as per norms, its strength can go up to 42. — PTI
09:26 Over 1.28 lakh tourists visit Statue of Unity in 11 days:
Since opening for the public on November 1, the 182-metre tall Statue of Unity in Narmada district of Gujarat has attracted more than 1.28 lakh tourists, officials said.
A huge rush of tourists was seen during the weekend, with over 50,000 people visiting the world’s tallest statue at Kevadiya village on Saturday and Sunday alone (November 10- 11), they said.
“Since November 1, when the statue opened for the public, we have recieved around 1.28 lakh tourists (till Sunday),” Superintending Engineer of Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd R G Kanungo said.
Over 24,000 tourists visited the site Sunday and more than 27,000 Saturday, he said.
The statue, dedicated to `Iron Man of India’ Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, is situated on an islet near the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Kevadiya. It was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 31.
Principal Secretary (Tourism) S J Haider said more than 10,000 tourists had visited the statue on the very first day of its opening.
“The number of tourists kept on increasing since November 1,” he said.
Haider said the government is ready to welcome any number of tourists at the site.
He said the new tourist attraction in Gujarat will help increase the number of travellers visiting the state from other parts of the country and also abroad.
“Gujarat has registered 17 per cent year-on growth in tourism with a total 5.2 crore tourists visiting the state in 2017. The Statue of Unity will help in achieving considerable growth in arrival of tourists to Gujarat,” he said.
The towering structure, built at a cost of Rs 2,989 crore, is nearly twice the height of Statue of Liberty in United States and also bigger than Spring Temple Buddha, China (153 metres) and Ushika Daibustum Japan (120 metres).
Along with the Statue of Unity, Gujarat Tourism has added many attractions nearby for sight-seeing. Two tent cities have been created along the backwater lakes of the Narmada dam reservoir for tourists who want to stay there.
Among the prime attractions at the site is a viewers gallery inside the statue located at a height of 135 metres with a capacity to accommodate 200 persons at a time. — PTI
09:24 C’garh poll: Minutes before polling, Naxals trigger IED blast in Dantewada :
Minutes before the polling for first phase of the Chhattisgarh assembly elections, an improvised explosive device of 1-2 kilograms was exploded by the Naxals near Tumakpal camp in Katekalyan block of Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district.
The blast triggered when troops of 195 Battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force were approaching polling booth at 6:20 am.
No injury or loss of life has been reported.
On Sunday, a Border Security Force personnel was killed in an IED blast in Kanker’s Koyalibeda area of Chhattisgarh.
Naxalites have called for a boycott of polls in the state and have executed half a dozen attacks in the last 15 days, three of them major ones which left 13 people dead including a camera-person of national broadcaster Doordarshan who was covering the election campaign.
Keeping in view the growing terror of Naxals in Chhattisgarh, tight security arrangements have been made in several sensitive areas of the state to ensure peaceful elections.
09:17 UPDATE: Voting begins for 1st phase of Chhattisgarh poll:
Voting for all 18 constituencies in the first phase of Chhattisgarh assembly election has began.
Of total 18 constituencies, polling for 10 seats began from 7 am to 3 pm while voting in the remainder of the constituencies will take place from 8 am to 5 pm.
Tight security arrangements have been made in all the districts of the state to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections.
08:54 Raje in first list of 131 BJP candidates for Rajasthan:
The BJP on Sunday announced its candidates for 131 of the 200 seats of the Rajasthan assembly with Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje being fielded from her traditional seat of Jhalrapatan.
The names were announced by senior party leader J P Nadda following a meeting of the BJP central election committee which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its president Amir Shah besides other top leaders.
Raje also attended the meeting.
The party has also fielded its Lok Sabha MP Sona Ram Choudhary in the assembly poll and given tickets to 12 women.
Nadda said the party has fielded 25 new faces.
BJP sources said 85 sitting MLAs have found their names on the first list.
“Party candidates for all the seats we’re discussed in the meeting. Names of other nominees will be announced soon,” Nadda told reporters.
The BJP is facing a strong challenge from a resurgent Congress in the state with the opposition party winning a number of by-polls in the last couple of years.
A number of opinion polls has also given an edge to the Congress but the BJP has insisted that it will be able to repulse the opposition’s challenge.
The saffron party under Raje had won a whopping 163 of the 200 assembly seats in the state in 2013, giving the Congress its worst ever drubbing at its hands.
The state has for the last two decades has seen the incumbent party losing the assembly polls. — PTI
08:41 Voting begins under tight security for 10 seats in Chhattisgarh:
Voting began in 10 out of 18 assembly constituencies in the first phase of Chhattisgarh elections on Monday under a tight security blanket comprising over 1.25 lakh police and paramilitary personnel.
In the first phase, 190 candidates are in the fray and as per electoral rolls, there are 31,80,014 voters.
Women voters outnumber men for the first phase of polling, with 16,22,492 female voters on the rolls against 15,57,435 men. There are 87 third gender voters as well.
As many as 4,336 polling booths have been set up for the first phase and 19,079 polling personnel have been deployed.
“Polling in nine constituencies of Bastar division and one in Rajnandgaon district has begun from 7 am and will conclude at 3 pm, while in the rest of the constituencies the polling time is from 8 am to 5 pm,” a poll official said.
Polling time in 10 constituencies — Mohla-Manpur, Antagarh, Bhanupratappur, Kanker, Keshkal, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Dantewada, Bijapur and Konta — is from 7 am to 3 pm, due to the Naxal menace.
In the remaining eight constituencies — Khairgarh, Dongargarh, Rajnandgaon, Dongargaon, Khujji, Bastar, Jagdalpur and Chitrakot — it is from 8 am till 5 pm.
Among the prominent candidates who will try their electoral luck are Chief Minister Raman Singh, state ministers Kedar Kashyap (Narayanpur) and Mahesh Gagda (Bijpaur), as well as BJPs Kanker Lok Sabha MP Vikram Usendi (Antagarh).
In the first phase, the prestige of nine sitting Congress MLAs -Manoj Singh Mandavi (Bhanupratappur), Mohan Lal Markam (Kondagaon), Lakheshwar Baghel (Bastar), Deepak Kumar Baij (Chitrakot), Devati Karma (Dantewada), Kawasi Lakhma (Konta), Girwar Janghel (Khairagarh), Santram Netam (Keshkal) and Daleshwar Sahu (Dongargaon) is at stake.
Of the 18 seats going to polling in the first phase, 12 are reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) while one is for Scheduled Caste (SC) category.
The second phase of polls will see voting in 72 seats on November 20. — PTI
08:08 Union Minister Ananth Kumar passes away:
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar died at a private hospital in Bengaluru in the early hours of Monday, party spokesman said.
He was suffering from cancer and had come back from the United States in October after treatment at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, New York.
Kumar, 59, is survived by wife and two daughters.
He breathed his last around 4 am, party spokesman Prakash told PTI.
Kumar’s wife Tejaswini and his two daughters were with him when he passed away, he said.
Kumar was a BJP MP from south Bengaluru constituency.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the demise of Kumar.
“Extremely saddened by the passing away of my valued colleague and friend, Shri Ananth Kumar Ji. He was a remarkable leader, who entered public life at a young age and went on to serve society with utmost diligence and compassion. He will always be remembered for his good work,” he tweeted.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also expressed deep sorrow over Kumar’s death.
“Deep sense of grief on hearing that Shri @AnanthKumar_BJP is no more with us. Served @BJP4India @BJP4Karnataka all along. Bengaluru was in his head and heart, always. May God give his family the strength to bear with this loss,” she tweeted. — PTI
Source: Rediff