10:43 Have done nothing wrong, says Mulayam: Hours after Mulayam Singh Yadav cancelled the party’s convention called by him on January 5 in Lucknow, he said he has not done anything wrong. Mulayam who is leaving for New Delhi said no one can accuse him of any wrongdoing and denied rumours that he was unwell. “I am not unwell at all, I am completely healthy,” he told ANI. ” I’ve never indulged in corruption or betrayed anyone,” he said.
Amar Singh who was expelled at the national convention said, “If I am portrayed as a villain for Mulayam Singh Yadav, I am fine with it.”
Mulayam Singh Yadav today cancelled a party convention called by him in Lucknow on January 5. With most party workers siding with Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, it was perhaps expected that the convention would be poorly attended.
Mulayam is also expected to take legal opinion on using the party’s symbol as the Election Commission may hold the symbol back, as it did when the Congress split, and ask both groups to fight the upcoming UP assembly polls on new symbols.
10:16 Chand Pal, a Delhi Police head constable, commits suicide by shooting himself with his service revolver in Supreme Court.
10:07 SC to continue hearing of 1995 Hindutva verdict: The Supreme Court will on Monday continue its hearing on the Hindutva case which deals with electoral malpractices arising out of its 1995 judgment. Earlier, during the hearing by a seven judge Constitutional bench, the apex court had said that it wont reconsider 1995 judgment which defined Hindutva as a way of life and not a religion.
The observations came after an on interlocutory application filed by social activist Teesta Setalvad requested the bench to reconsider the 95 judgment. A seven-judge constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur, said the court will not go into the larger debate as to what is Hindutva or what its meaning is and will not reconsider the 1995 judgment.
The remarks were made by the bench when some advocates sought to intervene in the ongoing hearing which commenced last Tuesday. Setalvad had sought the Supreme Courts intervention in the matter with an application stating that religion and politics should not be mixed and a direction be passed to delink religion from politics.
10:01 Dec 16 Delhi rape: SC to hear convicts’ appeal against death rap : The Supreme Court will on Monday hear the December 16 gang rape case. Delhi Police’s counsel Siddhartha Luthra earlier on December 14 told an apex court bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra how the sequence of events and commission of the offence was made by the accused in the case.
The apex court had resumed the hearing in the appeals filed by the December 16 gang rape convicts, challenging the Delhi High Court’s verdict that ordered four of them to the gallows considering “the case rarest of rare’.
The apex court is hearing the appeals filed by the four convicts Mukesh, Pawan, Akshay and Vijay on Mondays and Fridays every week. Earlier, the apex court had declined the request by two amici curiae senior counsel Raju Ramachandran and Sanjay R Hegde to withdraw from assisting the court in the hearing of the appeals by the convicts in the gangrape case.
Asking both to continue assisting the court in the hearing of the appeals by the four accused convicted and sentenced to death, the three judge bench comprising of Justices Dipak Misra, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan said: We can appreciate the anguish expressed by the learned amici curiae.
Six people gang raped a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern in a moving bus and beat her and her male friend.
Pic: A file picture of the gang rape victim’s mother. Her parents have demanded the death sentence for all the convicts including the minor who has been released.
09:48 Narendra Modi just dug himself a great big hole: In a speech full of faulty economic reasoning, Modi made one factual claim — the number of Indians with official incomes greater than Rs 10 lakh is just 24 lakh. If demonetisation really works, he needs to up that figure substantially in the next two years. Read more
09:30 Mulayam postpones SP’s national convention of January 5:
In a dramatic turn of events, the national convention of Samajwadi Party on January 5 convened by party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, was on Monday put on hold.
As per Mulayam Singh Yadavs order national convention of Samajwadi Party called by him on January 5th has been put on hold, Shivpal Yadav said.
He also asked the party leaders and activists to start prepare for the crucial assembly elections. Notably, Mulayam had termed as illegal all decisions taken at the convention called by the Akhilesh camp and again expelled Ram Gopal Yadav for six years.
He also convened the national convention of the party on January 5 at the same venue so that there is no doubt in the minds of the people. The meeting was called at Janeshwar Mishra Park in Lucknow The development will provide Akhilesh a major boost.
Earlier, in a letter issued here, Yadav said the national convention had not been convened with the permission of the national president and all decision taken there are illegal.
08:55 JUST IN: Mulayam Singh Yadav postpones national convention of Samajwadi Party called by him on January 5, says Shivpal Yadav
08:53 Fissures within SP: Mulayam to meet Election Commission today:
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav staged a coup on Sunday, dislodging his father Mulayam Singh Yadav as Samajwadi Party president and installing himself as the boss at an “emergency convention” of the party.
While this caps three months of acrimonious manoeuvres and counter-manoeuvres that the two sides claimed would not lead to a split, Sunday’s developments have torn the party asunder, with two separate entities, SP (Mulayam) and SP (Akhilesh) likely to contest the assembly polls.
Akhilesh took the precaution of not appearing to be ungrateful to his father by making Mulayam the ‘margdarshak’ or mentor, but this would hardly mask the fact that party founded by the 77-year-old former UP CM has gone out of his control. The special convention, called by Mulayam’s cousin Ram Gopal, also moved two other proposals: sack MP Amar Singh from primary membership of the party and remove Shivpal, Mulayam’s younger brother, as state president.
The Election Commission is likely to freeze the ‘bicycle’ symbol as it doesn’t have enough time to verify the claim of either of the two factions as to which one is real. The freezing of the symbol would further erode any leverage Mulayam has left with the MLAs, and level the playing field between him and his son.
Sources said Mulayam would reach New Delhi on Monday along with his brother Shivpal for a meeting with the Election Commission. ‘Sacked’ party MP Amar Singh too is back from London and sources suggested there could possibly be a meeting between the three in the national capital.
An astounding 10 lakh people — to be brought in 15,000 buses and 35,000 other vehicles — are expected to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modis Parivartan Maharally in Lucknow on Monday in what is being tipped as the biggest political rally by him in a long time.
If the Bharatiya Janata Party manages the numbers, Modis rally at the Ramabai Ambedkar grounds could give a psychological edge over the main opposition party in Uttar Pradesh — the Bahujan Samaj Party led by four-time chief minister Mayawati.
The sheer numbers would be enough to unnerve Mayawati ji, said Brajesh Pathak, a former Maya aide-turned-BJP leader.
Modi had last addressed a rally in Lucknow on March 2, 2014, as the BJPs prime ministerial candidate. The 80 acres of the Ramabai Ambedkar grounds can hold up to five lakh people.
The crowd would be an answer to the critics of demonetisation, says UP BJP general secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak.
07:52 Mulayam falls sick as SP family feud continues:
As the crisis within the Samajwadi Party refused to die down, doctors conducted a health check-up of Mulayam Singh Yadav at his residence after he complaint of high blood pressure.
The Samajwadi Party split on Sunday with a national convention declaring Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav the new national president, a post that was held by his father.
The convention also made Mulayam, the patron of the party.
As the day progressed, the fight between the rival factions turned ugly, with supporters of the two groups fighting for the party office.
However, Akhilesh justified the turn of events in the party even as he admitted that he had taken a ‘tough’ decision.
“Sometimes to protect the ones you love you must make the right decision. What I did today was a tough decision but one that I had to take,” he tweeted.
Source: Rediff