
Vikarabad district will be renamed Anantagiri when BJP comes to power, says party chief
During his ongoing tour of Vikarabad, Mr. Rao addressed party cadres at various locations and asserted that the BJP would also secure victory in the Vikarabad municipality elections in the upcoming local body polls. 'No power can stop the BJP from winning the next elections,' he declared, urging workers to campaign vigorously by highlighting the Centre's financial support to Telangana under various schemes and the need for a 'double engine' government.
He accused the Congress government of failing to implement its promised guarantees, stating that the past 20 months had shown it to be no different from the BRS regime. 'People are now looking to the BJP with hope,' he said.
Mr. Rao criticized the loan waiver scheme, Rythu Bharosa financial aid and fertilizer supply as poorly implemented, and called the Indiramma housing scheme a 'big flop', with very few beneficiaries. He alleged that only those aligned with the ruling party were being selected, citing that out of 14,000 applications, only 73 were approved. He demanded that all eligible poor be considered under the scheme.
On the issue of reservations, Mr. Rao reiterated the BJP's opposition to including Muslims under political reservations for Backward Classes (BCs). He argued that the minority community already benefits under BC-B, BC-E, and EWS categories, and that religion-based political reservations are inappropriate, though acceptable in education and employment.
Ramanthapur Bandh Over Electrocution Tragedy
In a separate development, BJP leaders led by former MLA N.V.S.S. Prabhakar enforced a bandh in Ramanthapur, demanding ₹50 lakh ex gratia and a job in the power sector for the families of those who died due to electrocution during a Janmashtami procession on Sunday.
Hypocrisy on BC Reservations
BJP spokesperson N.V. Subash slammed Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy for his 'hollow claims' of doing justice to BCs, particularly in welcoming Justice Sudarshan Reddy, the INDIA bloc's Vice-Presidential nominee, over the NDA's OBC candidate Radhakrishna. He called the move 'misleading and laughable', asserting that the Congress and its allies lack moral authority to speak on BC justice.

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Hindustan Times
11 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Sahibabad market violence: Trader held over remarks against woman
Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabad police have arrested Bijender Yadav, a trader at Sahibabad vegetable market, for allegedly making insulting remarks against a woman, the wife of a government officer, said officials on Wednesday. A spokesperson of the Congress' city unit has said that trader Yadav is not holding any party responsibility as of now. (HT Photos (Video grab)) On August 14, Yadav, along with 100-150 unidentified people, was booked in an FIR registered at the Link Road police station under the BNS sections for insulting the modesty of a woman, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace, criminal intimidation, and threats that cause fear of death, grievous hurt, destruction of property by fire, or other serious offenses. 'Yadav, named in the FIR, was arrested on Tuesday under section 151 of Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) (to prevent the commission of cognizable offences). The FIR was lodged by the woman. However, even after a lot of persuasion, she or her husband has not come to the police to provide their statements so far. An investigation is underway,' said assistant commissioner of police (Sahibabad circle) Shweta Yadav. The woman alleged in her FIR that Yadav allegedly gave a speech to the Sahibabad vegetable market traders on August 11, and also passed insulting remarks against her and her husband. The incidents later took an ugly turn, and a group of men allegedly opened fire at traders, leaving two men injured. Several purported videos of the speech, firing and violence also went viral on the social media. Later, eight suspects of a group were arrested on August 11 evening for rioting, attempted murder, and violence. Earlier, Yadav, who is also ex-Congress district president, told HT that due to traders' harassment he had made the remarks. A spokesperson of the Congress' city unit said that Yadav is not holding any party responsibility as of now.


Indian Express
11 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Can elected govt be at whims and fancies of Governor, asks CJI
The Supreme Court bench hearing the Presidential reference asked the government Wednesday whether an elected government can be placed at 'the whims and fancies of the Governor' by vesting him/her with the power to withhold a Bill forever. 'But then would we not be giving total powers to the Governor to sit in appeals?… The government elected by majority will be at the whims and fancies of the Governor,' Chief Justice of India B R Gavai asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who appeared for the Centre. The bench said that to interpret that the Bill 'dies' the first time the Governor withholds it 'would be counterproductive to the power of the Governor and counterproductive to the legislative process'. The five-judge Constitution bench is hearing President Droupadi Murmu's reference on timelines fixed by a two-judge bench for the President and Governors to act on Bills sent by state legislatures. Delving into the contours of the Governor's discretionary powers under Article 200 of the Constitution, Mehta told the bench: 'It is not an asylum for retired politicians but has its own sanctity which was debated in the Constituent Assembly.' He said the Governor, though unelected, represents the President and is not just a 'postman' to mechanically approve Bills. 'A person who is not directly elected is not a lesser person,' he said. Addressing the bench which included Justices Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, P S Narasimha and A S Chandurkar, Mehta said the Governor has the option to grant assent to a Bill referred by the state legislature, withhold assent, refer it to the President in case of repugnancy with any Central law or return it to the state legislature for reconsideration. He said withholding is not a temporary act, and that 5-judge and 7-judge benches of the Supreme Court have interpreted it to mean that the Bill 'falls through'. Illustrating this, he said, 'Suppose a border state passes a Bill dealing with our external affairs, that we will permit a particular country's people to enter or not, then he cannot assent, he cannot refer it to President because it's not a repugnancy issue, and he cannot resend it to the House because if it is again passed, he cannot say no to it. So he will have to withhold.' He said the power 'has to be used rarely, sparingly, but that is the way the situation is'. The CJI then asked, 'If he doesn't exercise the option of resending the Bill for reconsideration, he can withhold it for time immemorial?' 'It dies,' Mehta said, reiterating that 'it (the power) is to be used rarely but power is conferred.' He said, 'The very language in which Article 200 is couched, it gives him options.' He said 'neither textually nor contextually, it is possible to conclude that the term withhold will have to be read as a temporary suspension of powers of granting assent till first proviso works out. There is no concept of temporary withholding of any Bill. If the framers of the Constitution wanted to link the term withhold in the main part of Article 200 to read only in the context of first proviso, two things would have been provided: (a) term withhold in the main part would have been qualified with the term subject to first proviso mentioned therein, (b) the first proviso would have mentioned that the Bill so withheld shall be reconsidered by the House, which is not there.' Justice Narasimha said the options must remain open-ended so that the political process has the chance to resolve the deadlock over a Bill. 'The way the political process occurs is not adjudicatory. Even assuming the Governor says I withhold, the political process can knock his doors and he can still open it and say, I will send it back to you, you consider and send it back. But to say… the first time he says, I withhold, the matter comes to an end… It can't be like that. It is counterproductive to the power of the Governor and counterproductive to the legislative process also. It has to be in a situation where it is open-ended,' he said. He was quick to add that the court understood that the Solicitor General was referring to Bills on subjects in the Union List. On the debate over the discretionary powers of the Governor, Justice Narasimha said, 'At that time we did not have impact assessment of a statute … Now, you see the amount of litigation it has thrown up by having provisions of this nature. Perhaps that could tell us whether the vision was right or not. Because the validity or correctness of a thought will come from its performance.' Mehta said he was 'not arguing that the Governor has unlimited discretion'. CJI Gavai said, 'We have some experience as to how some honourable Governors have exercised their discretion leading to so many litigations, but we are not going by that.' Mehta said, 'Indian democracy is a matured democracy. There may be aberrations on an individual level. But by and large, the democracy under this very Constitution has worked very effectively. And I personally experienced it during Covid times, how the Centre-state federal balance envisaged was on display. So it would be really hazardous to assess on the basis of some aberrations.'


Indian Express
11 minutes ago
- Indian Express
NDA allies back govt on Bills to sack arrested ministers
BJP-LED NDA's key allies on Wednesday came out strongly in support of the three Bills which seek to remove a Union or State minister facing allegations of corruption or serious offences if they have been in custody for at least 30 days. The Bills triggered protests from the Opposition, which warned of its potential misuse against rivals. However, the BJP's allies — including the JD(U), LJP (Ram Vilas), and TDP — rallied behind the government, framing the legislation as a step towards cleaning up politics and enhancing transparency. JD(U) spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan Prasad said: 'Running the government from Tihar Jail — this is the Opposition's new definition of democracy! Stay in jail for 30 days, remain a minister on the 31st — this is the Opposition's idea of morality! The people want answers, but the Opposition wants power — this is the real clash! Calling every Bill that demands accountability 'dictatorial' — this is morality's grand farce!' LJP (Ram Vilas) national vice president A K Bajpai dismissed the Opposition's concerns over misuse of the law. He said: 'It will apply to all. Potential misuse of law is no argument. All laws can be misused. TADA and POTA were misused. Does it mean we stop making laws? And then this Bill also includes the PM. This situation has arisen due to the episodes of Arvind Kejriwal, Satyender Jain and Hemant Soren.' Bajpai's remarks referred to the arrests of prominent political leaders, including former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal while he was in office, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, who resigned a day before his arrest, and former Delhi minister Satyender Jain. The TDP also endorsed the Bills. Spokesperson JyotsnaTirunagari told The Indian Express: 'From 2004 to 2014 we had seen several misdeeds in terms of corruption. From 2014 to 2024 there has been a push towards accountability and transparency. The legislation is towards this end. We think it will bring accountability and transparency into the system.' The TDP's backing comes despite its own uneasy history with law enforcement agencies. Party chief and Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu was arrested last year in a multi-crore skill development scam case.