BackPolitical updates: NSG meet today to decide India’s membership; Swamy, Jaitley spar
In other news, 46.5 million Britons vote in historic EU referendum; Gurudas Kamat withdraws resignation from Congress
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New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged China on Thursday to make a “fair and objective assessment" of India’s application to become a member of the exclusive Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG), and asked the Asian nation to contribute to what he called an “emerging consensus" on India. Modi’s statement, putting the onus of the success of India’s bid on Beijing, came during a meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping in Uzbek capital Tashkent on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting.
Meanwhile, voting on the historic Brexit referendum began in Britain on Thursday as competing political ideologues from the two mutually opposed camps—“Leave" and “Remain"—appealed to the electorate to vote in consonance with their respective positions on the subject.
Back home, the Congress party got a breather when in a volte-face, former Congress general secretary Gurudas Kamat withdrew his resignation from the party, tendered nearly two weeks ago.
NSG: No conclusion on India’s membership, discussions to continue
Thursday’s special session of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) plenary in Seoul concluded without a decision on India’s membership application. It was decided to continue discussions on Friday, although reports indicated at least six countries, including China, opposed NSG membership to countries that are not signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). India is not a signatory to the NPT.
In Tashkent, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a 50-minute meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Vikas Swarup said that much of the meeting was “devoted" to the question of Chinese support to India’s membership to the NSG. Modi “urged" Xi that Beijing should “make a fair and objective assessment of India’s application and judge it on its own merit." The PM said Beijing should “contribute to the emerging consensus in Seoul," the MEA official said. Read more
Gurudas Kamat withdraws resignation from Congress
In a volte-face, former Congress general secretary Gurudas Kamat has withdrawn his resignation from the party, tendered nearly two weeks ago. Kamat had resigned earlier this month over his reported unhappiness with the functioning of the local party unit in Mumbai but said he had decided to quit politics owing to personal reasons.
In a press release on Thursday, Kamat said he had resigned from the party because he wanted to do “social service minus any party tag" but his decision changed after a meeting with party president Sonia Gandhi. He will now continue as the party’s general secretary. Read more
Akhilesh Yadav’s lonely fight against corruption and tainted leaders
With less than a year left for the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has signalled zero tolerance towards corruption and candidates with criminal background. Soon after alleged gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s Quami Ekta Dal merged with Samajwadi Party (SP), Akhilesh Yadav is planning to take up the issue with party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav during a high-level meeting of party leaders on 25 June, said senior SP leaders. Read more
46.5 million Britons vote in historic EU referendum
Millions of Britons began voted on Thursday in a bitterly-fought, knife-edge referendum that could tear up the island nation’s EU membership and spark the greatest emergency of the bloc’s 60-year history. A record 46.5 million voters were registered to decide Britain’s future in the 28-nation European Union, which was born out of a determination to unite in lasting peace after the carnage of two world wars.
The once-in-a-generation referendum asks: “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?"
In one of the last opinion polls before the vote, “Remain" took a lead with 48%, notably ahead of “Leave" on 42%. The rest were undecided, said the telephone survey by ComRes for the Daily Mail and ITV News. Read more
Amit Shah asks party leaders to woo Dalits, convert support to votes
Pitching for building on National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) Kerala assembly election performance to strengthen the alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Thursday asked leaders to woo Dalits and other marginalised sections and focus on converting votes into more seats. Shah was speaking at the NDA steering committee meeting to review its performance in the 16 May elections in which NDA bagged 15% vote share and BJP made its maiden entry in the state assembly, party sources said. The meeting was attended by the leaders of NDA partners in the state, including Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) president Thushar Vellappally, Janadhipathya Rashtriya Sabha (JRS) chief C.K. Janu and Kerala Congress (Thomas) leader P.C. Thomas. Read more
Swamy attacks Shaktikanta Das, Arun Jaitley calls it unfair, false
BJP MP Subramanian Swamy on Thursday appeared to target economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das, which prompted finance minister Arun Jaitley to call it an “unfair and false" attack on a disciplined civil servant.
“I think there a property deal case pending against him (Das) for assisting PC swallow Mahabalipuram prime locations," Swamy tweeted today. Shortly thereafter, Jaitley, who is in China, tweeted, “An unfair and false attack on a disciplined civil servant in the finance ministry." Read more
BJP challenges Bihar govt to ban VHP meet in Patna
The BJP on Thursday challenged the Bihar government to ban ongoing meeting of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) here. The BJP made its dare after a few ministers, including deputy chief minister Tejaswi Yadav, threatened to take action against VHP leader Pravin Togadia if he delivers a communal or “hate" speech during the ongoing meeting of the VHP here. “BJP challenges the state government to ban the VHP meeting," senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi told media here, claiming the ministers have been attacking the VHP and Togadia for self-publicity. Earlier state minorities welfare minister Abdul Ghafoor, of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, said that the VHP and Togadia have a single-point agenda of creating social division and hatred. Read more
Swamy seeks details of Kejriwal’s IIT years
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Thursday raised questions over the process for Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s admission in the 1980s to the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, from where he was awarded Bachelor of Technology (Honours) degree.
In a press release, Swamy cited a Right to Information reply received from IIT-Kharagpur to his query asking the institute to provide the basis of Kejriwal’s entry into the BTech programme and his all-India rank in any competitive exam such as Joint Entrance Examination. This information is not available, the institution said in the RTI reply.
The institute gave other details of Kejriwal, which included his roll number in the Mechanical Engineering course and the years of study, but did not provide the copy of grade sheet of subjects since it is exempted from disclosure under the transparency law. Read more
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