BJP agrees to coalition with PDP in J&K, picks Nirmal Singh as deputy CM

Mehbooba Mufti is all set to become Jammu and Kashmir's first woman chief minister, after the BJP on Friday officially agreed to form a coalition government with Mufti's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

J&K's BJP legislators on Friday unanimously agreed to a coalition government with the PDP and also came on board to support the PDP's chief ministerial candidate, the state's party president Sat Pal Sharma said.

The BJP on Friday also elected Nirmal Singh as its leader in the J&K assembly and nominated him for the deputy chief minister's post in the new PDP-BJP alliance government to be headed by Mufti.

The PDP had on Thursday unanimously elected Mufti as its legislature party leader.

The former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who headed a coalition government in J&K with the BJP, died on January 7. President's rule was imposed on the state on January 9 after a deadlock over the formation of a new government.

Nirmal Singh also served as the deputy chief minister in the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed-led PDP-BJP coalition that was in office for 10 months till Sayeed died on January 7.

Besides the BJP's J&K legislators, Jitendra Singh, the minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office and Ram Madhav, general secretary in the party in charge of Jammu and Kashmir affairs, attended the party's legislators meet here on Friday.

Informed sources said those at the meeting were apprised by Ram Madhav about the recent developments, including the Tuesday meeting in New Delhi between PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The BJP reiterated that no fresh conditions (by PDP) had been accepted and the alliance with the PDP will continue on the basis of the agenda of alliance signed (earlier) by the two parties," a BJP source said.

Jitendra Singh represents the Kathua-Udhampur Lok Sabha seat for the BJP in the Lok Sabha.

He informed that a BJP-PDP joint coordination committee will meet before the PDP and BJP separately meet governor NN Vohra on Friday.

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Never a breakdown in BJP, PDP coalition in J-K: Jitendra Singh

Union minister Jitendra Singh said on Friday there were no differences between coalition partners BJP and PDP in Jammu and Kashmir where decks have been cleared for government formation.

“There was never a breakdown in the coalition between BJP and PDP. I think this is the continuation of the process that started about a year back,” Singh, a minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, told reporters.

Singh, who is a party MP from Udhampur-Doda seat, said, “There were no differences. When you are in a coalition, you have to accommodate each other’s priorities and each other’s preferences.”

“That is precisely what we do in a healthy coalition that augers well for Jammu and Kashmir.”

On a question on how long it will take for government formation in the state, he said, “Very soon.”

“I think the coalition partners will sit together and work out all the modalities soon to ensure that a structure is in place with all its compatibilities and coordination intact,” he said.

The minister said that both the parties will work on the agenda of development.

Meanwhile, BJP legislators met in Jammu on Friday to discuss government formation in the state.

Sources said the legislators and senior leaders at the meeting were apprised by Ram Madhav, BJP’s general secretary in charge of J-K, about recent developments including Tuesday’s meeting between PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The BJP leadership reiterated that no fresh conditions (by PDP) had been accepted and the alliance with the PDP will continue on the basis of the agenda of alliance signed (earlier) by the two parties,” a BJP source told IANS.

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BJP slams Asaduddin Owaisi's 'anti-India' rant

"I do not know why it has to be linked to cutting ones throat," BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday slammed All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen party (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi for his remark that he won't chant 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' slogan and asked him as to what was wrong in respecting the mother land. "I do not know why this kind of language is catching up. Such a senior leader should not use such language. Secondly, with regard to considering mother earth not as an idol or idol worship, this is the land we come from. To have respect for it, I do not know why it has to be linked to cutting ones throat," BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli said.

Owaisi's comments came in wake of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat's suggestion that the new generation needs to be taught to chant slogans hailing mother India. "I don't chant that slogan. What are you going to do Bhagwat sahab?" Owaisi said at a public rally in Latur.

"I won't utter that (slogan) even if you put a knife on my throat. Nowhere has it been mentioned in the Constitution that one should say 'Bharat Mata ki Jai'," he added.

The RSS chief had earlier said the new generation needs to be taught to chant slogans hailing mother India. Bhagwat's comments came against the backdrop of the row over alleged anti-India sloganeering in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus on February 9.

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How BJP Student Wing Reacted To Kanhiya Kumar, Who Trended Worldwide

New Delhi:  Kanhiya Kumar's speech, delivered last night at the Jawaharlal Nehru University or JNU, where he pledged his commitment to fighting for "azaadi (freedom) not from, but in India" catalyzed him into a worldwide trend on Twitter.  The nearly one-hour -long address  was fiercely critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government.  Unsurprisingly, students from the ABVP, the youth wing of the ruling BJP, aren't impressed

Mr Kumar, President of the Left-affiliated JNU Students Union, was arrested on sedition charges last month, forging an international debate on whether  the government is using the charge of "anti-national" as a fig leaf for cracking down on dissent and free speech.

Mr Kumar has denied making anti-India remarks at a rally at JNU in February, after which he was arrested. Footage of Mr Kumar that was televised by some news channels has been declared doctored by a forensic lab that was asked to examine the video by the Delhi government.

"Nobody is anyone's enemy here, everybody sits together and has tea as we  discuss our ideologies, but if anyone is going to do sloganeering against our country we would react," said Saurabh Verma, General Secretary of the BJP's student wing at JNU. It was on the basis of an ABVP complaint that a BJP parliamentarian filed a police case last month, leading to the jailing of Mr Kumar after a controversial police raid on campus to find him. Two other students from JNU are still in prison. 

Mr Kumar, 28, has been given bail by the Delhi High Court with a list of conditions that include a commitment to not participating "actively or passively in any activity which may be termed anti-national". 

Mr Sharma  said that the Delhi government's inquiry, which clears  Mr Kumar of making inflammatory remarks, is not the last word on the case. "Kanhaiya  Kumar has got conditional bail; we believe in the workings of the court, we are waiting for the final result," he said.


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BJP seals deal with AGP ahead of Assam polls

The BJP on Wednesday sealed its electoral alliance with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) for the upcoming assembly poll in Assam, which has been ruled by the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress for the last 15 years.

Today’s announcement came after a meeting between AGP leaders and BJP president Amit Shah in New Delhi. The AGP delegation was lead by party chief Atul Bora and former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta.

“Both BJP and AGP have decided to contest the assembly election together. This decision has been taken to oust the Congress from power in Assam,” said Sarbananda Sonowal, Assam BJP president and Union minister.

AGP chief Bora said that to form a non-Congress government in Assam, there was a need to avoid splitting the anti Congress votes

BJP sources claimed that the AGP would get at least 24 seats, while the two sides would try and avoid friendly fights on another 2-3 seats.

The BJP-AGP alliance could hurt Gogoi’s prospects as the chances of the anti-Congress votes getting split is diminished. The vote base of the two parties is almost similar, except that the BJP has made significant inroads in the state’s tea garden areas and also enjoys the support of the Bengali Hindus in some pockets. The AGP’s vote bank is in rural Assam, mainly in the Brahmaputra valley.

Meanwhile, news of the BJP leaderships’ decision to go with the AGP triggered protests in Assam as workers of the saffron party ransacked party offices at many places in the state.

In Bongaigaon, BJP workers shouted slogans against the central leadership and ransacked the party office, later setting it ablaze. In Sivasagar and Sonitpur districts, BJP workers protested by ransacking the party’s office at Amguri and Tezpur respectively.

The AGP leaderships also faced flak for the electoral alliance with the BJP. In Nalbari town in lower Assam, AGP workers staged a protest against the decision. Earlier this week, AGP vice-president Durga Das Boro had resigned in protest against the alliance moves and joined the Congress.

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Durga row, Rohith faux pas: Irani is controversy’s favourite child

Human resource development minister Smriti Irani is rushing from one controversy to another to leave the ruling BJP red in the face. The first week of the budget session of Parliament saw the party trying to defend the minister as she faced a barrage of charges including lying on sensitive issues. Here are some instances where she turned out to be an embarrassment for her own party.

Durga row

Irani read word by word from a controversial pamphlet on Goddess Durga which was allegedly distributed during an event at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Her aim was to take on the Opposition head on. Instead, she left the party MPs squirming in embarrassment. With the BJP’s brand of ‘nationalism’ on display in Parliament, the Congress lapped up the Smriti gaffe and asked for her apology for her words on the goddess. BJP MP Udit Raj, too, made matter worse for the party by openly contradicting the minister’s claim about the Mahisasur Diwas programme he attended at JNU.

Rohith case faux pas

The suicide by Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad earlier too has put the BJP in a tight spot with Irani leading a spirited but factually incorrect defence of her ministry. Irani contradicted opposition’s allegations over putting pressure on the University of Hyderabad’s administration to take action against Rohith for allegedly assaulting a student affiliated to ABVP. On Friday, Rohith’s mother and brother accused Irani of spreading blatant lies. Rohith’s mother also recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comment that he regretted the loss of her son and added BJP’s ministers were now calling the Dalit scholar anti-national.

Nailed by a doctor

In the Hyderabad university case, Irani claimed that doctors were not allowed to examine Rohith Vemula and revive him after he hanged himself in his hostel room. Irani’s claim inside Parliament was rejected by a doctor of the university who insisted that she had examined Rohith within minutes of being informed and declared him dead.

Fabricated statement

In January, about a dozen professors at the University of Hyderabad quit their administrative posts, accusing Irani of making “fabricated statements”. They rubbished her claim that a Dalit professor was among the members of the university’s body that suspended Vemula.

Offering her head

Smriti got so carried away by emotion that she promised to offer her head to Mayawati if the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader was not satisfied with her answer on the Hyderabad university row. Mayawati turned the tables on her on Friday saying the minister should keep her promise as she was not satisfied with the government’s response.

Off-campus of IIT

The minister is known to contradict her own claims. While replying to a discussion in the Lok Sabha in April last year, she said the IIT Act was violated to open an off- centre in Mauritius with “Indian taxpayers’ money” in 2013. The same day, in reply to another question in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said that IIT-Delhi did not incur “any expenditure” either on the setting up of the off-campus in Mauritius or in starting academic programmes at the institute.

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'Freedom 251' Scheme Biggest Scam Of Millennium, Alleges Congress Lawmaker

Alleging that 'Freedom 251' smartphone scheme was a "fraud", Congress lawmaker Pramod Tiwari in Rajya Sabha today strongly objected to the presence of BJP leaders at the launch of the scheme to sell smartphones at a price of Rs. 251 and sought a reply from the government.

"I am making a definite allegation. This government is going to do a big scam. This is going to be the biggest scam of the millennium during the rule of BJP.

"The product has been launched by BJP leaders. This is a scam in which leaders of BJP are involved. They talk about 'Make in India' but what they are doing is 'Make in Fraud'," Mr Tiwari said during Zero Hour and expressed doubts over the claim of the company to provide mobile phones to consumers at just Rs. 251.

He said six crore bookings have already been made for the phone and even at the rate of Rs. 251 each, the mobile company must have collected hundreds of crores of rupees.

Demanding that the money collected by the company should be kept secure, Mr Tiwari said even the Director of the company has said that the minimum cost of the phone is Rs. 1400 and wondered how can the gadget be then sold at just Rs. 251.

Mr Tiwari said if it is possible to get a phone at Rs. 251, then how can others are charging Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 30,000 for a mobile set.

"Either this is wrong or that is wrong. The government has its share either in this or that. Government should answer," Mr Tiwari said.

Ringing Bells, a Noida based start-up, which launched the mobile had said they had developed it with support from the government.

Soon after the launch ceremony where a veteran BJP leader was present, doubts were raised about the genuineness of the company's claim to provide phone at the rate of Rs. 251.

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David Headley Revelations: BJP wants Sonia and Rahul to apologise for trying to 'fix' Modi

Leading the attack on opposition leaders for trying to 'fool the people', Home Minister Rajnath Singh led the clarion call for the Congress and other parties to apologise. He told ANI: "You must have heard what David Headley has just said in Court, that Ishrat Jahan was a suicide bomber. Ishrat Jahan regarding whom so many accusations were cast on our leaders. Tell me, will the accusing political parties now apologise to the nation for trying to fool the people?"He also asserted that the revelations made by David Coleman Headley before a Mumbai special court has exposed Pakistan, adding that New Delhi would still prefer cordial relations with Islamabad. "I think Pakistan has been exposed. Even then, we would like to have a very cordial relationship with Pakistan," Singh told the media.

Deposing from an undisclosed location in the US, Headley had so far told the special court that the ISI was helping different terror outfits in Pakistan and was providing financial, military and moral support. Headley, who had conducted recce of the places in Mumbai which were attacked by 10 LeT terrorists on November 26, 2008, also revealed that the outfit had initially planned to attack a conference of Indian defence scientists in Taj Mahal Hotel.

He also said he had also conducted a recce of the famous Siddhivinayak Temple and Naval Air Station on directions of LeT commanders

Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley's deposition that Ishrat Jahan, who was killed in an encounter in Gujarat in 2004, was an LeT operative led to a political slugfest with BJP demanding that the Congress leadership should apologise for "targeting Narendra Modi over her killing at the cost of national security". BJP accused Congress of politicising the encounter as part of its "hate politics" against Modi, then Gujarat chief minister, and said if its chief Sonia Gandhi and her deputy Rahul Gandhi had any "shame" left, then they must apologise to the nation.

Police personnel who fought terrorists risking their lives were put behind bars by the then UPA government and security agencies like CBI and IB were politicised, party secretary Shrikant Sharma alleged, saying it was done to "defame and fix" Modi as part of a "political conspiracy".

"Headley's deposition that she was a LeT's suicide bomber has unmasked those who do politics over terrorism. We do not expect any morality from Congress. But if Sonia and her son Rahul Gandhi, who is a champion in politics of conspiracy, have any shame left, then they must apologise to the nation.

"They should apologise to the police personnel' families who had to suffer after they were put in jail for killing these terrorists in encounter. Congress and its allies linked terrorists with religion to mask their corrupt governance," he told a press conference.

Congress sought to dismiss BJP demands for an apology in the wake of David Headley's claims that Ishrat Jahan was an LeT operative, insisting that the "fundamental question" was whether she and her accomplices were killed in fake encounter.

Sharma also cited comments of Congress leaders questioning the Batla House encounter and their allusion to RSS hand in 26/11 Mumbai attack to attack the opposition party. "It has become clear that Congress played with national security. It is height of hate politics," he said.

Immediately after Headley's testimony, a battery of BJP leaders swung into action to attack Congress, claiming that its leaders dubbed Ishrat as a "martyr" only to "fix" Modi.

BJP cited a number of developments during the UPA's tenure, including "contradictory" affidavits filed in court over Ishrat case and NIA's reported decision to omit Headley's statement to it in which he allegedly said that she was an LeT terrorist, to argue that Congress used her killing to target Modi and Amit Shah, then a Gujarat minister and now party chief. Somebody had stated she was a college-going girl and somebody else said she was a martyr and all these people have been unmasked now, Sharma said.

It is clear that she and her associates were on a mission to kill Modi and attack religious places, he claimed.

BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain attacked the "secular brigade" and took a dig at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for using Ishrat's killing as an issue during then Bihar polls by terming her a 'Bihar ki beti'. Another party spokesperson, Nalin Kohli noted that LeT had portrayed her as a "martyr" on its website but "government agencies at that time were put at war with each other and attempts were made at fixing individuals... instead of finding the truth".

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