Digvijay accepts his affair with Rajya Sabha anchor

Congress leader Digvijay Singh Wednesday declared on twitter his affair with Amrita Rai, an anchor from Rajya Sabha Television. He also stressed that he doesn’t like encroachment in their private life.

"I have no hesitation in accepting my relationship with Amrita Rai. She and her husband have already filed a mutual consent divorce case," Singh, 67, tweeted.

Singh's wife died last year after battling cancer for several years.

During election campaign, Singh was among the senior Congress leaders who attacked Narendra Modi, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, after he accepted for the first time that he is married.

On being criticized for encroaching in Modi’s personal life, Singh tweeted, “Modi hid the fact that he has wife who he deserted & left to fend for herself! I accept my relationship with Amrita Ji openly. Don't compare!”

Amrita Rai said on twitter said that she plans to marry the Congressman and has filed divorce papers with her husband.

She tweeted, “I have separated from my husband and we have filed a mutual consent divorce papers. After which I have decided to marry with Digvijaya Singh.”

Pictures of him with Ms Rai have have gone viral on social media.

At 4 pm on Wednesday, Digvijay and Rai were among the top trending topics on Twitter.

Amrita Rai is a senior Anchor at Rajya Sabha Television and married to Anand Pradhan.

She earlier worked with NDTV. She began her career in television with BAG Films. She was one of the members who started Star News.

She is considered to be a serious and well-informed journalist.

Manmohan's brother joins BJP; family shocked.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's-brother Daljeet Singh Kohli Friday joined the BJP in the presence of its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

Kohli, a a textile exporter in Amritsar for past sixteen years, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) when Narendra Modi came here to address a rally in favour of senior party leader Arun Jaitley, who is contesting from the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat.

Narendra Modi hugged him and said, "Today, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's brother Daljeet Singh has joined the BJP. This will further boost our strength. I extend my heartfelt welcome to him.We are not a party of mere membership. We build relations".

He was presented a siropa (robes of religious honour) in the presence of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and BJP’s Amritsar candidate Arun Jaitley.

Addressing the rally, Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal said Kohli is hurt by the treatment Dr. Singh received at the hands of Gandhi family.

Daljit, in his interview to a renowned newspaper, said he was disappointed at the way his brother was sidelined and his policies ignored by his party.

“My brother is an honest man, he served country with full dedication and honesty for ten years but Congress leaders never gave him a free hand and rather interfered in his and his government's functioning," said Daljit.

He added he joined BJP because he liked Arun Jaitley’s vision and he believed that Modi had the capacity to take all communities and parties together. He said he is likely to contest elections on BJP ticket soon.

Reacting to the development, Dr. Singh’s other younger brother Surjit Singh Kohli, who also lives in Amritsar, said he was heartbroken at the development. He suspected that Punjab deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal and revenue minister Bikram Singh Majithia could be behind this move.

He said he had no clue till Thursday morning about Daljit joining BJP and emphasized that all brothers had cordial relationship for years.

He added it was a very sad moment in his life.

The party leaders refused to comment on the issue saying they first need to study the exact relationship of Daljit Singh to the prime minister and what led him to join the BJP.

Sources in PMO said Manmohan Singh's family is shocked at the development. His intentions are not known but he is free to pursue his political career. They further added that the Prime Minister and Kohli have not been in touch for long.

The sources said,” Manmohan Singh is the only son and has six sisters. Daljit Singh is a stepbrother of the Prime Minister. Manmohan Singh's mother died at an early age”.

The BJP and the Akali Dal are ruling partners in Punjab, as well as the constituents of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

Kohli had remained apolitical even after his elder brother Manmohan Singh became prime minister in 2004 and got a second term in 2009.

Manmohan Singh had studied in Amritsar after his father's family migrated here from western Punjab in Pakistan following the partition in August 1947.

Hema misleads EC: AAP

Aam Aadmi Party accused BJP candidate from Mathura Lok Sabha seat Hema Malini of forging details in her nomination papers.  In his complaint to Election Commission, AAP supporter from Delhi DK Tyagi stated that BJP candidate hid the fact that she converted to Islam at the time of her marriage with Dharmendra. Her name was then changed to Ayesha.

He also alleged that bollywood actress provided wrong information about her qualification in her papers. She claims to have done doctorate while she could not even pass high school. AAP demanded cancellation of her nomination on the basis of People Act 2010.

On the other hand, DM Vishal Chouhan made it clear that EC will not be dealing with the issue as none of the parties raised objections in the first place and normal procedure was initiated therefore, applicant has to appeal in the court. 

Amethi is all we want

Battle between Congress’ Rahul Gandhi, BJP’s Smriti Irani and AAP’s Kumar Vishwas goes on hard in Amethi. Constituency which never received any attention has now become center of attraction. All eyes are on May 7 when it goes to polls.

Since 1980, Amethi has been electing a Congress candidate as its representative in the parliament except in 1998, when BJP’s Sanjay Singh was the MP for a year. In 1999, Amethi again elected Congress’ Sonia Gandhi and from 2004 onwards, Rahul has been the MP.

While some people believe Aam Aadmi Party has bleak prospects in Amethi as people are happy with even a mere road connecting their villages and a few hours of power supply, others believe Amethi deserves to be at par with urban cities. They need economic growth, better roads, employment and corruption free administration.

Amethi’s Lok Sabha seat comprises four towns, two municipal councils and multiple villages.

Why not Rahul this time?
Seeing the roads, one can easily make out the money spent on Amethi’s infrastructure during Rahul’s tenure as its representative. Factories started with loads of money remain shut. Unemployed youth is forced to migrate to metropolitan cities.

It is hard to believe that it’s the constituency of Rahul Gandhi, Vice President of Congress which is leading the alliance at centre.

Having built psychological and emotional bond with the Congress party over the past three decades, some people still want to re-elect Rahul in 2014 General elections. BJP and AAP candidates seem to have little or no impact on them. Candidature of Kumar Vishwas and Smriti Irani tend to have no influence on their pre determined decisions.

Why not Smriti Irani?
In a male dominated country like India, especially the rural areas, women tend to follow husbands decision.
Smriti Irani, now the universal bahu, may try to influence women but ultimately decision is taken by the men of society. In an effort to win women hearts, she raises kitchen related issues like expensive oil, vegetables, flour etc.

“In a country where guest is treated like God (Atithi Devo Bhava), arrival of him gives tensions to the people in Amethi as they can’t afford to serve him”, said Irani in one of her rallies.
She may win applause from women listening to her but these women have little say in their own decisions.

And finally, why Kumar Vishwas?With his home shifted in Amethi, Aam Aadmi candidate Kumar Vishwas has built place in people’ hearts. He set up his base in Amethi much before Election Commission’s elections announcement. He assured people of his availability all time for their grievances.

He was the first one to challenge Rahul Gandhi. He charged Gandhi Scion of misusing the funds allocated for Amethi’s growth during his tenure “Growth cannot be seen in Amethi. It looks as backward as ever. Where has Rahul been for past 10 years”, questions Kumar Vishwas.

Kejriwal shown black flags in Faridabad

Ahead of Arvind Kejriwal arrival at the point from where AAP was to start its road show today in sector 37 market of Faridabad city, black flags were waved by a group of people.

Shouting slogans against the party, the men accused party of shirking responsibilities by resigning within just 49 days which was brought to power on a promise of clean and corruption free governance.

One of the men admitted to be BJP worker and said he protested as part of group of dissatisfied aam aadmi (common man).

The AAP alleged that the protest was sponsored by the BJP.

"These people are from the BJP, we even recognize half of them," said Purushottam Dagar, AAP's candidate from Faridabad.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is on a two day tour of Haryana on March 22-23. He is campaigning for the AAP candidates of Faridabad and Gurgaon Lok Sabha constituencies, Purushotam Dagar and Yogendra Yadav, respectively.

Mamata claims Modi wave fake

In an oblique reference to Modi, Mamata yesterday said people may be chanting NaMo NaMo but the game is not easy as it appears.

In a meeting of party workers at Pailan in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, Mamata said she saw BJP even before coming to power. Some of BJP members are talking as if their Prime Ministerial candidate has already won. She said the game is not so easy. She cannot accept that BJP will come to power just because everybody says so.

Instead, she believes it is the Federal Front's turn to run the country's politics.

Mamata asked where from BJP would get numbers. It is not in power in Odisha, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Bengal, Punjab and many other states. As the days go by, the math will become cloudy. This time, no BJP, no Congress, the Federal Front will run the politics of the country.

This was the first time when Mamata attacked Modi and his party.

6 killed in bomb explosion in village near Kudankulam nuclear plant

At least six people, including two children, died on Tuesday aroumd 7 pm after a crude bomb exploded at Tsunami colony near Idinthakarai village that has been epicentre of protests against the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu.

Three houses collapsed due to the impact of the explosion.

Fearing arrest, all villagers fled Tsunami Colony as soon as police personnel arrived.

Bodies could not be identified as no villager was present to help the police.

A case has been filed against activist Udhayakumar, who led local campaigns against the Kudankulam plant. Some of the people killed in explosion are suspected to be activists of the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy, which is headed by Mr Udhayakumar.

The police claim the blasts took place accidentally while bombs were being assembled at a house in the village.

Two live bombs were also recovered from the spot.

M Pushparayan, a leader of the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy that is spearheading the protests, said the country bombs had nothing to do with their movement nor were their supporters involved in bomb making.

The village has witnessed massive protests over the last two years against the nuclear plant.

Some villages in this region are notorious for making crude bombs to target rival groups during clashes. Last month, a minor boy was arrested for possessing around 25 country-made bombs at the neighbouring village of Koothankuzhi.

Third in a row, Lehar

After cyclones Phailin and Helen, a new cyclone named Lehar is likely to hit Andhra Pradesh coastal area between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam today afternoon

System, which is moving at a speed of 15kmph westwards now, is expected to intensify in the evening and move west-northwestwards. Moderate rains and squally winds at 45-55 km per hour are expected tomorrow which may further lead to windspeeds of upto 200 km as the system comes closer.

33 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been deployed. There are 16 teams in East Godavari, six each in Vizag and Krishna and five teams in West Godavari.

Storm may lead to extensive damage to mud houses, disruption of communication and power lines, road and rail traffic. State’s disaster commissioner has warned of potential threat from flying debris and flooding of escape routes and also extensive damage to agricultural crops.

Fishermen have been advised to return to coast. Evacuation from low-lying areas in four districts, Krishna, East and West Godavari and Visakhapatnam, will take place tomorrow afternoon. Special officers have been nominated for the nine coastal districts.

Control rooms at Secretariat- 040 - 23452144 and 23451043 have been opened and operating.

The state government has sought four helicopters from defence secretary to be stationed at Visakhapatnam. Along with the Army and Railways, the Coast Guard, Coastal Security wing, Marine Police, and district police have been alerted.

District Collectors have been asked to ensure adequate supplies of food, drinking water, medicines, fuel in vulnerable areas. Relief centers are also opened up.

529 marine villages out of 580 in nine coastal districts have been contacted so far. 5550 boat out of 6160 that have ventured into the sea have returned.

Love living animals, not the killed

Believing non-vegetarian food to be a good source of proteins and vitamins, many parents encourage their children to adopt such diet. Due to poor knowledge, they fail to realise the same nutrition is available in a variety of vegetarian foods.

Mothers, human or animal, raise children with perpetual readiness to reach any extent for their protection. How about the mothers whose children are slaughtered in front of them just for the tastebud of us. Spare a thought about their thoughts of utmost helplessness and grief.

One evening as I passed through a locality in South Delhi, I saw a man sprinkling water on sleeping hens in a cage. It required not much of a brain to understand that he was readying them for slaughter the next morning. The poor hens were not even allowed to sleep peacefully the night before. My heart went out for the livestock that must be kept fresh. But seconds later, I realized these hens were probably the same people who killed animals in their previous lifetime for their taste and are now bearing the whirlwind of our own karmas. The same slaughterer will be slaughtered in the next life as an animal. Since I believe the theory of karma and rebirth, I acknowledge the vicious circle thus made.

Let’s get out of this vicious circle once and for all. Let’s go back to the theory of our ancient sages 'Live and Let Live'. This is our moment. Let’s break free.

PM makes statement in Parliament, attempt to pacify opposition

Manmohan Singh Friday made statement in parliament on economic crisis.

He held external factors such as tensions over Syria and the prospect of US Federal Reserve tapering its policy of quantitative easing responsible for weakness in emerging market currencies.

He said large account deficit and other domestic factors had adversely affected rupee value .

He emphasized on reducing current account deficit to bring about an improvement in the functioning of economy.

He proposed reduction in gold buying and use of petroleum products, and at the same time taking steps to increase exports.

In his statement, Singh said, “Since 2008, there has been a deterioration, mainly on account of huge imports of gold, higher costs of crude oil imports and recently, of coal”.

Exports, particularly of iron ore have been drastically affected due to weak demand in major markets.

He said Finance Ministry has set target of below $ 70 billion current account deficit this year and claimed that results were reflecting with a declining trade deficit in June and July. Short term target of CAD is kept at 2.5 per cent of GDP.

Singh held that depreciation in rupee encouraged exports in many sectors and expected to feel the effect more strongly in exports and in the financial position of exporting sectors resulting in correction of CAD to some extent.

Inflation in India has been much higher than in the advanced countries. Therefore, it is natural that there has to be a correction in the exchange rate to account for this difference. To some extent, depreciation can be good for the economy as this will help to increase our export competitiveness and discourage imports.

Singh expected growth to be flat in first quarter of 2013-2014 and a pick up on account of good monsoon.

He also assured that the government will do whatever is necessary to contain the fiscal deficit to 4.8% of GDP this year and would take effective steps to ensure subsidies reach the poor which is the most growth-friendly way to contain the deficit.

“The Reserve Bank will therefore continue to focus on bringing down inflation. The favourable monsoon and the anticipated good harvest will help bring down food prices and ease the task of controlling inflation. Even while we go about doing what is necessary, it is important to recognize that the fundamentals of the Indian economy continue to be strong. India’s overall public-debt to GDP ratio has been on a declining trend from 73.2% of GDP in 2006-07 to 66% in 2012-13. Similarly, India’s external debt is only 21.2% of our GDP and while short-term debt has risen, it stands at no more than 5.2% of our GDP. Our foreign exchange reserves stand at US$278bn, and are more than sufficient to meet India’s external financing requirements, “said the PM.

On banking sector, he said the Indian banking sector has seen some rise in bad loans. He believed there is liquidity problem. Many important projects have been delayed which, if come to stream, will generate revenue and repay loans. 

He stressed on doing difficult reforms such as reduction of subsidies, insurance and pension sector reforms, eliminating bureaucratic red tape and implementing Goods and Services Tax.

He held political parties responsible for holding up many laws. He urged states to come to an agreement for reforms such as Goods and Services Tax which is believed to be essential for restoring growth and boosting revenues.

He emphasized on the need to have strong economy fundamentals to ensure healthy rate of growth.