Amethi District Renames Eight Railway Stations

Nashik, Dec 17 (IANS) Upset over his exclusion in the recent Cabinet expansion, senior NCP legislator and Samata Parishad founder, Chhagan Bhujbal on Tuesday slammed the party President and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister, Ajit Pawar and Working President Praful Patel and asked whether he was a “toy in their hands.”

Bhujbal, who is sulking over not getting a ministerial berth decided to skip the ongoing Winter Session of the House and reached Nashik on Tuesday.

He met a large number of supporters and declared that he would find out who had denied him the ministerial berth despite Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis being in favour of his induction into the Cabinet.

Chhagan Bhujbal told his supporters at Nashik that he would soon take a decision on the future course of action.

“Ajit Pawar and Praful Patel had said that they will discuss with me about giving me a ministerial berth. But they did not sit down for a discussion. No one from Ajit Pawar or Praful Patel’s office called me. I am not a toy in their hands. If I resign, what will the people of my constituency think if I decide to consider their offer to go to Rajya Sabha,” he commented.

Targeting Ajit Pawar and Praful Patel, Bhujbal further said, “Chhagan Bhujbal is not that kind of a person who if told to sit down will sit down and if told to stand up, will stand up.”

“I will discuss with all the workers in the state and think about the next step. In a democracy, everyone has the right to express his or her views. I am trying to find out who rejected me for the ministerial post.

“The decision for every party is taken by the party chief. Just like Devendra Fadnavis takes the decision for the BJP, Eknath Shinde takes the decision for the Shiv Sena. Similarly, Ajit Pawar takes the decision for our group,” said Bhujbal.

“Chief Minister Fadnavis had insisted that I should be in the Cabinet. I have confirmed this myself. I did not declare my name in the Lok Sabha.

“The Rajya Sabha seat came up. I said ‘let me go’, but I was not given a ticket. Party legislator Makrand Patil’s brother Nitin Patil was given a nomination.

“I have been here for 40 years. At that time, the party told me that I was needed in the state and asked me to contest the Assembly election. I fought and won.

“Now the party has offered me a Rajya Sabha seat saying that as Makrand Patil has been inducted into the Cabinet his brother Nitin Patil will be asked to resign from the Rajya Sabha,” said Bhujbal.

He added that he has rejected the party’s offer as it would be a betrayal of the electorate from the Yevala constituency who overwhelmingly voted for him.

“I contested the election and won. My workers risked their lives for my victory. What can I tell them? So I cannot resign from the Legislative Assembly now. If I want to go to the Rajya Sabha, I will have to resign from the Legislative Assembly. I told them that I will leave after two years. Till then, I will solve whatever issues there are in the constituency.

“After that, they said that we will discuss. But they did not sit down for a discussion,” said Chhagan Bhujbal.

“Everyone wants a ministerial berth. The issue is not about the ministerial berth, but the way it was disregarded.

“Union Minister Amit Shah had personally observed that Chhagan Bhujbal should contest the General Elections from the Nashik seat. All preparations were made, a lot of supporters approached me. If they wanted to make me contest, then they should have announced my name. They took a month for that and thereafter I announced my withdrawal from contesting the General Election from Nashik,” he said.

–IANS

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Chennai, Dec 11 (IANS) The Madras High Court has dismissed a case challenging the conduct of elections to the Chennai Press Club.

On Wednesday, Justice G. Jayachandran, a single-Bench judge, declined to entertain a suit filed by T.M. Viswanaath, a member of the Chennai Press Club.

The elections, scheduled for December 15, will take place after a 25-year gap, the last being held in 1999.

The elections aim to select a complete set of new office-bearers, including a president, two vice presidents, a general secretary, a treasurer, two joint secretaries, and five committee members.

Only primary members of the club are eligible to contest and vote in the elections.

Justice Jayachandran advised the plaintiff to approach the court after the declaration of results if he remained dissatisfied with the election process.

The elections are being conducted under the supervision of a Special Guidance Committee (SGC).

The 12-member SGC, led by veteran journalist N. Ram, had earlier constituted a subcommittee to finalise the list of members and appointed retired High Court Judge, V. Bharathidasan as the Election Officer.

The plaintiff sought to restrain the subcommittee from enrolling fresh members to the club.

However, P. Wilson, Senior Counsel representing the club, argued that the elections were being held after several years, and some individuals were attempting to block the process.

He noted that this group had been occupying the club for a long time.

Wilson further stated that the plaintiff had not challenged the election notification or the finalised voter list, and under such circumstances, the court could not grant an injunction against the polls.

Senior Counsel R. Singaravelan, representing another Chennai Press Club member who opposed the plea, emphasised that the elections, being conducted after decades, should not be obstructed.

Justice Jayachandran dismissed the case and clarified that the election process could proceed uninterrupted.

He added that any grievances could be raised in court after the elections and the announcement of results.

–IANS

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Nagpur, Dec 16 (IANS) The Maharashtra government, on Monday, presented supplementary demands worth Rs 35,788.40 crore in the state legislature. These demands, which were presented for the first time after the Mahayuti government was formed following the recently held Assembly election, will finance the ongoing schemes of the state government, including Ladki Bahin Yojana and also the state government share in the Central government-funded schemes.

The supplementary demands were tabled by the Shiv Sena Minister Uday Samant in the Assembly.

Of the Rs 35,788.40 crore, as high as Rs 7,490.24 crore have been earmarked for the public work department, Rs 4,112.79 crore for industry, energy, labour and mining department, Rs 3,717.29 crore towards interest-free loans for 50 years to the state government for capital expenditure, Rs 3,050 crore for free electricity to consumers under the Mukhyamantri Baliraja scheme and Rs 2,774.43 crore for urban development department.

Further, the government has earmarked Rs 2,600.31 crore for the OBC department, Rs 2,165.47 crore for the water resources department, which is engaged in the completion of long pending irrigation projects, Rs 2,155.40 crore for the women and child development department.

The government has earmarked Rs 1,400 crore, especially for the Ladki Bahin Yojana. Nearly 2.34 crore women beneficiaries have already been provided Rs 7,500 (Rs 1,500 per month) for July to November. The Mahayuti has promised to increase the monthly aid to Rs 2,100 and it is expected that the money earmarked through supplementary demands will be used for depositing the December aid to women beneficiaries. The Women and Child Development Department is the nodal department for the implementation of the Ladki Bahin Yojana.

The government has also earmarked Rs 2,147.41 crore for agriculture and animal husbandry. The Mahayuti has promised a loan waiver to farmers and the government is expected to soon come out with a detailed policy in this regard.

Further, Rs 2,049.69 crore has been earmarked for medical education, Rs 2,007.69 crore for rural development, Rs 1,908.01 crore for various irrigation development corporations towards share capital, Rs 1,830.76 crore for tribal development, Rs 1,377.55 crore for cooperation, marketing and textile department and Rs 1,500 crore for public work department as the government component towards the loan received from the Asian Development Bank for the construction of roads and bridges.

The government has made an allocation of Rs 1,250 crore for Modi Awas Gharkul Yojana, Rs 1,204.58 crore for providing margin money to the eligible cooperative sugar factories, Rs 1,170 crore towards state government component for getting loan from the Asian Development Bank for the construction of medical colleges in the state, Rs 1,000 crore for providing incentives to small, medium and big industries and Rs 758.96 crore towards milk subsidy scheme.

It must be mentioned here that the Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar on July 9 in the state Assembly presented the supplementary demands worth Rs 94,889.06 crore. This was necessitated to finance a slew of freebies and sops announced by Deputy CM Ajit Pawar in the budget 2024-25 with an eye on the state Assembly election. Pawar presented the budget of Rs 6,12,293 crore on June 28 in the state Assembly with a revenue deficit of Rs 20,051 crore and a fiscal deficit of Rs 1.10 lakh crore.

Even though the supplementary demands were to the tune of Rs 94,889.06 crore, the direct financial burden on the state government was estimated at Rs 88,770.64 crore.

(Sanjay Jog can be contacted at sanjay.j@ians.in)

–IANS

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