Adani News

Tag: ahead

  • Rahul Gandhi to visit US ahead of PM’s Biden meet

    Rahul Gandhi to visit US ahead of PM’s Biden meet

    NEW DELHI:  Ahead of Prime Minister Modi’s US visit, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to visit that country in the first week of June. The former Congress president is due to address a rally of around 5,000 Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) at Madison Square Garden in New York, sources said. Interestingly, PM Modi too addressed a gathering of Indians at Madison Square Garden in 2014 soon after he became the PM.

    The rally will take place on June 4. Gandhi is also likely to visit Washington DC and Los Angeles during his 10-day stay in the US, said sources. During his visit, he is also expected to address the students of Stanford University. The Congress leader will also meet many politicians and business leaders in the US during his visit.

    Rahul’s visit comes ahead of PM Modi’s scheduled visit to the US on June 22. Modi’s visit comes on an invitation from US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, the government said in a statement. The US President and the First Lady will also host PM Modi for a state dinner. The White House in a statement said that the visit will strengthen the shared commitment between the two countries to a free, open, and secure Indo-Pacific.

    Gandhi’s visit to the UK in March this year sparked a political controversy. During his speech at Cambridge University and interaction with journalists, Gandhi remarked that the structures of Indian democracy are under attack and there is a “full-scale assault” on the country’s institutions.

    The BJP demanded an apology from Gandhi for defaming the country on foreign soil and the issue led to a war of words between the Opposition and BJP in Parliament too. “Everybody knows, and it’s been in the news a lot, that Indian democracy is under pressure and attack. I am an Opposition leader in India; we are navigating that (Opposition) space,” Rahul said at Cambridge University in the UK.

  • Modi to go ahead with visit to Papua New Guinea, Australia despite Quad summit postponement

    Modi to go ahead with visit to Papua New Guinea, Australia despite Quad summit postponement

    NEW DELHI: Although the Quad Leaders Summit has been postponed since President Biden will head back to the US for urgent Congressional meetings after attending the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is sticking to his earlier schedule.

    After attending the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, he will head to Papua New Guinea and Australia for bilateral meetings.

    Since President Biden has to head back to the US, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is likely to hold a bilateral meeting of all Quad leaders in Hiroshima (on the sidelines of the G7 Summit) as PM Modi, PM Kishida and President Biden will all be present there.

    It is likely that they will arrive at a consensus for a later date for the Quad leaders Summit. Talks around fortifying their position in the Indo-Pacific are likely to be the core of the discussions, say sources.

    Prime Minister Modi will head for the G7 Summit on May 19 and is expected to go to Papua New Guinea on May 21.

    In Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, PM Modi will jointly host the 3rd Summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) with Prime Minister James Marape of Papua New Guinea on May 22. This will be the first ever visit of any Indian PM to the island nation.

    FIPIC is a group of India and 14 Pacific Island countries which includes Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Samoa, Vanuatu, Niue, Federal States of Micronesia, Republic of Marshall Islands, Cook Islands, Palau, Nauru and Solomon Islands.

    PM Modi will be in Sydney for a day on May 24 where he will have bilateral meetings with PM Albanese. He is also expected to interact with the Indian business community and the diaspora.

  • Kerala Assembly session called off seven days ahead of schedule

    Kerala Assembly session called off seven days ahead of schedule

    THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The budget session of the assembly was cut short seven days ahead of schedule, following major protests by the Opposition, including satyagraha by five UDF MLAs inside the House. With Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan moving a motion to guillotine the session, Speaker A N Shamseer quickly ran through the proceedings and wound up the eighth session of the 15th assembly on Tuesday.

    Like previous days, the assembly witnessed dramatic scenes on Tuesday too. The first surprise came from the Opposition at the beginning of the session. Opposition leader V D Satheesan announced an indefinite satyagraha of five MLAs — Uma Thomas, Anwar Sadath, T J Vinod, Kurakkoli Moitheen and AKM Ashraf — in the well of the House, protesting against lack of assurance from the chief minister on the permission of Rule 50 notice and withdrawing the non-bailable case charged against seven MLAs.

    The ruling front first responded to the move with a nonchalant attitude and continued with the question hour. The Opposition MLAs sat in the well of the House and shouted slogans against the speaker and the government. Though the speaker tried to remind them about his ruling on Monday related to the members’ behaviour and protests, the agitation continued unabated.

    Minister M B Rajesh also intervened and requested the speaker to take stern action, quoting rules of procedure. Each MLA and minister who spoke did not forget to criticise the protests.

    With the UDF’s surprise strategy, the government decided to wind up the session six minutes before the end of the question hour with the speaker announcing the dismissal of question hour and the chief minister moving a motion to guillotine the remaining days of sitting.

    Five bills, including few very important ones, were passed without any discussion. The bills are: The Kerala Public Health Bill — which brings all existing public health legislation under it, Kerala Finance Bill — under which `2 fuel cess will be implemented from April, Kerala Private Forests (Vesting and Assignments) Amendment Bill 2023, Kerala Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill 2023, and Kerala Municipality (Amendment) Bill 2023. A total of eight bills were passed in the session.

    In its 21 days of sitting, the assembly witnessed many unruly scenes from both Opposition and ruling benches. The Opposition stalled the proceedings for five consecutive days till Tuesday. The war of words between the Opposition and the ruling front took a U-turn with the Opposition MLAs staging a protest in front of the speaker’s office which turned violent. The scuffle between the Opposition MLAs and the watch and ward got ugly with both parties filing petitions against each other.

    The session also saw unprecedented scenes when the Opposition crossed the line between the chair and members to question the speaker’s impartiality in and out of the assembly. All hell broke loose after the spar between the CM and Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan during a discussion on Rule 50 notice over Life Mission. The Opposition accused the speaker of denying permission to most of the notices for adjournment motions.

    The relations between the speaker and the Opposition turned worse when the former called many Opposition MLAs who were protesting in front of the chair by their name and warned them that they are being watched by people.

    He then warned Shafi Parambil that he would lose the next election, which he later withdrew. On March 15, the Opposition also staged a mock assembly within the well of the House.CPM state secretary M V Govindan, who was absent from the House for a long due to his Janakeeya Prathirodha Yatra, attended the session for a short while on Tuesday.