India

Jaipur, Jan 28 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday accused the Narendra Modi government of tarnishing India's image as a country where peace prevailed and urged the youth not to let their voice be suppressed.

Targeting the youth, the former Congress president blamed the BJP-led government of creating an image for the country that deterred investors.

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 27 (PTI) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to arrange for airlifting the Indians stranded in Wuhan province of China, the epicentre of coronavirus, saying the ground situation there has further worsened.

In a letter to Modi, he said since the situation in Wuhan was grave, it would be appropriate to operate a special flight to Wuhan or a nearby functional airport and airlift Indian nationals stranded there.

New Delhi, Jan 27 (PTI) Gujarat Energy Minister Saurabhbhai Patel on Monday urged Saad Sherida Al Kaabi, Minister of State for Energy Affairs, Qatar, to supply gas to the state at reasonable rates on long-term basis, a press release from the state government said.

A bilateral meeting between Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan and Al Kaabi was held here which was attended by Patel.

New Delhi, Jan 27 (PTI) Ahead of the Union Budget, the Congress on Monday accused the government of doing little to put the country's economy in order and warned that it was on the brink of stagflation.

Party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said the country's economy needed the attention of the government as the world was watching it closely.

"We are at the brink of stagflation; we are at the risk of stagnating economy slipping into stagflation and I say that with full responsibility," she said.

Pune, Jan 27 (PTI) A National Investigation Agency (NIA) team arrived in the city on Monday and began the process of taking over probe into the Koregaon-Bhima-Elgar Parishad case, police officials said here.

The three-member team of the central agency landed on Monday morning and later met officials of the city police handling the sensitive case, which has triggered a new round of war of words between ruling and opposition parties in Maharashtra, the sources said.

Muzaffarnagar, Jan 28 (PTI) An e-rickshaw driver was stabbed after an argument broke out with two passengers over fares in Khatoli town of Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district, police said on Tuesday.

The driver, identified only as Shoeb, was stabbed on Monday, they said.

Muzaffarnagar (UP), Jan 28 (PTI) An elderly exorcist was allegedly shot dead by an unidentified assailant in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district, police said on Tuesday.

Sufi Abdusalam (60), who was into exorcism for several years, died of gunshot wounds after the assailant barged into his house on Monday in Khalapar area of Kotwali police station area and fired at him from close range, they said.

Muzaffarnagar, Jan 28 (PTI) A man has been booked here for allegedly raping a woman on the pretext of marrying her, the police said on Tuesday.

Both belong to the same village in this district and are employees of a private company based in Dehradun, the police said.

A case in this connection was registered on Tuesday against Ashutosh Kumar, who has gone absconding, they said.

According to the woman's complaint, Kumar established physical relationship with her on the promise of marriage. When she asked him to marry her, he refused, it said.

Guwahati, Jan 28 (PTI) A day after the Bodo Peace Accord was signed, senior Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday extended an olive branch to the anti-talk ULFA (Independent) faction, appealing to its leader Paresh Barua to come to the negotiating table for the sake of "permanent peace in the Northeast".

Sarma, also the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) convenor, told reporters here that Union Home Minister Amit Shah had clearly said on Monday that if the ULFA(I) faction is ready for negotiations, then "the Centre is more than willing to hold talks with them."

Kanpur: City will be the culminating point of the five-day Ganga Yatra launching today. It covers districts like Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Bhadohi, Allahabad and Fatehpur respectively.

All the districts are situated on the banks of the river. A big public meeting would be held at quite a famous Ganga Barrage on ensuing January 31. 

The salient feature of this much-publicised yatra is to make the rural people aware of the ongoing namami gangey drive to rid the holy river of the dreadful pollution.