I'm not campaigning for any political party: Salman Khan amid Congress' claim
New Delhi, Mar 21: Bollywood superstar Salman Khan Thursday said he will not be campaigning for any political party for the Lok Sabha polls, days after a Congress leader in Madhya Pradesh claimed that his party is speaking to the actor for electoral canvassing.
"Contrary to the rumours I am not contesting elections nor campaigning for any political party," Khan said in a tweet.
On Tuesday, state Congress spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi said that party leaders have already talked to Khan to campaign in Indore and they were almost certain that he will be campaigning.
Khan was born in Indore's Palasia area in 1965 and spent a substantial part of his childhood in that city before moving to Mumbai.
Indore, Madhya Pradesh's largest city, has been a BJP bastion since Sumitra Mahajan defeated former chief minister and senior Congress member Prakash Chandra Sethi in 1989.
Mahajan, an eight-time MP who went on to be Lok Sabha speaker, has retained the seat since then.
Salman campaigned and participated in a road show for the Congress' Indore mayoral candidate Pankaj Sanghavi in 2009.
However, the move did not pay off as senior BJP leader Krishna Murari Moghe defeated him.
Elections in Madhya Pradesh will be held over four phases starting April 29.
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Allahabad court restrains FIR order against Gandhi
Lucknow (PTI): The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has restrained its order directing an FIR against Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in connection with the alleged dual citizenship controversy.
The court will now hear the parties on whether prior notice to the accused was legally required.
A bench of Justice Subhash Vidyarthi, which had in Friday in an oral order observed that prima facie cognisable offences appeared to be made out against Gandhi, and permitted the Uttar Pradesh government to hand over the probe to a central agency, said it would first examine the legal position on issuance of notice before passing any direction.
The development came after the bench, before signing its dictated order, came across a full court verdict mandating that notice be issued to the proposed accused in such matters.
The court noted that none of the counsel brought this legal requirement to its attention in the earlier hearing.
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The bench has posted the matter for April 20.
The order was passed on a plea filed by Karnataka-based BJP worker S Vignesh Shishir.
During the Friday proceedings, Deputy Solicitor General of India S B Pandey produced records of the Centre relating to the citizenship controversy, while government advocate V K Singh submitted on behalf of the state that the allegations prima facie disclosed cognisable offences.
After a hearing, the bench observed that material on record indicated that Gandhi had allegedly committed cognisable offences and that the matter warranted investigation.
In his petition, Shishir alleged that Gandhi was a UK citizen and had incorporated a company, M/s Backops Ltd, in August 2003, declaring his nationality as British.
The petitioner claimed that Gandhi submitted the company's annual returns in October 2005 and October 2006 listing his nationality as British, and that the firm was dissolved in February 2009.
He sought registration of an FIR against the former Congress president under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Official Secrets Act, the Foreigners Act and the Passport Act.
The complaint was initially filed before a special MP/MLA court in Rae Bareli and was later transferred to Lucknow on the petitioner's request.
