Nitish Kumar a "PM material": Salkhan Murmu
Jamshedpur, Aug 27: The Janata Dal (United) Jharkhand unit president, Salkhan Murmu on Tuesday described Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as "Prime Minister material" and said his party would contest the Jharkhand polls on Kumar's development model of clean and good governance.
Murmu told this at a press conference in Jamshedpur.
"The JD (U) can provide a clean and strong government based on Nitish Kumar's model of development, good governance, women empowerment, ban on sale of liquor, welfare of masses and development with justice," Murmu said.
He further added, "Besides, Nitish Kumar is a Prime Ministerial material and has immaculate image in political arena."
He said "We will contest the election on whatever symbol to be allotted by the Election Commission as Nitish Kumar's leadership, his development model and good governance is more relevant to perform in Jharkhand."
The ECI has barred JDU from using its arrow symbol in elections in Jharkhand and Maharashtra because of its similarity with symbols of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in Jharkhand and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra after the JMM had petitioned before the ECI in June saying that similar symbols could confuse voters.
Murmu said the party would approach the ECI and the Supreme Court against the party symbol "bow and arrow" being used by JMM within a week, "which is a symbol of tribal social and cultural importance, apart from its religion and the JMM has been exploiting the innocent tribals with this symbol to win elections".
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
