Non-BJP leaders will be jailed before 2019 election: Lalu
Ranchi, Aug 29: Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of pushing the country towards Emergency, RJD leader Lalu Prasad on Wednesday alleged that the government had a plan to jail all non-BJP leaders before the next Lok Sabha election.
Arriving here by a private flight to surrender before a court, the former Bihar Chief Minister came down heavily on the Modi government.
"Narendra Modi is pushing the country towards Emergency. The opposition leaders are being targeted and implicated in false cases and sent to jail. There is a game plan to jail the non- BJP leaders before (the Lok Sabha) election," he told reporters.
Lalu Yadav was granted six weeks provisional bail for treatment in May which was later extended by the court. He was in Ranchi's Birsa Munda Central Jail after being convicted in December 2017 in the fodder scam.
The Jharkhand High Court on September 24 directed him to surrender by August 30.
Asked about opposition unity, Lalu Prasad there was no row over the issue of Prime Ministerial candidate. "We will select our Prime Minister at the right time."
Earlier, speaking in Patna, he accused the Modi of paving the way for the imposition of Emergency.
"Modi is afraid that he will be murdered. It hardly sounds good as he is the Prime Minister. Some rights activists have been arrested for suspected threat to Modi. It is an attack on people's rights," Lalu Prasad told the media.
The RJD leader alleged that there was "total collapse of law and order" in Bihar.
"There is no law and order. It is total anarchy. Hardly a day passes without reports of murder, rape, loot, extortion and kidnapping in the state."
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India-bound LPG tanker clears Hormuz
New Delhi (PTI): A tanker carrying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for India has sailed out of the Strait of Hormuz and is now headed towards the country, an official statement said on Sunday.
The Marshall Islands-flagged LPG carrier MT Sarv Shakti, loaded with 46,313 tonnes of LPG and staffed by 20 crew, including 18 Indians, cleared the key shipping chokepoint on May 2 and is expected to reach Visakhapatnam on May 13, it said.
The cargo -- enough to meet half a days requirement of the country -- will partly tide over supply constraints being faced since the start of the West Asia conflict more than two months back.
Ship-tracking data showed its position in Oman Gulf on Sunday evening.
The very large gas carrier has previously made runs between the Persian Gulf and Indian ports, has been chartered by state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).
Sarv Shakti is the first India-linked tanker to cross the war zone since a weeks-old US blockade of ships tied to Iran began, pushing transits through Hormuz back down to almost zero.
There are as many as 14 Indian flagged or India-owned vessels still stranded on the west side of the Strait of Hormuz.
The statement said no incident involving Indian-flagged vessels has been reported in the past 24 hours. The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways is working closely with the Ministry of External Affairs, Indian missions and maritime stakeholders to ensure crew welfare and uninterrupted operations.
The Directorate General of Shipping (DG Shipping) control room has handled 8,373 calls and more than 17,965 emails since activation, including 38 calls and 127 emails in the last 24 hours.
India has also facilitated the repatriation of more than 2,953 seafarers so far, including 31 in the past day from across the Gulf region.
Port operations across the country remain normal with no congestion reported, the statement added.
