Hyderabad (PTI): AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has slammed the BJP for revoking the suspension of its Telangana MLA T Raja Singh, against whom the party had initiated action last year for his alleged derogatory comments on prophet Mohammed.
He also alleged that hate speech was the fastest way to promotion in BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"@narendramodi has rewarded his dear "fringe element." Quite sure that Nupur Sharma will also get her blessings from the PM. Hate speech is the fastest way to a promotion in Modi's BJP," Owaisi said on X, responding to the lifting of Singh's suspension.
The BJP leadership revoked the suspension of Raja Singh, MLA from Goshamahal in Hyderabad in the outgoing Telangana Legislative Assembly, considering his explanation in response to the show cause notice served by the party earlier, Telangana BJP chief G Kishan Reddy said in a statement on Sunday.
In August last year, Raja Singh was suspended from the party following his alleged controversial remarks against "Islam and Prophet Mohammed" in a video which was later pulled down by the social media platform on which it was uploaded.
He was arrested under the Preventive Detention Act. However, the Telangana High Court in November 2022 had set aside the PD Act invoked against him. Later, he was granted bail.
Singh, in a video message, thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP President J P Nadda, General Secretary B L Santhosh, Union Minister and Telangana BJP unit chief Kishan Reddy and other state leaders for revoking his suspension.
He also thanked the party leadership for giving him a ticket to contest from his Goshamahal Assembly seat here for the November 30 polls.
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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.
