Rahul playing communal politics ahead of 2019 election: BJP
New Delhi, July 13 : The BJP on Friday claimed that Congress President Rahul Gandhi described his own party as a "Muslim party" and said he was playing communal politics ahead of the 2019 general elections.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nirmala Sitharam told the media: "Rahul Gandhi said that the Congress is a Muslim party. He must come clean and clarify his statement.
"Only yesterday ... the Congress President met a lot of Muslim intellectuals... And he said a whole lot of things (that) Muslims are the next Dalits. If all the Muslims who constitute 15 per cent of population of Bihar vote for us, that alone won't help us. We need Yadavs also.
"And to this he adds how his party plans to correct the course. This is an attempt to incite religion-based clashes," Sitharaman said.
Hitting out at the Congress leader, she alleged: "Rahul Gandhi became a janeu-dhaari during the Karnataka elections and now he has become a Muslim-dhaari.
"By calllng Muslims the next Dalits, what is he conveying?" she asked.
Sitharaman said the Congress shall be solely responsible if any disharmony takes between now and the 2019 elections.
"This closely resembles what happened in 1947 when the country was divided on the communal lines. Congress is playing a dangerous game playing the card of religion."
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'Someone must be held accountable': HC converts civil suit on Goa nightclub tragedy into PIL
Panaji (PTI): The Bombay High Court on Monday converted a civil suit against Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub into a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) saying "someone has to be held accountable" for the tragedy in which 25 people were killed.In a stern observation, Goa bench of the High Court of Justices Sarang Kotwal and Ashish Chavan said the local panchayat had "failed to take suo motu cognisance" of the club and had taken "no action despite complaints."
The division bench directed the Goa government to file a detailed reply on the permissions granted to the nightclub.
The High Court, while fixing January 8 as the next date of hearing, pointed out that commercial operations were continuing in the structure despite it having been served a demolition order.
The original petition was filed after the December 6 tragedy by Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar and Sunil Divkar, the owners of the land on which the nightclub was operating.
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Advocate Rohit Bras de Sa, the lawyer representing the petitioner, was made amicus curiae in the matter and has been asked to file a detailed affidavit in the matter.
In their petition, Amonkar and Divkar highlighted "the alarming pattern of statutory violations that have remained inadequately addressed despite multiple complaints, inspections, show-cause notices, and even a demolition order".
They contended that these violations posed "immediate threats to public safety, ecological integrity, and the rule of law in the state of Goa."
Investigations by multiple agencies into the nightclub fire have revealed various irregularities, including lack of permissions to operate the nightclub.
The Goa police arrested five managers and staff members of the club, while co-owners Gaurav Luthra and Saurabh Luthra have been detained in Thailand after they fled the country.
