Rahul Gandhi is Congress' Prime Ministerial candidate: Mallikarjun Kharge
Kalburgi, Oct 23: AICC President Rahul Gandhi will be the prime ministerial candidate of the party in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, said Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said.
Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, he said "former Union Minister P. Chidambaram's statement, in which he said that there are least chances of Maha Gathbandhan making Rahul Gandhi as its Prime Ministerial candidate, is his personal view.
"There is still a lot of time for Lok Sabha elections. Who would be the prime ministerial candidate of the Mahagathbandhan will be decided near the election. The leaders of all the alliance parties will discuss and finalize the prime ministerial candidate," he added.
I being a Congressmen will take Rahul Gandhi's name for the prime ministerial candidate from our party," Mallikarjun Kharge added.
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Airlines got 999 hoax bomb threats till Nov 14 this year; 256 FIRs filed: Govt
New Delhi, Nov 28: Airlines received 999 hoax bomb threats this year till November 14 and as many as 256 FIRs have been filed while guidelines have been issued by aviation security regulator BCAS for objective assessment of threats, the government said on Thursday.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said a total of 1,148 hoax bomb threat messages/calls have been received since August 2022 till November 14, 2024 threatening the operations of international and domestic air travel.
While 999 threats were received by airlines during the period from January to November 14, 2024, the count stood at 122 last year and at 27 for the August-December 2022 period.
"256 FIRs have been filed since January 2024 till 14 November 2024, out of which 163 FIRs have been filed during 14 October- 14 November 2024. 12 arrests have been made in view of hoax bomb threat since January 2024 till 14 November 2024," the minister said.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has issued guidelines for objective assessment of threats. The indicative factor has been useful in reducing time taken by the Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) during the decision-making process.
"Also, to reduce the overall time taken for convening BTAC to less than 5 minutes, virtual assembly of BTAC through pre-generated video link has been set up. Further, advisories for compulsory 10 per cent of secondary ladder point check-in for all flights, strict monitoring of non-scheduled flight operations, enhanced security measures and surveillance at cargo terminals were issued," Mohol said.
Further, the minister said the government is considering amending the Aircraft (Security) Rules, 2023 to put hoax threat messenger in the no-fly list.
"It is also being considered to amend Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation for covering Aircraft in flight as well as on ground, airport etc," he added.
