Modi on Palestine, West Asia tour to balance growing ties with Israel
Amman: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday arrived in Jordan on the first leg of his four-nation regional trip that will also take him to a first-ever Indian prime ministerial visit to Palestine, besides the UAE and Oman in the Gulf.
The February 9-12 trip comes within a month of the visit to India by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that saw the two countries hailing each other as a strategic partner despite New Delhi's long-standing support for the Palestinian cause.
Modi began the visit with Jordan, the first by an Indian Prime Minister in 30 years. He was "warmly received by Prime Minister of Jordan (Hani Al-Mulki) in Amman," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.
The spokesperson said the visit to the four countries was aimed at deepening "our multifaceted ties with the Gulf and West Asian region".
After arriving in Amman, Modi met King Abdullah II of Jordan who will facilitate his transit to Palestine on Saturday.
When Modi reaches Ramallah, he will be the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Palestine where he will meet President Mahmoud Abbas.
Before taking off from New Delhi, Modi said he was "looking forward to my discussions with President Abbas and reaffirming our support for the Palestinian people and the development of Palestine".
This will be Modi's fourth meeting with Abbas. They had earlier met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in 2015, at the Paris climate summit later that year and during the Palestine President's visit to India last year.
B. Bala Bhaskar, Joint Secretary (West Asia and North Africa) in the External Affairs Ministry, said India had contributed immensely to Palestine's nation-building efforts, including infrastructure development and capacity building.
The visit is also aimed at deepening the bilateral agenda, including cooperation in areas of health, IT, tourism, youth affairs, sports and agriculture.
Modi will also lay a wreath at the memorial for Yasser Arafat, a close friend of India who headed the Palestine Liberation Organization and later the Palestinian National Authority till his death in 2004. India had recognised the Palestine state in 1988.
Despite Modi's personal camaraderie with Netanyahu, India voted in the UN General Assembly in December last year against US President Donald Trump's unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
After his Palestine visit, Modi will reach Abu Dhabi, the capital of UAE which is home to a huge Indian diaspora, on Saturday evening -- his second visit after August 2015.
He will hold talks with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, who was the chief guest at India's Republic Day in 2017.
The Prime Minister will also hold talks with Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid. Following this, several agreements include in areas like finance and skills development are likely to be signed.
Modi is scheduled to interact with UAE and Arab CEOs in Dubai on the economic opportunities in India.
"At the invitation of the leadership of the UAE, I will be addressing the 6th edition of the World Government Summit in Dubai where India is the guest country of honour," Modi said.
On the final leg, Modi will visit Muscat on Sunday before returning to Delhi the following day.
In both Oman and the UAE, Modi is expected to meet the Indian diaspora which he said "is a bridge of friendship between India and the Gulf countries". He is expected to hold talks with the Sultan of Oman and other leaders and interact with business people of Oman on developing stronger economic links with India.
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Phase five LS polls: Rae Bareli, Amethi among 14 UP seats going to polls on Monday
Lucknow(PTI): Voting for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, which will decide the fate of four Union ministers, including Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani, and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, will be held on Monday.
Voting will also take place for the assembly bypoll to Lucknow East assembly constituency.
The seats going to polls in the fifth phase are Mohanlalganj (SC), Rae Bareli, Amethi, Jalaun (SC), Jhansi, Hamirpur, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi (SC), Barabanki (SC), Faizabad, Kaisarganj and Gonda.
Besides Defence Minister Singh (Lucknow), Minister of Women and Child Development Irani (Amethi), those in the fray are Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishor (Mohanlalganj) and Minister of State of Consumer Affairs Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur).
Rahul Gandhi is in the fray from Rae Bareli, which was represented by his mother and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi earlier.
Over 2.68 crore voters are eligible to exercise their polling rights and 144 candidates are in the fray.
The BJP gave tickets to 11 of its sitting Lok Sabha MPs in this phase, while it had fielded new candidates in Barabanki (SC) seat and Kaisarganj.
In the INDIA bloc, the Congress has fielded K L Sharma from Amethi, Tanuj Punia from Barabanki (SC) and Pradeep Jain 'Aditya' from Jhansi. The Samajwadi Party (SP) candidates are in the poll fray on the rest of the seats.
Defence minister Singh is eyeing a fourth term from Lucknow. He is pitted against sitting SP MLA Ravidas Mehrotra from Lucknow Central.
From the neighbouring constituency of Amethi, Irani is in the poll fray.
In Kaisarganj Lok Sabha seat, the contest is between BJP's Karan Bhushan Singh, son of former MP and ex-president of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, and SP's Bhagat Ram.
Faizabad Lok Sabha seat, which covers the temple town of Ayodhya, will see a contest between sitting BJP MP Lallu Singh, who is seeking a hat-trick, and Awadhesh Prasad, the SP MLA from Milkipur (SC) assembly constituency in Ayodhya district.
In Hamirpur, the poll contest is between BJP's Kunwar Pushpendra Singh Chandel, eyeing a third term, and SP's Ajendra Singh Lodhi.
In Gonda, BJP's Kirti Vardhan Singh, who is eyeing a fifth term, is facing a contest from SP's Shreya Verma.
The main electoral contest in Banda is between RK Singh Patel, who is seeking a third term, and Krishna Devi Shivshankar Patel of the SP.
Vinod Kumar Sonkar, who is eyeing a hat-trick of Lok Sabha wins, will be facing SP's Pushpendra Saroj, son of SP leader Indrajeet Saroj, for Kaushambi (SC) constituency.
Voting will also take place for the assembly bypoll to Lucknow East assembly constituency.
Bypoll in the Lucknow East assembly constituency was necessitated following the death of sitting MLA Ashutosh Tandon on November 9, 2023.
