BJP appoints poll managers ahead of Assembly elections
New Delhi, Oct 3 : The BJP on Wednesday appointed three senior Central Ministers as poll managers for Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana.
BJP President Amit Shah appointed Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan as party's election incharge for Madhya Pradesh, Prakash Javadekar for Rajasthan and Health Minister J.P. Nadda for Telangana, a party statement said.
In Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, where elections are due by the end of this year, the BJP and the Congress will be in direct contest. Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao dissolved the Assembly nearly nine months before its term was to end to clear the way for early elections. Elections in Telangana are likely in January or February.
New appointments in BJP's West Bengal unit, where ruling TMC and the BJP are at loggerheads, were also announced. Former Trinamool Congress leader and Union Minister Mukul Roy, who joined the BJP last year, was appointed coordinator of election management committee of the party.
The BJP has appointed RSS pracharak Arvind Menon as co-incharge of West Bengal. Menon served as BJP's General Secretary (Organisation) in Madhya Pradesh and will now work under party General Secretary Kailash Vijaywargiya.
The BJP has been ruling Madhya Pradesh since 2003 after ousting the Digvijay Singh government of the Congress from power.
The BJP is ruling Rajasthan since 2013 when it swept the polls by bagging 163 of the 200 assembly seats under the leadership of present Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
