BTP breaks off ties with Congress in two Gujarat districts
Ahmedabad, Dec 12: Peeved after the Congress ditched it and joined hands with the BJP in a district panchayat election in Rajasthan, the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) on Saturday ended its alliance with the Congress in two district panchayats in Gujarat.
The district panchayats of Narmada and Bharuch -- two tribal-dominated districts in Gujarat -- are ruled by a coalition of the Congress and BTP.
"We have decided to end our alliance with the Congress in Narmada and Bharuch," said BTP president Chhotubhai Vasava.
The Gujarat unit of the BTP said on Twitter that it was the fall-out of developments in the neighbouring state.
"Both the BJP and Congress are the same," Vasava tweeted.
The two BTP MLAs in Gujarat had abstained from voting in the Rajya Sabha elections held in June.
The party had contested the 2017 Assembly elections in the state in alliance with the Congress.
In Rajasthan's Dungarpur zila parishad, newly-elected Congress members on Thursday voted for the BJP nominee for the pramukh's post in the district board.
The BTP had stood by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot during a revolt in the state Congress earlier this year.
Thirteen of the 27 seats in Dungarpur zila parishad were won by BTP-supported independent candidates. The BJP got six seats and the Congress eight.
The BTP needed just one Congress member's vote for winning the district board head's post. But the Congress backed the BJP member Surya Ahari, who had filed nomination as an independent, thus thwarting the BTP candidate's bid.
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Austrian police detain suspect in case of rat poison found in baby food jars on supermarket shelves
Vienna (AP): Police in eastern Austria say a 39-year-old suspect has been arrested after rat poison turned up in some HiPP baby food jars on supermarket shelves in central Europe.
HiPP, which recalled some of its baby food jars in Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic after the case came to light last month, said in a statement Saturday it was “greatly relieved” by the arrest, and would provide further updates as verified details come in.
The Burgenland State Criminal Police Office, under the direction of prosecutors, said a probe was launched after poison turned up in a baby food jar purchased at a supermarket in the city of Eisenstadt on April 18.
It said the suspect was being questioned, and that no further details would be immediately provided. The Burgenland public prosecutor's office has announced an investigation into suspected “intentional endangerment of the public.”
The Austrian Press Agency reported that an expert report on the toxicity of the poison was pending. A total of five tampered baby food jars were seized before they could be consumed, APA reported.
Authorities said previously they believe the tampering occurred in 190-gram (6.7-ounce) jars of baby food made with carrots and potatoes for 5-month-olds that were sold from SPAR supermarkets in Austria.
HiPP responded by recalling all of its baby food jars sold at SPAR supermarkets — which include SPAR, EUROSPAR, INTERSPAR and Maximarkt stores — in Austria as a precaution. Vendors in Slovakia and the Czech Republic also removed all of the brand's baby jars from sale.
The company said the recall was not due to any product or quality defect on its part, and said the jars left its facility in “perfect condition.”
Police said a customer at the time of the discovery had reported that a jar appeared to have been tampered with, but no one had consumed the baby food.
