It is for Advani to clear the ''mist'': Uma Bharti
New Delhi: BJP leader and Union minister Uma Bharti Sunday said it is for L K Advani to clear the "mist", after the veteran leader was not named as a party candidate for the Lok Sabha elections, and asserted that his stature was not affected by contesting or not contesting any poll.
Heaping praises on the 91-year-old leader, Bharti said it was Advani who played the central role in bringing the party to such a position that Narendra Modi is prime minister today and added that he never craved for any position in his long political career.
"The only person who should comment right now to clear the air, all these things- the mist around- is Advani ji," she told PTI, adding that it would not be proper for others, including her, to comment on the matter.
She was responding to questions on the party's decision to not nominate him from Gandhinagar, a seat he had been winning since 1998.BJP president Amit Shah will contest from the seat in the coming general election.
There has been no official word from the party or the 91-year-old leader, who was its longest serving president, on his name not finding a place among the BJP's candidates for the poll.
A number of veteran leaders, including Shanta Kumar, B C Khanduri and Kariya Munda- all in their 80s- have not been fielded by the BJP in the polls, seen as part of its strategy under Modi and Shah to ease them out and groom younger leaders in their place.
Some of them had expressed their wish to not fight the coming polls.
Bharti said there cannot be a principle regarding not giving election tickets to leaders above a certain age and noted that many young MPs were also dropped by the party.
Fifty-nine-year-old Bharti herself is not contesting the Lok Sabha polls and said she had conveyed such a wish to the party leadership long back.
She said she plans to go on an 18-month-long journey on foot along the shores of the Ganga from May.
Bharti was on Saturday appointed as a party vice president.
She also expressed confidence that Modi will return as prime minister with a thumping victory in the polls, asserting that there is no alternative to him.
"I have been praying to God that Modi become prime minister again. It will do the country and its poor a lot of good," she asserted.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
