LS polls: BJP mulls fielding Madhuri Dixit from Pune seat
Mumbai, Dec 6: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is considering fielding Bollywood actor Madhuri Dixit-Nene from the Pune Lok Sabha constituency in the 2019 general elections, party sources said.
In June this year, BJP chief Amit Shah had met the actor at her residence in Mumbai during his party's 'Sampark for Samarthan' (Contact for Support) programme and briefed her on the achievements of the Narendra Modi government.
A senior state BJP leader told PTI Thursday that her name has been shortlisted for the Pune Lok Sabha seat.
"The party is seriously considering giving candidature to Madhuri Dixit in the 2019 general elections. We think the Pune Lok Sabha constituency will be better for her," he said.
"The party is in the process of finalising the list of probables for several Lok Sabha seats and Dixit's name has been shortlisted for the Pune Lok Sabha constituency...she is being seriously considered for it," the leader said.
The 51-year-old actor has featured in many Bollywood films, including "Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!", "Dil To Pagal Hai", "Saajan" and "Devdas".
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had snatched the Pune Lok Sabha seat from the Congress, with Anil Shirole winning by a margin of over three lakh votes.
On the plans to field the actor, a senior BJP functionary said, "Such tactics were implemented by Narendra Modi in Gujarat when he became the chief minister for the first time. He changed all the candidates in local bodies election and the party reaped benefits of that decision."
"As fresh faces were introduced, there was nothing to criticise them with. It left the opposition shocked and the BJP won maximum seats and retained power," he said.
According to the leader, a similar experiment was also successfully carried out in Delhi local bodies polls in 2017, where all the sitting councillors were denied tickets. The BJP won the seats and retained the control, he said.
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'Someone must be held accountable': HC converts civil suit on Goa nightclub tragedy into PIL
Panaji (PTI): The Bombay High Court on Monday converted a civil suit against Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub into a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) saying "someone has to be held accountable" for the tragedy in which 25 people were killed.In a stern observation, Goa bench of the High Court of Justices Sarang Kotwal and Ashish Chavan said the local panchayat had "failed to take suo motu cognisance" of the club and had taken "no action despite complaints."
The division bench directed the Goa government to file a detailed reply on the permissions granted to the nightclub.
The High Court, while fixing January 8 as the next date of hearing, pointed out that commercial operations were continuing in the structure despite it having been served a demolition order.
The original petition was filed after the December 6 tragedy by Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar and Sunil Divkar, the owners of the land on which the nightclub was operating.
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Advocate Rohit Bras de Sa, the lawyer representing the petitioner, was made amicus curiae in the matter and has been asked to file a detailed affidavit in the matter.
In their petition, Amonkar and Divkar highlighted "the alarming pattern of statutory violations that have remained inadequately addressed despite multiple complaints, inspections, show-cause notices, and even a demolition order".
They contended that these violations posed "immediate threats to public safety, ecological integrity, and the rule of law in the state of Goa."
Investigations by multiple agencies into the nightclub fire have revealed various irregularities, including lack of permissions to operate the nightclub.
The Goa police arrested five managers and staff members of the club, while co-owners Gaurav Luthra and Saurabh Luthra have been detained in Thailand after they fled the country.
