Shillong: The BJP on Monday sought strict action against the news portal that claimed that party leader Ram Madhav was caught red-handed by separatist NSCN with two Naga women in a hotel room in Nagaland even as the portal vanished.

"We are talking up with such cases very seriously and what is more suspicious is that the news portal which carried the story has completely vanished," Bharatiya Janata Party national spokesperson Nalin Kolhi told journalists here.

He said that the party has sought for appropriate action against those responsible for the mischief under various sections of the law and the Information Technology Act.

Senior BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who was also present at news conference said: "It is a fictitious report intended to tarnish the image of Ram Madhav. Fake news cannot be tolerated. Suspiciously, the news portal has vanished but we are following up with the case aggressively."

Quoting sources, media portal "Newsjoint" claimed that last week, Madhav, the BJP General Secretary in-charge North East, "was caught red-handed and saffron faced, working well beyond his brief, with two Naga women in a hotel room".

"Madhav was held in captivity by the NSCN (Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland) for hours. He then made frantic SOS calls to Assam (minister) colleague Himanata Biswa Sarma, BJP's trouble shooter in the Northeast," the report alleged, adding that Madhav was released only after Sarma reached out to the NSCN.

The news portal also claimed that the NSCN also has the video footage in possession, which it has threatened to release in public, "if the BJP-RSS do not give in to its demand to call off the assembly elections in Nagaland, due on February 27".

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Chandigarh (PTI): The Congress on Thursday announced candidates for eight of the nine Lok Sabha seats it is contesting in Haryana, fielding former Union minister Kumari Selja, Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda and youth leader Divyanshu Budhiraja, besides two sitting MLAs.

The party has also fielded former MP Jai Prakash and leaders Satpal Brahmachari and Mahendra Pratap, according to the list released late Thursday evening.

The Congress is contesting nine of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. It has not yet announced its candidate for the Gurugram constituency.

The Aam Aadmi Party, a constituent of the opposition INDIA bloc, will contest the Kurukshetra seat.

Congress general secretary and former Union minister Selja will contest from the Sirsa (reserved) seat and sitting MLAs Varun Choudhary and Rao Dan Singh from the Ambala (reserved) and the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha seats, respectively.

Deepender Hooda, son of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, will enter the fray from Rohtak. He has represented the Rohtak parliamentary constituency three times in the past.

Jai Prakash has been fielded from Hisar, the Congress' Haryana youth wing president Divanshu Budhiraja from Karnal, Satpal Brahmachari from Sonipat and Mahendra Pratap from Faridabad.