Rajiv Gandhi's name should be included in 1984 riot cases: Sukhbir Badal
Gurdaspur, Jan 3: SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal Thursday demanded that former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's name should be included in cases related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
The former Punjab deputy chief minister alleged that accounts of witnesses had made it clear that Rajiv Gandhi was "behind" the riots.
"Rajiv Gandhi's name should be included in the cases registered in connection with the 1984 riots. Rajiv's name should also be removed from all awards and institutions," he said addressing a gathering in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi here.
"Recent developments as well as accounts of witnesses has made it clear that Rajiv Gandhi was behind the 1984 riots," Badal claimed.
The Congress has consistently denied its leadership's role in the riots.
The NDA government established a Special Investigation Team to probe the 1984 riot cases. There have been convictions in the matter, he said.
The BJP-led NDA government at the Centre has resolved several pending issues of the Sikh community, Badal added.
Targeting Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, the SAD leader alleged that he has gone back on his promise of complete farm loan waiver and betrayed the farmers of Punjab.
Like the loan waiver in Punjab, those promised by Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh is also a "hoax", Badal alleged.
Prime Minister Modi has not only fast-tracked development and infrastructure projects in Punjab, but also resolved long pending issues of the Sikh community, he said.
Badal said be it investments on creating a world-class road network or building new airports, sanctioning an IIM at Amritsar and AIIMS at Bathinda or releasing funds for the Shahpur Kandi dam, the NDA government has always kept Punjab first.
This is unlike of previous Congress governments which have always discriminated against Punjab and its people, he alleged.
If Punjab has got something it is only at the hands of non-Congress governments at the Centre," Badal said.
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First direct US-Venezuela commercial flight in 7 years to land in Caracas
Caracas (Venezuela) (AP): The first direct commercial flight between the United States and Venezuela is scheduled to land on Thursday in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, seven years after the US Department of Homeland Security ordered an indefinite suspension, citing security concerns.
The resumption of a commercial flight between the two countries comes in the wake of the US capture of Nicolás Maduro in a stunning nighttime raid on his residence in Caracas, Venezuela's capital, in early January.
It also comes a month after the US formally reopened its embassy in Caracas following the restoration of full diplomatic relations with the South American country.
Flight AA3599 operated by Envoy Air, a subsidiary of American Airlines, was scheduled to depart from Miami at 10:16 a.m. local time and arrive three hours later in the Venezuelan capital, returning to Florida later in the afternoon.
Earlier, the airline said a second daily flight between Miami and Caracas will start on May 21.
In late January, US President Donald Trump said he informed Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodríguez that he would open up all commercial airspace over Venezuela, allowing Americans to visit.
“American citizens will be very shortly able to go to Venezuela, and they'll be safe there,” Trump said at the time.
The flights mark the resumption of nonstop travel between the US and Venezuela for the first time since diplomatic ties were severed in 2019. For the past seven years, passengers have relied on international airlines and indirect routes through neighbouring Latin American countries.
In January, when the airline announced the resumption of flights it said it would give customers the opportunity to reunite with families and pursue new business opportunities.
American Airlines was the last US airline flying to Venezuela. It suspended flights in 2019 between Miami and Caracas, as well as flights to the oil hub city of Maracaibo. Delta and United Airlines pulled out in 2017 amid a political crisis that forced millions to flee the country.
