Telangana Cabinet may recommend Assembly dissolution
Hyderabad, Sep 5 : Telangana may be heading for early Assembly polls as a meeting of the state Cabinet likely to be held here early Thursday will recommend dissolution of the house.
However, the suspense continues whether the meeting will be held early morning or in the afternoon. Ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) sources earlier hinted that the meeting could be held at 6 a.m.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has asked his Cabinet colleagues to be available in the state capital.
The TRS chief considers '6' his lucky number and that's the reason cited for not taking the decision during the Cabinet meeting on September 2, which was held hours before the massive public meeting organised by the ruling party to sound the poll bugle.
The Chief Minister's Office usually releases press statements on Cabinet meetings but there was no official announcement till late Wednesday. However, there were indications that the Cabinet meeting could be held in the afternoon.
The Cabinet is expected to pass a resolution to recommend to Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan to dissolve the Assembly, whose term is till May 2019. Assembly elections in normal course would be conducted along with the Lok Sabha polls.
The Chief Minister held detailed discussions with Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi and other top officials, apart from a series of meetings with top party leaders.
The Chief Secretary, the government's Chief Adviser Rajiv Sharma, CM's Principal Secretary S. Narsing Rao and Legislative Assembly Secretary Narasimhacharyulu called on Narasimhan on Wednesday.
After recommending dissolution of Assembly, KCR will launch the TRS election campaign with a public meeting at Husnabad in Siddipet district a day later.
Christened 'Prajala Aasirwada Sabha', this will be the first of 100 public meetings planned by TRS over the next 50 days.
Political observers say TRS is keen for early elections as the party believes that simultaneous elections to Assembly and Lok Sabha may not help it properly highlight welfare and developmental works undertaken during the last four years.
Political circles have been abuzz for the last few weeks with talks of early polls. KCR has given strong hints in this regard with his two meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August, announcement of sops and transfer of top police and civil officials.
There was a strong possibility of a decision in the Cabinet meeting before September 2 public meeting, attended by lakhs of people and claimed to be mother of all rallies.
While the cabinet took no decision, KCR kept the suspense by telling the party cadres that the party leaders have empowered him to take a decision and that they would soon hear it (decision on early polls).
At the public meeting, the TRS chief highlighted the achievements of his government since it took reins in the newly created state in 2014.
He sought a fresh mandate to continue the good work and achieve the goal of 'Bangaru Telangana' or golden Telangana. He urged people to protect their 'self-respect' by rejecting the parties from Delhi which want to make them slaves.
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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.
