UPA alliance to defeat communal forces: Saleem Ahmed
Secular parties and like minded parties have held a high command level meeting to discuss about keeping communal forces away from the power. Our aim is to stop Bjp from regaining power at the centre and we will succeed in our task.
Secretary of All India Congress Committee Mangaluru based Saleem Ahmed visited Mangaluru recently. Saleem Ahmed plunged into active politics while he was a student in Bengaluru. He had served as the National president of Congress student wing NSUI, General secretary of Congress youth wing and chief director of Nehru youth association of Union youth service and sports department. He was also elected as the member of legislative council for two terms and served as chief whip as well. Presently he is the party in charge of Telangana.
He spoke about the preparation of congress for the upcoming 2019 general election with Varthabharati.
Q. How is congress preparing for the upcoming general election?
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The process of creating political strategy has begun under the leadership of AICC president Rahul Gandhi. He has instructed to build the party from root level, organise the party from booth level and develop the party according to the ideologies of congress. We will inform people about the achievements of congress government. Various committees have been formed.
Q. Young voters had supported BJP in the last general election. what plans you have to to attract them?
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In the last election BJP and Narendra Modi had made many promises to the young voters. The main one of which as creating two crore jobs every year. Believing these promises the youth had voted for bjp. But forget about 2 crore jobs bjp has even failed to create 4 lakh jobs in a year. They had promised to bring back black money, eradicate corruption and take the country to a new height through development. But they have failed in fulfilling all these promises. For the last four years Pm Modi is misleading the people through his rhetorics. Congress will form the government in the centre. Rahul Gandhi will become the Prime Minister. BJP is involved in many scandals. They are not ready to speak about Rafale deal. They have failed to answer the questions. People have lost hope on them. People will support congress again in the next election. That is why we have made alliance with like minded and secular regional parties.
Q. On what issue congress will fight this election?
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In last election BJP had grabbed power by misleading the people. Earlier UPA government had introduced several good projects. BJP government has implemented these projects with different names. They have not done any good work on their own. Some organisations are trying to harm the communal harmony of the country. BJP government is not trying to stop them. Congress has been trying to protect the interest of all sections of the society. It will continue its work. We have given a solid secular government in the past and we promise to do our best in the future. We will go to the people with all these issues and request them to vote for congress.
Q. Congress had experienced set back in the last state assembly election. On coastal region also BJP emerged strong. Your opinion on this?
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BJP had used some incidents that took place in coastal Karnataka during election. BJP had misled people about these incidents and managed to bag the votes. Congress through its pro people programs has introduced many several thousand crore rupees projects. But it was not publicised much. Other less important issues and incidents got more publicity than developmental works. This was the reason for our setback in the election.
Q. How will you manage the challenge of election compatibility and problem of alliance leadership in national level?
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Secular parties and like minded parties have held a high command level meeting to discuss about keeping communal forces away from the power. Our aim is to stop BJP from regaining power at the centre and we will succeed in our task.
Q. There is a complaint that Congress always gives priority to senior leaders. How will you develop young leadership in the party?
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Congress has always given priority to young leaders. More importantly, after Rahul Gandhi became the president youth have given more importance in the party and they are given opportunities to manage the party wherever we have power. At the same time senior leaders are also given equal importance. We seek their guidance and advise. seniors and juniors must walk together.
Q. Do you have plans to contest for next election?
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Last time I had contested from Haveri. This time there is a plan to contest from either Haveri or Bengaluru central. Final decision yet to be taken. Whatever high command decides I will stick to it.
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Stock markets rally: Sensex jumps 1,200 pts, Nifty reclaims 25K peak after 7 months
Mumbai, May 15 (PTI): Benchmark BSE Sensex soared by 1,200 points while NSE Nifty closed above the 25,000 mark for the first time in seven months on Thursday following across-the-board buying triggered by expectations of potential trade deal between India and the US.
Rising for the second day, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 1,200.18 points or 1.48 per cent to settle at a seven-month high of 82,530.74 with 29 of constituents ending higher.
The index moved in a range in the first half but picked up momentum in the afternoon session following sharp gains in banking, auto, IT and oil & gas shares. Sensex rallied 1,387.58 points or 1.70 per cent to hit a day's high of 82,718.14 in the second half of the session.
The NSE Nifty surged 395.20 points or 1.60 per cent to settle at a seven-month high of 25,062.10. The 50-issue index had closed above 25,000 on October 15, 2024, previously.
"The market staged a robust rebound, closing with substantial gains, driven by a decline in domestic inflation and positive signals from the US regarding a potential trade agreement with India," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments said.
Rate-sensitive sectors such as automobiles and real estate led the rally, supported by upbeat industry forecasts, Nair said adding that investor attention is now turning to the upcoming speech by the Federal Reserve Chair, which is anticipated to provide further clarity on the future policy trajectory, particularly in light of the recent easing in U.S. inflation data.
US President Donald Trump on Thursday claimed that India has offered to drop all tariffs on American goods.
Among Sensex shares, Tata Motors was the biggest gainer climbing by over 4 per cent. HCL Tech, Adani Ports, Eternal, Maruti, Reliance Industries and Asian Paints were among the gainers. HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel and Infosys added to the rally.
IndusInd Bank emerged as the only laggard.
Broader markets also closed higher with the BSE smallcap gauge climbing 0.94 per cent and midcap index by 0.67 per cent.
All sectoral indices ended higher, with realty surging 1.87 per cent, auto (1.86 per cent), services (1.85 per cent), industrials (1.62 per cent), metal (1.60 per cent), consumer discretionary (1.57 per cent) and commodities (1.51 per cent).
"While benchmark indices gyrated sharply in early trades, it quickly regained the lost momentum and rallied sharply thereafter on all-around buying support despite pessimism in European and other Asian bourses," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.
As many as 2,639 stocks advanced while 1,325 declined and 150 remained unchanged on the BSE.
In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng settled lower. Markets in Europe were trading on a mixed note.
US markets ended on a mixed note on Wednesday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude dropped 3.65 per cent to USD 63.68 a barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 931.80 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
On Wednesday, the BSE Sensex climbed 182.34 points or 0.22 per cent to settle at 81,330.56. The Nifty rose by 88.55 points or 0.36 per cent to 24,666.90.
