Hindustan Times (Jalandhar)

RAM TEMPLE: VHP WANTS ORDINANCE IN PARLIAMENT

- HT Correspond­ent lkoreporte­rsdesk@hindustant­imes.com Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri Kolkata sumanta.chaudhuri@hindustant­imes.com

A two-seater lightweigh­t plane of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed in a sugarcane field in Ranchad village in Binauli area of Baghpat district on Friday morning.

However, both of its pilots ejected safely, minutes before the crash. An Indian Air Force (IAF) c team of experts has reached the spot to investigat­e the incident.

Rishirendr­a Kumar, district magistrate of Baghpat, said that barring the nose of the aircraft there were no other damages. “The plane nosedived... IAF officials are on the spot and they are doing the needful,” he added.

The crash took place at 9.45 am when the ML-130 aircraft took off from the Hindon air base, superinten­dent of police Shailesh Kumar Pandey said.

The incident took place in the thickets of Ranchad in Binauli area.

Anurag Sharma , public relations officer of Baghpat SP said both pilots were safe.

The ML-130 microlight plane had taken off from the Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad and was reportedly participat­ing in a drill for Air Force Day.

The area where the crash occurred has been barricaded and police force deployed in order to keep villagers away from the crashed plane.

Eyewitness­es said the plane was flying low and at one point started spinning before crashing into the sugarcane field. KOLKATA: Indicating that even arch rival CPI(M) is not an untouchabl­e in her fight against the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said she will invite Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan to attend the Trinamool’s proposed mega rally in Kolkata on January 19. The CM said she will also invite (UPA chairperso­n) Sonia Gandhi, (Bahujan Samaj Party chief) Mayawati, (Samajwadi Party president) Akhilesh Yadav, (former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister) Omar Abdullah and other opposition leaders.

“CPI(M) is still trying to conspire against me. But I feel that all Leftists are not bad. So, I have decided to invite Kerala chief minister. I will also invite leaders from Communist Party of India, Revolution­ary Socialist Party and All India Forward Bloc. No one is untouchabl­e for us,” Banerjee said after meeting top party leaders Friday evening where she drafted initial plans for the election campaign.

CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakrabart­y did not pay much importance to Banerjee’s statement. “Her party workers are regularly killing our cadres and burning down their houses and she wants us to join her. The dichotomy is glaring,” he said.

Slamming the BJP and Rashtriya Swayamseva­k Sangh (RSS), Banerjee said: “I had no idea that RSS is more dangerous than BJP. I used to think it was a social welfare organisati­on and not a political party. They created communal tension in Uttar Pradesh when Akhilesh Yadav was chief minister. Now they are trying to create tension in Bengal. But it will not pay off. Trinamool will win all the 42 seats.”

Both BJP and RSS reacted sharply to Banerjee’s statements.

“The plan to organise such a rally proves how desperate she is to become the prime minister. She has her liberty to dream. But it will never be fulfilled. She should worry about her own chair,” Bengal BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu said.

Reacting to Banerjee’s statement on RSS, general secretary of the organisati­on’s south Bengal zone, Jishnu Basu said, “She attacked the RSS because we have always raised voice against terrorist activities and throttling of democracy in Bengal.”

Banerjee thanked Union minister of state for social justice and empowermen­t Ramdas Athawale for supporting her stand on the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Athawale, president of Republican Party of India (A), an ally of the ruling NDA, said in Kolkata on September 27 that the NRC cannot be applied in Bengal and refugees not having criminal records should be granted citizenshi­p.

“I am thankful to Athawale for supporting me on this issue,” she said.

She said invitation­s have been sent to leaders of almost all major anti-BJP forces. “Chandrabab­u Naidu, Omar Abdullah and Arvind Kejriwal have confirmed that they will be present at the rally,” she said. NEW DELHI: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a hardline affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamseva­k Sangh, has urged the Narendra Modi government to pass a law in Parliament to pave the way for the constructi­on of a Ram Temple at Ayodhya.

The outfit wants an ordinance to brought in at the upcoming winter session of Parliament.

After a meeting of the outfit’s decision-making body, which consists of Hindu saints including a member of the Ramjanama bhoomi movement Ramvilas Vedanti, VHP functionar­ies said a memorandum on the issue was submitted to President Ramnath Kovind. VHP spokespers­on Vinod Bansal said: “A delegation of saints will also meet PM Modi to apprise him about the sentiments of people vis-a-vis the Ram Temple.”

The VHP’s decision comes in the wake of its perceived “disappoint­ment” on delay in judgment on the issue . HTC

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