Tag Archives: Ghulam Nabi Azad – Leader of the Opposition

Congress veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad named among Padma Bhushan recipients

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JAMMU & KASHMIR :

Ghulam Nabi Azad, one of the top politicians of Jammu & Kashmir, has served as the chief minister of the erstwhile state between 2005 and 2008.

He was the Union health minister from 2009 and 2014, and subsequently served as the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha till February 2021.

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad (PTI)

Former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister and veteran politician of the Congress party, Ghulam Nabi Azad, was included in the list of Padma Bhushan awardees released by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on January 25.

Azad, 72, will be conferred with Padma Bhushan by President Ram Nath Kovind for his contribution in the field of “public affairs”.

A total of 17 names were approved by the President for the conferment of Padma Bhushan — which is awarded for “distinguished service of high order”.

Apart from Azad, the list also includes another top politician – former West Bengal chief minister and senior CPI(M) leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

Azad, who served as the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha between June 2014 and February 2021, was lauded by the prime minister at the conclusion of his tenure in the Parliament’s Upper House.

“Azad has distinguished himself in Parliament. He not only worries about his Party but also had a similar passion towards the smooth running of the House and towards India’s development,” he had said.

Azad, a member of the Congress’ G-23 – an informal reference to 23 Congress veterans who had marked dissent against the party’s style of functioning, had apparently reciprocated the gesture last year by praising Modi for ‘not hiding his true self”.

Notably, Azad, before serving as the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha for close to seven years, was the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare in the second UPA government between 2009 and 2014.

He had served as the seventh chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir between November 2005 and July 2008.

The Padma awards, whose recipients are announced on the eve of Republic Day, are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhawan usually around March-April every year.

This year, the President has approved the conferment of 128 Padma awards. The list comprises 4 Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 107 Padma Shri awards.

source: http://www.moneycontrol.com / MoneyControl.com / Home> News> India / January 25th, 2022

Danish Ali’s moment in the sun

Community Involvement / Social Issues, Karnataka (under research project), Leaders, , , , ,

Hapur, UTTAR PRADESH / NEW DELHI / KARNATAKA :

Key player: JD(S) leader Danish Ali (left) with party supremo H.D. Deve Gowda.
Key player: JD(S) leader Danish Ali (left) with party supremo H.D. Deve Gowda.

Gowda loyalist and JD(S) stalwart piloted alliance with Congress

The speed with which the Congress-Janata Dal(S) alliance came about on the afternoon of May 15 was a matter of much surprise to those who knew the strained relations between the two parties. That the alliance was stitched up, publicly announced and on the road to Raj Bhavan far ahead of the BJP’s move, was the product of three days of intense backroom talks between the two parties.

While the role of Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad is now well-known, the part played by JD(S)’ secretary general Kunwar Danish Ali remained unknown until he made it to all the photo-ops of Karnataka Chief Minister-designate H.D. Kumaraswamy with Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

According to sources, it was a midnight call between Mr. Azad and Mr. Ali on May 13, two days before the results were out, that set the ball rolling.

“It was clear to the JD(S) that talk of a secret deal with the BJP during the campaign had resulted in a desertion by minorities. The Congress, too, anticipated a less than stellar performance,” said a source. Mr. Ali was instrumental in speaking to both former prime minister Deve Gowda and Mr. Kumaraswamy about Mr. Azad’s call, but only on the night of May 14.

“Mr. Deve Gowda just told him to speak to Mr. Kumaraswamy, while the latter was a bit apprehensive after the bitter campaign by the Congress,” said a source. Mr. Deve Gowda was for a wait and watch approach, sources said, but Mr. Kumaraswamy, once convinced by Mr. Ali, issued a public statement sealing the alliance.

“He was convinced that this alliance would have far-reaching consequences for the 2019 polls too,” said a source.

Mr. Ali, 54, had also sewn up the party’s alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the All Indian Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) before the polls, with the BSP contesting in 20 seats and winning one, a historic first for them.

He entered politics as the national president of the Janata Dal student wing in 1994, as a student in Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University, and has stuck with the Gowdas through thick and thin. He came to the attention of the former prime minister especially during the 1994 Assembly polls in Karnataka when he was speaking at a rally in Ramanagara.

In his more than quarter of a century with the Janata Dal(S) and its earlier avatar, Mr. Ali has contested one Assembly poll from Garhmukhteswar in Uttar Pradesh, the State he hails from. Apart from his grand uncle, Kunwar Mahmood Ali, who owed allegiance to the Indian National Lok Dal under late prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh, and was Governor of Madhya Pradesh between 1992-93, no one else from his family is in politics.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Nistula Hebbar / New Delhi – May 23rd, 2018

Rajya Sabha bids farewell to three Congress MPs

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NEW DELHI :

Karan Singh, Janaradhan Diwedi and Parvez Hashmi will retire on January 27

Debates were becoming rare and disruptions more frequent, four time Rajya Sabha MP Karan Singh, rued even as he bade farewell to the upper house along with two other Congress MPs Janaradhan Diwedi and Parvez Hashmi.

In a speech peppered with Sanskrit shlokas and Urdu verses, Mr. Singh said, “Parliament has evolved over these 50 years but not all the changes have been positive I must say. I used to remember when I went to the Lok Sabha for the first time. There were brilliant debates by Hiren Mukherjee, Madhu Limaye, Nath Pai, Atalji and here Bhupesh Gupta. Those were the debates now seem to me becoming rare, and disruptions are becoming more frequent.”

He called upon the members to introspect. He said he had come to Delhi as an idealistic young man of 36 and was retiring as an ‘idealistic old man’’. “I have implicit faith that the county will overcome all its challenges as long as we remain faithful to our Constitution and civilisational values,” Mr Singh said.

Speakers from both sides showered praise on them for their contributions. All the three retiring MPs were elected from Delhi. The farewell was held today, the last day of the Winter Session. Their actual retirement date of January 27 would fall in the inter-session period.

Ghulam Nabi’s praise

Leader of the Opposition and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said his veteran party colleague Karan Singh had become the head of Jammu and Kashmir at the age of 18 and was probably world’s youngest person to hold such a post.

Mr. Dwivedi, who completed three terms as the Rajya Sabha MP, said generally farewell became like an “obituary reference” but today [Friday] was different.

Mr. Hashmi was not present in the house.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National / by Special Correspondent / New Delhi – January 05th, 2018