Abdul Kalam not to Contest Presidential Poll

Presidential Poll 2012: With Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee being strongly backed by the UPA and other parties, former president APJ Abdul Kalam has decided not to contest the Presidential poll.

 

Issuing a formal statement, Kalam said that he was overwhelmed by the support he received but considering the current political situation he decided against contesting the poll. Importantly, Kalam thanked Mamata Banerjee for the faith she has in him.


Kalam’s assertion gains importance as it comes after the Trinamool Congress, BJP and Shiv Sena requested him to jump in the fray and take on dada. Dr Kalam had earlier – before UPA managed to build consensus on Pranab - indicated that he would like to contest if there was sizeable support for his candidature.

However, Kalam expressed his unwillingness to contest to BJP leader LK Advani when the latter called up the former president to request him to contest the poll.

The BJP, which is not in favour of allowing Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee a walkover in the Presidential race, was keen on Kalam, as the party feels that owing to his wide popularity he will give a tough fight to Pranab. Prior to Advani’s phone conversation with Kalam, key BJP man Sudeendra Kulkari twice met Kalam today.Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee, who first floated Kalam’s name for Presidency, had maintained that her party remains firm on backing Kalam.

Modi Is Not Our PM: Owaisi

MIM is a recognized state political party based in the Indian state of Telangana, with its head office in the old city of Hyderabad, which has its roots in the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen founded in 1927. Unlike most of the regional and national level parties, MIM party leaders ‘fight’ only for the well-being of Muslims, whereas no other party has such communal feelings. In their each and every speech, MIM leaders speak only about Muslims. If these leaders are here to fight for Muslims, then why there are no development works are happening in old city area for decades. Akbaruddin Owaisi faced criticism for making hate remarks on Narendra Modi and Hindus. Recently, his elder brother Asaduddin Owaisi made some notorious annotations. In a one-on-one debate between BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra and Asaduddin Owaisi on the topic of demonetization in a popular Hindi channel, the former left no stone unturned in exposing the latter’s communal designs. Owaisi claimed how most of the Muslim community still remains unbanked and that demonetization has caused severe inconvenience to Muslims. He even went on to say that ATM’s in Muslim-dominated areas weren’t fed enough money. He indirectly alleged that the Modi government hadn’t done anything for Muslims. Even after being pressurized Owaisi didn’t call Narendra Modi as his Prime Minister. He went on said, “Your Prime Minister…” On the other hand, Sambit spoke wisely and called Owaisi a leader of small stature because he talked only of Muslims. He said that no area was Muslim or Hindu and that all areas belonged to India. Owaisi was constantly quoting an RBI report, to which Sambit challenged him to show where the RBI had used the word ‘Muslim’. Sambit even said that if a Muslim leader speaks of Muslims it’s not an issue, but the moment a VHP leader speaks of Hindus people go crazy accusing them of imposing the Hindutva ideology. The most amazing of his counters was to Owaisi’s claims of Muslims not having been brought into the banking system. Sambit said that when banks or ATMs are to be opened in Muslim areas leaders like Owaisi shout that banking is un-Islamic and that Muslims should refrain from it! This video of debate between Sambit Patra and Asaduddin Owaisi is going viral in social media.