1. Gujarat Govt Plans to Expand Porbandar Airport
The Gujarat government is planning to expand Porbandar airport to boost tourism and help security agencies land helicopters and aircraft, an official release said.
The matter was discussed at a meeting held on Tuesday 28 May, between Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Airports Authority of India chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra in Gandhinagar.
The expansion will increase the passenger capacity of the airport and also beneficial for the Indian Coast Guard and Indian Navy engaged in securing country's maritime interests, the release said.
Porbandar is an important tourist centre for being the birth place of Mahatma Gandhi, and hence air connectivity to this place will boost tourism.
(Source: Economic Times)
2. Horse Used in Dalit Wedding Succumbs to Stone-Pelting Injuries
The horse at the centre of the attack on a Dalit wedding procession at Khambhisar village of Modasa tehsil in Aravalli district has succumbed to its injuries it sustained in the stone pelting on the procession.
Following the death, police have added Section 429 of the IPC (mischief by killing cattle) to the FIR against 43 upper case people.
This was one of the arguments by the advocate of the complainant in the case, Dahyabhai Rathod, before a district court in Modasa Monday, while opposing anticipatory bail application of the 43 accused.
On 12 May, an incident of stone pelting was reported from Khambhisar village allegedly by local upper caste people. This was the first incident when a Dalit groom, Jayesh Rathod, was riding a horse in the village.
(Source: Indian Express)
3. Paresh Dhanani Offers to Quit as Leader of Oppn
Congress leader and Amreli MLA Paresh Dhanani on Tuesday, 28 May offered to resign from the post of Leader of the Opposition in the Gujarat Assembly, following the rout of the party in the Lok Sabha Elections. The Bharatiya Janata Party won all 26 parliamentary seats in the state as well as the four assembly by-election seats.
Accepting moral responsibility, Dhanani said, “On the day of the defeat itself (when results were announced on 23 May), I’d said that I take full moral responsibility. We were unable to read the minds of the people despite our hard work and we are directly responsible for the defeat of the party in the state. Therefore, I have expressed my desire to quit as Leader of the Opposition,” Dhanani told The Indian Express.
(Source: Indian Express)
4. Rahul Gandhi Asked to Appear Before Gujarat Court on 12 July in Defamation Case
A court here has asked Congress chief Rahul Gandhi to appear before it in connection with criminal defamation suits filed against him by the Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank and its chairperson Ajay Patel.
The complainants had moved the court last year after Gandhi and Congress national spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala reportedly alleged that the bank was involved in a "scam" to convert scrapped notes worth Rs 745.59 crore within five days of demonetisation announcement on 8 November, 2016.
Gandhi was on 9 April summoned by the court of Additional Metropolitan Magistrate S K Gadhvi to appear before it on 27 May.
But his counsel Monday sought more time for his client's appearance on the ground that the documents pertaining to testimonies of the complainants and witnesses were yet to be translated into English from Gujarati.
(Source: PTI)
5. Cong Turncoats Who Won on BJP Tickets Take Oath as MLAs
The ruling BJP in Gujarat has improved its strength to 104 in the 182-member House with four MLAs, who were previously with the Congress, winning the recently-held bypolls as BJP candidates.
All the four legislators were administered oath by Assembly speaker Rajendra Trivedi.
The MLAs Jawahar Chavda, Parsotam Sabariya, Raghavji Patel, and Asha Patel have won the bypolls to Manavadar, Dhrangadhra, Jamnagar (rural) and Unjha assembly constituencies, respectively.
The byelections were held on 23 April along with the Lok Sabha polls, results for which were declared on 23 May.
The MLAs took oath at the Speaker's chamber in the Assembly building in the presence of Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, BJP state unit president Jitu Vaghani, ministers Bhupendrasinh Chudasama and Pradipsinh Jadeja among others. The BJP now has 104 members in the House.
(Source: Business Standard)
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