Banaskantha district head chooses Modi over governor

July 2nd, 2009 Diplomats: IAEA chooses Japanese as new headVIENNA — Diplomats say the U.N. nuclear agency's governing board has chosen a veteran Japanese diplomat as its new head.

April 12th, 2009 SHRAWASTI - After taunting the Congress party with his 'budhiya' (aged woman) comments, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Sunday termed the 125-year-old national party a 'gudiya' (doll). Addressing a poll rally in this Uttar Pradesh district, Modi said: 'Ab mein Congress ko budhiya nahin, gudiya kahoonga (Now I will refer to the Congress not as an aged woman, but a doll).

April 10th, 2009 BHUJ - The Border Security Force has intensified patrolling along India's 512-km long border with Pakistan in Gujarat's Kutch and Banaskantha districts, given elections in India and the recent terror strikes across the border, a top Border Security Force (BSF) official said. 'We are in a state of high alert as not only the country is going to the polls but also for the fact that the neighbouring country is under the spell of repeated terror attacks which may trigger infiltration of terror elements from across the border,' the official said.

March 6th, 2009 MUMBAI - The Indian Premier League (IPL) will soon have a new schedule, IPL chief Lalit Modi said here Friday and stressed that the tournament was on. 'We will shortly have a new schedule out,' Modi told reporters, adding that there would be no matches on the day of the counting - May 16.

February 24th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi brushed off suggestions of his becoming prime minister after the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls with a 'no chance', and said he couldn't hypothesize about the 2014 polls, which are 'so distant in the future'. The young Congress MP, who was on a two-day visit to north Gujarat, interacted with people in Sabarkantha district late Sunday night.

February 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress party Monday said that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was getting 'nightmares' due to the sustained campaigning by Rahul Gandhi in his state, and his statements against the Congress general secretary showed his frustration and desperation. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters here, 'Modi is highly insecure and frustrated.' 'Modi's statement calling Rahul Gandhi an aquarium fish shows that he believes in 'matsya nyaya' (jungle law) and is living in the jungle law, where the powerful swallow the weaker,' Singhvi said, reacting to Modi Sunday describing Rahul Gandhi as a 'small fish' in an aquarium.

February 16th, 2009 PALANPUR - Workers of diamond polishing units from north Gujarat, who lost their jobs due to the global financial meltdown, have threatened to boycott the Lok Sabha elections to protest government apathy towards their plight. 'We are firm on boycotting the Lok Sabha elections.

February 15th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - Hit hard by the economic meltdown, over 200,000 diamond workers in Gujrat's Banaskantha district are living hand to mouth, having sold all their valuables and some are considering selling their organs in desperation, the head of the diamond workers union Monday said. Over the weekend, two jobless diamond workers committed suicide in the district headquarters Palanpur, said Ashok Purohit, president of the Banaskantha Diamond Mazdoor Union.

February 7th, 2009 NAGPUR - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is proud of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, party leader L.K. Advani said Sunday.

January 24th, 2009 HALOL - Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has chosen Godhra town in Panchmahal as the venue of official celebrations of Republic Day Monday, and the district has received a special developmental package. On the eve of Repubic Day, Modi laid the foundation stone of a new radial tyre plant of Ceat at Halol in Panchamahals, about 200 km from Ahmedabad.

January 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A leading construction and infrastructure development company Monday signed deals worth $8.3 billion with the Gujarat government to develop a water front city and three pipeline projects in the state. The first memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) and the Gujarat Infrastructure Development Board to develop a water front city at a total investment of $8 billion while the second MOU was signed with the water department of the state for developing three water pipeline projects worth $300 million.

January 5th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - A senior Gujarat police official has been suspended after a rape victim complained that he had allegedly helped the accused, the police said Tuesday. Deputy Superintendent of Police Banaskantha (Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes Cell) S.K.

January 2nd, 2009 AHMEDABAD - Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Saturday visited the India-Pakistan border at Banaskantha and interacted with security personnel. 'The soldiers are keenly watching the border.

December 29th, 2008 NAVASARI - Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday asked people of the state to resolve to build a 'Golden Gujarat'. 'The entire country is looking at us and at our development.

December 28th, 2008 VAV - He could identify an enemy soldier by just seeing the footprints in the desert sand in Kutch and had played a crucial role in helping the Indian Army capture border areas during the 1965 and 1971 wars. Known as 'The old war camel', Ranchhod Pagi, now 108, is raring to go again.