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Amit Shah to lead BJP charge in Delhi too

Published

10 years ago

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New Delhi: Miffed with infighting and lack of coordination among state leaders that may harm the party’s prospects in the upcoming Delhi assembly polls, BJP president Amit Shah has decided to take charge of the election machinery in the capital from Dec 25, a top source said.

According to a senior party leader who is in the know of the development, Shah is currently occupied with the polls in Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir but once the results are out Tuesday, he will shift focus to Delhi and dedicate at least two months to the city before the assembly election are held, likely in February 2015.

“The Delhi BJP needs direction and guidance from a single authority. At present, everyone is acting like he is the captain of the ship which is resulting in utter confusion,” the source toimagesld.

The source informed that owing to the threat from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Shah started keeping an eye on the political developments in Delhi – where the BJP has remained out of power for the last 15 years – since he became the party president in July.

(The December 2013 polls threw up a hung 70-member house, with the BJP winning 31 seats, the AAP 28 and the Congress eight, with three seats going to other parties and independents. The AAP formed a government that lasted 49 days, necessitating fresh polls)

“He (Shah) knows that Delhi is not like other states where the contest is between BJP and Congress. The general anti-Congress mood prevailing across the nation has helped BJP but in Delhi, it’s the AAP that is the main opponent of the BJP,” the source added.

“Therefore, the party needs to put in much more effort but Shah knows that the party is struggling with infighting and poor coordination,” said the leader.

Though, such allegations have been leveled against the party earlier as well, this time the cracks are showing.

A couple of weeks back a party leader, in charge of an event, openly chided a party spokesperson for talking to the media about the preparations.

He was unhappy with the spokesperson hogging the limelight and instead wanted the media to give him footage.

Furthermore, in a meeting held between Shah and the Delhi BJP leaders and office bearers in November, it was decided that all the party parliamentarians would hold 2,700 public meetings across the city.

However, a month later, that figure has been reduced to around 1,400, the source said.

“The state unit has failed in successfully organizing these meetings and managing to gather enough crowds. Their management has been sloppy and hence the MP’s lost interest,” said the source.

Furthermore, sources said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan too has been reduced to mere photo opportunities by some which has further added to the woes of the Delhi BJP’s leadership.

Though, Shah is a tough taskmaster and has set a 60-seat goal in Delhi and hence, he is all set to take charge of Delhi after Dec 25, another source told.

According to party leaders, Shah believes in working at the ground level and has directed the Delhi leaders, at a meeting Thursday, to do the same. Shah had earlier met the leaders in November.

The source further said that a major reshuffle in the Delhi BJP is in the offing once the election is over.

“A new team is likely to be formed for Delhi after the polls,” the source said.

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Entertainment

Meghalaya Reserves Legalized Gambling and Sports Betting for Tourists

Published

2 years ago

on

June 25, 2022

By

PureWin Online Betting

The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index

Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.

The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports

Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.

All for the Tourists

The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.

“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.

To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.

Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market

With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.

Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).

Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.

Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.

Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting

Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.

Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.

The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.

If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.

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