BJP announces candidates for Sikkim assembly, LS polls
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday announced the list of 14 candidates who will be contesting for the 32 seats in the Sikkim Legislative Assembly.
The presence of a Chinese submarine in the Indian Ocean region has nothing to do with stand-off between the Indian and Chinese troops along the border in Sikkim, informed sources said here on Monday.
They confirmed the presence of a conventional Chinese submarine in the Indian Ocean region for a while.
The Indian Navy, too, said "the submarine's presence has nothing to do with the present situation and it has been present in the Indian Ocean for a while now".
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"Usually, Chinese submarines have three-month long deployment in the Indian ocean. This is routine," a Navy official said.
According to the informed sources, this is the same Yuan-class submarine that was "picked up" by Indian Navy's Poseidon-8I long-range maritime patrol aircraft as soon as it crossed the Malacca Strait on April 19-20.
The submarine of China's People's Liberation Army Navy's (PLAN) anti-piracy fleet had sought permission to dock at a Sri Lankan harbour in May but Sri Lanka declined it.
The submarine then headed towards Karachi and was reported to have docked there.
A recent report from Pentagon also confirmed that China continued to send submarines to the Indian Ocean in 2016. The report said "it appeared to be in support of its counter-piracy patrols".
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