<p>Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Netherlands Mark Rutte arrived in India on Thursday for a two-day official visit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed Rutte and met him at Hyderabad House in Delhi a short while ago.</p>

<p>Rutte is expected to meet a business delegation at Hotel Taj Diplomatic and then participate in the Clean Ganga Event at Hotel ITC Maurya. He will also attend a CEO roundtable conference at Hyderabad House.</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Prime Minister Narendra Modi met PM of Netherlands Mark Rutte at Hyderabad House in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Delhi?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Delhi</a>. <a href="https://t.co/177piWyzjm">pic.twitter.com/177piWyzjm</a></p>
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<p>Rutte will then sign press statements at the venue at about 02:30 pm and address a public event organised by Carnegie India at Hotel Taj Diplomatic.</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Delhi?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Delhi</a>: Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte arrives in India. He is on a two-day visit to the nation. <a href="https://t.co/Iu8brTQ10E">pic.twitter.com/Iu8brTQ10E</a></p>
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<p>Lastly, he will participate in an agro event, before proceeding to Bengaluru. Rutte is scheduled to meet Governor of Karnataka, Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala.</p>

<p>He is also scheduled to visit Shell Technology Centre and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Bengaluru. Around 10 in the night on May 25, he will leave for the Netherlands.&nbsp;</p>


Rutte is expected to meet a business delegation at Hotel Taj Diplomatic and then participate in the Clean Ganga Event at Hotel ITC Maurya

Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Netherlands Mark Rutte arrived in India on Thursday for a two-day official visit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed Rutte and met him at Hyderabad House in Delhi a short while ago. Rutte is expected to meet a business delegation at Hotel Taj Diplomatic and then participate in the Clean Ganga Event at Hotel ITC Maurya. He will also attend a CEO roundtable conference at Hyderabad House. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met PM of Netherlands Mark Rutte at Hyderabad House in #Delhi. pic.twitter.com/177piWyzjm — ANI (@ANI) May 24, 2018 × Rutte will then sign press statements at the venue at about 02:30 pm and address a public event organised by Carnegie India at Hotel Taj Diplomatic. #Delhi: Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte arrives in India. He is on a two-day visit to the nation. pic.twitter.com/Iu8brTQ10E — ANI (@ANI) May 24, 2018 × Lastly, he will participate in an agro event, before proceeding to Bengaluru. Rutte is scheduled to meet Governor of Karnataka, Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala. He is also scheduled to visit Shell Technology Centre and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Bengaluru. Around 10 in the night on May 25, he will leave for the Netherlands.

Dutch PM Mark Rutte meets Modi at Hyderabad House

<p>Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has cut short his visit to India and returning to the Netherlands tonight, official sources told PTI.</p>

<p>Rutte arrived in India today on a two-day visit.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Reports said the Dutch PM was returning home after investigators concluded the Malaysian Airlines flight 17 which was downed in Ukraine in 2014 was hit by missile from a Russian military unit.</p>

<p>The plane which had 298 people on board crashed into a territory held by pro-Russian separatists. Two-thirds of the passengers in the flight were Dutch. There were no survivors.</p>

<p>On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rutte had held delegation-level talks to step up economic and political ties between the two countries.</p>

<p>The Dutch PM was scheduled to visit Bengaluru on Thursday night&nbsp;to attend programmes there on Friday.&nbsp;</p>

<p>(with PTI inputs)</p>


The Dutch Prime Minister is returning to his country due to some urgent reasons, the sources said.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has cut short his visit to India and returning to the Netherlands tonight, official sources told PTI. Rutte arrived in India today on a two-day visit. Reports said the Dutch PM was returning home after investigators concluded the Malaysian Airlines flight 17 which was downed in Ukraine in 2014 was hit by missile from a Russian military unit. The plane which had 298 people on board crashed into a territory held by pro-Russian separatists. Two-thirds of the passengers in the flight were Dutch. There were no survivors. On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rutte had held delegation-level talks to step up economic and political ties between the two countries. The Dutch PM was scheduled to visit Bengaluru on Thursday night to attend programmes there on Friday. (with PTI inputs)

Dutch PM Rutte cuts short India visit, to return home

<p>Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte easily defeated a strong challenge by far-right rival Geert Wilders in key elections seen as a bellwether of populist support in Europe, partial vote counts said Thursday.</p>

<p>With more than 54 percent of votes counted, Rutte&#39;s Liberal VVD party was set to win 32 seats, making it the largest in the new 150-seat parliament, with Wilders and his Freedom Party (PVV) beaten into second place alongside two others on 19 seats, the Dutch news agency ANP said.</p>

<p>Millions of Dutch flocked to the polls in a near-record turnout, with the stakes high in an election pitting the pro-European Rutte against his anti-immigration and anti-EU rival.</p>

<p>Following last year&#39;s shock Brexit referendum and Donald Trump&#39;s victory in the US, the Dutch vote was being closely scrutinised as a gauge of the rise of populism on the continent ahead of crucial elections in France and Germany.</p>

<p>&quot;This was the evening when The Netherlands, after Brexit and the American elections, said &#39;stop&#39; to the wrong kind of populism,&quot; Rutte told cheering supporters.</p>

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<h5>Wilders had pledged to close the borders to Muslim immigrants, shut mosques, ban sales of the Koran and leave the EU if he won the polls</h5>
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<p>&quot;Now of course it&#39;s important to unite the country in the coming weeks and months and that we succeed in forming a stable government for the next four years,&quot; he added.</p>

<p>Relieved European leaders, fearing the rise of anti-EU sentiment in one of the bloc&#39;s founding members, congratulated Rutte, now headed for a third term at the head of the one the eurozone&#39;s largest economies.</p>

<p>A spokesman for EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker hailed it as a &quot;vote against extremists&quot; while one senior European source told AFP on condition of anonymity: &quot;Common sense strikes back.&quot;</p>

<p>Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault of France, where the far-right Marine Le Pen is currently seen winning the first round of the presidential election in April, congratulated Rutte for &quot;stopping the rise of the far-right&quot;.</p>

<p><strong>&#39;Not rid of me yet &#39;</strong><br />
Wilders had pledged to close the borders to Muslim immigrants, shut mosques, ban sales of the Koran and leave the EU if he won the polls.</p>

<p>He thanked his supporters in a message on Twitter, with his party set to boost its number of MPs to 19. The PVV won 15 seats in the 2012 elections, which had slipped to 12 in the outgoing parliament.</p>

<p>&quot;We won seats. The first gains are made. And Rutte is not rid of me yet,&quot; he said.</p>

<p>Eyeing weeks, if not months, of protracted coalition talks ahead, Wilders offered early Thursday to work with the new government.</p>

<p>&quot;I would still like to co-govern as the PVV, if possible. But if that doesn&#39;t work ... we&#39;ll support the cabinet, where needed, on the issues that are important to us.&quot;</p>

<p>Most of the other leaders, including Rutte have vowed not to work with Wilders, denouncing his incendiary rhetoric and his go-it-alone attitude.</p>

<p>Turnout reached 81 percent, just shy of the record of 88 percent set in 1977.</p>

<p>Rutte appeared to have benefited from his firm stance in a spiralling diplomatic spat with Turkey after authorities barred Turkish ministers from rallying support in the Netherlands for a referendum.</p>

<p><strong>&#39;No Trumpian force&#39;</strong><br />
Assuming the exit polls reflect the final result, Rutte will get the first chance to form the next coalition and could possibly turn to the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the Democracy party D66, which both matched Wilders with a predicted 19 seats.&nbsp;</p>

<p>But with the three parties&#39; combined total of 70 seats, he would need another party to reach the 76-seat majority.</p>

<p>The &quot;PVV is not such a revolutionary, Trumpian force,&quot; Leiden University expert Geerten Waling told AFP.</p>

<p>&quot;People stick to responsible politicians mostly,&quot; he said, acknowledging though that the PVV&#39;s showing was &quot;not small&quot;.</p>

<p>The analyst also pointed to the &quot;disastrous&quot; showing of the traditional Labour party, Rutte&#39;s sole partner in the outgoing coalition.</p>

<p>Support for the party appears to have evaporated and the partial count showed it winning just nine seats -- well down from the 38 it won in 2012.</p>

<p>Labour leader Lodewijk Asscher told supporters late Wednesday &quot;the voters have spoken, difficult as it is, but that is democracy.&quot;</p>

<p>One of the biggest winners of the day was the young, charismatic Jesse Klaver, leader of the ecologist leftwing GroenLinks.</p>

<p>In a remarkable turnaround, the party is likely to win 16 seats compared to just four in the outgoing parliament.&nbsp;</p>

<p>(AFP)</p>


HIs Liberal VVD party is set to win 32 seats. Wilders' Freedom Party came second, along with two others, with 19

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte easily defeated a strong challenge by far-right rival Geert Wilders in key elections seen as a bellwether of populist support in Europe, partial vote counts said Thursday. With more than 54 percent of votes counted, Rutte's Liberal VVD party was set to win 32 seats, making it the largest in the new 150-seat parliament, with Wilders and his Freedom Party (PVV) beaten into second place alongside two others on 19 seats, the Dutch news agency ANP said. Millions of Dutch flocked to the polls in a near-record turnout, with the stakes high in an election pitting the pro-European Rutte against his anti-immigration and anti-EU rival. Following last year's shock Brexit referendum and Donald Trump's victory in the US, the Dutch vote was being closely scrutinised as a gauge of the rise of populism on the continent ahead of crucial elections in France and Germany. "This was the evening when The Netherlands, after Brexit and the American elections, said 'stop' to the wrong kind of populism," Rutte told cheering supporters. Wilders had pledged to close the borders to Muslim immigrants, shut mosques, ban sales of the Koran and leave the EU if he won the polls × "Now of course it's important to unite the country in the coming weeks and months and that we succeed in forming a stable government for the next four years," he added. Relieved European leaders, fearing the rise of anti-EU sentiment in one of the bloc's founding members, congratulated Rutte, now headed for a third term at the head of the one the eurozone's largest economies. A spokesman for EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker hailed it as a "vote against extremists" while one senior European source told AFP on condition of anonymity: "Common sense strikes back." Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault of France, where the far-right Marine Le Pen is currently seen winning the first round of the presidential election in April, congratulated Rutte for "stopping the rise of the far-right". 'Not rid of me yet ' Wilders had pledged to close the borders to Muslim immigrants, shut mosques, ban sales of the Koran and leave the EU if he won the polls. He thanked his supporters in a message on Twitter, with his party set to boost its number of MPs to 19. The PVV won 15 seats in the 2012 elections, which had slipped to 12 in the outgoing parliament. "We won seats. The first gains are made. And Rutte is not rid of me yet," he said. Eyeing weeks, if not months, of protracted coalition talks ahead, Wilders offered early Thursday to work with the new government. "I would still like to co-govern as the PVV, if possible. But if that doesn't work ... we'll support the cabinet, where needed, on the issues that are important to us." Most of the other leaders, including Rutte have vowed not to work with Wilders, denouncing his incendiary rhetoric and his go-it-alone attitude. Turnout reached 81 percent, just shy of the record of 88 percent set in 1977. Rutte appeared to have benefited from his firm stance in a spiralling diplomatic spat with Turkey after authorities barred Turkish ministers from rallying support in the Netherlands for a referendum. 'No Trumpian force' Assuming the exit polls reflect the final result, Rutte will get the first chance to form the next coalition and could possibly turn to the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the Democracy party D66, which both matched Wilders with a predicted 19 seats. But with the three parties' combined total of 70 seats, he would need another party to reach the 76-seat majority. The "PVV is not such a revolutionary, Trumpian force," Leiden University expert Geerten Waling told AFP. "People stick to responsible politicians mostly," he said, acknowledging though that the PVV's showing was "not small". The analyst also pointed to the "disastrous" showing of the traditional Labour party, Rutte's sole partner in the outgoing coalition. Support for the party appears to have evaporated and the partial count showed it winning just nine seats -- well down from the 38 it won in 2012. Labour leader Lodewijk Asscher told supporters late Wednesday "the voters have spoken, difficult as it is, but that is democracy." One of the biggest winners of the day was the young, charismatic Jesse Klaver, leader of the ecologist leftwing GroenLinks. In a remarkable turnaround, the party is likely to win 16 seats compared to just four in the outgoing parliament. (AFP)

Dutch elections: PM Rutte easily beats challenge from far-right Wilders

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Dutch PM Mark Rutte meets Modi at Hyderabad House

Dutch PM Rutte cuts short India visit, to return home

Dutch elections: PM Rutte easily beats challenge from far-right Wilders