by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
By Amulya Ganguli,
Since there is no dominant leader with a countrywide appeal in the opposition camp at the moment, it is natural that the most energetic opponents of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will take the lead in trying to bring together the different parties to fight the ruling party at the Centre.
Not surprisingly, Mamata Banerjee is playing that part. Having singlehandedly ousted the Communists from West Bengal against what appeared at the time as insuperable odds, she has now taken on an even bigger challenge to evict the BJP from Delhi.
Prior to the 2004 general election, Sonia Gandhi assumed the role of a coordinator and succeeded in toppling the Atal Behari Vajpayee government, which was confident of a second term. It remains to be seen whether the West Bengal Chief Minister succeeds in her endeavour, which is not dissimilar to what happened in 2004.
Her formula is simple. Each party should fight where it is strong against the BJP (“Jo party jahan strong hai, wahan usko ladna chahiye”). This is the basis of her one-to-one confrontations with the saffron outfit. However, there will be a problem with this arrangement where two parties may claim to be equally “strong” in a state.
There may be no objections, for instance, to Trinamool Congress being the main challenger to the BJP in West Bengal, where the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Congress have lost their earlier influence. But the scene is different in Kerala, where both the CPI-M and the Congress may claim to be equally strong.
Similarly, in Maharashtra, it will not be easy to choose between the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for allotting the leading role unless there is an alliance between them. It will be interesting to find out if this particular problem was touched upon by Mamata Banerjee during her discussions with the NCP chief, Sharad Pawar, in Delhi, which set the ball rolling for her latest round of talks with various leaders.
However, the scene will be less cluttered in states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Gujarat, Assam and Karnataka where the Congress can expect to be the main challenger to the BJP.
In Bihar, it will be the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), in Tamil Nadu the DMK, in Uttar Pradesh a Samajwadi Party (SP)-Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) alliance (if Mayawati doesn’t change her mind), in Andhra Pradesh the Telugu Desam (if Chandrababu Naidu remains opposed to the BJP till 2019), in Telangana K. Chandrashekar Rao and in Odisha Naveen Patnaik, who currently appears to be at a loss about the side to which he belongs.
It is in settling the rows between, say, the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka or between the Telugu Desam and the YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh that the ingenuity of the mediators will be tested. It is possible that several of these disputes will remain unresolved till polling day with the BJP playing an undercover role to egg on the malcontents to prevent a united front against it.
Even then, the one-to-one contests seem largely feasible. According to Arun Shourie, who is now quite openly in the non-BJP camp along with Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha, although none of them has formally left their parent organisation, the one-to-one formula will mean that the opposition will start with 69 per cent of the votes considering that the BJP secured 31 per cent at the height of its popularity in 2014.
But the elephant in the room is the leadership question. Among the probable claimants will be Mamata Banerjee herself as a reward for all the efforts that she is putting in; Sonia Gandhi as the leader of the 133-year-old party of Indian independence who expects to be more acceptable than her son, Rahul; and Sharad Pawar, who was at one time the country’s youngest chief minister although his political instincts have since let him down.
So far as the Congress is concerned, much will depend on how the party fares in the forthcoming assembly elections in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Success in three of the four states will give the party a momentum which will make the person nominated by it, either Sonia or Rahul, as the natural choice for leading the anti-BJP alliance.
In the push for assuming the leadership role, the Congress can expect to be backed by the RJD, the SP though may be not the BSP, the DMK, the NCP (perhaps) and the CPI-M if Sitaram Yechury manages to overcome Prakash Karat’s resistance. The Trinamool Congress may also chip in if the scales perceptibly tilt towards the Congress.
For the present, however, it will be best for these parties not to raise the leadership question at all, for it may queer the pitch for the unity efforts. As the saying goes, it will be better to cross that bridge when one comes to it.
(Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at amulyaganguli@gmail.com)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance
New Delhi : The BJP on Thursday accused former Law Minister and Congress leader Kapil Sibal of being involved in a “land scam” claiming that he bought a piece of land in Delhi worth crores for a “very small price” from an accused in a money laundering case.
Referring to a report by a website alleging that Sibal acquired the land by paying just Rs 1 lakh, Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani said Sibal and his wife got the ownership of a company, Grande Castello, from a Piyoosh Goyal, a businessman.
She said some details about Sibal’s acquisition of the company and his dealings with Goyal were first published in January by some investigative journalists based in South Africa. Irani also said the UPA government had ordered a probe against Goyal then.
Quoting the newsreport, Irani said, “Grande Castello, with no business in Financial Year 2013-14, commenced purchase of a piece of land, which eventually cost Rs 45.21 crores. To fund, this, the company raised interest-free loans and book overdrafts.
“Once the land was registered in the company’s name in 2014-15, the company decided to revalue the aforesaid land based on the ‘Market Value’ as per valuation report obtained from the Government Registered valuer, thus raising the value of the land by Rs 43.79 crores to Rs 89 crore, almost doubling the value,” she said.
Firing salvos at Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Irani said, “If Sibal wants do to a business deal with a man accused of money laundering is his choice… But is it acceptable to Rahul Gandhi?”
Reacting to her statement, Sibal rejected the charges saying the Minister, who does not know the definition of money laundering, was making an allegation.
“I bought a company, paid for it, paid from my income… I earn well. My Income Tax return is upto date, I have also filed corporate tax returns. You do not want to see records and allege money laundering,” he said.
Sibal also slammed Irani for dragging Rahul Gandhi into the issue.
“It is sad that in this country economics and maths exam papers are leaked which never happened in the past. I have also been the HRD minister. If you talk about Election Commission, election dates are leaked. If you look at Aadhaar, data is leaked. But when they have to protect their own degrees, the information never leaks. So the government knows how to protect information, what they don’t want leaked is not leaked.
“I am surprised she did a press conference and did not ask why the Prime Minister has close relations with Nirav Modi. BJP leaders should tell us about their relations with Lalit Modi,” he said.
Asked if he would file a defamation case, Sibal said yes.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : The Congress on Monday attacked the Narendra Modi government for infringing upon people’s privacy, calling it a “data leak government” while taking down its ‘With INC mobile app and emphasising that there was no breach of data through it.
Accusing the Prime Minister of misuing his position by spying on Indians, and calling him ‘Big Boss’, the party said the NaMo App, run by the BJP is sharing data of millions of users with American companies.
“Not only people’s money, but people’s privacy is also in question. Modi Government mocks and flouts the right to privacy with brazen impunity,” said Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi, while terming allegations of Congress collecting data through its app were the “half truth”.
“As is usual with the BJP, they did not tell you that the ‘WithINC’ app had only 15,000 downloads. It had become defunct because our people do not like the ‘missed call’ membership. Congressmen believe in physical or offline membership. In contrast the Narendra Modi app has had 50 lakh downloads,” he said.
“While the Prime Minister’s Office, PMO India App, asks users to voluntarily part with their identity on 14 data points, the NaMo App asks for a sweeping access to 22 data points.
“The NaMo App records audio, video, contacts of your friends and family and even tracks your location via GPS. Modiji is like the ‘Big Boss’ who brazenness likes to spy on Indians,” he said, adding that IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad who holds daily press conferences on the issue of data security and democracy has much to answer on the unscrupulous means of Narendra Modi’s personal app.
“Why does Modi, in his own book ‘Exam Warriors’ urges to download the NaMo App. Is Modi now planning to snoop in on minors?
“Modi is misusing the PM’s position to build personal database with data on millions of Indians via the NaMo App promoted by government,” he added.
The party also said if as PM he wants to use technology to communicate with India, there is no problem in that, but he should use the official PMO app.
Claming neither people’s money, nor Aadhaar details or personal details of people are secure under Modi government, Singhvi said: “No wonder this government fought against making right to privacy as a fundamental right and did nothing when our banks were looted by fraudsters.”
Earlier, the Congress, on its official Twitter handle, said that the ‘WithINC’ was only a membership app and had not been in use since the party moved membership to www.inc.in from November 16, 2017 and there has been no breach of data from it.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday accused the Congress of sharing users’ date to a Singapore-based firm.
The accusation comes a day after Congress President Rahul Gandhi referred to a media report in which a French vigilante hacker in a series of tweets alleged that the personal data including email IDs, photos, gender and names of the users of Prime Minister Modi’s mobile app were being sent to a third party domain without their consent.
“Hi! My name is Rahul Gandhi. I am the President of India’s oldest political party. When you sign up for our official Application, I give all your data to my friends in Singapore,” BJP leader Amit Malviya said in a series of tweets attaching screenshots of the Congress’ website privacy policy listings.
Malviya is in-charge of BJP’s national Information and Technology wing.
“Full marks to Congress for stating upfront that they’ll give your data to practically anyone – undisclosed vendors, unknown volunteers, even groups with similar causes. In theft of all forms, Congress has never been discreet!
“When Congress says they will share your data with like-minded groups, the implications are grave. From Maoists, stone pelters, Bharat ke Tukde Gang, Chinese embassy to globally ‘renowned’ organisations like Cambridge Analytica, the field is extensive and wide open.
https://twitter.com/malviyamit/status/978099990848565254
“Inspired by Sonia Gandhi’s all power no accountability dictum, Congress will take all your data, even share it worldwide with organisations like Cambridge Analytica but will not take responsibility of it! Their own policy says so,” the BJP leader said.
Earlier, the BJP accused the Congress of compromising national security by roping in political data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica to run its 2019 election campaign.
The London-based data consultancy firm is currently in the midst of a global row after reports surfaced that the data of more than 50 million Facebook users were inappropriately used by Cambridge Analytica, in activities allegedly connected with US President Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Bengaluru : The ruling Congress on Friday won three seats and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) one in the Rajya Sabha biennial election for four seats in Karnataka, said an election official.
“All three Congress candidates and one from the BJP won the contest while the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) candidate lost,” an Election Commission official told reporters here after counting of votes.
L. Hanumanthaiah, Syed Naseer Hussain and G.C. Chandrasekhar of the Congress and Rajeev Chandrashekar of the BJP were declared elected by the Returning Officer.
B.M. Farooq of the JD-S lost to G.C. Chandrasekhar of the Congress in the contest for the fourth seat, as his party (JD-S) boycotted the bypolls after two of its members cast their votes earlier in the day.
Of the three Congress winners, Chandrasekhar secured 46 votes as against two by Farooq, L. Hanumanthaiah got 44 and Hussain 42, while BJP’s Rajeev Chandrashekar bagged 50, the highest among the four contestants.
“Of the 188 votes polled, 184 were valid and four were declared invalid,” Joint Electoral Officer K.N. Ramesh told IANS.
For BJP’s Chandrashekar, the win takes him to the upper House of Parliament for the third consecutive term after completing two terms as an Independent from the southern state.
Farooq, richest among all the five candidates, lost for the second consecutive time after he suffered a defeat in the 2016 biennial election from a Congress candidate (K.C. Ramamurthy).
Farooq, 51, declared an income of Rs 770 crore in his affidavit filed with the Election Commission on March 9.
In the 225-member state legislative assembly, including one nominated, the Congress has 122 legislators, BJP 48, JD-S 40 and seven are vacant.
Of the 40 JD-S members, seven rebel legislators voted for the Congress, making its third candidate (Chandrasekhar) get 46 votes.
Crying foul play in the election process, the JD-S boycotted the polling when its members found two Congress legislators voting a second time after initially cross-voting.
The two Congress members were Revenue Minister Kagodu Thimmappa and Baburao Chinchansur.
“Election officers are working like the ruling party’s agents. Two senior Congress MLAs, who cross-voted, were given ballots again by the Returning Officer to cast their votes for their nominated candidates,” JD-S state president H.D. Kumaraswamy told the media.
The by-election was held to fill the vacancies arising out of the retirement of incumbent members Basawaraj Patil, Rahman Khan and R. Ramakrishna of the Congress and Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
—IANS
