by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, News, Politics
New Delhi : Charging the Centre with betrayal by not granting special status to Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Monday claimed there is a threat to democracy and the country under the Narendra Modi-led BJP regime.
With a host of opposition leaders, including Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal extending their support, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President sat on the fast in the national capital demanding the Centre to accord Special Category Status and fulfil other commitments made in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.
A day after Modi addressed a rally in Andhra Pradesh and made a bitter attack on Naidu, a number of opposition leaders turned up at the Andhra Bhavan here and launched a scathing attack on the Prime Minister.
Pointing to the issue being repeatedly raised in Parliament by the TDP, Naidu said his agitation was a way to communicate to the nation “the betrayal by the Modi government of Andhra Pradesh”.
“Modi is threatening everybody — the opposition, bureaucracy, corporates and even the media. He is using the CBI, ED and the IT Department to crush the opposition and dissent,” said Naidu claiming democracy and the nation was “under threat” under Modi.
“We want to save democracy. Today there is a democratic compulsion for all political parties to join together to save the country,” he said.
Calling upon the opposition parties to unite, Naidu said: “We need to keep this in mind. Modi was given absolute majority. What did he do? Nothing. The BJP and Modi were playing games to divide the opposition by asking who’s their leader.
“He is responsible for the falling standard of public discourse. PM must stop first hitting below the belt. Then everyone will stop and then we will maintain dignity and discourse of politics.”
Naidu said his protest was against the injustice done to the state, to remind the Centre of its promises and to demonstrate the strength of Andhra Pradesh.
Warning the Prime Minister to stop the attacks, Naidu said he should act immediately to fulfil the commitments as only “two days were left” to the ongoing Parliament session, which could be the last session before the Lok Sabha elections.
“If you don’t fulfil the promises you have made, we know how to get it done,” he said, adding that the Centre failed to implement the provisions of Bifurcation Act, including funds to bridge the revenue deficit, railway zone in Visakhapatnam, steel plant in Kadapa and a petrochemical corridor.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions, Politics
By Ujjwal K Chowdhury,
The contest is apparently evenly poised as on today, Tuesday, February 5. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has projected the Supreme Court order directing Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar to make himself available before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as a blow to the Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal and a moral victory for the investigating agency. The court, however, also said that no coercive steps should be taken against Kumar and noted that the questioning should be done at a neutral place (which is being finalized as Shillong now).
However, the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal also hailed the court’s order as a vindication of its stand. Mamata Banerjee said that her government had never said it would not cooperate with the CBI, but her opposition was to the manner in which CBI swooped down on senior IPS officer Kumar’s residence. She said that the court ordering that no coercive action could be taken against Kumar was a vindication of her stance.
And both are right in some measures.
It goes without saying that every IPS officer is expected to cooperate with government investigation against any crime if asked to. The office records show Rajeev Kumar was attending office, was on personal leave for a day, and was not absconding. However, he ignored a couple of summonses of the CBI earlier on this issue. It must also be noted that Rajeev Kumar, who headed the Special Investigative Team to probe the Sarada and Rose Valley ponzi scams before the cases were taken over by CBI, had already got several Trinamool Congress leaders, including ministers, arrested.
The CBI claims that he is protecting some others in the cases and is a “potential accused himself”. It goes without mention too that the Kolkata Police Commissioner reports to the West Bengal government, being in state cadre and the Chief Minister had restrained the CBI from unilateral action in the state without keeping the state government and the state police informed as per CBI Act. Further, there was no explicit Supreme Court order for Rajeev Kumar’s arrest and there was no FIR against him. These arguments placed before the Supreme Court led to the directives by it.
That the CBI’s intentions in the case remain doubtful are due to the fact that two among the prime accused in the Sarada ponzi scam case, as per the CBI’s own investigations earlier — Mukul Roy, formerly of the Trinamool Congress, and Himanta Biswa Sarma, formerly of the Congress — have been let off with no further investigation following initial interrogations after they both joined the BJP. They are BJP President Amit Shah’s key political pointsmen in West Bengal and the North-East.
Himanta Biswa Sarma was not named in the charge sheet but his home and office were raided and he was named by the founder of Sarada chit fund. Roy was interrogated many times and his home raided and arrested in the case like TMC MP and media baron Kunal Ghosh. Without any progress in the probe against these two top political leaders of the BJP in the region, going after others will always remain suspect, and will be politically used by the Trinamool Congress and others in the polls ahead.
The current case comes up for further hearing in the Supreme Court on February 20 and the story is far from being over. There could be more arrests in the ponzi scams, and there could be more political leaders involved too. Beyond legalities, politics is also about optics. The West bengal Chief Minister has seized the opportunity and turned this into a David versus Goliath fight, coming out onto the streets, asserting her federal rights as Chief Minister with powers over the state police, and attempting to turn it into a Modi versus opposition-governed states impasse. And to a good extent she has succeeded.
So, we have the entire opposition standing with her through tweets and inside Parliament (both Houses being adjourned due to this). Apart from the opposition parties supporting her, including Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), except for an explicit support from the Communist Party of India-Marxist, even neutral Biju Janata Dal (BJD) of Naveen Patnaik and BJP ally Shiv Sena have expressed their dismay at the harsh CBI action in Kolkata of gheraoing Kumar’s house, not taking the state government into confidence, and creating a “war-like situation on the streets of Kolkata”, as a spokesman for an opposition party noted.
Optically, Mamata Banerjee on the streets a la her struggling days against the Left Front government is a strong political imagery. It becomes a strong image for the anti-Modi political spectrum. However, whether it is good enough to propel her to the leadership of anti-Modi politics of India is yet to be seen. But coming soon after her mega rally of all opposition parties against the Centre in Kolkata recently, this episode has further enhanced perceived bias of the CBI (named as a caged parrot even by a Supreme Court judge), emboldened the allegation that the Modi government is rabidly antagonistic towards non-BJP state governments, and has further positioned the Chief Minister as the strongest voice against Modi with just 10 weeks remaining for the next general elections.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on his own is still unable to bring the entire opposition at one table under his leadership and has been snubbed in Uttar Pradesh by the regional parties there. DMK chief Stalin and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejasvi Yadav apart, no other regional party leader has come out openly on Gandhi as the face of opposition unity.
The entire opposition, except for Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, is wary of Mayawati, the BSP supremo, for her inaccessibility, past association with BJP and sharing of power in Uttar Pradesh, and the fact that her leadership of the opposition camp may deprive other parties from their current Dalit support in various states. Mayawati as the main anti-Modi face will prompt a large section of the Dalit electorate from various states to move towards her from the BJP and more so from other opposition parties. That is a long-term loss.
So, Mamata is, by default, a possible choice. Her influence is limited to West Bengal and some pockets in the North-East, and hence, does not very much conflict with votebanks of any opposition party as such beyond this limited geography. In any case, she expects to be the third largest party in the next Lok Sabha, much in tune with the current Lok Sabha, and hence, as in Karnataka, Rahul Gandhi may spring a surprise by lending support to the leader of the third party, Trinamool Congress, to form the government should Modi and the NDA fail to do so. She is making her road to power stronger now.
The issue is of a consensus leader of the opposition ahead of the election, and the chances of finding one looks bleak as of now. But through the developments of the last one month, from the Brigade Parade ground rally of January 19 to the impasse now over CBI’s actions in her state, Mamata Banerjee has surely bolstered her chances. And Modi has contributed to her scores that much and a shot up in the semblance of unity within the opposition camp.
(The writer is a known media academic)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has amassed over Rs 553 crore as income from unknown sources in 2017-18, which is 80 percent of total such income and four times the aggregate declared by the five other national parties.
According to a report by election watchdog the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) released on Wednesday, a total of Rs 689.44 crore was declared as income from unknown sources by the national parties, of which the BJP pocketed Rs 553.38 crore.
Unknown sources are income declared in the IT returns but without giving source of income for donations below Rs 20,000.
Such unknown sources include donations via Electoral Bonds, sale of coupons, relief fund, miscellaneous income, voluntary contributions, contribution from meetings/morchas. The details of donors of such voluntary contributions are not available in the public domain.
“At present, political parties are not required to reveal the name of individuals or organisations giving less than Rs 20,000 nor those who donated via Electoral Bonds. As a result, more than 50 per cent of the funds cannot be traced and are from ‘unknown’ sources. While the national political parties were brought under the RTI Act by the CIC ruling in June 2013, they have still not complied with the decision,” the ADR said in the report.
As per the report, the total income of six national political parties barring the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in 2017-18 stood at Rs 1,293.05 crore.
While their total income from known donors was Rs 467.13 crore or 36 per cent of the total income, their income from other known sources (sale of assets, membership fees, bank interest, sale of publications, party levy) was Rs 136.48 crore or 11 per cent of total income.
The total income of political parties from unknown sources (income specified in the IT Returns whose sources are unknown) was Rs 689.44 crore, which is 53 per cent of the total income of the parties.
Of Rs 689.44 crore as income from unknown sources, share of income from Electoral Bonds was Rs 215 crore or 31 per cent.
The BJP also got over 93 per cent of donations of above Rs 20,000 received by national political parties, during 2017-18, pocketing Rs 437.04 crore of the total Rs 469.89 crore donated by corporates and individuals.
Of the total donations, the BJP got the lion’s share with 2,977 donations followed by the Congress which has declared receiving Rs 26.658 crore
In the last 14 years (2004-05 to 2017-18), the national parties have collected Rs 8,721.14 crore from unknown sources.
Currently, there are seven national parties – the BJP, Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India-Marxist and All India Trinamool Congress.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, News, Politics
New Delhi : The Congress on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of compromising national security in the Rafale deal by “denying” to the IAF 90 aircraft it desperately needed and “gifted” Dassault Rs 186 crore more per aircraft at the cost of the public exchequer in the deal it signed with France.
Citing a media report that India ended up paying 41 per cent more per aircraft for the 36 fighter jets ordered in 2015, Congress leader P. Chidambaram also expressed alarm over how objections by three senior Defence Ministry officials “to all aspects of the deal announced by Modi” were overruled by the other members in the negotiating team.
“Since Modi announced the new deal in April, 2015 and scrapped the UPA era deal, one question that has loomed large is why the Modi government rejected the need and demand of 126 aircraft made by the Indian Air Force (IAF) and decided to buy only 36 Rafale fighters.
“This question has never been answered either by the Prime Minister, the Defence Minister, the Finance Minister or the Law Minister, who all at one point or the other have come out in defence of the deal,” Chidambaram told the media at the AICC.
Citing the 13 India-specific enhancements (ISEs) asked by the IAF, Chidambaram said the negotiated price was euro 1.3 billion which was to be paid under both the UPA and the Modi deal.
“If 126 aircraft had been purchased, Dassault would have recovered the Euro 1.4 billion in over 10 years and 6 months. But with only 36 aircraft being purchased under the new deal, this will be recovered in just 36 months.
“Dassault gains in two ways. Firstly the increase of price per aircraft, secondly if the government orders for another 90 aircraft, Dassault will again charge for India-specific enhancements,” he said.
“Dassault is laughing all the way to the bank. The government has wronged the country in two ways – compromised national security by denying to the IAF 90 aircraft they desperately need and cost the public money 25 million euro more per aircraft that is equal to 186 crore more per aircraft,” he said.
While the Modi government and the BJP have been citing the Supreme Court verdict to have established the deal to be clean and defeated the Congress’ attempts to malign the Modi government, Chidambaram said the issue was a matter not to be judicially scrutinised as the court does not have the jurisdiction and reiterated the demand for a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC).
“Besides the price factor, the media report revealed how every aspect of the deal has been objected by three members of the negotiating team and how their objections were overruled by 4:3 by the team. We have heard this happening only in judiciary not in the government decision-making process. We reiterate the demand for a JPC.”
“Only a parliamentary panel has the right to call people, examine documents and ask questions. That is why we are pressing for a JPC. But we know this government will never agree for that,” added Chidambaram.
To a suggestion that the coming session will be a “lame duck” sitting and a JPC cannot be formed, he said “if in the first week of January the Parliament is not a lame duck, why should it be so from the First of February.”
The former finance minister said if the government thought that it had succeeded in giving a “quiet burial” to the Rafale controversy it was wrong. “The controversy is very much alive and this morning it acquired a new dimension,” he said.
He said this also raised serious questions about the process of decision making in the NDA government. “The man who got away was Manohar Parrikar (the then Defence Minister) who passed the buck to the Cabinet Committee on Security! Clever man!.”
Should the government place an order for another 90 aircraft on Dassault it will certainly charge ISE-loaded price at which it sold 36 aircraft although the ISI cost would have been recovered on the sale of 36 aircraft. “Perhaps for this reason the government deleted ‘follow on’ clause to buy more aircraft,” he said.
The UPA government had negotiated a deal to purchase 126 Rafale fighter jets of which 18 were to be bought in fly-away condition and the remaining 108 to be manufactured in India under licence. However, the NDA government entered into an inter-government agreement with France to buy 36 jets in fly-away condition.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Mohan Bhagwat
Nagpur : Taking a swipe at the BJP-led government at the Centre, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Monday wondered why soldiers were dying on the country’s borders though there is no war and on the delays in constructing the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Speaking at the silver jubilee of the Prahaar Samaaj Jagruti Sanstha here on Thursday evening, he rued that soldiers continued to be killed on the borders without a war going on.
“It is because we are not doing our job properly. Before Independence, people sacrificed their live for the country. After freedom, it was on the borders during a war. There is no war on…. still people are getting martyred,” Bhagwat said.
Maintaining that “there is no reason” why a soldier should die at the borders, he pointed out that “it is happening even without a war.”
In an obvious expression of displeasure over the delays in constructing the Ram temple in Ayodhya, RSS general secretary Suresh ‘Bhaiyyaji’ Joshi sarcastically remarked that “now, it (the temple) will be constructed in 2025.”
The reference was to the series of delays, political and legal tangles bogging the BJP’s assurances of taking up the temple construction, which its ally in Maharashtra and centre the Shiv Sena has also repeatedly criticized in the past.
Bhagwat also urged the people and society at large to contribute to make the country great.
He asked each person to strive for this and not leave everything to the government, the police and the army to do it.
—IANS
