Archives for June 2018

The plush office meant for Karnataka speaker K R Ramesh Kumar has been given to former chief minister Siddaramaiah, even though he has no constitutional post in the newly formed H D Kumaraswamy government.

Kumar had worked out of the office on the first floor of the complex for the past two weeks. However, he vacated it for Siddaramaiah.

Siddaramaiah was unanimously elected as the leader of the Congress Legislative Party in May and is also the chairman of the JD(S)-Congress government coordination committee.
The new office of Siddaramaiah has high-end wooden furniture, including luxurious sofas, chairs, LED TV and other comforts.

Former Karnataka speaker K B Koliwad had renovated this office at a cost of Rs 68 lakh expanding the single-room space into two during his term. The lavish expenditure was severely criticized by the BJP, which termed it unnecessary when farmers are committing suicide.

However, Koliwad citied space crunch, difficulty in organizing meetings and justified the renovation activity.

While Siddaramaiah was blamed by some of his party leaders for Congress defeat and rumours making rounds of him being sidelined in the new government, the swanky office allotted to him which was actually meant to be that of the Speaker’s has raised eyebrows.

A case was registered against controversial Telangana BJP MLA T Raja Singh Lodh for allegedly posting an “inflammatory” video on the social networking site over ‘Iftar’ parties, police said today.

The city police suo-moto registered the case under IPC section 153A (promoting enmity among people on grounds of religion) against him last night, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Falaknuma Division) Syed Fiyaz.

The MLA from Goshamahal constituency, known for making contentious statements, had posted the video message on a social networking site saying many legislators including from Telangana are busy hosting ‘Iftar’ parties, and declared he would neither host nor attend such events.

“Those who sit with them (those attending Iftar) are ‘vote ke bhikhari’ (beggars for a vote). My thinking is different,” he said in it.

Singh said his religion Hinduism taught him to give respect to everyone.

“But some religions and their religious books preach to kill Hindus as they are ‘Kafir’ (a term literally meaning non-believers but often construed as insulting to followers of other religions). How can I attend an Iftar or host one for those who talk of killing Hindus?” he asked.

In support of his claim, the MLA said it was mentioned in the “green book.”

“This green book is responsible for the spread of terrorism in India and it should be banned. I will fight to get it banned,” he had said.

Singh had also accused Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao of hosting Iftar at different mosques in the state to “appease” the minorities.

The MLA has been booked by the Hyderabad police several times over alleged provocative speeches and statements.

The BJP on Monday hit back at Congress for calling “wheels” of the Indian economy “punctured” and accused it of making “baseless and irresponsible” allegations against the government.

“Allegations labeled by (former Finance Minister P.) Chidambaram are baseless and irresponsible. He has raised the issue of growth rate while we have emerged today as the fastest growing economy in the world.

“This quarter (4th of FY 2018), the growth rate was 7.7 percent. It was more than that of 2014 when they (UPA) left the government. We maintained the pattern of growth rate even when the situation in the world was different,” Union Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters here at a press conference.

Attacking the Congress, he said that it was their record that growth rate was always low while the rate of inflation was always high.

“Our government has changed it. The growth rate has increased while the rate of inflation has gone down,” he said.

Javadekar was responding to Chidambaram’s remarks in which he said that three out of the four wheels – exports, private investment, capital formation – of the national economy have been “punctured” and held the BJP government’s “administrative incompetence”, “reckless decisions” and “policy blunders” responsible for the rising farm distress, unemployment, and economic failure.

He said the only tyre that seemed to be inflated was government expenditure.

“But here too, the government’s options are getting limited because of the pressure on the current account deficit (CAD) and the fiscal deficit (FD),” he said.

Chidambaram said the gross NPAs (Non-Performing Assets) had risen in the last four years from Rs 2,63,000 crore to Rs 10,30,000 crore and would rise further.

Responding to the charges on NPA, Javadekar blamed Congress for the NPA crisis.

He said that the government is working seriously on long term solution over the hikes in rates of petrol and diesel prices.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi was trolled on Twitter on Monday after he said the maker of Coca-Cola was a “shikanji” (lemonade) seller in the United States and the founder of McDonald’s used to run a “dhaba” (roadside restaurant).

After his remarks, a hashtag #AccordingToRahulGandhi started trending on Twitter.

“Who started Coca-Cola company? Do you know? I will tell you who. The maker of Coca-Cola was a ‘shikanji’ seller. He used to sell ‘shikanji’ in America. He used to mix sugar in water,” said Gandhi while addressing the national convention of the Congress’ OBC arm.

“His experience and skill got recognition and respect, he earned money and Coca-Cola company was founded,” he added.

Gandhi further said: “You must have heard about McDonald’s. The founder of it used to run a ‘dhaba’. You show me one ‘dhabawala’ in India, who founded a company like the one as Coca-Cola. Where is it?”

“Have you heard of Ford, Mercedes and Honda? Who started these companies? The founders of these companies were mechanics. You show me one automobile company in India, which was started by a mechanic,” said Gandhi.

Gandhi said: “This is not true that our people don’t have understanding or skills. It is not that our ‘dhabawalas’ don’t have strength, understanding and knowledge. It is not that our mechnanics don’t have the capabilities as Ford or Mercedes did.

“The truth is the banks are open for companies like Ford, Mercedes and MacDonald’s but they are shut for our ‘dhabawalas’, mechanics and carpenters.”

Coca-Cola was founded by American pharmacist John Pemberton in 1886 when he prepared a beverage which later became Cola drink.

McDonald’s was set up in 1940 by Richard and Maurice McDonald. It started after they opened a hotdog stand in 1937 in California.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal along with his three cabinet colleagues spent the night at Lt Governor Anil Baijal’s office as they continued their sit-in protest on Tuesday.

Kejriwal along with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and cabinet colleagues Satyendar Jain and Gopal Rai were supplied food from outside, informed sources said.

The four went to the LG’s office on Monday evening at 5.30 p.m. to press their three demands, including a direction to IAS officers to end their “strike” and to take action against officers who have struck work for “four months”.

The Chief Minister also demanded approval to his government’s proposal to deliver ration to the poor at their houses.

They decided to stay in Baijal’s office until their demands were accepted. The Raj Niwas had called it a “protest without reason”.

The Chief Minister on Tuesday morning tweeted that his “struggle” was on.

“My dear Delhites, Good Morning. The struggle is on,” Kejriwal tweeted.

In another tweet, he accused the Lt Governor of defending the “IAS strike” by saying that the officers were working and were not on strike.

As of now, Kejriwal and the ministers don’t have any plans of coming out of Baijal’s office and will continue the strike.

They four were constantly updating details through tweets. They spent the Monday night on the sofas in Baijal’s waiting room.

A number of party leaders were squatting on the road outside the Lt Governor’s office to show their support to Kejriwal.

Security outside Baijal’s office has been beefed up since Monday evening.

A statement from the office of Baijal, who met the delegation in the evening, accused the Chief Minister of “threatening” him.

On Monday, Kejriwal tweeted: “LG refuses to take action. LG is under constitutional duty to act. Left with no option, we have politely told the LG that we will not leave till he acts on all points. We have come out of his chamber and (are) sitting in his waiting room.”

Kejriwal on Monday alleged that the IAS association in Delhi was on a strike for the past four months. He dubbed the protest “illegal”.

IAS Association Secretary Manisha Saxena on Monday termed the allegations by Kejriwal as “unwarranted and baseless” and “unfortunate”, saying no officer in Delhi was or has been on strike.

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee continued to be at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here for a second day on Tuesday undergoing treatment for urinary tract infection and is said to be stable.

“His condition is stable. We will get the update on his health around noon,” said a hospital official. There is no talk about his discharge any time soon.

Vajpayee, 93, was admitted to AIIMS on Monday for examination. It triggered VIP visits including that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah and Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

“Vajpayee was admitted at AIIMS for investigation and evaluation. He has been diagnosed with a urinary tract infection for which appropriate treatment has been closely monitored and treated by a team of doctors,” AIIMS media and protocol division Chairperson Aarti Vij said.

A team of senior doctors under the supervision of Randeep Guleria, Director, AIIMS, is conducting the tests on Vajpayee, who is bed-ridden for many years. Guleria, a pulmonologist, has been a personal physician to Vajpayee for long.

On Monday, the BJP said in a statement: “As per the advice of doctors, Vajpayeeji has been admitted in AIIMS for routine check-ups and investigations.”

Modi called on Vajpayee on Monday evening and interacted with his family. He spoke to doctors and enquired about Vajpayee’s health. Modi was at AIIMS for about 50 minutes.

Gandhi was the first to visit the hospital to check on Vajpayee’s health. Health Minister J.P. Nadda also visited, followed by Amit Shah and Modi.

On Tuesday, Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu enquired about Vajpayee’s health.

Vajpayee, who was Prime Minister briefly in 1996 and then from 1998 to 2004, had retreated from active politics over the last decade due to failing health.

Militants of the so-called “Free Syrian Army” with the assistance of U.S. military special operations forces are mulling a fake chemical attack in Syria, the Russian military said.

The intelligence was confirmed by three independent channels in Syria, said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov in a statement on Monday.

A Xinhua report quoted Igor as saying that the Free Syrian Army militants have brought chlorine cylinders to a settlement in the Syrian province of Deir al-Zour to fake a chemical attack by the Syrian government troops against civilians.

A video of the staged attack, after it is disseminated in the western media, will serve as a new pretext for the US-led coalition to strike Syrian targets and justify an offensive by militants against Syrian government forces on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, he said.

The ministry said it is intolerable to use such a provocation to destabilize Syria, Konashenkov said.

The United States, along with Britain and France, launched joint airstrikes on military targets in Syria on April 14, in response to what they said was the Syrian military’s use of chemical weapons in Douma, a then rebel-held town in Eastern Ghouta near the Syrian capital of Damascus on April 7.

However, Russia said that no traces of the chemical attack had been found and that the event was staged.