New Delhi: After claiming that there will be an “earthquake” if he speaks, Rahul Gandhi today alleged that he has detailed information about “personal corruption” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which he wants to present in Lok Sabha but is not being allowed to do so by the PM.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar rejected Gandhi’s allegation as “false and baseless” and “very unfortunate”. “The allegation was made out of desperation and he (Gandhi) should apologise to the nation,” he told reporters.

As the Parliament remained deadlocked over the issue of demonetisation, Gandhi said the prime minister is personally terrified of him being allowed to speak inside Lok Sabha.

“The Prime Minister is personally terrified of me being allowed to open my mouth inside Lok Sabha because I have information about the Prime Minister that is going to explode his balloon. And I am not being allowed to speak in the House,” he told reporters in Parliament premises.

Asked what kind of information he has, the Congress Vice President said, “That information is personal information about Narendra Modiji which I want to state in Lok Sabha. It is personal corruption of the Prime Minister that we have detailed information about. We want to present it, which the Prime Minister is not allowing us to speak.”

Gandhi said the entire opposition wants a debate in Parliament and have discussed with the Speaker to allow it while dispensing all rules. “Pretty much unconditionally we are ready to have a discussion, but the government is not interested in having a discussion. I have already said it before, the Prime Minister is personally terrified of me being allowed to open my mouth inside the Lok Sabha,” he said.

He claimed Modi has taken a decision against the poor people of this country and has “destroyed” millions of lives and thus is answerable. He said he has personally taken this decision and he cannot keep running away from the House.

Gandhi said the Prime Minister cannot keep “running away” to pop concerts to public meetings. This is a democracy, he owes this country an explanation and he owes the entire opposition a space in the discussion in the Lok Sabha, he said.

“The Prime Minister is worried. He goes to pop concerts and public meetings. Why does he not come to the House. For the first time in history, the treasury benches and the government is stalling Parliament. Normally the opposition stalls the House.

“The Prime Minister should stop taking alibis and he should come to the House and give all of us an opportunity to speak. Then the country should take a decision on whether the opposition or the Prime Minister is speaking the truth,” he said.
TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay, who was accompanied by Gandhi, said the entire Parliamentary system is facing a “threat” as government is not allowing the House to function smoothly and allow the opposition to speak.

“We cannot understand why so much arrogance on the part of the government. The voice of the opposition is going to be gagged. Parliamentary democratic system is now under threat only to resist that Rahul Gandhi will not be allowed to speak,” he said.

He said the government is spreading rumours that after Rahul Gandhi speaks, the opposition will not allow the House to function. “It is totally incorrect,” he said.

Bandyopadhyay charged the government is not allowing the opposition to speak in Lok Sabha and this was “unfortunate and disgraceful”.

P Karunakaran (CPI-M) said all 16 parties came together on the issue of demonetisation and wanted a discussion on the issue, but the government is now allowing this.

“Government is not willing to answer questions. The Prime Minister is accountable to Parliament but has not come to the Lok Sabha. It is very clear that they are not ready to answer the questions raised. The Prime Minister is running away from Parliament which means he is running away from people,” he said.

NCP leader Tariq Anwer said this is the first time that such an atmosphere has been created where the opposition is not allowed to speak.

“It is a conspiracy by the government. The entire opposition is united. What is the government fearing from. We are all united. Let us be allowed to speak,” he said.

Gandhi was accompanied by a few other party leaders besides his own leaders in Lok Sabha, including Mallikarjun Kharge and Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Earlier leaders of 16 opposition parties today met in the chamber of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad’s and decided to launch a united offensive against the government on demonetisation.

They also decided to launch a united offensive against Union Minister Kiren Rijiju, who is under opposition fire over his alleged role in the “Arunachal power scam”.

(Agencies)

Chennai: Heavy rains today pounded the city and north coastal districts of Tiruvallore and Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu, inundating low lying areas, while high velocity winds uprooted hundreds of trees as the severe cyclonic storm Vardha reached about 60 kms northeast of Chennai and was likely to make landfall in the next couple of hours.

According to the IMD bulletin at noon, by the time Vardha hits the coast, winds with speed of 100-110 kmph to 120 kmph are like to sweep the region. Squally winds hit Chennai this morning as the very severe cyclonic storm approached Tamil Nadu. Power supply was suspended in many parts of these regions as a precautionary measure.

The rains intensified as the cyclone neared leading to waterlogging in many areas. The Tamil Nadu government had declared holiday for educational institutions in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur, besides coastal taluks of Villupuram.

Rail and flight services here have been affected, officials said. Around 25 incoming flights, including those from international destinations, were diverted to the nearby Hyderabad and Bangalore airports due to strong winds and poor visibility, airport officials said.

Nearly 25 outbound flights were delayed, officials said, adding that there was no inundation of the runway. An emergency management team was on standby to meet any eventuality, they said.

The Southern Railways, meanwhile, announced suspension of services on the Chennai Beach and Velacherry MRTS route. Similarly, suburban rail services on the MMC-Gummidipoondi line were also suspended until further notice. Some passenger trains coming to Chennai and leaving the city were also diverted.

The system was likely to move nearly westwards and weaken gradually while moving towards north Tamil Nadu and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts. However, according to the Cyclone Warning Division of the India Meteorological Department, (IMD), Vardha, which is currently, a very severe cyclonic storm, will weaken, but only to a severe cyclonic storm.

Over 15 teams of NDRF have been deployed in various coastal regions of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh which are on high alert due to the approaching cyclonic storm. The armed forces have been asked to be on standby with the army, navy and air force prepared to be deployed anytime as and when required.

People in low-lying areas have been asked to move to safer zones. Puducherry also experienced intermittent drizzle from early morning. The state government took precautionary steps to prevent tourists and other people from going close to the sea shore.

Police personnel were deployed on the entire two-and-a-half kilometre stretch of beach road and barricades were also put on all roads close to the sea shore. All schools and colleges are closed today.

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) chief R K Pachnanda said while eight teams are ready in various areas of Tamil Nadu, seven are in Andhra Pradesh, apart from few others in nearby locations.

“Some more teams are on alert in Arrakonam and Guntur and they can be transported immediately in case they are required. We are in constant touch with the two state governments, the Indian Meteorological Department and other relief agencies,” the NDRF Director General told PTI.

Nellore and Chittoor districts of Andhra Pradesh are also expected to affected. Over 9,400 people in seven mandals along the Bay of Bengal coast in Nellore were evacuated to relief camps this morning amid heavy rains.

Eight fishermen belonging to Tamil Nadu were rescued from the sea near the Sriharikota High Altitude Range while search was on for ten more persons.

The holy Tirumala Hills have been receiving rainfall since last night, causing some hardship to devotees visiting the shrine of Lord Venkateswara.

Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the situation through teleconference and asked the state agencies to remain on high alert to prevent loss of lives, officials said.

(Agencies)

Chennai: A fresh seizure of Rs 24 crore cash in new notes was today made by the Income Tax department, adding to the biggest haul of cash and gold post demonetisation, in which over Rs 142 crore unaccounted assets have been recovered in tax operations so far here.

Officials said the fresh seizure of new currency, in Rs 2000 notes, was made by the sleuths from a car in Vellore on the insistence of the accused presently being interrogated in the case.

With this amount, the total seizure in the case has now gone upto Rs 166 crore in a single case.

The department had seized Rs 142 crore undisclosed assets – that includes about Rs 10 crore in new notes and gold bars weighing 127 kg — during searches at multiple locations in Chennai, for the last two days, to check tax evasion.

This largest seizure of new currency notes in the country, after the old Rs 500/1,000 notes were scrapped on November 8, was seized after raids were launched on Thursday on eight premises of a group engaged in sand mining in Tamil Nadu.

“The group has sand mining licence for the entire state of Tamil Nadu. Eight premises (six residential and two offices) were covered in the search.

“During the search, Rs 96.89 crore cash in old high denomination notes and Rs 9.63 crore in new Rs 2000 currency notes along with gold weighing 127 kg worth approximately Rs 36.29 crore were found and seized, as unaccounted assets,” the Central Board of Direct Taxes, policy-making body for the I-T department, had said in a statement issued in Delhi.

It had added that the searches are “still in progress at four out of the total 8 premises and more specific details including modus operandi would emerge after examination of the documents and other evidence detected during the search.”

Officials had said S Reddy, a contractor working with the state government, has claimed the entire money and the gold as his own and is being questioned along with few other people.

A senior department official said this seizure of gold and cash was “an unprecedented amount that the tax department has seized in recent times.”

The department, the officials said, carried out the searches based on intelligence inputs about the activities of Reddy and few others for the last few days.

Officials said the agency was investigating how the new notes in such a large quantity were stashed by the individual.

The bundles of the new Rs 2000, that were seized, had no banking slips on the them and were jumbled up to mislead investigators, they said.

The officials said a number of documents related to financial transactions, entries of gold sale and records of sale/purchase have also been seized by the tax sleuths.

“He (Reddy) is a contractor working with the state government.He is claiming the entire cash and gold to be his own. Further probe is on,” they had said.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: With banks closed for three consecutive days from today and ATMs still not functioning to full capacity, the ongoing cash crisis may escalate further leaving residents high and dry for want of cash during the weekend.

Customers are venting anger as most of the ATMs are running dry. As banks remained closed, long to moderate queues were seen outside different cash-loaded ATMs, while some ATMs continued to flash ‘ATM Closed’ placard.

Citizens who stood by government’s decision to demonetise high denomination notes earlier, are now running out of patience following reports that huge amount of cash in new currency is being seized by the Income Tax and police authorities across the country.

“This is really shocking and shameful that a common man is dying in the bank and ATM queue to get Rs 2,000 and Rs 10,000 but the high and mighty are stashing cash of over Rs 60 crores and Rs 80 crores … where are these notes coming from? Can this be possible without nexus of bank officials,” a former banker from Indian Bank said while letting out his aggression.

Referring to the cash seizure of Rs 85 lakh in Rs 2,000 notes from a person at Matunga in central Mumbai by police yesterday, he said, “Bankers are turning the bold decision by the Prime Minister into a meaningless exercise.”

Meanwhile, few banks including a private sector bank kept their branch open for accounting purposes. A senior executive of the bank having branch at Ghatkopar (East), said, “We have been asked to keep the bank today for accounting purpose and we are doing the same here. It is not open for public.”

Interestingly, few ATMs in south Mumbai dispensing Rs 2,000 notes were found empty, an indication that people are not in favour of possessing this high denomination note.

Due to the holidays starting from December 10, all the banks would remain closed for three consecutive days. December 10 being a second Saturday, December 11 being Sunday and December 12 being Milad-un-Nabi, Prophet’s Birthday.

Ajeet Kumar, an executive working with a pharmaceutical company, who withdrew Rs 2,000 from an ATM in suburban Andheri, said, “It seems that the real trouble will begin from tomorrow (Sunday) as few ATMs are currently filled with cash which would be over by evening today.”

“It would be interesting to see how people will cope up with cash crunch for next two days after cash in the ATMs dries up,” he said.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday underwent a kidney transplant at AIIMS, with the organ being harvested from a living unrelated donor. According to sources at AIIMS, the nearly five-hour-long surgery was conducted at the cardio-thoracic centre by a team of doctors including AIIMS Director M C Mishra, surgeons V K Bansal, V Seenu and nephrologist Sandeep Mahajan.

“The surgery started at 9 am and ended at 2.30 pm following which the minister has been shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in the same building,” the sources said.

“Living, unrelated donor could be anyone who is emotionally attached to the recipient, such as friend, a relative, a neighbour or an in-law. As no suitable donor was available in the immediate family, the transplant was done with the kidney from a living unrelated donor.

“The clearance from the authorisation committee was obtained prior to the procedure,” the sources at AIIMS said, adding.

According to doctors, 64-year-old Swaraj has been suffering from diabetes for quite a long time. After the kidney failure diagnosis, she was put on maintenance dialysis.

“She was undergoing dialysis thrice a week,” a senior doctor said.

On November 16, Swaraj had tweeted that she was in AIIMS because of kidney failure.

“I am in AIIMS because of kidney failure. Presently, I am on dialysis. I am undergoing tests for a kidney transplant. Lord Krishna will bless,” Swaraj had tweeted.

Swaraj, who has been in and out of the hospital for last few months, was admitted to AIIMS on November 7. After Swaraj made public her health condition on social media, support had poured in for her with several people offering their kidneys for transplant. Earlier she was admitted to AIIMS in April for treatment of pneumonia and other health issues.

(Agencies)

Chennai: The ruling AIADMK today released a list of 203 deceased persons, saying they died of “shock” over the demise of party supremo and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on December 5, taking the number of toll in this regard to 280.

The party headquarters released the list containing the names of 203 such deceased persons from different parts of the state, including Chennai, Vellore, Tiruvallore, Tiruvannamalai, Cuddalore, Krishnagiri, Erode and Tirupur districts.

The party condoled their death and announced a welfare fund of Rs three lakh each to families of the deceased.

Earlier, the party had said that 77 persons had died of shock and grief following Jayalalithaa’s death and announced a similar sum as relief to the dead persons’ families.

The number of people having died of shock over Jayalalithaa’s death stands at 280 now.

Hospitalised on September 22 and having suffered a cardiac arrest on December 4, the 68-year-old chief minister passed away the next day.

(Agencies)