Archives for August 2022

NEW DELHI: Freebies are extended utilising taxpayers’ money and may push the State towards “imminent bankruptcy”, the Supreme Court said on Friday, as it directed that the pleas against the practice of political parties promising pre-election handouts be listed before a three-judge bench

Observing that issues raised before it require an “extensive” hearing, the top court said though all promises cannot be equated with freebies as they relate to welfare schemes or measures for the public good, fiscal responsibility cannot be dispensed with under the guise of electoral promises.

It said these schemes are not only part of the Directive Principles of State Policy but are also a responsibility of the welfare state.

“Freebies may create a situation wherein the State Government cannot provide basic amenities due to lack of funds and the State is pushed towards imminent bankruptcy. In the same breath, we should remember that such freebies are extended utilising taxpayers’ money only for increasing the popularity of the party and electoral prospects,” a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said.

The court order on Justice Ramana’s last day in office comes against the backdrop of the freebies versus welfare scheme debate that has sparked a political slugfest in recent weeks.

The apex court said that there can be no denying the fact that in an electoral democracy, the true power ultimately lies with the electorate.

“It is the electorate that decides which party or candidate comes to power, and also judges the performance of the said party or candidate at the end of the legislative term, during the next round of the elections.

“This Court has generally stayed its hand when confronted with issues relating to a policy or fiscal matters concerning the State, as the same falls outside the ambit of the Court’s jurisdiction,” the bench, also comprising Justices Hima Kohli and C T Ravikumar, said.

The top court said the issues raised by the parties require an “extensive hearing” before any concrete orders can be passed.

It noted there are certain preliminary issues that may be needed to be deliberated upon in these petitions.

The issues included the scope of judicial intervention with respect to the reliefs sought in these pleas, whether any enforceable order can be passed by this court in these writ petitions and whether the appointment of a commission/expert body by the court would serve any purpose.

The bench said it was argued before it that the 2013 judgement delivered by a two-judge bench of the apex court in the matter of S Subramaniam Balaji vs The Government of Tamil Nadu and others required reconsideration.

“Looking into the complexities of the issues involved and the prayer to overrule the judgement rendered by a two-judge bench of this court in Subramaniam Balaji, we direct listing of the set of petitions before a three-judge bench after obtaining the orders from the Chief Justice of India,” it said.

In its 2013 judgement, the apex court had noted that after examining and considering the parameters laid in section 123 of the Representation of People Act(RPA), it arrived at a conclusion that the promises in the election manifesto cannot be read into section 123 for declaring it to be a corrupt practice.

The apex court on Friday said the pleas would be listed after four weeks.

The bench was deliberating on pleas including the one filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay opposing promises of freebies by the parties during polls.

The petitions wanted the Election Commission to invoke its powers to freeze the election symbols of these parties and cancel their registration.

While hearing the matter on August 23, the apex court had observed that all political parties were in favour of freebies and due to this a judicial attempt has been made to deal with it.

“On this issue, I can say all political parties are on one side including BJP. Everybody wants freebies. That is the reason we made an attempt,” the bench had observed.

PANAJI: The Goa Police on Saturday detained a North Goa restaurant owner and a suspected peddler, who had allegedly supplied drugs to the two accused arrested in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sonali Phogat murder case, a senior officer said

The suspected drug peddler, Dattaprasad Gaonkar, was detained from Anjuna after the accused duo “confessed” in their statement that they had procured drugs from him, the officer said.

Another man who has been detained is identified as Edwin Nunes, the owner of Curlies restaurant, where Phogat was partying late at night on August 22 before her death under mysterious circumstances.

Goa Police had arrested Sudhir Sagwan and Sukhwinder Singh accompanying Phogat, a popular TikTok star who hailed from Haryana to Goa.

Phogat, 42, was brought dead to St Anthony Hospital at Anjuna in North Goa district on August 23 morning from her hotel.

The police on Friday said Sagwan and Singh allegedly mixed some “obnoxious substance” in water and forced Phogat to drink it while partying at Curlies restaurant on the intervening night of August 22 and 23, adding they have been charged with murder.

The motive behind the alleged murder of Phogat could be “economic interest”, a senior police officer had said.

“Many politicians said that her death was due to a heart attack. But finally, it has been revealed as murder. There is more to this murder than meets the eye and every angle needs to be investigated. These kinds of cases need to be investigated by the CBI to unravel the truth,” Goa Leader of Opposition Michael Lobo told PTI.

NEW DELHI: Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, sworn in as the 49th Chief Justice of India on Saturday, will be the sixth head of the Indian judiciary to have a tenure of less than 100 days

Lalit will demit office on November 8 with a tenure of 74 days.

Supreme Court judges retire on attaining the age of 65 while high court judges retire at 62.

Justice Kamal Narain Singh, who was the CJI between November 25, 1991 and December 12, 1991, had a tenure of 18 days.

Justice S Rajendra Babu had a tenure of 30 days as the chief justice of India between May 2, 2004 and May 31, 2004.

Justice J C Shah had a tenure of 36 days when he was the CJI between December 17, 1970 and January 21, 1971.

Justice G B Patnaik had a 41-day tenure as the head of the Indian judiciary when he held the office of the CJI from November 8, 2002 to December 18, 2002.

Justice L M Sharma had a tenure of 86 days as the CJI when he was in office between November 18, 1992 and February 11, 1993.

Lalit intends to work on three key areas, including listing of cases and mentioning of urgent matters in the Supreme Court, during his 74-day tenure as the head of the judiciary.

Justice Lalit, who became the second CJI to be directly elevated to the apex court bench from the Bar, had on Friday highlighted the three areas, saying he would strive hard to ensure that at least one Constitution bench was functioning in the top court throughout the year.

Justice S M Sikri, who became the 13th CJI in January 1971, was the first lawyer to be elevated directly to the top court bench in March 1964.

Justice Lalit will have a brief tenure of less than three months as the CJI, and he would retire on November 8.

The retirement age of judges of the Supreme Court is 65.

While speaking at a function organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Friday to bid farewell to his predecessor Justice N V Ramana, Justice Lalit said, “….

I must assure you that we will strive hard to make the listing as simple, as clear and as transparent as possible”.

During Justice Lalit’s tenure as the CJI, several important cases, including Constitution bench matters, are likely to come up for adjudication before the apex court.

The top court had recently notified that 25 five-judge Constitution bench matters would be listed from August 29.

Among the important five-judge bench matters which have been listed is a plea challenging the Constitution (One Hundred and Third Amendment) Act, 2019 which provided reservation to Economically Weaker Sections, the challenge to the WhatsApp privacy policy, and the issue of parliamentarians or legislators claiming immunity from criminal prosecution for taking a bribe to give a speech or a vote in the House.

Justice Lalit, who was a senior advocate before being appointed a judge of the apex court on August 13, 2014, has been part of several path-breaking verdicts, including the one which held the practice of divorce through instant ‘triple talaq’ among Muslims illegal and unconstitutional.

In January 2019, he recused himself from hearing the politically-sensitive Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land title dispute in Ayodhya.

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for a Muslim party in the matter, had told the Constitution bench that Justice Lalit appeared as a lawyer for former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh in a connected matter in the year 1997.

One of the path-breaking verdicts Justice Lalit was part of was the August 2017 judgement by a five-judge Constitution bench which by a 3:2 majority ruled the practice of divorce through instant ‘triple talaq’ as “void”, “illegal” and “unconstitutional”.

While the then Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice S Abdul Nazeer were in favour of putting on hold the judgement for six months and asking the government to come out with a law to that effect, justices Kurian Joseph, R F Nariman, and Lalit held the practice as violative of the Constitution.

Justices Khehar, Joseph, and Nariman have since retired.

Recently, a bench headed by Justice Lalit had assembled at 9.30 am, an hour earlier than the usual working hour of the apex court, to hear matters.

“In my view, ideally we should sit at 9 in the morning.I have always said that if our children can go to school at 7 in the morning, then why can’t we come at 9 am,” Justice Lalit had observed.

On August 22, a bench headed by Justice Lalit fixed the Amrapali homebuyers matter for hearing from 10.30 am to 1 pm on September 3 (Saturday), which is not a working day in the top court.

Among the other important judgements, a bench headed by Justice Lalit had ruled the erstwhile royal family of Travancore has the management right over the historic Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala, one of the richest shrines, holding that the rule of “heritability must get attached to a right of Shebait” (servitor) of the temple.

In another significant judgement, a bench headed by Justice Lalit had ruled that touching sexual parts of a child’s body or any act involving physical contact with ‘sexual intent’ amounts to ‘sexual assault’ under section 7 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act as the most important ingredient is sexual intent and not skin-to-skin contact.

Quashing the controversial ‘skin-to-skin’ judgements of the Bombay High Court in two cases under the POCSO Act, the bench had said the high court erred in holding that there was no offence since there was no direct ‘skin-to-skin’ contact with sexual intent.

Born on November 9, 1957, Justice Lalit enrolled as an advocate in June 1983 and practised in the Bombay High Court till December 1985.

He shifted his practice to Delhi in January 1986, and in April 2004, he was designated as a senior advocate by the apex court.

He was appointed a special public prosecutor for the CBI to conduct the trial in the 2G spectrum allocation case.

“Congratulations,” President Murmu said after Justice Lalit signed the register of oath following the swearing-in.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former president Ram Nath Kovind, former vice president M Venkaiah Naidu and Union ministers, including Kiren Rijiju, were present at the ceremony.

Justice Lalit’s predecessor, Justice N V Ramana, was also present.

After being sworn in, Justice Lalit sought the blessings of his family elders by touching their feet, including that of his 90-year-old father and former high court judge Umesh Ranganath Lalit.

As the CJI, Justice Lalit will have a tenure of 74 days and would demit office on November 8 on attaining the age of 65 years.

Justice D Y Chandrachud, the senior-most judge after Justice Lalit, is next in line to be the chief justice of India.

Speaking at a function organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) to bid farewell to Justice Ramana on Friday, Justice Lalit said he has always believed that the role of the top court is to lay down law with clarity and the best possible way to do it is to have larger benches as early as possible so that the issues get clarified immediately.

“So, we will strive hard to say that yes, we will always have at least one Constitution bench functioning all throughout the year,” he said.

Justice Lalit said one of the areas in which he intends to work is about the listing of cases before the Constitution benches and matters which are specially referred to three-judge benches.

On the issue of listing of matters, he said, “I must assure you that we will strive hard to make the listing as simple, as clear, and as transparent as possible”.

Regarding mentioning of urgent matters, Justice Lalit said he would certainly look into it.

“I will have a word with all my learned colleagues on the bench and we will certainly sort that out and very shortly, you will have a clear-cut regime where any urgent matter can freely be mentioned before the respective courts,” he said.

During Justice Lalit’s tenure as the CJI, several important cases, including Constitution bench matters, are likely to come up for adjudication before the apex court.

The top court had recently notified that 25 five-judge Constitution bench matters would be listed from August 29.

Among the important five-judge bench matters which have been listed is a plea challenging the Constitution (One Hundred and Third Amendment) Act, 2019 which provided reservation to Economically Weaker Sections, the challenge to the WhatsApp privacy policy, and the issue of parliamentarians or legislators claiming immunity from criminal prosecution for taking a bribe to give a speech or a vote in the House.

Ghulam Nabi Azad’s decision to walk out of the Congress was not wholly unexpected. In fact back as in late January. That Azad was unhappy was evident when he joined other dissenting party colleagues two years ago in dashing off a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi demanding an organisational overhaul, a more effective leadership and internal elections in the party.

The Denial of Rajhya Sabha Seat  further added to Azad’s frustration and it soon became clear that the veteran was looking at options outside the Congress.

When Azad finally did choose to call it quits on Friday, he made sure he did so with a bang. The furious leader penned a five-page letter to the Congress president in which he launched a scathing attack against Rahul Gandhi. Describing the Nehru-Gandhi scion as “childish and immature”, Azad charged that Rahul Gandhi had singlehandedly demolished “the consultative mechanism within the party”. He further lashed out at the former Congress president for publicly tearing a copy of an ordinance approved by the then Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, stating that “this one single action more than anything else contributed significantly to the defeat of the UPA government in 2014”.  He also recalled how Rahul Gandhi had insulted senior party functionaries at an internal meeting when he stepped down in a huff three years ago.

Though Rahul Gandhi was the target of his attack, Azad also took a swipe at Sonia Gandhi, pointing out that she was serving as a nominal figurehead and that all decisions are being taken by Rahul Gandhi or “worse still his security guards and personal assistants”. Placing the blame on Sonia Gandhi for the current drift in the party, Azad said the Congress had lost elections in a humiliating manner under her stewardship and that the party has now reached a point of no return. Azad also hit out at the Congress leadership for not holding internal elections in the party and described the ongoing organisational polls as a “sham and giant fraud”.

Azad’s angry tirade has successfully put the spotlight once again on all that is ailing the Congress. Issues that were, so far, being discussed in hushed tones in private conversations among frustrated party leaders, are now out in the open. The fact that such a searing letter has been written by a senior leader, who was associated with the party for 50 years, held key positions both in the organisation and successive Congress governments and was considered a diehard loyalist, points to the deep rot in the party. 

For there is no denying that there is an element of truth in what Azad has to say. 

In critiquing Rahul Gandhi, Azad has expressed the sentiment of a large section in the Congress that is disillusioned with the Gandhi scion’s style of functioning and who are increasingly convinced he does not possess the necessary skillsets to lead the party. 

Rahul Gandhi’s inaccessibility, frequent travels abroad, his perceived lack of urgency in streamlining the organisation, and, most importantly, his poor oratory and inability to win elections has added to the frustration in the party rank and file. Questions have also been raised about his inept handling of political crisises as proved recently in Punjab when his decision to sack Amarinder Singh and hand over the party’s reins in the state to Navjot Singh Sidhu proved disastrous for the party. 

With little or no effort being made by the leadership to put its house in order, the Congress organisation today is in poor shape, the party’s state units are mired in factional battles while the rank and file has lost all connection with the common man. The uncertainty on the leadership front – with Rahul Gandhi unwilling to lead the party and Sonia Gandhi’s inability to continue as Congress chief due to health reasons – has only worsened matters. 

The former Congress president’s disdain for senior leaders, who he believes are responsible for the party’s steady decline, has led him to surround himself with persons described in Congress circles as “non-political”. Instead of reaching out to the old guard and working on a smooth generational transition, Rahul Gandhi only succeeded in widening the gap between “Sonia loyalists” and his proteges. It’s a different matter that several young leaders, once dubbed as core members of Rahul Gandhi’s team, were among the first to leave the Congress. 

Though Rahul Gandhi is presently in the line of fire, Sonia Gandhi is equally responsible for the current state of the Congress. Undoubtedly, she led the party to two successive electoral victories in 2004 and 2009 but it is also an inescapable fact that instead of building and strengthening the organisation during the ten years the Congress was in power, she neglected the party organisation. Her desire to hand over the Congress leadership to her son has cost the party dearly.

But for all the home truths which have been listed by Azad, they will not be taken with the seriousness they deserve. This stems from the senior leader’s own credibility. If Azad is today hitting out at the “darbari” culture in the Congress, he will be reminded that he was very much part of it over the 50 years he spent in the Congress, working with virtually all Prime Ministers, beginning with Indira Gandhi. He has served as Union minister in all their Cabinets, has been entrusted with key responsibilities in the Congress organisation and was appointed Jammu and Kashmir chief minister.

Consequently, Azad’s rant against sycophancy as well as the lack of internal democracy in the Congress, has a hollow ring to it. Azad has been a senior member of the coterie of every Congress leader when the party was in power. Moreover, he has been a beneficiary of the party’s convention of nominating leaders to the various organisational panels. It is also ironic that Azad woke up to the drift in the Congress eight years after the party has been out of power. And only when the party denied him another term in the Rajya Sabha.

But despite all this, the interests of the Congress leadership would be better served if instead of hitting out at Azad, it took note of the issues raised by him in his letter and initiated urgent steps to revive the party. But predictably, the party refuses to learn from its mistakes.

BENGALURU:  Member Secretary, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), Srinivasulu on Wednesday said that along with weather reports, pollution updates with various parameters too should be released. This will help citizens convert the information into action and instead of engineering-focused solutions alone, people also can find solutions from an ecological perspective, he said.

Speaking at the India Clean Air Summit-2022, organised by the Centre for Air Pollution Studies (CAPS) at the Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), Srinivasulu said the current situation of pollution and climate change is purely due to ignorance. “Changing our behaviour and perception can lead to an overall change in how we perceive and act in a situation. Acting to protect ourselves from air pollution and climate change need to be localised,” he said.

Dr Pratima Singh, Head of CAPS, said looking at air pollution using a climate lens can help find a way to a secure and sustainable environment. “Working in silos is no longer an option if we want implementable solutions. By bringing together different communities, the gaps in knowledge can be bridged and solutions that work can be found,” she said.

At the day-long conference, experts examined how India’s energy transition to renewable energy would impact the dual crises of air pollution and climate change and what measures would help this transition.
KV George, Senior Principal Scientist and Head, Air Pollution Control Division, CSIR- NEERI said, “When a technology is implemented, behavioural change is needed. Studies should be undertaken to ensure that the measures are locally relevant and usable by the people. We cannot impose our solutions on people. The ground level analysis is a must.”

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that he is sending $2.98 billion in new military aid to Ukraine that will enable forces there to fight for years to com

In a statement, Biden said the aid will allow Ukraine to acquire air defence systems, artillery systems and munitions, drones and other equipment “to ensure it can continue to defend itself over the long term.”

The announcement comes as Ukraine is celebrating its 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.

“I know this independence day is bittersweet for many Ukrainians as thousands have been killed or wounded, millions have been displaced from their homes, and so many others have fallen victim to Russian atrocities and attacks,” Biden said. “But six months of relentless attacks have only strengthened Ukrainians’ pride in themselves, in their country, and in their thirty-one years of independence.”

The aid package is being provided under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. Officials said it will include money for the small, hand-launched Puma drones, the longer-endurance Scan Eagle surveillance drones, which are launched by catapult, and, for the first time, the British Vampire drone system, which can be launched off ships. Several officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the aid before its public release.

As Russia’s war on Ukraine drags on, U.S. security assistance is shifting to a longer-term campaign that also will likely keep more American military troops in Europe into the future, U.S. officials said. Wednesday is Ukraine’s independence day holiday and the six-month point in the war.

Unlike most previous packages, the new funding is largely aimed at helping Ukraine secure its medium- to long-term defence posture, according to officials familiar with the matter. Earlier shipments, most of them done under presidential drawdown authority, have focused on Ukraine’s more immediate needs for weapons and ammunition and involved material that the Pentagon already has in stock that can be shipped in short order.

Besides providing longer-term assistance that Ukraine can use for potential future defence needs, the new package is intended to reassure Ukrainian officials that the United States intends to keep up its support, regardless of the day-to-day back and forth of the conflict, the officials said.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg noted the more extended focus Tuesday as he reaffirmed the alliance’s support for the conflict-torn country.

“Winter is coming, and it will be hard, and what we see now is a grinding war of attrition. This is a battle of wills and a battle of logistics. Therefore we must sustain our support for Ukraine for the long term, so that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign, independent nation,” Stoltenberg said, speaking at a virtual conference about Crimea, organized by Ukraine.

Six months after Russia invaded, the war has slowed to a grind, as both sides trade combat strikes and small advances in the east and south. Both sides have seen thousands of troops killed and injured, as Russia’s bombardment of cities has killed countless innocent civilians.

There are fears that Russia will intensify attacks on civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days because of the holiday celebrating Ukraine’s 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union and the day marking six months since the invasion.

On Monday, the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine and the State Department issued a new security alert for Ukraine that repeated a call for Americans in the country to leave due to the danger.

“Given Russia’s track record in Ukraine, we are concerned about the continued threat that Russian strikes pose to civilians and civilian infrastructure,” it said.

Other NATO allies are also marking the independence day with new aid announcements.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his country is providing more than 500 million euros (nearly $500 million) in aid, including powerful anti-aircraft systems. The aid will include rocket launchers, ammunition, anti-drone equipment, a dozen armoured recovery vehicles and three additional IRIS-T long-range air defence systems, the German news agency DPA reported.

The funding must still be approved by parliament, and some of it won’t be delivered until next year.

And Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced $3.85 million for two Ukraine projects through the Peace and Stabilization Operations Program. It includes about $2.9 million in funding for the ongoing development of Ukraine’s national police force and other emergency services and about $950,000 to help advise Ukraine’s defence ministry.

To date, the U.S. has provided about $10.6 billion in military aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden administration, including 19 packages of weapons taken directly from Defense Department stocks since August 2021.

U.S. defence leaders are also eyeing plans that will expand training for Ukrainian troops outside their country, and for militaries on Europe’s eastern and southern flanks that feel most threatened by Russia’s aggression.

RANCHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested a man identified as Prem Prakash in connection with its ongoing money-laundering probe into an illegal mining case in Jharkhand, officials said on Thursday.-

Prakash was taken into custody under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) around 2 am on Thursday and will be produced before a Ranchi court where the federal agency will seek his custody, they said.

This is the third arrest in the case.

Earlier, the ED had arrested Pankaj Mishra, a political aide of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, and Mishra’s associate and muscleman Bachhu Yadav.

The agency had on Wednesday launched searches at premises linked to Prakash in Ranchi, apart from a few other places in Jharkhand, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Delhi-NCR, and recovered two AK-47 rifles and 60 bullets from a house linked to Prakash in the state capital here.

The weapons belonged to two Jharkhand Police constables, who were suspended after the ED made the recoveries.

Meanwhile, the Jharkhand government has warned media houses of taking legal action for news reports linking Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s name to a person against whom ED conducted raids in multiple locations and recovered two AK series rifles.

The Enforcement Directorate raided various places in Jharkhand and several other states on Wednesday and recovered the rifles from a house here as part of an ongoing money-laundering investigation into alleged illegal mining in the state.

However, the Ranchi police later said that the weapons belonged to the force and two constables were suspended in this connection.

“Certain news reports by media platforms including a few national TV channels point to a misleading ploy and attempt to intentionally link the Chief Minister of Jharkhand to a private individual” against whom the ED raids were conducted, the CM’s secretariat said in a statement on Wednesday.

Describing this as unfortunate and condemnable, the statement said if the state government comes across “any further malicious reports and tweets/ digital posts (by media platforms), it will be dealt with as per due legal provisions”.

It said the Jharkhand government has provided cooperation to all investigations undertaken by central agencies and it supports freedom of the press.

The rifles were found in a house in Ranchi, owned by a person named Prem Prakash.

As it was raining, two constables while returning from duty on August 23 had left their weapons with Prakash’s staff whom they know, Ranchi police said.

The two constables were suspended with immediate effect, police said.

The ED searches were carried out after fresh information came to the fore following the questioning of two persons arrested earlier in the case.

NEW DELHI:  The Aam Aadmi Party’s apex political organisation, the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) on Wednesday passed a resolution condemning the misuse of ED-CBI and called out BJP’s attempts to poach AAP MLAs by offering them crores in cash.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also summoned the AAP Legislative Party for a meeting at 11 am on Thursday to determine the next steps that will be taken in this direction.

AAP PAC Member and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh informed that the PAC has noted with displeasure that a bogus FIR was filed against Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raid was ordered against him; and that the PAC has reinforced its trust and confidence in the Delhi Dy CM, noting how the CBI failed to find anything against him in the raid.

Referring to and reading from the PAC’s resolution, Sanjay Singh said, “BJP sent a message to Dy CM Manish Sisodia asking him to defect from AAP to BJP if he wants all cases against him to be closed; offered him CM post against the toppling of AAP Government.

After Sisodia’s refusal, BJP contacted several AAP MLAs, threatening them to join BJP by accepting 20 crores in cash or else face harassment and arrest like the Deputy CM. The senior members at the PAC meeting said, “We appeal to the Prime Minister that instead of toppling the state government and sending the CBI and ED after political leaders, you should spend your time-solving people’s problems.”

“People are suffering from both unemployment and inflation today, and you are devoting all of your time to destabilising the governments that have been elected by the masses. The nation wants to know where the crores of rupees that are being spent to buy MLAs are coming from and how has so much money been amassed,” they added. 

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP stepped up its attack on the AAP government by launching its Jan Chaupal protest from Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s Assembly constituency Patparganj on Wednesday, alleging it was “shocking” to see that those who came to cleanse the politics were involved in a liquor scam.

AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal had promised that he will not let a single tainted MLA to sit in the Assembly but has maintained two of his ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendra Jain in his cabinet, despite corruption charges against them, said Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta.

“Its shocking to see that Kejriwal who came to power promising to fight corruption and his party government are involved in scams,” Gupta charged and claimed that the liquor scam involved Rs 10,000 crore.

The CBI currently probing alleged irregularities in the implementation of the Kejriwal government’s new excise police has named Sisodia who holds the Excise portfolio, as one of the accused in its FIR.

The agency had also conducted a raid at the Deputy CM’s residence last Saturday.

“People of Patparganj are ashamed to see that a person whom they thrice elected as MLA is today an accused of liquor scam,” Gupta said.

The AAP has hit back at the BJP saying it was using agencies like CBI to stop Kejriwal in his tracks to make sure the saffron party does not lose the 2024 Lok Sabha Polls.

Gupta claimed that the Kejriwal government went against the recommendations of a committee formed by it to prepare Excise Policy 2021-22.

“Sisodia not only handed over wholesale liquor trade to private operators but increased their commission from 2 per cent to 12 per cent,” he charged.

“Be it the benefit of Rs 144 crores provided to liquor traders in the name of covid impact, refund of Rs 30 crores to airport zone bidder, or rebate of Rs 50 per carton allowed on imported beer, it all indicated corruption in government policy implementation,” he charged.

Delhi BJP general secretary Harsh Malhotra said it was regrettable that a government which came to power assuring a health and education revolution has instead pushed Delhi towards alcoholism.

LUCKNOW:  With speculations rife about Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya playing a crucial role in the selection of the new BJP state chief, his tweet posted on Sunday has created flutters in the political circles.

“Party organisation is bigger than the government,” Maurya tweeted in Hindi, leaving many to believe that he could be a potential name to head the party in UP.

The BJP high command is believed to be in the process of selecting the state chief after Swatantra Dev Singh sent his resignation to party president JP Nadda on July 27.

It was only last week that Maurya had met Nadda. While the BJP leaders remain tight-lipped, sources say the party is weighing its options after considering caste equations of various party leaders for the key seat.

On Sunday, BJP’s newly-appointed state secretary, organisation, Dharampal Singh Saini held a meeting of office bearers of western UP and Brij regions in Ghaziabad.

Both the deputy CMs Keshav Maurya and Brajesh Pathak —  along with Swatantra Dev Singh attended the meeting, after which Maurya posted the cryptic tweet.

Maurya had led the party into 2017 state assembly elections when the BJP stormed to power winning 312 seats on its own.

Maurya has emerged as a key OBC face in the party’s plan to consolidate the non-Yadav OBC vote bank in UP.

The BJP has reiterated its OBC narrative through the appointment of Saini, an OBC, as the new state general secretary, the organisation.

Among the OBC leaders being considered for the post of UP BJP president are Union minister of state for cooperation, BL Verma, a Lodh; and UP minister Bhupendra Chaudhary, who is a Jat.