Archives for 2023

NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday requesting him to “not stop Delhi’s budget”, amid a row between the Centre and the AAP dispensation in the national capital over the issue.

The presentation of the Delhi government’s Budget for 2023-24, which was scheduled for Tuesday, has been put on hold with the Kejriwal dispensation and the central government trading charges over allocations under various heads.

“This is the first in the last 75 years that a state’s budget has been stalled. Why are you upset with Delhiites? Please don’t stall Delhi’s budget. With folded hands, Delhiites urge you to pass their budget,” the chief minister said in the letter.

on Monday, Kejriwal charged that the Centre was resorting to “gundagardi” and said it was the first time in the country’s history that the budget of a government was put on hold.

A video clip of his speech was tweeted by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Taking to Twitter, the chief minister also shared a news report on the increase in per capita income in Delhi, and said, “Delhi is doing exceedingly well, despite all obstacles being created on daily basis. Imagine if such obstacles were not created and all govts worked together for the welfare of the people. Then Delhi would grow multiple times faster.”

Sources in the city government said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has stopped the budget and it will not be tabled in the Delhi Assembly on Tuesday.

As the chief minister lashed out at the Centre, sources in the MHA said the ministry has sought clarification from the AAP government as its budget proposal had a high allocation for advertisement and relatively low funding for infrastructure and other development initiatives.

NEW DELHI: After skipping summons on March 16, BRS leader K Kavitha also the daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, appeared before the Directorate of enforcement to face the second round of questioning by the agency sleuths probing her involvement in the Delhi Excise scam in which she is alleged to be a beneficiary of the tweaked policy which caused heavy losses to the Delhi Government

Kavitha who reported at the ED office around 10.30 am on Monday, had decided to stay away from appearing before the agency on March 16 citing that a  petition challenging her questioning by the ED is pending before the . The apex court listed the matter for 24 but did not pass any interim order restricting the ED from questioning her.

Amidst in response to her petition at the SC, Kavitha reached the ED office today in the wake of the agency reissuing her summon to appear before it today. The ED in its caveat requested the SC to hear it’s submission on the petition Kavitha, before passing any order.

Though Kavitha appeared for the first round of questioning on March 11, of March 9, she refused to show against the March 16 summons, and sent her authorised representative Soma Bharath (a BRS party office bearer) to ED office instead, who handed over the case a six-page representation against her deposition along with her bank statement, personal and business details to the investigating officer. Kavitha also wrote to the ED saying it must wait for the outcome of her plea before the Supreme Court challenging the summons and seeking protection from arrest. The apex court on Wednesday agreed to hear the plea on March 24.

Meanwhile, in the wake of Kavitha skipping the summon last Thursday, a special PMLA court extended the custodial remand of Arun Pillai, a key accused alleged to have close associations with Kavitha in connection with the case. The ED was to confront Kavitha with Pillai among other accused and witnesses in custody. Also, the custody of Delhi’s ex-deputy CM Manish Sisodia has been extended till march 20.      

ED which had been recording statement of Kavitha since March 11 was to question her further on statement made by various accused of her being a key member of the South Group of liquor traders which allegedly paid an advance of Rs 100 crore to secure favourable tweaks in the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 which was approved and implemented by ex-deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who was also the Excise Minister.

The tweaks secured by South Group allegedly lead to massive cartelisation at multiple vending levels violating suggestions of the expert committee and also led to generation of windfall benefit to the liquor traders through increased commissions, parts of which was paid back allegedly to AAP through various middlemen. Delhi government exchequer meanwhile  had suffered an alleged loss of Rs 2873 crores in the wake of this excise policy.

Kavitha’s involvement in the scam was alleged by various accused including accused Arun R Pillai the Hyderabad-based businessman and the representative of the South group of Liquor Traders, who was a direct beneficiary of the kickbacks from the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 scam and was also involved in affecting tweaks in the policy in collusion with the AAP’s points person Vijay Nair, that eventually benefitted politicians, middlemen, and liquor traders.

Pillai was the 32.5 percent owner of a business entity which was a major beneficiary of the Excise Policy scam and Kavitha was a major stakeholder in that entity as per disclosure made by Pillai.

Kavitha’s questioning was of importance in the investigation with Sisodia and Pillai being in ED remand currently amidst new evidence, disclosure and facts emerging in the case. Also it was important from the point of view of  another close aide of Pillai, being questioned by the ED over a marathon session on March 15.

had moved an application from the statements made before ED during 2 sessions in November out of the total 11 sessions between September 2022 and March 2023, prior to his arrest on March 6 evening. Pillai has alleged that the statements were made under coercion.

ED has opposed his application filed by Pillai under Section 50 of the PMLA 2002 stating the statements are being recorded since September 2022 and it was quite absurd that the accused chose to retract from it after so many months. The ED submitted that given the circumstance and timing of the application for retractions, it’s quite evident that the accused is under pressure to retract his statement made earlier. Pillai had moved the application on March 11 when Kavitha was summoned for questioning.  

BHOPAL: In the battle for the crucial 48 per cent women vote in the year-end Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, the Opposition Congress has countered the BJP government’s ambitious Rs 1,000 monthly support for financially weak women Laadli Behna Scheme with twin promises.

“The BJP government says it will give Rs 1,000 monthly, but once our government is back in the state, Rs 1,500 will be given monthly to women in the state. And that’s not all as we’ll also give cooking gas LPG cylinders for just Rs 500 each,” former chief minister and state Congress president Kamal Nath announced at a public rally in Narsinghpur district on Sunday. Nath is on a tour of the Narsinghpur district and the adjoining Chhindwara district.

Nath wondered how just Rs 1,000 monthly support will help women amid rising prices. “Not just that but several conditions have been imposed in the Rs 1,000 monthly scheme of Shivraj Singh Chouhan….”

Another former chief minister and Congress MP Digvijaya Singh in his native Guna district too made light of the recently launched scheme. “It’s the same government that is even taking away refrigerators and television sets of Laadli Behnas on failure to pay the electricity bills. Just wait and watch, the BJP will also get houses of Laadli Behnas confiscated in future,” Singh said.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on March 5 launched Rs 1,000 monthly support Laadli Bahana Scheme for married, widowed, divorced and abandoned women aged between 23 years and 60 years.

Cong counters BJP, promises Rs 1.5k per month 

Opposition Congress has countered the BJP government’s ambitious Rs 1,000 monthly support for financially weak women Laadli Behna Scheme with twin promises. It also promised cooking gas LPG cylinders for just Rs 500 each, stating that BJP’s Rs 1k wouldn’t suffice for women.

BHOPAL: In the battle for the crucial 48 per cent women vote in the year-end Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, the Opposition Congress has countered the BJP government’s ambitious Rs 1,000 monthly support for financially weak women Laadli Behna Scheme with twin promises.

“The BJP government says it will give Rs 1,000 monthly, but once our government is back in the state, Rs 1,500 will be given monthly to women in the state. And that’s not all as we’ll also give cooking gas LPG cylinders for just Rs 500 each,” former chief minister and state Congress president Kamal Nath announced at a public rally in Narsinghpur district on Sunday. Nath is on a tour of the Narsinghpur district and the adjoining Chhindwara district.

Nath wondered how just Rs 1,000 monthly support will help women amid rising prices. “Not just that but several conditions have been imposed in the Rs 1,000 monthly scheme of Shivraj Singh Chouhan….”

Another former chief minister and Congress MP Digvijaya Singh in his native Guna district too made light of the recently launched scheme. “It’s the same government that is even taking away refrigerators and television sets of Laadli Behnas on failure to pay the electricity bills. Just wait and watch, the BJP will also get houses of Laadli Behnas confiscated in future,” Singh said.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on March 5 launched Rs 1,000 monthly support Laadli Bahana Scheme for married, widowed, divorced and abandoned women aged between 23 years and 60 years.

Cong counters BJP, promises Rs 1.5k per month 

Opposition Congress has countered the BJP government’s ambitious Rs 1,000 monthly support for financially weak women Laadli Behna Scheme with twin promises. It also promised cooking gas LPG cylinders for just Rs 500 each, stating that BJP’s Rs 1k wouldn’t suffice for women.

NEW DELHI:In a complaint addressed to the Director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), leaders of 18 Opposition parties demanded a thorough probe into the New York-based short seller Hindenburg Research’s report, which accused the Adani group of stock price manipulation and fraud.

The complaint to the ED was released to the media shortly after the Delhi Police stopped a march taken out by 18 Opposition parties to the agency’s headquarters to submit it.

In the letter, the leaders alleged that the Adani Group companies are accused of having established a network of offshore shell companies and offshore funds controlled by parties related to the Adani Group for the purposes of “artificially inflating stock valuations and to give a distorted picture with regard to the group companies’ financial health”.

“Over the last three months, several crucial pieces of evidence have been made available against the Adani Group in the public domain. Yet, the ED, which claims to pursue such cases with vigour and fairness has to launch even a preliminary inquiry into these very serious charges. We are constrained to file this official complaint so that the ED is compelled to investigate a relationship that has serious implications not just for our economy but most importantly, our democracy,” said the letter written by Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha. 

Soon after the march began from Parliament this afternoon, the Parliamentarians were stopped by a large contingent of Police. Though many leaders tried to negotiate with the police to let them meet the ED Director in small groups, the police did not relent.

Speaking to the media, Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said that the members are returning to Parliament as they are told that the ED Director was unwilling to meet the MPs.

Calling the allegations ‘serious and far-reaching charges of corporate fraud’, the complaint said, “This case involves stock-price manipulation through fraudulent means and the misuse/monopolization of public resources to benefit a single corporate group.”

Trinamool Congress was missing from the list of signatories of the letter and its members did not attend the march. 

Reminding the ED that it cannot turn around and abdicate its jurisdiction, the letter said “charges related to accounting fraud, the dubious nature of how the Follow-On Public Offer was manipulated behind the scenes, the shocking similarity with Adani’s previous actions for which they have been investigated by your predecessors, are all available in the public domain.” 

“We are acutely aware of how in the recent past, the ED has also zealously pursued cases of alleged political favouritism including sharing concurrent jurisdiction with SEBI and CBI. We are also aware of the limited remit of the Supreme Court Commission appointed on the subject,” it said.  

In the letter, the leaders point out that the Adani Group companies are accused of having established a network of offshore shell companies and offshore funds controlled by parties related to the Adani Group for (1) artificially inflating stock valuations and (2) to give a distorted picture about the group companies’ financial health.

“Data available in the public domain actively lists 38 Mauritius shell entities controlled by the Adani group through Vinod Adani or close associates; as well as other entities in Cyprus, the UAE, Singapore, and several Caribbean Islands. The purpose of these entities was to “round trip” money into the Adani companies for the aforementioned reasons,” it said.

The letter says that Vinod Adani, Gautam Adani’s brother, is alleged to have played a key part in setting up networks that create a causal link between the off-shore entities and Adani’s Indian companies. 

“These actions are also patently illegal since they violate the basic rule that at least 25% of free float be held by non-promoter entities,” the letter said, adding, “It is surprising that despite all of the above, the ED has shown little to no interest in pursuing a basic investigation into the entities’ affairs,”.

The letter also listed several other allegations against the group, which were available in the public domain, said the leaders.

MUMBAI:  Having already lost out on a series of mega projects which got allocated to other states, Maharashtra is now set to lose the once-profitable Mahananda Dairy to the Central government. 

According to the state government, the Mahananda Dairy will be soon handed over to the Centre-run National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). Maharashtra dairy minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil attributed the decision to the state government’s inability to run the firm.  

“We did not want to hand over the Mahananda Dairy to a private trust or company, and as such, decided to rope in NDDB. The talks are at the final stage. However, NDDB told us that they will only accommodate 350 employees of Mahananda Dairy out of the total 940 employees. Mahananda Dairy is very much in trouble and not even able to pay the salaries of its employees,” Patil said.

NCP MLA Jitendra Ahwad said, “There were several key Central government offices in India’s financial capital Mumbai, but these offices are also either shifted being to Gujarat or Delhi. Mahananda Dairy was once a profit-making entity. It owns a big chunk of land in Mumbai. I am afraid that by handing over the Mahananda dairy to the Central government, they may hand over the land as well. Why should Maharashtra be deprived of all these resources?”

Meanwhile, 16 lakh state government employees have threatened to go on strike from Tuesday if their demand for the restoration of the old pension scheme is not fulfilled even as CM Eknath Shinde appealed to them not to do so.