Nasheman News : Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife on Wednesday moved the Delhi High Court, challenging a trial court’s order directing to frame charges against them in a disproportionate assets case.

Virbhadra Singh and his wife have requested the Delhi High Court to set aside the trial court’s order.

A trial court on December 10, 2018 ordered the framing of criminal misconduct and other charges against Virbhadra Singh, his wife Pratibha Singh and seven others in a disproportionate assets case. The charges will be formally framed against them on January 29.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had alleged that Virbhadra Singh possessed assets worth around Rs 10 crore, which were in his and his family members’ names.

The CBI said Virbhadra Singh failed to give a satisfactory answer regarding the assets which did not tally with his known income.

The trial court has ordered to frame charges under section 13 (2) read with section 13 (1)(e) of Prevention of Corruption Act (public servant who commits criminal misconduct and possesses pecuniary resources or property disproportionate to his known sources of income) against the former Chief Minister.

The court also ordered framing of charges under sections 465 (forgery), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The court has ordered to frame charges dealing with abetment and forgery against Life Insurance Corp agent Anand Chauhan and Virbhadra Singh’s associates Chunni Lal, Joginder Singh Ghalta, Prem Raj, Lawan Kumar Roach, Vakamullah Chandrashekhar and Ram Prakash Bhatia.

The CBI alleged that Pratibha Singh intentionally and actively abated Virbhadra Singh in investing his unaccounted money in her and their children’s names.

Nasheman News : Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday made it clear that the appointment of his sister Priyanka Gandhi as General Secretary for Uttar Pradesh East was part of plans to rebuild the party’s base in the state and said the Congress will cooperate with the BSP and SP to defeat the BJP in whatever ways possible.

Asserting that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was rattled, Gandhi said it was up to Priyanka Gandhi to decide whether or not to contest the coming Lok Sabha elections. 

“I fully respect Akhileshji and Mayawatiji. They have done their alliance and they are not our enemies. We are fighting together. If remaining parties want to join us, it is welcome,” he told reporters after the appointment of Priyanka Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia was announced. 

“Their (SP and BSP) ideology is very much similar to that of the Congress. And we have to defeat the BJP in the state. Wherever cooperation is possible, we will cooperate to defeat the BJP. We can work together,” he said. 

“… But we have to make our own space to spread the Congress ideology and for that it (appointment of Priyanka and Scindia) is a big step. I am fully confident that they will work to bring a positive change. 

“I have given them a mission in Uttar Pradesh to realise the ideology, which is our ideology, for the poor and weaker sections,” he said. 

Asked if Priyanka Gandhi would contest the Lok Sabha elections, he replied: “It depends on her. We are not going to play on the backfoot. We have not played on the backfoot in Gujarat also. We do politics for people. So we will play on the front foot. 

“I am fully confident that Priyanka and Scindia will give Uttar Pradesh what the state needs and what the youth of the state need.”

Gandhi said that with the appointment of Priyanka Gandhi, a new thinking will grip Uttar Pradesh politics. 

“I am happy that Priyanka, who is very capable, will work with me and I am personally very happy,” he said, adding that Scindia too was a dynamic youth leader.

Attacking the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh, he said: “We want to tell the people of Uttar Pradesh that you people have wasted a lot of time by giving the BJP the mandate. The BJP has destroyed Uttar Pradesh. 

“Remove them, we will give a new direction to the state and will bring it to the number one position. I am not talking about caste or religion but with you we want to fulfil your dreams. The BJP is rattled.”

N 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.

NEW DELHI: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was on Wednesday appointed AICC general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East by her brother and party chief Rahul Gandhi, the party said.

Jyotiraditya Scindia was appointed AICC general secretary for UP West, a party spokesperson said.

The party also replaced Ashok Gehlot as AICC general secretary Organisation with K C Venugopal.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad was appointed AICC general secretary in charge of Haryana, the party said.

Priyanka Gandhi will take over as AICC general secretary for UP East in the first week of February, the party said.

Agencies

Nasheman News : Ahead of Republic Day celebrations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated three new museums inside the Red Fort compound commemorating the nation’s freedom struggle, including one on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and his Indian National Army (INA).

The first museum showcases artefacts related to Bose and the INA, including a wooden chair and sword used by Netaji, medals, badges, uniforms and more. The INA trials were held in the Red Fort. 

Modi also unveiled the ‘Yaad-e-Jallian’ museum that will take the visitors through the bloody massacre of the Jallianwala Bagh in 1919. It will also showcase the heroism, valour and sacrifices made by Indian soldiers during World War-1. 

The third museum is dedicated to the historical narrative of the 1857 War of Independence, showcasing the valour and sacrifices made by Indians in the first war of independence against the British. 

The museums have been designed to provide an immersive experience to visitors with photographs, paintings, newspaper clippings, ancient public records, audio and video clips, animation and multimedia.

Nasheman News :  The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday demanded that in view of the latest charges against the electronic voting machines (EVMs) by a hacker in London, the old, tried and tested ballot papers should be used again in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The party has also exhorted all opposition parties to boycott the polls if their demand was not paid heed to.

Rajya Sabha member of AAP and in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, Sanjay Singh told IANS that this was necessary to “save democracy and install faith of the people once again in the election process”. 

The national spokesman of the AAP further said that the latest revelations clearly shrouded the neutrality of the EVM’s and hence should be replaced with ballot papers.

“These EVM’s show the benefit of EVM’s going to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and takes away from the opposition a level playing field” he said further. 

Chief spokesman of the party’s state unit, Vaibhav Maheshwari while claiming that the Election Commission was not ready to concede that the EVM’s were open for tampering demanded that the poll panel ensure a “public audit” of the EVM’s.

Raising doubts on the fairies of the EVM’s, the party has demanded that all political parties should write to the Election Commission of India, saying that they will boycott the elections for the Lok Sabha if the EVM’s were used for the polls. 

“There is no other option but to ban the EVM’s and conduct the Lok Sabha and all future elections through ballot paper method” Sanjay Singh said.

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday had spoken on similar lines and had cited the example of a “developed nation like Japan” which still used the traditional ballot paper method for elections in their country. 

“In view of the recent revelations, further doubts have been created in the minds of people and the EC should taken them into account” the former UP chief minister has said.

The ruling BJP leaders, both in the state and the centre, have trashed the accusations made by the opposition parties and have claimed that by raising doubts on the EVM’s, the opposition was making ground for an almost certain defeat at the hustings in the Lok Sabha 2019 polls.

Nasheman News :  Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah on Tuesday lashed out at the opposition, with Modi berating the Congress for never having the will or intention to end corruption, and Shah dismissing the January 19 rally of opposition leaders in Kolkata as a “gathbandhan” (alliance) of power-seekers keen on serving their own interests.

Addressing a gathering in Varanasi on the occasion of the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas, Modi said his government has in the last four-and-a-half years succeeded in ending pilferage of public welfare schemes which successive Congress governments since Independence never intended.

Without naming Rajiv Gandhi, Modi said a former Prime Minister had famously said that of the 100 rupees that the Central government doles out for public welfare, only 15 rupees reach the beneficiaries with the rest 85 per cent leaked through corruption.

“It was an admission of a fact, of a system that the party which ruled for so long had given to the country. But even during its later rule of 10-15 years, the party never tried to stop this pilferage. The middle class taxpayer sincerely kept paying taxes and the loot of 85 per cent continued,” Modi said.

“Now I will tell you the present situation. Using technology, we have completely ended this 85 per cent pilferage. If we had not changed the system, the loot would have continued. This could have been done earlier, but there was no intent, no will,” he said.

Modi averred that in the last 4.5 years, his government has disbursed 5.78 lakh crore rupees or 80 billion dollars under various schemes through direct benefit transfer to the beneficiaries’ bank accounts.

He said if the old system had been allowed to continue, 4.91 lakh crore rupees would have leaked through corruption.

Modi said his government identified and cleaned 7 crore fake beneficiaries who existed only on paper.

Speaking at a party rally in northern West Bengal’s Malda, Shah said the opposition leaders who gathered at the Brigade Parade Ground rally only wanted a “majboor” (helpless) government so that they could “indulge in corruption”, which was not possible under the “majboot” (strong) government of Modi.

“All these leaders of the ‘mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance) want a loose and helpless government in the country, so that they can indulge in corruption. In contrast, we want a strong government, which can teach a lesson to Pakistan,” Shah said, launching the party’s Lok Sabha poll campaign in the state.

Shah asked the crowd whether they wanted a “majboor” government or a “mazboot” government. As the crowd rooted for a strong government, Shah said: “Who can give a strong government? Only (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi can give a strong government, and none else.”

Rubbishing talks of “gathbandhan”, Shah said: “It is only an alliance of power-seekers and those only interested in serving their own interests.”

“What will they do for the country? The sole agenda of the alliance is to remove Modi.

“We say remove poverty, corruption, unemployment, illiteracy, they say remove Modi. To eradicate these ills, you (the people) have to ensure Modi returns to power, because this weak alliance of leaders won’t be able to deliver,” he said.

Targeting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had organised the mega rally of anti-BJP opposition parties at the Brigade Parade Ground on Saturday, Shah said: “Mamata Di, even if you gather 25 leaders, and they hold each others’ hands on the stage, Narendra Modi can’t be removed. Hundred crore Indians are standing rock solid behind Modi.”

Shah also mocked at the prime ministerial ambitions of the various opposition leaders present at the Brigade Parade Ground rally.

“There were 23 leaders on the dais, nine of them are prime ministerial aspirants. Nine PM candidates on one stage! There is a big queue,” he said, tongue in cheek.

He said in contrast the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has only one leader.

“We have only one leader. The entire NDA stands rock solid under the leadership of Narendra Modi,” he said.