Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi questioning if the pact to buy 36 Rafale jets from France was at all a government-to-government deal.

“The latest skeleton to tumble out of the Rafale cupboard: No guarantee by the French government backing the deal.

“But, our Prime Minister says there’s a letter from the French promising to be faithful! That’s enough to call this a government-to-government deal,” Gandhi tweeted, adding “#BikGayaChowkidar” (watchman sold out).

Gandhi’s latest jibe at Modi comes a day after the Centre told the Supreme Court that there was no sovereign guarantee by the French government backing the deal but only a letter of comfort.

The submission was made by Attorney General K.K. Venugopal before a bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K.M. Joseph, which reserved its verdict on PILs on the fighter jet deal.

IANS

 Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday expressed confidence over eliminating naxalism in the coming three-five years and asked Maoists to join the mainstream by surrendering under the rehabilitation policy for them.

“Naxalism will end in next three to five years. The surrender process is continuous and the government has decided to make the rehabilitation policy more effective,” he told reporters here during his two-day election campaigning in Chhattisgarh.

Rajnath Singh said Maoism was going through its last phase and that it had been reduced from ninety districts to only ten or eleven districts of the country.

He said earlier the killing of security personnel was more but the number of casualty of Maoists has increased with forces having an upper hand.

The Minister appealed to the Maoists to shun the path of violence and surrender, assuring them of providing benefits of rehabilitation policy being pursued by the government.

The Minister mocked at the Congress for not declaring its Chief Ministerial candidate in Chhattisgarh, saying “Congress is moving ahead with a marriage procession without the groom”.

“The Congress as well as all opposition political parties have been currently facing a crisis of credibility. The Congress has lost its inherent strength which is the base of any political party. This is the reason the Congress hasn’t so far announced its Chief Ministerial candidate (in Chhattisgarh),” he said.

Congress, which is seeking to end 15 years of BJP rule in Chhattisgarh, has so far not declared its Chief Ministerial candidate in the state that will go for the second phase of Assembly polls in 72 of the 90 constituencies on November 20 to elect a new Assembly. The first phase concluded on November 12.

Calling Congress manifesto a “postdated cheque”, the Minister said: “the Congress recently launched its manifesto. What is the purpose of launching the manifesto when a political party has lost its faith in public and there is no credibility of its promises.”

Rajnath Singh said the faith of people in the state has increased in Bharatiya Janata Party and its Chief Minister Raman Singh.

“I am saying it on the basis of reading the mood of people after the first phase of Assembly elections and attending three public meetings on Wednesday. Generally, credibility of crisis arises among people against any political party or the Chief Minister who work for long time. But there is a reverse impact in Chhattisgarh. Despite working for 15 years, people’s faith has increased for Raman Singh.”

Rajnath Singh said that Raman Singh’s government has done a wonderful work in Chhattisgarh since 2003.

“Chhattisgarh’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) has risen to more than 3.25 lakh crore from around 39,000 crore in 2003. This is not a small thing.”

IANS 

Two prominent BJP slogans have been missing from its ongoing campaign for five states — the promise of achche din and the dream of Congress-mukt Bharat. The reason for the BJP’s reluctance to reuse its popular jumlas from previous elections is apparent: Elections for these states do not portend achche din for the party, and the Congress appears set for an impressive comeback instead of getting wiped out of India.

For the first time since the advent of the Narendra Modi-era in politics, the Congress, as several surveys point out, starts as the frontrunner in this round of elections.

According to CVoter, it might sweep Rajasthan, win Telangana and win Madhya Pradesh by a small margin. Even in Chhattisgarh, the Congress is locked in a close contest with a slight lead over the BJP that could be decisive.

Just a few months ago, with the BJP decapitating its rivals ruthlessly in elections and the Modi-Amit Shah duo looking unassailable, who would have thought the Congress might be dreaming of a 4-0 win and the BJP would be fearing a wipeout? But, as Richie Benaud would have said, it’s all happening here.

Rajasthan, by electoral behaviour, is a state of extremes. Its impatient and fickle voters swing from one end of the spectrum to the other in almost every election, turning objects of their adulation into subjects of scorn and ridicule. But, the problem with the BJP in Rajasthan is that its government became extremely unpopular very early in its tenure.

The BJP had invested almost two decades in Raje. She is the party’s most popular face in the stae and nobody else in the party has a pan-Rajasthan appeal. Her falling graph and projected loss imply the BJP will have to find new faces to lead the party in 2019 to neutralise the anger against Raje.

In Chhattisgarh, similarly, the BJP is still in the fight because of a division in the anti-government vote. Ajit Jogi and Mayawati are taking away a small but decisive chunk of votes away from the Congress, helping the BJP in a triangular contest. Had the Congress done something to address the Mayawati-Jogi problem, it would have started as a clear frontrunner in the state.

Also, voters in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are clear about their choice for the prime minister’s post — most of them prefer Modi over Rahul Gandhi. This clarity in the voter’s mind may be a blessing for the BJP in 2019. But this year, it could be a curse, since voters are likely to convince themselves that voting the BJP out in the Assembly elections won’t be an act of disloyalty if they support Modi in the Lok Sabha. This dichotomy of faith is summed up by a slogan reverberating in Rajasthan: Modi tujh se bair nahin, Raje teri khair nahin (No animosity with Modi but won’t spare Raje).

The much-awaited expansion of the HD Kumaraswamy-led coalition cabinet in Karnataka will take place within this month, state Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao said on Wednesday.

Pointing out that JD(S) patriarch and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda was out of town, Mr Rao said, once he was back, the issue would be discussed with him.

“It will be done this month itself,” he told reporters in Bengaluru.

The cabinet expansion and appointment of MLAs as heads of boards and corporations that was to take place in October was put on the backburner by the Congress-JD(S) coalition, as the schedule for November 3 bypolls to two assembly and three parliamentary seats in the state was announced.

Several MLAs, especially those from the Congress, who are aspirants for minister’s post have been demanding that the expansion is taken up at the earliest.

Moreover, according to sources close to the legislators, many MLAs feel that this is the right time for cabinet expansion, with theCongress-JD(S)coalition winning two of the three Lok Sabha seats and both the assembly constituencies.

This would be the second expansion of the cabinet since the coalition came to power in May in a post-poll tie-up between Congress and JD(S).

Under the power-sharing arrangement reached by the two parties, Congress will have 22 ministers and the JD(S) 12.

In the earlier exercise on June 6, HD Kumaraswamy had inducted 25 ministers, taking the ministry’s strength to 27.

However, the lone BSP Minister in the coalition cabinet N Mahesh, who was inducted from JD(S) side, had quit his post in October citing personal reasons, but said he would continue to support the ruling coalition.

There are now six vacant ministerial positions left for the Congress, and two for the JD(S).

The decision to expand the cabinet has come amid speculation that some disgruntled Congress MLAs were still being wooed by the BJP, besides reported factionalism within the party.

With growing number of aspirants and limited ministerial berths in hand, Congress was preparing a list of MLAs to be appointed as heads to boards and corporations, in an effort to prevent any kind of resentment, party source said

PTI

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been named as an accused in a FIR lodged by the Delhi Police on the complaint of BJP state unit chief and MP Manoj Tiwari in connection with the scuffle that took place during the inauguration ceremony of Signature Bridge.

The available footage showed Tiwari who was standing at the edge of an elevated platform when an AAP MLA pushed him, causing him to nearly fall.

On November 4, Tiwari got into a brawl with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers and the Delhi Police at the event after which he wrote to Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) North- East Delhi and filed a complaint against AAP Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Amanatullah Khan, Kejriwal and unknown persons. Khan was caught on camera shoving Tiwari during the inauguration ceremony of the Signature Bridge.
n a video footage of the incident, Tiwari was seen standing at the edge of an elevated platform when Khan, an AAP MLA from Okhla, pushed the BJP’s Delhi unit chief, nearly causing him to fall. A large number of police personnel and AAP workers were also present on the occasion.

While speaking to ANI after the scuffle, Tiwari had claimed that the entire incident took place in front of Kejriwal. He had alleged that he was stopped by the police and AAP supporters from attending the event.

The bridge was inaugurated on November 4 and was opened for the public the next day. It was inaugurated by the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Announced in 2004, the 575-metre bridge over the river Yamuna aims at reducing travel time and traffic congestion between the north-eastern and northern parts of the national capital, and is the first asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge in India.

Agencis

The Karnataka state government has reportedly unveiled a proposal to build a statue in honour of ‘Mother Cauvery,’ the river which provides water to three different southern states. The statue will be of a woman holding a pot which is being tipped over, and water will pour out of this pot continuously. Water will be pumped up in order to attain this.

In its proposal, the government stated that the statue would be 125 feet and would be built around the Krishna Raja Sagar reservoir in Karnataka’s Mandya district, located about 90 kilometres from Bengaluru city, according to reports. The project will reportedly costs around Rs 1,200 crores and will span across and area of 400 acres. According to reports, it will be completed in the next two years.

The proposal to build the statue comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi has unveiled the statue of Sardar Vallabhai Patel in Vadodara Gujarat last month, dubbed the ‘Statue of Unity.’ The structure stands 182 metres tall and cost around Rs 3,000 crores to build.

Along with the ‘Mother Cauvery’ statue, a smaller statue of Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar has also been planned.

The two proposed statues are key attractions in the recent project taken up together by the Tourism and Water Resources Department, in an effort to improve tourism in the state. Media reports have called it a ‘Disneyland-like’ project.

In addition to the statue, this project will also include two glass houses at 360 feet to give an aerial view of the reservoir, a museum, a band stand, an indoor stadium and several replicas of historical monuments, all intended to help increase tourism in Karnataka.

TNM