Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying his promise of “Achhe Din” had gone up in smoke in just four years and now people were alleging that “chowkidar chor hai” (watchman is corrupt).

As he sharpened his barbs, Gandhi uttered the said “chowkidar” and the crowd attending a rally here roared back: “chor hai”. It was the Congress leader’s last leg of a two-day visit to the state.

If on Monday his attacks were aimed at Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, then on Tuesday Gandhi took aim at the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership.

He named the Rafale deal, the happenings in the CBI and the Nirav Modi-PNB scam in the run up to the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls of November 28.

“Modi says he is not a ruler but a (political) servant — a watchman. It is a lie. He is not guarding poor people’s assets.

“In fact he is filling up the coffers of his cronies… He saves fugitives like Nirav Modi and Mehul Chowksi and Vijay Mallya who leave Indian shores for the foreign ones without any fear.”

A number of BJP leaders on Tuesday joined the Congress in Madhya Pradesh in Gandhi’s presence.

BJP MLA Sanjay Sharma, former MLA Kamlapat Arya and Kirar community leader Gulab Singh Kirar joined the party earlier in Indore.

IANS

Chief Minister( CM) H.D. Kumaraswamy on Tuesday, October 30 alleged that B.S. Yeddyurappa had planned to kill him when the JD(s)-BJP collision government was in power.

Speaking to the press here on Tuesday, Kumaraswamy questioned Yeddyurappa asking, “Earlier when a member of the Legislative Council representing Ballari constituency had made allegation against me that I had received Rs 150 crores bribe from a mining company owner why you didn’t discuss or speak anything regarding that issue then BSY?”.

He further questioned, ” When a BJP leader(Sri Ramulu) had accused that there was a conspiracy to murder him, where were you Mr Yeddyurappa, have you even bother to discuss that matter with your party members?”.

CM Kumaraswamy is in the city to support Madhu Bangarappa who will be representing Congress-JD(S) collision party in the by-polls from Shimoga constituency.

PTI

Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy challenged the BPJ party that he will resign to his post if the BJP leaders prove the allegation made on him and his father. The Leader of the Opposition of Karnataka assembly, B. S. Yeddyurappa had alleged that CM H.D. Kumaraswamy and his father H.D Deve Gowda have been receiving bribes to transfer officers and are making an enormous amount of money.

CM H.D. Kumaraswamy was in the city on Monday, October 29 to support Madhu Bangarappa who will be representing Congress and JD(s) collision party in the upcoming by-polls.

Speaking to the press on this occasion Kumaraswamy said that if the BJP party prove that he and his father have received bribe from any of the officials to transfer them he will immediately tender his resignation and further added that he is ready to have a face to face conversation with B.S. Yeddyurappa and discuss this matter.

The Congress leaders are fully supporting the collision government and we are not scared of anyone he informed.

PTI

Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s attack against Shivraj Singh Chouhan, chief minister of poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, backfired after the latter threatened to file a defamation suit against him on Tuesday. The Congress president, while addressing an election rally in Jhabua, had alleged that the name of Chouhan’s son had surfaced in the Panama Papers scandal.

Taking objection to the claim, Chouhan took to Twitter to slam Gandhi for making “false allegations” against him and his family in relations to Vyapam scams and Panama Papers. Addressing Gandhi in a tweet, the CM wrote on Monday, “You have been making patently false allegations of Vyapam to Panama Papers against me and my family. Tomorrow, I am filing a criminal defamation suit for maximum damages against you for frivolous and malafide statements.”

He added in the end, “Let law take its own course now.”

At a public rally in Jhabua, Gandhi had attacked Chouhan, drawing a link between the CM’s son and the Panama Papers scandal, claiming that no action had been taken against them. He had said, “Name of the son of CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan surfaced in the Panama papers, but no action was taken. Even a country like Pakistan punished its former PM when he was named in the Panama papers.”
It’s interesting to note here that the name of a BJP Chief Minister’s son had indeed surfaced in the Panama Papers row in 2016. However, it was Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh’s son, Abhishek, whose name had cropped up in the controversy, and not that of MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s son.

Meanwhile, Singh, in another tweet accused the Congress of “looking down upon BJP workers” and calling them names. He tweeted, “Congress has been in practice of looking down upon the BJP workers. It called Prime Minister Narendra Modi ‘Maut ka Saudagar’, ‘neech’ and ‘Bicchu’. The party called me ‘nalayak’, ‘madari’ etc. Staying away from making the government is getting tougher for them and it is affecting them mentally.”

In yet another tweet, Chouhan reiterated his threat to file a defamation case against Gandhi, and tweeted, “For the past many years, Congress has been accusing me and my family. We respect everybody and maintain our dignity but, today Rahul Gandhi crossed his limits when he said my son Yuva Kartikey’s name has come in Panama papers.”

The ruling AIADMK party on Monday geared up for bypolls in 20 assembly constituencies by announcing rolls for various party leaders.

It should however be noted that the Election Commission has not announced the poll dates or anything pertaining to bypolls.

In a statement issued here, the AIADMK announced the allocation of roles to several party leaders including Coordinator and Deputy Chief Minister O.Panneerselvam.

The 20 seats fell vacant after the Madras High Court last week upheld

The Tamil Nadu Speaker P. Dhanapal’s decision to disqualify 18 dissident AIADMK legislators and owing to the death of MLAs — M.Karunanidhi (Tiruvarur) and A.K.Bose (Thiruparankundram).

Conflicting views are being voiced by the disqualified legislators on their plans to file an appeal in the Supreme Court against the High Court’s verdict.

Speaking to reporters in Madurai on October 26, Thanga Tamilselvan, one of the disqualified MLAs, said they will be filing their appeal petition in two or three days.

Subsequently they said a final decision is yet to be taken whether to approach the court or contest in bypolls.

The 18 disqualified legislators belong to the sidelined AIADMK leader T.T.V.Dhinakaran, now an independent legislator.

Last year, the 18 legislators had met the then Governor C.Vidyasagar Rao and gave a representation requesting him to change Chief Minister K.Palaniswami as they had lost confidence in him.

Following that Speaker Dhanapal on the representation from the Chief Government Whip S.Rajendiran disqualified the 18 legislators under the anti-defection law.

IANS

A meeting between state Congress president Girish Chodankar and former Chief Minister and disgruntled BJP leader Laxmikant Parsekar has triggered political speculation in Goa, especially with the state likely to see two Assembly by-polls soon.

When asked about his meeting with Parsekar, who has publicly threatened to defeat Dayanand Sopte, a now former Congress MLA who was inducted into the BJP two weeks back and is likely to contest a by-poll from his Mandrem assembly constituency, Chodankar said: “I have been meeting lots of people because our ultimate target is to fulfil the wishes of the people of Goa. Ever since these two MLAs have resigned, there is tremendous anger in the people of Goa… We are ready to work with anyone who is ready to defeat them (BJP).”

On Sunday, Chodankar met Parsekar, where sources said the two discussed ways and means to defeat Sopte in the yet-to-be-scheduled Mandrem by-poll.

Parsekar has already claimed that he was meeting political leaders from across the spectrum because he has shared a healthy relationship with them. “I am opposed to their ideology. But that does not mean I can’t meet them,” he said.

Sopte, who was elected to the state Assembly on a Congress ticket from Mandrem — a seat formerly represented by Parsekar — resigned as an MLA and from the Congress party before joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) amid drama.

Parsekar, who served as CM from 2014-17, has already slammed the state BJP leadership of trying to “finish him” and has openly threatened to work against the party to defeat Sopte as and when the Assembly by-polls are held.

Parrikar who is currently being treated for advanced pancreatic cancer has been in an out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, New York and Delhi. His absence has created a political leadership vacuum in Goa, with several leaders in the BJP as well as the ruling coalition parties eyeing the top political position.

The BJP earlier this month was forced to induct two Congress MLAs into the party and get them to resign from legislatorship, so as to bring the legislative strength on par with the Congress with 14 MLAs in the state Assembly, which currently has 38 MLAs.

IANS

Bhavye Suneja, the pilot of Indonesian Lion Air Boeing passenger plane which crashed on Monday with 189 people onboard, was a student of Ahlcon Public School in Delhi till 2005.

Sources in the school, located in Mayur Vihar of east Delhi, confirmed that he was an alumnus but did not share further details.

According to Suneja’s LinkedIn profile, he received his pilot’s licence from the US-based Bel Air International in 2009.

He was associated with Lion Air as an airline pilot since March 2011. Prior to that, he served as a trainee pilot with Emirates for three months in 2010, the profile showed.

However, Emirates in a statement said that the pilot was never an employee or trainee with the airline.

The passenger plane crashed into the Java Sea on Monday shortly after take-off. Authorities said they had not found any survivor.

Suneja was living in Jakarta with his wife while his parents were in Delhi when the disaster took place.

“Our deepest condolences on the tragic loss of lives in the Lion Air plane crash, off the coast of Jakarta today. Most unfortunate that Indian Pilot Bhavye Suneja who was flying JT610 also lost his life… Embassy is in touch with Crisis Center and coordinating for all assistance,” the Indian Embassy in Jakarta said in its official twitter handle.

IANS

Political dialogue in Maharashtra hit another low after a Congress MLA called Prime Minister a dengue mosquito.

Addressing a public rally, Congress MLA from Solapur South Praniti Shinde said, “We have a new dengue mosquito in our country, whose name is Modi baba. Everyone is falling sick because of him. So do whatever you can, spray pesticides and throw him out of the power next time.”

Besides this, the honourable Congress MLA called the local BJP MP Sharad Bansode a drunkard.

“The BJP leaders have not spent a single penny for the development of this district. What the government has given to our district are two leaders who keep fighting amongst themselves and one drunkard MP,” she said.

Responding to her jibe, the honourable BJP MP sought to shame the Congress legislator by calling her “someone who wears sleeveless clothes and attends parties”.

“Those who were caught in rave parties in sleeveless clothes have no right to attack me. I know what she does in Mumbai. If I open my mouth she will have no face to show in Solapur. This is the last warning to her,” Bansode said.

PTI

The state BJP has sought the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to initiate actions against the Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, accusing the later of violating the Model Code of Conduct.

BJP leaders A H Anand and Dattaguru Hege state in their complaint to CEO Sanjiv Kumar that Kumaraswamy violated the poll code during an election campaign in Mandya on Friday. They further state that the CM had assured the gathering that the government would issue the debt-free certificates top beneficiaries of the loan wavier scheme, soon after the bypolls.

The complainants have charged that the government was resorting to election gimmicks to influence the electoral ahead of the bypolls and have sought the CEO to direct Kumaraswamy to restrain from making any further announcements.

The three Lok Sabha and two Assembly segments bypolls will be held on November 3rd.

PTI