Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, against whom a non-bailable arrest warrant was issued by a Maharashtra court last week in a 2010 case, will not attend the court on September 21.

Naidu, who is also the President of Telugu Desam Party (TDP), on Wednesday decided to send his lawyer to file a petition in Dharmabad court to recall the Non-Bailable Arrest Warrant (NBW).

The decision was taken after the TDP chief held series of consultations with legal experts, officials and top leaders of his party here.

Judicial Magistrate First Class, Dharmabad Court (Nanded) N.R. Gajbhiye on September had 13 issued the NBWs against Naidu and 14 others including his two cabinet colleagues.

The police were ordered to arrest and produce them before the court at the next hearing on September 21.

Maharashtra police had registered a case against Naidu and others when the TDP organised massive protests over what it termed the “illegal constructions” of the Babli Barrage project by the Maharashtra government allegedly to divert Godavari River waters from Telangana region of the then undivided Andhra Pradesh.

At that time Naidu was the Leader of Opposition in the state and along with 40 legislators, he had entered the barrage vicinity flouting prohibition orders clamped there.

The TDP has alleged that BJP is behind the revival of eight-year-old case. It termed the NBW as an act of vengeance by Narendra Modi government against the TDP for pulling out of NDA.

Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah, while addressing a news conference in Hyderabad on September 15, denied the allegation and pointed out that the case was booked when Congress was in power in Maharashtra.

He also claimed that the court had issued 25 summons against Naidu but he did not respond to any summon.

Reacting to Shah’s claim, Chandrababu Naidu informed the Andhra Pradesh Assembly that he had not received summons from the court before the NBW was issued.

“I verified with my office. Not even a single summon was received,” the Chief Minister said.

(IANS)

Former chief minister Siddaramaiah, who heads the coordination committee of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government,today rubbished reports of dissent in the Congress and said media reports of it were ‘baseless.’

“There is nothing, no discord. Whatever is coming in the media does not have even an iota of truth…. It is totally baseless,” he told reporters after meeting the Jarkiholi brothers.

Congress has been hit by internal dissent, triggered by a faction of MLAs led by minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, who is locked in a turf war with another minister DK Shivakumar. The Jarkiholi brothers’ activities have led to speculations that BJP was fishing in troubled waters and was in touch with them to dislodge the government.

The siblings are upset over Shivakumar allegedly trying to challenge their supremacy in Belagavi district through MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar. Siddaramaiah said there are six ministerial posts to be filled and many aspirants for the posts, leading to speculation in the media about dissidence in the party.

The former chief minister claimed that BJP was trying to destabilise the government as many MLAs have said that some people from BJP had approached them. “It is true that the BJP is trying to destabilise this government. They have given up all the civility to come to power.

There is no discord in our party,”Siddaramaiah asserted. The chief minister said he along with Satish Jarkiholi and senior party functionaries would leave for Delhi Wednesday to meet party chief Rahul Gandhi to hold discussions on filling the six ministerial posts. Tomorrow, I will not discuss about the cabinet expansion. We will expand the cabinet at an appropriate time…nobody has complained about the delay in expanding the ministry,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Satish Jarkiholi called on chief minister HD Kumaraswamy. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Jarkiholi said he had discussions about issues pertaining to the development of Belagavi and his community and nominations to the boards, corporations and the legislative council.

Another demand discussed was that one person from the scheduled tribe from Ballari should be made a minister. “There is no discord as being made out,” he said.

PTI

AAP’s Haryana unit chief Naveen Jaihind Tuesday provoked a controversy over the alleged gangrape of a girl in the state, saying he will give Rs 20 lakh to any BJP leader who gets sexually assaulted by 10 people.

Jaihind, the husband of Delhi Commission for Women chairperson Swati Maliwal, made the remarks while condemning the BJP government in Haryana for giving only Rs 2 lakh as compensation to the Rewari gang rape victim.

The Aam Aadmi Party leader alleged that BJP government in the state has completely failed on the law and order and women safety front.

The 19-year-old rape victim’s family had Saturday decided to return a cheque of Rs 2 lakh handed over to them by officials under the Haryana Victim Compensation Scheme, 2013.

“Is a woman’s honours worth Rs 2 lakh?” Jaihind told reporters in Rohtak. “Be ashamed, chief minister ‘sahab’.”

“We will give Rs 20 lakh to any BJP leader who gets raped by 10 people. Does woman’s honour have a value? (BJP ka koyee neta dus logon say ku-karam karvaye 20 lakh hum denge unko, arrey izzat ki koyee keemat hote hai kya),” he said.

When contacted, the AAP leader said he stands by his comments.

“I stand by what I have said. You cannot disrespect any woman in society. The victim or her family are not asking for money, all they want is justice,” he said over the phone.

He said the gang rape incident was very unfortunate. “But what happened in this case. The victim is made to run from pillar to post to get her complaint registered. Instead of acting against the culprits, the victim is harassed. While the family is demanding justice, you are handing them a cheque of Rs 2 lakh, which they don’t want. Isn’t it like rubbing salt on their wounds?” Jaihind asked.

“So many crimes against women are taking place in Haryana, but the chief minister has become a ‘Dhritarashtra’. The government has completely failed. It is like the Kauravas are ruling the state,” he said.

Activists lashed out at Jaihind for making the “insensitive” remarks.

Women rights activist Shabnam Hashmi said the comments were “very obnoxious and irresponsible”.

“This shows the patriarchal mindset of these leaders who consider women an object,” she said.

Annie Raja, National Federation of Indian Women’s general secretary, said it is a “criminal opinion”.

“He is trying to take political mileage out of the situation. These people do not consider women equal beings. After a few days, they apologise and escape by making such statements,” she said.

The 19-year-old woman, a Class 12 topper from Rewari, was abducted from a bus stop in Mahendragarh district Wednesday. She was allegedly drugged and gang raped in an agricultural field, police had said.

Police have arrested three persons, including one of the prime accused, in connection with the incident. Two key accused are on the run.

PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre has done away with 1,420 laws, considered “redundant and obsolete”, in the past four years, a reply to a query under the RTI Act has revealed.

As per the information provided by the Public Information Officer (PIO) of the Legislative Department to Lucknow-based activist Nutan Thakur, 1,420 Central laws have been repealed since 2014.

The information says that initially 35 Acts were repealed through the Repealing and Amending Act, 2015. This was followed by 90 Acts being repealed in 2015 itself and 1,050 Acts in 2016.

In 2017, 245 Acts were repealed.

The reply to the RTI reveals that the Acts were repealed on the basis of a report by the Law Commission and a two-member committee constituted by the Prime Minister’s Office, along with comments from various ministries and departments.

(IANS)

The Congress would not name the Chief Ministerial candidate in poll-bound Telangana, where it would fight the Assembly elections jointly with the TDP, CPI and Telangana Jana Samithi, a key party leader said Wednesday. The AICC In-charge of Telangana, R C Khuntia maintained that the usual practice in the Congress was not to name the party’s Chief Ministerial candidate before any Assembly election.

“TPCC (Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee) President, Uttam Kumar Reddy will lead the campaign but the Chief Ministerial candidate will be finalised after the election,” Khuntia told media here. “It will be decided after the election results come out, with the views of MLAs, in consultation with our President Rahul Gandhi”, he said.

Telangana Assembly was dissolved on September six — more than eight months ahead of the expiry of its term — on the recommendation of (now) Caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who opted to go for early elections.

The Election Commission is yet to come out with the poll schedule for the State. The Congress which won 21 seats in the 119-member Assembly in the 2014 elections with a vote share of more than 25 per cent, has since struck an understanding with the TDP, the CPI and TJS of Prof M Kodandaram to fight the election jointly.

“Seat sharing details have not been finalised but we have agreed to fight jointly,” Khuntia said. “We will have a common agenda, and also some strategy to campaign jointly,” he added. According to Khuntia, winnability of the alliance partners would decide as to who would get how many seats to contest.

“It’s not the question of numbers; it’s a question of winnability”, he said, adding, while the Congress is the major partner, the three other parties would get “preference” in segments where they are in a better position. The TDP fought the last election in alliance with the BJP, won 15 seats and had a close to 15 per cent vote-share.

PTI

Representation for Ballari in the cabinet, another minister from the ST community, keeping DK Shivakumar out of Belagavi and Ballari and, more importantly, deputy chief minister’s post for Ramesh Jarkiholi, according to sources, are the demands made by the Jarkiholi brothers to end the crisis that is threatening the survival of the coalition government.

While Ramesh and his brother Satish have acknowledged that they have made the first two demands, they have denied seeking the deputy CM’s post or mentioning about Shivakumar.

Sources close to the brothers, however, insist that Ramesh’s demand to the coalition is to match what the BJP has offered him — deputy chief minister’s post.

Despite CM HD Kumaraswamy himself directly intervening (he met both Ramesh and Satish at a hotel in Bengaluru) to solve the crisis, sources suggest that pacifying the brothers will take more time. Meanwhile, taking the ongoing drama to Delhi, Satish Jarkiholi left for the national capital for a meeting with the Congress high command on Wednesday. Incidentally, KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao, former CM Siddaramaiah and DyCM G Parameshwara are also scheduled to meet AICC chief Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday.
While Satish himself told the media that the meeting with Kumaraswamy was fruitful, sources close to the Congress MLA suggest otherwise.

“The meeting held by Kumaraswamy to broker truce was insignificant. The Jarkiholi brothers will take a final call on whether to remain with the Congress or not after they meet Rahul,” a source said.

While keeping Shivakumar away from Belagavi and Ballari politics is a priority for the duo and MLAs from Ballari, the offer made by BJP, according to sources, is lucrative enough for the brothers to demand the same from the Congress.
The demand, however, is likely to put the Congress in a spot with the JD(S) as their coalition agreement had rejected the idea of two DyCMs. Unseating Parameshwara to accommodate Ramesh is expected to lead to more trouble, pushing the party into further crisis.

Speaking to media after meeting CM, Satish said there was no request for the DyCM’s post.

“No such demands have been made. He (Ramesh) already has a portfolio,” he said.

Despite the crisis, Congress leaders maintained that all was well and said Wednesday’s meeting in Delhi was to discuss Legislative Council polls. “Only Siddaramaiah, Parameshwara and I are going to meet Rahul Gandhi to discuss bypolls to the Legislative Council,” said Dinesh Gundu Rao. He also said the final list of candidates can be expected by Thursday. But, Satish’s visit to Delhi at a time when three top leaders are also present there makes it evident that the political turmoil is likely to cloud the meeting with Rahul Gandhi.

At a time when speculations are rife that the Jarkiholi brothers are all set to cut off from the Congress, sources close to the family suggest that Ramesh’s dwindling financial status is one reason why he could switch over to the BJP. “Ramesh, after the assembly polls, has been facing financial difficulties and realises that he will not be able to gain anything from the Congress as long as it continues the coalition with the JD(S). To revive his financial status, he is keen to grab BJP’s offer without falling prey to Congress’ persuasions,” a source said.

PTI