Opposition strength in RS to weaken further this year, Cong to lose seats

The Congress is confident of retaining nine seats on its own and winning one or two more with the help of its allies

The Opposition strength in Rajya Sabha is set to reduce further as the Congress is expected to lose some of its seats in elections slated for later this year to fill up 68 vacancies. According to sources, the Congress could lose around nine of its 19 seats that are falling vacant due to its reduced strength in some states, amid speculation that the party is contemplating bringing in some bigwigs, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Randeep Surjewala, to the Upper House.

The Congress is confident of retaining nine seats on its own and winning one or two more with the help of its allies. The party is set to gain seats in states where it is in power — Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. The Opposition strength will fall after elections are held to fill up 68 vacancies in April, June and November, that may lead to the ruling NDA slowly inching towards the majority mark of in the Upper House, sources say. While 51 seats in Rajya Sabha are falling vacant in April, five more in June, one in July and 11 in November this year.

Top Congress leaders Motilal Vora, Madhusudan Mistry, Kumari Selja, Digvijaya Singh, B K Hariprasad and MV Rajeev Gowda are among the top Congress leaders whose tenures are ending in April and June. Of them, Vora, Selja and Digvijaya Singh are likely to be renominated by the party. Besides, its leaders Raj Babbar and P L Punia are unlikely to get renominated from Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, where the ruling BJP is set to make major gains. One RS seat in Uttarakhand and 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh are falling vacant in November this year.

PM Modi wanted us to work together, I rejected his offer: Sharad Pawar

Pawar made the claim in an interview to a Marathi TV channel on Monday.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar has said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had proposed “working together” but he rejected the offer. Pawar made the claim in an interview to a Marathi TV channel on Monday. “Modi had offered me to work together. I told him that our personal relations are very good and they will remain that way but it is not possible for me to work together,” Pawar said.

Pawar dismissed reports that Modi government offered to make him India’s President. “But there surely was an offer to make Supriya (Sule) a minister in the Modi-led cabinet,” he added. Supriya Sule is Sharad Pawar‘s daughter and a Lok Sabha member from Baramati in Pune district. Pawar had met Modi last month amid the dramatic developments over government formation in Maharashtra.

Modi has always praised Pawar and made it a point not to launch a vicious attack against him during the state election campaign. Modi’s latest praise for Pawar came last month when he was speaking on the occasion of 250th session of the Rajya Sabha. Modi said other parties, including the BJP, should learn from the NCP on how to adhere to parliamentary norms.

In 2016, when Modi visited the Vasantdada Sugar Institute in Pune on an invitation from Pawar, he had praised the NCP chief as an example to others in public life. “I have personal respect for Pawar. I was the Gujarat chief minister that time. He helped me walk by holding my finger. I feel proud to pronounce this publicly,” Modi had said.

NCP MP Sule hugs Ajit Pawar, greets Maharashtra MLAs before oath session

“Who do you trust in life. Never felt so cheated in life. Defended him, loved him. Look what I get in return,” she had said in another status post, about Ajit Pawar.

As the special session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly commenced here on Wednesday, all eyes were on NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who last week rebelled against his party to support the BJP to form government but resigned as deputy chief minister on Tuesday. As Ajit Pawar entered the Vidhan Bhavan premises on Wednesday morning, his cousin and Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule greeted him with a warm hug.

Sule, the daughter of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, was standing at the Vidhan Bhavan’s entrance to greet her party legislators. Speaking to reporters in the Vidhan Bhavan premises, Ajit Pawar said, “I was and am still with the NCP. I never left the party.” After Ajit Pawar revolted against the party to back a BJP government led by Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday, a visibly moved Sule in her WhatsApp status then said the Pawar family and the party had split.

“Who do you trust in life. Never felt so cheated in life. Defended him, loved him. Look what I get in return,” she had said in another status post, about Ajit Pawar. In a dramatic twist to political events in Maharashtra, BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as chief minister and Ajit Pawar as his deputy by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at a hush hush ceremony in Raj Bhavan early Saturday morning.

However, the NCP MLA, who won with a whopping margin of over 1.6 lakh votes from Pune’s Baramati seat, resigned as Dy CM on Tuesday, following which Fadnavis stepped down as chief minister, leading to collapse of the BJP-led government. A special session of the 14th Maharashtra Legislative Assembly commenced here on Wednesday to administer oath to the newly-elected members.

More talks are needed on Maharashtra: Pawar after meeting Sonia Gandhi

Keeping his cards close to his chest, Pawar said he only discussed the political situation in Maharashtra with Sonia Gandhi

After a meeting with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Monday queered the pitch for the Shiv Sena in formation of a new government in Maharashtra, saying this issue was not discussed and remained non-committal in forging an alliance with its political rival.

As the deadlock over the government formation entered the 26th day with no signs of an early resolution, Prime Minister Narendra Modi set tongues wagging when he praised the NCP, the Congress’ prepoll ally, in the Rajya Sabha (RS) for strictly “adhering to parliamentary norms”. Maharashtra is currently under President’s rule.

Addressing the RS on the occasion of its 250th session, Modi said, “Today I want to appreciate two parties, NCP and Biju Janata Dal (BJD). These parties have strictly adhered to parliamentary norms.” The BJD headed by Naveen Patnaik is the ruling party in Odisha. Modi said the members of the two parties never rush to the Well of the House to raise their issues and yet highlight their points effectively.

Keeping his cards close to his chest, Pawar said he only discussed the political situation in Maharashtra with Sonia Gandhi and that the NCP and the Congress will hold talks with their other allies before taking a decision on government formation. Pawar, whose meeting with Gandhi at her residence in Delhi was being billed as a major step towards a possible tie-up with the Shiv Sena, said if the NCP and the Congress have to…

Read More: Maharashtra Political Crisis

Maharashtra govt formation: Prez rule imposed, but Cong-NCP-Sena talks on

The Opposition accused the Narendra Modi government of moving in haste in imposing central rule

Maharashtra, which witnessed constantly changing political equations amid hectic parleys by key parties in the past few days, was put under President’s Rule on Tuesday evening, and its Assembly in suspended animation, after Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari in a report to the Centre said the formation of a stable government was impossible in the current situation.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress, however, said they were open to an alliance with the Shiv Sena, but needed “clarity” on issues and would like to come up with a common minimum programme. The two allies also said Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had contacted them for the first time on Sunday.

Thackeray later in the evening addressed a press conference and reiterated how parties of different ideological persuasions needed more time to discuss issues. He said it was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the single-largest party in the state with 105 seats, that had not lived up to its promise, forcing the Shiv Sena to contact the Congress and the NCP. He said now that the state was under central rule, the three parties had six months to give shape to the next government.

According to sources, Thackeray told his party legislators in a closed-door meeting that the BJP was still trying to reach out and a possible BJP-Sena government was a possibility. When asked about this, Thackeray evaded a direct reply. On ideological differences with the Congress-NCP, he said he was collecting information on how the BJP had alliances with the Peoples Democratic Party in Jammu and Kashmir, with the Janata Dal (United) and Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party in Bihar, and with the N Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh, none of whom espoused the Hindutva ideology.

Rs 25,000-cr scam: ED books Sharad Pawar, nephew for money laundering

The probe agency said that loans were sanctioned to CSF despite weak financial and negative network

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a money laundering case against Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, nephew Ajit Pawar and several former directors of Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank in connection with a Rs 25,000-crore loan scam. The setback for the Pawars comes a month before Maharashtra goes to the polls. The NCP had won 41 seats in the 2014 Assembly elections.

According to the probe agency, loans were provided to cooperative sugar factories (CSFs) in connivance with then senior officials of the co-operative bank with the purpose of siphoning off money, causing a huge loss to the bank.

“There were several irregularities in the sanctioning of loans… only with the purpose of extending benefits to the directors of the lending bank, for personal gains,” the ED said. These loans were sanctioned between 2007 and 2010.

Explaining the modus operandi, the probe agency said loans were sanctioned to CSFs despite weak financials and negative net worth. No collateral was taken in many cases, and credit was extended based on incorrect representation made by the bank. The bank even extended additional working facilities to certain sugar factories without having any prudent reason….

Did Andhra govt sanction Rs 11 cr for Naidu’s Delhi protest? TDP differs

Chandrababu Naidu protested at Delhi’s Andhra Bhavan demanding that the Centre fulfil all promises made during Andhra Pradesh’s bifurcation in 2014 and grant a special category status to the state

Current Affairs: If the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s one-day long hunger strike in Delhi did indeed cause the state exchequer a whopping Rs 11 crore, protests are becoming an expensive affair. The state government reportedly released an order on February 6 allocating Rs 11.12 crore as part of the protest expenditure. The state government booked two special trains with twenty coaches each to ferry those attending the protest. The government reportedly sanctioned Rs 1.2 crore for the same and released another Rs 10 crore for “meeting the expenditure of the one-day protest in New Delhi.” Around 1100 rooms were also booked for those attending the protest.

“Government of Andhra Pradesh has decided to hire two special trains with 20 compartments each from South Central Railways, Secunderabad, i.e., starting one (1) train from Ananthapuramu and another from Srikakulam to reach New Delhi by 10.02.2019 to transport interested Political parties, organisations, NGOs associations, etc.. to participate in one day Deeksha (Protest) at New Delhi on 11.02.2019 to be led by the chief minister,” stated the government release.

The government order stated that the money was to be spent on “transportation of participants from different regions of Andhra Pradesh” and “payments of other bills”.However, according to India Today, the ruling Telugu Desam Party on Tuesday clarified that only Rs 2 crore was spent for the protest and that the Budget Release Order refers to the provision of Rs 8 crore for other state functions. It also said that the party has been organising ‘Dharma Porata Deeksha’ across the state since 2017 demanding a special category status, therefore, the protest was not a political function…Read More

Bharat Bandh Rahul Gandhi questions PM Modi’s silence on fuel prices

Congress and 20 other Opposition parties hit the streets today to protest the recent space of hikes in fuel prices and a fall in the value of the rupee

BS| The Congress party called for a ‘Bharat bandh’ on September 10 to protest the rising fuel prices and steadily declining value of the rupee against the US dollar. Twenty political parties have answered the Congress’ call, and a number of chambers of commerce and traders’ associations are also supporting the bandh.

Top Opposition party leaders like Sharad Pawar, M K Stalin and Left leaders have openly extended their support to the call for a shutdown, while the Trinamool Congress has decided to stay away from the protest.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala alleged that the Narendra Modi government had “looted” Rs 11 trillion from the people of the country in the past 52 months and was running a “profiteering company” rather than a government.

He also urged people to bring about a change in the country by ousting the BJP from power.

While the shutdown has remained peaceful so far, incidents of violence have been reported from Pune, Bharuch and Patna. While MNS workers vandalised buses in Pune, protesters in Patna and Gujarat’s Bharuch district burnt tyres on roads.

>Click Here Full Story : Bharat Bandh<<

Also Read :  Petrol inches close to Rs 81 a litre in Delhi after 5th straight price hike

Also Read : Shed differences and unite to save this country: Manmohan tells Opposition