Tag: Congress

Congress launches poster of Young India ke Bol’ programme

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Kolkata: The Congress on Tuesday launched the poster of the Young India ke Bol’ programme, through which the youth wing of the grand old party will select its spokespersons for the district, state and national levels.
Young India Ke Bol’ West Bengal in-charge Shams Shahnawaz said the programme will provide a political platform to the youths of the country, and they would be able to present their ideas in a democratic manner.
“At a time when the BJP is trying to gag dissent, Youth Congress will give microphones to lakhs of youths. The programme will make our leader Rahul Gandhi’s dream of maximising people’s participation in democracy a reality,” Shahnawaz said in a release.
Online applications for the programme will begin on April 23 and the finale will be held in Delhi in June.
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#Congress #launches #poster #Young #India #Bol #programme
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 22, 2023
BJP, Congress exchange barbs as parliament logjam continues

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New Delhi: The disruptions in parliament continued for the seventh day on Tuesday with no indications yet of the logjam ending soon as both BJP and the opposition sharpened their attack on each other.
Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were first adjourned till 2 pm and then for the day amid sloganeering by the members of the opposition and treasury benches.
While the BJP members continued to demand apology from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his remarks in UK, the opposition insisted on JPC on the Hindenburg-Adani row.
Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha Chairman urged members to allow the Houses to function.
Lok Sabha passed the Budget for Jammu and Kashmir for 2023-24 and the Supplementary Demands for Grants for the Union Territory amid the din in the House and sloganeering by opposition members over their demand.
The House also passed Jammu and Kashmir Appropriation (No 2) Bill 2023 and the Jammu and Kashmir Appropriation Bill 2023.
In Rajya Sabha, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar said people expect members to exemplify the highest traditions. “They expect us to engage in deliberation and enlighten the people at large,” he said.
As the din continued, he adjourned the House till 2 pm. When the House reassembled, talked about his experience across the political spectrum and said he also had been a member of Congress party.

“I greatly appreciate what the Leader of the Opposition has indicated as to how many political parties I have traversed. I have benefited from enormous experience of towering giants in various political parties, starting with Chaudhary Devi Lalji, Sharad Pawarji, etc. And I have been a member of the Congress Party and most of my friends are on left side…”
“Yes, Janata Dal, with Chaudhary Devi Lalji. We had towering giants in Janata Dal at that point of time. I have also had the privilege of being a member of the largest party on the planet. So, I have traversed and, in the process, I have gathered experience. My involvement with these parties has been very impactful and my not being associated with some parties may also be impactful,” he said.
Dhankar said he was earlier member of parliamentary board of NCP along with Praful Patel. “We are all friends, friends of long standing,” he said.
As the members persisted with their demands, he adjourned the House for the day.
The two Houses will not meet on Wednesday on the occasion of Ugadi, Gudi Padava, Chaitra Sukladi, Cheti Chand, Navreh and Sajibu Cheiraoba
Dhankhar called a meeting of the floor leaders of different political parties in Rajya Sabha twice on Thursday in an attempt to break the logjam in the House over the issues raised by both ruling as well as opposition parties.
In the meeting, he underlined that it is prime duty of the members to run the proceedings of the House in an orderly manner which is the essence of democracy and the expectation of the people. During the one and half hour-long meeting, Dhankhar highlighted that the House is meant for debate and discussion in a collaborative manner, and not for confrontation and deadlock.
The first meeting was held at 11.30 am in which leaders of BJP, YSRCP, BJD and TDP were present. However, floor Leaders of other parties did not attend. The Chief Whip of the Congress Party and also the floor leader of the DMK Party called on the Chairman separately before the meeting and expressed their inability to attend the meeting. The Chairman indicated to these two leaders that this would not help the cause of democracy and his feelings be so conveyed to the leaders.
Members from Congress, Trinamool Congress, DMK, AAP, BJD, RJD, CPI (M), JD(U), AIADMK, NCP, SP, SS, CPI, TRS and AGP were among those not present.
Thereafter, the Rajya Sabha Chairman made another appeal to the floor leaders of the Parties, who absented from the first meeting, to revisit their decision and attend the second meeting which was held at 2:30 pm.
The second meeting was attended by Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Dr Harivansh, Sharad Pawar (NCP), Dr Keshav Rao (TRS), Shri Tiruchi Siva (DMK), Dr Shantanu Sen (TMC), M Thambidurai (DMK), Sasmit Patra (BJD), GK Vasan (Tamil Maanila Congress), Birendra Prasad Baishya (AGP); Union Minister Leader of House Piyush Goel and Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Palhad Joshi.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Culture Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs, Shri V. Muraleedharan and Chief Whip of BJP in Rajya Sabha Laxmikant Bajpai were also present.
To engage in further consultation, the Chairman has scheduled the next meeting at 10.00 am on March 23 with a request to all floor leaders to make it convenient to attend.
Outside the Parliament, both BJP and Congress launched sharp attacks on each other.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Sambit Patra compared Rahul Gandhi to Mir Jafar and Congress leader Pawan Khera hit back.
Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Shaktisinh Gohil also held a press conference and alleged that BJP MPs didn’t let Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge speak in the House twice despite the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha permitting him.
Rahul Gandhi wrote a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker seeking permission to speak in the House to respond to the allegations levelled at him by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“I had written to you on March 17 seeking your permission to respond to totally baseless and unfair charges hurled at me by senior ministers in the Lok Sabha. I am making such a request again. I am seeking this permission under the conventions of Parliamentary practice, the constitutionally embedded rules of natural justice and Rule 357 of the Rules and Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha,” he said.
Gandhi said that the Rule 357 of the Rules and Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha allows him to respond to the allegations in the Parliament.
“A member may, with the permission of the speaker, make a personal explanation although there is no question before the House, in this case, no debatable matter may be brought forward, and no debate shall arise”.
Hitting out at the BJP, the Congress leader termed the allegations against him as “scurrilous” and “defamatory”.
“Members of the ruling regime have made scurrilous and defamatory claims against me both within and outside Parliament. As a result of these allegations, and the rules invoked by these individuals, it is only appropriate that you kindly me a right to reply as contained in Rule 357 which allows for personal explanations,” he said.
Sambit Patra, who addressed a press conference earlier in the day, said Rahul Gandhi has to apologize for his remarks in the UK.
“Rahul Gandhi will have to apologize in Parliament. He always defames the nation. He is the present-day Mir Jafar of Indian polity. He asked the foreign powers to intervene in the country. This is a consistent ‘conspiracy’ of Congress and Rahul Gandhi. His participation is least in Parliament and he says that no one allows him to speak,” Patra alleged.
“Mir Zafar did the same thing, he gave 24 Parganas to get help from East India Company and now Rahul is doing the same kind of politics. He is asking for help from foreign countries so that he becomes ‘Shazada’ in India,” Patra added.
Mir Jafar had betrayed Siraj ud-Daulah and helped the East India Company in the battle of Plassey in June 1757.
Hitting back at Patra, Pawan Khera said that the BJP spokesperson would soon get a “strong answer”.
“Criticizing government is not criticizing the nation. Government should understand this. The debate does not make democracy weaken instead it strengthens it. The government is doing this drama because they are trying to escape the opposition’s questions,” he said.
“They are worried that Rahul Gandhi might again ask the PM about his relations with Adani. There is no JPC probe yet, this is the reason they are creating so much drama. He will get a strong answer soon. We are also learning from them (BJP) how to give answers. Soon action will be done on his statement: Pawan Khera on Sambit Patra’s statement that Rahul Gandhi is ‘Mir Jafar’ of the present era,” he added.
In his press conference, Gohil referred to the Rajya Sabha record details and said the moment Kharge’s name was called, the ruling party members started sloganeering and the House was adjourned.
He added that as soon as Kharge stoop up to speak at 2 pm when the Rajya Sabha resumed, sloganeering from MPs of the party in power started and the House was adjourned for the day.
Gohil alleged that BJP is seeking apology from Rahul Gandhi just because it wants to divert attention from Adani issue on which the Opposition parties are demanding JPC.
Gohil said that Union Minister Piyush Goyal refers to Rahul Gandhi’s remarks in London which is against the rules.
He asserted that Rahul Gandhi had not said anything objectionable on foreign soil and rather termed the threat on democracy in India as an ‘internal problem’ which had to be dealt with by the citizens of the country only, and had in fact ruled out the need for interference from outside.
“If someone has to apologise, it is PM Modi as he had disrespected our country and our forefathers in many countries on various occasions, Gohil said.
He alleged that PM Modi had “belittled our achievements in 70 years” during his visits abroad by stating that nothing had been done during all these years.
The Parliament has witnessed continuous disruptions since it met for the second part of budget session on March 13.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 22, 2023
BJP schemes emerge from Bureaucracy, Congress’ from the people: Rahul Gandhi

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Wayanad: Taking a dig at the BJP government at the Centre, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the previous UPA government’s ambitious programmes such as the rural job guarantee scheme emerged from the people, whereas the Narendra-Modi-led dispensation’s schemes were formulated by bureaucrats.
Gandhi criticised the ‘centalised’ rule of the BJP-led government, comparing it with that of the former UPA governments. Citing the MGNREGA scheme, which he said had been formulated based on people’s inputs during UPA rule, he claimed that the present government’s demonetisation decision came from Modi’s mind and was implemented without consulting the people or the banking system.
He said this while interacting with the Congress-led UDF’s representatives of the local bodies in this hill district, at Kalpetta.
While responding to a question from one of the participants, Rahul said, “I completely agree with you. A lot of schemes are done in a centralised manner, and they are actually not effective because panchayat participation in designing the scheme and thinking about the scheme is not there.
“If you look at the Congress party schemes, like MNREGA, and you compare them to BJP schemes, you will find that the Congress party schemes emerged from the people, from the panchayats, and the BJP schemes emerged from the bureaucracy,” the Wayanad MP claimed.
Gandhi then went on to elaborate about the launch of the MNREGA scheme, telling people how the idea emerged from a district in Maharashtra and how it was later conceptualised as a national scheme and expanded to the remaining parts of the country.
“MGNREGA emerged from the people of India. People demanded work, and the government responded to that idea. And it took many years for the scheme to be developed after talking to many, many different stakeholders. It was the scheme that emerged from the people of India. It was the wisdom of the people of India that created MGNREGA”, Gandhi said.
He alleged that Modi had ridiculed MGNREGA, but was forced to expand the scheme himself when the country faced the COVID-19 crisis.

“When COVID came, this same Prime Minister, who was ridiculing MNREGA, was forced to expand MNREGA….
“When the Prime Minister came up with the idea of demonetisation, it came from his mind. He did not consult the people of India. He did not even consult the banking system,” the Congress leader said.
During his interaction with the office bearers of local bodies, Gandhi also discussed developmental issues on the ground and matters related to the buffer zone for forests, human-animal conflict, waste management issues, and concerns regarding MNREGA.
The representatives also raised issues regarding the reduction in fund allocation by both Central and State governments, to which Rahul said he had been raising these issues on many occasions both with the Centre and state.
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#BJP #schemes #emerge #Bureaucracy #Congress #people #Rahul #Gandhi
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 21, 2023
What the Biden administration isn’t telling Congress about spy balloons

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The administration has been slow to respond in part because officials are still reviewing the historical data on the unidentified aerial phenomena, also known as UAPS, and are running into problems trying to retroactively determine whether past sightings were surveillance tools or other objects such as academic weather balloons, according to the official. The information officials are using for their analysis is at times dated and incomplete.
The delay by the administration on releasing information about the Chinese balloon and the other objects shot down last month raises questions about the extent to which the U.S. fully understands what intelligence foreign governments may be collecting without Washington’s knowledge.
“What is our capability to observe what’s in our airspace? There’s holes in it. We should understand what we can and cannot observe and understand what we need to do to be able to fill those gaps,” said Tim Gallaudet, the former administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “The balloon surprising us — it was a big wake up call.”
Members of Congress say they are pushing the administration to improve the way it collects and analyzes UAP data.
“We can’t tell based on the data we have – based on the photographs or the video or the radar we have – whether it was a drone or a balloon, whether it was an aircraft,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) of difficulty in identifying some of the previously detected unidentified aerial objects. Gillibrand wrote legislation to help fund better investigations of these objects.
The National Security Council and the Office of the Director for National Intelligence declined to comment. A second senior U.S. official presented the administration’s stance, arguing that it has a good sense of how foreign governments are trying to surveil from the air but that it is still trying to determine whether hundreds of UAPs are spy tools or benign objects. The administration has shared with Congress in recent weeks a policy plan that will guide how it responds to aerial objects in the future, the official said.
When the Chinese balloon appeared over the U.S. in late January, officials described it as a surveillance device and said it had lingered over sensitive military sites, forcing the administration to shoot it down a week later. Officials also said that Chinese surveillance balloons had transited the U.S. at least three times during the Trump administration.
In the days that followed, three other aerial objects appeared over North America and the administration shot those down, too, even though officials said they posed no security threats.

Lawmakers say the administration has not made clear to Congress why it decided to start downing the UAPs.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said he was not surprised that China used a balloon to spy on America. What was frustrating, he said, was that when it came to the Chinese spy balloon, it appeared “we didn’t have, at that point, a clear policy on what to do.”
Journalists and lawmakers pressed the administration for answers: Why did this particular Chinese balloon require a public response? And if the U.S. was worried about this one balloon, how many others have potentially already obtained imagery and other sensitive details about American military installations?
Officials at the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which shot down the Chinese surveillance balloon, have said that there was a “domain awareness gap” when it came to the office’s detection of balloons during the Trump administration and the early days of the Biden administration.
And in a congressional hearing March 8, Gen. Glen VanHerck, the commander of NORAD, said the three objects shot down in the days following the emergence of the Chinese spy balloon “clearly demonstrated the challenges associated with detecting and identifying unmanned objects in U.S. airspace.”
“I commit to you that this event has already generated critical lessons learned for my commands and our mission partners,” he said.
But officials have so far not provided details about current U.S. gaps in detection. Lawmakers want to know, for example, whether the radar and sensors the U.S. had in place prior to the shooting down of the Chinese surveillance balloon allowed for officials to see the full-range of objects floating above commercial airspace.
Susan Gough, a spokesperson for the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office — the team that investigates unidentified flying objects and other phenomena in the air — said the office is “reviewing the associated data of all past cases” in a “newly developed analytic framework.” Gough declined to provide details on the specifications of that framework but said AARO is working to “fill existing gaps.”
“UAP are objects that cannot be immediately identified and may exhibit anomalous behavior. Anomalous behavior means that DoD operators or sensors cannot make immediate sense of collected data, actions or activities,” Gough said.
An unclassified report from the Office of the Director for National Intelligence from last year said that there are at least 171 “uncharacterized and unattributed UAP reports.”
Many of the UAP reports came from Navy and the Air Force pilots who witnessed the aerial objects while flying, the report said. The U.S. also uses radar to detect the objects, but that often doesn’t provide enough detail to identify clearly what type of object it is.
It’s not clear whether the problem is simply about the limits of technology, or also about how the Pentagon and other agencies have decided to prioritize and parse data.
Gillibrand said there is a push among some officials and lawmakers to have “longer-term, more persistent awareness” of the area above commercial airspace to better track drone and balloon technology.
However, the administration has yet to decide how and whether to rejigger its approach to tracking and shooting down the objects, including whether it wants to set new thresholds in its systems that would allow for officials to more easily detect a larger number of UAPs at any given time. Those discussions have been viewed internally as slowing down the analysis of historical UAP data, the official said.
Lawmakers are actively pushing for more information from the administration. The Senate plans to hold a public hearing on the topic in April.
It’s unclear how forthright the administration will be in its conversations with Congress about its investigative work. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on March 7 that “there might be very little at all” that the administration can reveal about the Chinese balloon debris collection efforts. “I’ve set no expectation that there’s going to be some big public rollout of what we’ve learned,” he said.
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#Biden #administration #isnt #telling #Congress #spy #balloons
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 21, 2023
Congress slams BJP for ‘cooking up’ new history over Tipu’s death

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Belagavi: Karnataka Congress on Monday came down heavily on ruling BJP leaders for “creating new historical characters Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda ” and allegedly propagating that they killed erstwhile Mysuru ruler Tipu Sultan.
“This is a distortion of history for elections. This is an insult to the Vokkaliga community,” stated Congress state president D.K. Shivakumar here.
Addressing reporters, he slammed Union Minister for State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shobha Karandlaje, BJP MLA, National General Secretary C.T. Ravi and Minister for Higher Education, IT and BT, Dr C.N. Ashwath Narayan. “These leaders are cooking up new history,” he allleged.
“Characters of Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda are newly created and caste colour is given. They are distorting history which is incorrect. I condemn it. I urge Nirmalanandanatha Swamiji (Vokkaliga pontiff) to take up lead to protest and call for a meeting. He should not allow people to sow the seeds of poison in society,” Shivakumar explained.
The act of writing history in “Whats App university” by BJP should be condemned. The attempts of the saffron party to bring discord in the society should be stopped. In this direction Nirmalandanatha Swamiji should call a meeting, he urged.
Shivakumar further pointed out that the meeting should not be held for compromise. There should be a protest in this regard, he said. “The incidents had taken place 200 years ago. By creation of Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda characters, the Vokkaliga community has been insulted. There should be a case on those who are trying to stir peace,” he demanded.
BJP leaders are maintaining that Mysuru ruler Tipu Sultan was not killed by Britishers, but by Vokkaliga soldiers — Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda. The issue has stirred a controversy in the state. There was an attempt to make a movie on Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda, later the announcement was withdrawn.
The BJP is trying to impress the Vokkaliga community ahead of Assembly polls in the state by propagating Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda. However, BJP leaders maintain that everything related to Tipu Sultan is glorified by historians as a part of Muslim appeasement and real history was never told.

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#Congress #slams #BJP #cooking #history #Tipus #death
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 20, 2023
Telangana: Congress calls on President to dissolve TSPSC

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Hyderabad: Congress party protested on Sunday demanding the intervention of the President of India into the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) paper leak and called for the resignations of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and IT minister KT Rama Rao.
Speaking to the media district congress committee president Sameer Waliullah said that the President of India should intervene to sack the TSPSC chairman B Janardhan Reddy and all members and replace them with efficient people.
Congress leaders burned an effigy of KCR during the protest at the Gandhi Bhavan and demanded for a probe into the paper leak by a sitting judge of the Telangana High Court.
Sameer said that the paper leak and cancellation of three exams have shattered the dreams of thousands of candidates. It has caused immense mental agony to the candidates, and the state government should compensate them for their losses.
He condemned the suicide of a Group-1 aspirant, Naveen from Sricilla, and termed it “institutional murder.” He demanded that all responsible for the paper leak be booked for Naveen’s murder.
He said, “Candidates had put in months of hard work to crack the exams, expecting to secure a government job. However, the criminal negligence of TSPSC and the lethargic attitude of the KCR government led to the leakage of question papers, resulting in the hard work of lakhs of students going in vain.”
Sameer said that KCR should have sacked all the concerned ministers and demanded the entire board of TSPSC to step down from their posts.
The Congress leader accused KTR of triggering a blame game with opposition parties to divert attention to protect the real culprits. “The guilty should be punished, regardless of their political affiliation,” he said.

He alleged that KCR and his family have been looting Telangana and selling off its assets and resources. “By failing to prevent the leakage of question papers in many exams, he allowed the sale of government jobs through the paper leak. We demand the resignation of CM KCR and KTR,” he said.
Telangana unit Congress chief A Revanth Reddy on Sunday alleged that the personal assistant of KTR has played a key role in the paper leak.
He also alleged that KTR’s personal assistant Tirupati has links with Rajasekhar Reddy, a contract employee of TSPSC and the second prime accused in the case. He claimed that the paper leakage happened from KTR’s office.
He said the minister gave Rajasekhar Reddy a job in TSPSC on the recommendation of Tirupati.
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#Telangana #Congress #calls #President #dissolve #TSPSC
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 19, 2023
No Opposition front is possible without Congress: Jairam Ramesh

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New Delhi: No Opposition front to take on the BJP is possible without the Congress and if a coalition is formed for the 2024 general elections, the party will have a central role in it, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has said.
In an interview with PTI, Ramesh, however, said it was too early to talk about all this right now as the Congress’ first priority was the upcoming elections in Karnataka and the string of state polls this year.
Ramesh’s remarks come after both Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Uttar Pradesh’s Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) said the two parties would stay away from both the Congress and the BJP, and indicated possible talks with other regional players ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Asked whether the TMC and SP’s actions could jolt Opposition unity, Ramesh said, “The TMC, Samajwadi, people keep meeting, the Third Front, Fourth Front will continue to be formed, but it is necessary to have the Congress in the Opposition.”
“If an Opposition coalition is formed, the Congress will play a central role in it. No front is possible without the Congress. But it is too early to talk about this,” he told PTI.
First, there is an election in Karnataka. After that, there are elections in Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Mizoram, he noted.
“This year, we will be completely busy with state elections, we will see about 2024 elections later,” the former Union minister said.
“Right now meetings will continue, positioning will continue… ‘I will form a third front, I will form a fourth front, I will form a fifth front’, all this will continue,” he added.

Ramesh asserted that a strengthened Congress is necessary for any opposition alliance, but the party’s priority at the moment was the Karnataka elections, followed by the elections in other states.
“Our (party) president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leaders will work on whatever strategy has to be prepared and carry out talks with parties regarding the 2024 elections,” he said.
Asked whether the TMC staying away from protests by the Opposition on the Adani issue and the NCP not coming all out in support has dented the Opposition unity, he said, “No, I do not think so. The TMC may have its own logic, I do not want to say anything more than that.”
He said 16 political parties are united on the demand for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the Adani issue.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) did not sign the letter to the director of the Enforcement Directorate, but they were with us in spirit if not in body, he said.
“There are 16 parties and let me say one thing very categorically that the Supreme Court committee is no substitute for a JPC. The terms of reference of the Supreme Court committee are limited in scope, it is only a JPC that can unravel the full dimensions of this politico-economic scam,” he said on the Adani issue.
“Whatever Mr Adani has done in India and abroad, he has done with the full blessings, support and patronage of the prime minister. The Supreme Court-monitored inquiry is not going into any of these issues,” he said.
So far, the Congress party has raised 93 questions, soon we will be reaching 100, Ramesh noted, talking about the party’s ‘Hum Adani ke Hain Kaun’ series under which it has been asking questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Adani issue.
“We have raised 93 questions so far. Those types of questions which are highly minute, pointed, granular, and specific, go beyond the terms of reference of a Supreme court-monitored inquiry. So this JPC is absolutely essential. The Supreme Court inquiry is no substitute, it is only an attempt at legitimisation and exoneration,” Ramesh alleged.
Asked if attempts of a third front would undermine the fight against the BJP, Ramesh said right now the Congress is focused that its demand for JPC is met.
“Right now efforts are on to ensure that our voices get heard and this false propaganda and canards that are being spread, this intimidation, this harassment that is being attempted against Mr Gandhi particularly, we are able to counter. All other issues can wait,” he said.
Asked whether the Adani issue will resonate with the people on the ground, Ramesh said, “We have to do what we have to do.”
The party has held press conferences across the country, raised three questions daily over the last about 31 days and will continue to raise them, the Congress general secretary said.
“Mr Gandhi has spoken extensively on this in the Lok Sabha, Mr Kharge raised these issues extensively in the Rajya Sabha, although their remarks were subsequently expunged. So we will continue to do what we have to do. We believe these are fundamental issues,” he said.
The Congress believes in liberalisation and in giving full incentives to private companies and private entrepreneurs, he said.
“India’s economic growth is going to be fuelled by private investment, by entrepreneurs, by startups, but what the Congress party is against is this type of cronyism where one business group gets complete favourite treatment from the prime minister,” he said.
The Congress wants liberalisation, decontrol as the country needs faster exports, and vastly greater amounts of private investments, but it is against this type of blind privatisation which we have seen in the case of airports, he said.
On disruption rather than debate becoming the norm, Ramesh said the Opposition does not have a say as it is also not allowed to discuss issues such as Adani, China as well as economic matters.
“One of the fundamental rules of parliamentary democracy is that the Opposition must have its say and the government will have its way. We know we do not have the numbers in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, but we are not even allowed to have our say,” he said.
Ramesh also said that the BJP was “worried and rattled” because due to the Bharat Jodo Yatra, there was a “massive change” in not just the Congress party’s image but that of Rahul Gandhi.
“It (the yatra) has been a booster dose for our organisation and people are looking at Rahul Gandhi from a new perspective. That is why all these efforts are being made to defame the Congress and Rahul Gandhi. This is the BJP’s strategy,” he said in a reference to the BJP’s attack on Gandhi over his remarks in the UK.
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#Opposition #front #Congress #Jairam #Ramesh
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 19, 2023
BJP, like Congress, will be over for misusing central agencies: Akhilesh

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Kolkata: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday asserted that the BJP would be politically finished in the days to come, “just like the Congress”, for allegedly misusing central agencies against opposition parties.
Yadav also pressed for the caste census which, he said, would be a major issue in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
“Earlier, the Congress used to misuse the central agencies, and now the BJP is doing the same. Congress is now finished. The BJP, too, will meet a similar fate. They are only sending agencies after those parties who are fighting the BJP,” he told a press conference here.
Asked whether the “misuse” of the central agencies will increase as the 2024 Lok Sabha election approaches, Yadav said, “It might be the case but it won’t help the saffron camp as preparations for the Lok Sabha polls would start in the next few months,”.
Speaking about the political resolution adopted in the two-day national executive held here from Saturday, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said the party would leave no stone unturned to ensure that the BJP is defeated in UP and the country in the election next year.
“Uttar Pradesh is the only state which can stop the BJP as it has the largest number of seats. We will defeat the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. The entire country is looking up to the Samajwadi Party. The BJP has told many lies, be it prices of diesel, petrol or LPG or price rise,” he said, adding that the saffron party is working for big corporate houses.
On Saturday, senior Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Singh Yadav said that the party has set a target of winning at least 50 of the total 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 elections.
Asked what would be the plans of the proposed opposition front ahead of the general elections, Yadav said it won’t be disclosed.

“The goal is to defeat the BJP. Presently efforts are on to forge an opposition front. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao are making efforts (on their own),” he said.
When asked whether the Congress would be kept out of such a proposed opposition front, Yadav said, “The Congress is a national party, so it has to decide its role,”
Speaking on the Delhi Police action against Rahul Gandhi, Yadav wondered whether the BJP did it to help the Congress.
“Nobody knows whom the BJP is trying to target. They might take action against someone, but their target might be someone else,” he said.
The Delhi Police on Sunday reached the residence of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in connection with a notice issued to him over his “women are still being sexually assaulted” remark made during the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Yadav claimed that several political parties are keen on having a caste census in the country as it will help to reach out to various castes.
“Right now, the big issue is caste census. You can take along everyone only when you conduct a caste census. Social justice is never possible without a caste census. In 2014, the BJP’s slogan was Acche Din. In 2019, its slogan was Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas Sabka Vishwas. So they must conduct it. All political parties from North to South favour the caste census. But the BJP is trying to avoid it,” he said.
He claimed that Congress during the UPA-2 regime had promised to conduct a caste census but later “backtracked” on it.
“Like the Congress, the saffron party is also not keen on conducting it. During the UPA rule, several leaders of various regional parties met then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. The then Home Minister P Chidambaram assured them they would look into it. But nothing moved forward,” he said.
When asked whether the SP would contest elections outside Uttar Pradesh, Yadav replied in the affirmative.
“Wherever we have an organisation, we would contest the elections,” he said.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 19, 2023
UP Congress members protest over lack of electricity

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Varanasi: Amid the statewide strike of electricity department employees, Uttar Pradesh Congress workers led by provincial president Ajay Rai staged a sit-in protest on Saturday over the issue of power crisis here.
The Congress workers shouted slogans, terming the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government of the state “insensitive and anti-people”.
Rai said in his address at the sit-in demonstration held at Azad Park in Lahurabir on Saturday that the electricity department employees are on strike due to the “wrong policies” of the Yogi Adityanath government.
“Keeping in view the interest of the employees and the public, the government should find a suitable solution as soon as possible,” he said. The Congress leader said today there is hue and cry for electricity and water due to non-availability of electricity.
Rai alleged that the Adityanath government has cheated the electricity department employees and refused to accept their demands despite a written agreement with the state energy minister. He appealed to the agitating power department staff to ensure that the consumers do not face any trouble.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 19, 2023
Congress party is in danger, not democracy: Nadda in poll bound Karnataka

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Molakalmuru: BJP national President J P Nadda on Friday said, it is Congress party and not democracy which is in danger in the country, as he attacked that party’s leader Rahul Gandhi over his recent remarks in London.
He also accused the Congress leader of challenging India’s sovereignty, and urged the public to make such people sit at home.
“The way in which Congress is moving towards mental bankruptcy is reprehensible and painful. The kind of activities that the Congress party is involved in these days and what their leader Rahul Gandhi is doing is condemnable,” Nadda said.
Addressing a public meeting here, he said, Congress leaders are involved in corruption, commission, criminalisation, and divide and rule is their policy.
“Now they have crossed all limits….Rahul Gandhi goes to England and raises questions on India’s sovereignty. He says democracy has ended here. During the recent Assembly polls- in Nagaland Congress got zero, five seats in Meghalaya and three in Tripura. It is not democracy that is in danger, your party (Congress) is in danger,” he added.
The BJP President was addressing a public meeting here as part of the party’s ‘Vijaya Sankalpa Yatre’, ahead of Assembly polls by May. He was referring to Rahul Gandhi’s remarks made in London — that structures of Indian democracy are under “brutal attack”.
Further hitting out at Rahul Gandhi for allegedly seeking America and Europe’s intervention into the issue of democracy in India, he said, “Should we allow such leaders to remain (in politics)? They should be made to sit at home.”
Rahul Gandhi is challenging India’s sovereignty, he said, as he targeted the Congress for trying to preach about democracy. Nadda pointed out that it was the Congress government at the Centre that imposed emergency on the country under Indira Gandhi’s leadership.
Karnataka BJP President Nalin Kumar Kateel, state Ministers R Ashoka, B Sriramulu among others were present at the public meeting.

Earlier in the day, the BJP President held roadshows at Challakere and Molakalmuru, as part of the Yatre.
Noting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has played a key role in changing the political culture in the country, Nadda said the politics propagated by Congress was of corruption, commission, criminalisation, dynastic rule, but the PM with a responsible leadership has begun the politics of report card in the country.
A strong and responsible government that believes in serving the people, has been established by PM Modi, he said, highlighting the concept of “New India”, and listed out India’s growth as the fifth largest economy, and in sectors like automobile, digital payments, mobile phone manufacturing, among others.
Affirming that Karnataka’s picture has changed, thanks to the push given by the “double engine government” (BJP govts both in centre and state) in various sectors and in infrastructure, the BJP President said, the state stands number one in FDI inflow, innovation, startups among other areas.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 17, 2023