Tag: political

Syrian conflict enters 13th year amid positive signs of political settlement

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Damascus: The ongoing Syrian conflict is entering its 13th year with some positive signs that the deadlocked political settlement could see a nudge this year.
The first three months of 2023 witnessed some crucial developments that raised hopes about a possible detente in the 13th year of the crisis, reports Xinhua news agency.
The main headline was the success of the Russian and Iranian efforts to break the ice between Syria and Turkey as the relations between the two neighbouring countries have seen much tension over the past 12 years.
Deputy foreign ministers of Syria, Turkey, Russia, and Iran are set to meet soon to pave the way for the meetings of Syrian and Turkish foreign ministers for the first time since the beginning of the conflict.
In December last year, the Defence Ministers of the two rivals met in Moscow.
A possible rapprochement between Syria and Turkey is crucial for peacefully defusing the crisis. Turkey enjoys considerable sway over key rebel groups in northern Syria as it’s one of the opposition backers.
Another unexpected positive development was the China-backed reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Both are regional powerhouses and key players in the Syrian war, with Iran supporting the government of President Bashar al-Assad while Saudi is a key opposition backer.
On top of that, the devastating earthquakes, which jolted Syria and Turkey on February 6, have pushed Arab countries to shelve former policies toward Damascus, creating the so-called “disaster diplomacy”.

For the first time in more than a decade, Saudi planes landed in Syrian airports delivering relief aid to the earthquake victims.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry also made an “ice-breaking” visit to Syria after the quake, expressing the most populous Arab country’s support for Syria.
On Wednesday, the 12th anniversary of the Syrian war, Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted his Syrian counterpart for talks that are believed to touch upon Syrian-Turkish reconciliation.
Positive signals can be felt domestically, regionally, and globally, said Mohammad Al-Omari, a Syrian political observer and writer.
“Moscow and Tehran exert efforts to find a mediation formula between Syria and Turkey and reflect that on the political track in Syria. The earthquake’s devastating impact on Syria has provided chances for some countries to communicate and cooperate with Syria,” he told Xinhua.
The analyst pointed out that the current positive vibe could push the stalemated political talk forward, noting that a comprehensive political solution demands a broader international and regional alignment based on cooperation and stability.
According to Unicef estimates, 90 per cent of people in Syria live in poverty, most are unable to make ends meet or bring food to the table.
Families have had their resources depleted, with limited employment opportunities, skyrocketing prices, and a shortage of basic supplies.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 16, 2023
Maxine Waters to return political donation from Silicon Valley Bank

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Waters recalled speaking with someone from Silicon Valley Bank around 2020 about FinTech issues but said she does not remember details.
“Everybody knows I have an open-door policy,” she said. But she maintained that she did not speak with the bank about the 2018 bill that loosened up regulations of banks like SVB. Waters opposed the bipartisan measure, which has come under renewed scrutiny since the California-based bank’s collapse. Lobbyists for Silicon Valley Bank were among those that lobbied on the bill.
“Philosophically, I’m opposed to deregulation, always have been, been consistent on it and will continue to be,” Waters said.
Between 2017 and 2022, Silicon Valley Bank’s PAC gave more than $50,000 to the campaigns of nearly two dozen senators and representatives, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. The donations largely went to members — Republicans and Democrats — who served on relevant committees including the House Financial Services Committee or Senate Finance Committee. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) received the most from the PAC, each bringing in $7,500 over the six-year period.
Silicon Valley Bank’s CEO, Greg Becker, also made maximum individual donations to the campaigns of Warner and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) during the 2022 cycle, FEC records show. A Schumer spokesperson on Tuesday said the contributions have been donated to charity.
Representatives for the offices of Warner and others who received money from the bank’s PAC did not return requests for comment. Warner previously released a statement praising regulators’ response to the bank run, while McHenry similarly expressed confidence in financial regulators.
The bank’s sudden collapse has put a spotlight back on the 2018 deregulation law, which exempted medium-sized banks from conducting regular stress tests.
Lobbyists from Franklin Square Group, which has worked on behalf of Silicon Valley Bank and other financial services clients, also made individual contributions to some lawmakers near the vote on the 2018 law. Among the recipients were Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), who received more than $8,000 total from three lobbyists a few weeks after the Senate passed the bill but before it went to the House for approval, where Sinema was a member at the time.

A lobbying disclosure by Franklin Square Group in 2018 lists that bill as one of its lobbying activities.
Rep. Ruben Gallego, a Democrat challenging Sinema in the 2024 Senate race, has sought to make a campaign issue of the donations, pointing to the contributions in a press conference in Tempe, Ariz., this week. Sinema has not announced yet whether she is running for reelection.
“When we were presented with the same information, I voted to protect Arizonans,” said Gallego. “She voted to give the banks free rein.”
A spokesperson for Sinema said the senator has questioned regulators about how they managed SVB’s unique level of specific concentration risk. In a tweet about the bank this week, Sinema tweeted that the “federal government must now ensure those responsible are held accountable, while maintaining stability for all Americans who rely on our banking system.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 15, 2023
Pope John Paul II and pedophile priests becomes Poland’s top political issue

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WARSAW — War? Inflation? Corruption? Nope, the big subject dominating Poland’s politics ahead of this fall’s parliamentary election is the legacy of John Paul II.
Although the canonized Polish pontiff has been dead since 2005, he’s become the hottest subject in Poland following an explosive documentary aired by the U.S.-owned broadcaster TVN, alleging that when he was a cardinal in his home city of Kraków, he protected priests accused of sexually molesting children.
That caused a collective meltdown in the ranks of the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, which is closely allied with the powerful Roman Catholic Church.

U.S. Ambassador Mark Brzezinski was even summoned (later toned down to “invited”) to appear at the foreign ministry.
In a statement, the ministry said it “recognizes that the potential outcome of these activities is in line with the goals of a hybrid war aimed at causing divisions and tensions within Polish society.”
PiS also pushed through a parliamentary resolution “in defense of the good name of Pope John Paul II.”
“The [parliament] strongly condemns the shameful campaign conducted by the media … against the Great Pope St. John Paul II, the greatest Pole in history,” the resolution said.
The government and its affiliated media have launched a wide-ranging campaign about John Paul II. A gigantic picture of the pope was projected on the façade of the presidential palace in Warsaw. Public broadcaster TVP is now airing a daily papal sermon.
Papal politics
It’s all a political play, as PiS has found what it hopes will be electoral rocket fuel ahead of the election, said Ben Stanley, an associate professor at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw.
“Defending John Paul II offers PiS an opportunity to show they’re on what they claim is the right side of a dispute that poses authentic Polish values against something inauthentic and suspicious,” Stanley said.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki over the weekend accused the opposition of  “being ashamed of the most important countryman in the history of the republic.”
POLAND NATIONAL PARLIAMENT ELECTION POLL OF POLLS
For more polling data from across Europe visit POLITICO Poll of Polls.
The party has a track record of finding wedge issues ahead of elections.
In 2015, during the refugee crisis, the party’s leader accused migrants of importing “all sorts of parasites and protozoa” into Europe.
In 2020, PiS-supported President Andrzej Duda helped galvanize his reelection campaign by launching attacks on LGBTQ+ activists as supporting an ideology that was inimical to Polish values.
In recent months, state-backed media has latched on to climate concerns from opposition politicians by accusing them of aiming to force Poles to drop their beloved pork cutlets and replace them with edible insects.
“You will notice that the debate about eating insects and living in 15-minute cities has all but disappeared now. John Paul II has a lot more potential,” Stanley said.
Although Poland is secularizing, with a steady fall in new priests, a decline in people attending Sunday mass, and large numbers of pupils abandoning religious education, the country is still one of the most Catholic in Europe. The Church still has an outsized influence among the elderly and those in smaller towns and villages — PiS’s electoral strongholds.
The JP2 gambit caught the opposition flat-footed; many of their supporters tend to be more secular, but the parties can’t risk offending religious voters if they hope to win power this fall.
Powerful pontiff
The late pope is often credited with helping cause the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe; his pilgrimages to his home country were seen as a key factor in the rise of the Solidarity labor union in 1980. He remains a revered figure across the country.
Civic Platform, Poland’s biggest opposition party, sat out the vote on the papal defense resolution. The party accused PiS of playing politics with the issue.
“You don’t want to defend John Paul II, you want to sign him up to PiS!” Paweł Kowal, an MP for Civic Platform, said during the parliamentary debate on the resolution.
While the opposition dithered, Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, the head of the country’s conference of bishops, denounced the reports on John Paul II as “shocking attempts to discredit his person and work, made under the guise of concern for the truth and good.”
Uncomfortably for the Polish church, Pope Francis put out a pretty lukewarm defense of his predecessor | Andreas Solaro/AFP via Getty Images
It’s not just TVN accusing John Paul II of turning a blind eye to clerical pedophiles.
Similar allegations are made in a new book by Dutch journalist Ekke Overbeek, “Maxima Culpa: John Paul II Knew,” which says when he was a bishop, John Paul II moved pedophile priests from parish to parish to keep them from being discovered.
Both the book and the TVN documentary are being attacked for relying on communist-era secret policy archives.
TVN, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, responded by saying: “The role of free and reliable media is to report the facts, even if they are painful and difficult to accept.” It also stressed that the author of the documentary didn’t only rely on archived files, but also contacted people who had been abused by priests.
Uncomfortably for the Polish church, Pope Francis put out a pretty lukewarm defense of his predecessor.
“It is necessary to place things in their time …  at that time, everything was covered up,” he told Argentina’s La Nacion newspaper.
With several months to go before the vote, PiS will now watch to see if John Paul II is gaining traction as an issue, Stanley said.
“Pushing it too hard is potentially risky because it’s no longer the early 2000s and it’s not so clear this time if that many people, especially the young people, will spring to John Paul II’s defense,” he said.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

March 14, 2023
Shia Muslims seek increased political representation

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Lucknow: Shia Muslim leaders are seeking increased political representation from the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh.
Prominent Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawad said: “As the government is including Pasmandas (backward Muslims) in every scheme, they must also include Shia Muslims, who are suffering due to neglect by previous governments.”
“According to the Sachar Committee report, Muslims are very backward but Shias are more backward among the Muslims. No previous government has worked for the welfare of the Shia community, but today the Shia community demands better political and social representation from the Modi government at Centre and the Yogi government in the state.”
Continuing further, he said: “When I met Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the first time, I asked him to pay attention towards the state of our community. At this, the prime minister said that in fact he has a complaint that ‘you never make a complaint about the state of your community’.”
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 13, 2023
Centre using government agencies as political weapons: Sitaram Yechury

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New Delhi: Speaking to the media at the day-long hunger strike led by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K. Kavitha at Jantar Mantar here on Friday, national general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M), Sitaram Yechury said that the Centre has been using government agencies as political weapons and violating the constitutional system.
Yechury appealed to all the opposition parties to put pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he had promised that he would implement the Women’s Reservation Bill 9 years ago, which is still stuck in the Lok Sabha.
He added that there is a need to pressurise the Central government to pass the bill.
The CPI-M leader said that the Centre is misusing the government agencies and harassing leaders.
He added that the BJP says that leaders who claim to be innocent should answer the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
He stated that all the leaders who have been summoned to appear before the ED, have done so and cooperated in its inquiry by answering the questions asked.
He said that the media should understand that all the leaders gathered at the protest site are here in support of the Women’s Reservation Bill and not to unite opposition parties.

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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 10, 2023
BBC faces celebrity revolt, political pressure amid Gary Lineker dispute

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The BBC faces a spiraling revolt by its top sporting presenters amid a row over the broadcaster’s impartiality standards, after star football host Gary Lineker was chastised for tweets criticizing the U.K. government’s new asylum policies.
Calls of hypocrisy were also leveled at the U.K. broadcaster on Saturday, as Labour leader Keir Starmer accused the BBC of “caving in” to the demands of Conservative Party members.
The broadcaster’s sporting coverage was plunged into uncertainty due to a boycott from a group of hosts and co-hosts who disagreed with the BBC for attempting to penalize “Match of the Day” presenter Lineker for his recent comments against what he called the government’s “immeasurably cruel policy” on immigration. He has been told to “step back” from his BBC presenting duties.

In a March 7 tweet, the ex-England international footballer compared the U.K. government’s new policy on illegal migrants with the language of Nazi Germany, prompting a backlash from Conservative MPs and members of the government. The BBC says the tweet violated its impartiality standards.
The U.K.’s new asylum policy would block undocumented migrants from entering the country on small vessels. The bill has been condemned by the United Nations, which said it amounts to an “asylum ban.”
“Match of the Day” — a flagship BBC football show for Premier League fans — found itself without regulars Ian Wright, Alan Shearer, Jermaine Jenas, Micah Richards and Jermain Defoe, who all pledged to stand by Lineker in the dispute. The BBC said “Match of the Day” would be aired Saturday without presenters or pundits.
Popular broadcasts “Football Focus” and “Final Score” have also been deleted from the BBC’s schedule this weekend, after Alex Scott, Kelly Somers and Jason Mohammad all backed Lineker’s corner. BBC Radio 5 Live’s football build-up transmission was ditched minutes before airing, as other leading hosts and pundits joined forces against the broadcaster’s disciplining of Lineker.
BBC Director General Tim Davie apologised for the disruptions and said “we are working very hard to resolve the situation.” In an interview with BBC News late Saturday, Davie said “success for me is getting Gary back on air.” Davie said he would “absolutely not” be resigning over the row.
The BBC boss said he was prepared to review impartiality rules for freelance staff like Lineker.
In an earlier statement, the BBC said it considers Lineker’s “recent social media activity to be a breach of our guidelines.”
“The BBC has decided that he will step back from presenting Match of the Day until we’ve got an agreed and clear position on his use of social media,” according to the statement.
A five-year contract that Lineker signed in 2020 includes guarantees to adhere to the BBC’s impartiality code. He is on a reported £1.35 million-a-year salary.
Labour’s Starmer accused the BBC of pandering to the demands of the Conservative Party on Saturday.
“The BBC is not acting impartially by caving in to Tory MPs who are complaining about Gary Lineker,” Starmer told broadcasters at Welsh Labour’s conference in Llandudno, Wales. “They got this one badly wrong and now they’re very, very exposed.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer accused the broadcaster of caving in to Tory demands | Jason Roberts/Getty Images
Conservative MP Nadine Dorries tweeted on Friday that Lineker needs to decide whether he is “a footie presenter or a member of the Labour Party.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak defended the government’s asylum policy in a statement on Saturday and said the impartiality dispute is for the broadcaster and the presenter to sort out.
“I hope that the current situation between Gary Lineker and the BBC can be resolved in a timely manner, but it is rightly a matter for them, not the government,” Sunak said in the statement.
Liverpool football club manager Jürgen Klopp backed Lineker when asked about the controversy on Saturday.
“I cannot see why you would ask someone to step back for saying that,” Klopp said. “Everybody wants to be so concerned about doing things in the right manner, saying the right stuff. If you don’t do that then you create a shitstorm, it is a really difficult world to live in,” he said.
“If I understand it right, it is a message, an opinion about human rights and that should be possible to say,” Klopp said.
The links between the BBC and the U.K.’s governing Conservative Party run deep. The corporation’s chairman, Richard Sharp, was previously outed as having facilitated an £800,000 loan for Boris Johnson, the former U.K. prime minister. On Saturday, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey called for Sharp to resign.
The communications officer for former Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May — Robbie Gibb — has sat on the BBC board as a non-executive director since 2021. Current BBC Director General Tim Davie previously stood as a councilor for the Conservative Party in Hammersmith, a London constituency.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

March 9, 2023
Aptech Controversy: Political Class Reacts

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SRINAGAR: Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah on Wednesday came out in support of the protesting JKSSB aspirants and condemned the use of excessive force against them.
Taking to microblogging site Twitter, Omar Abdullah wrote, “I condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the use of force & lathi charge against students & JKSSRB aspirants. These youngsters were exercising their democratic right to protest against the recent decision to engage a blacklisted firm #Aptech by JKSSRB.”
“What is the point of black listing a company if they are going to be awarded plum contracts. This contract is even more dangerous because it puts at risk the future of scores of aspirants who rely on JKSSB to conduct recruitment exams,” Omar said.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the foundation day event of Apni Party at Sanat Nagar, President of the party, Altaf Bukhari urged LG Administration to intervene and take immediate action the infamous agencies involved in various scams on Jammu and Kashmir.
“I request LG Sinha to look into the concerns of protesting aspirants on the occasion of holi and fill their lives with colour and scrap the contract with the infamous Aptech immediately,” Bukhari said.
PDP Chief, Mehbooba Mufti while taking a dig at CBI, expressed her astonishment over CBI’s message asking people not to pay any bribe to government employees.
“Amusing to receive a message from CBI to report bribes. A blacklisted company like APTECH is given contracts repeatedly to wreak the future of JK youth. Hope CBI takes note of the APTECH recruitment scam. Lets see how many heads roll.” Mehbooba wrote on her Twitter handle.
Notably, scores of JKSSB aspirants assembled at Press Enclave to register their protest against the purported grant of contract to APTECH Ltd. to conduct various exams in Jammu and Kashmir.

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( With inputs from : kashmirlife.net )

March 8, 2023
BJP leaders using Pulwama widows to gain political mileage, says Rajasthan CM

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Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday targeted the BJP, saying some of its leaders were disrespecting the widows of martyrs and using them to gain political mileage.
This comes a day after relatives of three CRPF personnel killed in the 2019 Pulwama terror attack reached Congress leader Sachin Pilot’s residence and demanded a meeting with the party high command, accusing the state government of not fulfilling promises made to them.
Without directly naming BJP Rajya Sabha MP Kirodi Lal Meena, who has been sitting on a ‘dharna’ with the widows of the martyrs, Gehlot said in a statement, “Some BJP leaders are disrespecting the wives of the martyrs by using them to gain political mileage. This has never been the tradition of Rajasthan. I condemn it.”/
The widows’ demands include installing statues of the slain jawans, giving jobs to their relatives on compassionate grounds and construction of roads in their villages.
In his statement, Gehlot said the widow of Hemraj Meena, who was martyred in the attack, wants a third statue to be installed despite two others already put up at the Government College, Sangod, and a park in Vinod Kalan, his native village.
“Such a demand is not appropriate keeping in view other martyr families,” the chief minister said in the statement in Hindi.
The wife of Rohitash Lamba is seeking a job for her brother-in-law on compassionate grounds but if the job is given to him, then the family members or relatives of all widows of martyrs might start putting undue pressure on them.
“Should we create such a difficult situation in front of the wives of martyrs because the rules made at present have been made on the basis of past experiences. How can it be justified to deny the rights of the children of martyrs and give jobs to other relatives? What will happen to the children of martyrs when they become adults,” he asked.
Gehlot said during his first tenure as chief minister in 1999, the Rajasthan government released the Kargil package for dependents of martyrs and it has been made more effective by increasing it from time to time.

He said the Rajasthan government has made a provision that if the wife of a soldier is pregnant at the time of his martyrdom and does not want a job, it will be kept reserved for the child so that their future can be secured.
Help has been given to the Pulwama martyrs’ dependents as per the rules of this package, Gehlot said.
“Rajasthan is the land of heroes and thousands of soldiers from the state have sacrificed their lives for the motherland. The people and the government here respect the martyrs the most,” Gehlot added.
He said he shared his thoughts on the issue with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, a minister in the Gehlot government, met the martyrs’ widows protesting outside Pilot’s residence and said it is the government’s responsibility to respect them.
The pilot had on Monday written to Gehlot, demanding an inquiry into the alleged police misbehaviour with the widows.
He also requested him to sympathetically consider their demands.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 8, 2023
Both Congress, BJP want all other political parties to cease to exist: AAP

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New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday slammed the Congress for not standing by it on the issue of Manish Sisodia’s arrest, and alleged that both the grand old party and the BJP want all other political parties to cease to exist.
The Congress never stands by the Opposition and engages in a war of words with the BJP merely to “fool” the country, AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj charged at a press conference.
Bharadwaj was replying to a question whether the Congress not joining the leaders of the nine opposition parties in writing a joint letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the alleged misuse of central agencies was an indication that the grand old party and the AAP would never be together under a united opposition umbrella.
“If you look at the history, you will find the Congress has never stood by the Opposition. Whenever it comes to raising voice on national issues, the Congress goes missing. They have gone missing today as well,” Bharadwaj charged.
“The entire world knows that Sisosdia has been arrested. Congress, which considers itself the big brother and says it will lead if any opposition alliance is formed, should have reached out to the opposition parties,” he said.
“Where is the Congress, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi?” he asked, alleging that all of them have gone missing because they are happy with what’s happening in the country and with the AAP leaders.
Bharadwaj said the Congress is silent on the issue of alleged misuse of the central probe agencies and the arrest of the AAP leaders because both the grand old party and the BJP “want all opposition parties to cease to exist.”
“So that just the BJP and the Congress remain there,” he charged.

The AAP leader claimed that the opposition parties wanted to corner the BJP during the first part of the Budget Session on the alleged stock manipulation by the Adani group but the Congress gave the ruling party “a kind of safe passage” and let Parliament function by “breaking the opposition unity” on the issue.
“For almost one decade, the BJP has been talking about sending Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to jail. The BJP has been saying that they will send Robert Vadra also to jail. But nothing happened so far,” he said.
“Both the Congress and the BJP are engaged in a war of words just to fool the country,” the AAP spokesperson charged, adding “it’s just an enmity of convenience”.
Leaders of nine opposition parties, including Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, have written a joint letter to Prime Minister Modi alleging “blatant misuse” of central agencies against the members of the opposition.
The signatories of the letter are Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Bannerjee, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Sharad Pawar (NCP), Farooq Abdullah (Jammu & Kashmir National Conference), Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena, UBT) and Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party.
“The blatant misuse of central agencies against the members of the opposition appears to suggest that we have transitioned from being a democracy to an autocracy. The misuse of central agencies and constitutional offices like that of the governor to settle scores outside of the electoral battlefield is strongly condemnable as it does not bode well for our democracy,” the letter read.
Highlighting Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s arrest by the CBI in connection with the irregularities in the liquor policy, the leaders said the charges against the AAP leader were outright baseless and smack of a political conspiracy.
“His arrest has enraged people across the country. Sisodia is recognised globally for transforming Delhi’s school education. His arrest will be cited worldwide as an example of a political witch-hunt and further confirm what the world was only suspecting – that India’s democratic values stand threatened under an authoritarian BJP regime,” they alleged.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 5, 2023
Demolition again in Andhra village, Jana Sena calls it political vendetta

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Amaravati: Tension once again gripped Ippatam village in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh on Saturday after municipal authorities resumed demolition, evoking strong protest from the local residents.
The authorities razed the boundary walls of 12 houses with bulldozers while police personnel were deployed in large numbers to prevent any untoward incident.
The police had also deployed personnel at the entry points into the village and were allowing people only after checking their identification.
The action by the municipal authorities angered the villagers, who alleged that they were being targeted. Ignoring the protest, the officials carried on with their work.
Tension mounted after the officials moved to demolish the house of Jana Sena Party’s village president Narasimha Rao.
After a huge protest by the villagers, the officials left after demolishing the boundary wall.
The villagers questioned the officials about what they intended to achieve by expanding the existing road when the village had no public transport facility.
Meanwhile, Jana Sena Party (JSP) leader N. Manohar termed the demolition as vendetta politics of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government.

He alleged that the ruling party is targeting the villagers just because they had given their land for a JSP meeting.
This is the second time that the municipal authorities have taken up demolition in the village.
In November last year, a few houses were demolished. Actor and JPS leader Pawan Kalyan had visited the village to show solidarity with the villagers.
He had alleged that houses of Jana Sena supporters were demolished.
He had alleged that the YSRCP government headed by Jagan Mohan Reddy is targeting the villagers for giving their lands for holding Jana Sena formation day public meeting on March 14, 2022.
He said when the ruling party leaders were threatening people in Amaravati not to cooperate with Jana Sena for its public meeting, villagers of Ippatam came forward to give their lands.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 4, 2023