In the hustle and bustle of the day, it is only natural to miss some of the biggest developments that impact the nation. The OpIndia Evening Dispatch will catch you up on the day’s event even if you have been busy thus far.
1. Mamata Banerjee govt’s reason to block Amit Shah’s chopper landing don’t hold up, Airport not under construction: Report
The TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee led West Bengal government has denied permission for Amit Shah’s chopper to land in the Malda Airport. Reportedly, Amit Shah was set to hold a rally in Malda on 22nd January 2019. Amit Shah will reach Kolkata and then take a chopper ride to Malda to attend a public rally with BJP workers from North Bengal.
The reason provided by the Malda administration is that it is not possible for VVIP choppers to land in Malda this week. They have claimed that the Airport is under construction. However, according to India Today, the helipad area is clean and no construction work in underway. The India Today report also found that choppers land at that spot regularly.
2. Trouble in mahagathbandhan? Azam Khan upset with Mamata’s ‘United India’ rally, says it failed to represent Muslim interest
Samajwadi Party’s senior leader Amaz Khan is not too happy with Mamata’s United Opposition rally which took place on Saturday in Kolkata. According to reports, Azam Khan felt that while Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav attended the rally, the rally failed to adequately represent the interests of the minority.
According to Khan, since there was only one Muslim leader from Kashmir and one from Assam, the representation of Muslims, the second largest religious population, was “merely namesake”. He even slammed the Opposition leaders for sticking to political rhetorics instead of talking about issues that may help the nation progress.
3. Rahul Gandhi colluding with BJD to help mining mafia in Odisha: Claims expelled Congress leader Srikant Jena
Srikant Jena, who was recently expelled from the primary membership of the Congress has dropped a ‘bombshell’ after he accused the Congress party president Rahul Gandhi of surrendering himself before the Patnaik family and mining mafias in Odisha.
Expressing relief over his exit from the Congress party, Jena threatened Congress president Rahul Gandhi of holding “an explosive press conference” during Gandhi’s scheduled visit to Odisha. Jena has also claimed that he would expose the Congress president to such an extent that the latter would “not be able to show his face in public”.
4. Swine Flu in Rajasthan: 60 new cases reported, total number now over 1200
According to reports, 60 additional Swine flu cases have been registered on Sunday, in Rajasthan. This takes the total tally of positive cases registered in the state to 1233 so far.
19 out of the 60 positive cases have been registered in the capital city of Jaipur. With 10 cases registered, Udaipur recorded the second highest number of people suffering from Swine flu. Three people each in Bhilwara and Pratapgarh and two each in Ajmer and Bharatpur were also found swine flu positive.
5. Fact-Check: As claimed by Navbharat Times journalist, was Railway serving food marked for 20th January on 19th?
A journalist with Navbharat Times, Damodar Vyas had alleged that a tweet from BJP spokesperson Tajinder Bagga showing food packets in Railway stamped with date 20 January 2019 was posted on 19th January itself. But the actually, Bagga had posted the tweet on 20th January only, but it appeared as 19th January on Damodar Vyas’ Twitter account due to wrong time zone settings set by him.
6. Central Government ready to prosecute former Home Minister P Chidambaram in Ishrat Jahan affidavit case: Reports
The central government has made up its mind to prosecute P Chidambaram in the Ishrat Jahan affidavit change case, Sunday Guardian reports. It is alleged that he had drafted a second affidavit in the case absolving Ishrat Jahan and others of any link with LeT. The first affidavit had said that encounter was genuine, and Ishrat and her fellow companions were LeT operatives. The second affidavit had changed the course of the investigation. The officer who filed both the affidavits, RVS Mani, had claimed that he was tortured in order to sign the second affidavit.
7. Ayyappa Bhaktha Sangamam: Kerala sees one of the largest congregations of Hindus against Communist govt’s desecration of Sabarimala
A massive gathering of devotees had come together on Sunday in Thiruvananthapuram to protest against the communist government in Kerala which has been ‘incessantly trying to destroy temple traditions and Hindu customs’ in the state.
Devotees, seers and spiritual leaders from across South India had gathered, making it one of the largest congregation of Hindus in the history of Kerala.
8. Mehul Choksi gives up Indian citizenship, hands over his passport to Antiguan government
Fugitive businessman, Mehul Choksi, accused in the $2 billion Punjab National Bank fraud case, has surrendered his Indian citizenship and has handed over his Indian passport in Antigua. It was reported last year that Choksi had taken Antiguan citizenship.
Mehul Choksi, along with his passport has also submitted 177 dollars to the Indian High Commission in Antigua.
9. Government refutes reports of issue of en masse prosecution notice to TDS defaulters, says reports completely misleading
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Monday clarified that reports by certain media houses regarding the en masse issue of prosecution notices to small companies for TDS default are “completely misleading and full of factual inaccuracies”.
It further stated that the Mumbai Income Tax TDS office has issued Show Cause Notices only in a limited number of big cases where more than Rs 5 lakh of tax was collected as TDS from employees etc and yet the same was not deposited with the Income Tax Department in time.
10. Read full details of the criminal defamation case filed by Ajit Doval’s son, Vivek Doval against Congress’ Jairam Ramesh and Caravan Magazine
5 days ago, on 16th January 2019, the Caravan Magazine published an article targetting Ajit Doval’s son Vivek Doval. The article insinuated wrongdoing on the part of Vivek saying that he heads a hedge fund in Cayman islands even though his father, the NSA, talks about cracking down on tax havens.
Now, Vivek Doval has moved Patiala High Court and filed a criminal defamation case against the author of the article Kushal Shroff, the Editor of Caravan Magazine and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh who did a press conference based on the Caravan article.
