Monday, November 18, 2024
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Former Diplomat uses Houston paying respect to fallen Sikh officer to belittle PM Modi and the ‘Howdy Modi’ event, spreads fake news

The rise of Prime Minister Modi has led to the fall of several diplomats and intellectuals after their good sense was washed away by pure, unadulterated hate. One of the personalities who have been consumed by hatred is former Diplomat KC Singh. In an attempt to mock Prime Minister Modi and his historic ‘Howdy Modi’ event, Singh used Houston paying respect to the fallen Sikh police officer, Sandeep Dhaliwal and spread fake news in the process.


KC Singh wrote, “Memorial for Sikh police officer Sandeep Dhaliwal killed in the line of duty in Texas in the same stadium where “HowdyModi” was held. It’s a packed stadium”. In the tweet, he attached a video of a packed stadium in Houston where in NRG stadium, attendees were seen paying their respect to fallen Sikh police officer, Sandeep Dhaliwal.

Sandeep Dhaliwal laid his life down after being shot from behind during a traffic stop in Texas on Friday. A man has been arrested and charged with murder. Dhaliwal had made history as the first Sikh to become a sheriff’s deputy in Texas’s Harris County. He also received permission to wear his turban and beard while on patrol.

KC Singh effectively tried to use the Houston paying respects to Dhaliwal for his petty politics in an attempt to show PM Modi down. Singh tries to insinuate that the NRG stadium is full as a memorial service for the fallen Sikh soldier is being held. He then equates that to the fact that PM Modi’s ‘Howdy Modi’ event was also held at NRG stadium. The insinuation was simple – the ‘Howdy Modi’ event being attended by 50,000 people was not a ‘historic moment’ as being touted by many, because the stadium is packed for a memorial service for the sikh police officer too.

However, in his haste, KC Singh not only has used to the memory of a fallen police officer for petty politics, but also seems to have resorted to spreading fake news.

While Houston mourns the loss of a stellar officer, the event that KC Singh refers to was not a memorial service for the officer, but a football game between Houston Texans and Carolina Panthers.

During the game, the players and the audience had observed a moment of silence for the fallen police officer. This was widely reported in American media.

American media reporting silence observed for Dhaliwal during a football game

It is thus evident that it was not a memorial service that was being held at the NRG stadium but a football game during which, Houston residents observed a moment of silence and paid their respects to the fallen police officer.

It is not unsurprising that KC Singh used Houston’s respect for the Sikh soldier for petty domestic politics and simply, to express his hatred for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. KC Singh has gotten into the habit of peddling fake news and creating a narrative that suits his agenda out of thin air. Earlier, KC Singh had insinuated that he wanted journalists jailed for not being anti-Modi enough.

Curfew in 2 Maharashtra towns after murder of Shiv Sena leader by one Shahrukh’s gang owing to personal enmity

In Maharashtra’s Amravati district, murder and violence had led to an indefinite curfew in the twin towns of Achalpur and Paratwada. As per reports, a Shivsena leader Shama Pehelwan Nandwanshi was murdered, following which violence and tension have ensued in the area.

A local Shivsena leader, 44-year-old Nandvanshi was reportedly murdered by one Shahrukh and his friends yesterday. As per reports, Nandvanshi had some personal enmity with one Shahrukh from Muglaipura in Paratwada. They had even fought some days ago where Nandwanshi had allegedly threatened Shahrukh with a knife. Nandvanshi was reportedly called by Shahrukh to the Timber Market check post yesterday morning to settle the issue. Upon reaching there, Nandvanshi was attacked with knives by Shahrukh and five other people. He died on the spot.

Following Nandvanshi’s death, his angry supporters had taken to the streets and started attacking shops which led to violence and clashes between two groups. Two persons, named Saif Ali and Abdul Atiq have been killed in the violence so far. As police feared communal tension in the area, they have enforced a curfew and deployed additional forces in the twin towns. Several people have also been injured in the clashes.

Local reports have stated that to avoid further violence and riots, riot control forces have been deployed around Paratwada, Achalpur, and surrounding areas. Paratwada rural SP Dr Hari Balaji has informed that the situation is under control presently. Two of the six persons accused in Shama Nandvanshi’s murder and violence have been detained but the police have refused to give their names.

Greta Thunberg, Climate Change and Indian Dilemma

The sixteen-year-old Swedish environmentalist Greta Thunberg is young, passionate, brave, and is willing to be used as a prop by left-liberal ideologues. Her global protest – the most apparent social engineering operation I have seen for quite some time – has somehow impressed the world with its idealism.

At 16, Greta ideally would have been embraced as a ‘Little Angel’ by world leaders, but her creepy drama juxtaposed with her tender age and sickness spoiled it.

Greta suffers from OCD and Asperger Syndrome, clinically diagnosed depression, suicidal thoughts, and tendencies. This is what her parents and promoters say. According to her mother Malena Ernman, Greta can see CO2 with her naked eye. Let that sink in. Children with Asperger’s need security, routine, and constant care. Greta’s ‘caregivers’ are evidently providing none of this. In her public speeches, she always talks about the apocalypse, wanting people to panic. No, that is not the right thing for a young girl with suicidal tendencies to say and it should worry her caregivers. 

Kids are not autonomous. So I am not blaming Greta at all. Greta with support of her promoters has filed a complaint with the UN against five countries for not stopping climate change. China – the biggest polluter in the world – is not one of them. Her parents and promoters are not only creepy but appear to be complete frauds.

We are watching the blatant abuse of a vulnerable child used as a human ideological shield for their hysterical propaganda. Greta’s age matters as children are not our political mascots. I wish she gets back to school that she bunked and got famous for it.

Greta Thunberg is a victim of indoctrination and child abuse, NOT Climate change!

Climate change is real. The damage that humankind is inflicting on the environment is real. The world has failed to act thus far, in part because the majority, despite the overwhelming scientific evidence, don’t realize that a very rapid change is required. If we fail now and chose inaction, our next generations will have a daunting task.

Climate change represents a threat, but ‘fear messaging’ can be counter-productive. Part of the problem in efforts to promote awareness of climate change is that most people involved in such movements are celebrity hypocrites. 

Confronting climate change is a must, but hyperbole and bluster do the planet no favours. The last thing that we need to solve this crisis is the sanctimony of the worst offenders.

The vile vermin left-liberals and hypocrites whining and playing victim today over a ‘poor-16-year-old’ are pathetically disappointing. If you criticize them logically and talk about real issues concerning climate change, you will be branded insensitive.

The lack of climate policy is regrettable, but global failure cannot be attributed to merely Donald Trump’s presence in the White House. It only exposes the vacuous hypocrisy of the movement.

There’s nothing wrong in asking others to do everything to save the planet, while these hypocrites continue to harm it much more than most people through their lifestyle of a Godzilla size carbon footprint. How evil and selfish are they?


Point. Change is best achieved by stripping away the rhetoric and raising inconvenient truths, science, and facts. 

After decades of failed climate change policy, more of the same is not the answer. Since the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, our use of renewable energy has increased by only 1.1 percentage point (from meeting 13.1% 14.2% today). Most countries are failing to deliver on carbon cut undertakings. The reason is that the leading climate solutions pursued are costly and ineffective. It is time we should be having a sensible discussion on ‘Cost-Effective’ ways to reduce the worst of climate change’s damages.

To meet the Paris climate targets, developed countries, in particular, must rapidly reduce their carbon footprints. It also requires getting developing countries on board to cut emissions. But the priority remains to lift their populations out of poverty with cheap and reliable energy. How do we square that?

For the search of solutions, there is a clear divide over the historical emissions of developed countries and future differentiated responsibility for developing nations.

Do these activists know that thousands of children in Asia and Africa who lose their childhood (and even lives) because they don’t have electricity? That they endure smoke because they don’t have cooking gas? The increasing electricity prices hurt the poor the most. Alternative energy has increased very little because renewable energy remains incapable of meeting all of our needs met by fossil fuels. Replacing cheap fossil fuel energy with more expensive and less reliable alternative energy weighs down the economy, leading to lower growth. 

In the 2014 bilateral agreement on carbon emissions between China and the US – both countries accepted that they had greater responsibility given their outsized contributions to global emissions. However, President Obama accepted that China has the right to energy-intensive industrialization, as every major developed nation has had before it. 

As an effect, even today, China is treated as a developing country in climate negotiations that President Trump pointed out. The fact is its economic position and influence far surpasses that of any other developing country.

Of these developing countries, India by far remains the largest and is at a far earlier stage on its trajectory of industrial development. Now that the economic growth has begun to lift sections of its population out of poverty, India cannot wait for the eventuality of cost-competitive renewable energy. Hundreds of million Indians still have little or no access to modern energy sources. India’s dilemma is millions of Indians are on the cusp of prosperity powered by cheaper fossil fuel energy.

The carbon-polluting coal often being the most accessible option. In this, India is similar to previous industrialized nations, from Britain, the United States, and Germany earlier and to China in the recent past. They all powered their industrialization and rise in per capita incomes with fossil fuels. It is challenging for India to accede to any deal that will make its ongoing industrialization (the first in history) to be nipped in the bud by international restrictions.

Thus for India, the tradeoffs between growth and environment are harsher than anywhere else. India’s overall size accords exceptional attention in the global climate debate. 

A few months ago, Greta Thunberg was also seen sermonizing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The fact is, PM Modi, as chief minister of Gujrat, has done so much more than any world leader to mitigate climate change. Now Modi, as the Prime Minister, creates the opportunity across India to benefit from his committed renewable energy-friendly policies. It is he who opened up the possibility that India becomes a leader in cost-competitive renewable energy. India would be committed to reducing its relative dependence on coal if a climate framework created significant funding and technology transfer to accelerate such efforts. Today, India’s adoption of renewable energy and low-carbon technology positions it among the global leaders in sustainable growth. 

What India can and cannot do; the challenge is enormous. But within any pragmatic global climate framework, India should be accorded unique status in light of its poverty challenge and imminent growth opportunity.

The real solution lies in honest discussions where developing nations also get the fruits of economic growth while we figure out how to deal with climate change practically. A rising carbon tax can play a limited but essential role in factoring the costs of climate change into fossil fuel use. Implementing a small but increasing carbon tax will practically cut some of the most damaging climate impacts, at low costs.

Climate change also raises challenges if our focus remains solely at the individual level; however, it adds up. Giving up meat/beef does help a lot, but going vegetarian is both challenging and does not solve the issue entirely.


If we look at our past significant challenges – like starvation catastrophes during the 1960s to the 80s – they weren’t fixed by asking people to consume less food but through the Green Revolution. Thus INNOVATION is the key. We should dramatically ramp up spending on Research and Development into green energy.

It is the only way to bring forward the day when green energy alternatives are cheaper and more attractive than fossil fuels for every section of society. Sadly, Renewable energy R&D and an optimal CO2 tax are not what we hear from the climate summits but dramatically expressed rhetoric. The script must change, pinned to science, not emotions.

Lord Ganesha idol removed from NIT in Christian majority Meghalaya as it could have caused ‘communal tensions’

A Lord Ganesha idol which was installed in at the entrance to the director’s secretariat of the Shillong-based institute on September 23 has now been removed owing to pressure from the student union. Authorities at National Institute of Technology (NIT) Meghalaya have decided to remove the idol, which was installed only a week ago, as local student body believe that it might lead to ‘communal’ tensions in the Christian majority state.

Jaintia Students Union (JSU), the student body that has pressurised NIT to remove the idol had insisted that the Lord Ganesh idol, displayed prominently in the university was hurting the religious sentiments of students who belonged to other faiths.

The JSU on September 26 had sent a memorandum to NIT Meghalaya director BB Biswal demanding the immediate removal of the idol. The JSU had reportedly warned the Director that the decision of NIT Meghalaya to instal an idol of Lord Ganesha prominently in the campus might lead to communal tension in the Christian majority state.

After cowering to pressure, director of NIT-Meghalaya Bibhuti Bhusan Biswal said on Monday that there was no ‘installation’ of the Lord Ganesha statue and it was only a ‘decorative item’, which was put in the passage. “There was no religious angle to it”, he had said.

Further, Bhushan, the Director of NIT Meghalaya said that there was no intention to create any religious issue out of it. But the students thought otherwise. “It will now be removed,” said director Biswal.

The Lord Ganesha idol was reportedly carved by a national award-winning sculptor. JSU had suggested to the university that instead of Lord Ganesha, the university should instal busts of famous scientists, personalities from the field of arts, literature, etc.

NIT Meghalaya started in 2012 and is one of the 31 NITs in the country. The institute is functioning from its temporary campus in Shillong at present and will shift later to the permanent one in Cherrapunjee, which is under construction.

According to the 2011 census, over 74% of the total population in Meghalaya are Christians. The state has three major tribes, Khasi, Garo and Jaintia.

Madhya Pradesh: Journalist assaulted in broad daylight, alleges attack carried out at the behest of a Congress leader

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A local journalist named Ripu Dhawan was beaten brutally in Madhya Pradesh’s Lahar in Bhind district earlier today. A video of the incident shows multiple men thrashing the journalist on an open street in broad daylight while the victim lies helpless on the ground.

The entire attack on the journalist by a group of masked hooligans was caught on camera. An FIR has been registered in the case and investigation is underway. The police have arrested one person so far.

The journalist has alleged that the attack was sanctioned on the behest of a Congress minister named Govind Singh.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UK_TDF3wAA]

This is not the first incident where a journalist has been brutally assaulted in Madhya Pradesh. This outrageous act once again throws light on the brutishness of Kamal Nath’s government in Madhya Pradesh. Last year too a Congress leader was involved in a brutal assault on a journalist in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. Congress politicians and builders, Satyam Jain, and Mayur Jain attacked People Observer Weekly’s journalist, Alok Diwakar, and thrashed him brutally.

The video of the assault had gone viral on social media. In the video, the goons can be seen stripping the journalist naked after having thrashed him. At the end of the video, the journalist was lying down on the road, naked, and bleeding profusely.

The reason for the outrageous assault was believed to be Diwakar’s negative reportage of Satyam Jain. His reportage elicited the wrath of the Congress leader who then attacked him on his way back home from the office.

PMC Bank fraud: Mumbai police file FIR against HDIL and bank officials, SIT formed to probe the case

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The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police has filed FIR against HDIL and Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank officials in the PMC bank fraud case. The persons named in the FIR include PMC bank’s former chairman Waryam Singh, former Managing Director Joy Joseph Thomas, Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) group promoters Sarang Wadhawan and Rakesh Wadhawan.

After the Reserve Bank put severe restrictions on PMC Bank last week, bank’s former MD Joy Thomas wrote a letter to RBI informing that 73% of its total loan portfolio was given to a single entity, the HDIL, which has gone bankrupt. Thomas has been suspended after the scam came to light. HDIL was defaulting on its loan for a long time, but it was not flagged as NPA, and even after huge outstanding loan, the bank had granted personal loan to HDIL promoters which were used to repay loans of other banks by the bankrupt company.

The EOW has filed cases under Sections 409 (Criminal breach of trust), 420 (Cheating and dishonestly), 465 (forgery), 466 (Forgery of record ), 471 (using forged document as genuine) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. EOW has also formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case.

The FIR says that irregularities worth ₹4,355.46 crores have been committed in the case, although the amount can go up during the course of the investigation. The police will investigate cases of violation of RBI norms in not disclosing NPA and exceeding lending limits for single entities, undue favour given to HDIL, and any instance of quid-pro-quo between the bank’s board of directors and the borrower company.  The FIR mentions that the bank kept its NPA data hidden from RBI by using fake loan documents.

The RBI has already dismissed the board of governors of PMC bank and has appointed an administrator. The bank has been put the bank under restrictions, putting a limit of ₹10000 withdrawal by depositors. The bank is also not allowed to give any loan without the prior approval of RBI. The restrictions have been put for six months, after RBI was informed about the PMC Bank fraud by a whistleblower inside the bank.

An official of the EOW said that “the manager has lodged a complaint on the behest of the RBI appointed administrator. His complaint is the starting point of the probe”. He also said that although the police believe the scam amount to be above ₹6000 crore, the amount of ₹4,355.46 crore was mentioned by the complainant and the same has been mentioned in the FIR.

After being disqualified in LS election against Modi, sacked BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav to contest CM Khattar in Haryana assembly polls

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The sacked BSF jawan and Mahagatbandhan (SP-BSP) candidate, Tej Bahadur Yadav who had wished to take on PM Modi from Varanasi during the Lok Sabha polls, has now joined Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) and is hoping to contest the upcoming Haryana Assembly polls against Haryana’s CM Manohar Lal Khattar.


“I am thankful to JJP and Dushyant Chautala that they nominated me to fight against the chief minister from Karnal,” Yadav was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. He also said that unemployment was a major issue in Haryana. “You know the condition of Haryana and how many people are unemployed in the state,” he said.

During the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the sacked BSF jawan had filed his nomination papers against Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an SP candidate from Varanasi. His nomination was cancelled by the Election Commission. His nomination was then found ineligible under section 9 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. According to this clause, if a candidate was a former government employee and was dismissed from the job due to corruption or disloyalty, such employees will be disqualified from contesting elections. As Tej Bahadur was dismissed in 2017, his candidature was found to be invalid by the EC.

Tej Bahadur had grabbed national headlines in 2017 after he had posted few videos on social media alleging poor quality food served at his Jammu and Kashmir camp. He had alleged that senior officers were selling the ration provided to the camp in the market, and the soldiers were being served poor quality.

The Home Ministry and PMO had ordered a detailed probe into the matter, and it was found that Tej Bahadur was making false allegations. Posting videos on social media instead of raising grievances on proper channel was also found to be a violation of rules. Moreover, he had a history of bad behaviour in the force, and he was jailed four times in the past for misbehaving with seniors and abusing and threatening them. After the conclusion of the enquiry, he was dismissed from service in April 2017.

On May 2019, a shocking video had surfaced in which Tej Bahadur was seen in an inebriated state claiming to assassinate PM Modi for a sum of Rs 50 crores. In another video of the same day that has gone viral, Tej Bahadur Yadav can be seen drinking and smoking with other men. One of the persons in the video introduces the other person in the video as Tej Bahadur Yadav, “the former BSF commando in Indian army”. Yadav has himself admitted that he is present in the video and it is 2 years old.

Meanwhile, Haryana will go to poll on October 21 and the results will be declared on October 24 in a single phase. Haryana, along with Maharashtra are the first states to go to polls after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections which marked a historic win for the BJP. The term of the assembly for Haryana ends on November 2.

BJP had swept Haryana from Congress’ command after its victory in the 2014 Haryana Legislative Assembly election. The 2014 Haryana assembly polls saw BJP winning the elections with 47 seats in the 90-member House here too, emerging as the single largest party.

In the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year, Haryana had witnessed a saffron surge as BJP had made a clean sweep by winning all 10 seats. The reason for Tej Bahadur Yadav’s disqualification in the Lok Sabha election still remains, so it will be interesting the see whether he is able to contest the elections this time.

As PMC bank depositors wait a long fight to get their money bank, the scam raises several questions on bank regulation

As the depositors of Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank (PMC) wonder whether their deposits in the bank are safe, several questions have emerged on how the crisis was brewing in the bank without being detected. And as more and more information about the malpractices happening at the bank emerge, they pose questions instead of answering any.

A recent news report from PTI show that PMC Bank has an exposure of ₹6500 crore, and not ₹2500 crore as previously reported, towards one single entity, the Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) including its group companies. It is 4 times more than what is allowed as per regulations. RBI rules allow banks to lend maximum of 15% of its their total loan portfolio to a single entity, while the limit is extended upto 20% for group companies. Somehow, the bank had kept this information hidden from everyone. According to media reports, a whistle-blower board member leaked the information to RBI which prompted the now ex PMC Bank MD Thomas to approach the RBI and report the lapse.

HDIL, a slum redevelopment focused company, is in the bankruptcy court after being hit by a severe cash crunch following the failure of some of its key projects.

While RBI has maintained a tight position on the bank, at this point it is yet to confirm the exact irregularities it has detected in the bank. The regulator has suspended the board of the bank and has appointed an administrator.  But it has not come forward and admitted that PMC Bank indeed has this exposure to a single entity. If RBI does so, it is going to send the account holders into a tizzy.

PMC bank assures customers

The latest audit report of the bank states that “During the course of our audit, we have not come across material and significant transactions which appear to be contrary to the guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India and National Agriculture and Rural Development Bank”.

If the reports that the bank has 73% exposure to one single entity is true, I cannot wrap my head around what exactly do the auditors look for when they audit the bank. How is it even possible to miss this kind of mismanagement is beyond me. Isn’t this as simple as seeing how much loan is given to each entity and adding it up?

According to media reports, the loans to HDIL were not reflecting in the books of accounts at all. It was diverted to the group through thousands of dummy accounts that were created for this purpose. Moreover, reports say that some loans were not reflecting in the accounts of the bank as those were not computerised to hide the faulty credit lines. It is a big question how a bank can conduct such a massive scam to benefit a single entity without getting detected. How the auditors didn’t detect that the bank was lending money to non-existent entities needs to be probed thoroughly.

Most media reports so far are concentrating on how much money can be withdrawn from each account, the RBI has now allowed the depositors to withdraw ₹10,000 from their accounts in the bank, up from original limit of ₹1,000. But this is of little consequence as 80% (9300 cr) of the deposits in PMC Bank are in Fixed Deposits (FD) as per their annual report for 2018-19. Therefore, it is not going to help those people who have FDs which usually runs to lakhs of Rupees.

One interesting tidbit here is that two of RBI’s employee co-op societies also have FDs in PMC Bank. Reserve Bank Officers’ Co-operative Credit Society Ltd has a deposit of ₹105 crore, while Reserve Bank Staff & Officers Co-operative Credit Society Ltd has a FD of ₹86.50 crore with the bank. It would be very interesting to know if that money is still there in PMC Bank or the RBI co-op societies were able to take out their FDs before restrictions were imposed.

PMC Bank account holders have formed groups on WhatsApp, Facebook and Telegram to coordinate the protests and to make our voices heard. We are running hashtag campaigns (#PMCBankCrisis #PMCBank) on Twitter and Facebook for the last couple of days. Getting people on board to join these groups hasn’t been easy for us. Unfortunately, many account holders feel embarrassed to admit that they have lost money among their peer groups. They are on some kind of guilt trip that it was their mistake that they are in this situation. So, they are not coming forward to participate in social media campaign or on the streets as much as we would have liked to. Currently, we have about 850 people in a single group on Telegram with account holders from Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Delhi. We have not been able to leverage WhatsApp because of the limit on number of members in a single group on WhatsApp platform. So, it has been a challenge to get people to install Telegram and join the group as well.

PMC bank protest

Given that it is election season in Maharashtra where most of the account holders reside, none of the “leaders” of any political party has made any comment on this issue except for Kirit Somaiya, VP of BJP Maharashtra. And unfortunately, he is saying all the wrong things from FD holders POV to score political brownie points. Raising how much money can be withdrawn is not going to help as 80% of the money is in FDs and nothing can be taken out of them.

The administrator appointed by RBI said that it will take about 2 weeks to check and file a report on what is happening. We fear that we are going to run out of steam by then as most of us have to get back to our jobs. Along with the current small set of people we have been able to gather, we are banking on media support for the next few days to keep up the pressure on RBI and the government by asking the right questions and hoping to fix responsibility.

I understand that this is going to be a long fight for all account holders to get back the money, even partially.

 

Author: Karthik Ramachandra

‘Aala rey aala Aaditya’: Aaditya Thackeray to fight Maharashtra Assembly Elections from Worli, first Thackeray to contest polls

Aaditya Thackeray, son of Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray, will contest the upcoming state elections in Maharashtra from Worli, becoming the first member of the Thackeray dynasty to contest an election. He is currently the President of Yuva Sena, the youth wing of his party.


On Monday, the Yuva Sena released a song confirming Aaditya Thackeray’s candidature in the Assembly Elections. The song projects him as the future of Maharashtra and someone who could transform the state. “Aala rey aala Aaditya” and “Maharashtra mein hoga Adidtyoday” say the lyrics of the song.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RNJxhd3pwQ]

A close aide of the Sena chief was quoted by PTI as saying Aaditya Thackeray’s name has been finalised for the Worli assembly segment. Shiv Sena’s sitting MLA Sunil Shinde will vacate his place for Aaditya. “Worli is considered one of the safest constituencies for the Sena, hence Aaditya’s candidature has been finalised. Former NCP leader Sachin Ahir had recently joined the Sena, which will make Thackeray’s win easy,” he added.

Maharashtra will go to polls on the 21st of October along with Haryana and results for both states will be declared on the 24th. The Shiv Sena is expected to fight the elections with its traditional ally BJP, however, the seat-sharing hasn’t been fixed yet. But the leadership of both parties has regularly maintained in public forum that they will fight the elections together.

The manner in which Aaditya Thackeray’s candidature has been announced does signify that the Shiv Sena does fancy the imminent heir to the throne of the Thackerays to become a contender for the post of Chief Minister at some point in the future.

P Chidambaram to continue to stay in Tihar as Delhi HC rejects his bail plea in INX Media corruption case

There seems to be no respite for the Congress-era finance minister P Chidambaram who is lodged in Tihar Jail until October 3, as the Delhi High Court today rejects his bail plea in the INX Media corruption case. Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, hearing the petition, reserved the order after the lawyers from both sides concluded their arguments.

According to reports, the bail has been denied since the investigation is in the advance stage and based on the material proof provided to the court by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The court was also of the view that being a member of the Bar and of Parliament, “there is a chance that he may influence the witnesses”.

During the course of hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta stated, “We are at a stage where we have exposed our evidence to him as we have confronted the accused and hence, the risk of tampering and influencing is much higher.”

He submitted, “Some people are in so powerful position that their mere presence can influence the witnesses.”

“To say that I am a responsible and respected citizen is not an argument altogether. Those who have fleeced the country are the ones who are respected and responsible and having a business empire and what not,” the Solicitor General argued.

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal appearing for Chidambaram opposed the claims of the prosecution and said that Chidambaram is not at flight risk, there is no evidence of him tampering with evidence. However, the Delhi HC quashed Sibal’s claims and rejected Chidambaram’s bail plea.

Chidambaram is currently held under judicial custody in Tihar Jail for his alleged role of misusing his cabinet position to grant several clearances to the INX Media house while he was the finance minister in the UPA era. Chidambaram had earlier gone on great lengths to first evade the CBI arrest and then desperately try to skirt his judicial custody in Tihar Jail. P Chidambaram had earlier sought protection from arrest by the ED but the Supreme Court had then turned down his anticipatory bail application.