Congress General Secretary and Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s sister, Priyanka Gandhi reached the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office with her husband, Robert Vadra. Priyanka dropped off her husband at the ED office and then left. Priyanka Gandhi’s office’s ‘exclusive pictures’ of her door and name-plate had gone viral on the social media yesterday after various media channels ran the ‘exclusive’ report.
Vadra has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate today in connection to the money laundering case and dubious land deal cases. He had applied for anticipatory bail in the court earlier this month after a fresh money laundering case was filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The case filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Skylight Hospitality firm owned by Vadra. The case is in relation to alleged financial irregularities in land deals in Gurgaon, Haryana in 2008.
We had reported earlier that posters featuring Robert Vadra have appeared outside Congress headquarters welcoming his wife and Rahul Gandhi’s sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra formally in the party. Later, the posters were later removed from AICC headquarters by the NDMC.
According to a report on The Sunday Guardian, top leaders in UPA-2 wanted the Intelligence Bureau to prove the ‘coup attempt’ by the Army and eventually planted a news report in the media.
The report states, “The top leadership of the UPA 2 government, in the last few months of 2011 and early 2012, had informally indicated to the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to try and establish that the Army, under its then chief, General V.K. Singh, was attempting a coup to topple the government.” When the IB reported that there was no way V.K. Singh would carry out any coup, “this fiction was “leaked” to the media, which carried the story as was narrated to it by the political leadership, which also included a leader who occupied a top Constitutional post later in his career”, the media outlet reported.
An IB officer involved in the “thick of the matter” was quoted as saying “A worried Manmohan Singh took this fictitious threat seriously and asked the IB to look into it. The IB, after doing the inquiry, got back stating that there was no chance of a coup as no Army chief, anywhere, could think of staging a coup if he did not have the support of his top officers. The report was shared with the PM and there was no ambiguity regarding the IB’s report that there was zero chance of a coup”.
“No coup attempt was undertaken. The incidents and military movements that were termed as a part of a coup attempt were normal military exercises. We had categorically told the Prime Minister, after carrying out our probe, that nothing of this sort (Army backed coup) was going to happen. But it is true that the PM had come under pressure and had started believing that he might be toppled, considering the anger of the people and the corruption taint that had come to be associated with the UPA. Later, we came to know that four senior ministers from his Cabinet briefed the media about this attempted coup that never was attempted in the first place,” another officer was quoted as saying.
The BJP attacked the Congress over the report on social media and tweeted, “Plotting a coup is 1st order treason. But the Congress had no qualms taking this route to gratify its perpetual hunger for power!” It was also insinuated that then Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi orchestrated the entire series of events.
Plotting a coup is 1st order treason. But the Congress had no qualms taking this route to gratify its perpetual hunger for power!
Was it authorized by then party VP @RahulGandhi? On whose behest was he acting?
In a press conference, BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao launched a scathing attack on the Congress party. He called it a “manufactured coup” and a ‘plot” to defame the Indian Army’. He also called it a “serious attempt” at trying to subvert the Indian Army.
Rao claimed it was a conspiracy to equate the Indian army with the “coup-happy Pakistan Army” and asked if ISI had anything to do with it.
#FakeCoupClaim | We also ask if there was any hand of the Pakistan ISI in this because we know their track-record. Or was this attempt to malign the Indian Army and an attempt to equalise it with the coup-happy Pakistan Army?: GVL Narasimha Rao, BJP https://t.co/LGCyJUWcLF
He also demanded from Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party. He said, “We demand answers from the Congress. They claim to have respect for the Indian Army but they abuse the Army and the Army chief now and then. This needs an answer from Rahul Gandhi.”
After Indira Gandhi’s government was uprooted in the elections of 1977, Lal Krishna Advani taunted in these famous words the pathetic capitulation of the Indian media at the time of Emergency.
“You were asked only to bend, but you chose to crawl.”
But what do you do when nobody asks for anything and yet for some “journalists”, crawling becomes a habit? A reflex? A way of life? A compulsory part of the job description, perhaps? Maybe media indulges even in “competitive crawling”?
It could not have gotten worse than this.
CNN’s Pallavi Ghosh in a 90-second video showing Priyanka Gandhi’s office door and name plate
Prominent Indian journalists, household names, all standing outside the door of a nondescript room, presumably in the Congress Headquarters, bombarding us with breathless coverage of the name plate.
Or maybe I should call it a “surname plate” because that is all they came to see. They saw the magic surname written in magical letters, drank the psychological nectar and then went home, much fulfilled.
The Congress, for its part, played aloof to the hilt, firmly showing these minions their real place. That “sneak peek” video above… it does not contain even one second of coverage of the room inside, let alone that of the exalted Nehru-Gandhi princess who is supposed to occupy it. At one point in the video, we get a sense that half of the door has been left open. That’s it.
That’s all they came for. Images and/or video of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as she occupies that office? Forget it. The reporters who provided “coverage” were reduced to using file photographs of Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi in order to give their viewers a sense of what was happening.
This was not a ‘sneak peek’ into Priyanka Gandhi’s new office. This was a ‘sneak peek’ into the pathetic grovelling that goes by the name of journalism.
If I see one more time that video of the guy getting up on a ladder or something to nail the “surname plate” outside the door…
The amazing thing is that it does not even feel choreographed. Everyone in this drama seems to know their natural place already. The Nehru-Gandhis know their place as deities. The alleged journalists know their place as devotees, crawling to make their pilgrimage from the studios to the Congress office on Akbar Road.
Not for an interview, not even for a 5-second soundbite or even a still photo. Just a glimpse of the “surname plate”.
That one surname appears to bring out in them a kind of primal, feudal loyalty.
Well, they are free to worship their deities in any way they choose. India does have freedom of religion.
But for common people, this show of servility should be another pointer to what the self proclaimed “fourth estate” of journalists, academics and intellectuals has done to our historical narrative. If they crawl like this when the Congress is in the opposition with less than 50 Lok Sabha seats, can you imagine what the cult must have been like back in the days of Nehru, Indira and Rajiv? Can you trust a single thing they wrote down and/or recorded in praise of their Bharat Ratna Prime Ministers?
You can also see where the Nehru-Gandhis get their sense of entitlement. It is the devotees that make the deity.
Meanwhile, I hear from other media reports that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra undertook a visit to some slum areas in Delhi yesterday. She stopped around, posed for photographs. One channel even reported that she “inspected” the living conditions there. Once again, it is hard to decide whether Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is entering Indian politics or starring in a parody of Indian politics.
I quote from memory here and loosely paraphrase some words of PM Modi during the 2014 campaign: Modern descendants of ruling families often like to visit the palaces and forts their ancestors built. They want to show off to their friends the “parakram” of their ancestors. What can the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty do? The Nehru-Gandhi Dynasty likes to show off the monumental poverty of India that was built by their ancestors over decades.
The Patidar leader from Gujarat, Hardik Patel on Wednesday has declared that he will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The announcement came at a rally he was addressing in Lucknow. Hardik Patel is on a two-day rally in Rajasthan after touring Uttar Pradesh.
Though it is not clear if Hardik is going to contest the elections from a political party or as an independent candidate. Hardik might contest the Lok Sabha polls from Amreli in Gujarat. Hardik has also exhorted people to unite to fight against the BJP. Congress may support him by not fielding any candidate against him. Earlier too, Congress had expressed its support for the Patidar leader if he wished to contest Lok Sabha polls.
The opposition Congress has reportedly offered two seats, Mehsana and Amreli, to Hardik. But as there is a ban on his entry in Mehsana because of the criminal case against him, he will choose Amreli to fight the elections.
Hardik was convicted for riots and arson in Mehsana during the violent Patidar protests in 2015. He is currently out on bail and one of his bail conditions prohibits him from entering into the Mehsana district limits.
Hardik Patel had in 2017 said that he would contemplate about contesting the elections in the next two or three years. In 2014, he wasn’t technically eligible to contest the elections.
The Gujarat Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki had declared in October 2017 that Congress would offer Hardik a ticket if he chooses to fight elections.
Robert Vadra’s executive assistant, Manoj Arora, who was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in January in connection with the money laundering case, has been given some relief as Delhi’s Patiala High Court extending his interim protection till February 16.
Delhi: Court extended the interim protection of Manoj Arora, a close aide of Robert Vadra till16 February in money laundering case against him. https://t.co/YrAeHHN7P7
Manoj Arora, the executive assistant and alleged close-aid of Robert Vadra, has earlier appeared before the Enforcement Directorate, in relation to a money laundering case. As per reports, Arora is being grilled by the ED for his alleged involvement in Robert Vadra’s benami properties in the UK.
On December 8, The ED had raided several premises related to Vadra and had questioned multiple persons connected to the case, which included Congress worker and another close aide of Robert Vadra, Jagdish Sharma. ED had stated that the raids were conducted on suspected individuals believed to have received money from arms dealers.
In December last year, ED had issued a Look Out Circular against Manoj Arora. Later, after Arora failed to answer several summons by the probing agency, ED had moved to the court to issue an open-ended non-bailable warrant (NBW), so as to ask Interpol to issue a Red Corner Notice against Arora, who they feared has escaped the country.
The money laundering case against Manoj Arora was initiated after investigative agencies began probing arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari and confidential defence ministry documents were found in his possession. Following which, one email thread was found from Sanjay Bhandari’s computer, between Monoj Arora, Sanjay Bhandari and Robert Vadra. The email, according to ED, was regarding a London property worth Rs 1.9 million pounds.
The agency claimed that the property was purchased by Sanjay Bhandari and sold in 2010 at the same price despite incurring additional expenses for renovation. It remarked, “This gives credence to the fact that Bhandari was not the actual owner of the property but it was beneficially owned by Vadra who was incurring expenditure on the renovation of this property.”
Agencies are also probing Vadra’s alleged involvement in various land deal scams. With questioning going on Majoj Arora, troubles for Gandhi family’s son-in-law doesn’t seem to be ending.
Robert Vadra’s aide Jagdish Sharma has claimed that posters featuring Robert Vadra along with Congress President Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi, will be put up everywhere. “They’ll be put up by all the party workers – lakhs and crores of them – everywhere,” he said.
#CongVadraPosters | These posters will now be put up everywhere. They’ll be put up by all the party workers – lakhs and crores of them – everywhere: Jagdish Sharma, Robert Vadra’s aide at AICC HQ. Watch LIVE here – https://t.co/LGCyJUWcLF
Sharma also claimed that the Modi government was playing ‘dirty politics’.
Delhi: Posters of Robert Vadra along with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra&Rahul Gandhi that were put up yesterday outside AICC headquarters, have been removed today. Jagdish Sharma,Congress says,”Modi govt is doing dirty politics, last night the posters were put up here now being removed.” pic.twitter.com/hTAIVdSM3C
We had reported earlier that posters of Robert Vadra have appeared outside Congress headquarters welcoming his wife and Rahul Gandhi’s sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra formally in the party. As per reports, the posters were later removed from AICC headquarters by the NDMC.
Reacting to the posters, another Congress leader Sanjay Singh took a jibe on PM Modi and said that it is unfortunate for PM Modi and his estranged wife that they do not put posters up together.
Sanjay Singh, Congress: Aaj Robert Vadra ka ho raha hai ED ke saamne, kal Modi ED ke saamne khade honge. https://t.co/0EdcAnjeHI
Giving a clean chit to Vadra, Singh added that Vadra’s name is dragged by BJP without any proof and the way Vadra is facing the ED today, Modi will face the same tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Vadra has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate today in connection to the money laundering case and dubious land deal cases. He had applied for anticipatory bail in the court earlier this month after a fresh money laundering case was filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The case filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Skylight Hospitality firm owned by Vadra. The case is in relation to alleged financial irregularities in land deals in Gurgaon, Haryana in 2008.
On 5 February the union government had filed a contempt petition against advocate Prashant Bhushan in Supreme Court, a day after Attorney general KK Venugopal had lodged a similar petition, accusing Bhsuan of exercising vindictiveness and recklessness while tweeting about the appointment of interim CBI director M Nageshwar Rao.
Supreme Court issues notice to advocate Prashant Bhushan on contempt plea filed by Attorney General KK Venugopal and Centre that Bhushan in his tweets said that AG Venugopal ‘wilfully&deliberately’ made false statement in a case pending in court. Next date of hearing is March 7.
Now following which, the Apex court today issued a notice to Prashant Bhushan regarding the contempt plea.
A bench headed by justice Arun Mishra was supposed to hear the petition filed by NGO Common Cause against the appointment of interim CBI director Rao. The next hearing is slated to be held next month on March 7. The bench said that it would deal with the large issue of whether it should be allowed to lawyers or others to criticise the court on a matter which still sub-judice, and whether it will lead to influencing of public opinions.
On February 1, Bhushan had tweeted that the appointment of Rao had happened without the consent of the high-powered committee comprising of the PM Modi, Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the Opposition. But, when the case was heard last week, AG Venugopal had furnished the minutes of the meeting of the committee proving that the appointment of Rao was indeed approved and signed by the high-powered committee.
Prashant Bhushan defended his tweet, claiming that the opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge told him that no discussion regarding the appointment of interim CBI director had taken place in the HPC meeting. However, the defence was by rubbished by the Attorney General who said that the minutes of the meeting proves that the high powered committee had authorised the central government to appoint an interim director till a new director of CBI is selected by CBI, and all three members of the committee including Kharge had signed below it.
#CBI: With the filing of contempt of court petition by AG KK Venugopal against Prashant Bhushan, this case has become all the more interesting.
Venugopal has extracted minutes of meeting of High powered committee including the signature of LoP Mallikarjun Kharge. @barandbenchpic.twitter.com/RCxvKUZEM6
In the petition, KK Venugopal had also contended that without applying to the court for the minutes of the meeting, Bhushan went ahead and chose to level serious allegations against the Attorney General for India and the Government of India and questioned the integrity of the AG.
In October last year, the appointment of an interim CBI director was necessitated after the Union Government had decided to send CBI director Alok Verma and Rakesh Asthana on leave after both had levelled serious allegations on each other.
Kanaka Durga, one of the two women who had entered the Sabarimala shrine on 2nd January said she was finally able to enter her in-law’s house after a local court ordered that she be allowed to enter.
Kerala: Kanaka Durga, one of the two women who entered #Sabarimala on 2 Jan, entered her in-law’s house yesterday in Malappuram district after court allowed her to stay at her in-law’s house. She was earlier allegedly assaulted by her mother-in-law for entering #SabarimalaTemplepic.twitter.com/oqi37YraeM
However, she was not able to see her children. According to her, she has no problems staying with them but they do not want to stay with her. She said that while she does not have any difficulty in staying with her in-laws and her children, they are not ready to stay with her.
Kanaka Durga says, “I got the court order&I could enter my house. I’m happy. I could not see my children today, but I hope I can see them next time. I don’t have any difficulty to stay with them, they are not ready to stay with me. Everything will be solved.” (05.02.2019) #Keralahttps://t.co/bl3NZHqzJx
As per reports, the Court observed that Kanaka Durga is a victim of domestic violence and that she has the ‘right’ to live with her children by sharing the household with her husband.
We had reported earlier that Kanaka Durga, one of the two women who had desecrated Sabarimala Temple, was involved in a brawl with her mother-in-law after she returned home from her adventure and was denied entry.
There were conflicting reports about the whole incident. While initial reports claimed that Kanaka Durga was hit by a wooden plank on her head, contrasting accounts emerged where it was claimed that it was, in fact, Kanaka Durga who had attacked her mother-in-law, a staunch devotee of Lord Ayyappa, when there was an argument between the two.
As per reports, Kanaka Durga’s family and relatives were completely against her antics at Sabarimala and her husband and children did not allow her to stay with them.
SC Khatua, a junior works manager (JWM) of the Guns Carriage Factory was reportedly found dead in a drain behind section 2 of the factory area in GCF in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh yesterday. As per reports, Khatua’s body was severely decomposed and a bloodstained blade was also found near his body.
As per reports, the 45-year-old Khatua was summoned by the CBI for an inquiry into the charges of supply of Chinese spare parts for the production of indigenised Bofors guns used by the army.
He was reported missing on January 17. Khatua’s wife had lodged a missing person report on January 18. However, the police have stated that the case looks like that of a suicide.
The Delhi-based firm named Siddhi Sales Syndicate was accused of conspiring with certain GCF by the CBI in July 2017 on allegations of selling fake Chinese parts to the ordinance factory. CBI had also lodged an FIR against unknown officials of the ordinance factory under the MoD. Fake parts made in China were reportedly sold as Made in Germany products and were being fitted into the Dhanush guns used by the army.
They were charged with forgery and cheating. Later in 2017, a team of CBI officials had also visited the GCF in Jabalpur to question involved officials and investigate the case.
With the 2019 general elections battleground heating up, no one wants to lose out on the capturing the social media influence, especially the politicians. While all other prominent politicians of the country are already active on Twitter Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati has declared her Twitter presence today.
Twitter handle @sushrimayawati released a press statement today regarding the account and about its purpose. The press release is addressed to all the media persons, informing that this is the first time that BSP supremo has decided to join twitter for ‘speedy interaction with media and masses’ and ‘express her views on issues of national and political importance’.
Press release issued by Bahujan Samaj Party dated 6th February 2019. Regarding Twitter handle. pic.twitter.com/gN96iYtygE
Even though the press release acknowledging her Twitter presence has been released now, her profile shows that handle had come to existence on the micro-blogging website in October 2018. On 22nd January, the handle had tweeted about her opening the handle ‘for future interactions, comments and updates’.
Since then, Mayawati, on her Twitter account, has uploaded various press releases regarding the upcoming general elections and about the Union Budget 2019.
Interestingly, Mayawati’s party Bahujan Samaj Party still does not have a twitter handle, unlike other parties. So far, it has been considered that core voters and cadres of the BSP are untouched by social media and television media. But, now BSP Supremo getting on Twitter just months before 2019 general elections, point towards the rising national ambition of the party and leader.
On January 12, SP and BSP declared in a joint press conference done by BSP supremo Mayawati and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav that they will be contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections under an alliance. The alliance’s sole agenda, according to both leaders, is to keep BJP out of power. As per alliance, SP and BSP will fight on 38 seats each. They have left 2 seats for other smaller parties and 2 seats of Amethi and Raebareli for Congress.
