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New Indian Express
a day ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
BS Yediyurappa slams Priyank over RSS remark
BENGALURU: Former Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Saturday urged IT/BT and RDPR Minister Priyank Kharge to apologise to the people of the country for his remarks on banning the RSS. Speaking to media persons in Bengaluru on Saturday, the senior BJP leader termed the minister's remarks as 'insane'. Priyank had spoken about banning the RSS if Congress comes to power at the Centre, the BJP leader said, adding that Congress coming to power at the Centre is just a dream. Yediyurappa said that the BJP will get a clear majority in the next Lok Sabha elections and Narendra Modi will once again become the Prime Minister. Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R Ashoka said that Congress could not act against the RSS even when it was in power. He predicted a 'Congress-free India' in the future. Speaking to media persons, Ashoka questioned why no action has been taken against CM Siddaramaiah, who has repeatedly spoken disrespectfully against officials. 'Siddaramaiah spoke disrespectfully against a Deputy Commissioner and a police officer, yet no action was taken. Congress is trying to create a controversy over BJP MLC N Ravikumar's alleged remarks to divert attention from the High Court directing a CBI probe into the Valmiki Development Corporation scam,' he said, asking the Congress to clarify what obscene remarks Ravikumar allegedly made. In Chikkamagaluru, Kodagu, and Sakaleshpur, coffee crops have been damaged, but neither the horticulture minister nor the district in-charge ministers have met the affected farmers, Ashoka said.
Hindustan Times
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Empty out the Congress, Chandrashekhar Bawankule tells partymen
MUMBAI: After the influx engineered by the BJP from other parties over the last few years, the party's state unit chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Sunday told his workers to 'empty out the Congress' by engineering a split in it. After a clip of his speech went viral, Congress leaders reacted sharply, saying that the ruling party needed Congress leaders, as their leaders were incapable of winning elections. Bawankule, while addressing party leaders and workers in Pune, tried to reassure them that they would not suffer when leaders from other parties joined, as 'loyalists' would get preference in election tickets. Congress leader and former Bhor MLA Sangram Thopate recently joined the BJP, leading to unrest within the local party unit. Local leaders had opposed the induction. 'There is nothing left in the Congress, nobody is heading to Sharad Pawar's party and everybody has forgotten Uddhav Thackeray. If they are not able to handle their parties, what can we do?' said Bawankule. The Congress' Maharashtra unit chief Harshvardhan Sakpal counter-attacked the BJP. 'The ruling party is a witch that swallows Congress leaders and workers, as it knows that it needs them to win the elections despite having prime minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis,' he said. 'This is the reason they are conspiring to split the Congress.' Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad said that emptying out the Congress was not as easy as playing in a casino in Macau. 'The Congress is an ideology,' she said. 'The BJP had dreamed of making India Congress-free but it was reduced to 240 seats in the Lok Sabha elections after its tall claim of winning 400-plus seats. Power has gone to Bawankule's head.' Reacting on Monday to the counter-attack by the Congress, Bawankule said, 'Party loyalists like Sangram Thopate are joining us on their own, as they have lost faith in the Congress leadership. They have realised that Rahul Gandhi cannot do anything for the party and cannot lead the country to development. There is no need for us to empty out the Congress; its members are coming to us on their own.'
Indian Express
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
National Herald case: ‘Those indulging in political vendetta have to bear consequences'— Congress warns BJP
The Congress Tuesday continued to attack the BJP-led Union government over the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filing a chargesheet against party leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case, terming the move as 'political vendetta' and an effort to finish the grand old party as Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been talking of a 'Congress Mukt Bharat' (Congress-free India). The ED recently filed a chargesheet against former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi before a special court in Delhi in the National Herald case, accusing them of allegedly laundering Rs 988 crore. Addressing media in Shimla, former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot said, 'The country is being run through the ED,' adding that opposition leaders were being treated as 'enemies' and investigating agencies are being pressured and misused to target them. Gehlot said the nine-year-old 'National Herald' case is being raked up now only to seek vengeance as 'Rahul Gandhi highlights the failures of the government in Parliament' and it has 'clearly rattled the ruling party'. He said any opposition leader speaking against the government is immediately subjected to raids and legal action. Referring to the National Herald case, Gehlot said, 'There is nothing illegal in it. The paper was launched during the freedom movement. To revive it, Rs 90 crore was given over 10 years to clear debts, and it continues to operate under a non-profit company. No one has benefited financially, so where is the irregularity?' He said all the properties of National Herald are under the control of Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and efforts were being made to clear its liabilities through Young India Limited (YIL), a non-profit organisation. He said the chargesheet filed by the ED hasn't even been made public, yet it is being used to target the Gandhi family. In Chandigarh, Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari said, 'History is witness that nothing comes out of political vendetta and those who indulge in such vendetta have to bear the consequences. Actions taken on the basis of political vendetta do not have any head or tail'. Addressing a press conference at the Punjab Congress Bhawan, along with senior party leaders including Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Capt Sandeep Sandhu, Tewari said that the National Herald case will come down crashing in the courts as there was nothing unlawful or illegal that was involved. The Chandigarh MP said charges of money laundering are being levelled in a case where not a single penny or asset has been transferred. Giving details of the case, he said, the AJL, which had been founded by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and other freedom fighters to bring out the newspapers like the National Herald, the Navjeevan and Qaumi Awaz, had run into massive losses and had accrued liabilities and outstandings of about Rs 90 crore. 'As is the standard corporate practice to clean the balance sheets, a new company Young Indian Limited (YIL) was incorporated. INC paid off the Rs 90 crore debt over 10 years of the AJL and acquired its shares. The shares were subsequently transferred to YIL in a standard corporate practice of debt swap,' he said. Tewari pointed out that it is a standard legal practice to convert the debt into equity and that was done in the case of AJL too. He quoted the example of the Voda fone company, whose debt the Government of India converted into equity. The MP also referred to Rs 16 lakh crore debt waiver to the corporates by various banks to clean up their balance sheets by taking very deep haircuts . Challenging the contention that an attempt has been made to grab the AJL properties, Tewari said of the six properties the AJL owned across the country, only one was freehold while five others were on lease. 'Nobody can sell those properties. Besides, the YIL, which has acquired the shares of the AJL, is a 'not for profit' company, which means that even when it earns profits, it cannot give dividends to any shareholders nor can any of the directors be given any salary or any perks,' he said. Tewari said the BJP government also knows that there is nothing in the case and it will not stand any legal scrutiny. But, he added, the government wants to build a perception by painting Congress leaders as money launderers. Congress leaders have been holding press conferences in various cities after the ED charge-sheeted the Gandhis along with a few others. The ED has alleged that a 'criminal conspiracy' was carried out by Congress leaders to 'usurp' properties worth Rs 2,000 crore of its public company Associated Journals Limited (AJL) by transferring 99 per cent shares to their private company — YIL — for just Rs 50 lakh, a firm where Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are the majority shareholders.
India Gazette
22-04-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
BJP misusing ED in National Herald case: Former Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot
Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], April 22 (ANI): Congress leader and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot defended Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi National Herald case and accused the BJP-led government of misusing the ED. 'People understand everything, there's no point in these things. Ever since these people came to power, they have been talking about a Congress-free country, an opposition-free country, and you know what they say about the Gandhi family whose sacrifice and martyrdom is written in Jawaharlal Nehru handed over Anand Bhavan to the government, which was a property worth crores. He dedicated it to the country, and they are accusing that see how these people misuse the has not been a transaction of even a single rupee, yet they are targeting Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi...,' Gehlot told ANI. He further said that National Herald was started by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru and the newspaper played an important role in the freedom movement. 'If the Congress wants to revive the newspaper, then what is the BJP's problem. When there is no money laundering, then how can Congress leaders be targeted?' he added. Earlier, Gehlot, during the press conference, expressed deep concern over the political atmosphere in the country, alleging misuse of central investigative agencies and calling the current government 'fascist' in nature. 'The situation in the country is not normal. It's difficult to say in which direction India is heading. During the Congress rule, democracy was always strengthened. But now the central government sees opposition parties as enemies,' said Ashok Gehlot. He accused the Modi government of weaponizing institutions like the ED, CBI, and Income Tax Department to target opposition leaders while giving a clean chit to those aligned with the ruling party. 'ED has created an atmosphere of fear. All corrupt people are being washed clean in the BJP's washing machine,' he said, in a sharp jibe at the ruling party. The press conference, held at the Himachal Pradesh Congress headquarters, saw the presence of multiple dignitaries, including AICC national spokesperson and Theog MLA Kuldeep Singh Rathore, Cabinet Minister Anirudh Singh, former minister Asha Kumari, MLA Vivek Sharma, Congress co-incharge Chetan Chauhan, and former minister Ram Lal Thakur. (ANI)
