Raj Guv again returns proposal for Assembly session

Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra on Wednesday returned a state government proposal to call a special Assembly session, for the third time.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot called the rejection a ‘love letter’, even as the former extended an olive branch to the rebel Congress MLAs.

Officials said that the Governor raised objections over the rising cases of COVID-19 in Rajasthan and again inquired how social distancing could be maintained in the Assembly during the special session.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot rushed to meet Mishra soon after he received the information on the return of the proposal.

Addressing a function at the Congress state unit office here, Gehlot said a “prem Patra” or love letter had come from the Rajasthan Governor. “I am going to meet him to ask what he wants,” Gehlot said at the party office before the meeting.

This is the second time he has referred to the Governor’s rejection as a love letter. Earlier, he had said the words while addressing Congress MLAs camping at the Fairmont Hotel.

Gehlot claimed a conspiracy to topple his government but asserted that the party stood strong in the face of a political onslaught.

Going soft on the dissidents, he said that those who had “cheated” the Congress in the past can return to the party fold and apologize to party chief Sonia Gandhi.

“For the first time in 70 years, a Governor has raised such questions. Can you understand where the country is going?” he commented.

The Chief Minister was speaking at a PCC function where new party unit chief Govind Singh Dotasara assumed the charge.

After the first two proposals sent by the Rajasthan government were rejected, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot sent a third petition to the Raj Bhavan on Tuesday to convene the Assembly session.

UP MLA fears threat to life by mining mafia lord

Uttar Pradesh BJP MLA Yogesh Dhama has written to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the Director-General of state Police claiming he has been facing a threat to his life from notorious gangster Sunil Rathi, who is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail in connection with the murder of another gangster Munna Bajrangi.

Dharma said the gangster openly threatened him when he came for a hearing of the Munna Bajrangi case at a Baghpat court.

“He holds me responsible for stopping his illegal mining activities in the region. Two of my acquaintances have been killed by his men in the last month which proves that there is a real threat to my life,” he said.

The MLA claimed that Rathi was much more notorious that slain gangster Vikas Dubey who was the main accused in the killing of eight policemen earlier this month in Kanpur.

Baghpat Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Anit Kumar said, “Dharma has not approached us and we are providing him security as per protocol.

The ASP said the feud started when the local MLA complained against Rathi’s illegal mining business. “He was doing it through his front man Manish Chauhan, who had a license for sand mining but he was extracting more than the permissible limit. When the MLA raised the issue, the district administration canceled his license and a fine of Rs 4 crore was imposed on him.”

On July 7, Rathi’s men had shot dead Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Deshpal Khokar, who is said to have objected to the passage of trucks carrying sand from his village.

“We have arrested two of Rathi’s sharpshooters in connection with the case after an encounter on Sunday,” the ASP added.

Rathi’s men also allegedly killed history-sheeter Paramveer Tugana, who is said to be close to Yogesh Dharma.

Rathi, who had killed gangster Munna Bajrangi inside Baghpat jail in July 2018, is presently lodged in the Tihar facility.

Raj CM to meet Guv, parade MLAs before him

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot will meet Governor Kalraj Mishra this afternoon along with the Congress MLAs supporting his government to show the majority he enjoys in the House, officials said on Friday.

On Thursday, Gehlot met the Governor and discussed convening of the Assembly session that the government planned to convene on Monday to show his majority support in the House. However, there was no reply from the Governor’s House until the filing of the report.

Gehlot came up with the plan to meet the Governor soon after the High Court on Friday ordered a status quo with regard to the July 14 disqualification notices served by Speaker CP Joshi to 19 rebel MLAs, including Sachin Pilot, who was sacked as Deputy Chief Minister and PCC chief.

The High Court also accepted a plea to make the Centre a party to the case.

Since the court has said that the rebels cannot be disqualified, for now, the Gehlot camp planned to show his strength to the Governor’s house, a Raj Bhavan official said. Gehlot will visit the Raj Bhavan alone first, and thereafter, the MLAs will visit the Governor’s residence amid tight security, he added.

“This is propaganda to garner sympathy. The CM, as per the Constitution, needs to show his strength on the Assembly floor,” said state BJP chief Satish Poonia.

Modi 100% focused on his own image: Rahul in latest video

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday once again attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the India-China border face-off saying he is 100 percent focused on building his own image and “one man’s image is not a substitute for a national vision”.

“Prime Minister is 100 percent focused on building his own image. India’s captured institutions are all busy doing this task. One man’s image is not a substitute for a national vision,” he said in a tweet attaching the third video of the series.

In the video, the Congress MP from Kerala’s Wayanad said, “Psychologically you will have to deal with the Chinese from a position of strength.”

Emphasizing how India should respond to China, he said that if you deal with them from a position of “strength” you can work with them, you can get what you need and it can be actually done. “But if they sense weakness then you had it. And the first thing is you are not going to take on China without a vision,” the Congress leader said, adding that he doesn’t mean a national vision, but an international vision.

Talking about China’s ambitious ‘belt and road’ project, Rahul Gandhi said, “Belt and Road is an attempt to change the nature of the planet. India has to have a global vision and if they have now to become an idea, and it has to become a global idea the thing that is going to protect India is actually thinking big.”

On India’s border issue with China, he said, of course, we have this border issue and we have to resolve this. “But we have to change our approach, we have to change how we think, this is the point at which where the road parts, if we go this way we become a major player and if we go another way we become irrelevant. And that is why I am aggravating because I can see that a huge opportunity is being lost,” he said.

Attacking the government, the Congress leader said, “Why because we are not thinking in the long term, we are not thinking big and we are disturbing our internal balance, we are fighting among ourselves.”

Pointing out at the political scenario in the country, he said, just look at the politics, all day long Indians are fighting Indians, it is because there is “no clear cut” vision going forward. “And I know that the Prime Minister is an opponent and my responsibility is to question him and put pressure on him so he does his work. His responsibility is to give the vision and it’s not there and I can tell you it’s not there and that is why China is in there today,” he added.

Last Friday (July 17), Rahul Gandhi released his first video and questioned the government’s foreign policy. He slammed the Narendra Modi government over the face-off with China in Ladakh. He said China chose this time to intrude in our land as India’s foreign policy, economy, and relationship with neighboring countries are disrupted.

In his second video released on Monday (July 20), the Congress leader said Modi fabricated a “fake” strongman image to come to power and now his biggest strength is “India’s biggest weakness”.

Bengal Guv to meet Shah on state’s ‘worrisome situation’

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar will hold a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday to discuss the “worrisome situation” in the state.

The meeting is scheduled to be held at noon.

“I would be discussing with Union Home Minister at noon today West Bengal’s worrisome situation… Also the state of affairs and affairs of State,” the Governor tweeted.

Dhankhar said that the welfare of people of West Bengal is uppermost in his mind.

“All my actions are inspired to mitigate the woes of West Bengal people. I will discuss issues with home minister today, part of my duty under Article 159,” he said.

The Governor said in his tweets that he will protect and defend the Constitution to the best of his ability.

“I devote myself to the service and well-being of the people. I pledge total commitment for West Bengal people,” he said.

BJP demands CBI probe into Rajasthan audio tapes

The BJP on Saturday hit back on the Ashok Gehlot Government when it not only denied charges of alleged bid to break the Congress party but also alleged that the dessert state is witnessing an “indirect emergency”.

The BJP was referring to the purported phone conversations that were leaked by Gehlot camp.

“Is the phone of every person in Rajasthan, who has any concern with politics, is being tapped? Is Emergency not being imposed indirectly in Rajasthan?,” asked BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra in a press conference here on Saturday.

Calling the Rajasthan political crisis a “drama”, Patra alleged it is a brazen cocktail of conspiracy, lies, fraud, and defiance of the law.

“The whole conspiracy is being hatched in their house and through some audio tapes it is being alleged that the BJP is trying to sabotage the Congress party,” said Patra. He demanded a CBI probe into this matter, to ascertain whether phone tapping was done or SOPs were followed. He also questioned if the voice in the leaks is authentic, why the FIR states it as “purported”.

This attack comes in the wake of an FIR filed by the SOG in Rajasthan against Union Minister and BJP leader Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and two others on the basis of a complaint by Congress whip Mahesh Joshi soon after three audio clips with alleged conversations on toppling the Ashok Gehlot government were released by Rajasthan’s ruling party.

However, Shekhawat has denied any of the tapes has his voice while another BJP leader said the tapes were doctored.

The clips have recorded purported conversation between Shekhawat, Congress MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma, a Jaipur resident, and BJP leader Sanjay Jain while discussing plans and actions to topple the Congress government.

Now, the BJP has based its counter-attack on these purported conversations to raise the “phone tapping of politicians in Rajasthan” charge against Congress while labeling it as am “indirect emergency”.

No Covid cases in my constituency, claims KPCC chief

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D.K. Shivakumar on Friday claimed that there were no new coronavirus cases in his Kanakapura Assembly constituency in Ramangara district.

“No new COVID cases in Kanakapura taluk and all positive cases have been cured. I thank my constituency’s people who have helped in strictly following the lockdown guidelines in containing the virus spread,” said Shivakumar here.

Kanakapura is about 60 km southwest of Bengaluru on the old Mysuru road.

“We continue to remain vigilant. We are also distributing 30 immunity-boosting tablets to every house,” said the 7-time legislator, considered as the party’s Man Friday and a troubleshooter in the southern state.

Shivakumar’s younger brother D.K. Suresh is the party’s only Lok Sabha member to win in the April-May 2019 for the second time from Bengaluru Rural district.

Shivakumar, 58, took charge as the party’s state unit president on July 2 amid the coronavirus-induced lockdown to revive the party in the state.

The claim of Kanakapura being virus-free came a day after the party’s firebrand leader sought President’s rule in the southern state alleging the ruling BJP government failed to tackle the pandemic, as evident from the spurt in positive cases since July 1 when Unlock 1.0 was allowed and people violated the lockdown guidelines.

“It’s time the BJP government resigns and allows President’s rule in the state, as it has miserably failed to control the COVID cases, which have been surging daily,” Shivakumar told reporters here on Thursday.

Latching on to state Health Minister B. Sriramulu’s observation on Wednesday that “only God can save Karnataka from the pandemic”, Shivakumar said the government’s incompetence had left the citizens at “God’s mercy”.

“Why do we need a government which cannot tackle the pandemic? What Sriramulu said reflects poorly on the BJP government’s ability to handle the situation, which appears to be going out of its control due to its incompetence,” thundered Sriramulu.

Shivakumar’s attack on the nearly year-old BJP government came amid a 9-day lockdown in Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts since July 14 night up to July 22 morning to contain the surging COVID spread.

With a record 4,169 new cases on Thursday, the state’s COVID tally breached the 50,000-mark to touch 51,422, including 30,655 active cases after 19,729 were discharged to date, while 1,032 patients succumbed to the infection, with 104 in the last 24 hours.

Accounting for about 60 percent of the state’s cases, Bengaluru reported a record 2,344 cases on Thursday, taking its overall tally to 25,288, including 18,828 active after 5,952 were discharged with 497 a day ago, while 507 died of the infection, with 70 in the last 24 hours.

In contrast, the Ramanagara district has 396 cases, including 192 active after 195 were discharged so far while only 9 succumbed to the infection.

FIR against Union Minister Shekhawat in audio clip case

An FIR has been filed by the SOG in Rajasthan against Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and two others on the basis of a complaint by Congress whip Mahesh Joshi soon after three audio clips with alleged conversations on the toppling of the Ashok Gehlot government were released by the ruling party.

Shekhawat has denied any of the tapes has his voice while another BJP leader said the tapes were doctored.

The clips have recorded purported conversation between Shekhawat, Congress MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma, and Jaipur resident and BJP leader Sanjay Jain while discussing plans and actions to topple the Congress government.

The Special Operations Group (SOG) team has been actively following the case with many proofs submitted by the ruling Congress, said officials, adding that the case was also registered against Sharma and Jain.

Joshi said that the party already had “subtle proofs” against the three accused as named in the audio clip. “We are going through the legal route,” he said.

Meanwhile, Shekhawat said: “The voice in the tape is not mine and I am ready for investigation.”

He also said that he is not in touch with Jain and Sharma and added that there are many people going by the name of Gajendra Singh in the state.

Earlier in the morning, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala had called a presser and accused the BJP of trying to topple the Gehlot government by indulging in horse-trading.

Meanwhile, Deputy Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore said that there is no truth in the Congress claims. “All released audio clips have doctored voices,” he added.

Both BJP, Cong eyeing each other’s MLAs, leaders in MP

Ever since Shivraj Singh Chouhan returned as the Chief Minister more than three months ago, the Madhya Pradesh politics is in flux, with both the BJP and the Congress trying to woo each other MLAs and leaders.

Not only MLAs, but even their relatives are game for those out to poach politicians in the state, wherein the BJP seems to be at an advantage at present.

On March, 22 Congress MLAs resigned from the Congress along with former central minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, leading to the fall of the Congress government led by Kamal Nath.

Chouhan took oath on March 23 as the Chief Minister for record fourth term.

Madhya Pradesh Congress got another shock when its MLA Pradyuman Singh Lodhi resigned both from the party and from the Assembly membership.

Hours after he joined the BJP on Sunday, Pradyuman was made Chairman of the Civil Supplies Corporation in the rank of a Cabinet minister. Lodhi was a legislator from the Bada Malhera seat in Chhatarpur district.

Now, the ruling BJP is said to be eyeing Banda MLA Darbar Singh Lodhi and Damoh MLA Rahul Lodhi – both from the Congress and relatives of Pradyuman Singh Lodhi. The BJP could use the services of Pradyuman to try to woo them to the ruling camp.

It is another matter that both the MLAs have asserted that they are in Congress and will remain in Congress. Interestingly, both MLAs are also said to be close to former Chief Minister and former Union Minister Uma Bharti.

The BJP currently has 107 MLAs in the Assembly. With this, the Congress’ strength in the House has reduced to 91. There are now 25 vacant seats in the Assembly.

Agriculture Minister Kamal Patel claimed that many of the Congress MLAs were in contact with the ruling BJP since they were convinced that the future of the opposition party was dark.

Patel alleged that the Congress had made many promises during the last Assembly elections but failed to fulfill them on coming to power. Due to this, the writing on the wall was clear to the Congress leaders whom, he claimed, people were not even allowed to enter their constituencies.

Political analyst Arvind Mishra pointed out that neither ideology nor any principle guided the political party and hence all of them were busy making attempts to strengthen their respective organizations through whatever means they could.

Amid claims by the Congress that the BJP was busy in horse-trading to strengthen itself in Madhya Pradesh, the opposition party has made Chouhan’s brother-in-law Sanjay Singh Masani as the Vice-President of the state unit of the party and also the coordinator for campaigning during bye-elections for the vacant Assembly seats.

Political observers said that the coming days could witness more political crossovers since there were politicians who could not remain out of power for long and there were others who were worried over their future in the BJP.

Cong blames Nitish for coronavirus spread in Bihar

The Bihar Congress on Wednesday flayed the Nitish Kumar-led government for the exponential increase in the number of coronavirus cases in the state.

However, the Bihar government claims that prompt treatment is being provided to the patients following necessary rules and laws.

Senior Congress leader and former Youth Congress President Lallan Kumar alleged on Wednesday that Nitish Kumar holds meetings apparently to fight Covid-19, but actually he is eyeing the upcoming Assembly polls.

Quoting the World Health Organization (WHO), Lallan Kumar said that those infected by coronavirus should be kept in quarantine centers. If infected people are being isolated at home, then the family and those in the vicinity are at greater risk, Kumar said.

Kumar alleged that the health system in Bihar was the worst among all the states in the country, adding that the medicine for common diseases was rarely available at the health centers in the state.

The government, he suggested, should build a quarantine center in the Bihar Museum building in Patna so that all corona-infected people can be safely housed there and protected.

He said the Covid-19 infection cannot be controlled only by imposing ‘lockdown’ but it needs to be strictly followed.