New Delhi, Dec 26 (IANS) The Delhi government has suspended three transport department officials over alleged corruption in issuing fresh Letters Of Interest (LOI) for three-wheelers, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Saturday. “Three officials of transport department being suspended. Corruption in issuing fresh letter of interests for 3-wheelers,” Sisodia tweeted. The minister said the LOIs were being issued “randomly” despite orders to issue them in a chronological order of applications. “It was found that in many cases the LOIs were being given to dealers instead of applicants,” he said in another tweet. The Delhi government has handed over the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation. “This government cannot tolerate corruption at any level,” he added.
PM Modi phoned Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif while on a visit to neighbouring Afghanistan and asked if he could make a stop in Pakistan on his way home, Pakistani foreign secretary Aizaz Chaudhry told media after Modi departed.
“And the Pak PM said to him, ‘Please come, you are our guest, please come and have tea with me’,” he said.
It was Sharif’s 66th birthday and the family home was festooned with lights for his grand-daughter’s wedding on Saturday. Modi and Sharif talked for about 90 minutes and shared an early-evening meal before the Indian leader flew back home.
Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry told reporters in Lahore the “goodwill visit” as pleasant and said the two leaders needed “to understand each other to open the doors of peace and stability in South Asia.
Modi and Sharif talked about restarting a dialogue and increasing people-to-people contacts between their nations, he said.
The foreign secretaries of both counties are to meet in Islamabad at the end of the month, Chaudhry said.It was the first time an Indian prime minister has visited Pakistan in almost 12 years.
The visit is a hopeful sign after the off-and-on talks between India and Pakistan, which suffered some setbacks in 2015.
In August, talks were canceled over an agenda conflict, only to have the national security advisers of both countries meet recently for surprise dialogue in Bangkok, Thailand.
This month, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also visited the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, signaling a further ease in bilateral ties.
“Prime Minister Modi has once again proved his critics, who call him a Hindu hardliner, wrong by his unconventional style and by leading India’s foreign policy from the front,” said K.G. Suresh, a senior fellow at the New Delhi-based Vivekananda International Foundation, which was founded by Ajit Doval, India’s national security adviser. “The ice has been broken.”
Suresh added, “This short visit has raised hopes high for peace and prosperity in South Asia.”
Sharif, who attended Modi’s inauguration as prime minister last year, invited his Indian counterpart to Pakistan when they met in Russia in July.
In a joint statement, they expressed Modi’s commitment to attend a South Asian summit next year.
Relations between India and Pakistan have been strained over a series of cross-border firing
New Delhi, Dec 25 (IANS) Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday sought to know why Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley were “afraid” of a probe into the affairs of Delhi’s cricket body. Referring to the CBI raid on Delhi Secretariat on December 15, Kejriwal said: “We (AAP) cooperated with your raid, you also cooperate with the enquiry commission (set up by our government),” Kejriwal tweeted. “We did not fear your raid, why are you afraid of the enquiry commission?”
The Delhi government has set up an enquiry commission to probe the allegations of corruption in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) which Jaitley headed for 13 years until 2013. Kejriwal said many TV channels were claiming the commission of enquiry he had ordered was “illegal”. He asked: “Was the CBI raid legal?”. Jaitley has sued Kejriwal and other leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party for linking him with the alleged corruption in the DDCA. The BJP has suspended its MP Kirti Azad for campaigning against Jaitley on the same issue
Kabul, Dec 25 (IANS) Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that he will meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Lahore on his way back to New Delhi. Now in Kabul, Modi tweeted that he spoke to Sharif over telephone and wished him on his birthday. “Looking forward to meeting Sharif in Lahore today afternoon when I will drop by on my way back to Delhi.”
New Delhi: Mounting a fierce attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday demanded his resignation over what he termed was a “flop raid” by the CBI at the Delhi Secretariat to “protect” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the alleged DDCA scam. “His blood boils when he hears my name,” Kejriwal said, upping the aggression against Modi barely 24 hours after Jaitley filed defamation cases against AAP.
Calling December 15, when CBI conducted the raid at the office of his Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar, a “black day”, Kejriwal tore into Modi and dared him to act against Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, his Rajasthan counterpart Vasundhara Raje and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
Kejriwal also defended Rajendra Kumar against allegations of graft committed in his official capacity under the erstwhile Sheila Dikshit government.
File photo. Image courtesy: PIBFile photo. Image courtesy: PIB
“He’s being mentally harassed. CBI has got nothing against him in the last eight days. If I can remove my minister and babu for committing corruption, it is also my duty to protect honest officers,” he said participating in a discussion in the state Assembly on the situation arising out of the raid at the Delhi Secretariat and alleged corruption in Delhi and District Cricket Association under Jaitley’s watch.
Kumar was seated in the officers’ gallery of the Assembly during the proceedings.
“Prime Minister should be ashamed of himself” over the raids, Kejriwal said and went on to take a series of jibes at Modi over “Rs 10 lakh suit” and foreign trips.
I demand PM Modi’s resignation for the fraudulent raid that he got carried out just to save Arun Jaitley: Delhi CM pic.twitter.com/o6JgJjaMYl
— ANI (@ANI_news) December 22, 2015
“He is fulfilling his dreams now as earlier he did not get a visa. Delhi is all right whenever he is out of the city. Whenever he’s back everything goes haywire,” Kejriwal said speaking during the one-day special session of the Assembly which passed a resolution to constitute a Commission of Inquiry to probe alleged corruption in DDCA.
“I seek the Prime Minister’s resignation for conducting such a flop raid and for misusing the CBI. If he uses the CBI to get any file then the country will have no democracy left. Tomorrow there can be raids on any Chief Minister. This is dangerous for the country’s federal structure,” Kejriwal said.
The Chief Minister, against whom Jaitley has filed both civil and criminal defamation suits, further alleged that the CBI was specifically looking for a file “containing a note” with “incriminating” details.
“A DDCA whistle blower used to meet me. That officer told me that there was a meeting of DDCA officials, where Jaitley had told them no not worry about SFIO as he will get it compounded.
“He (Jaitley) said that he will ensure quashing of cases that come to Delhi police and, if AAP sets up a commission of inquiry, he will get it null and void through ‘our special man’ LG. It was written in that file,” Kejriwal claimed.
PTI
New Delhi:Taking cognizance of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s complaint against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders for allegedly defaming him in the DDCA controversy, a Delhi court on Monday fixed January 5 for recording the complainant’s evidence. During the 35-minute long hearing, senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, who appeared for Jaitley, told the court that the accused Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders have made completely baseless and defamatory allegations against the Finance Minister regarding alleged financial irregularities in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA). Jaitley has filed a criminal defamation suit in Patiala House court against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders for issuing allegedly false and defamatory statements against him and his family members. Jaitley has sought Rs 10 crore as damages from Kejriwal and other AAP leaders – Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpayee – for their alleged defamatory remarks. The complaint has been filed for the alleged offences under sections 499 (defamation), 500 (punishment for defamation), 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory), 502 (sale of printed or engraved substance containing defamatory matter), 34 (common intention) and 35 (when such an act is criminal by reason of its being done with a criminal knowledge or intention) of the IPC.
New Delhi, Dec 22 (IANS) The Rajya Sabha’s proceedings were again disrupted on Tuesday over the Delhi and District Cricket Association issue, as Congress members raised slogans against the government. Congress leader Kumari Selja raised the issue soon after the upper house met. Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien, however, said an allegation against a member cannot be raised without prior notice. The deputy chairman tried to make the house function, but the din continued. After around half an hour, the house was adjourned till 12 noon. The proceedings in the upper house were disrupted on Monday as well after Congress members demanded Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s resignation over alleged corruption in the DDCA.
Mumbai: Coming down heavily on Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for allegedly supporting Advocate General of Maharashtra, Shrihari Aney over his controversial statement on a separate Vidarbha state, Shiv Sena on Saturday said “this is because of faulty blood”.
“Fadnavis and other BJP ministers have firmly supported Aney. This is not surprising. It is a case of faulty blood. What else to expect from those who don’t have the blood of ‘United Maharashtra’ flowing through their veins,” an editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana said.
“How can Fadnavis say that what Aney said is his personal opinion ? If a minister eats dung, can the CM say it is his personal view ?” the Sena said. There is united Maharashtra today because of the sacrifice of 105 martyrs. The posts of CM and Assembly Speaker exist because there is Maharashtra, it said. “Shiv Sena won’t change its stance on the (Vidarbha) issue,” it added.
“People like Aney should remember that those like Prashant Bhushan who spoke of plebiscite in Kashmir were beaten up in their office,” the editorial said.
Maharashtra State Assembly speaker, Haribhau Bagde, had recently rejected the Shiv Sena’s notice on privilege motion against Aney.
The Sena had demanded his removal from the constitutional post for his statement on creating a separate state of Vidarbha.
Aney had said on December 5 at Nagpur that the Centre should hold a referendum for separate state of Vidarbha.
He had also said the 105 persons martyred in January 1960 had not given up their lives for keeping Vidarbha in Maharashtra but only to ensure that Mumbai remained in Maharashtra.
PTI
(21 Dec) The next set of crucial state polls – Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry – is likely to be held in April-May next year and will finish “well before May 24”, Election Commission (EC) sources told The Indian Express. This rules out any possibility of delaying polls in Tamil Nadu in the wake of the recent floods. “At this point, we are not considering any delay in the poll schedule as we are confident that the election machinery will be in place and much of the state would have recovered from the floods by then,” said a senior EC official, who did not wish to be identified. “Moreover, there is no such request yet from the state government or MPs.
” Poll officers pointed to the successful conduct of elections in Jammu and Kashmir last year just months after a similar calamity had hit the state. The then state Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had asked for the elections to be postponed. The EC kickstarted its preparations for the coming assembly polls with a visit to West Bengal this month. Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi and Election Commissioners Achal Kumar Jyoti and O P Rawat are going to Assam on Monday. The remaining visits will be wrapped up in the next two to three weeks, after which the poll panel will decide the final schedule. Of the states going to polls, the term of the Tamil Nadu assembly ends first (May 23) and Assam last (June 6).
(21 Dec) Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today filed a civil defamation case against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and five other Aam Aadmi Party leaders in the city high court. Jaitley accused them of issuing false and defamatory cases against him and his family members. The defamation case against Kejriwal, Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpayee was filed by Jaitley over the leaders’ comments on the alleged irregularities in Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA). Jaitley, who was the president of DDCA till 2013, has rubbished the allegations against his family members.
“”I have no family member who has even one paise interest in any form of business. Why should my family be part of a sports management business?” he said. BJP leader Kirti Azad on Sunday alleged that Jaitley attempted to sweep under the carpet the alleged DDCA irregularities. He posed 52 questions for the minister on not only his role in the DDCA but also his and his family’s alleged involvement in Hockey India.
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