New Delhi, Dec 19 (IANS) The government intends to bring important legislation on structural reforms in the remaining three day left of parliament’s winter Session, notwithstanding the setback on the GST Bill, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Saturday. “The next three days are crucial with very important pieces of legislation coming up before parliament,” Jaitley said here addressing the annual general meeting of industry chamber FICCI. “India has almost ceased to be the centre of arbitration and adjudication and we need to bring it back because the arbitration costs abroad are enormous for our companies,” he said. “We are bringing in the bill for creating fast-track arbitration in the country, including single-member tribunals,” he added. The finance minister said another proposed legislation would be bringing in a new Bankruptcy Law for companies.

It’s that day the Congress leadership hoped they would never have to face. For the first time ever, party president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul will appear in court, in connection with the National Herald rip-off. Here’s what could happen. The trial court issued summons to Sonia and Rahul on a private criminal complaint of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, who alleged conspiracy, cheating, breach of trust and misappropriation of National Herald property Court told their counsel on Dec 8 not to seek further exemption from appearance for their clients; asked them to appear in court at 3 pm on Dec 19.

Sonia, Rahul will present themselves before the trial court of Metropolitan Magistrate Lovleen at Patiala House complex as humble, law-abiding citizens Don’t want a show of strength before the court. PCC chiefs, CLP leaders told not congregate in Delhi Will fight case and Modi govt politically, but must show restraint since it is a court issue, says party Cong calls it extraordinary times, claims it has full faith in the majesty of justice MPs asked to gather at party HQ on Saturday ahead of the court appearance as a sign of solidarity The BJP-led Central government has decided to allot a house to Subramanian Swamy, who is the complainant in the National Herald case in which Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi are expected to appear in court on Saturday. Multi-tier security cover at Patiala House District Court premises Shops inside the premises will remain closed on Saturday Area near Gate No 2, where the courtroom in which the hearing is scheduled is located, to be cordoned off 16 more CCTV cameras installed.

(17 Dec) Vendetta politics: Cong show of strength to mark Herald case New Delhi : There are strong indications that Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul’s appearance at a Delhi court on December 19 in connection with the National Herald case would also be an occasion for a show of strength by the party. Authoritative sources have indicated that the two top leaders who have been charged along with five others are likely to prefer ‘jail to bail’ and are not inclined to seek bail, even if offered by the court. “You will get to know our strategy on December 19,”quipped party’s chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala when asked to comment on this issue. All lawmakers, chief ministers and senior party leaders have been asked to remain present at the party headquarters on the morning of December 19, and they could all march to the court in solidarity with the leaders.

The case, filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, accuses the Gandhis and four others of forming a company with the intention of acquiring property belonging to the now defunct newspaper National Herald that was founded by Jawaharlal Nehru. The seventh entity summoned in the case is Young Indian, the company formed by them, in which the Gandhis own 76 per cent shares. Whereas the Congress has charged that the government is indulging in vendetta politics, union finance minister Arun Jaitley has maintained that is a baseless allegation as Swamy was not in the BJP when the case was filed. Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate has raided the office of former union finance minister P Chidamabaram’s son Karti in Chennai. The reason for the raids is unknown, but Karti issued a statement saying that there was no basis for the agency to visit his office. “Neither I nor any of my family members have any connections with the said firms,” he said. Reacting to the ED’s action, Chidambaram said, “Nothing was found in the “fishing and roving enquiry, and observed that the “foolish” government was harassing his son Karti and wondered how far it would go.

Mumbai, Dec 16 (PTI) Aam Aadmi Party workers from here and neighbouring Thane district today protested against the CBI raid at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s office building in Delhi, calling it a “blatant misuse” of the agency by Centre.

AAP workers gathered at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai and held a demonstration denouncing yesterday’s raid, saying the action is akin to “unannounced emergency”.

“It is clear now that (Finance Minister) Arun Jaitley misled Parliament saying that the CM’s (Kejriwal’s) office was not raided. However, it is seen today that the CM’s office was indeed raided, all files examined and many files taken away by CBI,” AAP national spokesperson Preeti Sharma Menon said.

Dismissing Jaitley’s claim, Kejriwal today uploaded image of a document listing the files allegedly taken away by CBI from Delhi Secretariat.

Menon said similar demonstrations were organised at various places in the city “to raise awareness on the conduct of the Central government”.

The raid by CBI on the office of Kejriwal’s Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar in connection with a corruption case had set off a bitter war of words between Kejriwal and the BJP. The CBI has denied that Kejriwal’s office, located in secretariat, was searched.

“This is a complete murder of democracy and the Aam Aadmi Party feels it is imperative for all persons who value their freedom to protest against this unannounced emergency,” Menon said.

The protest was jointly led by Menon and Ashutosh Sengar, joint in-charge of the party’s Maharashtra unit.

(17 Dec) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has said that the CBI searched the office of his principal secretary with the intention of acquiring documents relating to an inquiry conducted into the alleged financial irregularities of the DDCA, the cricket association of which Arun Jaitley was president from December 1999 to 2013. On November 12, in the run-up to the India-South Africa Test match, the Delhi govt had set up a three-member panel to probe the allegations levelled against the DDCA. The probe panel members were Principal Secretary (PWD) Chetan B Sanghi, Secretary (Sports) Punya Salil Srivastava and senior standing counsel of Delhi govt Rahul Mehra. In its findings after a two-day probe, the panel highlighted the findings of three reports -the report of a probe panel set up by Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, DDCA’s internal fact-finding panel and the Delhi High Court-appointed panel to oversee the polls of the DDCA’s sports working committee. Twenty plus irregularities, including those in accounting practices, for financial years 2008-09 to 2011-12 when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was the president of the DDCA. * DDCA has weak internal control system, its fixed assets registers are not being maintained. * Major transactions made in cash of over Rs 20,000; transaction and payments were made to directors/ members without approval of Board of Directors and/or Central government. *

It took nearly 5 years to reconstruct Feroz Shah Kotla stadium from 2002 to 2007. The initial budget was Rs 24 crore, but it eventually cost Rs 114 crore. * No proper records of contracts issued for the stadium’s construction. * Unauthorised construction was done without permission from MCD and Delhi Urban Arts Commission. * The DDCA has constructed corporate boxes without appropriate approvals. “It is also observed that during the period under inspection, Shri Arun Jaitley, Hon’ble MP, and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha is also the president of the DDCA, and presiding over the meetings of the executive committee (board of directors) like a non-executive chairman without involvement in day-to-day affairs of the company” – SFIO Report * Proof of “huge financial irregularity”. * Spurious and illegitimate payments were made to certain firms in 2013-14. * The association is overstaffed; still a lot of money has been spent on hiring superfluous workers. * Largescale payments were made in the form of overtime. * Payments were made to nine firms which, on investigation, turned out to have the same registered office, same e-mail IDs as well as common directors. * Duplicate bills were issued and the reasons for payments are falsified. * Payments were made to companies that have never done any job/work or assignment. * There is acute lack of transparency in the working of the DDCA. * Members were illegally running private cricket academies under the umbrella of DDCA and minting money. * No scope for students, genuine players to participate in DDCA matches

NEW DELHI: Amid his confrontation with the Centre, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today made fresh allegations against the CBI, accusing it of seizing documents “unrelated” to the agency’s probe against his Principal Secretary and claimed that a file relating to DDCA was scrutinised by it. Kejriwal also launched a fresh attack on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, saying he had “misled” Parliament by saying that the CBI did not raid the Chief Minister’s office. “CBI kept reading DDCA file in my office.They wud hv seized it. But after my media briefing, they left it. Not clear if they took a copy. Docs seized from my office.No relation to allegations being probed.Item 7 -file movement register of last one month,” he said in a series of tweets.Kejriwal suggested that Jaitley was worried about Delhi government’s probe into the functioning of DDCA. Jaitley had yesterday dismissed the allegations against him as “rubbish”. Kejriwal also uploaded image of a document listing the files allegedly taken away by CBI from Delhi Secretariat during its day-long raid yesterday. The office of Kejriwal’s Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar was raided by CBI yesterday in a corruption case triggering a fresh face-off between the AAP and Centre and a vicious political slugfest in which the AAP chief lashed out against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Kejriwal claimed his office was raided which was denied by CBI as well as the Finance Minister in Rajya Sabha where the opposition created an uproar. The chief minister claimed he was in fact the target and that Kumar was just an excuse.

(14 Dec) New Delhi: Rejecting any “flip flop”, India today asserted that the decision to re-start talks with Pakistan was based on “trust” and said the intent would be to have an “uninterrupted” dialogue process despite provocations by the “saboteurs”, an apparent reference to terror groups. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, while briefing Parliament on her recent visit to Pakistan, justified the decision to have ‘Comprehensive Dialogue’, saying there is a “need for bridging the gulf” with the neighbouring country for peace and stability in the region. Answering critics, she said in the latest arrangement, the level of talks on terror has been raised as this issue will now be dealt with by the National Security Advisers (NSAs) instead of Foreign Secretaries as earlier.

The fact that NSAs of India and Pakistan met in Bangkok without any publicity does not mean any third country’s involvement but it was only to take forward the Ufa process as such a meeting could not take place in Delhi as “you all know”, she told the Lok Sabha. Swaraj, who sought the support of Parliament to the latest initiative with Pakistan, made suo motu statements in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and answered questions posed by members in the Lower House like whether Pakistan could be trusted particularly since the history shows that dialogue has been accompanied by attacks from Pakistan. She appreciated the fact that the House had welcomed the initiative after 13 members from various parties spoke. “Nothing has changed on the ground. Because we had said that terror and talks cannot go together. So at Ufa, we said that NSAs will talk on terrorism,” she said to a question about what had changed since September when NSA talks could not take place after Pakistan insisted that Kashmir should be discussed at the meet.

“Whenever talks happen, that is based on trust..There is a need to bridge the gulf (with Pakistan),” Swaraj said, adding progress in dialogue is necessary for peace. Underlining that “The only way forward is through dialogue”, she said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had initiated the efforts to reach out to Pakistan not in Ufa but even before he took oath on May 26 last year when he invited Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for his swearing-in ceremony. To demands by some members for assurance that thedialogue process will be “uninterruptable”, she said, “It never works like that. We would like not to get provoked by the saboteurs, who want to stall the dialogue somehow, and will try find a way forward through the dialogue. This will be our intent.” When some members alleged ‘flip flop’, she said it was not the “correct definition” as stopping and re-starting a dialogue process is a “part of diplomacy”

(15 Dec) Taking tensions between the Delhi government and the Centre to a new level, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday claimed that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided his office at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also went as far as to call the Prime Minister a ‘coward and a psychopath.’ The central agency has registered a case against Rajendra Kumar for allegedly favouring a firm in getting contracts from Delhi government. A CBI spokesperson said, “The CBI has registered a case against Rajender Kumar, secretary to CM Delhi, on the allegation of abusing his official position by favouring a particular firm in the last few years in getting tenders from delhi government departments. After taking warrants, searches are being conducted in the office and residence of Rajendra Kumar.” CBI sources said the case was registered based on a complaint filed former Delhi Dialogue Commission member Ashish Joshi who has a running feud with Kejriwal. Joshi was one of the first few bureaucrats with whom Kejriwal picked up a battle after assuming office in Delhi.

The feud eventually saw an unceremonious exit of Joshi from the Delhi Dialogue Commission. CBI lying. My own office raided. Files of CM office are being looked into. Let Modi say which file he wants? – Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) December 15, 2015 “I am the only CM who dismissed, on my own, a minister n a senior officer on charges of corruption and handed their cases to CBI. If CBI had any evidence against Rajender, why didn’t they share it wid me? I wud hv acted against him,” Kejriwal wrote on Twitter. The raid could potentially be the latest flash-point in what has been a highly troublesome and tumultous relationship between the AAP government and the BJP-ruled Centre ever since Kejriwal assumed power. Explained: Last week, The Indian Express Kumar, the most powerful bureaucrat in the capital, was questioned several times by the Anti-Corruption Branch of the Delhi government in connection with the 2002 CNG fitness scam case. Sources said Kumar denied any involvement in the case. Back in June, the Home Ministry was all set to initiate disciplinary action against Kumar for not relinquishing his position. Kumar had assumed the charge of home secretary after the city government shifted incumbent senior IAS officer Dharam Pal and placed him at the disposal of the Home Ministry following a tussle between the AAP government and Lt-Governor Najeeb Jung over the appointment of Mukesh Kumar Meena as chief of Anti-Corruption Branch. The government on its part has denied any involvement in the CBI raids.

On Friday, proceedings in Parliament continued to be disrupted with Congress MPs refusing to relent on their vociferous protest against the government for what they claim is “political vendetta”. The Rajya Sabha had to be adjourned more than once. It has been like this for the past four days ever since a trial court in Delhi issued summons to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, who is also the party vice-president, in what has come to be known as the ‘National Herald Case’.

The questionable acquisition of Associated Journals Ltd, a public limited company and publisher of the now defunct newspaper National Herald, by Young Indian, a private limited company in which Sonia and Rahul own 38% shares each, has been in the news for some time. The details of how Congress funds were used for the transaction that has given Young Indian control over AJL’s vast prime properties are by now well known and need not be recounted in detail.

Two points are of interest and merit elaboration. First, the National Herald case dates back to the time when Congress was in office as the head of the UPA government and Sonia wielded enormous power, though no accountability. Documents related to the AJL-Young Indian deal appeared in the public domain in 2012, a full two years before the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

Second, Subramanian Swamy, who has taken the transaction to court alleging “criminal breach of trust”, was not a member of the BJP in 2012-13. That he has since joined the BJP does not in any manner change the fact that the petition was filed by a private citizen and maintained by the judiciary.

Therefore, to allege, as the Congress is doing, that the National Herald case is a BJP-inspired litigation or harassment by proxy by the government of the day is at once far-fetched and untenable. Unless the Congress is insinuating that the judiciary, including the High Court of Delhi, is willing to do the bidding of the government. That would be tipping over into the dangerous zone of contempt which any well-wisher of the Congress and admirer of the Nehru Dynasty should try and avoid.

Ideally, the Congress should have responded to the court summons, issued after the High Court rejected the defendants’ plea, with dignity. Sonia and Rahul should have said they would be present in court (which in any case they have agreed to do on December 19) and let the law take its own course. The numerous top gun lawyers in the Congress should have said they would contest and disprove Swamy’s charge of criminal misdemeanour (which the court says is prima facie valid).

Instead, the only other national party’s response has been anything but dignified. Flatterers have sensed an opportunity to demonstrate loyalty. Lawyers have betrayed a certain tasteless disdain for the judiciary and judicial process. The First Family of the Congress has been less than gracious.

“I am Indira Gandhi’s daughter-in-law. I am not afraid,” said Sonia in response to the summons. “This is pure vendetta coming out of the Prime Minister’s Office,” added Rahul. “This is political vendetta… Modi’s dictatorship… Hitlership…” has been the subsequent loyalist refrain both inside and outside Parliament, prompting Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha PJ Kurien to quip, in half amusement and half puzzlement, “Why are you howling? It is not in human nature to howl.”

Not surprisingly, the Trinamool Congress has come out in support of the Congress and the Dynasty. The TMC’s top leaders are facing prosecution for benefiting from chit fund scams and the party’s boss Mamata Banerjee has similarly claimed “political vendetta” as the heat generated by the CBI’s investigation threatens to singe, if not scorch her. It makes sense to make common cause.

Surprisingly, though, the Aam Aadmi Party, which has made a fetish of fighting corruption and misuse of office for self, has maintained a loud silence on the National Herald Case. So loud that Delhi is awash with stories of an AAP-Congress alliance in the making as part of a ‘Mahagathbandhan’ to take on the NDA and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019.

But corruption has never succeeded in trouncing political expediency. At the moment, the ongoing sideshows of stated and unstated solidarity with the Congress are not really overwhelmingly important. At best they indicate the direction of future winds.

What should concern everyone, especially those who worry about the revival of India’s economy without which neither jobs nor development would happen, is the disruption of proceedings in Parliament. There are many who see nothing wrong with this; after all the BJP did it too when in Opposition. That’s whataboutery at best and chicanery at worst. It could be argued if the BJP’s stalling of parliamentary proceedings was wrong, it does not make the Congress’s disruptive tactics right. More importantly, as someone acidly commented on Twitter, “The BJP stalled proceedings to protest Congress’s corruption; the Congress is doing the same to protest Congress’s corruption”.

Popular perception is not influenced in the Congress’s favour given the present circumstances. Arguably, corruption per se is never a clincher of an election issue or else Lalu Prasad Yadav, convicted of corruption and out on bail, would not have succeeded in winning more seats for his party RJD than Nitish Kumar could for his JDU in the Bihar Assembly election. But the Congress would be committing a huge mistake in copying the Lalu Model. The crafty meshing of identity politics and community votes in caste-ridden Bihar helped Lalu Prasad Yadav. That advantage does not accrue to the Congress.

More importantly, India was a different country in 1975 when Mrs Indira Gandhi could thumb her nose at the judiciary, bank on ‘committed judges’, and impose Emergency with impunity after the Allahabad High Court judgement unseated her from Parliament and disqualified her from contesting elections. Forty years later, it would be disastrous for Mrs Indira Gandhi’s daughter-in-law to attempt a replay of her mother-in-law’s brazen bravado. Nor should Sonia bank on recreating her mother-in-law’s post-1977 victimhood narrative. Like Morarji Desai, Narendra Modi may be a Gujarati, stern and puritan, but the comparison does not extend any further. The two, to use a cliche, are as different as chalk and cheese as are the Janata and NDA governments.

Equally important is the fact that unlike the Shah Commission of Inquiry, the judiciary is not a creation of the government. Narendra Modi may be a Gujarati, stern and puritan, but the comparison does not extend any further. The two, to use a cliche, are as different as chalk and cheese as are the Janata and NDA Governments.

Wisdom demands that the Congress demonstrate maturity and display responsibility to remind people that it still remains a national party. Unless the disruption ends, the GST Bill will not pass in the Rajya Sabha and the April deadline for its implementation won’t be met. Surely this fact is not lost on the Congress?

Or are we to assume that the Congress has decided not to allow any legislation to pass the Parliament’s approval by blocking Bills in the Rajya Sabha under some excuse or the other? If the Congress strategy is to hobble the Modi government by blocking key legislation, then there is little to say. All that can be said is that this would amount to cutting India’s nose to spite Congress’s face.

GUWAHATI: Six BJP MLAs and nine from Congress, who had recently declared their allegiance to the opposition party, were today suspended from Assam Assembly for the 5-day Winter Session by Speaker Pranab Gogoi for disobeying his ruling and creating noisy scenes. Just before the beginning of the Question Hour on the first day of the session, the Speaker gave the ruling that all the BJP members and those from Congress supporting it, have been suspended from the House for the entire Winter Session. BJP has six MLAs and nine Congress MLAs recently announced their decision to join the party. All of them were suspended. The strength of the Assembly is 126. Earlier, when the House assembled, BJP MLA Jadav Chandra Deka demanded scrapping of the Question Hour and holding of a discussion on the “deteriorating law and order situation” in the state.

“The law and order situation is deteriorating day by day. Hindi-speaking people are being tortured and Jehadi activities are on rise. Allow us to discuss the issues by today itself,” Deka said. When the Speaker did not accept his demand, all BJP MLAs stood up and shouted in support of their demand. Immediately, all Congress MLAs, including the ministers, countered the opposition demand by shouting back. The BJP MLAs then rushed to the Well of the House and pressed the Speaker with their demand. They were joined by the Congress MLAs, who had recently declared their allegiance to the opposition party but had not resigned from the ruling party. Thereafter, two Congress MLAs also rushed to the Well and shouted slogans against BJP, leading to a face-off between the members. With no signs of cooling of frayed tempers, the Speaker called the Marshals, who took the BJP MLAs out of the House, and announced his decision to suspend the members for the Winter Session period. Congress MLAs then returned to their seats and normal business began. Outside the House, the expelled BJP members shouted slogans against the state government and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who holds the Home portfolio. The opposition members also demanded immediate resignation of the Chief Minister for failing to improve the law and order situation in the state. However, the Congress MLAs, supporting BJP, have not formally resigned forcing the ruling party to seek termination of their membership just before the start of the Winter Session. Today, after the Question Hour ended, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rockybul Hussain again demanded action against the nine Congress members. “Some of our MLAs walked out with BJP members and they have not resigned from the party. It proves that they have defected. There are many recommendations against defection in India. I request you to take action against them accordingly,” Hussain told the Speaker. On this, the Speaker said, “I will take action as per rules.”