Amethi (UP), May 18 (PTI) Taking up the fight for mega food park in his Lok Sabha constituency Amethi, Rahul Gandhi today marched through the dusty pathways to reach the site proposed for the unit and alleged that the project was cancelled by the Centre because of “politics of revenge”.

The Congress Vice President said scrapping of the project had “seriously hit” the farmers and that he had come here to expose the “bluff” of the Centre which has maintained that the responsibility for its cancellation lay with the promoter company and the previous UPA government.

“Land had been allotted. Work was very much underway,” said the 44-year-old Gandhi as he walked some two kilometers on dusty tracks to reach the site that had been identified for the proposed food park.

“BJP wants to hurt me through this politics of revenge.

But in reality, the farmers are getting affected, not me. BJP is playing such politics in other states as well, like Punjab, Telangana, Maharashtra and Haryana, wherever farmers can be suppressed,” Gandhi said amidst loud cheers from the gathered farmers.

Patna, May 17 (PTI) Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh today hit out at the Centre for the recent petro price hike and said it will hurt the common man.

“The NDA government has raised prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 7 and Rs 5 respectively over the past fortnight…Petrol products’ price hike will hurt the common man as the cost of essential commodities will escalate,” he told reporters at the airport.

Slamming the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre for not passing on the benefits of decline in international crude oil prices in the past one year, Ramesh said petrol now costs Rs 73 per litre when the crude oil price stands at 60-65 US Dollar per barrel.

It was a far cry from the days of the UPA government, which had scaled down petrol price to Rs 70 per litre while the crude price stood up at 140 US Dollar per barrel, he said.

“Not passing on the benefit of decline in crude oil prices, reflects the NDA government’s insensitivity towards the people,” the former union rural development minister added.

New Delhi, May 11 (PTI) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today moved in Lok Sabha a bill which provides for penalty and tax up to 120 per cent along with criminal prosecution for those who have parked black money abroad.

Piloting the Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of Tax) Bill, 2015 for passage, Jaitley asked the Opposition not to develop “cold feet” in supporting the legislation.

He rejected the opposition demand of referring it to the Standing Committee saying delay in enacting the legislation would provide opportunity to offenders to transfer unaccounted overseas wealth to unknown destinations.

For those wanting to come clean, Jaitley said there would be a compliance window in two parts — to declare assets and to pay 30 per cent tax and 30 per cent penalty.

Citing an example, he said, there could be a two-month window to declare overseas assets and within six months one would have to pay tax and penalty.

Once the compliance window closes, anyone found having undeclared overseas wealth would be required to pay 30 per cent tax, 90 per cent penalty and face criminal prosecution, said Jaitley.

The Bill, which was introduced amid persistant demand for dealing effectively with black money stashed abroad, provides for rigorous imprisonment of up to 10 years for offenders.

Rejecting the opposition demand of sending the bill to Parliamentary Standing Committee for scrutiny, he said, “when we are taking steps, don’t develop cold feet. For last 11 months, you have been asking what steps are you taking. When I took steps, do walk the talk and support the bill and drop the demand of sending it to Standing Committee.” .

New Delhi, May 2 (PTI) Firing yet another salvo at Narendra Modi government, Rahul Gandhi today claimed it had diluted provisions of Real Estate Regulatory Authority Bill making the legislation pro-builders from being pro-buyers.

After meeting several NCR flat buyers today, the Congress Vice President, who has been attacking the Centre over land bill issue and the plight of farmers, said that he had learnt that it is not just farmers and tribals but also the middle class people that are “suppressed” on matters related to land.

Assuring homebuyers that he would stand by them, Gandhi said that it was due to lack of transparency, the buyers were left in a quandary.

“They are told that you will get the flat on a particular day but for years they don’t get the flat. They are told the super duper area of the flat would be so much but what is delivered is different,” he said.

He said that someone was promised that the flat will have a good view, but a few months after the flat was delivered, another building came up and the view was blocked.

He said the government was trying to destroy the Bill which Congress led UPA had brought to regulate the real estate sector.

“Main dilution is that there was clear transparency. The carpet area that you sign is what would be given. They have diluted and from pro-buyer, made it pro-builder,” he said.

Attacking the government, he said, “What it is doing against farmers and tribals, it is also doing against the middle class”.

“I have assured them that the way I stand with farmers and tribals I stand with them also,” he told reporters.

Mumbai, Apr 29 (PTI) Shiv Sena’s Trimbak Tupe was today elected Aurangabad Mayor and BJP’s Pramod Rathod deputy mayor, with the ruling alliance in Maharashtra reaching a power sharing formula in the largest civic body in Marathwada.

BJP, which had put up a candidate for the mayoral poll after initial talks between the two parties did not yield a ‘satisfactory’ solution for power sharing, pulled out of the mayoral race.

Tupe bagged 71 votes in the house of 113 members, defeating dalit corporator Gangadhar Dhage of MIM, who polled 26 votes. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which has 5 corporators in the civic body, backed Tupe.Congress candidate Afsar Khan got 13 votes.

Tupe, who became the 20th Mayor of Aurangabad, said his priorities will be to provide clean water, good roads and improve sanitation in the city.

Rathod who join BJP three months, got 70 votes for the deputy mayor’s post, defeating MIM’s Feroz Khan who secured 26 votes. Congress candidate Bhausaheb Jagtap got 13 votes.

BJP MLA and party’s in-charge for municipal polls in Aurangabad Atul Save said BJP decided to withdraw its nominee Raju Shinde from the mayoral race “in the larger social interest”.

There were reports that both the parties have reached an understanding on power sharing in the civic body.

Sena has 29 and BJP 22 corporators in the Aurangabad civic body.

New Delhi, Apr 29 (PTI) Highlighting the farmers’ plight a day after his Punjab visit, Rahul Gandhi today targetted Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Lok Sabha for his foreign tours and said he should travel to the state to know first hand about the condition of the farming community.

“Again his (PM’s) tour is on the cards. He has come here for sometime. He should visit Punjab and he will know first hand what is happening to farmers,” the Congress Vice President said, triggering uproar as BJP members protested.

Raising the issue of farmers during Zero Hour a day after his visit to mandis in Punjab, Gandhi said he wanted to apprise the House of the pain and problems of the state’s farmers whose produce is lying in mandis and is not being procured by the government.

The refrain of Gandhi was that the NDA government had left the farmer to fend for himself.

Amid protests by BJP members, Gandhi took a swipe at the Prime Minister’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, questioning whether farmers are not contributing to ‘Make in India’ by providing food to the entire country.

“When there was hailstorm, the government did not help.

State governmments used to give bonus, farmers tolerated its non-payment. Farmers were lathicharged when they asked for fertiliser. Now their produce is not being lifted from mandis,” he said.

Gandhi accused the government of not procuring the produce of farmers, a charge rubbished by Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan who hit back by suggesting that the Congress leader was trying to become a “martyr by cutting a finger”.

Gandhi said “while farmers in the mandis are crying, the Haryana Agriculture Minister is saying farmers committing suicide are cowards,” he said amid cries of “shame, shame” from the opposition.

Asserting that government is purchasing each and every grain from farmers, Paswan insisted that the government under the leadership of Modi had taken several decisions for the welfare of farmers which had not happened in the past 10 years of the UPA.

Contending that the Prime Minister is not only concerned about the welfare of farmers, Paswan said he has proactively taken several steps to help the farmers hit hard by unseasonal rains and hailstorm.

There was uproar over the issue, leading to adjournment of the House for 10 minutes. .

Kolkata, Apr 28 (PTI) In a major boost to the party ahead of next year’s Assembly polls, the Trinamool Congress today scored a landslide victory in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation bagging 114 of the 144 wards, and also won 69 of the 91 civic bodies in districts across West Bengal.

The victory in the municipal polls, which was billed as the semifinal before the Assembly polls, will act as a shot in the arm for the TMC, which recently faced serious allegations of corruption, including alleged involvement of some of its leaders in the Saradha Chit Fund scam.

Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee termed the victory as “a befitting reply to the slanderous campaign carried out by the Opposition and a section of the media.”

The TMC, which in the last KMC polls had won 95 seats, increased its tally to 114 while the main opposition CPI(M)- led Left Front was reduced to just 15 from 33.

The BJP, which was hoping to replace the Left as the main opposition in the KMC, miserably failed, managing to increase its tally from three to just seven seats.

Independents bagged three seats in the KMC.

Congress, which was fast becoming insignificant in state politics, managed to win five seats, down from eight in 2010.

Although the TMC scored a big win, it got some blows too as several heavyweights bit the dust.

Chairman of the outgoing KMC board Sachidananda Banerjee, deputy mayor Farzana Alam of TMC besides prominent party councillor Paresh Pal were defeated.

On the part of CPI(M), the leader of opposition in the outgoing KMC board Rupa Bagchi was defeated by her nearest TMC rival.

Contrary to KMC, the results in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation showed the CPI(M)-led Left Front has managed to regain some of its lost ground capturing 23 of the 47 seats.

TMC bagged 17 seats in Siliguri Municipal Corporation, which was regarded as a prestige fight for TMC leader and state minister Gautam Deb and CPI(M) leader and former minister Ashok Bhattacharya.

The Congress won five seats while the BJP got two seats and an independent won one seat in Siliguri. .

Mumbai: Opposition Congress on Wednesday demanded the resignation of Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Eknath Khadse for submitting “false information” to Centre on the number of farmers having killed themselves owing to unseasonal rains and hailstorm in the state.

“Between January and March, 622 farmers had committed suicide including 448 in Vidarbha region, which is the highest. The state government has not provided any relief to the farmers who have suffered crop loss due to unseasonal rains and hailstorm but provided false information to the Centre that only three farmers had committed suicide,” said the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil.

Khadse had earlier this week said there were only three cases of suicides by farmers due to the natural disasters while the total number of farmers who committed suicide was 601 this year.

Demanding resignation of Khadse, who also holds portfolio of Relief and Rehabilitation, Vikhe Patil said the government only created a public perception that it is with farmers in their time of despair.

The BJP-led NDA government in Maharashtra has been facing flak for stating in a report to the Centre that only three farmers committed suicide in the state following the hailstorm and unseasonal rains in the last few weeks, with Congress and NCP slamming the government for being “insensitive” and “under-reporting” facts.

“Eleven days have passed since the Budget session of the state Legislature ended. However, there is no clarity yet on the promises made by government on floor of the House like bonus for paddy and cotton growers and FRP (fair and remunerative price) for sugarcane growers,” Vikhe Patil told reporters at a press conference here.
PTI

Chennai: Slamming the land acquisition bill as “draconian”, NDA constituent PMK Wednesday called for opposition unity to defeat it in the Rajya Sabha.

Party founder S Ramadoss said the amendments proposed by the central government were in “no way advantageous to the farmers”, and claimed that it would further add to their woes.

“The government is determined to pass this draconian bill in the face of stiff opposition. This is testimony to the central government’s anti-farmer position,” he said.

Ramadoss, who has been critical of the Centre on various issues, alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley “with the intention to deceive the nation, are doing a false propaganda that it will help improve the lives of farmers”.

While Modi had stated that industries would come up in rural areas aimed at improving lives of the locals, “Jaitley is claiming” that it will usher in 30 crore jobs, he said.

“How can this be possible? The Prime Minister and Finance Minister who assure that the bill will bring spring in farmers’ lives have not given a roadmap to achieve this. This proves that they are hollow promises,” he said in a statement.

Ramadoss said that if Modi can assure that families of farmers parting with land would be given “jobs and shares” of the company, “then we can welcome his intentions”.

The government had recently stated that over 40 per cent of land acquired for Special Economic Zones had remained untilised for over five years, he said, adding these tracts of land could be used for building new industries.

If further land was acquired for industries they also may remain unutilised and the new bill would only help to acquire lands of farmers at very low costs and transfer them to corporates, “who will use them for real estate purposes and make crores of money,” he said.

“This seems to be the wish of the central government and corporates. They appear to achieve this purpose only,” he said, adding farmers would be severely affected if the bill was passed.

“Since the passing of the bill in Lok Sabha appears certain, the opposition should unite and ensure that the bill is defeated in the Rajya Sabha.

“Particularly the MPs of Tamil Nadu from AIADMK, DMK, Congress, Left and the nominated members should vote against the bill in Rajya Sabha,” he said.

All democratic efforts should be made to defeat the land bill if the NDA tried to pass it through a Joint Session of Parliament, he added.
PTI

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of running a government for the “super rich” and slammed his government for the “inordinate urgency” for bringing the Land Acquisition Ordinance hurting the farmers.

Mr. Kejriwal launched a major political attack on Mr. Modi, the first after his landslide victory in the Delhi Assembly polls in February, at a farmers rally here, but the event was marred by the suicide of a farmer from Rajasthan, who hanged himself from a tree in front of the chief minister.

He alleged that the central government has “betrayed” the trust of the farmers on whose votes the BJP came to power.

“The farmers had reposed trust in Narendra Modi and voted him to power. Now they have lost their trust (in the government) within a year. They are coming out in thousands protesting against the land bill,” he said, addressing a modest gathering.

“Narendra Modi government is anti-farmer. It is a government of the super rich. The bill has been brought to favour the super rich who move 24 hours around Modi,” Mr. Kejriwal alleged.

He sought to know what was the urgency behind bringing the Ordinance which is an emergency power. “The whole country wants to know why was it brought — was there a project that was stalled? If there was no such thing, then what was the hurry?” the chief minister asked.