Terming as “unconstitutional and illegal” AAP’s National Council meeting where they were ousted from a key panel, dissidents Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan today did not rule out taking legal recourse against their removal.

Attacking Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for his “dictatorial” tendencies and for “ruthlessly stifling” voices of dissent, Bhushan told reporters after the meeting that all options were open to them to challenge the decision.

It is true that we can move the court, Election Commission or call another meeting of the NC. All options are open,” he said.

Providing “inside details” of the meet, which witnessed turbulent scenes, the two leaders accused Kejriwal of instigating the NC members against the dissident leaders in an “orchestrated performance” and of inaction when certain members were being heckled.
They alleged that Kejriwal during his speech threatened to resign if they were not removed from the national executive.

“He gave a dramatic speech for around one hour and it was full of allegations against us. He threatened to resign if we were not removed. He also accused Shanti Bhushan of anti-party activities without taking his name. Then 10 people including MLAs like Kapil Mishra stood up and started shouting slogans calling us traitors. The drama went on for 5-7 minutes during which he (Kejriwal) stood like a statue,” Yadav said.

Yadav said that the party convenor left soon after the speech, citing “official engagements” after making Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai the chairman of the meet. Within seconds Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia “moved the resolution” to remove them.

“Sisodia said 167 members have moved the resolution and voting on that began without even getting it seconded by any other person. We asked Rai to allow a debate and to make arrangements for secret vote, but he did not react,” he said.

Yadav pointed out the “irony” of a party, “that has born out of the Jan Lokpal movement”, not allowing its internal Lokpal L Ramdas inside the meeting citing possibilities of “confrontation”.

Bhushan, who was particularly aggressive during the press conference, slammed the “hooliganism” saying that he had an “inkling” that the meeting was going to be “stage-managed” going by the “activities” of the last three days.

“Every MLA was directed to bring 50 people to the meeting. They engaged in hooliganism and those who tried to stop were booted out. Is this why we made the party through out blood and sweat? This is a grave hour of crisis for the party,” the senior lawyer said.

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM or MIM for short) has queered the pitch somewhat for the Congress by announcing its decision to field its candidate for the April 11 assembly by-election to the Bandra East constituency. Predictably Congress candidate Narayan Rane’s son MLA Nitesh Rane slammed the MIM accusing them of being a B team of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena. He added that the minority community is wise enough to understand these developments and remarked “wait and watch” for future developments.

Speaking to newspersons here at Vidhan Bhavan premises, MIM MLA from Aurangabad Imtiaz Jaleel disclosed that the party has decided to field Siraj R. Khan as its candidate for the by-election. Khan had contested the October 2014 assembly elections and had polled 23,976 votes and had come third.

Meanwhile, Sena who has fielded Trupti Sawant, widow of late Sena MLA Prakash Bala Sawant who filed her nomination papers yesterday. Narayan Rane is expected to file his nomination papers today.

Sources disclosed that both the Sena and BJP have joined hands together against the Congress. With the entry of its arch rival Narayan Rane into the poll fray, the Sena has upped its campaign with cadres vowing to teach Rane senior a lesson at the poll hustings yet again. It may be recalled that Narayan Rane had lost the October 2014 assembly election from Kudal assembly seat to Sena’s Vaibhav Naik by 9,000 votes. In October 2014 assembly elections to Bandra East constituency, Congress candidate Sanjeev Bagadi polled 12,229 votes and came a distant fourth behind the MIM candidate. Meanwhile, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate in Tasgaon-Kavthe Mahankal assembly constituency, Suman R.R. Patil will also file her nomination papers today.

The AAP National Executive is meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday to decide on the fate of its two senior leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav even as attempts are being made for reconciliation of both the camps.

The AAP National Executive is meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday to decide on the fate of its two senior leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav even as attempts are being made for reconciliation of both the camps.

While Yadav has offered an olive branch to the party’s top brass saying the question of Arvind Kejriwal staying as National Convener has never been an issue while Bhushan has said that he was “firm on ethics”. Ailing Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal, who had yesterday said he was “hurt and pained” by the “ugly battle” in the party, will not be present for the meeting today. Bhushan and Yadav will attend the meeting.

Just before the NE committee meet, Ashish Khetan, a key member of AAP’s Delhi unit, which is demanding stern action against Yadav and Bhushan, softened his stand after having lashed out at the duo in tweets yesterday.
“I should not have commented about Bhushans in public. We’ve fought for many public causes together and will hopefully continue to work as a team. Have deleted my tweets.

I am accountable to every last volunteer & will forever work to strengthen the party,” Khetan said in tweets today. The current crisis has the party split into three with one set of leaders firmly behind Kejriwal, the second being Yadav and Bhushan and the third, which has little say, comprising leaders who prefer not to take sides and are seeking a compromise.

“It never should be forgotten what both have done for the party in the past. Going by their credentials, it is very hard to believe that they were involved in anti-party activities,” said a senior party leader and member of the NE just before attending the meeting. Another member added, “Still, if the committee finds some clinching evidence, then it should give a chance to both, by serving a show-cause notice to them.”

However, another party leader said, “Everything is crystal clear and now time demands strict action against the duo, to set a precedent for the future.” “Deliberately maligning the image of the leader, in whom the 2 crore people of the state have shown immense faith, is incriminating,” said the leader, adding that Yadav and Bhushan should be ousted not only from the Political Affairs Committee, but also from AAP’s primary membership. Currently, AAP has 21-odd members in it’s national executive committee and barring a few, like Kejriwal, all are likely to be present for the meeting.

Even as BJP attempts to convince its estranged ally Shiv Sena to join the government, there is pressure from the rank-and-file of the ruling party not to commit itself to any alliance with the latter for the forthcoming municipal corporation and zilla parishad elections across Maharashtra, which will begin in March next year.
The matter was discussed at length at a BJP meeting after which party sources said the mood in the party was that it should not cede political space it has gained to the Shiv Sena and that any alliance should be “need-based”.
“After the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections this year, the political equations have drastically changed. The BJP is not only the number one party in the state, but it is also expected to do much better in the polls for civic bodies. Now, will the Shiv Sena accept BJP’s political growth?” a senior BJP functionary said.
At present, BJP has a strong presence in the BMC and several local bodies and zilla parishads across Nagpur, Bhandara, Pune Navi Mumbai, among others.
The development comes a day after BJP leader and Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan called on Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and held two-hour long meeting during which they discussed the power-sharing proposal.
Both sides are still working on the proposals. “Although we have not reached a final conclusion, the talks between Sena and BJP are still going on. I would like to reiterate that BJP wants Sena to join the government in Maharashtra,” Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said Saturday.
A Sena leader said, “The BJP has offered us one-third representation in the government with 10 berths. We have insisted for deputy chief minister’s post and home minister’s portfolio.”

New Delhi: Caught in rough weather due to internal differences, AAP will hold its National Executive (NE) meeting next week to finalise the agenda for its National Council meeting on March 28, party sources said.

The meeting of the 21-member NE, which includes top members of the party like its chief Arvind Kejriwal and beleaguered leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, will be held in the middle of next week to decide as to what issues the party will take up in the National Council meeting scheduled on Saturday.

But it is not clear whether Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal will attend the meeting, sources said.

The issues to be taken up would all depend on the outcome of the ongoing negotiations over the next few days between the two warring camps of the party. Both the sides are trying to iron out their differences on several critical issues.

The outcome of the negotiations will have a bearing on the drawing up of the agenda for the National Council meeting.

“We are hopeful of reaching a conclusion because both the sides are making efforts. However, adjustments are being done on several critical issues by the two camps in an attempt at reconciliation,” said a party leaders.

The last two meetings of the NE — held on February 26 and March 4 — were stormy affairs with the second of these witnessing the ouster of Bhushan and Yadav from AAP’s Political Affairs Committee, its highest decision-making body.

The AAP National Council has over 300 members and has to meet once a year. The last NC meeting took place in February last year.

PTI

Bimal Gurung of Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha with his 150 leaders are in New Delhi marking protests for Gorkhaland, a seperate state of the Darjeeling Hills for the Gorkhas.
Prime Minister Modi during his election campaign had addressed in Darjeeling that he would “sympathetically consider” the demand for a Gorkhaland. With this assurance Gorkha Jana Mukti had supported BJP canditate Mr S.S. Ahluwalia who now is the MP form Darjeeling.
As per the assurance and coperation the Gorkhas now want a dialouge with the Central Government.

The Gorkhaland movement was long started in the mid 80s by Subash Ghising. A bloody agitation took place with many loss of lives and many homeless. Unfortunately nothing much materliased with Late Ghising compromising with a mere Gorkha Hill Council which now under Gurung’s regime is known as Gorkhaland Territorial Administration.

The Darjeeling Hills which is the center spot for tourists and also renowned for Darjeeling Tea and the prestigious English Schools that was established during the British era. After from hefty revenues generated West Bengal has done the least for the development of the Darjeeling Hills. As a result unemployment, lack of proper infrastructre is eveident with the poor roads, electricity and Hospital conditions. The people of hills demand an equal right as citizens of India.
The local parties of the hills have now realized the protests within the hills will not result to any concrete results therefore Jantar Mantar in New Delhi is the appropriate venue for protests. A lot of public sympathy from the public is also expected to build pressure on the central Government.

BJP has always been in favour of smaller states and was also advocated by Pratap Rudy in the past. Now it is be seen how this favour is reciprocated by the Central Government.

MUMBAI: The unexpected BJP-Shiv Sena rapprochement has set off alarm bells within the NCP, with leaders facing serious corruption charges fearing CM Devendra Fadnavis will not hesitate to grant permission to the Anti-Corruption Bureau to start probes against them.

“Indeed, alliance between BJP and Shiv Sena is a bad development for the NCP. All proposals pertaining to open probe against NCP leaders are pending on Fadnavis’ table. We will not be surprised if the CM clears all the proposals,” a senior NCP leader said.
The ACB has sought permission for “open inquiry” against then irrigation ministers Ajit Pawar and Sunil Tatkare for their dubious role in granting contracts for major irrigation projects in the Konkan region, against then PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal for irregularities in construction of Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi and redevelopment of Bandra colony on the state government land, and Harshvardhan Patil for cooperative bank irregularities.
The NCP believed that in view of the sharp differences between BJP and Sena, they will never form the government together and it could maintain an upper hand in state politics by being a deciding factor as long as the BJP remained a minority government. “Then our aim was to marginalize the Shiv Sena, which had secured 63 seats against 42 won by Congress and 41 by the NCP,” the leader said.
So, the party extended unconditional support even before the BJP had staked claim to power after the elections. Subsequently, during the election of the speaker and voting on the confidence motion, NCP acted in a way that would benefit the BJP. But its strategy has failed, and the Sena is steps away from joining the government.

The NCP, however, has put up a brave front. Not only Ajit Pawar and Chhagan Bhujbal, but even Sharad Pawar has said on several occasions that NCP leaders were prepared for any probe. “Don’t give us just warnings. If the government is serious, it should complete the probe as early as possible,” Ajit Pawar recently said in Pune

In the first display of opposition unity against the Modi government, leaders of 14 political parties led by Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday marched from Parliament to Rashtrapati Bhavan against amendments to the land acquisition act and pledged to continue their “do or die” battle.
A delegation of 26 leaders including former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and H D Deve Gowda met President Pranab Mukherjee and urged him to protect the farmers’ interests by impressing upon the Modi government “not to go ahead with the amendments in the Rajya Sabha” saying they were aimed at promoting “divisions and social disharmony”.

This is the first time opposition parties have come together in such large numbers against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government since the Lok Sabha election defeat last year.
“We have come together to oppose the Narendra Modi government’s amendments to the right of fair compensation and transparency in Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation resettlement Act 2013.

“All the progressive, secular, democratic and forward looking forces are determined to defeat the Modi government’s design to promote divisions and social disharmony.

“We have come to the President to request him to intervene to protect the interest of our farmers and to impress upon Modi government not to go ahead with the amendments in the Rajya Sabha. These are some of the reasons for which we have come here,” Gandhi told the media after the delegation met the President.
Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav, coordinator for the march, declared that it will be a fight to finish as the bill “is not only anti-farmer but also anti India”.

Earlier, over 100 Opposition MPs belonging to major political parties including JD-U, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India-Marxist, Nationalist Congress Party, Aam Aadmi Party and Indian National Lok Dal marched a distance of one km over the Raisina Hill to the Presidential Estate.
Earlier Delhi police objected to the march citing imposition of regulatory orders in the area but later relented when the leaders insisted on the march.
The land acquisition law, the brain child of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council during the United Progressive Alliance regime had stringent provisions against acquisition of farmers’ land.

But the Modi government has amended some of the provisions to ease acquisition of land for industrialisation through an ordinance. The government is facing problems in ensuring its passage in Rajya Sabha where it does not have the numbers.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress Leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Ramgopal Yadav from the Samajwadi Party, Sitaram Yechury of the CPI-M, D Raja of the CPI, Derek O’Brien of the Trinamool, Kanimozhi of the DMK were among the leaders, who met the President.

Earlier during the march, the leaders shouted anti-government slogans resolving to continue their opposition till the Modi government drops changes in the 2013 bill.

In the memorandum, the party said the amendments to the ordinance have been approved by the Lok Sabha because the BJP has a majority there.

They now await consideration of the Rajya Sabha but the amendments should have been first considered by the Standing Committee.

“That did not happen since the Modi sarkar is intent on destroying the institutions of Standing Committees and Select Committees itself,” the leaders said.

The memorandum said that the amendments do away with pre-notification social impact assessment (SIA), which is an essential safeguard to prevent diversion of acquired land, to prevent acquisition of excess land and to ensure that acquisition of multi-crop irrigated land would only be a demonstrable last resort, if at all.

The SIA to be carried out in no more than six months would also identify livelihood losers entitled to compensation and relief and rehabilitation benefits, it said.
PTI

NEW DELHI: Workers and supporters of the Congress clashed with the police in Delhi today as the party held a massive protest against the land bill. The police used water cannons to control the protesters, who stormed the barricades, insisting on marching towards Parliament.

The protest was a culmination of the march that started earlier this month from Bhatta-Parsaul in Uttar Pradesh — the flashpoint of the 2011 farmer protests.

The march reached Rajghat this morning, from where the party supporters and Youth Congress members walked for about a 4 km stretch to Parliament Street, via Jantar Mantar, where senior leaders addressed the gathering.
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On the way, they were joined by senior party leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Ahmed Patel and Randeep Surjewala. Jairam Ramesh, who had flagged off the march at Parsaul, was also present on the occasion.

“We do not want any change to the 2013 land bill,” said Mr Azad, reiterating the party stand.

The Congress, which helped pass the insurance bill in Rajya Sabha, where the government is in minority, has refused to back the land bill.

The party said it can only support the 2013 version of the bill, which was formulated with a broad consensus of all parties, including the BJP. Else, the current version of the bill should be sent to a parliamentary committee, the party had demanded.

On March 10, the bill was passed in Lok Sabha after the government incorporated nine amendments and two clauses to rid the bill of the “anti-farmer” tag. Union minister Birendra Singh said the government was willing to factor in suggestions from opposition parties that were in the interest of farmers.

A failure to pass the bill in the Rajya Sabha will lead to a lapse of the current land ordinance or executive order when the Parliament session ends. The government can re-promulgate the ordinance or convene a rare joint session of Parliament — where his coalition will have a majority on paper — to pass the bill.

The entire top Congress leadership including Sonia Gandhi on Thursday took to the streets to express solidarity with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has been summoned as accused in a coal scam case, with the party President calling it “outrageous”.

Sonia Gandhi chaired a meeting of the CWC at Congress headquarters early in the morning and immediately led a march to Singh’s residence about half a km away in the heart of the capital in which several of Singh’s cabinet colleagues P Chidambaram, Anand Sharma, Ambika Soni, Veerappa Moily and K Rehman Khan were present.

The Congress leaders also attacked the government accusing it of maintaining a “studied silence” after the CBI had told the court that there was no criminality involved in the allocation of Talabira coal blocks II to Hindalco company of Aditya Birla group in Odisha in 2005 when Singh also held the portfolio of coal. Gandhi declared that they would fight the case with all legal means at their command

“I was outraged at the news that summons had been served to Manmohan Singh,” the Congress president said.
The former Prime Minister is known not only in our country but throughout the world as being a person of integrity and probity. We are here to offer our unstinted support, our solidarity. The Congress party is fully behind him. We shall fight this legally and with all our means at our command. We are sure, we are convinced that he will be vindicated,” she told reporters at Singh’s residence.

Singh, accompanied by his wife, received the leaders at the porch of his residence. The leaders greeted him warmly. The former Prime Minister had yesterday expressed confidence that he will prove his innocence in a fair trial.

“Of course, I am upset but this is part of life. I have always said I am open for legal scrutiny. I am sure the truth will prevail and I will get a chance to put forward my case with all the facts,” Singh had said.

A special court had summoned Singh along with industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, ex-coal secretary P C Parakh and three others as accused in a case pertaining to allocation of Talabira-II coal block in Odisha in 2005 and asked them to appear before it on April 8.

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/sonia-gandhi-marches-to-manmohan-singh-residence-coal-scam/1/423392.html

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/sonia-gandhi-marches-to-manmohan-singh-residence-coal-scam/1/423392.html