Arvind Kejriwal all set to take oath as Delhi CM today; President's rule revoked

February 14, 2015

New Delhi, Feb 14: President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday night appointed Arvind Kejriwal as chief minister of Delhi along with six cabinet ministers.

Arvind Kejriwal

A home ministry statement said the President appointed Kejriwal as the chief minister of Delhi with effect from the date he is sworn in.

"The President, on the advise of the chief minister, has also appointed Manish Sisodia, Asim Ahmed Khan, Sandeep Kumar, Satyendar Jain, Gopal Rai and Jitender Singh Tomar as ministers of Delhi," the statement said.

Earlier, the President revoked the order issued on February 16, 2014 under article 239AB of the Constitution imposing central rule in Delhi to pave the way for installation of an elected government.

In the recently held Delhi assembly elections, Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) scored a historic victory sweeping 67 of the 70 seats.

Kejriwal is set to take oath as chief minister along with his cabinet colleagues today at Ramlila Maidan, the the protest venue of the anti-graft campaigners over three years ago.

This will be his second term as Delhi chief minister after he resigned last February following a 49-day stint in government in the national capital with the support of Congress.

His deputy, Manish Sisodia, is set to head the education, public works and urban development departments. Former health minister Satyendra Jain may retain his portfolio while senior leader Gopal Rai is tipped be to the next transport and labour minister, sources said.

Sultanpur Majra legislator Sandeep Kumar, a lawyer by profession, will possibly look after the women and child welfare, and the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe welfare departments.

Tri Nagar MLA Jitendra Tomar will possibly be the law minister and Matia Mahal legislator Asim Ahmed Khan is likely to be given charge of the food and civil supplies and the minority affairs ministries.

Rai, Kumar, Tomar and Khan are all first-time MLAs as the party looks to keep Saturday’s event dispute-free by dropping former minister Somnath Bharti and Rakhi Birla, both of whom were embroiled in controversy during AAP’s 49-day rule last year.

Kejriwal’s two-year-old party won a record mandate this week, securing 67 out of the 70 seats in the Delhi assembly, reducing its main rival BJP’s strength to just three legislators.

Saturday’s swearing-in is likely to see a turnout of over 150,000 people and the government has put 40,000 chairs on the ground, with standing space for another 20,000.

Authorities have put up 12 LED screens so that the public can view the ceremony live and installed 76 CCTV cameras to ensure security. There are 12 enclosures for the public and one VIP enclosure.

“Two monitoring units have been set up, with one taking care of 51 cameras while the other tracking the rest 25,” said a senior government official.

Around 3,000 security personnel have been deployed on all arterials roads leading to the venue. Metal detectors have also been installed in and around the ground, while 60 baggage scanners have been put in for the first time, the official said.

Kejriwal’s poor health, however, has acted as a dampener, curtailing a proposed roadshow to the Ramlila grounds. The AAP chief will not take the Metro to his swearing-in as he did last year and travel to the venue in a car instead.

All Delhi MLAs, seven BJP MPs, former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit and all central ministers have been invited for the event.

“In 2013, the ceremony saw a little over one lakh people turn up but we expect more this time as the victory is much bigger,” said an AAP worker.

The main stage from where Kejriwal has addressed huge crowds several times in the past has been given a fresh coat of paint. The public works department is also busy decking up the venue with potted plants and flowers.

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News Network
January 17,2020

New Delhi, Jan 17: Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia does not have any car on his name, according to information shared in the poll affidavit filed by him for Delhi elections.

In the affidavit, it is also shown that while his self-acquired immovable property remained roughly the same as in 2015. His wife's self-acquired immovable property is worth roughly about Rs 65 lakh, as per his latest affidavit.

In the papers submitted during the nomination for 2015 Delhi polls, the senior AAP leader had declared that he owned a Maruti Swift car of make 2013.

However, in his 2020 affidavit, he has mentioned "nil" in the column for motor vehicles and other means of transport.

In the affidavit submitted on Thursday, his moveable assets were declared worth Rs 4,74,888 for 2018-19, as against Rs 4,92,624 for 2013-14.

In 2015, Sisodia had informed in his affidavit that he had bought a property in Vasundhara, Ghaziabad, worth Rs 5.07 lakh in April 2001. The approximate current market value of self-acquired property in 2015 was Rs 12 lakh.

In his current affidavit, the AAP leader has mentioned the same property. However, the approximate current market value of self-acquired property in 2020 has increased to Rs 21 lakh.

In his affidavit for the 2015 polls, Sisodia had also said that his wife had purchased a property in March 2008 costing Rs 8.70 lakh. At that time, the approximate value of her self-acquired property was Rs 20 lakh.

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Agencies
January 15,2020

New Delhi, Jan 15: Suspended Deputy Superintendent of J&K Police Davinder Singh had ferried Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Naveed Babu to Jammu last year also and facilitated his return to Shopian after "rest and recuperation", officials interrogating him said here Tuesday.

"Meri mati maari gayi thi (I must have lost my mind to do what I did)," an interrogator quoted Singh as saying after the DSP failed to impress them with his theory of catching a big terrorist.

Singh was arrested last Saturday along with Naveed Babu alias Babar Azam, a resident of Nazneenpora in South Kashmir's Shopian district, and his associate Asif Ahmad.

He is believed to have taken Rs 12 lakh for smuggling the two to Chandigarh for providing them accommodation for a couple of months, officials said. The officials, who have been spending considerable time questioning Singh, said there have been many inconsistencies in his statements and everything was being crosschecked and corroborated with the confessions of captured militants who have been kept in different rooms at an interrogation centre in South Kashmir.

During questioning it emerged that Singh had taken them to Jammu in 2019 also, the officials said.

In a tone laced with sarcasm, they said the DSP was taking the militants for "rest and recuperation".

Naveed told the interrogators that they used to stay in the hilly regions to avoid the J&K police and left the areas to escape harsh winters, they said.

The official said the DSP's bank accounts and other assets were being verified by the police and papers were being collected, amid speculations that the case may be handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Going into the service history of Singh, majority of retired and serving officials of the JKP spoken to referred to a proverb -- coming events cast their shadows long before -- to say that if action had been taken against the officer during his probation period, such things would not have happened.

Recruited in 1990 as a sub-inspector, Singh along with another probationary officer were subject of an internal enquiry where some narcotics had been seized from a truck. However, the contraband was sold by Singh and another sub-inspector, the officials recalled.

There was a move to dismiss them from the service which was stalled by an Inspector General rank officer purely on humanitarian ground and the duo was shifted to the Special Operations Group, a team of policemen engaged in counter-militancy offensive.

However, he could not last there for long and was shifted this time to the police lines only to be rehabilitated in 1997 again in the SOG.

During this period, he was posted in Budgam and is alleged to have indulged in extortion for which he was sent back to the police lines.

His proper rehabilitation began in 2015 by the then Director General of Police K Rajendra, who posted him in district headquarters of Shopian and Pulwama, the officials said.

However, after some alleged wrongdoing during his stint in Pulwama, the then Director General of Police S P Vaid transferred him in August 2018 to the sensitive Anti-Hijacking Unit in Srinagar, though the move was opposed by some other officers.

An advocate, Irfan Ahmad Mir, was driving the vehicle when they were caught by the police on National Highway in Kulgam district.

The advocate, who has also been arrested, had travelled to Pakistan five times on an Indian passport.

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News Network
February 6,2020

New Delhi, Feb 6: DMK Lok Sabha member M K Kanimozhi on Wednesday challenged popular actor Rajinikanth to raise his voice for Muslims, saying they have "already been affected" by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and are protesting on streets against the law.

Reacting to his statements earlier in the day in Chennai that "CAA is no threat to Muslims" and "if they face trouble I will be the first person to raise voice for them," Kanimozhi, daughter of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, told news agency that "Muslims in India have already been affected due to CAA".

"Let him (Rajinikanth) come forward and raise his voice for the affected Muslims", she said.

She said the members of the community have been protesting as the law leaves out Muslims.,

Asked whether Rajinikanth, through this pro-CAA statement, was moving closer to the BJP, the MP from Tuticorin said, "What he has said is no different from the BJP's narrative which we have been listening in parliament for the last few days".

Under CAA, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who came to India from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014, to escape religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants, and be given Indian citizenship.

Rajinikanth had asserted that the legislation did not pose any threat to Muslims. He wondered as to how Muslims, who chose to stay back in India following Partition will be sent out of the country. Besides, the central government had assured that Indian people will have no issues in view of CAA, he noted.

He charged that some political parties were instigating people against the CAA for their selfish interests.

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