Kejriwal set to form government in Delhi with Congress support today

December 23, 2013

KejriwalNew Delhi, Dec 23: It is a big day ahead for the Aam Aadmi Party as it is all set to stake claim to form the next government in Delhi on Monday. AAP is likely to take the support of the Congress on conditional grounds to form the next government.

The AAP seems to have finally decided to bite the bullet, going through the last leg of the referendum, seeking opinion on government formation with Congress support from outside. AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal dropped enough hints on Sunday that AAP would finally lead the next government in Delhi.

The Congress had opposed re-election and offered unconditional support to the AAP, after which Arvind Kejriwal sought public opinion on the matter. AAP is likely to meet Lt Governor Najeeb Jung later in the day to convey its decision.

AAP claims that public opinion was in favour of it accepting this opportunity to form the government. It is also apparent the AAP is making plans to take its battle outside Delhi, in the general elections slated to be held in 2014.

AAP had contested Delhi polls on anti-Congress, anti-BJP plank. Therefore, the decision to form government with Congress support also exposes it to attack from the BJP, the single-largest party being made to sit out in the opposition.

BJP leader Arun Jaitley in an article accused AAP of 'compromising on its commitment on aternative politics, enacting a farcical referendum based on a self-serving model'. "Political opportunism should have no place in alternative politics dictated by idealism. AAP may be concerned with the fact that many MLAs including the AAP MLAs do not want early polls. It may even be strategising on how to capture power, announce a few popular decisions and carve out a further positioning for itself. It has, therefore, decided to enact a farcical referendum. In effect, political opportunism is being masked with the idea of popular sanction behind it," Jaitley said in a blog.

While Jaitley questioned AAP for political opportunism, Kiran Bedi, who with Kejriwal was at the forefront of the Anna Hazare led anti-corruption agitation, wondered whether AAP was between the "rock and hard place". "Is AAP between Rock and Hard Place?

Are they very grass rooted? Or are they risk averse therefore require shared responsibility? Time will tell!" she tweeted.

Bedi also raised concern over the "AAP-Congress alliance" in Delhi. "I don't know how long this alliance will last. As a resident of Delhi, I don't want to be a witness of mutual allegations. The alliance is very fragile. We voted for stability, growth, integrity, not a war of allegations," she said.

The Congress also added a rider to the unconditional support it has promised. "The AAP is blaming and abusing the Congress with no solid proof. We have not offered support to the party as such. We have agreed to support them because our manifestos are similar," said Congress leader Kiran Walia.

However, Delhi, it seems after weeks of political uncertainty, will finally have a government.

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News Network
January 18,2020

Jammu, Jan 18: Prepaid mobile connections were restored in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday and 2G services resumed in two districts of the valley after being disconnected on August 5 last year. Voice and SMS facilities were restored for all local prepaid mobile phones across the Union territory.

Rohit Kansal, the principal secretary to the administration of Jammu and Kashmir said the order will come into effect from Saturday.

In order to consider giving mobile Internet connectivity on such SIM cards, the telecom service providers will have to verify the credentials of the subscribers, he said.

Internet service providers have been asked to provide fixed line Internet connectivity in all the 10 districts of Jammu region and two districts, Kupwara and Bandipora, in North Kashmir.

Telecom services were shut in the entire Jammu and Kashmir on August 5 when the Centre abrogated special status to the erstwhile state and also bifurcated it into two Union Territories.

However, the Supreme Court came down heavily on the UT administration last week for arbitrarily shutting down the Internet, the facility described as the fundamental right by the apex court.

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News Network
May 27,2020

Muzaffarpur, May 27: A toddler's vain attempt to wake up his dead mother from eternal sleep on a railway platform in Bihar's Muzaffarpur on Wednesday presented the most poignant picture of the massive migrant tragedy unfolding across several states.

A video tweeted by Sanjay Yadav, an aide to RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, shows the child walking unsteadily up to his mother's body, tugging at the blanket placed over her, and when failing to wake her up, covering his own head with it.

As the mother still lay still, he wobbles away from her, announcements continuing in the background about the arrival and departure of trains that would bring in tens of thousands of people in a rush to get away from hunger and hardship they face in large cities that could sustain them no more.

"This small child doesn't know that the bedsheet with which he is playing is the shroud of his mother who has gone into eternal sleep. This mother died of hunger and thirst after being on a train for four days. Who is responsible for these deaths on trains? Shouldn't the opposition ask uncomfortable questions?" tweeted Yadav.

However, police had a different story to tell.

Ramakant Upadhyay, the Dy SP of the Government Railway Police in Muzaffarpur, said the incident occurred on May 25 when the migrant woman was on way to Muzaffarpur from Ahmedabad by a Shramik Special train.

He told reporters the woman, who was accompanied by her sister and brother-in-law, had died on the Madhubani bound train.

"My sister-in-law died suddenly on the train. We did not face any problem getting food or water," the officer said, quoting the deceased's brother-in-law who he did not name.

He said on getting information, poice brought down the body and sent it for postmortem.

Citing the brother-in-law of the deceased, Upadhyay said she was aged 35 years and was undergoing treatment for "some disease" for the last one year in Ahmedabad. "She was also mentally unstable," he said.

When persistently queried about the cause of death, he said,"Only doctors can tell".

A massive exodus of migrant workers is on in several parts of the country, unprecedented in magnitude since Partition.

The humanitarian crisis still unfolding on highways and railway platforms has shone light on disturbing tales of entire families walking hundreds of kilometres with little children on foot in a seemingly endless march to escape hunger.

People have been found travelling on trucks and in the hollow of concrete mixing plants, and in many cases, dying from hunger and exhaustion before reaching their destinations.

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News Network
March 5,2020

Mumbai, Mar 5: Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal and few others have been booked by the ED in a money laundering case even as the agency is conducting searches at his premises, officials said on Thursday.

They said a criminal case against the former chairman of the airlines has been filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after taking cognisance of a recent Mumbai Police FIR filed against him.

The Enforcement Directorate carried out raids at Goyal's premises in Mumbai on Wednesday and also questioned him after filing the case, they said.

The action is continuing, they added.

The Mumbai Police FIR pertains to charges of alleged fraud by Goyal and others against a Mumbai-based travel company.

Goyal has earlier been grilled by the central probe agency in a case filed under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) in September last year.

The agency had carried out similar raids, under the FEMA, in August last year against Goyal, his family and others.

ED has alleged in the past that the businessman's empire had 19 privately-held companies, five of which were registered abroad.

The agency is probing charges that these firms allegedly carried out “doubtful” transactions under the guise of selling, distribution and operating expenses.

The ED suspects that expenses at these companies were allegedly booked at fake and high costs and as a result, they “projected” huge losses.

Alleged shady aircraft lease transactions with non-existent offshore entities are also under the ED scanner and it is suspected that Jet Airways made payments for lease rental to “ghost firms”, which purportedly routed the ill-gotten money in Goyal's companies.

A full-service carrier, Jet Airways shut its operations in April last year after running out of cash.

A month earlier, Goyal had stepped down as the chairman of Jet Airways.

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