Narendra Modi has given land equal to Vadodara to Adani, says Rahul Gandhi

April 13, 2014

Modi_RahulNew Delhi, Apr 13: In a strong attack on Adani group perceived to be close to Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi said that he had been given land equal to the size of Vadodara at throwaway prices and also the Gujarat coastline of the size of Mumbai coastline.

Without explicitly mentioning the group by name, the Congress vice president alluded to it when he said, "land equal to Vadodara was given to him. Do you know for how much? For Rs 300 crore. Coastline equal to Mumbai was also given to him."

He was asked specifically during the interview to a news channel whether he was referring to the Adani group to which he said he would not like to name anybody.

Vadodara has an area of 149 square kilometers and the Mumbai coastline is 167 km long.

"When Gujarat grew, it was because of the small industries, because of movements like Amul and that is its strength. Now you see the Gujarat model, the turnover of one industrialist has grown from Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 40,000 crore," the Congress Vice President said.

He went on to add that Modi's economic model is that the "entire money of the state should be given to two-three persons. This mindset is also dangerous for the country. I keep fighting against such mindset."

Though he did not name the Adani group, Rahul has in the recent days been attacking it.

Slamming Modi's development model, he said "the reality of Gujarat is that two-three industrialists are prospering" while people are dying in the state.

"Their (Modi's) focus is on benefitting three-four industrialists so that there is trickle-down effect. Trickle-down effect happened in the US also and it has gone bust," the Congress leader said.

He insisted that UPA government headed by Manmohan Singh had performed better than NDA even though there was slowdown in growth briefly because of global recession.

While listing a number of programmes and achievements of the UPA government, he said, "The reality is that we have been in power for 10 years... There will be little bit of anti-incumbency."

When pointed out that the election campaign had become personal, Rahul said he has "no interest in personal attacks and I don't indulge in that."

He added, "Narendra Modiji is a person. He has his issues. I have nothing to do with that. But he represents an ideology. This ideology pits one Indian against another Indian. That is dangerous for the country. My fight is against this ideology."

On the issue of corruption, he said it is a "reality" but it is time to stop talking and start action against it by building institutional frameworks.

He insisted that the UPA government and he himself had been working in this direction through initiatives like RTI, Lokpal, Land Acquisition Bill and MNREGA.

Targeting BJP in this regard, he said its manifesto talks about corruption but "show me one line which says what it will do.... Talking is one thing, doing is another thing."

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News Network
July 18,2020

Jaipur, Jul 18: BJP leader Laxmikant Bhardwaj filed a complaint against Congress leaders including Randeep Surjewala and Govind Singh Dotasra for associating Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat's name with an alleged audio clip related to "conspiring to topple" the elected government led by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan.

"Mahesh Joshi, Randeep Surjewala, and other accused have regularly been giving false and inflammatory statements against the BJP to criminally damage its reputation so that the blame for the current sorry state of affairs of the Congress can be pinned on the BJP. With the ill-intention of damaging the BJP''s reputation, a conspiracy was formed at the Chief Minister''s residence situated at 8 Civil lines," read the letter written by BJP Rajasthan spokesperson Bhardwaj to the Station Officer of Ashok Nagar police station read.

"From there (CM's residence) imitation of (voices) of people were falsely told to be of that of reputed leaders from the BJP and a fake phone conversation was created through which the false narrative of crores of rupees being offered to buy off Congress MLAs was created. The accused involved in this conspiracy have severely misused their position and power and the whole crime has been conducted by one named Lokesh Sharma, who calls himself an OSD of the Chief Minister," the letter further stated.

The complaint letter also said that Lokesh Sharma had "released three audio tapes to media workers on July 16, 2020, somewhere around 8:25 pm through WhatsApp so that the defamatory material can be circulated on a large scale to fulfill the criminal intent."

Mr Bhardwaj said that a news report in the Jaipur edition of a Hindi newspaper, published on July 17, 2020, had conveyed that the audiotape was released by Mr Sharma.

He further said that Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala, Govind Singh Dotasra, in a press conference held on Friday read out the conversation in the audio tapes publically and "using them as a basis accused the BJP of throttling democracy, sabotaging the mandate, and toppling the government."

Through this conspiracy, Mr Bhardwaj said that hateful and insulting comments are being made on the BJP and its supporters, and "on the basis of this the Special Operation Group (SOG) has filed fake lawsuits under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code and is also threatening BJP leaders of arrest."

The BJP leader has urged the police officer to file a complaint against Mr Sharma, Mr Surjewala, Mr Dotasra, and others involved in the alleged conspiracy and take necessary action and recover the equipment used by them.

On June 17, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala had accused Union Cabinet Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Congress legislator Bhanwarlal Sharma of conspiring to topple the elected government led by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan and subvert the voters' mandate.

"Yesterday, shocking tapes were aired by the media in which Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, BJP leader Sanjay Jain and Congress MLA Bhanwar Lal Sharma spoke about bribing MLAs and bringing down Rajasthan government. Congress has suspended MLAs Bhanwar Lal Sharma and Vishvendra Singh from the primary membership of the party. The party has also issued show-cause notices to them," Mr Surjewala had said.

"We demand Rajasthan government and Special Operations Group (SOG) to register FIR and arrest the culprits as plenty of evidence has surfaced now," he had further stated.

Mr Surjewala had read out a transcript of an audio of alleged horse-trading between rebel MLAs and BJP, stating, "BJP has breached the trust of people. The audio clip reveals a horse-trading deal. This is a dark chapter in the history of democracy."

"This time the Narendra Modi government has challenged the wrong state," the Congress leader had said. He had alleged that the BJP has been "conspiring to topple Rajasthan government and buy legislators' allegiance."

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Agencies
May 9,2020

New Delhi, May 9: Home Minister Amit Shah today tweeted to say he is healthy and not suffering from any disease, dismissing recent rumours on social media about his health. "I want to make it clear that I am completely healthy and do not suffer from any disease," the Home Minister wrote.

The 55-year-old home minister said for the last few days, some people on social media have been spreading rumours about his health. "In fact, many have tweeted even wishing for my death," he said.

मेरे स्वास्थ्य की चिंता करने वाले सभी लोगों को मेरा संदेश। pic.twitter.com/F72Xtoqmg9

— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) May 9, 2020
Mr Shah said with the country fighting the coronavirus pandemic, that has affected nearly 40,000 people and killed more than 1,900, he did not pay attention to these rumours as he was busy performing his duties as the home minister. He said he was clarifying today because lakhs of BJP workers have expressed concern over the last two days.

The Home Minister, taking a jibe at those spreading rumours, said such speculation about his health will only make him stronger. "I request people to stop indulging in such talks and let me do my work, they should also go about their business," he added.

Amit Shah thanked well-wishers and workers of the BJP for enquiring about his health. He signed off by saying he has no hatred towards those who spread the rumours.

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News Network
April 7,2020

Jammu, Apr 7: Old habits will just no longer do, a Jammu and Kashmir administration employee found to his dismay on Tuesday when he was sent to a quarantine centre for blowing his nose and spitting on the road.

The man, who works as an accountant in the civil secretariat here, had gone to meet a relative in Paloura on the outskirts of the city when he was nabbed, officials said.

The neighbours panicked when they saw him blowing his nose and immediately called the police, which rushed to the spot with a medical team and a magistrate, they said.

He was immediately taken to a quarantine facility set up at the IIT hostel in the Janipur area and his samples taken for a coronavirus test.

Given the high levels of anxiety over the spread of COVID-19, news of his being taken by police started circulating widely. There were also some WhatsApp messages that he was trying to deliberately spread the infection and was arrested by police.

However, police officials said they had not arrested him and merely put him in a quarantine centre. It was not clear how long he would be in the centre.

The employee told police officials he had an itch in his nose and nothing more.

"Be responsible citizens and stop spreading rumours or fake news," an official said, requesting people to be more responsible.

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