In Vidarbha, Gadkari wears a tycoon mantle

October 18, 2012

Gadkeri_wears_a_tycoon

Mumbai, October 18: From a man who ran a family-owned furniture shop in a cobbled lane of Nagpur in the early nineties, 55-year-old Nitin Jairam Gadkari today, apart from being the president of the BJP, is the chairman of one of the biggest business groups in Vidarbha called Purti Group dealing in liquor, power, sugar, fuel, mineral and super bazaars.

Gadkari has come a long way from his days in student politics in ABVP (Akhila Bharat Vidyarthi Parishad) and RSS shakha worker; his political trajectory took a leap when an MLC from a graduate constituency in Nagpur expired. His proximity to RSS leaders helped him gain entry into the Vidhan Bhavan.

Even though the term was only for two years, Gadkari's path was chalked out very adroitly by a Nagpur journalist called Prakash Deshpande from Nagpur. Deshpande later became his personal assistant and key strategist.

Incidentally, Deshpande some years ago was found dead near the rail tracks between Deolali and Nashik. The case was never solved and it was closed with a remark that he fell down from the train in which he was travelling to Nagpur.

Gadkari, reportedly a leader with no mass-base, in 1995 first tasted the powers of being a minister after being given public works department portfolio when Shiv Sena -BJP came to power in Maharashtra. While he initiated several projects infrastructure projects in the state like Mumbai-Pune Expressway, his business venture Purti Group focussing on retail trading in the beginning also started flourishing.

In a span of five years, it started its first manufacturing company Purti Power and Sugar Ltd and today, it is regarded as one of the top sugar manufacturing companies in Vidarbha; as of now it is made of eight major group companies playing in sectors like power, sugar, fuel, minerals like manganese, iron and bio-fertilisers.

Gadkari, after his stint as a minister, never had to look back even though controversies continued to dog him at every juncture. A case in point some years ago was the discovery of the smothered body of seven-year-old girl Yogita Thakre, daughter of Gadkari's domestic help, inside his car. The case like that of Deshpande was given a quiet burial. And same happened to the questions that reared up when lakhs were splurged in the wedding of his son in Nagpur.

Gadkari's proximity with the RSS and the press also played a major role in helping him get out of soups he lands in. While his RSS god-fathers may have helped him in retaining him for the second term despite severe opposition from several quarters inside the party itself, his media friends have always bailed him out of tight corners when the BJP failed miserably in elections.


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News Network
July 21,2020

New Delhi, Jul 21: With a spike of 37,148 cases and 587 deaths reported in India in the last 24 hours, the total number of COVID-19 cases stands at 11,55,191, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The total number of cases include 4,02,529 active cases, 7,24,578 cured/discharged/migrated and 28,084 deaths, the ministry informed.

Maharashtra remains the worst affected state with 3,18,695 cases and 12,030 deaths.
The second worst-hit state, Tamil Nadu has reported 1,75,678 COVID-19 cases so far while Delhi has reported 1,23,747 cases, according to the Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, as per the information provided by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 1,43,81,303 samples have been tested for COVID-19 up to July 20. Of these 3,33,395 were tested yesterday.

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Agencies
February 16,2020

New Delhi, Feb 16: Despite the fact that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) managed to clean sweep in the recently-concluded 2020 Delhi Assembly polls with eight women candidates winning, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's new cabinet does not have a single woman.

This, even as eight AAP women candidates -- Atishi Marlena, Rakhi Birla, Raj Kumari Dhillon, Preeti Tomar, Dhanwati Chandela, Parmila Tokas, Bhavna Gaur and Bandana Kumari emerged victorious in the 2020 Assembly polls.

Also, AAP's poll campaign had put the spotlight on women's issues- free bus rides for women, safety etc.

This year, AAP had fielded nine female candidates out of which only woman candidate Sarita Singh from Rohtas Nagar suffered defeat. In 2015, the party had fielded six women candidates, all of whom won the election.

Atishi Marlena, who won the election from Kalkaji, has served as a key advisor to the AAP leader Manish Sisodia primarily on education policies that transformed public school education in the capital.

Just like Marlena, incumbent MLA Rakhi Birla from Mangolpuri constituency has also failed to comeback to the Cabinet in this term even after bagging over 74,100 votes, with a margin of over 30,000 votes and 58 per cent of the vote share.

She was charged with the Cabinet Ministry of Women and Child, Social Welfare and Languages, for a few months in AAP's first term from 2013 to 2014. During this, period she came to the spotlight as she became the youngest ever cabinet minister of Delhi at the age of 26 and was even called "giant killer" for defeating four-time Congress MLA Raj Kumar Chouhan in 2013 Delhi polls.

Another candidate of AAP, Raj Kumari Dhillon swept Hari Nagar against BJP's Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga by a margin of over 20,100 votes.

Apart from these three, Preeti Tomar (Tri Nagar), Dhanwati Chandela (Rajouri Nagar), Pramila Tokas (RK Puram), Bhavna Gaur (Palam), and Bandana Kumari (Shalimar Bagh)- the other five who won for AAP- do not figure in the new cabinet.

Today at Ramlila Maidan, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal was sworn-in as Chief Minister of Delhi.

Besides him, Manish Sisodia, Satyender Jain, Gopal Rai, Kailash Gehlot, Imran Hussain, and Rajendra Gautamas took oath as the ministers in Delhi.

AAP achieved a landslide victory in the Assembly elections with a clear majority of 62 seats out of 70. 

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News Network
April 19,2020

New Delhi, Apr 19: The government on Sunday prohibited the sale of non-essential items through e-commerce platforms during the ongoing lockdown, four days after allowing such companies to sale mobile phones, refrigerators and ready-made garments.

Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla issued an order excluding the non-essential items from sale by the e-commerce companies from the consolidated revised guidelines, which listed the exemption given to the services and people from the purview of the lockdown.

The order said the following clause "E-commerce companies. Vehicles used by e-commerce operators will be allowed to ply with necessary permissions" is excluded from the guidelines.

The previous order had said such items were allowed for sale through e-commerce platforms from April 20.

However, the reason for reversing the order is not known immediately.

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