Rahul Gandhi blames party trio of placing sons before party; Priyanka Gandhi says he fought alone

Agencies
May 27, 2019

May 27: Amid rumblings within the party after a disastrous performance in the Lok Sabha polls, Congress chief is said to have accused three senior leaders of placing their respective sons above the party while his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has alleged the entire top-brass left him alone to fight it out against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party sources said.

Narrating inside details of the crucial Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, which was held on May 25 to assess the party's poll rout, the party leaders said Rahul Gandhi did a lot of 'plain-speaking' in his surgical analysis of the role of several party leaders while himself offering to quit as the party president.

He also said he does not want any other member of the Gandhi family to succeed him, virtually ruling out Priyanka as well for the top party position.

Party sources said the top leadership is working out possible strategies for its future course of action, even as there are rumblings within the Congress over the turn of events at the CWC meeting.

The meeting was held in the backdrop of the Congress winning just 52 Lok Sabha seats and drawing a nought in 18 states and Union Territories. Gandhi himself lost from the family bastion of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, though he won from Wayanad in Kerala.

Stating that Priyanka lost her cool more than once during the four-hour long CWC deliberations, a party leader present there said the AICC General Secretary in charge of Eastern Uttar Pradesh said, "All those responsible for the party's defeat are sitting in this room".

When some party leaders were trying to convince Rahul Gandhi to take back his resignation, which he had offered taking moral responsibility for the Congress debacle, Priyanka is learnt to have intervened saying, "Where were you when my brother was fighting all by himself and alone?"

Priyanka sat through the meeting, looking visible anguished, and interjected twice at least, while saying on one occasion, "No one supported Congress President in taking forward the narrative of Rafale and 'chowkidar chor hai'."

Rahul Gandhi, who left the meeting abruptly and was adamant there on not continuing as the Congress president, also ticked off three senior party leaders -- former union minister P Chidambaram, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath and Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot -- saying they placed their sons before party interests.

Chidambaram's son Karti and Nath's son Nakul managed to win the Lok Sabha elections from their respective seats, but Gehlot's son Vaibhav lost.

CWC sources said that when former Guna MP Jyotiraditya Scindia urged Gandhi to strengthen the state leaderships of the party, the party president quipped looking at Chidambaram, saying that "Mr Chidambaram threatened to resign if a ticket was denied to his son."

About Kamal Nath who was absent from the CWC meeting, Gandhi said, "Mr Nath said how could he be CM if his son was not fielded."

Taunting Gehlot the Congress Chief said the Rajasthan CM spent seven days campaigning for his son in Jodhpur neglecting the rest of the state.

Gandhi is learnt to have voiced his disappointment at the state of affairs in the party when he said to the CWC why can't anyone else be Congress Chief.

Sources said Priyanka also urged her brother not to resign saying it would be like "falling into BJP's trap".

Rahul Gandhi also expressed his displeasure at not being supported in the Rafale campaign and is said to have asked the party leaders present in the meeting how many of them backed him in building the corruption narrative against Prime Minister Modi.

When some leaders raised their hands to say that they spoke about Rafale, Gandhi is said to have dismissed them.

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Agencies
January 16,2020

New Delhi, Jan 16: United Forum of Bank Unions has decided to observe a two-day strike on January 31 and February 1, demanding early wage revision settlement which has been due since November 1, 2017, said the All India Bank Employees Association.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her second Union Budget on February 1.

Banks will also hold a strike on March 11, 12 and 13. Also, an indefinite strike will be held from April 1.

General Secretary, All India Bank Officers' Confederation West Bengal Sanjay Das has stated that the nationwide strike has been called over several demands.

"The demands include--wage revision settlement at 20 per cent hike on payslip components with adequate loading thereof and scrapping off New Pension Scheme (NPS)," said Das.

There are several demands to hold the strike including the merger of special allowance with basic pay, updation of pension, improvement in the family pension system, five-day banking, allocation of staff welfare fund based on operating profits and exemption from income tax on retiral benefits without a ceiling.

"Other demands include-- a uniform definition of business hours, lunch hour etc in the branches, introduction of leave bank, defined working hours for the officers and equal wage for equal work for the contract employee," said Das.

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Agencies
January 5,2020

Puducherry, Jan 5: Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi, a former IPS officer, became the butt of Twitterati jokes on Saturday after she tweeted that NASA recording of the sound of the sun was in fact 'Om' chant. She wrote at @thekiranbedi: "NASA recorded sound of the sun -- Sun chants Om."

The post got 5.6K retweets and 17.7K likes, and as many as 472.6K views.

One user remarked: "Wrong. The Sun said NaMo NaMo. You should've checked the UNESCO version along with the NASA version."

A post read: "And we thought you were intelligent."

One user posted a picture of Kiran Bedi with Sadhguru Jaggi who was trolled a few days ago after he posted his support on the Citizenship Amendment Act. He commented: "This picture can be provided."

A Twitter user reminded the former bureaucrat about the Indian Constitution's Fundamental Duties (Article 51A) that says that it shall be the duty of every citizens of India to develop scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform.

Another wondered aloud: "We don't know how you cleared the Civil Services exams. We are ashamed...."

A user posted a clip of a well known stand-up comic who talked about the celestial hum which many claim to be Om chant.

A post read: "I consider this tweet by you as one of the best jokes of the millennium. The saffron brigade is successful in brainwashing learned people like you."
One user commented: "Once upon a time this lady was a hero to many. What a disgrace now!"

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Ahmed Ali Kulai
 - 
Monday, 6 Jan 2020

Shame on you!!

 

Dont know how you are appointed as IPS officer

 

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News Network
February 29,2020

New Delhi, Feb 29: The father of Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma, whose body was pulled out of a drain in northeast Delhi's riot-hit Chand Bagh, complained to police that goons had assembled at the residence of former AAP counselor Tahir Hussain and were throwing petrol bombs from the rooftop.

According to the FIR which was registered on Thursday on the basis of the complaint lodged by Ankit's father Ravinder, the goons were also firing from the rooftop.

On Tuesday, Ankit returned from his office at 5 pm and then went outside to buy groceries. When he did not return, the family started looking for him and later filed a missing report, the FIR stated.

They got to know from their neighbours that a body has been recovered from a drain… later it was found to be that of Anikt, it said, adding the body had multiple stab injuries on the face, head, back, and chest.

The family has alleged in the FIR that it was Hussain and the goons at his residence who killed Ankit. In the FIR, Hussain has been accused of murder, destruction of evidence and abduction.

Soon after the FIR was registered on Thursday, the AAP suspended Tahir Hussain from the primary membership of the party till the police completed its probe.

The death toll in Delhi's communal violence rose to 42 on Friday as the situation showed some signs of returning to normalcy and clouds of smoke cleared to reveal the extent of the damage from the worst riots in the city in over three decades.

A total of 148 FIRs have been registered and 630 people have been either arrested or detained so far in connection with the communal violence, a Delhi Police spokesperson said.

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