RS ticket denial may signal end of Krishna's career

June 10, 2014

Bangalore, Jun 10: AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi has stuck to his stand of giving opportunities to young leaders and bid goodbye to old-timers in elections. The party has chosen M?V?Rajeev Gowda over one of its oldest leaders and former union minister S?M?Krishna as its candidate for the Raj­ya Sabha elections from the State.

krishnaGowda, 50, teaches economics at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. He is among the AICC’s panel of 40 to 50 spokespersons. The sitting RS member Krishna is 83. Till three days ago, there was no doubt about the candidature of Krishna.

However, suddenly there was a change in the thinking of the high command and Rahul stuck to his stand of not encouraging leaders who are aged more than 75 to become MPs.

Congress insiders see the party’s decision against fielding Krishna for the RS?polls at the end of his long political career. He had served in public life in various capacities in the last five decades. He has served as union minister, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, State Congress president, chief minister of Karnataka and Governor of Maharashtra. With bleak chances of Congress coming to power at the Centre in the near future, there is no scope for him to occupy any prime position, it is said. Krishna, who was in Bangalore, remained incommunicado.

Ever since his resignation as the external affairs minister in October 2012, Krishna has been keeping a low profile in the party. The party, too, did not involve him much in both the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. So much so that it refused to give tickets to contest the Assembly elections to many of his followers, including Ravindra Srikantaiah from Srirangapatna.

Rajeeva Gowda, son of former Assembly Speaker the late M V Venkatappa, holds a doctor of philosophy (PhD) in Public Policy and Management from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA.

Gowda had aspired to contest the recent Lok Sabha polls from Bangalore North constituency. He unsuccessfully contested the internal elections (also called primaries) conducted by the party to choose the candidate for the constituency.

C?Narayanaswamy won the internal polls and became the candidate, but could not win the seat. Many senior party leaders were taken by surprise over Gowda’s lobbying for a ticket in Delhi. They presumed that at the most, he may become an MLC.

The party had given preference to youth in most cases while fielding candidates for the Lok Sabha elections in the State. Former union minister and leader of the minorities C K Jaffer Sharief’s plea for a ticket to contest from Bangalore Central constituency was overlooked by the party. Instead, youth Congress leader Rizwan Arshad was fielded. But, Arshad lost the elections.

The party did not budge from its stand, despite Sharief threatening to join the JD(S). He went to the extent of resigning from the party membership, but the Congress remained undeterred. Many old-timers in the party fear that they would meet the same fate in the coming days.

Senior leader M V Raja­sekharan said Rajya Sabha is the House of Elders. “Presence of experienced leaders like S M Krishna is necessary in the Upper House. I hope the party will utilise the experience of Krishna in the coming days,” he said.

Parameshwara, who is a follower of Krishna, said he has been pained by the party’s decision not to field Krishna and expressed hope that he will be given a suitable position in the coming days.

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News Network
June 13,2020

New Delhi, Jun 13: Petrol price on Saturday was hiked by 59 paise per litre and diesel by 58 paise as oil companies for the seventh day in a row adjusted retail rates in line with costs since ending an 82-day hiatus in rate revision.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 75.16 per litre from Rs 74.57, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 73.39 a litre from Rs 72.81, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

This is the seventh daily increase in rates in a row since oil companies on Sunday restarted revising prices in line with costs, after ending an 82-day hiatus.

In seven hikes, petrol price has gone up by Rs 3.9 per litre and diesel by Rs 4.

The freeze in rates was imposed in mid-March soon after the government hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel to shore up additional finances.

Oil PSUs Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL), instead of passing on the excise duty hikes to customers, adjusted them against the fall in the retail rates that was warranted because of a decline in international oil prices.

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News Network
April 20,2020

London, Apr 20 : Embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who is wanted in India on alleged fraud and money laundering charges amounting to an estimated ₹9,000 crore, today lost a High Court appeal in UK against his extradition order to India.

A consortium of Indian public sector banks led by the State Bank of India had sought a bankruptcy order against Mallya as part of efforts to recoup around GBP 1.145 billion of unpaid loans from Mallya.

The 64-year-old former Kingfisher Airlines boss had appealed to the High Court against his extradition to India at a hearing in February this year.

Lord Justice Stephen Irwin and Justice Elisabeth Laing, the two-member bench at the Royal Courts of Justice in London presiding over the appeal, dismissed the appeal in a judgment handed down remotely due to the current coronavirus lockdown.

"We consider that while the scope of the prima facie case found by the SDJ [Senior District Judge] is in some respects wider than that alleged by the Respondent in India [Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED)], there is a prima facie case which, in seven important respects, coincides with the allegations in India," the judges ruled.

Earlier this month, the High Court in London had deferred hearings on a plea by the SBI-led consortium of Indian banks, seeking the indebted tycoon to be declared bankrupt to enable them recover their loan from him.

Justice Michael Briggs of the insolvency division of the High Court granted relief to Mallya, ruling that he should be given time till his petitions to the Supreme Court of India and his settlement proposal before the Karnataka High Court be determined, allowing him time to repay his debts to the banks in full.

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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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