NCP-UPA trouble live: Congress in damage control after Sharad Pawar quits

July 20, 2012

congressdam

New Delhi, July 20: 11:15 am: The UPA is reportedly making all possible efforts to placate Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar after he and party leader Praful Patel sent their resignation letters to the Prime Minister. The Congress has said that the NCP is important to it.

"Pawar has supported Pranab Mukherjee, he is an important person. The NCP is important to us and ll our allies are intact," Congress leader Jagdambika Pal said.

10:45 am: It is being said that the UPA is not following the coalition dharma and is ignoring smaller allies. Sharad Pawar has now red-flagged the issue and has, in a way, asked the UPA to be serious about smaller allies.

10 am: The UPA is likely to accommodate some demands of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, according to sources. Sharad Pawar, in his meeting with UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, conveyed his displeasure.

Sharad Pawar is reportedly angry at being superseded for the number two position in the Union Cabinet. However, Congress sources claim that the number two position in the Cabinet is not an issue and say the government will take up some of Pawar's demands like forward contracts soon.

9:30 am: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, who resigned from the Cabinet late on Thursday night, met UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Friday morning.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and party member Praful Patel on Friday sent in their resignations to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, sources said. The duo were said to be upset over the NCP chief not being made the number two within the UPA government.

The duo had said they will not attend their offices on Friday. Pawar and Patel sent their resignation letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh late on Thursday night. However, the letters have been written in a manner that leaves a window of opportunity open for the UPA as it provides a scope for negotiations.

This may be seen as a trouble for the UPA as the NCP has been one of the most reliable allies of the UPA as it has supported the UPA in important situations. The NCP was among one of the first parties to support UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee in the Presidential poll. Therefore, the UPA is likely to make efforts to placate Pawar.

The UPA has two options. They can either give the number two position to Pawar, as he desires, or they can make him the Leader of the Lok Sabha. The UPA core committee will meet later on Friday and may chalk out a plan to placate Pawar and Patel.

In fact, for a second time on Thursday, Pawar and Patel had skipped the Cabinet meeting despite the fact that on agenda was a matter relating to Pawar's ministry.

Sources said the rift was over the number two slot. With Pranab Mukherjee gone, Pawar, as per seniority, should have been made number two.

Congress, however, argued that the NCP had only nine MPs while Congress was the largest constituent of the UPA and hence could choose the number two. It's Defence Minister AK Antony who got the slot. This upset the NCP.

NCP sources also said Pawar was upset by the Congress's witch-hunting and lack of gratitude.

Pawar is believed to have been angry that some of his nominees for the Governor's post and for chairmanship of NABARD and NAFED were rejected. Certain projects with which Sharad Pawar was involved were not cleared by government. Also, he accused the Cabinet of dragging its feet over forward trading.

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News Network
January 6,2020

Jan 6: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy on Sunday said the country's economy is not showing good signs though Prime Minister Narendra Modi has manifested tremendous leadership skills in fighting terror and in social welfare projects.

The fiscal decisions of the government have not yielded the desired results, the Rajya Sabha MP said here.

"Modi had shown tremendous leadership skill in fighting terror, in several social areas, micro areas like bringing toilets to every village home. But the economy is a complex system...," he said while taking part in a discussion.

While every minister is talking about a 5 trillion dollar economy by 2024, but the current GDP growth has to be multiplied in four years to achieve that, the former Union minister said.

He said, if wages are slashed as a measure to cope with the situation, labor will become cheap but that will also cut down the people's purchasing power triggering dip in demand, closing down factories and rise in unemployment.

"This is one problem for which you really need an economist," he said.

Swamy said in jest, "I think Modi has one problem with me. Not only I am an economist but also a politician."

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News Network
February 28,2020

Feb 28: Life was limping back to normalcy in some parts of the riot-hit northeast Delhi, with police and paramilitary personnel maintaining strict vigil in view of Friday prayers at mosques.

Police officers said they were also making extra efforts to quell rumours, and holding regular flag marches and interactions in the neighbourhoods of affected areas as confidence-building measures.

In some areas of northeast Delhi, signs of normal life were witnessed with opening of shops. In violence-hit areas also, shops in streets and bylanes were open.

Nearly 7,000 paramilitary forces have been deployed in the affected areas of the northeast district since Monday. Besides, hundreds of Delhi police personnel are on the ground to maintain peace and prevent any untoward incident.

At least 38 were killed and over 200 injured in the communal clashes that broke out in northeast Delhi on Monday after violence between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled out of control The areas affected include Jaffrabad, Maujpur, Chand Bagh, Khureji Khas and Bhajanpura..

The Union Home Ministry had said on Thursday night that no major incident was reported from the northeast district in the past 36 hours, It had said that prohibitory orders imposed under Section 144 would be relaxed for 10 hours in view of improvement in the situation.

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News Network
July 16,2020

Noida, Jul 16: A key aide of 1993 Mumbai blasts case convict Abu Salem who worked in his illegal property business in NCT of Delhi has been arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) of the Uttar Pradesh police, officials said on Thursday.

Gajendra Singh, who was also close to gangster Khan Mubarak, was nabbed in Mumbai late Wednesday night by the Noida unit of the STF, they said.

"Gajendra Singh had taken Rs 1.80 crore from a Delhi-based businessman in 2014 in a property-related case. When he was pressured to return the money, Singh had Khan Mubarak's shooters open fire at the businessman in sector 18 of Noida," Additional Superintendent of Police, STF, Raj Kumar Mishra said.

The businessman was in his car when the attack took place, and he narrowly escaped, the officials said.

Mishra said Singh had paid the shooters Rs 10 lakh, and the agency has cracked the money trail of the transaction.

"Gajendra Singh also invested Abu Salem and Khan Mubarak's money into properties in Delhi-NCR," the officer added.

Singh was wanted in a couple of cases registered at a police station in Noida where he has been lodged now for further proceedings, the STF said. 

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