|
POLITICS
Madhu Koda deposited $1.3 b. in Swiss Bank
 New Delhi: Enforcement Directorate confirmed the existence of former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda’s $1.3-billion Swiss account details.
According to documents available with Enforcement Directorate an associate of Madhu Koda deposited this sum in his account on June 2009.
It is also reported that a UK bank was also involved in the transaction of this amount.
Expanding its probe into multi-crore rupee alleged hawala and illegal investments case against former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, an Enforcement Directorate team will leave for Mumbai soon to ascertain his alleged investments in Bollywood and some companies set up there by him and his associates.
The Income Tax Department sleuths on November 11 questioned Koda at his house in Ranchi, after having discontinued it in the wake of his illness on November 3.
Go to top
Chiranjeevi rules out his Party merger with Congress
 Vijayawada: Praja Rajyam Party president K. Chiranjeevi has totally ruled out the question of merging his 15- month-old outfit with the ruling Congress Party in Andhra Pradesh.
“We shall not even entertain such thoughts,” Chiranjeevi told a press conference here on November 11. Chiranjeevi reacted rather angrily to the suggestion made by some Congress leaders, including Agriculture Minister N. Raghuveera Reddy, that it would be better if the PRP merged with the national party.
Go to top
It’s Rajnath vs Advani; Saffron Parivar divided
 New Delhi: It’s out in the open; the BJP camp is distinctly divided between Rajnath and Advani loyalists. That after party president Rajnath Singh officially asked the RSS to help sort out the succession issue in the party.
Rajnath met RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on November 11. RSS sources say Rajnath invited the RSS to intervene to counter Advani camp’s attempts to keep the RSS at bay.
Rajnath camp’s backing will provide legitimacy to the RSS remote controlling the BJP. But on face of it, both the RSS and the BJP deny discord and the intervention.
“The RSS is the inspiration behind our ideology. It is the BJP’s power house,” says Prakash Javadekar, BJP spokesman.
“The RSS only guides the BJP if needed,” says Ram Madhav, RSS spokesman.
What started after Lok Sabha polls as a succession dispute between Advani and Rajnath camps now has the RSS as part of the dispute. The RSS wants no top leader to be the next president. The Advani camp says RSS choices are unfit for the job.
After the Lok Sabha polls, there were hints from the RSS that it’s searching for a new paradigm for Hindutva. But now it seems the quest is for a new political paradigm. Is the Sangh getting more political? Will the BJP get less autonomous? A clash is brewing - the Saffron Parivar is living its worst nightmare.
Go to top
Congress demands Yeddyurappa govt. resignation
 Bangalore: The Congress Party in Karnataka on November 9 demanded resignation of the BJP government led by Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa for “betraying” people and “playing with the lives” of the flood affected in north Karnataka.
“Yeddyurappa has no moral right to continue. People are praying when this government will go. Yeddyurappa instead of tendering apologies should quit,” Congress leader in the state assembly Siddaramaiah told reporters here.
“Yeddyurappa has surrendered all his powers to Reddy brothers to save his chair,” he alleged and demanded that the BJP make public the details of truce agreed between the Chief Minister and dissidents.
Siddaramaiah termed the proposed coordination committee being set up by under the leadership of BJP senior leader Sushma Swaraj as an “unconstitutional body” that would “hijack the powers and functions of an elected government.”
He also asked Yeddyurappa not to withdraw the Rs. 1,000 cess slapped on every load of lorry transporting iron ore buckling under pressure from Reddy brothers as such a measure would “cause heavy losses to the state exchequer and promote the business interest of these Ministers.”
“It is only a temporary truce between the rival factions. This government will not last long. Currently the state has no BJP government, but a coalition government of Yeddyurappa and Reddy factions,” he said.
Go to top
Ruckus in Maharashtra assembly
 Mumbai: Maharashtra Nav-nirman Sena (MNS) MLAs on November 9 created a ruckus in the Maharashtra assembly after SP MLA Abu Asim Azmi took oath in Hindi despite their call that all legislators take the pledge in Marathi with one of the members from Raj Thackeray’s party slapping him.
Soon after Azmi began taking oath in Hindi, the 13 member-strong MNS contingent rushed towards him, snatching the mike placed for taking oath at the podium.
MNS chief Raj Thackeray has last month announced that his party legislators would ensure that all MLAs took oath in Marathi.
Go to top
Women on top: Maya, Mamata win big in by-polls
 New Delhi: The by-elections to 31 assembly and 1 Lok Sabha seats across seven states have not made much difference to electoral math in Houses. But two women have emphatically proved their hold in their respective states.
In Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati made crucial inroads into Mulayam Singh Yadav territory with the BSP sweeping nine out of the 11 seats for which by- elections were held on November 7. In doing so she also snatched from the Congress Party its two seats and its warm buzz about the Rahul wave in UP from just six months ago.
In West Bengal, it was Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress that added to its electoral successes this year. The Trinamool has won seven seats, a gain of two from last time. The Congress has held on to one of the two seats it had won last time. But the Left, which had won three of the seats, has won only one. In fact, the sole Left seat is Goalpokhar which the Forward Bloc has taken from the Congress party. The combine lost all the three seats it had won last time.
Go to top
Congress wins both seats in Assam
 Guwahati: Assam’s ruling Congress Party on November 10 won both assembly constituencies that saw by-elections three days ago, defeating opposition candidates by convincing margins.
Wajed Ali Choudhury defeated Asom United Democratic Front’s (AUDF) Abdur Rahman Ajmal, son of party chief Badruddin Ajmal, by more than 6,000 votes in the South Salmara seat in western Assam.
Bhimananda Tanti won from Dhekiajulu, defeating Asom Gana Parishad’s (SGP) Shib Charan Sahu by more than 21,000 votes.
Go to top
Raj Babbar wins blow to Mulayam
 Lucknow: Congress candidate and actor Raj Babbar was on November 10 elected to the Lok Sabha from Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh, defeating Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-in-law Dimple by over 85,000 votes.
The outcome was a huge blow to Mualayam Singh Yadav, who wanted his daughter-in-law to overcome the challenge of Raj Babbar, a former Samajwadi Party MP, who later quit the party to join the Congress Party. Raj Babbar’s victory takes the Congress Party strength in the 545-seat Lok Sabha to 207.
An engineer by training, who later acted in over 150 films, Raj Babbar was elected to the Lok Sabha both in 1999 and in 2004 from Agra.
Go to top
Congress puts up impressive show in by-polls in 7 states
 New Delhi: The Congress Party on November 10 put up an impressive show in the by- elections in seven states wresting from Samajwadi Party the Firozabad Lok Sabha seat in UP and vanquishing the Left Front in its bastions of West Bengal, with support from Trinamool Congress, and alone in Kerala.
Adding to the misery of Samajwadi Party, the ruling BSP in Uttar Pradesh snatched away four assembly seats from the party in its tally of seven of the 11 by-elections.
In the prestigious Lok Sabha by-election, actor-turned Congress candidate Raj Babbar defeated Dimple Yadav, daughter-in-law of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, by an overwhelming margin of 85,343 votes.
The seat was won in May by Dimple’s husband Akhilesh Yadav, who retained Kannauj and gave up Firozabad. Babbar had lost from Sikri constituency in the May elections.
In all, the Congress Party won 10 of the 31 assembly seats up for grabs. The by-elections were held in Uttar Pradesh (11), West Bengal (10), Kerala (3) and two each in Assam, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan besides one in Chhattisgarh.
Continuing its whitewash of the Left Front in the Lok Sabha elections in Kerala, the Congress Party retained all the three seats, with one of the winners being a former CPI (M) MP A. P. Abdulla Kutty, who joined the Congress Party recently.
The Congress Party also won two seats in Assam and one each in UP, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.
The CPI (M), which heads the Left coalition governments in West Bengal and Kerala, drew a blank in a dozen seats.
By-poll results
New Delhi: Following is the party-wise final tally of by-poll results in seven states:
Firozabad (UP) Lok Sabha: Raj Babbar of the Congress Party defeated Samajwadi Party’s Dimple Yadav by 85,343 votes.
Assembly by-elections
Uttar Pradesh (11): Bahujan Samaj Party — 9, Congress — 1, Independent — 1
West Bengal (10): Trinamool Congress — 7, Congress — 1, Forward Bloc — 1, Independent - 1.
Kerala (3): Congress - 3.
Assam (2): Congress - 2.
Himachal Pradesh (2): Congress — 1, BJP - 1.
Rajasthan (2): Congress — 1, BJP - 1.
Chhattisgarh (1): Congress — 1.
Go to top
|
