Demonizing Modi all the time won’t help: Jairam Ramesh
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governance model is not a “complete negative story” and not recognizing his work and demonizing him all the time is not going to help, said Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.
"It is time we recognize Mr. Modi’s work and what he did between 2014 and 2019 due to which he was voted back to power by over “30 per cent of the electorate”, said Mr. Ramesh.
The BJP got 37.4 per cent of votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The NDA, as a whole, secured nearly 45 per cent of votes.
Mr. Ramesh made the remarks while launching a book, “Malevolent Republic: A Short History of the New India” written by Kapil Satish Komireddi, a political analyst.
“He (Modi) talks in a language that connects him with the people. Unless we recognize that he is doing things which people recognise and which have not been done in the past, we are not going to be able to confront this guy,” said the Congress leader.
“Also, if you are going to demonize him all the time, you are not going to be able to confront him,” warned the former Union minister, who held portfolios of Rural Development, and Drinking Water and Sanitation ministries in the Manmohan Singh government.
Yediyurappa to meet BJP central leadership to finalise portfolios of ministers
Faced with discontent in a section of the BJP over cabinet expansion, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Thursday decided to meet the party’s central leadership to discuss the issue of allocation of portfolios to the newly appointed ministers.
“Today evening I will go to Delhi and meet our national President Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will come back tomorrow evening or the day after morning,” Yediyurappa said.
Asked whether the allocation of portfolios would take place after his return from Delhi, Mr. Yediyurappa said: “Today we will discuss and take a decision“.
More than three weeks after he was sworn in as the Chief Minister, Mr. Yediyurappa expanded his cabinet last Tuesday, inducting 17 Ministers.
Chidambaram’s arrest depressing: Mamata
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the arrest of P Chidambaram was “depressing” and alleged that the judiciary was not coming to the help of a “crying” democratic system. In her first reaction after Chidambaram’s arrest on Wednesday evening, Banerjee quoted Rabindranath Tagore and said the “message of justice is crying silently in isolation”.
“P Chidambaram is an economist, and a former home minister and finance minister. The manner in which he has been arrested is depressing. There are four pillars of democracy: democratic institutions, Election Commission, media and judicial system.The democratic system of our country is crying, yet the judiciary is not coming to its aid,” she said in a statement issued by the Trinamool Congress.
Shiv Sena supports ED action on Chidambaram, not on Raj Thackeray
A day after Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray threw his weight behind estranged cousin Raj Thackeray, facing ED probe in a money laundering case, party MP Sanjay Raut also came out in support of the MNS chief, but defended CBI’s action against ex-Union minister P Chidambaram.
There was “ample evidence” against former finance minister Chidambaram, Raut claimed, adding that constantly dubbing the action of the investigating agencies’ as “political vendetta” would demoralise them.
“Uddhav Thackeray already made it clear yesterday that nothing concrete will be found against Raj. As Uddhav has extended support to his brother, his entire family is behind Raj Thackeray,” the Rajya Sabha member said. “Let the investigation get over. Raj is cooperating with the ED, unlike P Chidambaram,” he added.
“I do not expect any solid outcome from the inquiry,” Mr. Uddhav Thackeray had said.
Naqvi hits out at Congress for supporting Chidambaram
Hitting out at the Congress for strongly backing P Chidambaram in the INX Media case, Union minister and senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Thursday said the opposition party and its leadership is trying to “convert corruption into a revolution“.
“The Congress is working with a negative mindset. They have converted corruption into a revolution. This is for the first time that corruption is becoming a revolution. Till now, revolution was against corruption, now revolution is being carried out in favour of corruption,” Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told PTI.
“Law enforcement agencies will do their work and courts will do their own work. But, the Congress party and its leadership is trying to convert corruption into a revolution,” he said.
J&K arrests: Opposition parties protest
12.30 pm: Opposition leaders at the protest demonstration demanding the release of arrested J&K political leaders , at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Thursday.
Opposition parties, including the Congress, the Trinamool Congress and the DMK, protested on Thursday to demand the release of political leaders under detention in Jammu and Kashmir.
Congress leader P. Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram also joined the protest at Jantar Mantar. P Chidambaram was arrested by the CBI on Wednesday night in connection with a money laundering case related to INX Media.
Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI general secretary D Raja, SP leader Ramgopal Yadav, Loktantrik Janata Dal’s Sharad Yadav, RJD’s Manoj Jha and TMC’s Dinesh Trivedi were among those who attended the protest.
The leaders raised slogans demanding the restoration of normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir, resumption of telecom services in the Valley and the immediate release of all political leaders who have been detained.
The National Conference, whose leaders Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah are among those detained after the Centre revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on August 5, was present too.
It's a political vendetta, says Karti Chidambaram
Karti Chidambaram, Congress Lok Sabha member and son of former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, on Thursday said the action against his father was to silence him and denied ever meeting INX Media founders Peter Mukherjea and Indrani Mukherjea.
“This is political vendetta to silence my father. My father has been the most vocal critic of this government,” Mr. Karti Chidambaram told reporters at the Delhi airport after arriving to meet his parents.
Mr. Karti Chidambaram also categorically denied meeting the Mukherjeas or influencing the decisions of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).
“I have never met these two people or have anything to do with the FIPB,” he said.
Govt using CBI, ED as “personal revenge-seeking departments": Congress
Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala addressing the media in New Delhi on Thursday.
The Congress on Thursday came down heavily on the BJP government over the arrest of P Chidambaram , accusing it of using the CBI and the ED as “personal revenge-seeking departments“.
Senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister Chidambaram was arrested last night amid high drama by the CBI and he spent the night at a agency guest house.
“Over the last two days India witnessed the broad daylight murder of democracy as also the rule of law,” said Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala.
He further said that while many accused in the INX Media case have not been arrested, a senior politician has been arrested without any legal basis.
“Government using CBI, ED as personal revenge-seeking departments for the party in power as also those ruling country”, Mr. Surjewala charged.
“A seasoned politician was arrested on the statement of a woman charged with murder of her own daughter”, says Surjewala referring to Indrani Mukherjea
He further alleged that “false charges” were being heaped on senior political rivals to “silence” everyone in country.
Also read: ED, CBI allege ‘illegal’ FIPB approvals
