AAP crisis worsens as Kumar Vishwas defies Kejriwal dictat

May 2, 2017

New Delhi, May 2: The crisis in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) following Delhi civic poll debacle took a new turn on Tuesday with senior leader Kumar Vishwas saying he will take a decision soon, a remark that set tongues wagging about his future course of action.

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Vishwas virtually defied Delhi Chief Minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal's dictat to senior leaders not to air their views and grievances before cameras and spoke to media in the evening to drop the bombshell that all was not well in the party yet.

In veiled criticism, he targeted Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, saying they can continue to be the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister respectively but one should not ignore those party workers who have suffered for building the party.

"I have already said that I do not want to become the Chief Minister or Deputy Chief Minister or party chief. I am not going to join any party or any Swaraj andolan. I have not come for that. I will take a decision tonight and I will not seek apology for his statements," an emotional Vishwas told reporters.

Sisodia had on Monday said that there was criticism about the video post of Vishwas in the PAC meeting.

Sisodia hit back at Vishwas later, saying he is making statements on TV which is demoralising AAP volunteers. “Why doesn't he come to the PAC?” Sisodia asked.

His response came amid reports that some MLAs had approached Kejriwal with allegations that Vishwas told some of them that Delhi would soon have a new Chief Minister.

The poet-turned politician's comments came a day after his one of his bete-noires Amanatullah Khan quit the Political Affairs Committee (PAC), the highest decision-making body in the party, following criticism against him. Khan continued his attack on Vishwas, who had given interviews against party leadership after poll drubbing, even after his resignation.

Vishwas, who refused to attend Monday night's PAC meeting, said he knows the people behind Khan who are trying to conspire against him. A section of MLAs from Punjab and Delhi, who are close to Vishwas, had written to party leaders against Khan while two Ministers in Delhi took to Twitter to attack the latter.

The latest outburst by Vishwas came even as Kejriwal has scheduled meetings with party MLAs to gather feedback and their views on the functioning of the party and government. Kejriwal is also planning a reshuffle in the party and possibly in the government too.

Sources said the leadership is also miffed at Vishwas as they tried to assuage his feelings by making Khan quit the high-level body. Vishwas believes that a faction led by Sanjay Singh is trying to undermine him in the party.

The party is facing such a huge crisis for the second time in a little over one year. Earlier, founder members Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav left the party after the huge Delhi Assembly election victory, claiming that several undesirable elements were given poll tickets.

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March 15,2024

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Bengaluru: Prime Minister Narendra Modi would formally kickstart the BJP's Lok Sabha election campaign in Karnataka on Saturday from Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge's home turf— Kalaburagi.

He is scheduled to address a mega public meeting at the district headquarters town's N V Ground at 2 pm.

Kharge, who had represented Kalaburagi (Gulbarga Lok Sabha segment) twice in the past, lost to BJP's Umesh Jadhav by a margin of 95,452 votes in the 2019 general elections here— the octogenarian leader's first electoral loss in his political life spanning several decades.

BJP has once again fielded Jadhav from the segment.

Speculations are rife that the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, who has the role of managing the party nationally and coordinating with the opposition I.N.D.I.A bloc, may not contest the coming polls and, instead, the Congress is likely to field his son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani, a businessman, who also manages educational institutions.

On March 18, Modi will be in Shivamogga, the home district of veteran BJP leader B S Yediyurappa, and is scheduled to address a huge public meeting at 2 pm.

Yediyurappa's son B Y Raghavendra is the sitting MP from Shivamogga and has been re-nominated by the party. Yediyurappa's other son B Y Vijayendra, who represents Shikaripura assembly constituency in the district, is the state BJP President.

BJP has announced candidates for 20 seats in the State, which has a total of 28 constituencies.

After being ousted from power by the Congress in the 2023 Assembly polls, the BJP now is making a strong bid to regain the lost ground in Karnataka.

The BJP won 25 out of total 28 seats in the previous elections, and had ensured the win of a party supported independent candidate in Mandya. The then ruling Congress-JD(S) alliance had come a cropper winning just one seat each.

It is a role reversal of sorts for JD(S), which joined the NDA last September and has forged an electoral alliance with the BJP. The regional party is expected to contest in three seats— Mandya, Hassan and Kolar.

Sharing details of Modi's visit, state BJP General Secretary Sunil Kumar on Wednesday said BJP National President J P Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath along with other leaders will visit different Lok Sabha constituencies for campaigning in the coming days.

Speaking about the party's poll preparations, he said: "We have divided 28 Lok Sabha constituencies into eight clusters for Lok Sabha elections. Keeping in view the local political and geographical background, programmes and strategies are being worked out in those eight clusters."

Several senior leaders including Shah and Nadda have already visited one of these clusters, Kumar said, adding, "Workers' convention, well-wishers' contacts have been made and election preparations are on in all these eight clusters. In the second phase, large public meetings will be held."

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March 27,2024

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The Enforcement Directorate has filed a money laundering case against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter Veena Vijayan, her IT company and some others to probe a case of alleged illegal payments made by a private mineral firm to her and the company, official sources said Wednesday.

The agency has registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and is expected to summon the people involved, the sources said.

The ED case has been booked after taking cognisance of a complaint filed by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), an investigative arm of the Union corporate affairs ministry, they said.

The case stems from an Income Tax Department investigation that alleged that a private company called Cochin Minerals And Rutile Ltd (CMRL), made an illegal payment of Rs 1.72 crore to Veena's company-- Exalogic Solutions-- during 2018 to 2019, even though the IT firm had not provided any service to the company.

The Karnataka High Court had last month dismissed a plea filed by Exalogic Solutions against the probe initiated by the SFIO.

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March 15,2024

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New Delhi, Mar 13: The Supreme Court on Friday took exception to the State Bank of India (SBI) for not disclosing complete details of Electoral Bonds, including unique alfa numeric numbers, furnished to the Election Commission for uploading on the website.

A five-judge Constitution bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud issued notice to the SBI seeking its response on Monday after the court was informed that the issuing bank for the Electoral Bonds has not disclosed unique alfa numeric number of each bond.

"They have not disclosed the bond numbers. It has to be disclosed by the State Bank of India. All details have to be provided by the SBI," the bench, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, noted.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal said as per the Constitution bench judgment of February 15, 2024, all details were to be disclosed.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted since the SBI was a party to the judgment, notice may be issued to it.

The court said the counsel for SBI should have been here.

"If you see the judgment, we have specified that bond numbers have to be provided," the bench said.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan appeared for the main petitioner Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

On an application by the EC, the bench said the details of Electoral Bonds furnished by the poll panel before the top court should be scanned and returned to it for the purpose of uploading on the website.

The Election Commission through advocate Amit Sharma filed a plea in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to release data on electoral bonds furnished to the top court in terms of previous orders of April 12, 2019 and November 2, 2023.

As per March 11, 2024 order, the Election Commission on Thursday uploaded the data on electoral bonds furnished to it by the SBI.

However, in an application, the poll panel said it had furnished to the Supreme Court a number of sealed envelopes, containing details on EBs encashed by the political parties, during the course of hearing in the matter.

It sought a direction for the return of those sealed envelopes to comply with the directions to upload it on the website as per order of March 11.

On Monday, the Supreme Court had told the SBI to furnish details of purchasers of Electoral Bonds and names of political parties redeemed those instruments by March 12 to the Election Commission, rejecting its plea for extension of time until June 30 for the purpose.

It had then directed the Election Commission to publish the information provided by the SBI on its website on March 15.

In its February 15, 2024 judgment, the SC had declared the Electoral Bonds scheme, introduced in 2018 for donation to political parties, as "unconstitutional" for being violative of the right to information.

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