Poster war in Gujarat: More anti-Modi, pro-Joshi BJP posters surface

June 8, 2012

Ahmedabad, June 8: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) poster controversy seems to have become bigger in Gujarat. Posters indirectly targetting Chief Minister Narendra Modi, while promoting his bete noire Sanjay Joshi have been put up in Ahmedabad and other parts of the state.

This is the second poster of its kind to be put up, after BJP president Nitin Gadkari sacked Joshi from the party's national executive under pressure from Modi. This one has the BJP's logo and reads 'Perform Rajdharma, Prajadharma and partydharma'.

Meanwhile, another set of banners praising Sanjay Joshi have also come up in Rajkot, where a meeting of the BJP state executive will take place over the weekend.

Pamphlets have also been distributed in Ghoghamba in Panchmahal district, where a picture of Modi has been morphed by replacing his face with that of Keshubhai Patel, who is holding a rally there on Sunday.

The posters are appearing at a time when Modi is facing flak within the party. BJP's Kamal Sandesh, in its editorial had criticised Modi without naming him. The RSS's mouthpieces Panchajanya and Organiser though had praised the Chief Minister.

Last week, some posters were on display outside the BJP office in Delhi and Ahmedabad in support of Sanjay Joshi against whom Modi has openly expressed displeasure.

The posters quoted a poem by senior BJP leader and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and interestingly, have the BJP symbol. But it isn't clear yet as to who put up the posters.

When contacted, Sanjay Joshi had said. "I have not asked anyone to put these posters. I do not know who is behind all this."

Joshi was asked to resign from the BJP national executive after Modi demanded it, in exchange of his presence at the BJP meet in Mumbai.

A vociferous Modi detractor, Joshi's resignation was the price the Gujarat Chief Minister extracted from BJP President Nitin Gadkari to attend the meet in Mumbai.

Modi had been upset with party president Nitin Gadkari after he had reinstated Sanjay Joshi in the party and made him the in-charge of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Joshi had to quit his post in 2005 after his purported sex CD hit headlines.

Modi had not turned up to campaign in Uttar Pradesh, even as Gadkari was keen that he did. He even skipped the last party conclave in Delhi held in December last year. Since then the Gujarat Chief Minister and Gadkari were not in the best of terms.

However, the equation seemed to improve after Joshi resigned from the BJP national executive.

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Manipur CM is mastermind behind violence; Centre lied in Supreme Court: Kuki MLAs

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November 11,2024

The Manipur Kuki MLAs have released a statement calling out Solicitor General Tushar Mehta's 'lies' in the Supreme Court. In a joint statement, the MLAs, including those from the Bharatiya Janata Party, said they had not had any meeting with the Chief Minister since May 3, 2023, nor did they intend to meet him in the future as “he was the mastermind behind the violence”.

As per the MLAs, the SG lied about state CM N Biren Singh speaking to Kuki MLAs to control the situation there, in order to halt a Supreme Court probe into the leaked tapes which allege that Singh has been complicit in the violence that broke out between Kukis and Meitis there.

"We...clarify that we have never had any meeting with Chief Minister, Shri N. Biren Singh since May 3, 2023, nor have any intention to meet him in future as he is the mastermind behind the violence and ethnic cleansing of our people from the Imphal valley, which is continuing till today, the latest being the brutal killing and burning of Mrs Zosangkim Hmar on November 7, 2024," the letter read, while condemning the recent 'barbaric' killing of the woman there, and noting the SG's assertion is 'tantamount' to misleading the top court.

“We, the undersigned ten MLAs, have come to know that during the Supreme Court hearing held on November 8, 2024, the Solicitor General of India submitted that ‘CM is meeting all Kuki MLAs and trying to bring the situation down to get peace’. In this connection, we hereby categorically state that this submission is a blatant lie and tantamount to misleading the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India,” the statement said.

The Supreme Court, while hearing a petition by a Kuki organisation, asked that it submit audio tapes to substantiate its claim that the Chief Minister was instrumental in inciting and organising violence in the northeastern State.

Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta orally informed the court that the Chief Minister was meeting all the Kuki-Zo MLAs and that peace in the State had come at a huge cost.

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Adani Group in Crisis: $30 Billion Wiped Out after US Bribery and Fraud Charges Emerge

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November 21,2024

Shares of Adani Group companies lost about $28 billion in market value in morning trade on Thursday after US prosecutors charged the billionaire chairman of the Indian conglomerate in an alleged bribery and fraud scheme.

Gautam Adani's flagship company Adani Enterprises tumbled 23 per cent, while Adani Ports, Adani Total Gas, Adani Green, Adani Power, Adani Wilmar and Adani Energy Solutions, ACC , Ambuja Cements and NDTV fell between 20 per cent and 90 per cent.

Adani group's 10 listed stocks had a total market capitalisation of about $141 billion at 0534 GMT, compared to $169.08 billion on Tuesday.

US authorities said Adani and seven other defendants, including his nephew Sagar Adani, agreed to pay about $265 million in bribes to Indian government officials to obtain contracts expected to yield $2 billion of profit over 20 years, and develop India's largest solar power plant project.

Adani Green in a statement on Thursday said the US Justice Department had issued a criminal indictment against board members Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani and the Securities and Exchange Commission had issued a civil complaint against them.

The US Justice Department also included Adani Green board member Vneet Jaain in the criminal indictment, it said.

Adani Green's units had decided not to proceed with the proposed US dollar denominated bond offerings due to developments, it added.

"Investors will shy away from Adani Group stocks ... and that's what this sharp selling is signifying," said Saurabh Jain, assistant vice president of retail equities research at SMC Global Securities.

"This could hurt the credibility of the group and maybe borrowing costs will rise," he said.

The indictment comes nearly two years after US shortseller Hindenburg Research alleged that Adani had improperly used tax havens and was involved in stock manipulation, allegations the conglomerate denied.

Also in early Asian trading on Thursday, Adani dollar bonds slumped, with prices down 3c-5c on bonds for Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone. The falls were the largest since the Adani Group came under a short-seller attack in February 2023.

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