CHANDIGARH, (PTI): The Congress and the JJP have approached Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, stepping up their efforts to topple the Haryana’s BJP government after it was reduced to a minority in the state assembly. The Haryana Congress on Thursday sent a letter to the governor’s office seeking time on Friday to meet him and present a memorandum on the present political situation in the state.

In a separate letter on Wednesday, Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) leader Dushyant Chautala wrote to the governor, saying the Saini government no longer commands a majority and there should be an immediate floor test.

Three Independent MLAs on Tuesday withdrew support to the BJP government and announced they would back the Congress. The government which has the support of two other Independents is now two short of the majority mark in the 90-member state assembly. However, the House at present has an effective strength of 88 with Karnal and Rania assembly seats being vacant. The BJP has 40 MLAs, the Congress 30 and the JJP 10 in the House. INLD and Haryana Lokhit Party has one member each, while the total number of Independent MLAs are six.

In its letter, the Congress said that a party delegation led by Deputy CLP leader Aftab Ahmed and B B Batra, chief whip CLP, wants to meet the governor on May 10.

Chief Minister Saini again asserted that his government was not in trouble.

On Thursday, Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the ”minority” dispensation should resign on moral grounds.

”We have also sought time from the governor,” Hooda said when asked to comment on the JJP writing a letter to the governor.

Hooda was campaigning in Bhiwani for party’s Lok Sabha candidate Rao Dan Singh.

Replying to another question, Hooda raised doubts whether all 10 JJP MLAs were onboard with their party, in a reference to some JJP MLAs indicating their support in recent days to the BJP. ”We are 30 MLAs…regarding JJP, it would have been better had they paraded 10 MLAs before the governor.

”There is no dispute about our MLAs. Some of their (JJP’s) MLAs are supporting someone else…let them go to the governor with their 10 MLAs,” he said.

After withdrawal of support by the three Independents, Hooda said the Saini government is in a minority.

”On moral grounds, it should resign. President’s rule should be imposed…we are demanding fresh elections in the state,” the former chief minister said.

Taking on both the BJP and the JJP whose alliance ended after Saini replaced Manohar Lal Khattar as Chief Minister in March, Hooda said, ”They entered into agreement to break the alliance. People understand this.” People know there is a direct fight between the Congress and the BJP (in the Lok Sabha polls), others are ”vote kaatu” (vote-cutting) parties.

JJP leader Dushyant Chautala on Wednesday said that the Congress has to think whether they will take a step to bring down the ”minority” BJP government.

Chautala also said that if Hooda takes steps to bring down the Saini government, his party would support the move.

However, the BJP government appears safe for now. According to prevailing norms, a no-trust motion against a government can’t be moved within six months of the previous one. In this case, the BJP government in Haryana had faced the no-confidence motion in February.

The assembly elections are due in Haryana in October this year. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold a probe by the CBI or ED into whether businessmen Adani and Ambani sent his party ”money in a tempo”.

Rahul Gandhi’s retort to PM Modi came after the latter attacked him at an election rally saying why he has ”stopped” naming Adani and Ambani in his attacks and whether he has received money from them in return.

Taking a swipe at the Prime Minister, Gandhi in a video message asked whether Modi was speaking from his ”personal experience” about money being sent by businessmen.

”The money that PM Modi has given to the two businessmen, the Congress party will give the same amount of money to the people of India through the various schemes that the party has promised,” Gandhi said.

”The country knows who is the driver and helper of the BJP’s tempo of corruption,” he said in a post in Hindi on X.

”Modi ji, are you a little scared? Normally you talk about Adani and Ambani in closed doors, but for the first time you have talked about Adani and Ambani in public,” Gandhi said in the video message.

”You also know that they give money in a tempo. Is it your personal experience?” Gandhi said.

”Do one thing – send the CBI, ED to them and carry out a thorough investigation and don’t be scared,” he said.

Prime Minister Modi on Wednesday accused the Congress of having a ”deal” with ”Ambani and Adani”, and asked if the party has received ”tempo loads of black money” from the two businessmen for its leader Rahul Gandhi to stop ”abusing” them.

”Since his Rafale issue got grounded, he started chanting about ‘five industrialists’. Then he started saying Ambani-Adani. But ever since elections have been announced, these people (Congress) have stopped abusing Ambani-Adani.

”I want to ask from Telangana soil, let the Shehzada announce, how much has been lifted from Ambani-Adani. Has tempo loads of money reached the Congress? What deal has been arrived at that abusing Ambani-Adani has stopped overnight?” he said while addressing an election rally at Vemulawada in Telangana.

”Certainly something is fishy. For five years, (they) abused Adani-Ambani and it stopped overnight. It means you have received some tempo loads of ‘chori ka maal’ (loot)… Kaale dhan ki kitni boriya bharkar ke rupaye maare hai (how many sacks of black money you have taken). You have to answer the nation,” the prime minister said.

The Congress has been accusing the prime minister of favouring the top five industrialists in the country, including Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday said activist Gautam Navlakha cannot escape the liability of paying towards expenses for the Maharashtra government making available police personnel for his security during his house arrest, as he himself had requested the house arrest.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) told a bench of justices M M Sundresh and S V N Bhatti that Navlakha, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, is required to make a payment of Rs 1.64 crore towards expenses for security.

”If you have sought for it, you have to pay,” the bench told the counsel representing Navlakha.

”The liability, you know, you can’t escape because you asked for it (house arrest),” the apex court observed.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S V Raju, representing the NIA, said Rs 1.64 crore is due and 70-year-old Navlakha has to make the payment for the security provided during his house arrest.

Terming the order of house arrest as ”unusual”, Raju said a large number of police personnel have been deployed round-the-clock for security during his house arrest.

The counsel representing Navlakha said there is no difficulty in paying per se but the issue was with respect to calculation.

The ASG said Navlakha had earlier made payments of over Rs 10 lakh for this and now he is avoiding making payment.

”There is no question of avoiding,” Navlakha’s counsel said.

His counsel said the NIA’s plea, challenging the December 19, 2023 order of the Bombay High Court which had granted bail to Navlakha, was also required to be heard.

The high court had granted him bail but stayed its order for three weeks after the NIA had sought time to file an appeal in the top court.

On January 5, the apex court had extended the stay imposed by the high court on the operation of its order granting bail to Navlakha.

During the hearing on Tuesday before the apex court, the ASG said earlier, Navlakha himself had asked for house arrest and whether the bail is allowed or not, he has to make the payment for the expenses incurred for round-the-clock security.

”The issue of bail is slightly different. He had first said ‘put me in house arrest because I am not well’. Now he is hale and hearty, everything is okay,” he said.

”We had said if he will be put in house arrest at a place where he wanted to be lodged, then it require police personnel round-the-clock… He said ‘I will pay the cost’,” Raju said, adding, ”Every day, it is mounting. He can’t escape”.

He said Navlakha cannot avoid making the payment in the guise of saying that he wanted to calculate.

”As long as you continue to have this facility, the figures are going to fly higher and higher. What we are today thinking is, instead of allowing it to touch the highest level, we will give one week time,” the bench told Navlakha’s counsel.

It said Navlakha’s counsel can see the calculation and tell the court about it.

The bench, which said the interim stay granted on January 5 shall continue, posted the matter for hearing on April 23.

On March 7, Navlakha’s lawyer had disputed the figure in the apex court and accused the agency of ”extortion”.

Raju had strongly objected to the use of the term ”extortion”.

Navlakha is under house arrest at a public library in Mumbai since November 2022.

While ordering his house arrest on November 10, 2022, the apex court had directed Navlakha to deposit Rs 2.4 lakh towards the expenses to be borne by the state for deploying police personnel to effectively place him under house arrest.

Later, it had again directed Navlakha to deposit another Rs 8 lakh as expenses for providing police personnel for his security.

On November 10, 2022, the top court had allowed Navlakha, who was then lodged in Navi Mumbai’s Taloja prison in connection with the case, to be placed under house arrest owing to his deteriorating health.

The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which police claim triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, (PTI): A court here on Monday denied interim bail to BRS leader K Kavitha in the Delhi excise policy-related money laundering case.

Special Judge Kaveri Baweja dismissed the plea, saying the stage was not right to enlarge her on interim bail.

Kavitha had approached the court for interim bail, saying her 16-year-old son has exams and needs his mother’s ”moral and emotional support”.

The ED had opposed the submission, claiming Kavitha destroyed evidence and influenced witnesses in the case.

The agency had alleged that Kavitha is a key member of the ”South Group”, which has been accused of paying the ruling AAP in Delhi kickbacks of Rs 100 crore in return for a big share of liquor licences in the national capital. Kavitha, 46, was arrested from her Banjara Hills residence on March 15 amid protests by BRS supporters.

She was then sent to seven-day ED custody the next day. Her custodial interrogation was later extended by three days. She was sent to 14-day judicial custody last Tuesday. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, (PTI): Top INDIA bloc leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thakeray, Akhilesh Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav among others will attend a ‘Maharally’ to be held by AAP at the Ramleela ground on March 31, senior party leader Gopal Rai said on Friday.

AAP has received permission of the authorities concerned for holding the rally, being held in the backdrop of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest, at the Ramleela ground on Sunday for an attendance of more than 20,000 people, he said.

The call on whether Arvind Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal will address the ‘Maharally’ will be taken later, he said.

Other prominent political leaders and members of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) like Derek O’Brian, Trichi Siva, Farooq Abdullah and Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren will also attend the rally, he said.

Kalpana Soren, the wife of former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, who is currently in jail, will also attend the rally, he said. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, (ANI): More than 600 lawyers addressed a letter to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud , expressing serious concerns against the actions of a specific interest group aiming to undermine the judiciary’s integrity.

The letter has been signed by prominent lawyers including senior advocate Harish Salve, Manan kumar Mishra, Adish Agarwala, Chetan Mittal, Pinky Anand, Hitesh Jain, Ujjwala Pawar, Uday Holla and Swaroopama Chaturvedi, Bar Council of India’s Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra, Supreme Court Bar Association President Adish Aggarwala, among others.

This group, according to the lawyers, is employing pressure tactics to influence judicial outcomes, particularly in cases involving political figures and corruption allegations. These actions, they argue, pose a significant threat to the democratic fabric and the trust placed in judicial processes. The lawyers highlighted several concerning methods, including the propagation of false narratives about a ‘golden era’ of the judiciary, aimed at discrediting current proceedings and undermining public confidence in the courts.

The accusations include ‘bench fixing’, disrespectful comparisons of domestic courts to those in lawless regimes, and direct attacks on judges’ honor. The letter accused that the tactics employed by the interest group involve selective criticism or praise of court decisions based on their political agenda, described as a “My way or the highway” approach.

Concerns have also been raised about Political flip-flopping, where politicians alternate between accusing individuals of corruption and defending them in court. The letter further highlighted, the use of underhand tactics and dissemination of false information to influence judicial appointments and outcomes.

The lawyers note the strategic timing of these tactics around election periods, drawing parallels to similar activities in 2018-2019. Senior members of the bar have requested the Supreme Court to take protective measures against these attacks to maintain the judiciary’s integrity. The letter calls for a united stand in support of the judiciary to ensure it remains a strong pillar of democracy, urging decisive leadership in addressing these challenges. (ANI)

JAIPUR, (PTI): Congress leader and former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday targeted the BJP government at the Centre, claiming that ”democracy is in danger” and the country is being ruled through federal agencies such as the ED and the CBI.

The upcoming Lok Sabha election is about keeping democracy alive in the country, he said at a public meeting in Sikar after CPI(M) candidate Amraram filed his nomination papers. The Congress has left two seats for its alliance partners – Sikar for the CPI(M) and Nagaur for the RLP. At the meeting, Gehlot said, ”The country is being governed through ED, Income Tax and CBI. The situation in the country is very grave, democracy is in danger and the Constitution framed by Bhimrao Ambedkar is being crushed.” ”It is a worrying situation which some people understand and if you don’t then everyone will repent in the times to come,” the senior Congress leader said.

Referring to various public welfare schemes that were initiated by his government in Rajasthan, Gehlot said, ”Even after doing everything, we could not form government following the assembly elections due to the misconceptions spread and false allegations made by BJP leaders.” While mentioning the electoral bonds scheme, struck down by the Supreme Court last month, the former chief minister claimed that he has been saying since 2019 that electoral bonds were ”institutional corruption and the biggest graft after Independence”.

CPI(M) candidate Amraram filed his nomination papers in the presence of the party’s Politburo member Brinda Karat, state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra and Sikar MLA Rajendra Pareek. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, (ANI): The Delhi High Court has listed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea on Wednesday challenging his arrest and the order of remand passed by the trial court on March 22. Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate in relation to the excise policy case.

The bench of Justice Swarna Kanta Sharma will hear the matter on Wednesday at the at the top of the board and state the cause list of the Delhi High Court. According to the legal team of Kejriwal, both the arrest and the remand order are illegal and he is entitled to be released from custody.

The plea stated that without there being any material in possession of the Enforcement Directorate on the basis of which the petitioner (Arvind Kejriwal), can be believed to be guilty of an offence, the petitioner is being illegally and arbitrarily arrested by ED in the evening of March 21. The plea further stated that the provisions of PMLA are being used to persecute and destroy the very basic fabric of the democratic and federal structures of this country.

“The attempt is to decimate a political party and topple an elected government of NCT of Delhi,” the plea stated. The trial court on March 22, sent Arvind Kejriwal to ED remand till March 28. ED alleged that the Aam Adami Party (AAP) is the major beneficiary of the proceeds of crime generated in the alleged liquor scam.

Senior Advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Vikram Chaudhari, and Ramesh Gupta, along with Advocates Rajat Bharadwaj, Mudit Jain and Mohd Irshad, appeared for the Delhi CM Kejriwal in trial court. ASG SV Raju and Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain appeared for the probe agency. “Part of the proceeds of crime to the tune of cash of Rs 45 crore approx. has been utilized in the election campaign of AAP in Goa Assembly elections 2022,” the ED alleged.

The agency further claimed that Kejriwal was directly involved in the formation of the excise policy. “Arvind Kejriwal has also been intrinsically involved in the entire conspiracy of the Delhi liquor scam, wherein the policy was drafted and implemented in a manner wherein certain private persons were favoured and benefitted in a quid pro quo of receiving kickbacks,” the central agency said in its remand.

It also claimed that due to the actions of Arvind Kejriwal involving excise policy formulation, hatching the conspiracy of kickbacks with the South Group members, and eventually using part of the proceeds of crime generated out of this scheduled offence in the election campaign of the AAP for the Goa Assembly elections, it is clear that all these activities were not only done with his knowledge but also his active collusion. Kejriwal was arrested by the central agency late Thursday night on charges of corruption in relation to the case. It is the first time in independent India that a serving Chief Minister has been arrested. The move came after Kejriwal skipped multiple summons by the investigation agency, nine in total, calling them “illegal”.

The case pertains to alleged irregularities and money laundering in framing and implementing the Delhi excise policy 2022, which was later scrapped. While Kejriwal was not named in the FIRs registered by the ED or the Central Bureau of Investigation in the Delhi excise policy case, his name first found a mention in the ED’s chargesheet, wherein the agency claimed that he allegedly spoke to one of the main accused, Sameer Mahendru, in a video call and asked him to continue working with co-accused and AAP communications-in-charge Vijay Nair.

Nair was among the first people to be arrested by the CBI in the case, in 2022. Subsequently, former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh were arrested in connection with the case. (ANI)