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Meet Ashok Lavasa: A man surrounded by many controversies, going back to the CWG scam

Nupur J Sharma
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Meet Ashok Lavasa: A man surrounded by many controversies, going back to the CWG scam

Election commissioner Ashok Lavasa had kicked up a storm earlier after he alleged that he did not agree with the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) decisions to clear Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah of charges of violating the so-called Model Code of Conduct (MCC). He had asserted that he will not attend the EC meetings until his dissent is recorded and Sunil Arora had slammed Lavasa for his comments.

Now, his dissent itself seems to be under question after this report by TimesNow that says he had agreed to attend the EC meeting.


The entire Congress ecosystem had used Lavasa’s ‘dissent’ to allege that the Election Commission is biased and basically, is favouring PM Modi and the BJP. Incidentally, this was also a charge made by Rahul Gandhi much before Ashok Lavasa spoke up. During a press conference, Rahul Gandhi had made allegations of bias and even threatened EC officials with consequences.

But who is Ashok Lavasa? With him being in the eye of the media, here is more about him and his family.

The P Chidambaram connection

Ashok Lavasa is a 1980 Batch Haryana cadre IAS officer who entered the Centre in April 2009 as a Joint Secretary in Home Ministry during P Chidambaram’s tenure. In 2010, Chidambaram launched a book of Ashok Lavasa. The book’s name was ‘An Uncivil Servant’. Chidambaram had also launched a travel photo exhibition of Ashok Lavasa and his wife.

P Chidambaram with Ashok Lavasa and his wife

This image is unavailable on the website that had originally posted it, however, a google cache version of the image can be found here.

Website PGurus had claimed that Ashok Lavasa was the blue-eyed boy of several ministers in the Congress government and had received several benefits under the Congress government.

Business interests of Ashok Lavasa’s wife

Ashok Lavasa has been the MoF, MoEF, Power and Renewable Energies Ministry of the Government of Haryana in the past. Ashok Lavasa’s wife, Novel Lavasa, has been a director in many such companies that seem to be in congruence with his tenure in the renewable energy ministry and the power sector. According to PGurus, Ashok Lavasa’s wife “Novel is only a Post Graduate in English and resigned from State Bank of India around 2005 as Manager. Then she was managing the IAS Officer’s wives’ welfare association activities and some social activities. When she was in the SBI, she had gone for a course in Australia on Credit and Savings. Many Bankers say that she left SBI as soon as she got a promotion as Assistant General Manager”.

Following are the posts held by Ashok Lavasa over the years in his tenure as a civil servant.

Posts held by Ashok Lavasa

Novel Lavasa became the director of a company called Balrampur Chini Mills Pvt Ltd on 6th February 2015.

The Balrampur Sugar Mill Pvt Ltd, according to their website, is involved not only in sugar manufacturing but also in power generation.

When Ashok Lavasa’s wife was appointed as the Director in the Chini Mill, Lavasa himself was involved in the Environment Ministry.

Novel Lavasa was appointed as the director in another company, Omaz Autos Limited, which has an interest in the power sector as well. Her appointment as the director came on 29th October 2015 after Ashok Lavasa was involved in the power ministry between 2009 and 2013, during the Congress tenure.

She became the Director of another company called Powerlinks Transmission Limited on 2nd May 2017. In 2016, according to our sources, Novel became the Director in 9 companies of Walwhan and Welspun groups which are related to each other through common directors. These companies had interests in the Renewable energy sector.

Links to Commonwealth Games scam?

OpIndia has accessed parts of the Shunglu Committee Report that named Ashok Lavasa’s daughter and son as a part of undue favouritism being showed towards them due to their links to powerful people elsewhere.

Part of Shungly Committee report

The Shunglu Committee basically concluded that the Selection Committee unduly favoured Avny Lavasa in her appointment to as the PO (Project Officer) disregarding due process and because she had influential people who favoured her.

The observations made in the Shunglu Committee report were scathing.

The report said that the selection committee was constituted under the approval of the “chairman” and it was formed to interview candidates for 6 posts. The Committee was formed to select Directors, ADG, DDG etc. Interestingly, out of the 17 candidates who were invited to appear for the interview, only 16 showed up. Further observations in the matter were scathing.

Part of Shungly Committee report

The Committee rules that Avny Lavasa’s application was received by the selection committee after ‘several enquiries’. She was then interviewed by the committee and her name was recommended for appointment of APO.

The report asks how a committee that was formed to select Directors ended up interviewing and recommending a name for the post of APO. The report also questions, why other candidates were not evaluated for the post of APO and only Avny Lavasa, was interviewed and selected.

The report then concludes that Avny Lavasa was related to an “influential person” (being Ashok Lavasa, her father) and that the possibility that documents were created to provide legitimacy to the recruitment cannot be excluded.

Soon after Avny was appointed as the APO, she was promoted to the post of PO.

Order promoting Avny Lavasa

Avny Lavasa’s brother, Abir Lavasa was also appointed as the APO according to the report.

Avny Lavasa seems to be currently posted in Ladakh, according to a segment done on her by Kapil Sibal’s channel.

In 2013, The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs & Sports Jitendra Singh has said that the Government constituted a High-Level Committee (HLC) headed by V.K. Shunglu to look into various issues related the organizing and conduct of the CWG, 2010, including weaknesses in management, alleged misappropriation, irregularities, wasteful expenditure and wrongdoing.

The HLC in its various Reports has cited instances of irregularities, procedural lapses, delay in execution of the Works, financial loss to the Government, favoring of contractors, not following the proper procedure in awarding contracts, use of substandard material and purchases of material at higher cost, irregular appointment of various staff/consultants, lack of supervision/control over the contractors/staff. The High-Level Committee has in some cases also recommended investigations by various agencies.

Abir Lavasa’s business interests

Abir Lavasa is the son of Ashok Lavasa and certain business interests of Abir do peak one’s interest.

Abir Lavasa became the director of a company called Nourish Organic Foods Private Limited on 14th November 2017. Interestingly, insiders have told OpIndia that Abir was appointed as the director around the same time that two other directors, Naresh Kumar and Seema Jajodia resigned from the company.

It would be of interest to know that Seema Jajodia is connected to the company Monnet Ispat that has defaulted around Rs. 1000 crores.

According to SBI, the total amount claimed from the steel company was Rs 2,243 crore, although it defaulted only on Rs 1,539 crore. 

Sandeep Jajodia is the is married to Monnet Ispat and Energy’s promoter Sandeep Jajodia.

According to The Telegraph, “Seema Jajodia, who was also listed as the promoter of Monnet Ispat, transferred her shares by way of gift on October 24 but the company intimated the bourses only on January 27. Bids for Monnet were closed on December 12. It could not be immediately ascertained when Jajodia was declassified as the promoter of Monnet by the bourses. A petition filed by the employees of Bhushan Steel, where JSW Steel was a resolution applicant, had claimed that the transfer of shares by Jajodia in Monnet was “antedated”.

The allegation basically was that Seema Jajodia transferred her shares in Monnet Ispat & Energy “antedated” to enable her brother’s JSW Steel to be in the clear under section 29A of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016 that bars defaulting promoters and their related parties to bid for distressed assets without repaying overdue loans”.

There are allegations that the current directors in Nourish Organic Foods Pvt Ltd are Directors in name and the entire control of the company rests with Abir Lavasa.

A large number of shares of Nourish are reportedly held by a company called Bonita Traders Private Limited. Right before Abir Lavasa was appointed as the director in Nourish, Seema Jajodia and Nikita Jajodia were appointed as Directors in Bonita Traders Private Limited.

Man in Uttar Pradesh brutally killed his wife for choosing to vote in favour of BJP: Reports

OpIndia Staff
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Man in Uttar Pradesh brutally killed his wife for choosing to vote in favour of BJP: Reports

In a shocking incident, a man named Rambachan, a resident of Tarvania ward No. 3, Saidpur, Gazipur district, Uttar Pradesh, brutally killed his wife Neelam (25) for allegedly casting her vote in favour of BJP in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, reports News18 Hindi.

Rambachan, who wanted Neelam to vote for BSP had reportedly got into an argument with her on Monday as she chose to vote for BJP instead. Furious at her for not following his instructions the husband used a shovel to attack his wife. After brutally murdering her, Ranbachan stood beside the corpse until villagers started to gather, after which he left the spot.

The deceased’s family members reached the village and blocked roads to protest the murder. The Gazipur police arrived at the spot and dispersed the crowd following which a case was registered against Neelam’s husband and in-laws and they were arrested later in the day. However, Neelam’s mother has registered a case of murder over dowry against Rambachan and his parents.

Neelam, daughter of Ishu Ram, a resident of Gahira Basti of Singarpur in Khanpur Police Station, was married to Rambachan on June 19, 2014. The deceased is survived by two children.

According to some other reports Rambachan also suspected infidelity, due to which the duo used to get into regular arguments with each other. Moreover, according to a report, this is suspected to be another reason for the murder.

Earlier too, a Congress supporter from Madhya Pradesh believed to be close to a state minister, killed a 60-year old man after accusing him of voting for the BJP.

Arun Sharma, on Sunday, picked an argument with salon owner Nemichand Tanwar accusing him of voting for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) soon after he had cast his vote at the polling booth in Palia village in Hatod area around 2 p.m. Later, Sharma visited Tanwar’s house and murdered Tanwar in front of his son with a country-made pistol.

Tanwar, who was critically injured, was rushed to the hospital where he was declared dead upon arrival.

BJP voters and Karyakartas have been attacked throughout the election season for their voting preferences and political inclinations. Most violence was seen in West Bengal where violence was rampant and Hindus were even prevented from exercising their constitutional right.

The first ever World Cup cricket match witnessed India’s most controversial world cup innings

Ritesh
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The first ever World Cup cricket match witnessed India’s most controversial world cup innings

In little over a week, the 12th World Cup will begin in England. For fans it’s a cricket festival. For players it’s all about the glory. The 10 nation will play against each other to win the most prestigious trophy in cricket.

India has mixed memories with the tournament – from being winners twice to some heartbreaking performances. But between happiness and sorrow, there were some other moments too that perhaps not many remember.

Let’s look back on one of the most controversial innings played by an Indian in the very first World Cup Match.

In 1975, chasing 335 against England in their opening match India managed to score only 132 for 3 in 60 overs (yes you read it correctly, thanks mainly to Sunil Gavaskar who scored just 36*off 174 balls).

One of the commentator during the match wanted Indian captain S Venkataraghavan to pull off Gavaskar from the pitch.

The Indian team manager GS Ramchand was so angry that he openly criticized Gavaskar in post match statement “I do not agree with his tactics, but he will not be disciplined”.

Two days later he told the Daily Express:

“It was the most disgraceful and selfish performance I have ever seen… his excuse [to me] was, the wicket was too slow to play shots but that was a stupid thing to say after England had scored 334. The entire party is upset about it. Our national pride is too important to be thrown away like this.”

However, many missed the point that it was not Gavaskar alone who was crawling in the entire Indian innings. If you look at the scorecard, 3 batsmen along with Gavaskar played with strike rate in 20s.

Only Viswanath had some decent strike rate. But only Gavaskar took all the criticism because of him being India’s best batsman. Believe it or not, even one spectator pleaded to Brijesh Patel to score quickly in one of the several pitch invasion during the match.

Several years later Gavaskar admitted that this was the worst innings of his life:

“It is something that even now I really can’t explain. If you looked back at it, you’d actually see in the first few overs some shots which I’d never want to see again – cross-batted slogs. I wasn’t overjoyed at the prospect of playing non-cricketing shots and I just got into a mental rut after that. There were occasions I felt like moving away from the stumps so I would be bowled. This was the only way to get away from the mental agony from which I was suffering. I couldn’t force the pace and I couldn’t get out.”

Gavaskar also revealed that he was caught behind off the second ball of the innings. “I keep tossing and turning around about it now. I asked myself, ‘Why the hell did I not walk the second ball? I was caught behind and would have been out for zero. But nobody appealed. I had flashed outside the off stump… it was just such a faint nick that nobody appealed. The bowler went ‘ah’ and the keeper, Alan Knott, who was standing some way back, did the same. There was no real appeal, no proper ‘how’s that?’ That little moment of hesitation got me so much flak all these years.”

Gavaskar compensated in the next match by scoring 65* off 86 (strike rate of 75.58) against the associate country East Africa, helped the team to win the match by 10 wickets. Gavaskar’s lone century in ODIs came in his last World  Cup (1987) when he smashed 100 off just 85 balls against New Zealand at Nagpur.

India against England (target 335) R BF 4s 6s SR
S Gavaskar not out 36  174  1  0 20.69
E Solkar c Lever b Arnold 8  34  0  0 23.53
A Gaekwad c †Knott b Lever 22  46  2  0 47.83
G Viswanath c Fletcher b Old 37  59  5  0 62.71
B Patel not out 16  57  0  0 28.07
Extras (lb 3, w 1, nb 9) 13
Total 3 wickets   (60.0 overs @ 2.20 rpo) 132

BBC tweaks timeline, sets 2024 as the year when Rahul Gandhi will finally come of age and unseat Modi

Nirwa Mehta
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BBC tweaks timeline, sets 2024 as the year when Rahul Gandhi will finally come of age and unseat Modi

Even as India awaits the election results which will be declared on May 23, Congress-friendly media has already started building up a case that Rahul Gandhi should not be dismissed as yet. And while Indian media continues to write editorials and opinion pieces that Rahul Gandhi has come of age (yet again), the BBC has gone a step ahead and tweaked the timeline.

In a profile posted by BBC yesterday, the publication too echoed that Rahul Gandhi should not be written off just as yet. That he still continues to be a formidable force, except 2024 may be a realistic goal for him to eye. After all, his great grandfather, grandmother, father – all have been the prime ministers of India so it is only natural for him to take over the ‘Family Business’.

BBC mentions how Rahul Gandhi has grown as a politician who was described as clueless by the media to how he has recovered the lost ground as a politician. “His social media campaigns have become smarter, he’s been arguing convincingly about the government’s controversial currency ban, a lack of employment opportunities, growing intolerance in the country and the slowdown in the economy. He’s also consistently demanded answers from the government on alleged corruption in the Rafale fighter jet deal,” says the BBC.

Congress social media team has been caught spreading morphed images, fake news and has had gaffes galore in the past few years.

The BBC says Rahul Gandhi has been ‘arguing convincingly’ about demonetisation. The Ahmedabad District Co-operative Bank had filed a criminal defamation case against Rahul Gandhi for alleging that the bank was involved in a Rs 750 crore scam right after demonetisation. Congress was also found spreading half-truths and whole lies on demonetisation a year after it was implemented. Guess lying about the demonetisation is considered ‘arguing convincingly’ on the same.

The BBC then talks about ‘lack of employment opportunities, growing intolerance and the slowdown of the economy’ as points on which Rahul Gandhi argues convincingly on. Sorry to break it to you, Beeb, a recent report showed a 38% rise in job creation in the IT sector in last one year. Around 15 million jobs have been created per year by the Modi government. Wonder what ‘lack of employment opportunity and slowdown of economy’ argument of Rahul is convincing. With regard to ‘rising intolerance’, that is something we agree upon. Recently, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee jailed a person because she shared a meme, mocking Mamata. In fact, even Congress hooligans were recently caught vandalising movie theatres. Unfortunately, these incidents don’t make it to Rahul Gandhi’s arguments on ‘rising intolerance’.

Moving on to our favourite. The BBC says that Rahul Gandhi has “consistently demanded answers from the government on alleged corruption in the Rafale fighter jet deal.” The BBC does not put out a disclaimer that these allegations have been categorically refuted multiple times and that Rahul Gandhi is inconsistent with the figures and is essentially lying through this teeth about the ‘Rafale scam’. Wonder if BBC will include this shoddy profile as well in the dubious database of websites which they accuse of spreading fake news.

BBC credits Rahul Gandhi for bringing his sister, the ‘charismatic and popular’ Priyanka Gandhi into politics to revive the party in Uttar Pradesh. In a major blow to Jyotiraditya Scindia, BBC forgets to mention that Priyanka is in charge of Eastern UP and Scindia in Western UP. Secondly, the same ‘charismatic and popular’ Priyanka Gandhi is essentially making self-goals for Congress, embarrassing the party more than her brother did. And that people are leaving the party because they Priyanka reportedly humiliated them? No? It’s okay, Beeb, we get it.

The BBC mentions that how in 2004 Rahul ‘plunged’ into politics by standing from Amethi, a seat his father ‘had once held’. BBC cleverly forgets to mention that Amethi seat has been won by a member of Nehr-Gandhi family since the 1980s. His uncle Sanjay Gandhi, father Rajiv Gandhi and mother Sonia Gandhi have all fought and won from Amethi. That before Rahul contested from Amethi, Sonia Gandhi was holding on to the seat.

And now, the BBC has gone a step ahead to revise the timeline to when can we write off Rahul Gandhi as a credible politician. The BBC has given five more years to Rahul Gandhi to ‘come of age’, again.

In what could only be termed as poetic justice, the BBC seems to have bend its knee to the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.

Former President Pranab Mukherjee hails the Election Commission of India for perfectly conducted elections

OpIndia Staff
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Former President Pranab Mukherjee hails the Election Commission of India for perfectly conducted elections

Former president Pranab Mukherjee has hailed the election commission of India saying that the 2019 Lok Sabha elections were conducted ‘perfectly’.


Speaking at a book launch event in Delhi, the former president stated that if democracy has succeeded in the country it is mainly due to the perfect conduct of elections by the ECI.

Pranab Mukherjee stated that election commissions starting from Shukumar Sen to the present CEC, have made sure that elections are conducted perfectly.

Pranab Mukherjee’s remarks come soon after Congress president Rahul Gandhi claimed that the ECI has ‘capitulated’ before the central government and has lost its respect. Rahul Gandhi was seen claiming that EVMs are being manipulated and the ECI is partial towards the central government soon after the last phase of the election was complete.


It is notable here the former President’s statement comes after almost all exit polls have predicted a clear majority for the NDA and the Congress leadership is coming up with bizarre excuses to avoid accountability for the party’s political decline.

Keep it funny, not personal, Moeen Ali’s expectations from fans during World Cup

OpIndia Staff
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Keep it funny, not personal, Moeen Ali’s expectations from fans during World Cup

All-rounder Mooen Ali wants English fans not to be personal with Smith and Warner during the World Cup. Both were banned from playing cricket for 1 year for their roles in the pre-meditated plan to tamper with the ball during the Cape Town Test.

Talking to The Guardian Moeen said: “I really hope they don’t get too much stick. I want them to enjoy the series,”

“If you have to, keep it funny, not personal. We all make mistakes. We are human beings and we have feelings. I know deep down they are probably really good people. I just hope they get treated decently. I just want the cricket to be spoken about.”

Two days back Australian coach Justin Langer had said that both Warner and Smith require extra care.

“There’s not too many I’ve met in my life who like being booed or heckled or disliked so… they’re human beings,” Langer had said. “We’re going to have to care for them, we’re going to have to put an arm around them and make sure they’re going okay. But what people say, whether it’s in the crowd or social media or wherever there’s nothing they can do about that, they can’t control it but what we can do is keep an eye on them and make sure they’re going okay as people as much as cricketers.”

Congress’ new excuse for predicted loss: North Indian voters are not as educated as South Indians

OpIndia Staff
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Congress’ new excuse for predicted loss: North Indian voters are not as educated as South Indians

After the seven phases of the grand and extensive Lok Sabha elections are over and exit polls of almost all news channels have forecast a clear majority for the NDA, Congress is seen attempting to hide behind excuses and allegations, again.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has been attempting to peddle another ‘EVM manipulation’ theory. He has been attacking the Election Commission of India alleging that the ECI is in collusion with the central government. Now, Congress’ spokesperson has come up with another theory, a theory that fits right into Congress’ efforts to divide the country on the basis of caste, religion and regionalism.

In a panel discussion over the exit poll predictions and the fate of Congress, its spokesperson declared that the reason behind the Congress’ bad performance in North Indian states is that the people in North Indian states are ‘pliable’ and they are not as educated like the people in the south.


Speaking on a panel discussion (full video here) moderated by HTN Tiranga TV’s Barkha Dutt yesterday, Congress spokesperson Shama Mohammad alleged that the media is pliable and it favours the BJP. She also says that because the people of North India are pliable and they are not as educated as South Indians, they get manipulated by a pliable media and WhatsApp messages.

The Congress spokesperson, in her desperation to blame everyone except Congress leaders for their loss, seemed to forget that the exit polls have predicted a significant gain for BJP in Eastern, central and Southern states too.

This is not the only excuse the Congress has come up with to shift the blame and whine after a predicted loss. As if the long-dismissed blames over EVMs and the functioning of the ECI was not enough, Congress had yesterday came up with the claim that BJP had not manipulated EVMs in the three states of MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh during the assembly elections because PM Modi did not care for his CMs and he only wanted to win the general elections.


Congress leader Rashid Alvi had even claimed that there is no way the BJP can win. He even claimed that the exit polls are wrong because people are pressurised to lie about who they had voted for. He further added that BJP can win only through EVM manipulation and when Congress wins any election, it is because the EVMs are not manipulated. Answering the journalist’s question that his allegations are not making sense at all, Alvi had stated that Congress leaders know everything about politics because they have been doing politics all their lives.

Peddling regionalism and playing divisive politics has always been Congress’ forte. After becoming the CM in Madhya Pradesh, Congress’ Kamal Nath had claimed that there are no jobs for the people of the state because the people from UP and Bihar are stealing them.

In UP, Congress leaders including Priyanka Gandhi had claimed that PM Modi is an ‘outsider’ because he hails from Gujarat.

Congress leader Navjot Sidhu had claimed that he finds Pakistan more familiar than South India.

Interestingly, even if one tries to take the Congress’ claims seriously for a minute, they are in complete contradiction with each other. At one side their president and leaders claim that EVMs have been manipulated, at another side, their spokesperson claims that people have voted for the BJP because they are uneducated and pliable, thereby accepting that BJP’s predicted win is because of people’s genuine votes, not EVM manipulation.

On top of all that Congress is also claiming that exit polls are wrong and they are going to win, contradicting their own other allegations.

Kedar Jadhav fit, no changes in India’s World Cup Squad

OpIndia Staff
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Kedar Jadhav fit, no changes in India’s World Cup Squad

The speculation over the final squad of Team India for World Cup is over. On Monday Indian team’s physio Patrick Farhart declared Kedar Jadhav fit in his report to BCCI.

The all-rounder had suffered a shoulder injury during Chennai’s match against Punjab in IPL on May 5. Jadhav passed a fitness test conducted by Farhart at the MCA’s BKC facility.

Had Jadhav declared unfit, the selection panel would have picked a replacement from the five standbys: Rishabh Pant, Ambati Rayudu, Ishant Sharma, Axar Patel and Navdeep Saini.

Many former cricketers and experts believed that Pant should have been selected for the World Cup.

“If you can put Rishabh up at No. 4, he’ll score runs for you because he’s just so talented,” Ganguly said. “He’s got so much time to play fast bowling that you can’t see Rishabh Pant failing at the top level. And he hasn’t actually. In his short career, he’s been remarkable for India, and once gets more opportunities, he’ll be a very different player.”

India will start their campaign against South Africa on June 5.

India’s schedule for World Cup 2019:

June 5 (Wednesday): v South Africa at The Rose Bowl, Southampton
June 9 (Sunday): v Australia at Kennington Oval, London
June 13 (Thursday): v New Zealand at Trent Bridge, Nottingham
June 16 (Sunday): v Pakistan at Old Trafford, Manchester
June 22 (Saturday): v Afghanistan at The Rose Bowl, Southampton
June 27 (Thursday): v West Indies at Old Trafford, Manchester
June 30 (Sunday): v England at Edgbaston, Birmingham
July 2 (Tuesday): v Bangladesh at Edgbaston, Birmingham
July 6 (Saturday): v Sri Lanka at Headingley, Leed

Indian Squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (wicket-keeper), Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami.

‘Krantikari’ journalist is back, predicts more seats for Congress ally DMK than it is even contesting, Congress happily shares it

OpIndia Staff
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‘Krantikari’ journalist is back, predicts more seats for Congress ally DMK than it is even contesting, Congress happily shares it

‘Krantikari’ journalist Punya Prasun Bajpai, who was recently booted from Surya Samachar, has released his own ‘exit poll’ after the conclusion of the seventh and final phase of voting on Sunday, May 19.

As per Bajpai, the BJP will be reduced from 282 seats victory in 2014 to 145-152 seats in 2019. Congress will be gaining 100+ seats, Gathbandhan 50+ seats, TMC will score 35+ seats, DMK scoring 35+ seats and BJP will get 18+ seats says Bajpai. This exit poll was gleefully shared by Madhya Pradesh Congress’ official handle.


At first glance we thought it is fake image and Punya Prasun Bajpai wouldn’t have given these numbers, since he would at least do basic fact-check before dishing out numbers. How can he give over 35 seats to DMK when the party is contesting only from 20 seats in total? Well, perhaps the ‘survey’ Bajpai worked on was also done the way he peddles fake narratives.

Soon after the final round of polling got over, the exit polls have been predicting a second term of NDA government at centre with a clear majority for the BJP. The exit polls, which have a tendency to be little inaccurate, have caused quite a few heartburns in the Lutyens and Khan Market gangs of the elitist media. While most celebrity journalists have had a meltdown, some even seem to have conjured up unnamed party sources to assert that Congress is not dying anytime soon.

Amidst all this, Bajpai seems to have gone a step further and made a Congress ally in Tamil Nadu win more seats than the party has even contested from. By the time of this report, Bajpai’s video has clocked in over 10 lakh views.

Bahut krantikari.

Mohammad Amir makes a comeback to World Cup Squad

OpIndia Staff
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Mohammad Amir makes a comeback to World Cup Squad

Pakistan chairman of selectors Inzamam ul Haq told the media on Monday about three changes made in the provisional squad. Pakistan has called up Asif Ali, Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz to their final 15-man World Cup squad.

“The lack of potency of our frontline bowlers against England meant that a change was needed,” said Inzamam-ul-Haq.

“We now know we will encounter batting wickets in the World Cup.”

Asif Ali, who lost his daughter due to cancer is also called up.

“We are with Asif in this tough time,” added Inzamam. “He will return to Pakistan and then go back [to England] before the warm-up matches.”

The selection has irked pace bowler Junaid Khan. “I dont want to say anything. Truth is bitter. (Sach karwa hotha hai),” Junaid wrote on Twitter (later deleted).

Truth is Bitter – Junaid Khan on Twitter

Mohammad Amir was sensational against India in Champions trophy final in 2017 when he dismissed India’s top 3. But since then his form deteriorated took only 5 wickets in 10 matches in the last 2 years. Wahab Riaz played last International match for Pakistan in 2017.

“The bowling unit during the England ODIs has not clicked as anticipated or expected,” said Inzamam.

“If we have at our disposal the vastly experienced pace duo of Amir and Wahab, then it will be foolish not to include them.”

Pakistan squad: Sarfaraz Ahmed (capt & wk), Asif Ali, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Wahab Riaz.

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