Rahul Gandhi, India’s national entertainer, has just delivered another stellar performance. Speaking at an event earlier today, the Congress President shared some incredible glimpses of his beautiful mind. Attempting to ‘inspire’ the enterprising youth of India, this 47 years old ‘youth icon’ today said the founder/owner of Coca-Cola brand was a Shikanji vendor in America. Not stopping at that, he went ahead to declare that the owner of McDonald’s was a Dhaba owner in America. Though the factual correctness of his claims has already been discussed, his statements sent Netizens into an overdrive, mocking Rahul for his outlandish comments.
The pearls of Rahul‘s wisdom were always popular among people of India. Be it ‘escape velocity of Jupiter’ or ‘Made in Jaunpur’ patilas (pans) that Mrs Michelle Obama is looking forward to cooking with, Rahul Gandhi’s speeches have always made India laugh. Today was no different, no sooner than that Shikanji video clip went viral, Twitter was flooded with reaction posts as funny as the Congres President’s remarks.
Soon, the hashtag #AccordingToRahulGandhi was trending on Twitter.
Rahul Gandhi never ceases to amuse. Just when Indians think after one major election that they have seen enough of the innovative ideas, Rahul Gandhi comes up with fresh stuff to keep Indians laughing.
Making a comeback after spending two years in jail for his involvement in a money laundering case, Chaggan Bhujbal made his intentions of continuing with his political career clear, putting to rest speculations about quitting the party.
Former Deputy Chief Minister and senior NCP leader yesterday went after the BJP-led government in the state as well as in Centre, saying both have miserably failed on each and every front. He further said that BJP is trying to corner him with corruption allegations and for fooling people with false promises. Chhagan Bhujbal said “Hum bache hai, hum aur bhi Ladenge,” (I have survived, I will continue to fight).
In a rather bizarre statement, he also justified the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi as ‘constitutional’ and said that the Emergency imposed by the BJP now is unconstitutional’.
Out of jail last month, this was Bhujbal’s his first political speech on the party platform. Bhujbal’s long-drawn silence and his meeting of various leaders from the BJP and Shiv Sena had given rise to speculation that the OBC leader may be thinking of switching parties as he had not received support from the NCP while in jail.
It’s rather ironic that a politician who himself was serving a jail sentence on corruption charges was condemning the BJP-led Government. Making sarcastic comments on government’s claims, Bhujbal challenged the government to show them proof of development at least in four districts. “Forget about ‘Achhe Din’, we will be happy if we get at least our earlier good days back,” he made a sarcastic remark. There have been programmes like ‘Startup India and Make in India”, the NCP leader said, adding, “I fear that now there would be a ‘Ruin India’ campaign.”
It is quite clear that the former Deputy CM has forgotten or maybe chooses to forget that he himself was arrested for several criminal offences including criminal misconduct, conspiracy, and cheating, among others.
The six top criminal charges against Chhagan Bhujbal were as follows:
The Enforcement Directorate in its probe had found prima facie evidence of money laundering and illicit financial flows by the Minister and his family members.
As a PWD minister, he gave out the development rights of a slum on RTO land in Andheri to a firm, KS Chamankar Enterprises, in 2005 without inviting tenders with the condition that Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi, the RTO building in Andheri and a guest house on Malabar Hill be constructed in return. The Bhujbals are also accused of receiving money under the table.
Bhujbal was accused of receiving kickbacks for giving a 100 crore contract for the construction of the new Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi.
A charge sheet was filed against him and his family by Maharashtra ACB in connection with the Maharashtra Sadan construction scam.
Amit Biraj, a former employee of the Mumbai Educational Trust (MET) had admitted witnessing cash, in denominations of Rs 1000, being counted in the cash room of the MET office which under all possibilities was received by the Minister for illegal favours extended by him
The money trail established had led the investigation agencies to a web of companies, some on paper and a few non-existent.
Several series of raids were conducted at the properties owned by Bhujbal and his family across Maharashtra. The agency issued a provisional attachment order then, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), against the two assets which are owned by Bhujbal’s firm, which was estimated to be at Rs 55 crores.
It’s often said habits die hard. While serving in jail, it was alleged that Chhagan Bhujbal had extended favours to the prison doctor who in turn changed his medical papers without the knowledge of Arthur Road Jail CMO and recommended that he get admitted there for some other serious reason rather than a simple tooth treatment.
Maharashtra Minister of State for Home (Urban) Ranjit Patil had then ordered a Director General of Police (DGP) level probe into allegations of VIP treatment being accorded to some detainees in lieu of monetary considerations at Arthur Road Jail.
Never a dull moment when Congress President Rahul Gandhi takes to stage. Today, while speaking to a gathering of the party’s OBC wing at Delhi’s Talkatora stadium, Congress President tried to take a dig at Prime Minister Modi by claiming how Modi government does not value people from humble backgrounds.
To prove the point, he said how the decades-old soda company, Coca-Cola was started by a man who sold ‘shikanji’ (lemonade/fresh lime soda, a popular drink in North India) on the streets of the US. He further added that even the fast-food chain McDonald’s was started by a man who ran a ‘dhaba’.
#BREAKING – Coca-Cola company was started by someone who sold ‘Shikanji’ in the US. He used to mix sugar in water. His work was appreciated and he was successful: Rahul Gandhi. pic.twitter.com/BItxgo4K4o
He further enlightened the crowd gathered by saying that Ford, Mercedes and Honda companies were started by ‘mechanics’. He says how such people from humble backgrounds would never make it big in Modi’s India.
First things first, Coca-Cola is a beverage which was ‘invented’ by John Stith Pemberton, who was a pharmacist. McDonald’s was started by two brothers, Dick and Mac McDonald, who ran a hamburger stand which served fries. Henry Ford, who started Ford Motor Company worked as an apprentice mechanist in motor companies in Detroit and had also studied bookkeeping. Karl Benz, was a German engine designer and automobile engineer. Soichiro Honda, the founder of Honda Motors Co was the only one who worked as an apprentice in a garage and worked as a mechanic before returning home to start his own auto repair business.
So, except perhaps Soichiro Honda, everyone had some or the other formal education and some expertise in the business they had set up.
Coming to Rahul Gandhi’s other point where he explains how anyone from a humble background could not achieve this feat in India he has probably forgotten that Dhirubhai Ambani came from a humble background and now the empire he created is a major part of Indian economy.
Perhaps while he says “mujhe Hindustan mein woh dhaba wala dikha do jisne coca cola company banai” he should remember that India has been built on the shoulders of people (and continues in that direction) who come from humble backgrounds to later emerge, victors. Even the Mudra scheme, which he likes to mock continuously, aims to do just that and has various successstories. However, it is not surprising that a ‘Royal Prince’ who is used to everything being served on a silver platter, might not understand the soul of the nation.
Gandhi further accuses that it is difficult for people from humble backgrounds to get recognition in Modi’s India because of ‘crony capitalism’. Firstly, success stories like Dhirubhai Ambani are rare. The reason it is rare is that the Congress unleashed a sordid saga of crony capitalism and license raj that ruined that Indian Economy for decades. The socialist measures and anti-business attitude that was adopted by Congress was broke the spirit of entrepreneurship beyond recognition.
From abnormally high tax rates during the Indira Gandhi regime, to the eternal rhetoric of Garibi Hatao, back by no concrete steps towards the actual emancipation of the poor other than driving the mentality home that ‘they were poor because the others were rich’, the constant demonisation of the word ‘profit’, favours to a handful of businessmen like Mehul Choksi by scam ridden P Chidambarams of the Congress regime mangled the business class and left them gasping for air.
It is thus amusing for the crowned prince of that very legacy to suddenly talk about crony capitalism at a time when India’s indexes are up, corruption is down, business is thriving and the world community is pouring in FDI into the country.
Well, how does he expect people from humble backgrounds to even come forward when he and his party people mock ‘chai’ and ‘pakoda’ walas and ‘cattle class’ in a bid to take a dig at Prime Minister Modi?
Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram likened pakoda sellers to beggars. Congress leader and former minister Shashi Tharoor claimed to be flying ‘cattle class’ when he was flying economy as a minister. Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyer referred to Prime Minister Modi as ‘neech kisam ka aadmi’. He also mocked Prime Minister Modi for having sold tea on Vadnagar railway station as a child with his father.
And Congress President really doesn’t need to look too far to see how can someone from humble background scale heights in India. He just needs to look around and everyone will remind him how a ‘chaiwala’ is now the Prime Minister of India.
Days after the Pune Police revealed that an incriminating piece of internal communication between the arrested suspected urban Maoists suggests an assassination plot for India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it has been raining conspiracy theories on the social media. Usual suspects, who scream ‘democracy in danger’ at the drop of a hat and see sinister ‘Hindutva terror’ each time somebody trolls them on Twitter, have scoffed at the idea, dismissing the claims of Pune Police as political agenda. Even though many journalists have been claiming to have received death threats on social media, they hypocritically dismissed and even rejoiced the Prime Minister’s life being in danger.
However, JNU activist and freelance protestor Shehla Rashid apparently took her opinions on the matter to much higher realms of imagination. She accused that Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, in collusion with RSS, is planning to assassinate the PM and then lynch Muslims after blaming them for it. (Disclaimer: any relation to a recent episode of Quantico is purely coincidental)
Shehla first dismissed the assassination plot as “bullshit“. Exactly 9 minutes later, she shared another tweet claiming that Union Minister Nitin Gadkari is planning to kill the PM with RSS.
Looks like RSS/Gadkari is planning to assassinate Modi, and then blame it upon Muslims/Communists and then lynch Muslims #RajivGandhiStyle
What she probably did not expect was that the Union Minister might actually react to it. Soon Gadkari tweeted hinting that he would be taking legal action on her.
I would be taking legal action on anti-social elements who have made bizzare comments; attributing personal motives to me, regarding the assassination threat to PM @narendramodi
The news spread like wildfire and Shehla Rashid was soon seen unravelling. She first claimed her tweet was only a sarcasm and even brought out the issue of Times Now journalist Rahul Shivshankar for leading a ‘baseless media assault’ on her fellow JNU “activist” Umar Khalid, who was charged with sedition after his involvement in an event to commemorate terrorist Afzal Guru.
Maybe Shehla has a point here. After all, Khalid was present in that Yalgaar Parishad event that led to the Bhima Koregaon violence, for which the police has taken the suspected Maoists into custody. There are no reports yet of Khalid being investigated by police for Maoist links, but since everyone is suggesting conspiracy theories, why not?
It is notable here that Umar Khalid’s father was a member of the banned jihadi outfit SIMI. She even claimed that Gadkari should take action against Shivshankar, not at all bothering to explain why. Since then, Shehla has been on a downward spiral, as media outlets keep thonging her, seeking her reactions to the possible lawsuit, she has now taken to blaming them for tampering with her statements.
In another surprising tangential retreat, from stating explicitly that Gadkari is planning to kill the PM, Shehla has now claimed that ‘nobody has claimed’ so. She completely denies that she has done anything like that and brings in Umar Khalid again, and with Umar Khalid, she brings in the universally acceptable business card of ‘Islamophobia’.
No one’s suggesting that Mr. @nitin_gadkari is trying to kill the PM. But the rhetorical point that I’m trying to make is, “How does it feel to be in Umar Khalid’s shoes?”
We’re called tukde tukde gang, Jihadis, anti-nationals.
It is incomprehensible as to why Rashid would feel that Muslims are being victimised when the letter that contained the assassination plot was allegedly written by Maoists and the people who got arrested were suspected Maoists. It looks like arcane knowledge only liberal JNU scholars are privy to.
There already is a person in Delhi who is famous for his U-turns. Delhi’s absentee CM Arvind Kejriwal. Interestingly, Kejriwal also has vivid experience on how does a lawsuit from Gadkari works. He had recently sought written unconditional apology from Gadkari after failing to prove his stand in a defamation suit. It looks like Shehla is mastering the art of U-turns before learning the art of apologies, quite like Kejriwal.
Amidst reports of massive rebellion within the Kerala Congress ranks, the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) office in Trivandrum has been put up for sale on online marketplace OLX, News18 has reported. The office also known as Indira Bhawan serves as the state headquarters for the party.
A News Minutereport which also carried screenshots of the advertisement, claimed that it was posted on Saturday night:
Congress office for sale. Via @NewsMinute
As seen in the advertisement posted by a certain Aniesh who calls himself a “dealer”, the 58,888 square feet property is listed as available for Rs 10,000. Listed under a “ready to move” category, the advertisement then asks the interested buyers to contact the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) or the Kerala Congress. The office though has been categorised as “unfurnished” which in jest might raise the question as to where did all the furniture go.
With regards to the “contact IUML” bit, it seems to have been inspired by reports which have claimed that it was the Muslim League which coerced the Congress into handing over the seat to Mani.
As per an Indian Expressreport, this advertisement was a supposed tongue in cheek attempt to protest against the Congress leadership’s decision to give away its sole Rajya Sabha seat to estranged ally K M Mani. This seat was earlier held by Joy Abraham.
Such a decision by the Congress to undermine its own leaders has irked party workers to such an extent that, reports are claiming that the party is facing its biggest rebellion in Kerala in a decade.
It is being claimed that the nomination has been described as an “appeasement of Mani”, and has seen widespread protests in the state. This include the former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s poster getting defaced in Alappuzha.
Incidentally the nomination has also upset senior state Congress leaders like PJ Kurien, KC Joseph, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan and Aryadan Mohammed, with Kurien who was expecting a ticket claiming that – Chandy was the main conspirator in the matter.
Though most people who responded, got the answer correct, many of them didn’t know why it was a ‘landing’ photograph and not ‘take off’ photograph. Those who knew got some basic terms wrong. Taking a cue, I decided to write a full explainer for this. Here is a brief answer to the above question
No. It’s a landing.
1. Those are called spoilers. They are engaged to kill the lift generated at the wing.
2. Middle section of the engine is opened. It’s called Thurst reverse. It aids braking.
3. Flaps (The section that comes out of wing) are fully extended
But before I can begin to explain you the above terms, I have to explain, very briefly, the fundamentals of aerodynamics at play for an aircraft to fly.
Aerodynamics acting on an aircraft
There are 4 fundamental forces acting on an aircraft while it’s airborne. Drag pulls it back due to air resistance as it moves through the air while thrust helps it move forward. The weight of the aircraft pulls it down due to gravity and lift keeps it flying. For an aircraft to fly, thrust has to be greater than drag and lift higher than weight. How the lift is generated at the wings, is beyond the scope of this article. However, for the sake of clarity, a brief explainer would be in order.
Thrust – The engine, which is a set of turbine fans rotating at high speed, sucks in air, compresses it, mixes it with fuel and burns it. The hot gas then exhausts through the rear of the engine generating thrust which propels the aircraft forward.
Lift – As the aircraft moves forward it travels through the air. The unique aerofoil shape of the wing makes it possible for the air over the wing to move faster than the air below it. This creates a pressure difference and the air below the wing travels upward to equalise the pressure difference. This creates the lift.
Now, this is important to understand.
“More the air velocity, more the pressure difference, more the lift. So, lift is a direct coefficient of velocity. The faster you travel, the higher you will fly.”
Now, let’s come back to the answer and explain it point by point.
Spoilers – Here is how spoilers look like while deployed.
Spoilers Deployed
Spoilers serve 2 purposes. They aid in aerodynamic braking. They also help by killing the lift to prevent the aircraft from leaving the ground, once it touches down. Perform this simple experiment with a paper plane at home. Fly the plane in the first pic, observe the smooth flight. Deploy the spoilers as shown in the 2nd pic and see how the plane falls down. That’s because it obstructs the air flying over the wing of the aeroplane hence killing the lift.
Paper plane with spoilers
Thrust Reverser – As I said at the beginning of this article, thrust is used to move the plane forward. Now imagine, if I guide the turbine output in the reverse direction. Instead of speeding up the plane, it will actually slow down, isn’t it? How do we achieve this? By opening the reverse door as shown in the pic.
These are guiding vents in the midsection of the bypass channel of the turbine. They guide the accelerated air from the turbine fans into the opposite direction i.e. same direction as the plane is moving. This also means the more engine power we apply at reverse thrust, it will further slow down the plane. As weird as it may sound, but this is how it is. At snow or wet condition, pilots are advised to apply full reverse thrust that is, engine power is increased upto 70% to achieve higher reverse thrust and slow down the plane. On a normal day, what we see is called “Idle reverse thrust”, engines outputting power at idle RPM. The small switches below thrust levels deploy reverse thruster doors.
Flaps – Now, this is interesting. Remember what I said in the beginning, “more speed, more lift and higher you fly”. But what if the air traffic control tower tells you to slow down because you are about to land but don’t descend because you may hit the ground early. So, basically, you have to maintain your flight level while decreasing speed. Now a decrease in speed will automatically decrease altitude. To compensate this, what we need is more lift in less speed. How do we achieve that? How about increasing the surface area of the wings? That’s exactly what flaps do. When they come out of the wings, they increase the surface area giving more lift at the same speed because more amount of air is now acting beneath the wings.
Flaps extended
So why not deploy it during the full duration of the flight and achieve more lift by burning less fuel? Because this also increases the total area of the aircraft increasing the drag significantly. It further slows down the plane (aids in landing), hence can’t be deployed for full duration but only when we need more lift. Flaps are deployed during at landing and take off. However, during takeoff, we can’t afford to increase drag and hence slow down. Therefore, flaps are deployed at 1 or 2 depending on aircraft load and weather conditions. During landing, they are deployed at full. Here is the flap lever.
I hope that is a good explainer for the average layman. So next time you fly out, grab a window seat and watch these amazing aerodynamics at play while a 70-tonne metal bird sores into the sky and touches the tarmac exactly at the spot where we want it to.
Recently, the NDA government announced that it was opening up 10 senior positions in the bureaucracy to ‘outstanding individuals’ even from the private sector. The decision has ruffled many feathers including that of Sitaram Yechury of the CPI(M) who accused the BJP of trying to fill IAS ranks with ‘Sanghis’. He tweeted, “Why are time-tested UPSC and SSC being sought to be undermined? To fill IAS ranks with Sanghis and undermine reservation too, in the BJP’s last few months in office.”
Why are time-tested UPSC and SSC being sought to be undermined? To fill IAS ranks with Sanghis and undermine reservation too, in the BJP’s last few months in office. pic.twitter.com/J26fl5BFYO
Former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, more popularly known for being the son of Lalu Prasad Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, accused the ‘Manuwadi government’ of undermining the mandates of the constitution. He tweeted, “How can this Manuwadi government ignore UPSC and appoint people they like in posts as important as that of a joint secretary without any exam? This is a serious violation of both the Constitution as well as reservation criteria. Tomorrow they will appoint the prime minister and the Cabinet without elections. They have made a joke of the Constitution.”
यह मनुवादी सरकार UPSC को दरकिनार कर बिना परीक्षा के नीतिगत व संयुक्त सचिव के महत्वपूर्ण पदों पर मनपसंद व्यक्तियों को कैसे नियुक्त कर सकती है? यह संविधान और आरक्षण का घोर उल्लंघन है।
कल को ये बिना चुनाव के प्रधानमंत्री और कैबिनेट बना लेंगे। इन्होंने संविधान का मजाक बना दिया है।
Congress spokesperson, P.L. Punia too voiced similar sentiments. He said, “This is totally wrong. They will try to recruit people associated with the RSS, the BJP and their affiliate organisations besides the employees working for top industrialists who are close to the government,” before adding, “They will try and influence government policies and these people will not be neutral or fair. This step is not in national interest.”
The move, which is being dubbed a significant reform for the Indian bureaucracy, is expected to boost its efficiency. However, as expected, the decision has not been received well by certain fronts. Perhaps, the political parties expect the BJP to indulge in the same manner of malpractice they have practised over the years.
It is well known that certain political parties have offered political patronage to certain ’eminent citizens’ in the fields of media and academia who, in turn, return the favour by acting as political fronts for the opposition. However, the BJP has hardly ever reciprocated the animosity harboured towards it by certain entities and even invited a journalist who was ‘excited’ about the possibility of Prime Minister Modi suffering from swine flu to an event organized by the BJP government. It appears fairly obvious if even for the lack of ideological fortitude displayed by the BJP, that merit will be the sole criterion for the lateral entry into the bureaucracy.
Brother of Dr Kafeel Khan, the man with a shady past and an accuse in BRD Medical College encephalitis tragedy, was shot at last night in Gorakhpur. While the media has lapped up the fact that Dr Kafeel Khan’s brother Kashif Jameel was shot at just 500 meters away from where Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was put up, it is cleverly ignoring Jameel’s alleged history with crime.
While there is no justification for being shot at, even if you’re on the other side of the law, the alarmist narrative being built about someone, is something the mainstream media has excelled at. As per reports, Kashif Jameel has been embroiled in a land dispute which could have got him attacked. According to Police, Kashif and his family members have been involved in many land disputes. Interestingly, the three shots which were fired at Kashif Jameel, the bullets just scraped through, and instead of reporting to police after getting treatment, Jameel reached out to media while his brother tweeted a video regarding it. OpIndia talked to Kotwali Thana in charge, Ghanshayam Pujari and he confirmed that till now a complaint has not been filed.
As per reports, the police has also said that despite their insisting on taking Jameel to a government hospital for a medical checkup, his brother, Kafeel Khan insisted he is taken to a private hospital. Kashif Jameel has been targeted earlier too, where he was shot at and threatened to be killed. According to a journalist, back in April 2014, even before Modi government was formed and Akhilesh Yadav was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, four men, Naushad Alam, Babbu Yadav, Azeem Ahmed and Muzaffar Alam barged into his house and open fired from a pistol. They had even threatened to kill him.
However, that has not deterred the alarmists to continue the fear-mongering.
This is truly sinister! Yogi’s govt kills hundreds of children at Gorakhpur Hospital by not arranging oxygen supplies. They make Dr Kafeel Khan a scapegoat & arrest him. When he speaks out after coming out of his fear for his family, his brother is shot! This is Yogi’s gunda Raj! https://t.co/FP4YwVpU9l
The Dr. Kafeel who saved children when Yogi Aadityanath gov had no money to pay for oxygen. He was put behind bars. Now his brother is shot at. Thank you so much Modi ji for what your ‘ acche din ‘ are offering us -hate speeches, violence, bloodshed and bullets. https://t.co/UjLQ3rd7gK
When there’s a big story in the media, look for the story that they’re trying to keep you from.
While mainstream media were going crazy with the fake Modi assassination plot, guess who was shot at? Dr. @real_kafeelkhan‘s brother! Prayers for recovery.
Every crime deserves the police’s fullest attention and the perpetrators must be caught. But fear mongering based on lies and half facts by vested interests is problematic on multiple levels and must also be dealt with.
A little over a week after the co-founder of leftist propaganda website The Wire gave advice to anti-Modi political parties to time their demand for moving to ballot boxes intelligently, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar seems to have decided to follow his advice.
MK Venu who is the co-founder of ‘The Wire’ had tweeted on 1 June that the opposition needed to make its demand for a ballot paper from a “position of strength”, which as per him would have been following their victory in a few by-polls like Kairana on the previous day:
The opposition should seek a move towards ballot paper from a position of strength. After the resounding victory at the by-elections is the right time. Either ballot paper or a VVPAT which the voter can see & put it in a box so electronic outcome can be matched by paper.
Now in an almost prophetic response, Sharad Pawar has been quoted by the Indian Express as saying that all the opposition parties would seek ballot papers for Lok Sabha and Assembly Elections.
As per the report, Pawar like Venu had suggested, was seen taking a moral high ground about how NCP had raised concerns over EVM malfunctioning at 64 booths despite winning the Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha.
Thus Pawar, while making a speech on Sunday during NCP’s foundation day celebrations in Pune, was reported as claiming that all the opposition parties are going to unite in requesting the Election Commission to shun EVMs and go the ballot paper route.
Even though the Jury might be out on whether MK Venu’s ‘advice’ was indeed an inspiration for this demand by Pawar, the fact remains that journalists have a record of doubling up as poll strategists for the opposition.
We had reported how following the 31 May by-poll results which were a mixed bag for the BJP, journalists like Nidhi Razdan and Rajdeep Sardesai pontificated how opposition unity was the way BJP could be defeated. Controversial journalist Sagarika Ghose was even seen nudging the Congress to correct its path with regards to the Scheduled Tribes.
Incidentally, even though Pawar and Wire’s co-founder were seen cheering on the Ballot papers, they failed to address the reports of rigging in the recently concluded Bengal Panchayat polls, where a video showed a TMC worker mass voting on a bunch of such Ballot papers.
The Aam Aadmi Party in an attempt to reap public support for its demand for full statehood to Delhi launched a campaign on Sunday. According to media reports the campaign was launched with the slogan of ‘LG (Lieutenant Governor) Delhi Chhodo’ (LG quit Delhi). However, legislators present in the meeting denied and said that the focus is on getting full statehood for Delhi.
Addressing the party’s ward-level officer-bearers and legislators at his residence in New Delhi, the chief minister compared the fight for Delhi’s full statehood with the freedom struggle. The AAP supremo said that Mahatma Gandhi had launched Quit India campaign during the British rule, and the Aam Aadmi Party will run ‘LG, Delhi Chhodo’ campaign.
Had a meeting wid ward level office bearers of AAP Delhi. Made strategy to take msg of full statehood to every house in Delhi. https://t.co/elYSEV70QK
He said that in 1947, India got freedom and all British viceroys were removed, but in Delhi, the Lieutenant Governor was appointed in place of viceroys.
Arvind Kejriwal while talking to his party MLA’s and workers, emphasising on the need to get full statehood for Delhi so as to the government that can work without interference, announced that they would hold over 300 meetings in all municipal wards between 17th and 24th June and later on 1st July the party planned to hold a party worker’s convention at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium to decide the subsequent course of action.
During the meeting, Kejriwal said that it is an insult at the behest of the voters if their elected government cannot take decisions without the approval of the L-G. He claimed that people of Delhi were unable to get their full rights even after 70 years of independence. “Every person in Delhi will get a good job and every family will get own house if Delhi is given full statehood status,” he said.
He further attacked former chief minister and Congress leader Sheila Dikshit, alleging that people were fed up during her government’s tenure. His comment came in response to Dikshit’s reported statement that she ruled Delhi for 15 years but never had any conflict with the Centre and Lt Governor during her tenure.
The AAP alleged that after assuming power at the Centre, the BJP has fallen back on its earlier stance and has turned a deaf ear to demand of full statehood for the last four years. Addressing the media persons at party headquarters, AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said it is only within the ambit of the Central Government to grant full statehood to Delhi.
