Home Blog Page 2300

Central agencies confirm terror links behind Kerala train attack, says accused Shahrukh Saifi was tasked with burning the entire train coach

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Central agencies confirm terror links behind Kerala train attack, says accused Shahrukh Saifi was tasked with burning the entire train coach

Central agencies like the National Investigation Agency and the Intelligence Bureau have confirmed that Shahrukh Saifi, who set his co-passengers on fire in a moving train in Kozhikode in Kerala, has links with terrorist organisations. Three persons died and many were injured when Saifi poured petrol on the passengers of Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express and then set them on fire.

According to the central investigation agencies, Shahrukh Saifi, a resident of Shaheen Bagh in Delhi, did not travel to Kerala alone. Instead, he was brought to Kerala with the aim of carrying out a huge attack by torching an entire train bogie.

According to reports, the accused was influenced by terrorist ideology and encouraged to conduct the crime by a huge terrorist group. Similarly, he acquired all of the assistance he required to carry out the arson attack. The central agencies suspect a conspiracy behind the choice of Kerala and the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express as the target of the attack.

The agency said that had Saifi succeeded in his plans, the attack could turn catastrophic since Hindustan Petroleum’s oil tanks were nearby.

It may be recalled that the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) four-membered team had visited the spot and inquired about the incident on Monday and suspected terror links to the incident. However, the central agency has not officially taken over the investigation.

If the NIA takes over, Saifi might be charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). If such is the case, he will almost certainly face UAPA Section 16 charges, which are for terrorist acts and subsequent murder.

Notably, while NIA suspects a terror angle in the case, the state police have said that the incident does not seem to be an act of terror. Only yesterday, the Kerala police had refused to comment on Shahrukh Saifi’s terror links. Speaking on the matter, Kerala police chief Anil Kanth said the police are not in a position to comment on whether Shahrukh Saifi, the accused in the Kozhikode train burning case, has any terror link or not.

Accused Shahrukh Saifi was arrested from Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri on 5th Aprl, where he was undergoing treatment for some ailments. From Mumbai, he was transferred to Kokhikode and admitted to Kozhikode Medical College Hospital, where he was kept in a special cell room under police surveillance. Yesterday a local court remanded him to judicial custody after a medical board said that he is fit enough to be discharged.

Saifi had reportedly boarded the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express train in Kozhikode at around 9.45 pm on Sunday, April 2, to pour an inflammable liquid on fellow passengers in the moving train and set them on fire.

The bodies of a woman, a man and a child were found on the tracks near the Elathur station after the incident, the police had stated. It is suspected that the 3 persons were trying to get away from the fire and may have fallen or jumped from the train to escape.

Union minister Kiren Rijiju’s car meets with minor accident in Kashmir’s Ramban while going to Srinagar, nobody injured

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Union minister Kiren Rijiju’s car meets with minor accident in Kashmir’s Ramban while going to Srinagar, nobody injured

Union Law minister Kiren Rijiju survived a road accident while travelling to Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir by road on Saturday. His car was hit by a truck on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in Ramban district, however, nobody was injured in the incident.

Ramban Police told the media that while going from Jammu to Srinagar by road, the Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju’s car met with a minor accident. Police confirmed that nobody was injured in the incident.

Visuals from the accident show that the minister’s black Mahindra Scorpio car was hit by a truck on its left site. Minister Rijiju is standing nearby, unhurt. Reportedly, the loaded truck was rolling back during a traffic jam when it hit Rijiju’s vehicle.

The incident happened near Banihal town when the union minister’s cavalcade tried to overtake the vehicles on the road, and the truck hit the passenger side of the SUV when moving backwards. Jammu and Police stated that the minister continued the road journey after the incident and reached the destination safely.

“Today while going from Jammu to Srinagar by road, Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiran Rijiju’s car met with a minor accident. No one was injured in the accident. Kiren Rijiju was driven safely to his destination,” said police.

Kiren Rijiju visited Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday to attend the inauguration of the first edition of the Constitution of India in Dogri language at the University of Jammu.

He posted several tweets today giving updates of his visit, including his journey through the Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Tunnel on his way to Srinagar from Udhampur.

Ahmednagar violence: Legal Rights Observatory gets notice for reporting about injuries suffered by Hindus in communal clashes

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Ahmednagar violence: Legal Rights Observatory gets notice for reporting about injuries suffered by Hindus in communal clashes

On Saturday, the Ahmednagar Police Department issued notice to the Legal Rights Observatory (LRO) for its tweets regarding the violence that occurred in the district on April 4.

“The information provided by LRO through its tweets is fake. The LRO has defamed and hurt the sentiments of two specific communities in the district,” the notice claimed.

The notice was sent to the LRO on a complaint filed by Dhananjay Jadhav, who is Councillor at Ahmednagar Municipal Corporation. The notice claims that the LRO tried to spread fake information by posting about the violence through its Twitter Account, and the tweets by LRO are false and defamatory.

Copy of Notice obtained by OpIndia

The complainant alleged that the tweets by LRO have hurt the sentiments of the two communities. The LRO has been asked to submit its statement in response to the complaint on 13 April by the Ahmednagar Cyber ​​Police Station.

Notably, the notice does not mention any tweet or URL of the tweet against which the complaint has been lodged.

As reported earlier, clashes broke out between two groups in Ahmednagar on Tuesday night. Four people were injured in the violence. Miscreants involved in the clash also vandalised some vehicles and pelted stones. The dispute started with a fight between some kids from two communities. The children called others, after which adults from both sides joined the fight and it soon escalated into a full-fledged brawl involving stone-pelting. Amid this, some people also burnt some vehicles parked in the area.

Ahmednagar MIDC police station official confirmed the incident and said, “A youth of the group passing near a mosque in the Gajraj Nagar area was allegedly beaten up by members of another group, triggering a violent clash. A two-wheeler was set on fire and two vehicles, including a four-wheeler, were damaged during the clash between the two groups.”

The Ahmednagar police have arrested at least 17 rioters in connection with the incident that took place late Tuesday evening. The LRO on Tuesday took cognizance of the Ahmednagar incident and reported that four of the people belonging to the Hindu community were severely injured after being attacked by the Muslims and also posted the photographs of the victims.

Reports claim Muslims launched attacks on two Hindu youths

However, an exclusive report by India TV claims that the attack was launched by the Muslims and the violence later escalated as stone-pelting occurred. According to the report, the violence began when two Hindu youths who were commuting from Abdul Qadir’s area slipped from their bike. Later Abdul and the two Hindu youths engaged in a minor brawl which later turned into a scuffle.

Abdul is reported to have launched an attack on the two Hindu youths after which the duo sought help from the other members of the Hindu community. Soon, several persons from the other community also reached the spot and the violence erupted. 2 vehicles were set ablaze and one vehicle was vandalized amid the violence.

LRO says notice part of a huge conspiracy to defame Devendra Fadnavis

LRO, while talking to OpIndia, stated that this is a huge conspiracy to defame Maharashtra’s Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis ahead of the upcoming elections. “The police personnel are highly influenced by some political figures and are acting under their influence. They aim to defame the Hindu community and HM Devendra Fadnavis. They (some political figures) want to show that ‘though the BJP government is in power, nothing has changed. The locals will keep raising their voices for Hindutva and will be sent to jail in the BJP rule’. LRO is not scared of such notices,” it said.

The police have filed two FIRs and arrested around 17 persons from both communities. Around 5 stone pelters are absconding for which the police have launched a massive manhunt.

‘Congress allies disown Rahul Gandhi’s demented ideas, one at a time,’: Amit Malviya after Sharad Pawar’s dismissal of JPC probe on Adani row

OpIndia Staff
-
0
‘Congress allies disown Rahul Gandhi’s demented ideas, one at a time,’: Amit Malviya after Sharad Pawar’s dismissal of JPC probe on Adani row

On Friday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) responded to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar’s dismissal of the opposition, particularly Congress’ demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JCP) investigation into the Adani Group.

BJP leader and party’s national convener of the IT cell, Amit Malviya posted, “NCP Chief Sharad Pawar throws Congress under the bus, says after Supreme Court announced a committee to investigate the Adani issue, the demand for JPC is irrelevant. Congress allies disown Rahul Gandhi’s demented ideas, one at a time. Earlier Uddhav faction had snapped on Savarkar.”

Labelling Rahul Gandhi’s conviction on issues as ‘frail’ and ‘malleable,’ he questioned, “Now that Sharad Pawar has broken ranks and junked the Congress on the issue of JPC etc, will Congress spokespeople hound him too or just shut up,” Malviyas asked in another tweet today.

“Out of proportion importance was given to the issue. The issues that were kept, who kept them? We had never heard of these people (Hindenburg) who gave the statement. What is the background? When they raise issues that cause a ruckus across the country, the cost is borne by the country’s economy. We cannot disregard these things. It seems this was targeted,” Sharad Pawar remarked in an interview on Friday on accusations against the Adani Group by US-based Hindenburg Research.

In the meeting of opposition leaders called by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday, Sharad Pawar reportedly advised Rahul Gandhi to tone down his criticism of Savarkar because the latter is a renowned figure in Maharashtra.

Another NCP leader and Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar questioned the debate surrounding prime minister Narendra Modi’s scholastic background and asserted that it had no bearing on politics in the present. He also supported the NCP supremo’s statement on industrialist Gautam Adani.

Recently, Congress also attacked former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and ex-party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad for criticising Rahul Gandhi and the Congress leadership. He charged, “When you are in Congress, you are spineless.”

In another interview, he accorded Prime Minister Narendra Modi high accolades, describing him as a statesman who never exacted retribution despite the former’s attacks on him about matters like Article 370.

Ghulam Nabi Azad pronounced, “I must give credit to Modi. For what I did to him, he was too generous. As Leader of the Opposition I did not spare him on any issue be it Article 370 or CAA or hijab. I got some bills totally failed but I must give him the credit that he behaved like a statesman, not taking revenge for that.”

Congress targeted Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia after he launched a scathing assault on Rahul Gandhi and the Congress, stating that the party now only has the philosophy of a ‘traitor’ who works against the country.

The BJP leader accused the Congress of giving Rahul Gandhi ‘special treatment’ after his conviction in the ‘Modi surname defamation case’ and charged the political party of exerting undue pressure on the court in an effort to maintain its relevance.

In a massive attack on Rahul Gandhi, who has been accused of making these utterances, he contended that Congress has denigrated lower social strata, demanded evidence of our armed forces’ valour, and spoken about our soldiers being beaten up by China.

Rahul Gandhi and Congress have been under an aggressive onslaught from the BJP for making anti-Indian sentiments both inside and outside of the country.

Congress launches direct attack on Sharad Pawar, party leader calls him greedy, insinuates links with Adani

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Congress launches direct attack on Sharad Pawar, party leader calls him greedy, insinuates links with Adani

A day after senior NCP leader Sharad Pawar said he does not agree with the Congress party’s strategy of attacking industrialists like Adani, Congress leaders have launched a direct attack on the veteran leader. Today Congress leader Alka Lamba accused Sharad Pawar of collusion with Gautam Adani, calling him scared and greedy.

The Delhi Congress leader tweeted in Hindi: ‘today scared – greedy people are singing the praises of dictatorial power because of their personal interests – only one Rahul Gandhi is fighting the battle of the people of the country – against the capitalist thieves and the watchman who saves the thieves.’

Screengrab of the tweet

Alka Lamba also posted a photograph showing Sharad Pawar and Gautam Adani sitting together on the balcony of a house. The photograph is from 2014, where Sharad Pawar had met Adani in Adani’s bungalow in Rajasthan’s Mount Abu. Pawar had stayed at Adani’s house for three days, holding “secret parleys”, which had created massive speculations in media and political circles. The meeting had also caused embarrassment for the Congress party, as it was the alliance partner of NCP and had been attacking Adani.

The photograph taken from a distance was published by UK based Daily Mail in July 2014.

The comments by Alka Lamba came in response to Sharad Pawar’s snub at Congress yesterday in an interview with NDT, saying that he felt the Adani Group has been targeted.

“Such statements were given by other individuals too earlier and there was a ruckus in parliament for a few days but this time out proportion importance was given to the issue. The issues that were kept, who kept them, we had never heard of these people who gave the statement, what is the background. When they raise issues that cause a ruckus across the country, the cost is borne by the country’s economy, we cannot disregard these things. It seems this was targeted,” Pawar told NDTV journalist Sanjay Pugalia in the interview.

“An individual industrial group of the country was targeted, that is what it seems. If they have done anything wrong, there should be an inquiry,” he had added.

Sharad Pawar also questioned the demand for JPC probe into allegations against Adani group, saying that the probe by Supreme Court’s committee is more reliable.  “If a parliamentary committee is appointed, then monitoring is with the ruling party. The demand was against the ruling party, and if the committee appointed for an inquiry has a ruling party majority, then how will the truth comes out is a valid concern. If the Supreme Court, who no one can influence, if they were to conduct the inquiry, then there was a better chance of the truth coming to light. So, after the Supreme Court announced an inquiry, there was no significance of a JPC Probe. It was not needed,” Pawar said.

‘Not possible to manipulate EVM, have full faith in it’, says NCP leader Ajit Pawar, agrees with Sharad Pawar that Adani is facing targeted attack

OpIndia Staff
-
0
‘Not possible to manipulate EVM, have full faith in it’, says NCP leader Ajit Pawar, agrees with Sharad Pawar that Adani is facing targeted attack

The leader of the opposition in the Maharashtra legislative assembly, Ajit Pawar on Saturday expressed his faith in electronic voting machines (EVM) and said he has full trust in them ‘personally.’ Pawar said that the people who lose the elections start blaming the EVMs and fail to accept the mandate of the people.

He pointed out that if EVMs were faulty, the opposition parties would not be in power in states like Chattisgarh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Punjab, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. He observed, “It is not possible to manipulate EVMs in our country. It is a big system altogether, lots of checks and balances are involved.”

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader remarked, “If somehow it is proven that EVMs were manipulated, then there will be big chaos in the country. I don’t think anyone would dare to do such things.”  

In response to the accusation levelled by the opposition parties, particularly the Congress, he added, “Sometimes some people lose elections but they think that they can’t lose it, then they start putting allegations about EVMs but in reality, it is the actual mandate of the people.”

The NCP leader also praised the leadership of PM Modi and said that it is not correct to target the PM over his education. He said, “Under PM Modi’s name, the party came to power in 2014 and reached sever remote places. After winning, a lot of statements were made against him but he got popular and under his leadership, BJP won in various states and repeated the same in 2019. If this is not the magic of PM Modi then what is? As far as education in politics is concerned, it is considered to be not much of importance.” 

Notably, Ajit Pawar’s comments supporting EVM come just weeks after several opposition parties, including the NCP, had written to the Election Commission expressing concerns regarding the plan to allow remote voting for migrant voters using EVMs. The opposition leaders had met in a meeting called by NCP supremo Sharad Pawar. 

Ajit Pawar also concurred with Sharad Pawar’s statement on Gautam Adani, after the NCP supremo stated that he disagreed with the opposition’s demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) investigation into the Adani matter.

Breaking ranks with the opposition parties and exposing cracks in his coalition with the Congress in Maharashtra, the NCP supremo on Friday posited that he believed the Adani Group is being targeted by unknown entities whose motives he questioned.

“He is our top leader. If he took a stand on some topic, then we shall not discuss that again. At a time when he has spoken about the issue, it means that he has spoken about the party’s position. We all stand with him,” Ajit Pawar noted.

He was addressing the media after speculations that he had gone incommunicado and clarified, “It pained me when I read unsubstantiated news reports about me being unreachable. I was at home due to ill health. I was not unreachable.” He complained that the tone and tenor of the news items on Friday were defamatory.

Today Sharad Pawar also reiterated his stand on Adani issue, clearly distancing NCP from Congress in the matter. “Nowadays, the names of Ambani-Adani are being taken to criticise the government but we need to think about their contribution to the country. I think other issues such as unemployment, price rise, and farmers issues are more important and should be raised by the Opposition,” he said.

On Friday, Marathi news outlets made references to a number of previous occasions when Ajit Pawar had ’caused trouble’ for his uncle Sharad Pawar and the party, including the 2019 incident when he teamed up with the incumbent Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to take the oath of office at Raj Bhavan.

The former deputy CM of Maharashtra recently differed from opposition parties who were targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his educational qualification and asked, “In the year 2014 did the public vote for Prime Minister Modi on the basis of his degree? It was the charisma he had created which helped him win the elections.”

He proclaimed, “Now he has been representing the country for nine years. It is not fair to ask about his degree. We should question him on issues like inflation and unemployment. Minister’s degree is not an important issue.”

UK: Man stages sit-in-protest at a McDonald’s outlet for sending him incomplete order

OpIndia Staff
-
0
UK: Man stages sit-in-protest at a McDonald’s outlet for sending him incomplete order

In an amusing incident, a British man decided to stage a sit-in protest at a local drive-thru McDonald’s outlet for not receiving his full order. The incident took place in Chestfield, a village in the Canterbury District of Kent, England.

According to reports, David Shepherd, a father of four kids, continued to protest for more than two hours, sitting on the counter of the eatery with his two sons. He also blocked the McDonald’s drive-thru delivery point for an additional hour before the police came and removed him.

David Shepherd alleged that he had ordered food from the multinational fast-food chain worth 80 pounds (Rs 8,123) through the online food ordering and delivery platform Uber Eats. However, when he received the order, he realised that the french fries and drinks he had ordered were missing.

He contacted the outlet only to be informed by the employees at the outlet that they could not provide him with the missing items citing it was ‘against the company’s policies.’

“I decided to drive to McDonald’s to ask them to replace the missing items, but I was told it was ‘against company policy’ to do so. At that point, the food was already cold, so we have 80 Pounds (Rs 8125) worth of a meal that we’re not getting,” he told the media.

He further said, “All of this would have been avoided if they’d just given us the dinner we’d paid for.”

McDonald’s’, later on, apologized for the incomplete order and gave the man a full refund. The local police were able to clear the chaos after two hours of the protest.

Congress questions Supreme Court-appointed committee’s ability to investigate allegations against Adani Group, continues to push for JPC probe

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Congress questions Supreme Court-appointed committee’s ability to investigate allegations against Adani Group, continues to push for JPC probe

On Saturday, April 8, Congress national secretary Jairam Ramesh expressed reservations about the Supreme Court-monitored investigation into Hindenburg’s charges against the Adani Group and demanded that the matter is investigated by a joint parliamentary committee (JPC). The Congress leader alleged that the committee will not be able to probe all angles as its role is very limited.

“The Supreme Court Committee has very limited terms of reference. It cannot bring out the deep nexus between PM and Adani,” tweeted AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh.

“Only a JPC can find answers to the HAHK (Hum Adanike Hain Kaun) series of 100 questions and more that are emerging,” he also said, adding that the “JPCs in 1992 and 2001 were both worthwhile exercises,” the Congress loyalist added.

Before that, responding to a tweet by Rahul Gandhi, Jairam Ramesh had tweeted, “Derail, Distort, Divert and Defame. This Mr. M’s 4D policy.” He posted this retweeting a tweet by Rahul Gandhi where he posted a graphic merging the name Adani with the names of “Ghulam, Scindia, Kiran, Himanta, Anil”, five former Congress leaders, four of whom have joined BJP.

Congress’ Maharashtra ally and NCP chief Sharad Pawar bats for SC committee

The remark came a day after Sharad Pawar, the chief of the Nationalist Congress Party, an alliance partner of Congress in Maharashtra, opined that the Supreme Court-monitored panel will be more useful and effective than a joint parliamentary committee to probe the Adani issue.

On Friday, while batting for the SC committee, the NCP supremo said during an interview with NDTV, “On the other hand, the opposition wanted a parliamentary committee to be appointed. If a parliamentary committee is appointed, then monitoring is with the ruling party. The demand was against the ruling party, and if the committee appointed for an inquiry has a ruling party majority, then how will the truth comes out is a valid concern. If the Supreme Court, who no one can influence, if they were to conduct the inquiry, then there was a better chance of the truth coming to light. So, after the Supreme Court announced an inquiry, there was no significance of a JPC Probe. It was not needed,” he added.

On being questioned on Congress’s intent behind pushing for a JPC probe, the NCP supremo said, “I cannot say what the intent was but I know that a committee appointed by judges of the Supreme Court was very important, this is what I know. Maybe the reasoning could have been that once a JPC starts, its proceedings are reported in the media on a daily basis. Perhaps someone would have wanted the issue to fester for two to four months, but the truth would never have come out.”

Speaking to NDTV about the attack on the Adani Group by the Congress Party, the NCP stalwart said unequivocally that it seemed like a targeted attack to him. Pawar also made it clear that he did not agree with Rahul Gandhi’s “Adani-Ambani” strategy of targeting large corporations. 

Congress continues to demand a JPC probe into allegations levelled by Hindenburg against the Adani Group

Even as Pawar denounced attacking business groups, his political ally in Congress remained among the political parties who ratcheted up the attack against the Adani Group after Hindenburg Research reported on the business conglomerate.

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly trotted out ‘Adani and Ambani’ jibes to attack the current dispensation even as Congress-ruled state governments have generously indulged the businessmen. 

On Thursday, April 6, the final day of the second leg of the budget session, both Houses were rocked by continuous sloganeering by the Opposition seeking a JPC probe into the Adani case. While Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla was speaking about the House’s productivity, opposition leaders entered the House well with placards calling for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to investigate the Adani-Hindenburg issue.

‘We will meet in the court of law’: Himanta Biswa Sarma lashes out at Rahul Gandhi after he links him to Adani Group

OpIndia Staff
-
0
‘We will meet in the court of law’: Himanta Biswa Sarma lashes out at Rahul Gandhi after he links him to Adani Group

On Saturday (April 8), Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma hit out at Rahul Gandhi for trying to link him with the ongoing controversy surrounding Indian businessman Gautam Adani.

In a tweet, Sarma said, “It was our decency to have never asked you, on where have you concealed the proceeds of crime from the Bofors and National Herald Scams.”

“And how you allowed Ottavio Quattrocchi to escape the clutches of Indian justice multiple times. Anyway, we will meet in the Court of Law,” the former Congress leader hinted at taking legal recourse against Rahul Gandhi.

On Saturday (April 8) morning, Rahul Gandhi courted controversy by linking former party leaders to alleged financial irregularities by Indian industrialist Gautam Adani.

In a tweet, he claimed, “They want to hide the truth and therefore misguide you every day. The question is the same – Who has poured ₹20,000 crore illegal funds into Adani’s companies.”

Screengrab of the contentious tweet by Rahul Gandhi

The tweet was accompanied by a graphic, featuring the logo of the Adani group, with each letter corresponding to a former Congress leader (some of whom have joined hands with the BJP).

Rahul Gandhi thus hit out at former party colleagues, namely, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiran Kumar Reddy, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Anil Antony, insinuating that the former Congress leaders may have invested in the Adani Group.

Recently, Himanta Biswa Sarma lashed out at the Congress over its ongoing protests against the conviction of Rahul Gandhi by a Surat court, eventually leading to his disqualification from the Lok Sabha.

The Assam CM said the trend the Congress was setting with its protests wasn’t good for democracy. In a dig at Rahul, the senior BJP leader added that no one can cast aspersions on the country’s time-honoured judicial system if a particular judgment goes against him.

‘Don’t allow any obstruction in development’: PM Modi tells Telangana CM, says lack of state govt’s cooperation is delaying central projects in the state

OpIndia Staff
-
0
‘Don’t allow any obstruction in development’: PM Modi tells Telangana CM, says lack of state govt’s cooperation is delaying central projects in the state

On Saturday, April 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused Telangana Chief Minister K Chandra Shekhar Rao (KCR) of obstructing development initiatives launched by the Central government meant to benefit the people of Telangana. He said that he is pained due to the “non-cooperation” of the CM KCR-led state government. PM Modi also accused the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader of indulging in ‘parivarwaad’ (dynasticism) and corruption and appealed to the state govt to not allow any obstruction in development projects in the state.

It is notable that Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone and dedicated to the nation various projects worth over Rs. 11,300 crores at Parade Ground in Hyderabad in Telangana. He also flagged off the Secunderabad-Tirupati Vande Bharat Express. BRS has boycotted the PM’s visit, the CM didn’t receive him at the airport and didn’t participate in the event. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had invited CM K Chandrasekhar Rao officially for the programme, but he decided against sharing the dais with PM Modi. The CM deputed Animal Husbandry Minister T Srinivas Yadav to represent him to comply with protocol.

“It causes immense grief and pain that most of the projects launched by the central government are delayed due to the non-cooperation of the state government. This is causing a loss to the people of Telangana. I would request the state government that it should stop obstructing and rather expedite development projects,” PM Modi said in his speech.

“I appeal to the state government to not allow any obstruction in developments being planned for Telangana people,” the PM said.

The Prime Minister also pointed out that while his government is working tirelessly for the people, ‘some people’ who fostered ‘parivarwad’ (nepotism) are having a problem with those working honestly.

“It is our government’s priority to fulfill the aspirations and expectations of the people of our country and we are working day in and out in a bid to accomplish this, however, some people are frustrated due to these development initiatives,” PM Modi said.

He also emphasized that people who have fostered corruption and nepotism have nothing to do with the interests of the nation or the well-being of society and also cause issues for those who carry out the honest job. The Prime Minister cautioned the people of Telangana and said that such people only look for the interest of their family in every project and investment.

‘Control is the mantra of dynasts’: PM Modi

The Prime Minister stressed that nepotism is a breeding ground for corruption, underlining the parallels between the two. The Prime Minister stated that “control is the basic mantra of dynastic politics.” The Prime Minister added that dynasts want to preserve their control over every institution and despise it when someone challenges their dominance.

PM Modi also alleged that the dynastic forces maintained control over which beneficiary would receive what benefit and elaborated on the three meanings that emerge from this situation using the Direct Benefit Transfer system as an example and the promotion of digital payment across the nation.

First, the Prime Minister stated, only their family should continue to be hailed, second, the proceeds of corruption should continue to flow to the family, and third, the corrupt ecosystem should continue to benefit from money sent to the underprivileged. “Modi has attacked the legit roots of corruption today. These people are unsettled as a consequence, and their actions are motivated by rage, PM Modi added.

PM Modi takes a dig at opposition parties

PM Modi also took a jibe at political parties who approached Supreme Court alleging that the central government is using central investigative agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a bid to quell dissent by arresting opposition leaders.

“Out of frustration, many such political parties moved court, saying that give us protection so that nobody opens our books of corruption, but, even court gave them a shock and sent them back,” PM Modi said.

Notably, the fourteen political parties including the BRS were faced with shock as a Supreme Court bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala on Wednesday refused to entertain the plea seeking formulation of guidelines without regard to specific factual context. The Supreme Court stated that politicians could not assert a higher level of immunity than ordinary citizens. The opposition parties had to withdraw their plea as the SC bench refused to entertain their plea. 

PM Modi speaks about development projects launched in Telangana today

PM Modi also informed about various development initiatives started by the Central government in Telangana. He mentioned that the four highway projects, the foundation of which has been laid today will facilitate the development of the state. He also highlighted that the central government is focused on both industrial and agricultural development of Telangana as he said that out of the seven textile parks to be set up across the country, one will be set up in Telangana, and will thus result in more job opportunities. Laying emphasis on his government’s focus on investing in health and education, PM Modi talked about the laying foundation stone of AIIMS Bibinagar today. 

Earlier today, Secunderabad-Tirupati Vande Bharat Express was flagged off by PM Modi from the Secunderabad Railway station. Taking to Twitter, PM Modi congratulated the people of Telangana for the newly launched Vande Bharat train.

“Flagged off the Vande Bharat Express that enhances connectivity between Secunderabad and Tirupati. I congratulate the people of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for this train,” PM Modi tweeted.

1...2,2992,3002,301...7,640Page 2,300 of 7,640