Senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia has tendered his resignation to Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi.
Jyotiraditya Scindia resignation (image: @jm_scindia on Twitter
In his resignation from the primary membership of Congress party, Scindia wrote, “Having been a primary member of the Congress Party for the last 18 years, it is now time for me to move on.” Scindia further wrote that he is tendering his resignation as “that has been a path that has been drawing itself out over the last year.”
He further wrote that he is unable to serve the people of India any more while being with Congress. “I believe it is best that I now look ahead at a fresh start,” he wrote. The resignation is dated 9th March, 2020.
As per reports, 14 Madhya Pradesh Congress MLAs have also tendered their resignation along with Scindia.
In a sensational development, senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia reached PM Modi’s residence along with Home Minister Amit Shah. Scindia had been incommunicado since last night. Media was abuzz with reports that Scindia may quit Congress and join the BJP. 17 Congress MLAs revolted against the Kamal Nath government on Monday.
Taking a dig at Scindia, veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said a ‘true Congressi’ will remain in Congress only.
In a late night development, the MP state cabinet had tendered their resignation to the CM. The same were accepted. As per reports, in a desperate attempt to keep Scindia from switching parties, Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi had even called him and offered to send him to Rajya Sabha as preferred candidate.
The BJP has maintained that should the state government topple, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan would be the chief minister again.
Troubles mounted for the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in Madhya Pradesh few days. Congress had accused BJP of trying to topple the state government. While rumours had been rife that Scindia may join the BJP, he had always maintained that he continues to be a Congress leader. However, now it seems that it has reached a point of no return and Scindia may have finally left Congress.
The Intelligence Bureau and Delhi Police have uncovered a massive plot to replicate the Colombo-style Jihadist attacks in Delhi by a module of Islamic-State Khorasan Province (ISKP) after two members of the group were arrested on Sunday. As per a report by Times Now, the arrested members, who are a husband-wife couple, were planning to procure a potent chemical Triacetone triperoxide (TATP) for the purpose. The chemical is called the ‘Mother of Death’ by the Islamic State terrorists.
#Breaking | Sensational details of IS link in the Delhi riots, Colombo style attack module busted. IS terrorists’ text messages hold the key.
In April 2019, multiple blasts rocked Columbo, capital city of Sri Lanka, which left hundreds dead. The blasts took place in churches across Columbo, Sri Lanka’s capital, on Easter Sunday, which clearly meant the blasts were carried out to attack the Christians, the minorities, on their festival to cause maximum casualties.
The two members were also looking for handlers of a gun racket operating from Uttar Pradesh. The members are originally from Kashmir but had shifted to Delhi due to the government’s crackdown in the valley. In Delhi, they were trying to replicate a terror attack along the lines of the Colombo Terror Attack on Easter Sunday that led to the death of over 250 people.
It was earlier reported that the duo planned to carry out terror attacks within the country. The couple was also operating an OSINT account Kashmirosint on social media which was popular among researchers and the media. The couple intended to achieve their desired objectives in the garb of the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
If media reports are to be believed, senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia has joined the BJP.
BIG BREAKING – Jyotiraditya Scindia joining BJP…!!! He has gone too far to return to Congress. Reports my colleague @RanjanSukesh#MadhyaPradesh#scindia
As per reports, BJP has also summoned its MLAs in an emergency meeting in Bhopal. Citing sources, CNN News 18 says that former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is likely to be elected as leader of legislative party and if given a chance to form government he would be the chief minister again. On the other hand, Congress, in a bid to ensure Scindia doesn’t leave the party seems to be offering the post of Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee chief. Scindia, however, does not seem to be in a mood to talk.
Earlier media reports suggested that 17 Congress MLAs including 6 MPs from Scindia’s camp had reached Bengaluru today. Troubles mounted for the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in Madhya Pradesh few days back when Congress accused BJP of trying to topple the state government. While rumours had been rife that Scindia may join the BJP, he had always maintained that he continues to be a Congress leader. However, now it seems that it has reached a point of no return and Scindia may have finally left Congress.
Rana Kapoor’s Yes Bank which is under scanner over allegations of financial irregularities, prospered greatly during the UPA regime. According to the IPO filing [pdf] of the bank the Government Relationship Management (GRM) group of Yes Bank group has “developed robust relationships with over 300 entities across India”. Not limited to that, Yes Bank had also provided financial and advisory services to Ministries of the Union Government.
Source: Yes Bank’s 2011 IPO Filings
The bank incorporated in 2004 and the above filing was done in 2011. Yes Bank stated, “The GRM Group at YES Bank understands the financial needs of the Union and State Government undertakings and agencies in their progress and development role of a Growing India through its Knowledge Banking approach. This is further facilitated through YES Bank’s Technology leadership delivering proven, easy-to-use solutions for Government Undertakings and Agencies.”
“YES Bank has provided financial and advisory services to Ministries of the Union Government, State Governments, Central & State Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and Agencies. YES Bank remains committed to delivering innovative, structured and comprehensive solutions, and has accomplished several landmark transactions in this space with Maharatnas, Navratnas, Mini Ratnas and other Apex Institutions. In a short span of 6.5 years, the GRM group has developed robust relationships with over 300 entities across India,” it added.
Such progress within the space of six and a half years is likely to raise a few eyebrows. It has also been revealed that a letter dated 1st May, 2010 has emerged written by senior Congress leader Milind Deora, the then Member of Parliament, to Yes Bank chief Rana Kapoor, suggesting he buys the Rajiv Gandhi painting in Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s possession.
The Congress-Gandhi link in Yes Bank surfaced after it was revealed that founder Rana Kapoor had bought Priyanka Gandhi’s paintings for Rs. 2 crore rupees. The massive expose comes after Rana Kapoor was questioned for almost 30 hours by the Enforcement Directorate. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had arrested Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor under money laundering charges in the wee hours of Sunday.
The Patiala House Court of Delhi has sent Mohammed Danish, a member of the radical Islamist Popular Front of India (PFI), to four days in judicial custody. The 33-year-old and a resident of Trilokpuri area was apprehended by Delhi Police Special Cell for spreading false propaganda during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Delhi’s Patiala House Court sends Danish (who was arrested by Delhi Police’s special cell for spreading false propaganda during anti-CAA protest) to four days of police remand. According to Delhi Police, he is a member of PFI (Popular Front of India). https://t.co/dzZa67CL4I
On February 2, Uttar Pradesh Police arrested 10 of members of PFI. Four of them were arrested from Muzaffarnagar in the state, while the others were held from different parts of Uttar Pradesh. They were arrested for anti-CAA riots that broke out on the 20th of December 2018.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) report had indicated a massive PFI hand in inciting violence by Muslim mobs all across Uttar Pradesh. It had also revealed several transactions to 73 bank accounts worth Rs 120 crores. During this investigation, huge amounts were also transferred from PFI to Congress leader Kapil Sibal and lawyer Indira Jaising. Kapil Sibal had later threatened to sue the media if this link was brought up.
In January this year, Kanpur police had nabbed 5 members of PFI who were planning to disrupt chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s visit to Kanpur by protesting against the CAA. The police had asserted that all 5 arrested were absconding since the December 20 violence and were charged under various sections of the IPC for instigating violence, rioting and attempt to murder.
The Uttar Pradesh police on Monday also arrested the state head of PFI, Waseem in December 2019 and his two aides, namely, Nadeem and Ashfaq for allegedly masterminding the violence during the anti-CAA protests held in Lucknow.
The Kamal Nath Government in Madhya Pradesh is suffering a grave crisis as 17 MLAs have staged a rebellion, ABP News has reported. The 17 rebels include 6 Ministers in the Congress cabinet who are believed to belong to the Jyotiraditya Scindia faction of the party. The rebels have been taken to Bengaluru, which lies in a BJP-ruled state.
Nagarjun Dwarkanath of India Today has said on social media that the personal assistant of Jyotiraditya Scindia has also landed in Bengaluru.
As per passenger list Congress general Secretary Mr Scindia’s PA also landed in Bangalore https://t.co/W4UAM9ekQL
The six Madhya Pradesh ministers who have rebelled are Pradyumn Singh Tomar, Tulsi Silawat, Govind Rajput, Prabhuram Choudhary, Imarti Devi, and Mahendra Sisodiya. Apart from the Ministers, the others who have reportedly rebelled are Rajvardhan Singh, OPS Bhadoriya, Giriraj Dandotiya, Bijendra Yadav, Jaspal Jajji, Ranvir Jatav, Kamlesh Jatav, Raksha Sironiya, Munna Lal Goyal, Suresh Dhakad, Rghuraj Kasana and Hardeep Singh Dang. Among them, Dang has even submitted his resignation.
Another MLA, Bisahu Lal Singh, reached Bhopal from Bengaluru yesterday. However, according to the report, BJP sources have said that Singh is still with them and he has gone to Bhopal only after assuring them that he will stand with the BJP when necessary. It is believed that on the first day of the new Assembly session itself, which begins on the 16th of March, the BJP will introduce a no-confidence motion which the party will hope to pass with assistance from the rebels within the Congress party.
The Kamal Nath government has 120 MLAs – four over the majority mark of 116 in the 230-member assembly. Of them, 114 are from the Congress, two from the BSP, one from the Samajwadi Party and four independents. The BJP has 107 MLAs and two seats are currently vacant.
A Muslim couple with links to the terrorist organization Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISKP) was nabbed by Delhi Police from south Delhi’s Jamia Nagar on Sunday. The couple is believed to have been in touch with senior ISKP members in Afghanistan and were trying to exploit the ongoing riots to incite Muslims to carry out terror strikes within the country.
The couple, Jehanjeb Sami and Hinda Bashir Beg, a couple from Srinagar, were arrested yesterday by the Delhi police for alleged links to ISIS. According to intelligence officials, Jahanzaib Sami was also in touch with Huzaifa al-Bakistani, the Pakistani commander of the Islamic State’s Khorasan wing who played a key role in efforts to radicalise Kashmiri youngsters to join the terror group.
Jahanzaib Sami’s wife Hina Bashir Beigh was also active on pro-IS handles on social media and facilitated in spotting what the group considered ‘talent’ for its terror activities, a senior Police officer said.
Now it has been revealed that the couple operated an OSINT account on Twitter. OSINT is short for Open Source Intelligence, that is, data collected from publicly available sources to be used in an intelligence context. The couple operated an account on the social media platform with the username @kashmirosint. The handle has since then been deleted.
source: IB Times
The bio of the account said, “OSINT, news and stories from Kashmir, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.” The location was set to Discord, presumably referring to the messaging app. According to an individual who used to follow him on Twitter long ago, KashmirOsint used to post pictures of the border, cross border shelling, images from Pakistan and sometimes, they posted raw pictures. The Indian Government had withheld their account in India.
On Twitter, we discovered that the handle KashmirOsint had conversations with NDTV journalist Nidhi Razdan. We can only see Nidhi’s side of the conversation, therefore, we have no way of knowing what was actually being discussed.
Nidhi Razdan’s conversations with KashmirOsint
Numerous emojis were also exchanged between Nidhi and KashmirOsint, the handle which is now known to have been operated by terrorists. However, due to the fact that the twitter handle no longer exists, we have no idea of knowing the context of these conversations.
Nidhi Razdan’s conversations with KashmirOsint
The handle was apparently very popular within the research community and media. There are numerous OSINT accounts on Twitter and the agenda of these accounts is most often not known. Most of them operate from relative obscurity and they are mostly anonymous accounts. Given the nature of these accounts, it is easy to spread disinformation for sinister objectives in the name of OSINT as well.
The Rana Kapoor-Priyanka Gandhi Vadra painting row seems to be getting murkier and murkier as more details emerge in the ongoing investigation. Sources have revealed that a letter dated 1st May, 2010 has emerged written by senior Congress leader Milind Deora, the then Member of Parliament, to Yes Bank chief Rana Kapoor, suggesting he buys the Rajiv Gandhi painting in Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s possession.
Milind Deora’s letter to Yes Bank’s Rana Kapoor
In the letter, he mentions that the painting which Kapoor is desirous of purchasing and for the same he should get in touch with Priyanka Gandhi as she and her family members would be willing to sell the painting ‘if buyer will keep it safely with the respect it deserves’.
Following this, on 8th May, Deora again wrote to Kapoor urgently seeking time to speak to him. A copy of his email is with OpIndia. This is followed by a series of text messages sent between 8th May 2010 to 12th May 2010, Deora kept following up with Kapoor. On 20th May 2010, Deora messaged Kapoor that he needs a time frame for when the cheque (for the purchased painting) will be given. “Even if it will take some more time pls give me a date as they are asking me. I only fear that they should not lose interest,” he messaged Kapoor on 20th May 2010.
Same day, he texted again that he has been trying to reach Kapoor since long as even if the payment for painting sale will take time, he needed to convey it to Delhi. “Am afraid that further delays in communicating the date to Delhi will give them the impression that yes bank is not serious,” Deora seems to be hard-selling the painting to Kapoor for Yes Bank. Deora further clarifies that Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra would write a letter to Yes Bank about sale of painting as soon as cheque is received and not prior to that.
As per sources, on 21st May 2010, Deora wrote to Rana Kapoor, addressing him as ‘Rana Uncle’ and said that ‘PG’ (Priyanka Gandhi) will write a letter to Kapoor on the following Monday that she has agreed to sell the painting to him and that she has authorised Deora to negotiate the deal on her behalf. He then allegedly instructed Kapoor that after he receives the letter, he should write to Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra and confirm that he and Deora have agreed on Rs 2 crore for the price of painting and send the cheque along with it.
Deora continues to follow up with Kapoor on 27th May 2010 asking him to get in touch with himself and his father, veteran Congress leader Murli Deora. On 29th May 2010 he says he received the letter Kapoor sent and forwarded it to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. “A meeting with her or her family wont be possible now but I’ll try and arrange it sometime later. Her mother and she want the cheque by early next week itself,” he texts. Deora mentions that even his father was informed about the deal by the Gandhis and he has been trying to get in touch with Kapoor unsuccessfully.
Deora then allegedly mentioned disappointment on how the deal took this long to complete. On 2nd June 2010, after having lost the patience, Deora puts the ultimatum and asks when he could collect the same. “I have been assuring them week after week that its happening and they’ve lost patience at this stage. Please trust me and don’t delay at this stage,” Deora reportedly told ‘Rana Uncle’.
On 3rd June 2010, at 11:52 am, he allegedly messaged Kapoor informing him that he has cancelled his flight and will reach his office by 2 PM to collect the cheque.
Letter by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to Rana Kapoor, Yes Bank in June 2010
On 4th June 2010, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra wrote a letter to Rana Kapoor, at Bungalow No 1, Grand Paradi address in Mumbai. (Note, it is home address from 2010, not addressed to Yes Bank CEO) wherein she mentions she is selling the M F Hussain painting of her father gifted to him by the painter in 1985 on the centenary celebrations of the Congress.
However, it is not yet clear on what capacity did Rajiv Gandhi receive this painting in 1985. Was it gifted to the Prime Minister of India, President of Congress party or in his individual capacity. If the painting was given to Rajiv Gandhi, the Prime Minister, the painting would be public property and it Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will not really be in a position to decide its sale.
If the painting was given to Rajiv Gandhi in his personal capacity and if Rajiv Gandhi died without a will, the same will be divided between the legal heirs, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka herself. If the painting was owned by Congress, since Rajiv Gandhi was INC President in 1985, it becomes property of Congress and Priyanka Gandhi will not be able to sell it unless she is given the power of attorney by the party.
Yes Bank controversy
Yes Bank is in the midst of a crisis as it accumulated a torrent of bad loans in 2018 by lending to corporate defaulters such as DHFL, Jet Airways and Cafe Coffee day and other. The bank was put on a moratorium by RBI for a period of 30 days, capping its withdrawals at Rs 50,000. The Reserve Bank of India has also announced ‘Yes Bank Ltd. Reconstruction Scheme, 2020’, changing the authorised capital to Rs 5000 crores and 2400 equity shares standing at Rs 10 each. In addition, SBI which leads the consortium of banks investing in the ‘reconstructed bank’ will not reduce its holding below 26% before the completion of three years.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor under money laundering charges in the wee hours of Sunday. The banker was held under the provision of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) around 3 AM after he did not cooperate with the officials.
Rana was questioned by the ED sleuths for over 30 hours after the central agency raided his residence on Friday night. He will be produced before a local court during the day to obtain custody, the officials said.
A person who was admitted to the district Wenlock hospital in Mangalaru after he exhibited symptoms of coronavirus had reportedly gone missing. He arrived at the airport in Mangaluru, Karnataka from Dubai on Sunday.
The patient was supposed to be kept under observation for 24 hours and was to be discharged following routine tests. However, he argued with the hospital staff late in the night, saying that he had not contracted the disease and would undergo treatment in a private hospital. He then absconded from the hospital.
On Monday, a formal complaint was lodged by the District Health Department with the Mangaluru police. The cops have now launched an investigation into the case to nab the escapee.
In another incident, a couple (in their 50s) and their son(24) who hail from Ranni in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala with recent travel history to Italy evaded health screening at the airport. They have tested positive for coronavirus.
Kerala Health Minister KK Shylaja was quoted as saying, “The Italy-returned family hid their travel details from the health authorities. Such practices have to seen as a crime. Those who come from countries like Iran, Italy, South Korea and China should report to the health department immediately.” She added that those concealing their travel history to avoid personal inconvenience were committing a crime against society.
Earlier, an Irish national who had suspected coronavirus symptoms had gone ‘missing’ from Odisha’s SCB Medical College. He was later found in a Bhubaneswar hotel.
Amidst the growing concerns of novel Coronavirus, a video of thousands of used coronavirus masks dumped at an isolated spot near Kalher pipeline in Bhiwandi sent ripples of panic wave among the people. Imran Shaikh, a godown staffer, was allegedly seen in the video dumping waste masks.
A complaint was filed by revenue officials. It was reported that the plan may have been to wash the masks, repackage them and sell them as new. However, it has not been verified yet. An FIR was lodged at the Narpoli police late on Sunday night against the Bhiwandi godown staffer.
