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Corruption comes in a family package : Smriti Irani cites OpIndia report to attack Gandhi-Vadra Parivar

OpIndia Staff
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Corruption comes in a family package : Smriti Irani cites OpIndia report to attack Gandhi-Vadra Parivar

After startling revelations by OpIndia regarding the Congress President’s involvement with Sanjay Bhandari, Union Minister Smriti Irani addressed the media in New Delhi on Wednesday. The minister launched an attack on Rahul Gandhi for compromising defence preparedness of the country only to help his alleged friend Sanjay Bandhari.

Addressing mediapersons in the press conference, Union Minister Smriti Irani launched a scathing attack on Congress President Rahul Gandhi and his family members for involving in dubious land deals while trying to influence deals for the benefit of the family, said that the ethos of the Congress party has all along been to institutionalise corruption in the party.

Citing the OpIndia exclusive expose on Rahul Gandhi’s links with Arms dealer Sanjay Bandhari and others, Smriti Irani accused Congress party of involving in “family package corruption’. “In the past 24 hours, the facts that have come out in news indicates how the Gandhi-Vadra family has made corruption a family business.

She further targetted Rahul Gandhi by citing the OpIndia reports, which had revealed his link with Sanjay Bhandari, stating that Bhandari was also under investigation for defence deals and was party to the ill-gotten fruits of corruption during UPA regime.

“The new facts which have come to the fore clearly establish a relationship between Rahul Gandhi and arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari. Rahul Gandhi, apart from his political interests to scuttle defence deals, also had commercial and personal interests,” accused Smriti Irani.

“Rahul Gandhi attempted to compromise the defence preparedness of the country as his friend Sanjay Bhandari did not get the Rafale deal,” alleged Smriti Irani. Rahul Gandhi has also been alleged of carrying out talks with Eurofighter representatives, which had lost in the MMRCA deal against Dassault Aviation.

Smriti Irani alleged that Rahul Gandhi’s alleged association with the Eurofighter and Sanjay Bhandari losing out on Rafale deal are the main reason behind his attempts to malign the whole Rafale Deal. She further said Rahul Gandhi should also answer regarding his special relationship with arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari, CC Thampi and  HL Pahwa, with whom Rahul Gandhi has had dubious land dealings.

“The nation has come to a conclusion, that Rahul Gandhi’s intervention in the defence preparedness of our country stems from his pursuit not only of individual politics but his personal commercial, as well as family interests,” said Smriti Irani.

The OpIndia exposé on Rahul Gandhi dubious land dealings had revealed that Rahul had purchased land from a person named HL Pahwa. Pahwa had also sold land to Robert Vadra thought his aide Mahesh Nagar. Even Priyanka Vadra was involved in buying land and later selling the same land to the same HL Pahwa at an inflated price. It has been revealed that HL Pahwa was receiving money from CC Thampi, a man under investigation for dealings with Vadra and arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.

Link between Rahul Gandhi and arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari

Sanjay Bhandari is the infamous arms dealer being investigated by ED. From 2012 to 2015, Sanjay Bhandari was lobbying to become the offset partner in the Rafale deal and Dassault had refused to indulge him. There were also allegations that Bhandari was lobbying for Eurofighter after the Dassault refused to indulge him. Sanjay Bhandari is also said to have received kickbacks in defence and petroleum deals during the Congress regime.

On the expectation of PM Modi’s re-election in 2019, Rupee hits two-and-a-half-month high

OpIndia Staff
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On the expectation of PM Modi’s re-election in 2019, Rupee hits two-and-a-half-month high

Encouraged by the strong foreign influx into the equities market on the expectation of PM Narendra Modi’s re-election in May, Indian currency Rupee rose to its highest yesterday in several weeks, reports Reuters.

Notably, the appreciation in the value of rupee in the forex market was also aided by the absence of Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) intervention.

In its most robust performance since 2nd January 2019, the rupee rose to its highest level of 69.56 per US dollar. India’s national currency was also more stable by 0.47 per cent than the previous day closing price of 69.89.

According to reports, it’s the Modi appeal and the prospect of him coming back to power for a second term in the coming general elections which has resulted in an upward trend in the foreign inflows into Indian stock markets.

Though typically, most exporters bring back their dollars to India towards the end of the fiscal year to settle their annual accounts and repayment of debts which increases inflows, this time the increased popularity of the PM following India’s military strike on Pakistan in retaliation for the Pulwama attack has also acted as a catalyst.

“Typically, the rupee rises in March due to seasonal factors. But this time the Modi factor is also getting quite a bit of inflow,” said a forex dealer at a state-run bank.

It was earlier reported that as per the latest tracker poll conducted by Times Now and VMR, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity among the electorate jumped seven per cent in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack.

Meanwhile, the surging popularity of Modi led NDA government could also be seen as three opinion polls, published on March 11th, rejecting all previous predictions of a hung parliament, envisioned a clear majority of the NDA in the upcoming general elections.

India TV-CNX opinion poll predicts 285 seats for NDA, with 238 seats for BJP, while the Congress-led UPA is projected to win 126 seats and other opposition parties may get 132 seats.

Two other opinion polls, ABP News- C Voter and Zee 24 Taas predicts 264 seats for NDA, while is falls marginally short of the majority mark 273. UPA and others are predicted to win 141 and 138 in the ABP News survey, and 165 and 114 seats in the Zee 24 survey. The C Voter survey also predicts that if there are no mahagathbandhan of opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh, the NDA tally will go up to 307.

Moreover, because the election results have a direct impact on share market performances in India, since the opinion polls have shown increased prospect of NDA coming back to power, the Stock market has also been seeing a continuous upsurge.

BJP delegation approaches EC office seeking additional security forces deployment in West Bengal

OpIndia Staff
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BJP delegation approaches EC office seeking additional security forces deployment in West Bengal

The BJP delegation comprising of N Sitharaman, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Bhupender Yadav and Kailash Vijayvargiya today approached the Election Commission demanding increased security forces deployment in West Bengal for the upcoming Lok Sabha assembly polls.


Requesting the EC to declare West Bengal as a super-sensitive state, Ravi Shankar Prasad asserted that Bengal’s dismal record in conducting free and fair elections is suggestive of the need to have additional security forces to man the polling booths. He also highlighted killings of 100 people in the recently concluded local body and gram panchayat polls in West Bengal.


Ravi Shankar Prasad further requested the Election Commission to initiate action against Rahul Gandhi for levelling unfounded allegations against PM Modi in his Ahmedabad rally yesterday, after the Model code of conduct had already kicked in.

Use of violence to browbeat opponents during the election time in Bengal is not a new phenomenon. In the past, the Trinamool Congress workers had attacked Panchayat candidates in West Bengal, forcing them to file their nominations via Whatsapp. It is also alleged that many opposition leaders are routinely thrashed by the workers of the ruling party TMC in West Bengal.

Rahul Gandhi says Chidambaram determined India’s economic future, forgets biggest economic scams took place under his nose

OpIndia Staff
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Rahul Gandhi says Chidambaram determined India’s economic future, forgets biggest economic scams took place under his nose

Rahul Gandhi, while addressing a gathering of students at Chennai, raked the North-South divide and claimed that the current government has a ‘North India-specific focus’. He then went on to claim that P. Chidambaram is from South India and determined the economy of the country for a decade.


The Congress President went on to say that it’s very important that Tamil Nadu is represented in senior positions in the Government of India. Perhaps he is not aware, the airstrikes at Balakot were conducted by the Indian Air Force when Nirmala Sitharaman, who hails from Tamil Nadu, was the Defense Minister of the country.

Given Chidambaram’s track record, Nirmala Sitharaman is perhaps much more adequately representative of the prowess of the people from Tamil Nadu than the former Union Finance Minister. It was under Chidambaram that the biggest scams of the country were perpetrated, it was under him that India was relegated to being a ‘fragile five’ economy, and it was under him that the NPA crisis proliferated within the country.

The revised GDP growth rate further showed that there wasn’t a single fiscal year during which India experienced a double-digit growth rate under the UPA, contrary to what was believed earlier. Towards the end of the UPA regime, the growth rate hovered around 5% due to terrible fiscal management. In 2012, India’s credit rating was lowered to negative by S&P. In 2013, they warned of a further downgrade to “junk” status and Morgan Stanley included India in the Fragile 5 economies.

The worst of it all was the UPA manufactured NPA crisis, which was a consequence of its reckless lending policy. Between 2004-13, the gross NPA nearly trebled. The debt of stressed firms rose from 1,372 crores to 6.689 crores in a matter of 6 years between 2008-14. Of course, it took the Narendra Modi government to implement the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code which led to the recovery of Rs. 3 lakh crores of stressed assets in merely two years.

While his performance as the Union Finance Minister was dismal, Chidambaram’s personal conduct does not appear appropriate by any means either. Both Chidambaram and his son, Karti Chidambaram, are accused in the INX Media scam and a charge sheet will likely be filed against him in the matter by the Enforcement Directorate soon as per reports.

Moreover, the CBI and other agencies are also probing another case involving Chidambaram and his son, the Aircel-Maxis scam. The CBI is probing alleged irregularities in grant of FIPB approval in Aircel-Maxis deal, while the ED is probing alleged money-laundering related to the deal.

Under such circumstances, it appears rather absurd that Congress President Rahul Gandhi ignores Nirmala Sitharaman while saying that people from Tamil Nadu should occupy positions of power in the Central Government. It’s even more bizarre that he then cites Chidambaram’s tenure as Union Finance Minister when he was incompetent at best and is under investigation by law enforcement agencies.

Not declaring Masood Azhar as global terrorist against regional stability and peace, US ahead of UNSC meet today

OpIndia Staff
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Not declaring Masood Azhar as global terrorist against regional stability and peace, US ahead of UNSC meet today

The United States of America, ahead of taking the crucial decision of declaring Masood Azhar a global terrorist, said on the eve of the UN Security Council meeting that, failure to declare the Jaish-e-Mohammad chief as a global terrorist, who meets all the criteria for the same, would be against regional stability and peace.

Masood Azhar has been instrumental in executing many terror strikes in India and he also involved in the attack on Parliament, the Pathankot air force base, army camps in Jammu and Uri, and the latest suicide attack on CRPF in Pulwama district of Jammu which claimed the lives of 44 CRPF personnel.

In the aftermath of the dastardly Pulwama attack, three permanent members of the United Nations  Security Council (UNSC), namely the US, France and Britain had moved a resolution to designate Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.

But, China, the all-weather ally of Pakistan which is one of the five veto-powered members of the Security Council, had blocked the previous attempts of these three nations asserting that there is not enough evidence against Azhar to designate him as a global terrorist.

Now, in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack, which has led to heightened tensions between India and Pakistan and amidst the global outrage, other members of the UNSC are hoping that Beijing would act prudently and would not oppose their move this time to designate Azhar as a global terrorist.

A day ahead of the crucial decision by the UN Security Council, the US Administration on Tuesday made it clear that there is enough evidence against Azhar to designate him as a global terrorist.

“Azhar is the founder and the leader of the JeM, and he meets the criteria for designation by the United Nations,” State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino told reporters at his daily news conference, adding that JeM has been responsible for several terrorist attacks and is a threat to regional stability and peace.

Robert asserted that India and the US have always worked on the same platform when it comes to counterterrorism issues and that includes at the United Nations, he added. He also confirmed that the US shares similar views on the Jaish-e-Mohammed and its founder as India’.

However, Robert abstained from commenting on the deliberations inside the UNSC on this issue. “The United Nations Sanctions Committee, their deliberations, are confidential, and as such we don’t comment on specific matters, but we’ll continue to work with the Sanctions Committee to ensure that the designation list is updated and accurate,” he said.

Meanwhile, in response to a question on previous successful attempts by China to block the UN designation of Azhar, Robert asserted, “The United States and China share a mutual interest in achieving regional stability and peace, and that a failure to designate Azhar would run counter to this goal.”

Even after the ghastly terrorist attack in Pulwama last month, China has shown indifference to the matter, by refusing to label Azhar as a terrorist.

This is the fourth time that a proposal has been moved to brand Masood Azhar a global terrorist. The previous three attempts have been blocked by China.

Although China has been consistent in blocking India and the other nations efforts in declaring Azhar a global terrorist, it may change its position this time if India takes a transactional approach with China, according to former Ambassador to China and Bhutan Gautam Bambawale. He has said that China can stop using its veto every time India moves to ban Masood Azhar a terrorist if India does or give China something it needs.

Moreover, there were reports that China is thinking about changing its stand on Masood Azhar and not use the veto to prevent him from getting listed as a terrorist on March 13th when the proposal moved by France and supported by other UNSC permanent members under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267 goes under consideration.

Therefore, there are high chances that Pakistan is taken by a surprise in the United Nations Security Council meeting scheduled to take place today.

Cardinal George Pell, third most senior Vatican official, sentenced to 6 years for sexually abusing minor boys

OpIndia Staff
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Cardinal George Pell, third most senior Vatican official, sentenced to 6 years for sexually abusing minor boys

Cardinal George Pell, who is third in seniority after the Pope in the Vatican, has been convicted and sentenced to six years in prison for sexually abusing two choirboys in the late 1990s.

According to the reports, George Pell, who was the former Vatican treasurer, is the most senior Catholic figure ever to be found guilty of sexual offences against children. Pell had abused young choir boys in a Melbourne cathedral in 1996 and 1997. The offences were done at the St Patrick’s Cathedral, months after Pell was inaugurated as archbishop of Melbourne. He had told the boys that they were trouble for drinking communion wine, and forced the boys into indecent acts.

Cardinal Pell, now 77, is an Australian prelate of the Catholic Church. He is also the finance chief at the Vatican and the Holy See in Rome, being appointed as the first Perfect of Secretariat for the Economy which was created in 2014 by the Pope. He is the third most important official in the Vatican after Pope and was believed to be succeeding the incumbent Pope. Pell was found guilty of sexual penetration of a child and four counts of committing an indecent act with a child last December after a secret five-week trial.

On Wednesday, Judge Kidd said Pell’s attack on the victims was “breathtakingly arrogant” adding that the cardinal had assaulted the boys with “callous indifference to the victims’ distress.” But the judge said Pell was “not to be made a scapegoat for any failings or perceived failings of the Catholic Church.” While sentencing Pell on Wednesday, judge Kidd said the cleric had committed “a brazen and forcible sexual attack on the two victims”.

In December, a jury unanimously convicted Pell of one charge of sexually penetrating a child under 16, and four counts of committing an indecent act on a child under 16. His conviction has rocked the Catholic Church, where he had been one of the Pope’s closest advisers.

A former senior adviser to Pope Francis, Pell showed no reaction when Chief Judge Peter Kidd handed down his sentence in a hearing broadcast live worldwide on Wednesday from Victoria’s County Court in central Melbourne.

George Pell was charged with historical sexual offences in June last year by Australian police. He took leave of absence from the Vatican to appear for hearings which began on March 5, 2018. The magistrate Belinda Wallington was to determine if there are enough grounds for the Cardinal to stand trial. Majority of the charges have been withdrawn by the prosecution or dismissed during the course of the trial. Some of the charges even date back to the 1970s.

In 2016, in hearings before the Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse Cardinal Pell was accused of mishandling cases against clergy members while he was the leader of the Archdioceses of Melbourne and Sydney. The allegations emerged that he himself was involved in abuse since his priesthood days.

Ironically, George Pell was one of the inner circle of nine cardinals chose by Pope Francis to deal with issues such as sexual abuse of children by the clergy, fixing account books and financial reforms. The Pope had declined to remove Cardinal Pell after pressure mounted over the way in which the Church was handling such issues.

Pakistan shifted bodies, enough evidence that Indian airstrikes were successful: US based activist from Gilgit

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan shifted bodies, enough evidence that Indian airstrikes were successful: US based activist from Gilgit

A video has been circulating in Pakistan where an officer from their Army can be seen admitting that more than 200 terrorists were killed in the airstrikes conducted by the Indian Air Force at Balakot. The video was shared on Twitter by Senge Hasnan Sering, a US-based activist from Gilgit.


Speaking to ANI, Sering said that he could not vouch for the authenticity of the video but claimed that Pakistan was “definitely hiding something very important” which happened in Balakot. He said, “Pakistan continues to claim that the strike happened and it damaged the forest area and some farmland. But then there’s no reason for Pakistan to cordon off the area for such a long time and not allow the international media to have an independent opinion on the situation there.”

“At the same time, the Jaish-e-Muhammad claims that its Madrassa was there. At the same time, there have been reports in the Urdu media of some dead bodies being transported from Balakot to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and tribal areas a few days or the next day after the attack happened,” he added. He further stated that there was “enough evidence” for people to “speculate with confidence” that the Indian airstrikes were successful as “Pakistan has not been able to prove otherwise”.

Pakistan has continued to maintain that Indian bombs had destroyed nothing but a few trees in the region. It was even considering registering a complaint against India at the UN for ‘eco-terrorism’. But, despite denials, it has refused international media organizations access to visit the site.

Senior leaders from the Opposition parties in India, especially the Congress, have been questioning the airstrikes as well despite mounting evidence. The likes of Digvijay Singh, Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, and Kapil Sibal have demanded evidence for the strikes claiming that there were some significant doubts regarding the matter.

The Indian Air Force has assured repeatedly that its strikes were successful. Reports have also revealed recently that 263 terrorists were eliminated in the attack on Jaba Top, including 16 JeM commanders.

Madhya Pradesh: Congress leader Mohammed Saghir accused of rape, case registered in Bhopal

OpIndia Staff
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Madhya Pradesh: Congress leader Mohammed Saghir accused of rape, case registered in Bhopal

A complaint has been filed against Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Bhopal Municipal Corporation Mohammed Saghir on the basis of a complaint by a woman who has accused him of rape. A complaint has been filed under section 376 (Punishment for rape) and 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

Saghir had earlier issued a notice to the mayor Alok Sharma for calling him ‘mentally sick’ and offering to bear the expense of his treatment.

This is not the first time Congress leader has been accused of rape. In October 2018, former Kerala Chief Minister from Congress named as accused in a rape case. Prior to that, in February 2018, a Congress MLA was booked for rape and abduction of a journalism student.

More details are currently awaited on the case pertaining to allegations of rape against Mohammed Saghir.

Karnataka: JDS MLA cuts off water supply to yoga centre after yoga guru praised PM Modi, says report

OpIndia Staff
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Karnataka: JDS MLA cuts off water supply to yoga centre after yoga guru praised PM Modi, says report

In a deplorable incident, Karnataka JDS MLA R Manjunath has resorted to vendetta politics after he decided to cut off the water supply to a yoga center as yoga guru Umamaheshwar Guruji had praised PM Modi for taking Yoga to a global stage.

According to TV9, Dasarahalli JDS MLA R Manjunath along with his aide JD(S) leader Hanumantharaju has cut off the water supply to Umamaheshwar Guruji’s ashram after the latter had praised Prime Minister Modi for his successful initiatives to take yoga into an international stage by declaring to celebrate International Yoga Day.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v8STMLOLtU]

 

JDS MLA Manjunath, who was miffed over Yoga guru’s pro-Modi inclinations, has now allegedly resorted to cheap politics by creating problems for the Yoga guru.

Reportedly, the yoga center is functioning for the last 18 years and has been involved in a lot of charity works. Yoga guru Umamaheshwar Guru speaking to a local media outlet said that the center uses 500 liters of water every day. But ever since he started to appreciate Modi for his good works, the JDS leaders have not taken kindly to it.

”Modi has done a lot to publicise yoga on the global platform. It was due to his efforts that as many as 190 countries have accepted yoga as something divine and very useful. I have no issues in praising Modi because he deserves it. But the people under question have troubled us a lot, and have even taken the help of the police in troubling us,” said Umamaheshwar.

However, JDS leader Hanumantharaju rejected all these allegations, said,  “We are not aware of this Yoga center. He criticises former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and chief minister HD Kumaraswamy. Why should he do that? A yoga guru must confine himself to yoga-related activities.”

ISI trained spy appointed to collect information about Indian Army arrested from Rajasthan

OpIndia Staff
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ISI trained spy appointed to collect information about Indian Army arrested from Rajasthan

A Pakistan spy who was detained near the International border on suspicion of spying for Pakistan has been arrested after intensive interrogation by a joint team of security agencies on Tuesday, said an official.

According to the Additional Director General of Intelligence, Umesh Mishra, Nawab Khan(36), a resident of Sam area near the Indo-Pakistan border in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer district who was involved in espionage activities and was working as a jeep driver, was detained on Sunday.

Mishra further confirmed that Nawab who shared information with his Pakistani handlers through Whatsapp in code language was in lieu of money.

Khan had visited Pakistan last year where he got in touch with an agent of the ISI. Pakistan’s intelligence agency trained Nawab and in exchange for the money asked him to collect information related to the Indian Army movement and pass it on to them.

Similarly, on January 9th, the Military Intelligence Unit of the Indian Army has arrested a man named Nirmal Rai from the Kibithu village of Arunachal Pradesh. Nirmal, who was associated with the Indian Army as a porter from the last couple of months, was charged with sharing sensitive information with the Pakistan spy agency ISI.

In fact, several such imposters have been earlier detected from within the Indian Army itself. In October last year, an Indian Army soldier of Meerut Cantonment has been caught and several others detained by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad on the charges of espionage activities carried out on the directions of the ISI.

In another such case, a youth named Nishant Agrawal was arrested from Nagpur’s Brahmos Unit on October 8, 2018, for allegedly sharing defence secrets about India’s missile systems to his Pakistani ISI handlers.

In fact, in 2016 the Indian government had shared that more than 46 Pakistani spies had been arrested across India between the years 2013-16. Three Pakistani spies were nabbed in 2016 for getting information from people in BSF, taking the count higher.

The continuous spurt in the espionage activities carried out in sensitive locations of strategic importance does not only raise security concerns but also throws light on the loopholes within our system.

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