Devendra Fadnavis set to be Maharashtra Chief Minister, Nitin Gadkari says ‘happy in Delhi

Two days after what was seen as a show of strength by the Nitin Gadkari camp, the BJP’s central leadership on Thursday cleared the way for state party chief Devendra Fadnavis’s appointment as the next chief minister, giving its nod for the state legislature party meeting on October 27.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Gadkari maintained that he is “very happy in Delhi”. His remarks came after Fadnavis visited him at his residence in Nagpur on Thursday. Speaking to the media later, Gadkari said, “I am very happy in Delhi. I am not interested in returning to Maharashtra… There were some leaders who felt I should become the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, but I have often said that I will continue in Delhi.”

Fadnavis maintained a studied silence on the issue.

On Tuesday, 39 of the BJP’s 44 newly-elected MLAs in Vidarbha took a flight from Mumbai to Nagpur and asked Gadkari to take over as the Chief Minister.

“It appears that Gadkari was trying to show his political might in Vidarbha… The gathering of 39 MLAs was designed to show the central party leadership who is the leader of Maharashtra,” said a senior party leader.

“We have already identified three state BJP leaders who were instrumental in projecting Gadkari’s candidature to sabotage Fadnavis’s election to the top post. Both Amit Shah and Narendra Modi have been given a full report on the events in the state over the last 48 hours,” said a senior BJP central functionary.

“The Gadkari camp’s gameplan not only boomeranged, but also tarnished the image of the party,” said a BJP general secretary, adding that it has not gone down well with the rank and file.

Senior state leaders Sudhir Mungantiwar and Vinod Tawde were among the leaders who had voiced their support for Gadkari. Sources said MLC Anil Sole, who is close to Gadkari, was also keen on promoting his candidature.

However, some sources said that Gadkari had categorically told Modi and Shah that he would like to remain in Delhi. “Gadkari is an important leader, and Modi would certainly like to have him in the union cabinet,” said a party leader.

The party leadership decided to field Fadnavis as its young and dynamic “development face” — the star campaigner who could connect with the people across the rural-urban divide. “His integrity, hard work and sincerity would work to the party’s advantage when it makes a historic beginning in Maharashtra administration,” said a party leader.

Posted by Editorial Team on 04:31 in Biggest Expose: Kejriwal & P Prasun Bajpai of AAJ TAK, BJP, Devendra Fadnavis, happy in Delhi, Narendra Modi, Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister Gadkari

When Sheila met Modi: ‘I saw a confident man, with a vision

It is not a description that many in her own party may agree with. But Congress veteran, former Kerala Governor and ex-CM of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit, has revealed that when she met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July, she “saw a confident man, with a vision” and “a new language”.

That does not mean an endorsement though, because the 76-year-old was quick to add that it remained to be seen how this vision “would be practically implemented”.

Speaking to The Indian Express on a wide range of issues, including the circumstances in which she quit the Governor’s job this year and the prospect of “change” after the Lok Sabha polls, Dikshit said that she is now involved in heading a Congress committee to manage the commemoration of Jawaharlal Nehru’s 125th birth anniversary on November 14.

Speaking about her meeting with Modi before resigning as Kerala Governor, Dikshit said, “I saw a confident man, with a vision when I went to meet him, but a big ‘but’ is how all this would be practically implemented. He started with ‘achhe din aayenge’. Now that has completely dropped from his vocabulary. His coinage of new phrases is attractive as it is different. But how far is it practically achieveable, a very big question mark hangs over that.”

Asked whether the Congress needed to take its cue from Modi’s manner of functioning, she said, “Whether we should draw from his style or methodology is something we need to wait and assess. It is too early to try and do anything like he does. He is speaking and promising so many things and has a new language, but we need to see what will happen eventually on his promises.”

On the controversy surrounding her resignation as Governor of Kerala, Dikshit said that she had made it clear to the NDA government before putting in her papers that it must keep in mind “the dignity of the post”.

She said that after the NDA government took charge, she too – like other governors appointed during the UPA regime – “got a call from the Home Secretary”.

”I told him two things, the first that it was a Constitutional position and secondly, that it was a position of respect, and I asked him not to call me up again. He did not. But I met Rajnath Singh, the Home Minister, after that and told him that he must give me 10-12 days to wind up and that he must not treat us all like he did Kamla Beniwal (the Gujarat governor and then Mizoram governor) or the Puducherry Lt. Governor. I told him that he can’t just dismiss us. Even if they must not regard the dignity of the person, they must worry about the dignity of the post. He did not say anything. I told him we had not applied for this post but had been chosen to serve as governors.

Posted by Editorial Team on 04:18 in Amitabh Bachchan, Barak obama, black money, Narendra Modi, Sheila Dixit

Sonia and Rahul Gandhi on black money list, alleges Subramanian Swamy

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy on Monday alleged that Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi are on the list of people who have stashed black money in safe havens abroad.

"I have written letter to the Finance Ministry and the Commission on black money that Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi have black money stashed abroad. But no action has been taken. At least eight former cabinet ministers of the Congress are on the list," said Swamy while reacting to the government's move revealing the names of three persons in the black money case to the Supreme Court.

The Communist Party of India (CPI), however, slammed the ruling BJP and alleged that it was making false claims to the people about bringing the black money allegedly stashed in foreign bank accounts back to the country. "They said the Congress was protecting the black money holders. The BJP protested against the affidavit that the Congress had filed during their reign. Now, the same affidavit is being submitted by Arun Jaitley," said CPI leader Atul Anjan.

"Initially, they said they will reveal names of 800 people involved with this issue, now they are saying they cannot reveal all the names due to legal obligations and will publish only 136 names. I think isn't it getting delayed because the BJP supporters themselves are involved in it?" he asked. The CPI leader further said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who highlighted the black money issue during his campaigns before the Lok Sabha elections, should now get to the truth.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Rashid Alvi said that the people have every right to know about the status of the money stashed in foreign bank accounts. "We are waiting. The entire country is waiting. The government should reveal all the 800 names that are with them to people. The country must know that who are the backstabbers of the country," said Alvi. The ruling BJP had raised the issue of black money during the campaigning for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and repeatedly questioned the stand of the former Congress-led UPA regime.

The NDA government is putting pressure particularly on Switzerland, seeking details of Indians who have parked unaccounted money in the Alpine country's highly secretive banks. It has quickly implemented a Supreme Court directive to set up a high-powered special investigation team, headed by retired judge MB Shah, to look into the issue. 

While there are no official estimates, Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington-based think-tank, has estimated that Indians had parked USD 462 billion in overseas tax havens between 1948 and 2008. Earlier, the government had told the apex court that it could not disclose the names of those who have deposited money in banks abroad as it would jeopardise tax agreements with nations providing those names to India.

There were murmurs of protest within the ruling BJP that not disclosing names would hurt the party's image after it had made bringing back black money, a key issue in the general elections that it won by a landslide. The Centre's stand also drew a strong response from the Congress, which accused it of hypocrisy. In response, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had recently said the disclosing of names of people holding black money accounts will embarrass the opposition party. 

Posted by Editorial Team on 03:23 in Bharatiya Janata Party, black money, Finance, people, Rahul Gandhi, Rashid Alvi