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INDIA
If Modi doesn’t ensure their resignation, people of the country would consider that to be his abdication of duty Dilip Pandey, AAP’s Delhi convener
Unrelenting opposition steps up the pressure for ministers’ resignation SCAN THIS QR CODE TO INSTANTLY VISIT
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Narendra Modi’s affidavits before the election commission. It has also held protests outside residences of Swaraj and Irani over the past two weeks. It has also been aggressive in the Lalit Modi controversy and has stepped up its attack on Swaraj and Raje, demanding their sacking.
inaction on Lalit Modi controversy would ‘cost BJP dear’ just as the Congress ‘had paid’ for former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s silence, said AAP’s Delhi convener
NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday intensified protests against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), demanding resignation of Union Ministers Sushma Swaraj, Smriti Irani and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on issues involving the trio. The party’s frontal organisations mobilised scores of protesters for a rally at Jantar Mantar here who later marched towards Parliament, but were stopped by police near Parliament street police station. Led by AAP’s Delhi convener Dilip Pandey, the protesters raised slogans against the BJP trio and also Maharashtra Minister Pankaja Munde for her
NO LET UP: Workers of Aam Aadmi Party holding a protest to demand the resignation of the Union Minister Smriti Irani, External Affair Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Pankaja Munde, in New Delhi on Monday. - PTI
alleged involvement in a “Rs20 billion scam”. Pandey attacked the prime minister saying he was “silent” as leaders like Raje had put up a show of strength by rallying “110 MLAs behind her”. Silent out of compulsion “Modiji is silent out of compulsion. Raje has put up a display of strength which has scared Modi,” he said. The leader said Modi’s inaction would “cost BJP dear” just as the Congress “had paid” for former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s silence. “If Modi doesn’t ensure their resignation, people of the country would consider that to be his abdi-
cation of duty,” he said. Pandey was more shrill in his attack on Raje, saying she had committed “an act of treason” by “assisting a fugitive like Lalit Modi.” “...Swaraj endorsed Lalit Modi. They (Raje and Swaraj) seem to disregard constitutional provisions with impunity. So they have no right to continue in their posts,” he said. The protests rent the air with slogans such as ‘(Narendra) Modi(Lalit) Modi bhai bhai (brothers)’, and Modi ji muh toh kholo...bhrastachar pe kuch toh bolo (Modi ji, please open your mouth and speak up on corruption).” Several AAP leaders including the MLAs Saurabh Bharadwaj
and Alka Lamba took part in the protests. Bhardwaj said the party would be relentless in its demands and would continue to protest till the accused ministers are sacked. The party leaders were heard repeatedly asking volunteers not to get into confrontation with the police. Police detained four protesters who were later released. One had to be hospitalised as he fell ill. AAP has been aggressive against BJP and the Centre after the arrest of its leader and former Delhi law minister Jitendra Singh Tomar in a fake degree case. Following this, it has also been demanding resignation of Irani in a case where she has given different information in three different
Congress mounts pressure Meanwhile, mounting pressure on Rajasthan chief minister on the Lalit Modi controversy, Congress on Monday accused Vasundhara Raje of “forcible, illegal occupation” of the Dholpur Palace along with Lalit Modi through a private company, a charge refuted by BJP. Senior party leader Jairam Ramesh claimed in Delhi that Hemant Singh, the estranged husband of Raje, had admitted before a court that the palace was the property of the Rajasthan government. He told reporters that several revenue department documents between 1954 and 2010 showed that the palace was a government property but Raje and Lalit Modi’s company has turned it into a “high end luxury hotel” and invested Rs10 billion with no role of the state government. Incidentally, this has happened post 2009 when the state was ruled by Congress. In Jaipur, State BJP president Ashok Parnami and Rajasthan Health Minister Rajendra Rathore
rejected the charge levelled Ramesh that the Dholpur Palace does not belong to Dushyant. Contesting Ramesh’s claim, Parnami displayed before reporters documents which, he said, clearly proved that Hemant Singh had handed over the custody of the palace to Dushyant. He said court documents were there to substantiate this. Ramesh said that Raje in her 2013 assembly poll affidavit had admitted having shares of the Niyant Heritage Hotels Pvt Ltd along with her MP son Dushyant Singh and daughter-in-law Niharika, and Lalit Modi. “The election affidavit reflects that she own 3280 shares, her son and daughter-in-law about 3225 shares each and Lalit Modi’s company Ananda Heritage Hotels Pvt Ltd 815 shares, establishing the financial relationship, partnership and investment of overseas money from a tax haven,” he said. He said it proved her business partnership with the former IPL chief, who is now a “fugitive”. The Congress leader alleged that Lalit Modi had used the “Mauritius route” to invest in the company. He also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, describing him as “Swami Maunendra Baba” for his continued silence over the Lalitgate issue. Congress has been demanding resignations of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Raje over Lalitgate, of HRD Minister Smriti Irani over misrepresenting facts about her educational qualification in separate election affidavits. - PTI
MOB VIOLENCE
School director’s death in Nalanda sparks off protest NALANDA/PATNA: The death of a school’s director in mob violence sparked off massive protest on Monday by aggrieved locals at Hilsa in Nalanda district of Bihar, who blocked roads, closed down shops and pelted stones at vehicles, including that of the district magistrate and superintendent of police. Police said as soon as the body of Devendra Prasad, director of Devendra Public School, who succumbed to injuries after being lynched by a mob on Sunday following the death of two students, reached his residence at Hilsa Bazar this morning, protesters forced the closure of Hilsa Bazar and blocked the Hilsa-Daniayawan road. The protesters were demanding presence of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, native of Nalanda district, besides District Magistrate K. Kartikeya and SP Sidharth Mohan Jain to hear their demands, police said. On being informed by the local authorities, the DM and the SP reached Hilsa Bazar and tried to pacify the protesters but the crowd paid no heed to their assurance. The protesters began pelting stones at half a dozen vehicles, including that of the two district officials, smashing the windscreens following which police swung into action and lathicharged the crowd. Meanwhile, the SP promised strict action against those responsible for the school director’s
GRIEF: Family of two students of a residential public school who were found dead, in Nirpur village at Nalanda district express their anguish on Sunday. - PTI
the spot to probe the death of the school director. The DM and the SP of Nalanda district were also camping on the spot to monitor law and order situation in Hilsa Bazar, Kumar said. The ADG (Headquarters) said that strict action would be taken against the accused in the incident. Biharsharif Sadar Hospital’s deputy superintendent Shailendra Kumar confirmed on the basis of an autopsy report that the two boys had drowned in a water body. The school director’s brother, Sunil Kumar, meanwhile claimed before the media that his hapless elder brother had been handed over to the mob by some policemen in whose vehicle he had gone to Nirpur village. - PTI
death in mob attack at Nirpur village following recovery of the bodies of two students of Delhi Public School from a water body. “We are identifying the accused from the video footage of the mob attack on the director of the private school in order to take stringent action against those responsible for Devendra Prasad’s death,” Jain said on phone. Police officer suspended Station House Officer (SHO) of Nalanda police station Sunil Kumar has been suspended on charge of dereliction of duty, he said. In Patna, Additional Director General of Police, Headquarters, Sunil Kumar said that Patna Range DIG Shalin had rushed to
M A D H YA P R A D E S H P R O F E S S I O N A L E X A M I N AT I O N B O A R D S C A M
CBI must probe mysterious deaths in Vyapam case: Whistleblower NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) must probe the deaths of accused and witnesses under mysterious circumstances in Madhya Pradesh’s Vyapam scam, says the man who exposed the massive admission and recruitment scandal. “There must be a CBI probe. It is not a coincident that all the accused are dying of one ailment or another. There is something more to it,” Prashant Pandey, a forensic expert, who blew the whistle on the scam, said. Pandey said he fears for his
own life after becoming the whistleblower. A total of 25 accused and witnesses, including the son of Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav, Shailesh, have died so far in the high-profile Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) scam, also known as Vyapam scam. “There is a cover-up by the high and mighty in the state government. There has to be a probe by a third party which is independent of state’s interference,” the whistleblower said.
Pandey, a digital forensics expert from Indore has been provided a guard by the state police in view of threat to his life. A Madhya Pradesh High Courtappointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) is supervising the probe by the state’s Special Task Force (STF) into the scam, in which the role of some senior state government officials and politicians has come under the scanner. Chief of the SIT Justice (Retd) Chandresh Bhushan refused to speak about the action being taken in the case. - PTI