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SC orders CVC to complete probe against Alok Verma within two weeks

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SC orders CVC to complete probe against Alok Verma within two weeks

Interim CBI chief M Nageshwar Rao restrained from any policy decisions w.e.f. the day he took charge

Without going into the legality or otherwise of government’s decision to divest CBI Director Alok Verma of his powers and send him on compulsory leave, the Supreme Court today ordered the Chief Vigilance Commission (CVC) to complete any enquiry against him within two weeks.

The CVC probe will be monitored by retired Supreme Court judge, Justice AK Patnaik,

The Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, SK Kaul and KM Joseph was hearing a plea filed by Verma challenging the Centre’s decision to send him on leave and appoint CBI joint director M Nageshwar Rao as the agency’s interim chief.

The top court also restrained interim CBI director M Nageshwar Rao from taking any policy decisions. He will only look after the functioning of the agency, the court ruled.All decisions taken by Nageshwar Rao from the date of his appointment as interim director till this hour will be submitted to the court in a sealed cover, the bench said, according to media reports.

Rao had, within hours of taking charge as the interim chief,transferred a number of officers in CBI, posting out all officers investigating corruption cases against controversial CBI special director Rakesh Asthana and replacing them with officers seen close to Asthanato carry out the investigations pending against him in six corruption cases.

Asthana is a 1984-batch Gujarat cadre officer known for his proximity to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.

There has been a running feud between Verma and Asthana, with Verma questioning the decision to appoint Asthana to CBI, citing corruption cases, two years ago. The government was, thus, aware of the problem. Asthana had also complained to CVC about Verma, accusing him of corruption.

As the CBI under Verma carried on with case against Asthana, it filed a FIR on October 15, special director Rakesh Asthana and Deputy Superintendent of Police Devender Kumar, in a Rs 3 crore bribery case linked with controversial meat exporter Moin Qureshi.Kumar was arrested and both he and Asthana challenged the FIR in Delhi High Court.

The government finally woke up on Tuesday when Verma relieved Asthana of his responsibilities. In an overnight action, a move that has invited speculation as well as criticism, the government, in the wee hours of Wednesday, divested Verma of hs powers and sent both him and Asthana on compulsory leave and appointed CBI joint director M Nageshwar Rao as interim director.

Verma challenged the decision stating that the CBI director is, by law and Supreme Court’s directives, granted a fixed two-year tenure and cannot be transferred before this term unless the collegium responsible for his appointment – the Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India and Leader of Opposition – carry out a full scale enquiry to justify the transfer. Verma also told the top court that his ouster was the result of certain investigations being carried out by the CBI, including those against Asthana, which had the potential of putting high officials of the Narendra Modi government in the dock.

The Centre defended its decision of sending Verma and Asthana arguing that their factional feud had reached its peak and could tarnish the reputation and credibility of the premier investigating agency.

On Friday, while the court of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi was hearing Verma’s petition, the CBI chief’s counsel, senior advocate Fali Nariman, argued that the Centre’s decision to send him on leave was a violation of the DSPE Act that grants the agency’s director a secured two-year term. Verma’s term was to end on January 18 next year.

The CJI then said that the CVC should conduct an enquiry on the charges against Verma (the Centre has alleged that Verma was not cooperating with the CVC in certain cases involving CBI officials while Asthana has accused the CBI chief, in a complaint to the CVC, linking him to bribery case) within 10 days and that the probe will be monitored by a Supreme Court-appointed judge.

However, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta urged the court to grant the CVC more time to complete the enquiry, stating that 10 days was too little time.

The CJI initially joked that the court could instead give 240 hours to the CVC to finish its probe. Later, it said that the CVC must finish the enquiry within two weeks and that the interim CBI chief would, during this period, be retrained from taking any policy decisions. The court also said that in case there are essential decisions to be taken by the interim chief, a list of all such decisions and the reasons that compelled them must be maintained for possible perusal by the court, if needed.

The top court will hear Verma’s petition on November 25 now. On that day, the court could also hear a similar petition filed by Asthana challenging the Centre’s decision of sending him on leave and another petition filed by NGO Common Cause that highlights instances of government interference in the CBI’s functioning. The top court refused to hear Asthana’s petition on Friday stating that it had not received the relevant documents related to the case.

As for the question of whether the government has the power to divest the CBI Director of his powers and send him on compulsory leave, in effect removing him, the CBI Director Verma’s legal team said the SC bench will take go into it later.

2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Sunita Kejriwal holds maiden Lok Sabha election roadshow in Delhi

Sunita Kejriwal will also hold a road show in West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency on Sunday. AAP party leaders said Sunita Kejriwal will also spearhead the campaign for AAP candidates in South Delhi and New Delhi constituencies as well as in Haryana, Gujarat and Punjab.

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Aam Aadmi Party began its campaign for 3rd phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 on Saturday with Sunita Kejriwal, wife of jailed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal holding a roadshow in Delhi. In a massive rally, Sunita Kejriwal was be seen standing on a vehicle holding her hands and greeting the people of the area. AAP’s East Delhi candidate Kuldeep Kumar was seen sitting on the vehicle as he showcased a portrait of Rani Laxmibai.

Earlier ahead of Sunita Kejrieal’s roadshow, Kuldeep Kumar told the media that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who worked to provide the best school, and free- electricity to the people of Delhi has been framed in a fake case by BJP. Kumar further added that from today onwards Sunita Kejriwal’s roadshow will start and she is going to seek support and blessings from the Delhi people to continue its fight against the BJP government.

Aam Aadmi Party workers also staged a protest under the banner of Jail ka jawab vote se near Delhi’s Lakshmi Nagar area on Saturday against the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in connection with an excise policy case.

After the Delhi CM’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the liquor policy case in March, Sunita Kejriwal has taken up a more prominent role in campaigning activities for the Aam Aadmi Party. Since the Delhi CM’s arrest, Atishi and other AAP leaders have alleged that the arrest was made so that to the AAP Supremo can be prevented from campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections. Arvind Kejriwal has been sent to judicial custody until May 7.

Sunita Kejriwal will also hold a road show in West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency on Sunday. AAP party leaders said Sunita Kejriwal will also spearhead the campaign for AAP candidates in South Delhi and New Delhi constituencies as well as in Haryana, Gujarat and Punjab. She is emerging as a star campaigner for Aam Aadmi Party.

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2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Mallikarjun Kharge says candidates for Amethi, Rae Bareli seats in Uttar Pradesh will be announced in a few days

On being asked about the names of the candidates for Amethi and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituencies Mallikarjun Kharge said the people will have to wait for a few more days. He said when the names of candidates come from people to him and he will sign the notification, then the announcement will be made.

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Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said that the candidates for prestigious Amethi and Rae Bareli seats in Uttar Pradesh will be announced in a few days. He was addressing a press conference where he claimed that though the BJP says the corrupt must be put in jails, when leaders facing corruption charges join the saffron party, they are put on the lap and sent to Rajya Sabha or assembly.

On being asked about the names of the candidates for Amethi and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituencies he said the people will have to wait for a few more days. He said when the names of candidates come from people to him and he will sign the notification, then the announcement will be made.

On being questioned about Congress leaders changing constituencies Kharge asked how many times have Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani changed their seats. His response came when asked about the BJP criticising Rahul Gandhi for fighting the elections from Kerala’s Wayanad instead of Amethi. Referring to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Kharge said the Congress is not affected by people who grew up in the party and left it later.

The Congress president launched an all round attack on the BJP and PM Modi and said the prime minister did not implement even one of his electoral promises and still says Modi did a lot of work for the country. Addressing the press conference he said the BJP never fought for the independence of India, but Congress is a party of those who made India independent. He said the BJP never fought for the independence of India, for the development of India. The Congress President said the BJP speaks so much about patriotism and that the contribution of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri is nothing before them.

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2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Priyanka Gandhi accuses BJP of planning to change the Constitution, criticises PM Modi for inflation

Priyanka Gandhi was speaking at an election rally at Dharampur village of tribal dominated Valsad district held in support of Congress candidate for ST-reserved Valsad Lok Sabha seat, Anant Patel.

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Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Saturday said the BJP may be denying it now, but the party will change the Constitution if it returns to power. She targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over inflation and called him the mehengai man.

Gandhi said the BJP leaders and candidates are saying that they will change the Constitution. She said PM Modi is denying it and this is BJP’s tactic. Priyanka Gandhi was speaking at an election rally at Dharampur village of tribal dominated Valsad district, Gujarat held in support of Congress candidate for ST-reserved Valsad Lok Sabha seat, Anant Patel.

Gandhi said first the BJP will deny what they want to do. But after coming to power they will implement it. She further added the BJP wants to change the constitution to weaken the common people and deprive them of their rights given in the Constitution. She said the BJP leaders project the Prime Minister as powerful and say that chutki bajake ladai rukwa dete hai (he can stop the Russia- Ukraine war with the snap of his fingers). She asked why is Prime Minister unable to remove poverty just like that?

Priyanka Gandhi claimed the tribal population in Gujarat which is Modi’s home state and the whole country is suffering from issues like rising inflation, unemployment, low remumberation, loss of land, violence against women and other atrocities. She highlighted the Congress manifesto and said it addresses issues faced by the tribal population.

She assured the people that the Congress will bring schemes like MGNREGA for urban areas where families will get 100 days of guaranteed work. She said the Congress is committed to filing about 30 lakh vacancies in government jobs, providing subsidised diesel to fishermen and take the minimum wage to Rs 400. Gandhi said the Congress is going to work out sub plans for Scheduled Tribes and scheduled castes.

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