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Mayawati opts out of Lok Sabha contest – for now, did not say about top post of PM

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Mayawati

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati today (Wednesday, March 20) said that she would not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election to be held April 11-May 19 and would rather campaign for the candidates fielded by her party and the ally Samajwadi Party (SP).

She kept the option open for contesting election at a later date.

“I won’t contest polls. I am confident that my party will completely understand my decision. I can contest later if I wish,” the former chief minister told reporters in Lucknow.

She said it was more important for the party and its allies to win all seats and stop the “arrogant, uncontrolled” rule of the BJP. The BSP is in alliance with the SP and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in Uttar Pradesh.

“I do not want to see the alliance lose at any cost. More than my personal victory it is more important to win each and every seat in Uttar Pradesh,” Mayawati said while expressing confidence that she could get elected to the House any time.

This also means that, at least till the elections are over, she will not be overtly pushing for herself as a prime ministerial candidate, though it is not completely ruled out either – as apparent from her statement that she can contest and win anytime later.

 

A split Opposition could benefit BJP

The announcement comes amid an ongoing spat between the BSP-SP alliance and the Congress with neither side yielding any quarter to the other to put up a joint fight against the BJP which is expected to gain substantially through the division of opposition votes.

To recall, the SP-BSP alliance had given only two seats of Amethi and Rae Bareli represented by Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, owing to the lacklustre performance of the party in previous election and the sad state the party was in at the time.

The Congress subsequently got a boost with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra formally joining the party as general secretary in charge of eastern UP and launching herself into active politics. But, with SP-BSP not willing to rework the arrangement, the Congress decided to contest all seats in Uttar Pradesh, leaving seven for the SP-BSP alliance.

Efforts for a grand alliance in UP came a cropper, giving BJP much reason to cheer: it was otherwise faced with a dismal prospect in the state that sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha and had given the BJP-led NDA 73 members in 2014 election.

BJP’s gain means opposition’s loss. Mayawati’s decision may be based on this reading. Not contesting will leave her free to campaign all over and consolidate the position of the alliance candidates.

 

Another argument: Vote split may damage BJP

Besides, while the arithmetic-based calculation at a superficial level may seem to suit the BJP through division of anti-BJP votes, things could work out differently, according to a different arithmetic.

Both Mayawati’s BSP and Akhilesh Yadav’s SP retain their core vote base. It is only the Congress that had lost its support base. The BJP’s massive win in 2014 came from upper castes, non-Yadav backward classes and those lower castes who were not fully with BSP. A resurgent Congress would take away votes of many of these sections who are not committed to BJP’s Hindutva, but this would not dent the core votes of BSP and SP.

Such a division of votes would damage the BJP more than the Opposition parties.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Punjab: AAP leaders Sushil Kumar Rinku, MLA Sheetal Angural join BJP

Rinku said Aam Aadmi Party lagged behind in Jalandhar on the issue of its development. He said they had not fulfilled the promises which they had made during the byelection as the AAP government did not support him. He said he was impressed by the style of working of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

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The Aam Aadmi Party had a double setback in Punjab as its lone Lok Sabha MP, Sushil Kumar Rinku from Jalandhar, and Jalandhar West MLA Sheetal Angural joined the BJP in Delhi on Wednesday. BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde welcomed them in presence of Punjab BJP chief Sunil Kumar Jakhar and Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

Rinku said Aam Aadmi Party lagged behind in Jalandhar on the issue of its development. He said they had not fulfilled the promises which they had made during the byelection as the AAP government did not support him. He said he was impressed by the style of working of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. He added that whatever works related to Jalandhar he took to Delhi were granted and the Adampur airport was made operational.

Rinku said Jalandhar had been given a stop for the Vande Bharat train. He said the people of Jalandhar need over bridges in the city and in Adampur. He said he was seeing a ray of hope by joining BJP. He said he is conducting a new experiment. He said he did not have greed for himself but he had wishes for the people of Jalandhar.

The Aam Aadmi Party came to know about the joining of Rinku to BJP when he suddenly disappeared from the AAP’s election campaign after he was named the candidate. He was among the first 8 candidates announced by the Aam Aadmi Party.

 Sheetal Angural became a first time MLA in 2022. He is going to hand over his resignation from the assembly on Thursday. With his resignation, the Jalandhar (west) seat will go into elections. Angural defeated Rinku in 2022 Assembly elections when the latter was in Congress. Earlier on Tuesday BJP had poached Congress MP from Ludhiana, Ravneet Bittu.

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Delhi High Court refuses to grant interim relief to CM Arvind Kejriwal, next hearing on April 3

A bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma issued a notice to the ED on the Delhi Chief Minister’s plea seeking immediate release and declaring his arrest and remand as illegal.

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In a major setback for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to allow any interim relief to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate. The High Court also issued notice on Kejriwal’s plea and scheduled the matter for further hearing on April 3.

A bench comprising Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma issued a notice to the ED on the Delhi Chief Minister’s plea seeking immediate release and declaring his arrest and remand as illegal. The High Court asked the investigation agency to file its reply within April 2.

The Delhi High Court further rejected the contention of senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi who appeared for Arvind Kejriwal and argued that no reply from ED was required. The court pointed out that it is duty-bound to hear both sides fairly keeping in mind the principles of natural justice and hence ED’s reply is essential and crucial to decide the present case.

The court remarked that having regard to the nature of issues raised in the plea, it is of the opinion that the respondent has to be granted an opportunity to file a reply, as an opportunity for effective representation. It added that declining the opportunity to the respondent to file a response would amount to denial of fair hearing as well as violation of one of the principles of natural justice, that is audi- alteram partem, which is applicable to both the parties and not one.

In addition, the ED is likely to produce Arvind Kejriwal in a court on Thursday as his present remand will conclude tomorrow. The investigation agency arrested CM Kejriwal last Thursday in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case and sought a six-day custody starting from March 22. The nodal agency may seek an extension of Kejriwal’s custodial remand or seek court directions for sending him into judicial custody.

Meanwhile, Arvind Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal said that the Chief Minister has proof and that he will reveal everything about the location of the money related to the so-called liquor policy scam in the court tomorrow. 

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ED files money laundering case against Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter Veena Vijayan

Chief Minister Vijayan had said that his daughter had started the company using his wife’s retirement funds and the allegations being levelled against him and his family were false.

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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday has registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter Veena Vijayan and her IT company, Exalogic Solutions. The case relates to the alleged illegal payments made to Veena Vijayan’s firm by a mineral company. 

Reportedly, the ED has filed the case based on a complaint by the serious fraud investigation office, which had been asked to investigate the matter by the Centre. The case hogged limelight after an Income Tax Department investigation alleged that a private company called Cochin Minerals And Rutile Ltd (CMRL) made an illegal payment of Rs 1.72 crore to Veena’s company, Exalogic Solutions from 2018 to 2019. The payment was made to the IT firm of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter even though the mineral company did not provide any service to her firm. 

Furthermore, a report had also claimed that CMRL had made monthly payments to Exalogic, despite no services being provided, because of Veena Vijayan’s connection to a prominent person. 

Earlier on January 31, the Exalogic Solution moved the Karnataka High Court after the central government ordered the SFIO to investigate the matter. In its petition to the Karnataka High Court, the IT firm, Exalogic Solutions had argued that Section 212 under which the SFIO has initiated a probe was a serious provision along the lines of those under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). 

The plea added that such sections are used in serious cases involving hundreds of crores of rupees. However, the Karnataka High Court dismissed the plea the previous month. While addressing the Kerala Assembly in January, Chief Minister Vijayan had said that his daughter had started the company using his wife’s retirement funds and the allegations being levelled against him and his family were false.

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