Condemns violent attack on Delhi CM Kejriwal’s residence by BJP goons
Demands Mumbai Bank fraud-accused Pravin Darekar’s immediate resignation as LoP
The Aam Aadmi Party today ‘gheraoed’ the BJP Maharashtra Office at Nariman Point, South Bombay, to protest against the BJP’s misrule – be it the naked corruption by LoP Pravin Darekar in the Mumbai Bank scam, or the shameless thuggery in the attack on the Chief Minister’s residence in Delhi by BJP goons. The Police violently cracked down on the AAP rally, attacking party volunteers, and forcefully detaining the gathering.
The BJP is unnerved by the Aam Aadmi Party’s success in Delhi and Punjab, and today, in full public view, with the Delhi Police being bystanders, BJP goons violently attacked the Delhi CM’s residence. They broke CCTV cameras, smashed security barriers, and vandalized the residence’s gates. The BJP is convinced that it is above the law of the land, and is prepared to take any measures necessary to try and deter the Aam Aadmi Party.
The Party leaders and volunteers, who gathered in front of the BJP Maharashtra office with placards & banners, raised slogans and demanded the immediate resignation of BJP leader Pravin Darekar – the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council; for defrauding Mumbaikars by falsely claiming to be a labourer, to contest and win the Mumbai Bank Elections. BJP LoP Pravin Darekar has deceived and stolen from Mumbaikars; he has lost the moral right to continue as LoP, and must face the harshest punishment for his crime.
“The BJP believes that its leaders and supporters can act with no care for the law of the land, and with absolute impunity. The attack on Delhi CM Kejriwal’s residence by BJP goons is shocking, and shows that the BJP is willing to pursue any means necessary to stop the AAP’s growth, but we shall not be deterred. AAP demands that BJP leader Pravin Darekar be arrested; that he immediately resign as the Leader of Opposition of the Maharashtra Legislative Council; and that the Maharashtra Govt. set up a Special Investigative Team to conduct a time-bound investigation of the misappropriation of the Mumbai Bank funds, which has affected thousands of customers.” said Dhananjay Shinde, AAP Maharashtra State Secretary.
Demands resignation from the office of LoP, calls for SIT
The Aam Aadmi Party today held a press conference wherein the Party leaders called for the immediate resignation of BJP leader Pravin Darekar – The Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council, for blatantly cheating Mumbaikars by falsely claiming to be a manual labourer to contest & win the Mumbai Cooperative Bank elections; and for overseeing the misappropriation of bank funds to the tune of 2000 crores during his tenure as the Chairman as the Bank.
The Mumbai Bank is a cooperative bank where Mr. Darekar fraudulently claimed to be a ‘manual labourer’, and continued as Chairman for two terms, from 2011 to 2021, prior to which he was a Director for two terms. During this period, as per the the Cooperative department’s and NABARD’s audit reports, there were irregularities related to the misappropriation to the tune of 2000 crores from 2015 to 2021 – with a criminal disregard of regulatory compliances and procedures, as stipulated by the law.
The Aam Aadmi Party, led by Maharashtra State Secretary Shri Dhananjay Shinde, has been at the forefront of exposing Pravin Darekar’s dubious credentials as a manual labourer, which were used by him to register in an organization meant only for manual labourers – the Pratigya Cooperative Labour Organization. Mr. Pravin Darekar was disqualified as a labourer by the Maharashtra State Co-operative Department on 3rd January 2022. It was on the basis of a complaint filed by Dhananjay Shinde on 8th January 2022 at the MRA Marg Police Station, that an FIR was lodged against Pravin Darekar, on 15th March 2022 – under sections 120B, 199, 406, 417, 420, 465 and 468.
“The Leader of Opposition is an office of the highest honour, and we cannot allow a dishonest, corrupt leader like Darekar to hold the said office. The former BJP CM Devendra Fadnavis, and Cooperative Ministers Subhash Deshmukh and Chandrakant Patil shielded Pravin Darekar, and hence, are equally liable for the crimes committed by him. The MVA Govt has also failed to take action against the LoP, because their leaders were acting as Directors of the Mumbai Bank at the time.” said Dhananjay Shinde, AAP Maharashtra State Secretary.
“AAP demands that BJP leader Pravin Darekar immediately tender his resignation as the Leader of Opposition of the Maharashtra Legislative Council, and that the Maharashtra Govt. set up a Special Investigative Team to conduct a time-bound investigation of the misappropriation of the Mumbai Bank funds, which has affected thousands of customers. We also demand that an administrator be appointed by the RBI to govern and monitor the Bank’s functions till this issue is taken to its logical conclusion.” said Preeti Sharma Menon, AAP National Executive Member and Mumbai Prabhari.
The Kerala High Court on Tuesday denied bail to the prime accused in the 2017 actress assault case in which actor Dileep is also an accused.
Justice P V Kunhikrishnan denied the relief to Sunil N S also known as ‘Pulsar Suni’, who is the main accused in the case.
The court dismissed his plea for regular bail, saying it cannot be granted at this stage.
The detailed order is not yet available.
The actress-victim, who has worked in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films, was abducted and allegedly molested in her car for two hours by some persons who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of February 17, 2017 and later escaped in a busy area. The entire act was filmed by those persons to blackmail the actress.
There are 10 accused in the 2017 case and police have arrested seven. Dileep was arrested subsequently and released on bail.
Petrol prices in the national capital as well as most state capitals crossed Rs 100 a litre mark as its rates on Tuesday were hiked by 80 paise a litre and that of diesel by 70 paise, taking the total increase since last week to Rs 4.80 per litre.
Petrol in Delhi will now cost Rs 100.21 per litre against Rs 99.41 previously, while diesel rates have gone up from Rs 90.77 per litre to Rs 91.47, according to a price notification of state fuel retailers.
Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state, depending upon the incidence of local taxation.
Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata already had petrol prices of over Rs 100 per litre, and most state capitals now have rates higher than that.
Petrol price in the national capital had last crossed Rs 100 a litre mark on July 7, 2021, and went on to touch an all-time high of Rs 110.04 before the Modi government on November 4 reduced excise duty on auto fuels. Most states matched that cut with a reduction in local sales tax or VAT.
Post that daily rate revisions were put on hold as elections in five states, including Uttar Pradesh, approached.
But, the cost of raw materials during this period climbed from USD 82 per barrel to close to USD 140 before retracting. It is around USD 112 per barrel on Tuesday.
This is the seventh increase in prices since the ending of a four-and-half-month long hiatus in rate revision on March 22. On the first four occasions, prices were increased by 80 paise a litre – the steepest single-day rise since the daily price revision was introduced in June 2017. On the following days, petrol price went up by 50 paise and 30 paise a litre, while diesel rose by 55 paise and 35 paise a litre.
In all, petrol and diesel prices have gone up by Rs 4.80 per litre – the steepest increase in any eight days since the daily price revision was implemented in June 2017.
In Mumbai, petrol comes for Rs 115.04 a litre, while in Chennai, it is priced at Rs 105.94 and in Kolkata at Rs 109.68.
Diesel is priced at Rs 99.25 a litre in Mumbai, Rs 96 in Chennai and Rs 94.62 in Kolkata.
Rajasthan’s Ganganagar district on the border with Pakistan has the costliest fuel in the country at Rs 117.14 per litre for petrol and Rs 99.96 for diesel.
Besides local taxes, rates are also dependent on freight.
Moody’s Investors Services last week stated that state retailers together lost around USD 2.25 billion (Rs 19,000 crore) in revenue for keeping petrol and diesel prices on hold during the election period.
Oil companies “will need to raise diesel prices by Rs 13.1-24.9 per litre and Rs 10.6-22.3 a litre on gasoline (petrol) at an underlying crude price of USD 100-120 per barrel,” according to Kotak Institutional Equities.
CRISIL Research said a Rs 9-12 per litre increase in retail price will be required for a full pass-through of an average USD 100 per barrel crude oil and Rs 15-20 a litre hike if the average crude oil price rises to USD 110-120.
India is 85 per cent dependent on imports for meeting its oil needs and so retail rates adjust accordingly to the global movement.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday embarked on a visit to China to attend a regional meeting on war-torn Afghanistan.
The third meeting of ‘Foreign Ministers of Neighbouring Countries of Afghanistan’ is being held on March 29 to 31, according to the Pakistan Foreign Office (FO). The meeting will be held in Tunxi, central China’s Anhui province.
“Besides attending the Neighbouring Countries Ministerial meeting, the Foreign Minister will interact with counterparts from participating countries,” said the FO.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is expected to host a dialogue between the foreign ministers and the acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan’s interim government, Amir Khan Muttaqi, on the sidelines of the meeting.
Foreign Ministers of Indonesia and Qatar have been invited to the meeting as “guests”.
Pakistan had initiated the ‘Neighbouring Countries’ format in September 2021 with a view to evolving a regional approach on the situation in Afghanistan after the hardline Taliban seized power in Kabul in August last year.
The Taliban regime in Afghanistan has not been recognised by the international community amidst severe economic and humanitarian problems faced by the country.
Pakistan hosted the first meeting on September 8, 2021.
The FO said Pakistan fully supports a regional approach on Afghanistan for promoting durable peace and stability in the region.
Pakistan will continue to support the international community’s efforts to advance the shared objectives of a peaceful, stable, sovereign, prosperous and connected Afghanistan, said the FO.
Qureshi has been invited by State Councilor and Foreign Minister of China Wang.
Vehemently opposes the MVA’s decision to allocate 300 flats via MHADA to MLAs and MLCs across Maharashtra
The Aam Aadmi Party today slammed the MVA government for placing its selfish interests over public welfare, when it comes to decision making. In what is clearly a please-all for the political class, the MVA announced the allocation of 300 flats via MHADA to MLAs and MLCs from across Maharashtra.
Contrary to the MVA, the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab has focused on bold, citizen-centric decisions – the latest of which is that all MLAs, irrespective of the number of the terms served by them, would recieve a single pension from the government. Until now, a two-time MLA would get two pensions and a five-time MLA would get five pensions; something that was absolutely ridiculous & without any precedent world over, leading to the AAP government’s landmark intervention to correct this unjustifiable policy.
“Globally, 6 years of an individual’s annual income can afford someone decent housing, but that is simply not true for Mumbai, where real estate prices remain skewed and sky-high. Instead of providing relief to the Aam Aadmi in a high-inflation and scarce housing market, the MVA is seeking to providing 300 new flats to MLAs & MLCs in Mumbai, despite fully functional ‘MLA hostels’ having been made available to them.” said Ruben Mascarenhas, AAP Mumbai Working President.
“On the one hand you have the Delhi & the Punjab Government taking pro-people decisions, while on the other hand, you have the MVA government – which is abusing it’s power to cater solely to the political class. Rather than addressing the problem of public housing in Mumbai as a priority issue of policy making, the MVA is choosing to provide for the lavish lifestyles of its MLAs and MLCs. This is nothing but an arrogance of power, seeking to further the VIP culture that continues to prevail among our representatives, and must be vehemently opposed by all, at all costs. The MVA needs to take lessons from the AAP Government in Punjab.” said Preeti Sharma Menon, National Executive Member and Mumbai Prabhari.
The ruling BJP seems to be on course to retain power in Uttar Pradesh, with poll trends on Thursday showing the party alliance leading in 269 seats as against 121 of its nearest rival Samajwadi Party.
The state has 403 assembly seats and 202 seats are needed to form a majority government. Trends are available for 399 seats so far.
Prominent candidates who have secured a lead include Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav from Karhal, Shivpal Yadav from Jaswant Nagar and CLP leader Aradhana Shukla from Rampur Khas (Pratapgarh).
Adityanath is heading for a landslide victory in Gorakhpur Urban seat leading over his nearest SP’s Subhawati Shukla by about 15,000 votes.
The BSP nominee has secured 1,477 votes while Chandra Shekhar of Azad Samaj Party has bagged 1,386 votes. Chetna Pandey of the Congress is struggling with 272 votes and AAP nominee Vijay Kumar Shrivastava with 93 votes.
However, Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya is trailing from Sirathu seat while Swami Prasad Maurya of the SP is also trailing from Fazil Nagar seat. Congress State president Ajay Kumar Lallu is trailing from Tumkuhi Raj.
According to official trends available for 399 seats, the BJP is leading in 252 seats while its allies Apna Dal (S) and Nishad party are leading in 12 and five seats respectively.
While the Samajwadi Party is leading in 110 seats, its allies SBSP and RLD are leading in three and eight seats respectively.
The BSP and the Congress were leading in three and two seats respectively.Two candidates of the Jansatta Dal, including Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya in Kunda seat, were leading.
The BJP vote per cent is 42.3 while SP has got 31.6 per cent votes. The Congress has got meagre of 2.45 per cent while the BSP got 12.9 per cent.
Vuln!! Path it now!!
The Aam Aadmi Party feels that Shiv Sena and the BJP are busy attacking each other and indulging in petty rivalry and misusing the agencies at their disposal. This is costing the state and is impacting the well-being of the citizenry.
“We have just emerged, from the 3rd wave of Covid and there should be plans to restart the economy and rehabiliate those who have been adversely impacted by the pandemic.
Instead of doing that the only thing we see is a spectacle where all corruption is being exposed, without any firm action against corruption.
“What is disappointing is that despite the BJP being in power in the center and having all its agency at its disposal and the MVA Govt being in power in the state and having their agency at disposal, hardly anyone goes to jail.
They just make acccusations against each other, but no ‘Kirit Somaiya’ or ‘Sanjay Raut’ ever goes to jail.
There is just a charade of ED calling for questioning, and everybody be it the top cops, bureaucrats and the politicians, they all come and answer some questions and go away.
No body is really convicted and that is the sad part of this vendatta politics.
Both the sides are aware, that if they arrest one person of them then, they can arrest one person from ours. So no body will really be brought to justice, despite all the scams that are taking place.
All that they will do is threaten each other, compromise and continue the corruption, that they are already doing. This will continue to be the the fate of Maharashtra untill a new Govt comes to power which works for its people and not for the selfish agenda of the politicians who rule it.”, said Preeti Sharma Menon, AAP National Executive Member and Mumbai Prabhai.
In continuation of the tree cutting of yesterday, trees are still being hacked in Aarey forest as we speak. AAP volunteers tried to stop the work but a contingent of 100+ policemen is guarding the hacking. This reminds us of the Fadnavis Era where trees were hacked using the might of the state. What hurts the citizens of Mumbai more is that while Devendra Fadnavis openly declared his intentions of destroying Aarey, the Thackerays claim to be #ParyavaranPremis and swear on their love for Mumbai while they secretly destroy it.
Using 2021 permissions for tree pruning, trees are being hacked by the Adani Power Plant. One of the explanations being floated is that new towers are being built to remove the ones presently in the proposed car shed site. What AAP wants to know is that if no car shed is being built then what is the need to move those decade old towers at all?!
The MVA government has put up a weak defence for the Kanjurmarg Car Shed site in court, with the AG repeating the Fadnavis government rhetoric. It seems clear that they will relinquish Kanjurmarg and present the car shed in aarey as fait accompli.
But let all political parties in Mumbai be warned, the AAP stands by Aarey and we will not let their nefarious designs succeed. We will continue our protests to ensure there is no more destruction of the forest.
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