Bengaluru, May 23 (PTI) In a stinging attack on the one-year rule of NDA regime, Congress today accused the Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “murdering democratic institutions” in India and running a “one man government”.

Presenting a five-chapter report card on the Modi dispensation, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said “MODI refers to Murder Of Democratic India” with its “maximum governance becoming maximum arrogance and minimum government becoming one man government”.

“Chapter one refers to MODI – Murder Of Democratic India; …in the last one year he has completely bypassed the Parliament, he rarely comes to Parliament, he was not present when constitution amendment bill on GST was voted in Lok Sabha,” Ramesh told reporters here.

In the last one year, of the 53 bills presented in Parliament, only five had gone to the standing committee, when normally all bills go to it, he said.

Ramesh described the five chapters of the report card as “murder” of democratic institutions, maximum governance becoming maximum arrogance and minimum government becoming one man government, turnaround becoming U-turns some positive some negative, repackaging of UPA programmes and sharp reduction in allocation for social sector schemes like health, drinking, water and sanitation.

“This in short is what Mr Modi has accomplished in the last one year,” he said.

The Congress leader also said that the “judiciary is threatened” citing Modi’s words at a conference of Chief Justices presided over by Chief Justice of India H L Dattu about “five star activists”.

He also lambasted the government on the delay in the appointment of Chief Information Commissioner and Chief Vigilance Commissioner.

In a frontal attack on Modi government, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today accused it of trying to run Delhi through “backdoor” to protect the corrupt and said it had “back-stabbed” the people of the city by issuing a notification “siding” with the Lt Governor.
Hours after the Home Ministry issued the gazette notification saying it was not mandatory for the LG to consult the Chief Minister on matters like appointment of bureaucrats, Kejriwal said it showed the nervousness of BJP and the Centre over the anti-corruption efforts by his government.
The Chief Minister charged that Jung is just the face and the orders to him are coming from the PMO. “Pre-independence, Queen of England used to send notifications to the Viceroy here. Now, Jung Sahab is the Viceroy and PMO is London.”
He said the AAP government was taking views of constitutional experts on the notification and a decision will be taken accordingly.
Kejriwal’s deputy Manish Sisodia alleged that the development showed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh were “kneeling down” before corruption and the “thriving transfer-posting industry” which the AAP government had stopped in the last three months.
“Earlier, a lot of money was changing hands for transfers but now that has ended under AAP government’s three-month rule. Once we did it, Congress and BJP people failed to get contracts in Delhi. Then they went to the PMO.
“Now, they have brought this notification as the BJP and Congress want to have their own officers in Delhi and get government contracts for their own people and that is why they want control over the transfer-posting industry through the LG. By bringing in the notification, the Centre has back-stabbed the people of Delhi,” the Chief Minister told reporters.
In the gazette notification issued today, the Union Home Ministry said that the LG will have jurisdiction over matters connected with services, public order, police and land and he may consult with the Chief Minister whenever he thinks necessary in issues of services using his own “discretion”.
Kejriwal pointed out that it also said that anti-Corruption Branch police station shall not take any cognisance of offences against officials, employees and functionaries of central government services and wondered who were the people Modi government was “trying to protect”.
He said such actions amount to promoting corruption.
Claiming that his government is the “most honest” government in the history of Delhi, Kejriwal said Jung has “never asked about water or electricity supply for the people of Delhi. He is only interested in transfers and postings.”
The Delhi Chief Minister said “Modi government is trying to run Delhi with three BJP MLAs through backdoor.”
The appointment of senior bureaucrat Shakuntala Gamlin as acting Chief Secretary by LG last week had triggered a full-blown war between the ruling AAP and the Lt Governor, with Kejriwal questioning the LG’s authority and accusing him of trying to take over the administration.
The Chief Minister, who had recently written to Modi on the issue, also alleged that the main crux of the notification lies in its last paragraph which says that the Anti-Corruption Branch of Delhi government can’t take any action against central government employees.
“Our government has brought corruption down in its last three months. 36 officials have been arrested and 52 have been suspended. There is terror among corrupt officials and our government is the most honest in the history of Delhi.
“Now, the Centre wants that if ACB sees any sort of corruption by its central government employees, it should overlook it,” he said.
Earlier in a tweet, Kejriwal said “BJP first lost Del elections. Today’s notification shows BJP’s nervousness abt our anti-corruption efforts. BJP again lost today(sic)”
Reacting to the notification, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that it has become clear through this notification that the “Delhi’s transfer-posting industry” is afraid of AAP government.
“By this notification, it is clear that how the transfer industry of Delhi is afraid of us,” Sisodia said in his series of tweets.
“Through this (notification), it is being made efforts to save transfer-posting industry,” he said.

RJD chief and former CM of Bihar Lalu Prasad on Thursday hit out at the Narendra Modi-led government and gave zero marks to it which completes one year on May 26, arguing that it failed to help farmers in distress or provide jobs to the youth.

“I would give minus zero marks to the one-year-old Modi government,” Lalu told the media minutes before leaving for Delhi to meet Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and JD-U president Sharad Yadav over the merger of the six parties of the Janata Parivar.

He said Modi’s government has failed to help farmers suffering because of crop loss, and has not been able to bring back black money stashed abroad.

He also accused the BJP-led NDA government of failing to provide jobs to the youth or providing a sense of safety and security to minorities.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief said people have been disappointed and left in lurch by the Modi government and said that they will teach Modi’s government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a lesson.

New Delhi, May 22 (PTI) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today launched a publicity blitzkrieg marking one year of the Modi government saying it has eliminated political and governmental corruption, put the economy back on track and accused the Congress of adopting obstructionism to growth.

Maintaining that the BJP-led NDA government has created an environment of enthusiasm in which decision-making process has become transparent, he said the government’s decisiveness in the face of obstructionism has been its hallmark with speed of taking decisions.

Addressing the first of the two dozen press conferences to be addressed by union ministers throughout the country, Jaitley asserted that the country is getting investment and there is a need to ensure ease of doing business and expand economic activity to achieve double-digit growth.

At the 90-minute media interaction, Jaitley, who is also the Information and Broadcasting Minister, answered a number of questions on economy and politics and how the government dispelled the general environment of gloom that prevailed during the UPA regime which encouraged crony capitalism.

He expressed confidence that the controversial land bill will be passed in the next Parliament session because “the numbers are clear”. Similarly, the indirect taxation reforms measure Goods and Service Tax (GST) will be passed in the next session.

The Minister, who is also the media face of the government, disapproved of the remarks made by his ministerial colleague Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi who had said those who want to eat beef could go to Pakistan or any other country.

He dismissed opposition criticism over the overseas visits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying his visit to 18 countries in the last one year has earned for the nation a special place in the world. .

Patna, May 18 (PTI) Amidst doubts over the fate of Janata Parivar merger following comment by a senior Samajwadi party leader, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today categorically said that the chapter is not closed.

“The chapter is still not closed,” he said.

Kumar, who was speaking to reporters, was seeking to cap the doubts and raging debate over the fate of Janata Parivar merger in the wake of the statement by Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav that merger was not possible before the Bihar assembly polls due to technical issues.

Kumar said he would suggest Mulayam Singh Yadav to convene a meeting of the merger committee soon to “clear the air and end the public debate over the matter.”

Kumar, who is playing a significant role in the merger, said as per his knowledge there is no technical hitch.

“But, if some technical issues have been raised as bottleneck they should be sorted out in a meeting of six members of the committee constituted in the last meeting to look into formalities like a common symbol and flag etc,” he said.

Amethi (UP), May 18 (PTI) Taking up the fight for mega food park in his Lok Sabha constituency Amethi, Rahul Gandhi today marched through the dusty pathways to reach the site proposed for the unit and alleged that the project was cancelled by the Centre because of “politics of revenge”.

The Congress Vice President said scrapping of the project had “seriously hit” the farmers and that he had come here to expose the “bluff” of the Centre which has maintained that the responsibility for its cancellation lay with the promoter company and the previous UPA government.

“Land had been allotted. Work was very much underway,” said the 44-year-old Gandhi as he walked some two kilometers on dusty tracks to reach the site that had been identified for the proposed food park.

“BJP wants to hurt me through this politics of revenge.

But in reality, the farmers are getting affected, not me. BJP is playing such politics in other states as well, like Punjab, Telangana, Maharashtra and Haryana, wherever farmers can be suppressed,” Gandhi said amidst loud cheers from the gathered farmers.

Patna, May 17 (PTI) Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh today hit out at the Centre for the recent petro price hike and said it will hurt the common man.

“The NDA government has raised prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 7 and Rs 5 respectively over the past fortnight…Petrol products’ price hike will hurt the common man as the cost of essential commodities will escalate,” he told reporters at the airport.

Slamming the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre for not passing on the benefits of decline in international crude oil prices in the past one year, Ramesh said petrol now costs Rs 73 per litre when the crude oil price stands at 60-65 US Dollar per barrel.

It was a far cry from the days of the UPA government, which had scaled down petrol price to Rs 70 per litre while the crude price stood up at 140 US Dollar per barrel, he said.

“Not passing on the benefit of decline in crude oil prices, reflects the NDA government’s insensitivity towards the people,” the former union rural development minister added.

New Delhi, May 11 (PTI) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today moved in Lok Sabha a bill which provides for penalty and tax up to 120 per cent along with criminal prosecution for those who have parked black money abroad.

Piloting the Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of Tax) Bill, 2015 for passage, Jaitley asked the Opposition not to develop “cold feet” in supporting the legislation.

He rejected the opposition demand of referring it to the Standing Committee saying delay in enacting the legislation would provide opportunity to offenders to transfer unaccounted overseas wealth to unknown destinations.

For those wanting to come clean, Jaitley said there would be a compliance window in two parts — to declare assets and to pay 30 per cent tax and 30 per cent penalty.

Citing an example, he said, there could be a two-month window to declare overseas assets and within six months one would have to pay tax and penalty.

Once the compliance window closes, anyone found having undeclared overseas wealth would be required to pay 30 per cent tax, 90 per cent penalty and face criminal prosecution, said Jaitley.

The Bill, which was introduced amid persistant demand for dealing effectively with black money stashed abroad, provides for rigorous imprisonment of up to 10 years for offenders.

Rejecting the opposition demand of sending the bill to Parliamentary Standing Committee for scrutiny, he said, “when we are taking steps, don’t develop cold feet. For last 11 months, you have been asking what steps are you taking. When I took steps, do walk the talk and support the bill and drop the demand of sending it to Standing Committee.” .

New Delhi, May 2 (PTI) Firing yet another salvo at Narendra Modi government, Rahul Gandhi today claimed it had diluted provisions of Real Estate Regulatory Authority Bill making the legislation pro-builders from being pro-buyers.

After meeting several NCR flat buyers today, the Congress Vice President, who has been attacking the Centre over land bill issue and the plight of farmers, said that he had learnt that it is not just farmers and tribals but also the middle class people that are “suppressed” on matters related to land.

Assuring homebuyers that he would stand by them, Gandhi said that it was due to lack of transparency, the buyers were left in a quandary.

“They are told that you will get the flat on a particular day but for years they don’t get the flat. They are told the super duper area of the flat would be so much but what is delivered is different,” he said.

He said that someone was promised that the flat will have a good view, but a few months after the flat was delivered, another building came up and the view was blocked.

He said the government was trying to destroy the Bill which Congress led UPA had brought to regulate the real estate sector.

“Main dilution is that there was clear transparency. The carpet area that you sign is what would be given. They have diluted and from pro-buyer, made it pro-builder,” he said.

Attacking the government, he said, “What it is doing against farmers and tribals, it is also doing against the middle class”.

“I have assured them that the way I stand with farmers and tribals I stand with them also,” he told reporters.

Mumbai, Apr 29 (PTI) Shiv Sena’s Trimbak Tupe was today elected Aurangabad Mayor and BJP’s Pramod Rathod deputy mayor, with the ruling alliance in Maharashtra reaching a power sharing formula in the largest civic body in Marathwada.

BJP, which had put up a candidate for the mayoral poll after initial talks between the two parties did not yield a ‘satisfactory’ solution for power sharing, pulled out of the mayoral race.

Tupe bagged 71 votes in the house of 113 members, defeating dalit corporator Gangadhar Dhage of MIM, who polled 26 votes. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which has 5 corporators in the civic body, backed Tupe.Congress candidate Afsar Khan got 13 votes.

Tupe, who became the 20th Mayor of Aurangabad, said his priorities will be to provide clean water, good roads and improve sanitation in the city.

Rathod who join BJP three months, got 70 votes for the deputy mayor’s post, defeating MIM’s Feroz Khan who secured 26 votes. Congress candidate Bhausaheb Jagtap got 13 votes.

BJP MLA and party’s in-charge for municipal polls in Aurangabad Atul Save said BJP decided to withdraw its nominee Raju Shinde from the mayoral race “in the larger social interest”.

There were reports that both the parties have reached an understanding on power sharing in the civic body.

Sena has 29 and BJP 22 corporators in the Aurangabad civic body.