Lucknow: Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh today said the party vice president Rahul Gandhi, who is currently on a sabbatical, will take part in the agitational programme on Land Acquisition Bill on April 19.

“The issue concerning the land acquisition is not temporary and I believe when Rahul Gandhi returns he will take part in the April 19 Kisan andolan,” Ramesh said here.

Ramesh said he was sure that later an agitation will be launched all over the country in favour of farmers under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi.

Rahul is on a sabbatical for more than a month and is expected to be back within two weeks. “The view of the party is that till the 2013 legislation is not implemented, the Opposition to the present format will continue both in and outside the Parliament,” he said.

“SP, BSP, CPI(M), CPI and other parties are with the Congress on this issue,” he added.

Earlier, Congress leader Digvijay Singh yesterday had said that Rahul Gandhi will address Kisan Rally of the party on April 19.

Patna: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad on Sunday said the merger of six Janata Parivar parties to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has already “happened” and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav would make a formal announcement. “The merger of six Janata Parivar parties has already happened.
It’s final and formal announcement will be done by Mulayam Singh Yadav. We all will come under one flag and one symbol to counter the BJP which has cheated the country,” Prasad said. The RJD chief was speaking to media persons after the day-long national executive meeting of his party got over at a posh hotel in the state capital. Over 250 representatives from 21 states, including leaders like Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Abdul

Bari Siddiqui, MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, Bihar RJD president Ram Chandra Purve and others were present on the occasion. Speaking further on the merger, Prasad said there should be no doubts regarding the merger henceforth and indicated that other “secular” parties may too be invited to join the new entity that emerges out of it. “Merger means merger. There should be no doubts about it. Only one symbol and not other shall remain because different symbols will create confusion among the public.

We will also ask other secular parties to join the new party to combat communalism,” he added. The six Janata Parivar parties which are in the process of merging together to taken on BJP and its allied parties, are RJD, SP, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar led Janata Dal (United), former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda led Janata Dal (Secular), Om Prakash Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Samajwadi Janata Party (SJP).

New Delhi: JD(U) president Sharad Yadav on Saturday attacked the NDA government over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks on addressing farmers’ woes, alleging that they are only “selling dreams” and have “no policy or programme”

Policy is more important than intention. All governments have an intention to do public good. The issue is that whether the government has some policy and programmes to fulfill it not. This government has no road map, no policy and programme. Mere intention will not do any good to farmers,” Yadav told PTI.

He was reacting to the Prime Minister’s remarks yesterday attacking opposition for “spreading lies” that the government was working against the interests of the farming community.

Facing attack over the new Land Acquisition Bill, Modi had contended that he had lived among the farmers and he could understand their plight and was working with “good intention” to address their woes.

The Prime Minister said this yesterday speaking at a public meeting in Bengaluru.

Retorting, Yadav said,”what is the worth of intention if it is not backed by concrete policy and programmes. Results when come only when policy and intent both combine. This government completely lacks on policy front. The government had promised to create two crores of employment. It sold many such dreams. But none of them were fulfilled.”

He said that instead of talking of “intent alone”, the government should come out with a clear road map and spell out is policy prescription to remove poverty, create employment and provide succour to farmers.

Last month, Yadav coordinated a march of odd a dozen opposition parties from Parliament to President House against the new land law alleging that the NDA government’s measure was “anti farmer and pro corporate”.

The JD-U President was earlier the NDA convenor when his party and BJP were together before parting ways in June 2013 over Modi’s elevation within his party before Lok Sabha polls.

PTI

Bengaluru, Apr 4 (PTI) Marginalised BJP veteran L K Advani did not address the Nation Executive meeting, a permanent feature in such meets, reflecting the current power equation in the ruling party.

There was no word from the party on why he did not address the meeting which concluded today but there was speculation that he was not keen on it as he was asked to get the speech vetted due to apprehension in the top rungs that he may strike a jarring note.

Advani, who has seen a gradual marginalisation in the party, was present during the two-day conclave. He had skipped attending the Goa meet in 2013 in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi was anointed the campaign committee head.

“Internal decision-making is something we don’t discuss with the media. How we settle the programme of the party, I am sure even in the world of RTI and transparency, we can’t share it with you,” senior party leader and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on being asked for the reasons behind Advani not addressing the meet.

Playing down the issue during his briefing after the national executive meeting concluded, he said Advani was a senior leader and “he can, anytime he wishes, guide the party in any forum”.

The Delhi Chief Minister will also lead a march to the Parliament on April 22.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will address an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) rally against the BJP’s land acquisition bill at Jantar Mantar and will also lead a march to Parliament on April 22.

This will be the first protest march undertaken by Mr. Kejriwal in his second stint as Delhi Chief Minister. He had earlier made a brief appearance alongside his one-time mentor Anna Hazare during the latter’s rally against the NDA government’s proposed amendment on land bill.

“It has been decided that he will address the rally and might also lead a march to Parliament with other senior party leaders. The finer details are still being worked out,” a party spokesman said on Friday.

In a resolution passed by the party’s National Council on March 28, AAP had decided to hold a protest against the Bill outside Parliament on April 22 and had formed a committee to address the issue.

Hajipur(Bihar), Apr 1 (PTI) Union Minister Giriraj Singh has again kicked up a major row with racist remarks, wondering if Congress would have accepted Sonia Gandhi’s leadership if she was not white-skinned, a statement condemned by the party which asked the Prime Minister to dismiss him and apologise to the nation.

“Had Rajiv Gandhi married a Nigerian woman and if she was not a white-skinned woman, would the Congress have then accepted her leadership?,” he told journalists yesterday.

Various women leaders also attacked Singh, who is minister of state for micro, small and medium enterprises, saying it reflected his racial mindset and attitude towards women.

The Minister, who had courted controversies in the past with remarks during Lok Sabha elections like people opposed to Narendra Modi can go to Pakistan, also mocked Rahul Gandhi’s absence from the political scene and likened it to the “missing Malaysian airliner”.

“Imagine a situation, if Congress was in power instead of us and had Rahul been the Prime Minister, and if for some reason, the PM had disappeared for more than 47 days.

“Absence of Congress Vice President is similar to that of the missing Malaysian airliner that still has not been located. The same way the Congress leader was not present in the budget session. No one in Congress is ready to speak. This is unfortunate for the Congress and a joke for the country,” he said.

When asked about his controversial comments, Singh, who was in Delhi today, refused to comment. As his remarks snowballed into a major controversy, the BJP leader said if his comments have hurt Gandhi, he regretted them.

“If Soniaji and Rahulji have been hurt by my remarks, I express my regret,” he said even as he maintained that his remarks were “off the record” and suggested that media was blowing it out of proportion.

But a furious Congress was unrelenting in its attack.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi must dismiss such a minister and apologise to the nation, an AICC statement said.

The statement, issued by Randeep Singh Surjewala, Incharge Communications of AICC, said the party “strongly deprecates and condemns the intemperate and distasteful remarks…bordering on insanity”.

“It appears that continuous quest to appease Prime Minister has made him lose his balance. Such remarks are reflective of lack of moral fibre in BJP and its cadre,” the party said.

“I think Prime Minister Narendra Modi has kept him in the cabinet only to make such statements and probably BJP does not have a better leader for Bihar,” senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh said.

Another Congress leader Manish Tewari said it was for Modi to reflect as to what kind of “elements and bizarre creatures” are there in his government. .

PATNA, BIHAR: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Saturday that there was no “cloud of uncertainty” over the merger of old Janata Parivar splinter groups and that it was on track.

“The merger vehicle of Janata Parivar is on track and the vehicle is on the run,” Mr Kumar told reporters after a conclave on skill development in Patna.

“I think the merger will not take much time,” he said.

“The date of the next meeting regarding the merger will be decided soon in which everything will become clear,” Mr Kumar said.

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Mr Kumar, during his recent stay in Delhi, had met Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav, who has been authorised to decide modalities for the merger of the Janata Parivar. RJD chief Lalu Prasad and INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala are in a bid to speed up the process.

“On March 27, I, Lalu Prasad, Sharad Yadav, and Mulayam Singh Yadav held detailed talks on merger issue,” Mr Kumar, who is playing a significant role in the amalgam exercise, said.

The coming together of splinter parties of the old Janata Parivar before Assembly poll in Bihar later this year would be a decisive factor to give BJP a strong challenge.

Asked about infighting within the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Mr Kumar, who had a lucheon meeting with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal yesterday, exuded confidence that things would be sorted out mutually by them.

On a question on his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr Kumar said he had a talk with the Prime Minister on needs for development of the state.

“The discussion was good. The Prime Minister heard everything and promised to look into them,” said Mr Kumar.

Mr Kumar said he acquainted the Prime Minister with the “loss” that Bihar would accrue due to recommendations of 14th Finance Commission and demanded to compensate it.

Mr Kumar also said that he put forward the demand for giving special category status to Bihar to spur its industrial growth.

The chief minister of Bihar said he requested the Prime Minister to make special financial assistance available to Bihar at the earliest.

Terming as “unconstitutional and illegal” AAP’s National Council meeting where they were ousted from a key panel, dissidents Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan today did not rule out taking legal recourse against their removal.

Attacking Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for his “dictatorial” tendencies and for “ruthlessly stifling” voices of dissent, Bhushan told reporters after the meeting that all options were open to them to challenge the decision.

It is true that we can move the court, Election Commission or call another meeting of the NC. All options are open,” he said.

Providing “inside details” of the meet, which witnessed turbulent scenes, the two leaders accused Kejriwal of instigating the NC members against the dissident leaders in an “orchestrated performance” and of inaction when certain members were being heckled.
They alleged that Kejriwal during his speech threatened to resign if they were not removed from the national executive.

“He gave a dramatic speech for around one hour and it was full of allegations against us. He threatened to resign if we were not removed. He also accused Shanti Bhushan of anti-party activities without taking his name. Then 10 people including MLAs like Kapil Mishra stood up and started shouting slogans calling us traitors. The drama went on for 5-7 minutes during which he (Kejriwal) stood like a statue,” Yadav said.

Yadav said that the party convenor left soon after the speech, citing “official engagements” after making Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai the chairman of the meet. Within seconds Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia “moved the resolution” to remove them.

“Sisodia said 167 members have moved the resolution and voting on that began without even getting it seconded by any other person. We asked Rai to allow a debate and to make arrangements for secret vote, but he did not react,” he said.

Yadav pointed out the “irony” of a party, “that has born out of the Jan Lokpal movement”, not allowing its internal Lokpal L Ramdas inside the meeting citing possibilities of “confrontation”.

Bhushan, who was particularly aggressive during the press conference, slammed the “hooliganism” saying that he had an “inkling” that the meeting was going to be “stage-managed” going by the “activities” of the last three days.

“Every MLA was directed to bring 50 people to the meeting. They engaged in hooliganism and those who tried to stop were booted out. Is this why we made the party through out blood and sweat? This is a grave hour of crisis for the party,” the senior lawyer said.