Country gets first Lokpal after 50 years

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Lokpal story with exclusive details.

Country gets first Lokpal after 50 years

Justice PC Ghose to be First Lokpal,

Justice Abhilasha Kumari, Archana Ramasundaram, others recommended Maharashtra Chief Secretary also under consideration Justice Bobde part of Selection Committee

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, March 17

Pinaki Chandra Ghose, a former judge of the Supreme Court, will be country's first Lokpal who will hold the post of Chairman.

Apart from justice Ghose, the Selection Committee headed by the Prime Minister, also cleared the names of justice Abhilasha Kumari, a former chief justice of the Manipur high court, Archana Ramasundaram, a former Director-General of Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB) and a few others.

Highly placed sources say that the selection committee also considered the name of Dinesh Kumar Jain, Chief Secretary of the Maharashtra government who is currently on extension. It is not immediately known if his name was cleared for the post of Lokpal.

Under the Lokpal Act, the anti-corruption ombudsman will consist of a chairperson and eight members, of which 50% will be judicial members, 50% members of Lokpal shall be from SC/ST/OBCs, minorities and women.

Justice Ghose had convicted J Jayalalithaa's aide Sasikala in a corruption case. Interestingly, Justice Abhilasha Kumari is a daughter of former Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. She had served as a judge of the Gujrat high court when Modi was Chief Minister. It was in 2018 when she was made Chief Justice of the Manipur high court and retired after serving for a month only. 

Archana Ramasundaram is the first ever woman chief of any central armed police force and had retired from service in 2017.

A senior bureaucrat from Haryana who was once considered close to Chautalas also figured in the list of those probables.

With the creation of Lokpal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi fulfilled his commitment to give country its first Lokpal which is empowered to inquire into corruption in high places including the office of the PM.

Interestingly, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi did not attend Friday's meeting that continued late in the night. Instead, he sent Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde, a judge of the Supreme Court. Justice Bobde will is the next CJI in line after Justice Gogoi. Justice Bobde is also serving as the Chancellor of Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai and Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur.

Besides, PM and Justice Bobde, Speaker of the Lok Sabha Sumitra Mahajan, Mallikarjun Kharge and eminent jurist Mukul Rohtagi are the members. Kharge didn't attend the meeting. The Selection Committee strictly went by the panel of 20 names recommended by the Search Committee. Justice A K Sikri who is a retired judge of the Supreme Court was disinterested in the post, say sources.

Lokpal's jurisdiction will cover all categories of public servants. All entities (NGOs) receiving donations from foreign source in the context of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) in excess of Rs 10 lakh per year are under the jurisdiction of Lokpal.

Lokpal will have power of superintendence and direction over any central investigation agency including CBI for cases referred to them by the ombudsman.

Ends 

PM asks millions to become “Chowkidar” like him

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

PM asks millions to become “Chowkidar” like him

Counters Rahul's “Chowkidar Chore Hai jibe” in video 

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, March 16

Six month after Congress president Rahul Gandhi's tireless jibe at the Prime Minister “Chowkidar Chor Hai,” referring to the Rafale deal, Narendra Modi came out with a counter - ‘Main Bhi Chowkidar’.

PM Modi posted a video on his Twitter account today signalling  beginning of BJP's poll campaign to take the wind out of Rahul Gandhi's personal attack. Though the PM personally never replied to Rahul Gandhi's jibe in public and spoke on the Rafale deal, his senior ministers countered attack on Modi. But today, the PM decided to directly take on Rahul Gandhi calling upon party workers across the country with the tag line ‘Mein Bhi Chowkidar”. He will administer the oath to BJP workers on his NaMo app on March 31 at 6 pm. 

In a way, Modi re-defined the word ‘Chowkidar’ by saying in the 3 minute 45 seconds video, “everyone who is fighting corruption, dirt and social evils is a ‘chowkidar’ along with him.

The PM wrote on Twitter, "Your Chowkidar is standing firm & serving the nation. But, I am not alone. Everyone who is fighting corruption, dirt, social evils is a Chowkidar. Everyone working hard for the progress of India is a Chowkidar. Today, every Indian is saying-#MainBhiChowkidar."

"Everyone working hard for the progress of India is a Chowkidar. Today, every Indian is saying-#MainBhiChowkidar”

Rahul often use the slogan “Gali gali mein shor hai, Hindustan ka chowkidar chor hai (There is noise everywhere, the country’s guard is a thief),” against Modi.

BJP leader Piyush Goyal also took his Twitter account to promote the campaign ‘Main Bhi Chowkidar’.

The 225 second long video begins with the PM addressing the people saying, “Your chowkidar is absolutely alert”. The video then moves into a song with visuals of people from across the length and breadth of the country, singing “main bhi chowkidar hun” as part of the chorus of the song.

Party sources say that this new campaign has been initiated after taking extensive feedback.

Why Modi is quiet ?

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

special report 

Why Modi is quiet ?

Inauspicious 8 day Holashtak makes Modi go silent

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, March 14

Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had been on campaigning across the country and inaugurated as many as 157 projects between February 8 and March 10 has suddenly gone into a shell.

Its five days since the announcement of poll dates by the Election Commission of India but Modi has maintained a studied silence. Except for tweeting once in a while, he has not uttered a single word.

Though Model Code of Conduct has been set in motion on March 11, it has not prevented the government to issue fresh Ordinances and officers being appointed in key positions. The government maintains that it has not taken any policy decision and Cabinet took routine decisions. The Prime Minister who is known for addressing functions through video conference, has not done it during the last five days.

Sources say one of the reasons for Modi going into the shell is beginning of “Holashtkat” period.

Holashtak is considered inauspicious and 8 days period prior to Holi is considered a curse period. The Holi festival is on March 21. Therefore, Modi is unlikely to address any major public function unless decided otherwise.

Sources in the Prime Minister's Office say that the PM is extremely busy in political work and working in close coordination with senior party functionaries including Amit Shah, Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh and other members of the Parliamentary board.

These sources say that before entering the campaign arena, the PM wants every thing to fall in place beginning with finalization of alliances with regional parties. Till the time of writing this report, the BJP completed alliances with 36 parties. Now the work is going on with the party's manifesto for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and discussions are underway with Rajnath Singh. Arun Jaitley who is incharge of the campaign strategy has been meeting him to re-work tagline and campaign blitz. Since Modi is a perfectionist and goes into small details, he is devoting a lot of time himself in this regard. He has been holding hectic parleys with senior party leaders at his 7 Lok Nayak Marg and giving final touches to full throated poll campaign.

The BJP's parliamentary board is also slated to meet after Holi though some say it may meet on March 16-17 to clear some names for seats falling in the phase-I and phase-II so that candidates can mingle with their constituencts on the Holi day.

Ends 

BJP struggling with Sena, JD (U) to identify LS seats

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

exclusive 

BJP struggling with Sena, JD (U) to identify LS seats

BJP contesting 22 in Maharashtra and 17 in Bihar

Parliamentary board to meet on March15-16

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, March 13

The BJP high command is working on a war footing basis with Shiv Sena and Janata Dal (U) in Maharashtra and Bihar respectively to identify Lok Sabha seats electoral partners will contest.

The BJP has agreed to contest 22 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra leaving 26 for Shiv Sena. But these 22 seats have not been identified as yet and internal discussions have not been completed as yet. Similarly, in Bihar the BJP will forego its claim on five Lok Sabha seat to keep Nitish Kumar in good humour. The BJP has 22 sitting MPs from Bihar in Lok Sabha. The JD (U) will also contest 17 seats while Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP will contest remaining 6 seats. The seats in Bihar have not been identified so far.

The BJP high command’s discussions with JD (U) have almost been completed and a formal announcement is possible anytime tomorrow. But Maharashtra is still causing problems despite BJP conceding extra space to Shiv Sena. The BJP is also up set that despite conceding more seats, the Sena’s official organ continues to criticize the Modi government policies.

Highly placed sources in the BJP say that BJP’s Parliamentary Board will meet on March 15-16 to announce party candidates for 91 seats in Phase-I and 97 seats in Phase-II. Maharashtra’s 7 seats are in phase-I and 10 in Phase-II. The BJP wants to finalise seat allocation with Sena before its board meets. Similarly, Bihar’s 9 seats are in Phase-I and phase-II.

Ends 

BJP welcomes Celebrities, But with a rider

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Special report

BJP welcomes Celebrities, But with a rider

Film Stars, Cricketers seeking tickets

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, March 13

BJP high command is not very enthused towards the idea of fielding a large number of celebrities from cricket, cinema, art etc in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.

Contrary to reports appearing in a section of the media that BJP is contemplating to field former cricketers Virendrer Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sunny Deol and others, the BJP won't like to field a celebrity merely because of a name.

A member of BJP parliamentary board said on the condition of anonymity, “We are not averse to induct talent from these fields. We are talking to couple of them who have shown interest. But our experience has been that these celebrities become a more of a liability than asset.”

Except for Hema Malini and Shatrughan Sinha hardly anyone stayed and worked sincerely for the party. Lately, even Sinha chose to become a rebel after serving the party for 28 long years.

Secondly, after the exit of celebrities, Kirti Azad, Sinha and Navjot Singh Sidhu, the BJP leadership is cautious in picking such faces on a large scale. Instead of inducting such celebrities from party's strong states, the BJP would like to these celebrities belonging to Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, West Bengal and North Eastern states. The BJP wants to expand in these states and inducted Suresh Babu, Mary Kom into Rajya Sabha. The leadership is not very enthused in bringing in such stars in states where it has a formidable presence like Delhi, Bihar, UP, Gujrat, etc. Of course, the party brought in Paresh Rawal (Gujrat) and Rajya Vardhan Rathore (Rajasthan) in 2014.

Gambhir and Virender Sehwag have been keen to contest but they didn't get involved in the political or social work. The BJP wanted film star Akshay Kumar to join. But he will take his own time. Akshay Khanna wants to contest Gurdaspur seat which was represented by his late father. , Mohanlal and Sunney Deol are keen. But last word on them is yet to written. The names of Madhuri Dixit and Mohan Lal are being mentioned from Mumbai/Pune and Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituencies respectively.

In June last year, BJP chief Amit Shah had met the actor at her residence in Mumbai and Kapil Dev during his party's 'Sampark for Samarthan' (Contact for Support) program and briefed them on the achievements of the Narendra Modi government.

Therefore, a fine balance is required. But Gambhir won't be fielded from New Delhi, a seat held by Meenakshi Lekhi who is groomed to play more important role.

Ends

Pulwama Terror attack

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Pulwama Terror attack

PM Modi : Sacrifices Shall Not Go In Vain"

Stunned Govt goes into a huddle

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Feb 14

After a new chapter was written in the history of terror attacks in Jammu & Kashmir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned that “the sacrifices shall Not Go In Vain.”

A stunned government went into a huddle after reports of 30 CRPF Jawans were martyred in an unprecedented Fidayeen attack. Such an attack had not taken place in the troubled state during the past 30 years.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh rushed back to the Capital from Lucknow and went into a huddle with top security officers. Another round will be held in the Prime Minister's Office to review the alarming situation. Rajnath Singh also spoke to the DG, CRPF R R Bhatnagar over the telephone and took stock of the situation.

The National Security Adviser Ajit Doval spoke to Vijay Kumar, Security Adviser to the Jammu & kashmir governor.

What shocked the government was the timing of the attack when the situation in the Valley was looking under control. The year 2018 had been rather successful with only 26 attacks, just half than in 2017.

But it was clear from the PM's statement on twitter which was uploaded three hours after the attack. The PM said, "Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly."

The sacrifices won't go in vain indicates that the Modi government will come down on the terror groups and their patrons with a heavy hand sooner than expected.

Rajnath Singh is likely to visit Srinagar tomorrow and Cabinet Committee on Security will meet shortly too, say sources.

Vijay Kumar conveyed to the NSA that there was “no specific and actionable intelligence” about the incident.

Ends

Modi extends tenure of three favourites

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Modi extends tenure of three favourites

Kulbe to stay in PMO

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, March 11

Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to extend the tenure of three senior officers including powerful Secretary in the PMO Bhaskar Chandra Kulbe.

It transpires that Kulbe who is an IAS officer of West Bengal Cadre and posted in the PMO as Secretary, has been given an extension for a period of six months. Kulbe is due to retire on March 31, 2019. But Modi decided to retain him at least six months keeping in view the announcement of General Elections.

Kulbe is considered PM's favourite officers handling key areas. In the event of Modi returning to power, Kulbe is bound to stay put like P K Mishra Deputy Principal Secretary and NSA Ajit Doval. Insiders in the PMO say that principal secretary Nripendra Mishra may make room for the junior Mishra in the new dispensation.

Parmeswaran Iyer who took voluntary retirement from the IAS long time ago and brought on contract basis as full secretary to the government of India in the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation three years ago, has also been given an extension for a period of one year. He was to superannuate on April 30.

Sitanshu Ranjan Kar, principal DG, Press Information Bureau, has also been given six months extension beyond March 31.

Only last Sunday, the PM undertook a major reshuffle of secretaries in the government affecting as many as 11 departments. Ms Rajni Sekhri Sibal (IAS:1986:Haryana) became the first Secretary of Department of Fisheries recently carved from the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries specially created by the PM.

Ends 

Abhinandan Back, Its Azhar's turn now

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Abhinandan Back, Its Azhar's turn now

Modi Mounts Pressure on Imran to act

India Isolating Pakistan globally

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, March 1

With Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman back in the country, India has launched a three-pronged attack on Pakistan to ensure that Azhar Masood is arrested and prosecuted for terror attacks in India. Since Azhar Masood has already owned up responsibility for the killing of 40 CRPF jawans in Pulwaha in J&K on February 14, Prime Minister Modi has seized this opportunity to force Pakistan to act.

If he persuaded France to move the resolution in UN Security Council to declare Azhar Masood as global terrorist with the support of UK & USA, efforts are on to persuade China not to veto it this time when it comes up in the next 10 working days. India has conveyed to China that it has withstood pressures from even Sangh Parivar to shun Chinese goods and ban Huawei like the USA has done.

It was a feather in Modi's cap that Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) stood firm in inviting India ignoring threat from Pakistan to boycott. Sushma Swaraj won hearts of 47 countries by her passionate speech and informed them India has 18.5 crores Muslim brothers and sisters who are microcosm of the diversity in India. Of course, she urged the OIC to “act together and stand together to combat global terrorism” without naming Pakistan.

India is also working hard with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to bring Pakistan in the ‘grey list’ from June at its next meeting. Pakistan is already on the watch list.

Highly placed sources in the government say that

India is set to reject Pakistan PM Imran Khan's offer for a joint probe into Pulwama attacks. India has conveyed to the world that nothing came out after it allowed Paki investigators to visit Pathankot airbase after the attack. India has made it clear that intelligence dossiers against those responsible for Pulwama and their perpetrators have already been handed over to Pakistan and shared the same with world powers. The Pakistan Minister has already said that Azhar Masood is in Pakistan. Therefore, its for Pakistan to act against him immediately if it wants peace process to begin. In any case, this being the election time, the ruling establishment in India would not lower its guard.

Ends 

PMO Missive to Minister: Clear all projects by March 8

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

A Lokmat Exclusive report

PMO Missive to Minister: Clear all projects by March 8

EC may issue Poll notification on Saturday ?

New Delhi, March 4

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has directed all the ministries and departments to complete launching of all pending project by March 8.

Since the Election Commission of India is likely to issue notification for the General Elections on March 9, the PMO has said that all work to inaugurate projects be completed by March 8. With the Model Code of Conduct coming into force, the foundation stone for any project cannot be laid and no project be inaugurated or new scheme launched. Therefore, the PMO has asked the ministries to launch all projects as announced. In fact, the Prime Minister himself has a tight schedule until March 8 traveling across the country launching numerous projects. Interestingly, the PM is launching a a series of projects wherever he is going these days.For example, he launched 18 projects at Amethi yesterday at one function.

The emphasis is particularly on the infrastructure ministries like Road Transport, Railways, Coal, Power, Communication & IT, Petroleum, Science & Technology, Steel, Mines, Textiles, Food processing, Health and Defence. The ministries under Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, R K Singh (Power) are in particular focus. It is largely because of this very reason that all the ministers are concerned are traveling state after state launching projects. In fact, the PM has also said that the minister concerned need not be present for the inauguration of a project with him and devote time to launch projects in other states. For example, Piyush Goyal is launching another project in Tamil Nadu today while the PM is launching a project in Gujrat relating to his ministry.

The PM's Project Monitoring Group (PMG) which monitors all pending infrastructure projects has resolved 3100 projects involving investment of Rs 10.76 lakh crores. The PMG was set up in September 2015.

The ministries have also been directed to ensure that all the promises laid down in the BJP's 2014 Lok Sabha poll manifesto are implemented. These ministries have been told to send a point-wise performance report as listed in the manifesto. The non-infrastructure ministries such as HRD, Commerce, Social Justice & Empowerment, Women & Child Development, Environment and others have been told to send the completion report of aims and objects by March 8.

For example, the HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar has completed the process of appointments of all the chancellors and vice chancellors of universities and cleared his desk. Even the New Education Policy as promised in the party manifesto is ready for release. But it is being vetted again and may be deferred until the next Lok Sabha poll process is complete.

Modi is launching perhaps the last scheme of his government - Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan Yojana (PM-SYM) on his two-day visit to Gujarat giving minimum wages to workers.

Ends 

Govt In A Huddle After Pak intrusion

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Govt In A Huddle After Pak intrusion

Modi's dilemma: To escalate or deescalate

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Feb 27

Prime Minister Narendra Modi rushed from Vigyan Bhawan leaving a program mid-way to his South Block office immediately after the message was passed on to him that Pakistan has intruded into the Indian air space.

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval who was coordinating Surgical strike-II and security operations along with top army commanders was already in toe to brief the PM and chalk out next course of action.

But one kilometer away, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who is a member of the Cabinet Committee of Security (CCS) had no clue of the Paki action and India's counter attack. He was sitting with two other Union Ministers- Nitin Gadkari and Dharmendra Pradhan- and regaling country's befitting reply to Pakistan at the DRDO building.

Amid clapping, Jaitley said, “I remember when US Navy Seals (commandos) went to Abbottabad to kill (Al-Qaeda chief) Osama bin Laden, then why can't India? This used to be only an imagination, a wish, a frustration and disappointment. But it's possible today.”

but within minutes, he also rushed to get first hand information as to what exactly had happened on the borders as the news surfaced that three Pak jets intruded and attack was repulsed. In the process, one PAF F-16 fighter jet was shot down by Indian air defence forces in Rajouri sector of Jammu region and one Indian MIG also crashed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri sector.

Then emerged the bad news that one MIG pilot had been captured by the Pak forces who had ejected. The PM was busy until late in the night holding parleys with security and military establishment and launching diplomatic offensive against Pakistan.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj who is in Beijing succeeded in her effort to ensure a joint statement from Russia and China that those “committing, orchestrating, inciting or supporting terrorist acts” must be held accountable. Though the statement did not name Pakistan. But the message was loud and clear.

Sensing the global pressure, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan went on television in the evening and called for a dialogue. For the first time, Imran Khan called Pulwama attack a tragedy and shared the pain of the victims. He offered a joint probe into Pulwama attacks and said “it is not in Pakistan's interest that our soil is used against any country.”

But Modi government is weighing various options in the given situation. The top priority for India is to get back the IAF pilot from Pakistan and also seek the custody of Azhar Masood responsible for the Pulwaha attacks. It is felt that India may seek the world powers that Azhar Masood be located first since he has claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack and be extradited.

Modi is in no mood to accept the Pakistan's offer for a dialogue or truce after today's action. He wants to have a broad-base discussion within the government before further military action.

Ends