Fly on the wall - Emergence of a New Amit Shah & What next for Chirag ?

Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Emergence of a New Amit Shah 

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is known for talking straight without mincing words. Lately, he was out of action for almost three months after being hit by Covid and related health issues. His absence was felt by many because the Prime Minister is not known for opening up. Even the BJP Chief J P Nadda prefers to keep his counsel and shun the media. There is no one in the ruling establishment who carries authority to speak on thorny issues. After former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was made incharge of Bihar poll, powerful BJP general secretary Bhupendra Yadav also decided to maintain a low-profile. Defense Minister Rajnath Singh is coming out of his cocoon but confines himself to the task assigned and speaks on Defense related issues only. There is none in the hierarchy who commands authority. It was at this juncture that Amit Shah broke his silence and dwelt on many issues. But this was a different Amit Shah as he was not full of fire & fury. Rather, he maintained a completely low-profile. Yet, he put the record straight and disapproved many a things that the hardliners in the Parivar were doing; be it Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari’s letter to CM Uddhav Thackeray or linking of drug cartel probe to only Bollywood, media trial in the Sushant Singh Rajput case, Tanishq advertisement on communal harmony and what not. He was telling clearly that neither the Centre nor he per se, had any hand in all that had happened during the past three months. In a way, he was rather clarifying that neither he and nor the party should be blamed for it or if it had hurt anybody. Whether he was trying to build bridges with Shiv Sena, could be anybody’s guess. But he clearly told Bollywood that he doesn’t approve of what the Narcotics Control Bureau had done or what the Paparazzi in TV channels were doing despite their political affiliations. Certainly, it’s a new Amit Shah not the one the country knew so far. (Click here to read original article)

Putting a cart before the Horse

There is considerable surprise in the medical fraternity as to why a hype is being created over

Coronavirus vaccine. A series of meetings are being held at the highest level lately and all concerned including states have been told to draw up detailed plans how the vaccine will be distributed and who will be vaccinated first. A list of roughly two crores priority people have already been drawn up. Remember the days when the Railway Ministry converted 20000 coaches into Covid beds without much planning which are still lying idle or ICMR setting August 15 deadline for Covid vaccine! Barring China, no country is claiming any vaccine at least until April 2021. The USA & Europe have rejected India’s claim to waive off Intellectual Property Right (IPR) for vaccines at the WTO. Of course, some companies including Indian ventures are working on antibody drugs instead which can give relief for six months or so. India has not paid a penny for any upfront payment to procure vaccines to any global company. But plans are being drawn up to get vaccines distribution. Experts say “It’s like putting a cart before the horse”.

What next for Chirag ?

All eyes are set on the Prime Minister who will begin his mega Bihar poll campaign on October 23 as to what he will say about Chirag Paswan. Though BJP’s Bihar unit called Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) as “vote katua”, Devendra Fadnavis, incharge of Bihar, avoided any such adjectives. Even Amit Shah ducked the question saying, “We will see after the elections.” The Janata Dal (U) is pressing BJP leadership hard to throw LJP out of the NDA at the national level right away and refusing to give Rajya Sabha to LJP fell vacant after Ram Vilas Paswan’s death. It seems NDA is somewhat on a weak wicket in Bihar.

Atmanirbhar Bharat, what a pity 

The government banned 101 items for being imported in the defense sector with big fanfare claiming these will be manufactured in India as part of Atmanirbhar Bharat. When the list was finally uploaded by the Defense ministry on its website, there was amusement. Why ? It turned out that more than 40 items were never imported for years. The ministry banned the Hull-mounted Sonar even though DRDO's HUMSA and USHUS sonar suits are mega successes already. In another bizarre move, the ministry canceled tenders of more than a dozen companies who had started their manufacturing units to meet defense needs only. Now these companies have been left high & dry and shut down. This was done after a series of negotiations for the supply of ammunition since 2016.

Good days for Rajnath Singh return, Finally

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Good days for Rajnath Singh return, Finally

PM seeks his counsel more often now

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Oct 5

The clout of the Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh is rising in the Modi Establishment lately. Though he conrinues to be No 2 in the Mofi government. But he took somewhat a political hit when he was shifted from Home ministry to Defence to make room for Modi's Man-Friday Amit Shah. Even in the Modi.1 he always had an uneasy situation as the PM relied more on then then Finance Minister late Arun Jaitley, BJP president Amit Shah and even Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari.

But times have changed and the first clue came on October 2 when the PM visited the Central Hall of Parliament to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi and Late Lal Bahadur Sashtri. Immediately after the brief ceremony, the PM took Rajnath Singh to his chamber and closeted with him for more than 30 minutes. This is reported to be the third one-to-one meet between them. Next day after the October 2 meeting, Rajnath Singh's most trusted lieutenant and spokesman of the BJP Sudhanshu Trivedi was nominated to the Rajya Sabha. Trivedi was waiting in the wings for almost six years to be nominated to the Rajya Sabha while all his juniors made it to the Upper House. Even this time, it was clear that UP unit was pushing for Laxmi Kant Vajpayee while supporters of Amit Shah wanted Manoj Sinha to be accommodated. Manoj Sinha had lost the Lok Sabha polls by a very narrow margin and Vajpayee was party's UP unit chief. But Trivedi made the cut after the 30-minute tete with the PM.

Trivedi's nomination surprised political watchers as he had been in virtual political wilderness. But finally, the Gods (read PM Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah) smiled on him and he was told over the telephone that BJP will send him to the RS from UP on October 3 night. The seat fell vacant after the demise of Arun Jaitley on August 24 due to prolonged illness. He will be in Rajya Sabha until 2022. Its a clear indication of rising clout of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. The PM has been regularly seeking his counsel as there is hardly senior leader after the demise of Manohar Parrikar, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj. Rajnath Singh being a very composed and mature leader and man of few words has gained in stature. Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari is there. But sometimes he opens his heart out and that causes problem. But Rajnath Singh has been measured in his public utterances. He had on the margins for rather too long.

Ends 

Why Modi gave Home to Amit Shah ?

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Why Modi gave Home to Amit Shah ?

Needed an Iron Man to discipline Police, Intelligence

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, May 31

The allocation of Home portfolio on debut to Amit Shah is a clear indication that the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi wanted an “Iron Hand” to deal with police administration and overhaul the security and intelligence apparatus.

Though Rajnath Singh is a veteran party leader and stationed in North Block for the past five years as Modi's number two. But he failed to make Delhi a role model in law & order and bring cohesiveness among the the various wings of the security apparatus. Rajnath Singh is a status-quoits with no-risk taking person and failed to crack the whip in the intelligence agencies and police organisations across the country. His coordination with NSA Ajit Doval was also lacking because he would not take any initiative, sources say.

In the first year of Modi government, there were reports of differences between the two also surfaced when the PM mentioned about the activities of his son holding meetings in five star hotels in Delhi. Though these reports were denied but Rajnath Singh became so cautious that he would not move a finger without asking the PMO thereby making Home Ministry a subservient. Modi showed great patience and waited until the second inning began and installed his right hand man in North Block.

Though there were reports that Amit Shah will get the Finance portfolio. But Modi alone knew what he wants to do and he installed Shah in Home at the first opportunity without disturbing the Number 2 position of Rajnath Singh in the government. This will be first time that Home Minister will not be Number 2 in the government. Historically, it had happened when Devi Lal was Deputy PM but with Agriculture Ministry portfolio.

Shah will now coordinate all activities of country's security including sensitive J&K, Intelligence Bureau, Narcotics Control Bureau and other agencies.

Though mistrust always existed between the PM and the HM since the time of Nehru-Patel and the “Vikas Purush & Loh Purush” analogy during the Atal-Advani days created a huge mistrust between the South Block & North Block then. But in the case of Modi and Shah, times, situations and age are different. Shah, 54 year old, is the product of Modi who will be 69 and looking for able successor himself. He has no family to nurture personal ambitions. Therefore, he in on hunt for talent and ideas and experimenting with new faces where first timers become Finance Minister in Nirmala Sitharaman.

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BJP may dump Citizenship Bill

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

A Lokmat Exclusive report

BJP may dump Citizenship Bill

Centre calls meeting of North-East CM s on Feb 11

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Feb 7

The BJP leadership seem to have decided buy peace in North East and all set to dump the controversial Citizenship Bill pending for passage in the Rajya Sabha.

The U-turn came today when the Modi government decided to hold a meeting of Chief Ministers of the North Eastern states on Monday. The Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, has called the meeting of North East CM s to find if there is any meeting ground. The Citizenship Bill has not been listed in the Rajya Sabha though parliament session began on January 31. The session is ending on February 13 and no bill will be taken up on the last day. A final decision will be taken on February 11 after the CM s' meeting. It simply means that there is only day February 12 when the bill can be passed. But considering the stiff opposition to the bill by almost all North Eastern states, there is every likelihood that the bill is buried.

Until the other day, the BJP leadership including the PM and party president Amit Shah were saying that the party will go ahead with the bill. But today, a high-level meeting of party leaders including top leaders from North east met Rajnath Singh and decided that CM s be invited to take a final call.

It must be borne in mind that the Rajya Sabha is yet to discuss the President’s address, interim budget presentation and three ordinances, including one on Triple Talaq, the Companies (Amendment) Bill and the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill.

Though the Lok Sabha passed Citizenship Bill amid protests, all the seven states of North East states are up in arm against it. The BJP leadership has been told that there are 25 Lok Sabha seats which are at stake and it would be better that a reasonable assurance is given by the Centre on the issue.

The Bill seeks to give citizenship to non-Muslims from 3 countries, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Assam has been simmering over the past few days ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi floated the proposal of the bringing the Citizenship Bill at a rally in the northeast state.

Ends 

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Nirav Modi plot getting murkier

Retired PNB official Shetty also untraceable

IT raids report against Nirav Modi gathering dust

Opposition considering JPC probe 

Nirav Modi reminds of Ketan Parekh scam

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Feb 16

Even as two senior ministers, Rajnath Singh and Prakash Javadekar, joined the ranks to attack the UPA government for the Rs 11400 crores scam, the Opposition parties are veering round to the view that a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) be constituted to probe the scam.

The reason for a JPC is that the PNB fraud case comes dangerously close to the 18 years old Ketan Parekh scam during the Vajpayee era. Ketan Parekh was the first conman to use the modus operandi of discounting a pay order deemed to be issued by one bank at another bank to raise money for trading in share market and jacking up prices astronomically. The end result was that when the Madhavpura Mercantile Cooperative Bank (MMCB) of Gujrat couldn't pay the discounted money to Bank of India, the whole scam was busted. The markets crashed and after the huge uproar, the then PM Vajpayee was forced to set up a JPC. Interestingly, Ketan Parekh had worked with securities' scamster Harshad Mehta of the 1990s era who incidentally was also a Gujrati and a shrewed businessman. He started trading in securities and took monies against those government securities to jack up share market.

Now 18 years later, another Gujrati, Nirav Modi, surfaced on the scene and used the same technology of “discounting” Letters of Understanding to con banks. The entire government machinery woke up from the slumber with PNB suspending 20 officials, Ministry of External Affairs suspending Nirav Modi's passport for one month, CBI and ED conducting extensive raids today.

But there is no trace of the key players; Nirav Modi, the king pin and the key PNB official who connived, former PNB Deputy Manager Gokulnath Shetty. Both are untraceable. Gokulnath shetty was posted at the on March 31, 2010 at PNB”s foreign exchange department at Brady House Mumbai. He retired in 2017 and three times his transfer orders were issued during 2013-17 as per the CVC guidelines that all key persons holding sensitive posts be shifted after three years. But each time, these orders were canceled due to “internal reasons”. K R Kamath (2009-2014), Gauri Shankar (Feb.15-Aug 15) and Usha Ananthsubramanian (Aug 15-May 17) who were at the helms of the PNB are also under the scanner of the CBI besides the current MD &CEO Sunil Mehta.

What has come as a shock to the investigators is Nirav Modi continued to thrive even after the massive raids by the Income Tax department on his premises and also of Mehul Chowksi in January 2017- two months after Demonetization. While the DRI and Customs had slapped a separate case against him of duty evasion which he paid, the IT department found Rs 4900 crores unexplained funds in his accounts. The DRI & IT had probed Nirav Modi and Chowksi several times between 2013-17 and each time he came out with flying colours. This was despite IT department finding 10 types of illegal modus operandi adopted by Nirav Modi and clearly stated that “sources and creditworthiness of these fund remained unexplained. The IT report also pointed out that international transactions to the tune of Rs 5100 crores had not reported by Modi. Incidentally, the IT report is based on the probe done by the DRI during 2013-14 which had first detected the custom duty evasion.

However, it is yet to be seen whether the ruling BJP will go in for the JPC probe demand.

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Fly on the Wall :Rajnath's wings clipped further

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Rajnath's wings clipped further

The Modi government buried the rule which mandated that all applications of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) involving investments from “Countries of Concern” will no more be routed through the Union Home Ministry. Until now all proposals received from foreign investors and countries are to be referred to the Union Home Ministry for “security clearance.” Then there was a list of “Countries of Concern” which obviously means non-friendly or suspicious destinations. This was required as per the extant FEMA 20, FDI Policy and security guidelines, amended from time to time. The Home Ministry alone was to process these investment clearances even if they fall under the automatic route sectors/activities. The cases pertaining to government approval route sectors/activities requiring security clearance are to be processed by the respective Administrative Ministries/Departments, as the case may be. But over-night, the rules of the game were changed. It has now been decided that all investments in automatic route sectors, requiring approval only on the matter of investment including from the “Countries of Concern” will be processed by Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) under the Ministry of Commerce headed by Suresh Prabhu. No clearance of any other ministry is needed. But there is more in store; it was decided that even cases under the government approval route, also requiring security clearance with respect to “Countries  of Concern” will continue to be processed by concerned Administrative Department/Ministry. It means the administrative ministry will decide as it deem fit. In a way, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh wings have further been clipped. It is explained by the PMO is that changes have been brought in to accelerate FDI investment in the country and smoothen “Ease of Doing Business”. Files remain pending for months for FDI clearances and this has now been dispensed with. It is for the administrative ministry to take a decision. 

Sending signal through Republic Day Tableau

The stamp of Prime Minister Modi is all over wherever he is and no one can miss his imprint on Republic Day parade when heads of 10 Asean countries lined up at Rajpath. If sources are to be believed, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman spent hours and hours together along with officials of the PMO and at times with Modi to fine-tune the concept, planning and focus of the entire 90-minute drill. But what went without much notice was the presence of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP)'s tableau that rolled down the Rajpath after 20 years. The ITBP tableau show-casing troops patrolling the China border on their newly-inducted snow scooters surprised defence & political observers as to why Modi chose it. The ITBP's tableau was the only one among the multiple paramilitary and border guarding forces that was cleared by the Prime Minister's Office in the parade.  Armed troops riding newly acquired snow scooters troops patrolling on foot and snow bunkers deployed in the icy heights of the frontier were showcased on the float. The last time ITBP tableau featured in the parade was in 1998 when H D Deve Gowda was the Prime Minister. The ITBP, that has been deployed from Karakarom Pass in Jammu and Kashmir to Jechap La in Arunachal Pradesh, guards the Himalayan borders across five states of the nation at treacherous terrains and altitudes ranging from 3K to 19K feet. Was it a message to China ? 

When Modi rejected JAM Tableau proposal 

It surprised many that no tableau depicted Modi's pet projects; Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, Mudra (JAM). It transpires that a proposal was discussed at the level of the PM and the idea was dropped for two reasons; one being that aspirations of the ASEAN countries was to be met within the given 90-minute format ed as many from the ASEAN were planned and Aadhaar was subjuciced. Its Tableau could have invited some controversy in the audience which would not have sent the right signals. 

After Misa, its Rabri in Rajya Sabha now 

An interesting scenario is developing in Bihar where Rajya Sabha polls for six seats are due to be held soon. In the 243-member Assembly, the RJD will win two seats at the back of its 80 MLAs. It is now clearly emerging that jailed RJD leader Lalu Yadav will send his wife Rabri Devi to the Rajya Sabha who will join her daughter Misa in the Upper House. The Congress (27), CPI-ML (3)  and a couple of Independents can help Congress win one seat if the party is able to garner majority of second preference votes. The Janata Dal (U) of Nitish Kumar has 71 MLAs while the BJP has 53 MLAs who can together win three seats. After lending 7 votes to the JD (U) for two seats, the BJP will still have six surplus votes. With the help of LJP (2), RLSP (2), HAM (1) and Independents (2), the BJP is trying to boil the pot for the fourth seat. Though the seat doesn't exist. But BJP chief Amit Shah may try to do a repeat of Gujrat as the party thinks it has many surplus votes while the Congress is short of 10 clear votes. Sources say that Amit Shah is wooing Congress rebel Dalit leader Ashok Chaudhary to become a candidate and break congress legislative party (CLP). 

Modi proposes, Ministers dispose

PM Modi has been impressing upon the Mps to focus on parliamentary work during the session and contribute in the best possisble way in their constituencies during the intervening period. But on the very first day of Parliament on January 29, the most embarrassing moment came when Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu kept sitting in his chamber along with leaders of various parties. But there was no one to represent the government. It was the crucial meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) where agenda for the session is fixed by parties through consensus. But there was none present from the government side. Neither Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar nor Minister of State Vijay Goel or even the Chief whip of the BJP in Rajya Sabha came. Venkaiah Naidu  and other leaders kept cooling their heels  and the meeting ended virtually in fiasco. Naidu was obviously furious. So much for Modi's sermons ! 

Fly on the Wall : Rahul to hold Open Darbars

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Rahul to hold Open Darbars

The Congress president, Rahul Gandhi, may follow the foot steps of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv to directly connect with party workers and common man. It transpires that Rahul Gandhi's new team of advisers has impressed upon him to spend at least three days a week at the party headquarters 24 Akbar Road whenever in Delhi. While one day will be exclusively earmarked for party workers and common man, the second day will be to interact with office bearers and frontal organisations. The leaders from states will also be given fixed day for interaction with the Congress president. It will be like an Rahul's “open darbar”. The big drawback in the Congress leadership for long had been that neither Sonia Gandhi and nor Dr Manmohan Singh hold such “Open Darbars” for security reasons. But Rahul Gandhi has decided to disregard these concerns expressed by the Special Protection Group (SPG) and conveyed that he would like to mingle with the people freely and hear them out. Rahul Gandhi wants to break the shackles of protocol and norms in the days to come. If sources are to be believed, he will start this practice from early next month.  

Modi Govt. derails Rahul plan, issues eviction notice 

Rahul Gandhi may be contemplating to hold “open Darbars” at 24 Akbar Road from February. But the Modi government has other plans in store and wants to oust the party from its 24 Akbar Road headquarters and other buildings within the next three months. The Cabinet Committee on Accommodation (CCA) has served the final notice to AICC to vacate government two bungalows and also 5 Raisina Road accommodation occupied by the Youth Congress. The notice also includes vacating a residential house in Chankyapuri. The AICC has been occupying these type VIII bungalows since 1976. The CCA's reminded that first notice was given in 2015 and several extensions have been given after the Supreme Court issued eviction orders to all political parties from the Lutyen's Bungalow Zone area. All National political parties including the Congress, BJP, BSP and others have been given alternative places to construct their own party headquarters. The Congress had also been allotted two-acre plot at Kotla Road and construction also began there. But the construction work is progressing at a snail pace. Now the Modi government is determined to oust the AICC at the earliest. The Congress has explained that the completion of building at Kotla Road will take one more year. The Urban Development Ministry is determined to get 26 Akbar Road bungalow given to Congress Deva Dal and 5 Raisina Road bungalow given to Indian Youth Congress vacated immediately and  asked why hefty fine be not imposed for not vacating.. The Cabinet Committee on Accommodation consists of Union Ministers; Rajnath Singh Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari,Ananth Kumar and Hardeep Puri.

State-of-the-art BJP headquarters ready 

Contrary to the AICC which ruled the country for ten consecutive years and failed to construct its headquarters, the BJP president, Amit Shah did a miracle of sort. He has finished the task in less than a year and the new party headquarters at the Deen Dayal Marg near Raouse Avenue is ready for occupation. Shah is determined to vacate the 11 Ashok Road headquarters any time in February when the PM inaugurates the 5-7 floor state-of-the-art building. The building will have 70 rooms-- 45 for leaders and 25 for workers. The 8000 sq meter building which smaller than what was allotted to the Congress, will have a library having 4000 e-books and 5000 on the shelf. A war room on the top floor will be fitted with satlites and connected to all district headquarters. Though a helipad is also being readied on top of the building. But there is nobody to confirm it. The building will have ten high speed lifts and an underground parking facility for 200 cars.

Padma awards; Modi style

Ever since Modi donned the Mantle, the Padma awards have undergone a sea-change. Gone are the days when Governors, Union Ministers and ruling party top leaders used to call the shots. Privately, all of them have been told not to send letters of recommendation favouring persons of their choice. A platform has been created on the website of the Union Home Ministry with detailed parameters to be followed. The names recommended by the high powered committee in this regard were lying on the Prime Minister's table when he left for Davos. Though he landed on January 23 evening, he found no time to look at the names. Reason is that PMO is scrutinizing through its own network these recommendations. If sources are to be believed, the PM did not heed to the recommendations of former President Pranab Mukherjee to award Padam Bhushan to a leading doctor with a private hospital. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Puducherry Governor Kiran Bedi and three other top Union Ministers also met the same fate. Realising that they face humiliation last year, hardly any senior minister has recommended Padma this year directly. By the way, any citizen is free to recommend anybody for Padma award through the MHA website. 

Who is PM's most favourite bureaucrat?

If you think Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia is Modi's most favourite bureaucrat you may perhaps be wrong. Adhia is a Gujrati and Gujrat cadre IAS officer. But he would have been secretary in any case due to his seniority in the government. The favour will come when he dons the mantle of Cabinet Secretary. Its a different matter that even here, he will be senior-most secretary in the government. But the Prime Minister surprised the entire bureaucracy when another extension in service was given to    Parameswaran Iyer, as Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. Iyer was brought from retirement and appointed full secretary for two years by Modi. This was unprecedented as retired bureaucrats are brought in service as advisers/consultants etc. It was expected that Iyer will retire after completing two years. But in another rare decision, Modi gave him one more extension until 30.04.2019.  

Fly on the wall : Now Modi Mantra for Governors too

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Now Modi Mantra for Governors too

Prime Minister Modi is understood to have expressed the view that the Governors should play active role rather than merely launching books, open exhibitions, attend cultural functions etc etc. No doubt, the governors are not expected to play political role in the state they are deputed by the President. But they should strive to find a role in nation building. It transpires that the PM shared his thoughts with the President, Ram Nath Kovind sometime ago as Governors report to the President on a daily basis. Of course, the Union Home Ministry under Rajnath Singh plays a key role while dealing with the states & Governors. It now transpires that the President was extremely enthusiastic about the idea and decided to take it up in the Committee of Governors which meets at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on a regular basis. The PM wanted that Governors should play a key role in development of the state and should extensively travel within the state and go to districts. Since the Chief Ministers are extremely busy in political management and other affairs, the governors should interact with people and should be seen as agents of change. Since they are the representatives of the Centre, they should take forward the development mantra. They should draw a line between politics and development. Accordingly, a concept paper emerged and the committee of governors submitted a report: Governors- Ambassadors of Change in the society. The issue was discussed at a conference of governors as well last year. But no one got a wind of it. Now that the report has come, a detailed guideline is likely to be issued to be followed by the Governors. The PM doesn't want governors to sit in Raj Bhawans and have good time. They should travel and reach out to the people and create their own identity by connecting with the people and become their mentors. The Chief Ministers of BJP ruled states may not mind this over-reach by the governors. But non-NDA states may not accept it. Even 75-plus year-old governors are also not very enthusiastic of Modi's plan as they want to live a retired political life.

10 Ministers-in-waiting needed for 10 ASEAN Leaders

A search is on for 10 most competent Ministers of State out of a total number of 37 MoS who are to deputed as Minister-in-waiting for 10 Heads/Prime Ministers of 10 ASEAN countries. As per the protocol, all heads of 10 ASEAN countries have to be treated at par. Therefore, ministers-in-waiting will have to be of the same rank for these 10 heads and no MoS with Independent charge or a Cabinet rank minister will be deputed for them. These 10 Ministers of state are being carefully chosen by the Prime Minister himself as it is for the first time that ten heads of countries will be Guest of Honour at the Republic Day parade at Rajpath. These MoS will accompany their respective heads throughout their stay in India who will also attend ASEAN Summit on January 25. It transpires that the PM will return from Davos on January 24 after addressing the Plenary session on January 23 night. Modi wants Republic Day celebration in 2018 to be "remembered through the ages".

The ministries of Defence & External Affairs are working round the clock to cope with the situation as the PM is personally monitoring the arrangements. Even the Dais Plan at Rajpath venue is personally chalked out by Modi. The ministers are M J Akbar, Vijay Goel, Anupriya Patel, P P Chaudhary, Satya Pal Singh, S S Ahluwalia, Jayant Sinha and others.

Changes in RSS unlikely, for now

Intense speculation is on in the RSS whether Bhayyaji Joshi who is number two in the hierarchy, will stay as Sarkarvah (General Secretary). An affable and tough RSS top leader was not keeping well for the past some time. Though he has fully recovered, speculation in rife in Nagpur about his continuation. Sources say Bhaiyyaji Joshi himself is not keen to stay beyond March when the issue will come up. Joshi has held the post for three consecutive terms. However, RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat doesn't want him to go particularly when the RSS is in the midst of massive expansion plans. The BJP, one of the RSS' frontal organisation, also needs massive support for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The RSS also has a challenge to keep coordination among its other 50-odd front organisations. The differences between the BJP and Swadesh Jagran Manch, VHP and others also needs tactful handling. Bhaiyyaji Joshi has been handling all this for a long time. Though there is a competent team of four joint general secretaries comprising of Dattatreya Hosabale, Suresh Soni, Krishan Gopal and V Bhagaiah and also Manmohan Vaidya who is head of the ideological wing of the RSS. But Bhagwat won't like to make any changes at this juncture.

Yogi angry with Centre on new DGP

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is extremely angry with the Centre. Reason ? There is a deafening silence in North Block over the appointment of Om Prakash Singh as the new UP Director-General of Police. An announcement was made 10 days back that CISF DG Om Prakash Singh will be the new UP DGP. O P Singh is the second senior-most IPS officer of the UP cadre and Yogi Adityanath specially requested Rajnath Singh to relieve the officer immediately. The Union Home Minister reported to have cleared the appointment and it was expected that O P Singh will join as DGP on January 3. But all went quiet and no one willing to say anything. Yogi doesn't have the courage to ring up the PM and ask where is the file pending and why. The silence of the PMO suggest that the Department of Personnel may be exploring other possibilities. When it was pointed out that O P Singh is junior to another IPS officer Praveen Kumar, it was explained that Praveen Kumar has just three months to retire. The Centre doesn't permit states to give extensions to the DGP beyond three months. Yogi explained that he can't have DGPs every six months in the state. But Modi was not amused. It is said the Centre is not too impressed with the credentials of O P Singh. It is said that Yogi is relying more on officers of Rajput community and this is not sending the right signal. If the SP and BSP governments resorted to appointing Yadavs and persons of a particular community, no useful purpose will be served by following the same pattern. Now the officers of of a particular caste are being appointed in key positions in the state. The Centre is already worried about the law and order situation in UP. But Yogi is unwilling to relent. 

Fly on the Wall : Clamour for pay hike by Governors

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Fly on the Wall 

By Harish Gupta

Clamour for pay hike by Governors

Governors are clamouring for a pay hike and a couple of them who are senior to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even called on him in the regard. They had to cool their heels in Raj Bhawans as they had crossed the 75 year age bar rule. But PM politely told them to meet the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh who is the cadre controlling minister for Governors. Interestingly, C Vidyasagar Rao of Maharashtra and Ram Naik of UP who hails of Maharashtra were the ones who took the lead to meet Rajnath Singh. Three others, ESL Narasimhan (Andhra Pradesh & Telangana), K K Paul (Uttraphand) and S C Jamir (Odisha) who are originally UPA appointees also joined them. It is not know what transpired between Home Minister and the Governors. Fly learns that the PM is not very enthusiastic to raise their salaries. Reason; these veterans not only get salary but also get huge pension as well. All former bureaucrats who are holding Gubernatorial posts draw pension over a lakh and other perks. If they are politicians, they have been members of Parliament or Legislative Assemblies. Therefore, they draw pension for each term they serve as members. For some of the Governors, the MP or MLA pension is more than that of Governor's. The President and Vice President are also waiting for the pay hike as they get less salaries compared to the top bureaucrats. The proposal for enhancement of the salaries of the president, the vice president and the governors was prepared by the Union home ministry and forwarded to the Cabinet Secretariat more than a year ago for the approval of the Union Cabinet. However, no decision has been taken on it yet. At present, the President gets Rs1.50 lakh per month, the vice-president Rs1.25 lakh. After the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission’s awards on 1 January 2016, the cabinet secretary, gets Rs 2.5 lakh per month and a secretary in the Union government draws Rs 2.25 lakh per month.

PMO travel warning to Babus

Tired of repeated violations by the Babus, the Prime Minister's office has issued a directive that no reimbursement be made if they are found violating travel guidelines. The Department of Personnel under the PMO issued a directive to the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a gazette notification saying that the Babus must purchase air tickets directly from airlines (at booking counters/office/website of airlines). They may also buy tickets through three Authorized Agents; M/s Balmer Lawrie & Company Limited (BLCL), M/s Ashok Travels & Tours (ATT) and Indian Railways catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC). The MHA made it clear that no pre-facto relaxation will be given to anybody and that either the air tickets be purchased directly from the airlines or three authorized agents of the government. “Ensure strict compliance of extant guidelines for purchase of air ticket directly from Airlines. Henceforth relaxation on account of ignorance/unawareness of these guidelines will not be considered by this department. In order to tighten the screws, the government said in case of non-availability of authorized agent at a particular place, ticket may be booked from website of Airlines or web portal of Balmer Lawrie & Company Ltd, M/s Ashok Travels & Tour and IRCTC. But no ministry or department will take the services of any other ticketing agent. Even in respect of non-officials members who are on various committees, boards and panels of the concerned Ministry, department or institution, they have to purchase the ticket from authorized travel agent only. It has been made clear that no claim will be settled by the ministry or the department if the tickets are not bought from the authorized agents.

Kamal Nath, Scindia in race for Deputy Leader

The president-elect of the Congress, Rahul Gandhi, may not undertake a major reshuffle in the AICC and continue with the present team. Of course, he will have to induct a couple of leaders in his core team. But he has the most difficult task in hand to select Deputy leader in the Lok Sabha in place of Capt Amrinder Singh. Since Mallikarjun Kharge is the leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, the deputy leader has to be from North or Central India. Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia are in the reckoning. If Scindia is to be sent to Madhya Pradesh as the PCC chief as Assembly polls are due in the state next year, the obvious choice could be Kamal Nath. There is already a talk that Deepender Singh Hooda will be made Chief Whip in place of Scindia if the latter is upgraded. If the Congress wants to be aggressive in Lok Sabha during the Winter session, it has to have a new Deputy Leader. Sushmita Dev is also in the reckoning for the post. But Hooda has the edge.

GST rate cut hit goods worth Rs 5 lakh crore

One may think that GST rate cut is a bonanza. No doubt it is indeed a bonanza for the consumers. But be it manufacturers, wholesalers or retailers; they are all struggling packaged items worth Rs 5 lakh crore in the country will have revised price tags with change in GST tax rates of about 200 products last month. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has written a letter to Ram Vilas Paswan, Union Consumer Affairs Minister to allow pasting of revised price stickers on the current stocks because under the GST regime, pasting of revised price tags are not allowed. It is said that goods worth Rs 5 lakh crore are still in the warehouses across the country in packaged condition having old MRP. These goods can't be sold in the market without a revised price tag. It is impossible to move the consignment back to the manufacturers, remove old packaging and fresh packaging be done with a new price tag. If the fresh label is pasted on the original price tag, it is not allowed. Under Packaged Commodity Act, it is mandatory provision that any commodity in packaged shape will invariably have printed MRP. Only Paswan can give some relief. Tax rates of more than 200 items were brought down and out of them 178 were of common use.

54 of 77 Modi ministers fail to file their Asset details

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

54 of 77 Modi ministers fail to file their Asset details

Modi foregoes his royalty from books  

Jaitley richest, Paswan poorest

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Oct.14

A large number of Ministers in the Modi government have not heeded to the directive of the Prime Minister to file their assets and liabilities details by August 31, 2017.

According to official details available, only 23 ministers of the 77-member Council of Ministers have complied with the directive and filed their return which is mandatory under the rules and procedures. Of the 28 Cabinet Ministers including the Prime Minister, 19 filed their return. However, the compliance went for a toss when it came to Ministers of State. Of the 48 Ministers of state including those holding Independent charge, only four deemed it fit to submit their assets/liabilities return. The Prime Minister was most prompt in complying his own directive and was the first to declare his assets followed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Health Minister J P Nadda, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari also filed their return.

But Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal who is amongst the richest women Union Ministers with Rs 87.45 crores (2014-15) has not declared her assets for the current year. Woman & Child Welfare Minister Maneka Gandhi, Heavy Industries Minister Anant Geete, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Home Minister Rajnath Singh , Chemicals & Fertiulizers Minister Ananth Kumar are among those who didn't file their return so far. It may, however, be mentioned that all the ministers had filed their return as desired during 2014-15 and 2015-16. But they didn't comply during this reason.

According to the Code of Conduct issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, it is mandatory for Union Ministers to furnish details of their assets and liabilities every year by August 31. The code applies to states as well and needs to include full disclosure of ministers’ family members as well. The asset declaration has to include the assets of the wife and dependent children and also give details of liabilities. 

For instance, the assets of Prakash Javadekar are pegged at Rs 7.86 crores. But he and his wife have a liability of Rs 3.05 crores. A glance at the return filed by the ministers including the PM showed that there has not been any astronomical rise in their income & assets. The rise has been very marginal. The declaration made by PM makes an interesting reading where in his fixed deposits have swelled from Rs 51.27 lakhs to Rs 90.26 lakhs. Surprisingly, the PM's income from royalty of book vanished in thin air during 2016-17. During the previous year, Modi earned Rs 12.35 lakhs from the sale of his books as royalty. It seems, he has given royalty as charity which remains undisclosed. His income showed a growth of Rs 28 lakhs to Rs 2.01 crores whereas his income during 2015-16 was Rs 1.73 crores.

Arun Jaitley remains the ruchest ministers in the government though his assets have shown a marginal decline ever since he became a minister.

Fly on the Wall :Is Shah Repenting filing Rs 100 cr. defamation case ?

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Is Shah Repenting filing Rs 100 cr. defamation case ?

BJP president Amit Shah may be rueing the day he decided to sue the news portal (thewire.in) for Rs 100 crores. At the hindsight, a feeling has crept in that he should have ignored it as the website made hardly any serious allegation of corruption per se against his son. It only published what was available in public domain and the website only collated information. A strong point-by-point denial by Jay Shah and his lawyers would have suffice. But fielding a Union Minister Piyush Goyal to deny charges (mind you; there were no charges) and declare filing defamation case of Rs 100 crores. It is now felt that the whole thing was avoidable. The case related to Jay Shah and party should have officially nothing to do with it. It will drag party also in the court as the party would have to prove it has been defamed. The fact that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh took full three days to react and most of the senior ministers kept quiet is an indication that second thoughts crept in. It transpires that Amit Shah consulted only Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who deputed his erstwhile junior lawyer Manish Dogra to send notice to the website on behalf of Jay Shah. Jaitley may come to the fore after his return from the USA. But many in the party feel that the case should have been fought politically.

Who leaked “Shah Zada” story ?

The Capital is agog with all kinds of stories as to who leaked the juicy details of small time company of Jay Shah becoming big in turn over and diversifying into Solar business and then taking subsidy from the power ministry. One speculation is that Amit Shah's detractors within the party in Delhi helped out in carrying out research and investigation. Another source attributed it to a former Chief Minister Anandiben Patel who does not see eye-to-eye with Amit Shah. There is no dearth of people in Gandhinagar who are after Amit Shah's blood within his own party. However, sources close to Amit Shah deny that it was an insider's job as its not a story at all. They believe it was done at the instance of the “secular forces” who want oxygen at any cost.

Pay Rs 75000, file Rs 100 crore case

Do you know how much is the court fee to file a defamation case against a person to file defamation case to the tune of Rs 100 crores in Gujrat ? Top lawyers tell me that in Gujrat the fee for civil cases of such nature is just Rs 75000. There is cap under the law to charge court fee. while in Delhi, the fee is astonishingly high. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had to deposit a whopping court fee of Rs 10 lakhs to file Rs ten crores defamation case against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Sources say that the fee was high earlier in Gujrat too. But it was  brought down a couple of years ago.

Nitin Gadkari has reasons to grumble 

Road Transport, Shipping & Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari has reasons to be upset. At least his supporters are extremely angry. Though Gadkari is keeping his mouth shut,his supporters feel that he was wronged in 2012 when he was made to resign from BJP president's post. He had to quit merely because the then Finance Minister, P Chidambaram sent an Income Tax officer to probe a case against the Purti group. Gadkari was made to quit merely because an IT officer knocked at the door of his office. Its a different matter that Gadkari was given the clean chit in the case by the UPA government itself in the case. But in the instant case the family friends and companies helped the son of BJP chief and no questions are being raised. Rather, a minister was deputed to defend the son. Why two parameters ?  Gadkari supporters grumble. It is however pointed out that in the Gadkari case, the IT officer knocked at the door for a roving inquiry. In the Shah case, it was a handiwork of party's detractors. Understand it right. 

Advani gets his lifeline back

The presence of veteran BJP leader L K Advani at the Dussehra day speech of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat at Nagpur may have raised many an eyebrows. It was speculated in the media that Advani went to Nagpur without an invitation etc etc. However, it has now emerged that the RSS leadership invited him and gave him a rousing reception at the airport when he landed with his daughter Pratibha Advani and private secretary deepak chopra the previous night. He also a prolonged meeting with the top RSS leadership including Mr Bhagwat after the speech. Bhagwat's speech rattled the BJP leadership in Delhi is no secret. But political analysts wonder if there is any significance as the critical speech was made in the presence of veteran Advani ? After all, the RSS has reasons to be unhappy as the BJP leadership didn't heed to its advice to make Dr Murli Manohar Joshi party candidate for the post of President. The BJP opted for Ram Nath Kovind.

Guess how cases are dug out !

The Delhi Police has dug out an eve teasing case from the archives after several years against the son of a Constitutional authority after he demitted office. Though the Delhi Police had to register an FIR of eve teasing as existing laws are very strict. But the case never progressed even after the UPA government lost power. Delhi Police dug out the copy of an old FIR and wants to take the case to its logical conclusion. However, the constitutional dignitary is unfazed even after retirement recently saying that it has no meat in it and complaint is bogus. The matter has now been referred to the Union Home Ministry as Delhi Police is under it.

Centre to launch massive crack down in Valley

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Centre to launch massive crack down in Valley

Home Minister sounds Mehbooba

NIA lists 200 ill-gotten properties of separatists

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Sep 16

The Modi government is contemplating a massive onslaught against terrorists operating in the Jammu & Kashmir shortly. Enthused by the recent successes of Centre's anti-terrorist operations, the government is now gearing up for a final onslaught. Final touches are being given to the plan after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's 4-day visit to the trouble-torn state. It is rare that Union Home Minister camps in a state for such a long time. Highly placed sources in the government say that one of the major task of Rajnath Singh was to sound out J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti about the impending massive operation.

The action entail arrest of top leaders of Hurriyat, JKLF and other organisations patronized for the past several decades by successive governments at the centre & the state launch a final onslaught against the militants. The government also plans to confiscate more than 200 properties of these leaders. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is reported to have submitted a detailed list of properties including hotels, resorts, orchards, factories, business establishments, and other assets acquired by 20 top leaders in the Valley. Recent massive raids conducted by the NIA established that these “corrupt leaders” accumulated wealth through illegal means and even from across the border. They were also hand-in-glove with the Barter Trade operators. The list of 200 properties has been submitted to the Home Ministry and PMO and created a flutter.

The security forces, with the active cooperation of the state government, Intelligence agencies and others, have eliminated or arrested nearly 105 out of 258 hard-core militants operating in the Valley. The National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), The National Investigation Agency (NIA), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Military Intelligence (MI) and state police have together have succeeded in plugging the financial support system to a large extent. While Rajnath Singh is monitoring the operation from the front, Ajit Doval, National Security Adviser to the Prime Minister is personally coordinating the entire operation.

The Modi government has decided that no talks will be held with these intermediaries who have looted the state and fooled successive governments. The only task is elimination of militancy and restore peace.

The Centre is particularly enthused by the fact that locals are coming in large numbers to provide information about the hide outs of the terrorists and even their movements. The high-tech equipment installed by the IB, NTRO and other agencies and deployment of trained personnels to decipher the coded messages in the shortest possible time has helped the security forces to act against top militants.

The way Burhan Wani, Abu Ismail, Abu Dujana, Bashir Lashkari, Junaid Mattoo and several others were killed by the forces is an indication of growing cooperation between the forces and locals. After virtually plugging the funding routes to terrorists and their sympathizers in the Valley, the security agencies have told the government that time has come to launch the operation before Diwali.

Interestingly, most of these top leaders were killed after the agencies tracked down their movements and hide-out as their mobile numbers were made available by moles or informers.

The country's top security establishment has prepared a blueprint to deliver a lethal blow to militancy to achieve the IB, NTRO, CRPF, Army Intelligence and more importantly the state police.

The agencies have been able to make inroads amongst the local who were scared to share information until recently. Earlier, the informers used to be eliminated as information provided by them was never acted upon or rather leaked to the militants by moles in the police establishment. Now the Centre has practically taken over the anti-terrorist operations and state police is made to lend a helping hand.

Banning “Barter Trade” with PaK: PMO to decide

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Banning “Barter Trade” with PaK: PMO to decide

NIA says Barter-trade generated Rs 1000 crore terror funding

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Sep 11

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) will take a final call on banning the “Barter Trade” between India & Pakistan which was aimed at promoting trade & harmony between the people in J & K and PoK.

Highly placed sources in the government say that the PMO is seized of the matter after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) strongly recommended the closure of the barter trade. The NIA had sent its report to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) which is turn has referred the issue to the PMO as it has wider implications.

Incidentally, it was the Union Home Ministry which had initiated the Barter-Trade agreement with Pakistan in 2008 at the bidding of the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh within days of returning to India from his US trip in 2008 to promote harmony between the people on both sides of Jammu & Kashmir. It was decided that no cash will be involved, only 21 items will be trade for mutual exchange and the value of items will be fixed by traders mutually. The goods should be produced in J & K and PoK only. But what happened thereafter, was an eye-opener to agencies. For example the Californian Almonds made their way from Pakistan to J&K on the ground that these were produced in PoK.

Lokmat was first to break the story “Barter Trade or Terror Funding” on January 23 this year in its editions saying the NIA had undertaken countrywide raids and scrutinizing records of 350 traders in Delhi & J & K. At that time, the NIA estimated that the hawala racket could be of the order of Rs 300 crores. Top sources have now told Lokmat that the hawala scam could be of the order of Rs 1000 crores.

The NIA submitted detailed report listing how hundreds of cores of rupees reached terrorist groups and stone pelters in the Valley thanks to the “Barter-Trade” route. The NIA said the barter-trade generated more than Rs 3000 crores in cash and at least Rs 1000 crores of this amount had gone to the kashmiri militants and their patterns which included Hurriyat leaders. The NIA submitted a detailed account of money-trail beginning with traders on the borders to traders in Delhi and major cities and how money re-routed to Hurriyat leaders and Kashmiri militants. The NIA also gave detailed account of how bank channels were used for over-invoicing and under-invoicing and went on unchecked for nearly eight years.

It said that terror funding by LeT, JeM and other outfits and the alleged transfer of cross-LoC trade proceeds are "interlinked". It gave clinching evidence to the MHA how large amount exchanged through import and export of goods has been ultimately used to foment "civil unrest" in Kashmir. The NIA suspects that some traders even provide trucks to hide arms and ammunition smuggled from Pakistan.

It is learnt that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh who undertook 4-day visit to J & K discussed this issue with the state Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti also as she had urged the Prime Minister that Barter-Trade agreement should not be scrapped.

Ends 

BJP Presidential nominee by June 21

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Special Report 

Presidential candidate

BJP presidential nominee by June 21

Amit Shah meets Naidu & others

3-member ministerial panel working in full swing

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, June 13

The three member ministerial group to hold consultations with the allies and the Opposition parties for the selection of the Presidential candidate held its first meeting this morning.

The meeting was held at the residence of  Urban Development and I&B Minister M Venkiah Nadu, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Interestingly, the BJP president Amit Shah was also present at the meeting.

It is learnt that the name of the BJP’s presidential candidate will be finalized early next week and all consultation process with allies and Opposition parties will be completed by then. An elaborate plan was discussed today to finalise the roadmap, from selection to filing nomination papers, for the party’s Presidential candidate before June 21-22. 

It was somewhat an irony that Venkiah Naidu who was in the reckoning for the President’s post, has been made a member of the selection committee itself.

According to informed sources, the top leaders met to evolve a strategy as who will speak to which party and which groups. While Arun Jaitley will talk to leaders of Opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha since he has a very high level of personal relationship with them. He has a great rapport with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Derek Obrian of TMC, Ram Gopal Yadav (Samajwadi Party), Satish Mishra (BSP), Praful Patel (NCP) and others. He has high level of comfortable relations with Anand Sharma (Congress) and deputy chairman P J Kurien. Amongst the allies, he is close to the Akali Dal leadership and a large number of Independents and smaller parties.

Venkiah Naidu has primarily been charge of talking to all political parties of southern India including Pudducherry and Chief Ministers of various states. The TDP, TRS, various factions of the AIADMK, Janata Dal (S), Rajnath Singh will handle Jammu & Kashmir and North Eastern State Parties and chief ministers.

The task is not only to focus on the Members of Parliament of Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha but also MLAs who will count in a big way. There is a whole battery of smaller parties in states and Independents.

The objective is to talk to all these MPs, MLAs and parties to obtain their in-principle support for the BJP nominee and thereafter talk to the Opposition parties.

As per plan, the ruling NDA will complete the process this week end and thereafter the process of consultations with the Opposition will begin.

The last date for filing nominations is June 28.

Meanwhile, the government constituted  a committee of secretaries headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha to oversee arrangements for the swearing-in-ceremony of the new president on July 25.

Ends 

Finding a new defence minister a herculean task

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Special report

Finding a new defence minister a herculean task

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, May 3 :

Finding a new Defence Minister is getting extremely tough for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

Though pressure is mounting from the Opposition parties that Modi find a full-time Defence Minister considering continued threat from across the borders, Modi is finding it difficult to relieve Finance Minister Arun Jaitley of the additional charge.

The issue cropped up again when Jaitley called on the PM yesterday ostensibly to discuss the crisis in the Valley and mutilation of bodies of the Indian jawans by the Pakistanis.

Jaitley who was to visit Japan had to defer his visit by two days in the wake of current situation. It is learnt that he pleaded with Modi to relieve him of the additional charge as early as possible. However, Modi is reported to have said that it will take a while to find a suitable person for the key Cabinet post. Modi doesn’t want to reshuffle his Cabinet in a hurry and under pressure.  

The reasons for not appointing a full-time Defence Minister after Manohar Parrikar’s sudden departure to Goa are many. Sources say that the matter was discussed at the high-powered core committee meeting of the party comprising of PM, BJP chief Amit Shah, Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and M Venkiah Naidu. 

Modi reportedly said the situation is back to square one as it existed in May 2014 when Arun Jaitley had to be given the dual charge of the defence ministry in May 2014.

He had a great difficulty in persuading Manohar Parrikar to come to Delhi and hold the charge of Defence Ministry. But he had to go back in less than two years. He asked the core group members to suggest a name for the post as none of the senior Chief Ministers of the BJP ruled states can be moved out as Assembly elections are likely to be held within the next 12-18 months in their states.

Though one of the proposals under the consideration was to move Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu to Defence and give additional charge of the Railways to the Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari. But it was felt that no purpose will be served by replacing dual charge of one minister with the other.

Secondly, Modi is keen to undertake a major reshuffle of his Cabinet. He wants to do it after the President and Vice President’s elections in July-August. 

Modi is also keen to find new faces in states who can be brought to the Centre. Amit Shah is already on tour of states for next 90 days and tirelessly campaigning. 

The PM had told a group of MPs from Maharashtra the other day that 30 ministers of his government have no work after 2 pm. He had also said that good governance is minimum government which virtually signaled that he may trim his ministry.

Therefore, finding a new Defence Minister is turning out to be a herculean task.

Fate of 2 guvs uncertain

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

SPECIAL

Govt wants new faces in J&K, Arunchal

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Sept 9

The fate of two governors of border states – Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir – is uncertain now. But reasons for the delay in changing both the governors are different.

The delay in changing Arunachal Pradesh governor Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa is due to technical reasons as President Pranab Mukherjee has raised some issues with Union home minister Rajnath Singh. The home minister had called on the President on Wednesday to convey to him the intention of the government in removing Rajkhowa who had violated the spirit of the Constitution in handling the affairs of the state when it faced political crisis. 

The governor had come in for a rap from the Supreme Court as well. But the President is reported to have raised some important points. Firstly, the Union Cabinet had approved in toto whatever the governor had recommended then. Secondly, there has to be some reasons in writing from the government rather than simply asking the President to withdraw the governor at his pleasure.

The home minister is reported to have told the President that on one occasion Rajkhowa had misled even the PM when he had put some query. It's a lack of trust between the governor and government and his removal is the only way forward. It now transpires that an amicable way is being found to get rid of Rajkhowa.

Meanwhile, in changing or removing N N Vohra in Jammu & Kashmir, the situation is rather sensitive and ticklish as well. Vohra is a seasoned bureaucrat and there is nothing against him. But he is 80 years old and doesn't have new ideas given the alarming situation in the Valley. Modi government retained him for more than two years after coming to power. 

But it wants a new person in place of Vohra who was re-appointed as governor for second term in 2013. In a way, its more than eight years that he has been governor of the state. The Modi government is reported to have zeroed on Anil Baijal, former home secretary in the Vajpayee government, who is a seasoned bureaucrat as the new man in the Valley. The problem being faced is should Vohra be transferred or removed altogether.

It transpires that Rajnath Singh may have been asked by the Prime Minister to discuss with the President who is an experienced administrator and politician. It is pertinent to mention that Vohra was the first person without Army or intelligence background to occupy the gubernatorial post in the state after a gap of 18 years. Jagmohan was there for a brief period who demitted office in 1990 and was replaced by army & intelligence officers like former RAW chief Girish Chandra Saxena, Gen. K V Krishna Rao (retd) and Gen. S K Sinha. 

Winter session to be short, likely by November 26

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Winter session to be short, likely by November 26

GST future hangs in the balance

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Nov. 2

Modi government’s plans to convene Parliament’s Winter session Government early seem to have run into a rough weather. If reports emanating from the South Block are correct, the Winter session will begin from November 26 instead of November 19 as planned earlier.

The government reportedly conceded the suggestion of the Congress Party not to convene the session on November 19 being the birthday of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. No useful purpose would have been served had the session being called on November 20 as the Prime Minister is traveling abroad during the next three days. The session could not have been held from November 16 i.e. Monday as Bihar and parts of UP and other states will be celebrating the Chhat pooja on November 17. Therefore, the government is now reconciled to holding the session from November 26. This simply means that the session will have 22 effective working days as it has to end due to Christmas and New Year celebrations.

The proceedings, no doubt, will be greatly influenced by the outcome of the ongoing elections to the Bihar assembly; the results will be declared on 8 November.

The cabinet committee on parliamentary affairs (CCPA) met on October 26 took stock of the 53 pending bills in the Rajya Sabha. Irrespective of the outcome of the Bihar polls, the session will be stormy as opposition parties are planning to bring a censure motion against the NDA government for recent spurt in communal violence, including the lynching of a 50-year-old man in Dadri, beef ban and related issues. Even the issues raised by the Sahitya Akademi award winners who are returning their honours is set to dominate the proceedings during the first week.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi and some of his senior most ministers including Arun Jaitley and Home Minister Rajnath Singh have strongly come out against those vitiating the atmosphere. This is aimed at bringing the political temperatures down. They also reined some of their own well wishers as well.

The government may be keen to push its own economic reform agenda in this session. But it is highly unlikely that a consensus is built on the passage of a constitutional amendment bill to pave way for the passage of the GST Act. The crucial bill was expected to be passed in the monsoon session of Parliament, but the government failed to build consensus on it.

The falling share market for the past one week and political analysts predicting majority by Maha-Gathbandhan in Bihar are a clear indication that going may not be smooth for the BJP during the Winter session. Rajnath Singh’s declaration today that whatever may be the outcome of the Bihar Assembly polls, Amit Shah will continue as BJP president is also an indication of the way the wind is blowing.

Ends