Another jolt to Cong in Gujarat; 3 MLAs resign

Agencies
July 27, 2017

Ahmedabad, Jul 27: In another jolt to the Congress in Gujarat ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls, three party MLAs considered close to former opposition leader Shankarsinh Vaghela resigned from the assembly today.

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The resignation of Balwantsinh Rajput (who was also the chief whip), Tejashreeben Patel and Prahlad Patel reduced the Congress's tally to 54 in the 182-seat assembly.

The development came at a time when the Congress has fielded its senior leader Ahmed Patel as its candidate for the Upper House in the election scheduled for August 8.

The Congress nominee can sail through if he musters the support of 47 MLAs and the party is able to guard against further desertions from its legislative arm.

The presidential election had seen cross-voting by Congress legislators as the opposition candidate Meira Kumar could garner votes of only 49 legislators against the Congress's then strength of 57 in the assembly.

All three MLAs submitted their resignation letters to Assembly Speaker Ramanlal Vora at Gandhinagar.

"Balwantsinh Rajput, Tejashreeben Patel and Prahlad Patel have given their resignation as sitting MLAs of their respective seats. They now cease to be the members the Legislative Assembly," Vora told PTI.

The trio can't vote in the August 8 Rajya Sabha polls as they are no long members of the House, he said.

Rajput represents Siddhapur seat in Patan district, while Tejashreeben Patel was elected from Viramgam in Ahmedabad district. The third MLA, Prahlad Patel, was elected from Vijapur in Mehasana district.

Rajput, serving as the chief whip of the Congress in the assembly, is related to Vaghela as the former's son has married latter's grand-daughter.

The latest setback for the Congress comes almost a week after Vaghela left the party and also resigned as the Leader of Opposition. However, he continues to be an MLA.

Ahmed Patel, political secretary of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, yesterday filed his nomination papers from Gujarat for the Rajya Sabha polls.

Of the total 11 Rajya Sabha members from the state, the term of three of them -- Smriti Irani and Dilipbhai Pandya (both BJP) and Ahmed Patel -- is ending on August 18.

The main opposition party also has the support of two NCP legislators and one JD(U) MLA.

Union minister Irani has been re-nominated, while BJP chief Amit Shah will be the other party candidate from Gujarat. Shah is at present an MLA from Gujarat.

After tendering his resignation, Rajput said he was very upset with the Congress due to the allegations being levelled against him.

"I am in public life for 35 years. The people of Siddhapur know how much I have worked for them and for the party. However, it is sad that some persons (in the Congress) have started pointing fingers at me due to my family ties (with Vaghela). That is why I gave my resignation," he said.

Tejashreeben Patel also slammed the Congress, saying the party appears clueless about how to prepare and win the upcoming assembly polls in Gujarat.

"Since the last one-and-a-half years, many of us have been telling the party leaders to give prominent posts to Patels to get their votes in the assembly polls. However, nothing was done in this regard," she said.

Asked about the possibility of her joining the BJP, she said, "We will think about it and take a decision later."

Prahlad Patel said under the Congress "injustice" had been meted out to him and his community.
"I have strengthened the Congress at taluka and district levels. However, injustice was done to me as well as to the Patidar community.

"We made numerous representations to the party leaders to do more for the community, but party did not pay attention," he told reporters after submitting his resignation.

Prahlad Patel indicated he will join the ruling BJP "in the interest of the people".

"Since I belonged to an opposition party, many developmental works were stalled in my constituency. It is an established fact that works are done easily if you are with the ruling party. I am mulling to join the BJP in the interest of my people," he said.

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News Network
March 16,2024

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New Delhi: The 2024 general election for 543 Lok Sabha seats will be held in seven phases from April 19, Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar said today, announcing the largest democratic exercise in the world. Results will be announced on June 4.

The seven phases: 
April 19
April 26
May 7
May 13
May 20
May 25
June 1

Simultaneous election for Lok Sabha and assembly will be held in four states -- Sikkim, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh and Andhra.  

By-elections will also be held for 26 assembly seats across multiple states, including Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.

Mr Kumar, announcing the dates, sent out a strong message on fake news on social media, saying political parties should ensure responsible social media behaviour -- "verify before you amplify".

"Fake news will be dealt with severely as per existent laws.. Section 79 (3)(B) of the IT Act empowers nodal officers in each state to remove unlawful content," he said.

The other strong message was on violation of model code in terms of hate speeches. "There should be issue-based campaign, no hate speeches, no speeches along caste or religious lines, no criticism of anyone's personal lives," he said.

The media must clarify when they carry political adverts, those cannot masquerade as news, he said. Individual messages regarding this would be sent to the candidates, he added.

The commission has employed 2,100 advisors to keep an eye on these issues and strong action will be taken regarding this, he said.

Voters above the age of 85 years and persons with disabilities, with 40 per cent disability can vote from home, Mr Kumar said. Around 82 lakh voter are above the age of 85, he said.

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News Network
March 22,2024

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday produced Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal before the Rouse Avenue court and sought a 10-day custody in the excise policy-linked money laundering case. "Kejriwal was the kingpin of the scam," the ED reportedly told the court after the AAP chief was produced before Special Judge Kaveri Baweja around 2 pm amid tight security. 

ASG S V Raju was appearing for the agency, while Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi is representing Kejriwal. 

Raju in his argument said Kejriwal was "directly involved in formulation of the (liquor) policy... he was involved in handling of proceeds of crime as well in the Goa election campaign."

"The expert committee was constituted but it was a sham committee. The policy was made in such a manner that it would enable the taking of bribes and recoupment of people who gave the bribes," the ED counsel said. 

Kejriwal was produced in the trial court shortly after he withdrew from the Supreme Court his plea against arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in the excise policy-linked money laundering case. Kejriwal's counsel said he would contest the remand proceedings before the trial court and then come back to the apex court with another petition.

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News Network
March 21,2024

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New Delhi: India has now become more unequal in terms of wealth concentration than the British colonial period as income and wealth of the top 1% of the country’s population have hit historical highs, according to a paper released by World Inequality Lab.

By 2022-23, the top 1 per cent income share in India was 22.6 per cent and the top 1 per cent wealth share rose to 40.1 per cent, with India’s top 1 per cent income share among the very highest in the world, higher than even South Africa, Brazil and the US.

Co-authored by economists Nitin Kumar Bharti, Lucas Chancel, Thomas Piketty, and Anmol Somanchi, the paper stated that the “Billionaire Raj” headed by “India’s modern bourgeoisie” is now more unequal than the British Raj headed by the colonialist forces. 

The paper said there is evidence to suggest the Indian tax system might be “regressive when viewed from the lens of net wealth”. A restructuring of the tax code is needed, the paper said, adding that a levy of a “super tax” of 2 per cent on the net wealth of 167 wealthiest families would yield 0.5 per cent of national income in revenues and create space for investments.

“A restructuring of the tax code to account for both income and wealth, and broad-based public investments in health, education and nutrition are needed to enable the average Indian, and not just the elites, to meaningfully benefit from the ongoing wave of globalisation. Besides serving as a tool to fight inequality, a “super tax” of 2% on the net wealth of the 167 wealthiest families in 2022-23 would yield 0.5% of national income in revenues and create valuable fiscal space to facilitate such investments,” the paper said. 

The paper has analysed data based on the annual tax tabulations published by the Indian income tax authorities to extract the distribution of top income earners between 1922-2020.

The share of national income going to the top 10 per cent fell from 37 per cent in 1951 to 30 per cent by 1982 after which it began steadily rising. From the early 1990s onwards, the top 10 per cent share increased substantially over the next three decades, nearly touching 60 per cent in the most recent years, the paper said. This compares with the bottom 50 per cent getting only 15 per cent of India’s national income in 2022-23.

 The top 1 per cent earn on average Rs 5.3 million, 23 times the average Indian (Rs 0.23 million). Average incomes for the bottom 50 per cent and the middle 40 per cent stood at Rs 71,000 (0.3 times national average) and Rs 1,65,000 (0.7 times national average), respectively.
The richest, nearly 10,000 individuals (of 92 million Indian adults) earn on average Rs 480 million (2,069 times the average Indian). “To get a sense of just how skewed the distribution is, one would have to be at nearly the 90th percentile to earn the average income in India,” the paper said.

In 2022, just the top 0.1 per cent in India earned nearly 10 per cent of the national income, while the top 0.01 per cent earned 4.3 per cent share of the national income and top 0.001 per cent earned 2.1 per cent of the national income.

Enlisting the probable reasons for sharp rise in top 1 per cent income shares, the paper said public and private sector wage growth could have played a part till the late 1990s, adding that there are good reasons to believe capital incomes likely played a role in subsequent years. For the shares of the bottom 50 per cent and middle 40 per cent remaining depressed, the paper said, the primary reason has been the lack of quality broad-based education, focused on the masses and not just the elites.

“One reason to be concerned with such high levels of inequality is that extreme concentration of incomes and wealth is likely to facilitate disproportionate influence on society and government. This is even more so in contexts with weak democratic institutions. After largely being a role model among post-colonial nations in this regard, the integrity of various key institutions in India appears to have been compromised in recent years. This makes the possibility of India’s slide towards plutocracy even more real. If only for this reason, income and wealth inequality in India must be closely tracked and challenged,” it said.

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