News Analysis India

Tag: Pawan Khera

  • Follow ‘Raj Dharma’ and sack Ajay Mishra: Congress to Modi

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Congress on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to follow ‘raj dharma’ and sack Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra immediately to “help restore the glory of India and its democracy”.

    Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said the country and its democracy have suffered a dent after farmers were allegedly crushed under the SUV belonging to the union minister.

    He said it was only after Congress pressure that the government questioned the union minister’s son Ashish Mishra, who is named as an accused in the FIR for allegedly running over his SUV over protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday.

    Four farmers reportedly died after the SUV ran over them and four others lost their lives in the violence post the incident.

    Khera alleged that the might of the Uttar Pradesh and the central governments is applied only on the poor, the weak and the helpless and not on powerful people and that is the reason why the union minister’s son has not yet been arrested.

    He urged Prime Minister Modi to follow ‘raj dharma’, saying as chief minister he had ignored the advice of the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee after the Gujarat riots broke out in 2002.

    Khera also claimed Vajpayee as prime minister had written a letter to the chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh against Mishra seeking action.

    The Congress leader, however, did not elaborate what the matter was.

    “The advice to follow raj dharma, the advice given by Atal ji to follow raj dharma was rejected by two people, one of them is a prime minister of India and the other is the minister of state for home,” he told reporters.

    “If the prime minister has a sense of responsibility left towards protecting and upholding our democracy, he needs to sack the minister of state for home immediately. Only this way, we will be able to restore the lost glory of our democracy. He should follow ‘raj dharma’. We demand sacking of this minister immediately, India’s image, we are all very conscious of our country’s image, India’s image is taking a dip,” Khera said.

  • Don’t make Congress’ internal matters public, hurts workers: Pawan Khera to party colleagues

    By PTI

    AHMEDABAD: A day after senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal raised questions over the functioning of the party and former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh’s meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said the party leaders must not go public with the internal matters as it hurts the ground level workers.

    Asserting that the Congress gives enough freedom to its leaders to express their views, he said internal matters should not be discussed publicly for the sake of “discipline” and that they should be raised on a proper platform only.

    “Crores of Congress workers are in pain due to such acts. Senior party leaders should discuss such matters on a proper platform, not in public. There is a difference between BJP and Congress. While there is no ban on free speech in our party, our leaders need to put their opinion on a proper platform,” said Khera during his interaction with mediapersons here.

    “Suppose you have a family dispute, would you prefer to solve it internally or go to your neighbour’s terrace and speak about it? There should be discipline, which is necessary to run a family, an organisation and a country,” he added.

    While addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Kapil Sibal, who is part of the “Group of 23” that had written to Sonia Gandhi last year demanding an organisational overhaul, had raised questions on the party’s high command in the wake of the events unfolding in Punjab, saying that the party workers did not know who was taking decisions in the absence of a full-time president.

    When asked about Amarinder Singh’s meeting with Amit Shah days after the former’s resignation as the Punjab CM, Khera expressed unhappiness claiming that Singh’s act had hurt the party workers.

    “Internal issues should be discussed internally. What was the need to meet when you can talk over the phone. Congress workers, who are fighting against the BJP government and its billionaire friends, are pained to see our own people doing this. I am just sharing the anguish of all those ground level workers with you,” Khera said.

  • BJP selling what Congress created in 70 years, Centre’s asset monetisation plan will destroy entire generation: Pawan Khera 

    By PTI

    AHMEDABAD: Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera on Thursday hit out at the Narendra Modi government over its recently-announced asset monetisation plan, saying that the BJP was selling what the Congress created in 70 years, and if the Centre was not stopped, an entire generation would get destroyed.

    He said the BJP government has announced a “clearance sale” of the assets as the country was not important for it.

    Addressing a press conference at the Gujarat Congress headquarters here, Khera said the Centre’s plan to sell or lease out public infrastructure would only create a monopoly in key sectors, something that the previous Congress-led governments always avoided.

    “If we do not stop them now, an entire generation will be destroyed. Before coming to power in 2014, BJP used to ask what Congress did during the last 70 years. The answer is the list of assets which you are now selling. While we built India in those 70 years, BJP is now busy selling India,” he alleged.

    “There is a difference between the previous Congress governments and the BJP dispensation. A sensible government always takes care that strategic sectors do not slip into the hands of a few. No sensible government encourages monopoly. But, for the BJP government, the country is not important. They just think about votes and making BJP the world’s richest party,” he said.

    Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently unveiled an ambitious Rs 6 lakh crore National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) that included unlocking value by involving private companies across infrastructure sectors – from passenger trains and railway stations to airports, roads and stadiums.

    As many as 25 Airports Authority of India (AAI) airports, 40 railway stations, 15 railway stadiums and an unidentified number of railway colonies have been identified for getting private investments.

    Khera said that Congress leaders will tour the entire country against the Centre’s monetisation plan and spread awareness among the masses about its drawbacks.

    “The government has announced a clearance sale of the country’s assets and they are now claiming that they are giving these assets on lease. Those who buy will take loans from banks. That means our assets will be purchased using our own money and then they will return those assets back after extracting everything,” he added.

    People as well as the media need to raise their voice if they want to stop the country from getting sold, he urged.

    Without taking names, Khera said the scheme will only fill up the pockets of selected industrialists who are an example of BJP’s “crony capitalism” system.

    “Time has come to seek answers. Assets worth Rs 60 lakh crore are being given to a selected few for just Rs 6 lakh crore, which is also given to them by the BJP government,” said Khera.

    He said that although the Modi government has so far earned Rs 23 lakh crore from the hike in fuel price, the money was not spent on any pro-people work.

    On the issue of polarisation, the senior Congress leader accused the BJP of diverting the attention of people from key issues by raising communal points.

    He accused the BJP of creating “faultlines” between communities for being in power.

  • Congress demands probe into financial ‘irregularities’ in BharatNet programme

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Congress on Saturday demanded an independent and time-bound probe by a sitting judge into the alleged financial irregularities in the optical fibre cable work under the Centre’s BharatNet programme flagged by the Comptroller Auditor General of India (CAG).

    Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said in a preliminary report, the CAG has pointed out that huge payments were made between July 2019 and December 2020 to Common Service Centres (CSC) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

    He claimed the CAG further noted that “the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) could not impose a penalty on CSC for delays in completion of BharatNet work”.

    “In the absence of a service-level agreement and prescribed timeline for the restoration of faults and non-inclusion of penal clause, there was no deterrent for CSC to ensure that there is no delay in rectification of faults occurring in BharatNet Phase-I,” Khera said citing the CAG report.

    “We demand an independent, high-level, time-bound inquiry into the goings of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology,” he said.

    There has to be a judicial inquiry by a sitting judge to ensure that it is an independent probe because this involves thousands of crores of taxpayers’ money, he told reporters.

    Khera also alleged that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has been awarding projects to private parties indirectly through CSC-SPV and its wholly-owned subsidiary CSC Wi-Fi Choupal Services India Private Limited.

    “Following the preliminary report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and these findings on the functioning of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, is the removal of a minister from the Union Cabinet enough?” he asked.

    “What is the action (that) you will take to punish those guilty of alleged siphoning off of funds to the tune of thousands of crores,” he further asked.

    Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the CAG report has exposed “huge irregularities”.

    “Can DOT, GOI award contracts without tender? Can payments of crores be made without even a formal contract? Who is responsible for Bharatnet’s failure during pandemic? Will the IT Min answer?” Surjewala asked in a tweet.

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  • Congress questions Modi govt’s silence after French authorities order probe into ‘corruption’ in Rafale deal

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Congress on Sunday questioned the silence of the government after French authorities ordered a probe into “corruption and favouritism” in the Rafale deal.

    Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera sought to know that in an inter-governmental defence deal, where there cannot be any middlemen or corruption, when the beneficiary of any “corruption” has ordered a probe, why has a country, which has lost public money, not ordered one?

    He alleged that the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes a lot of noise about national security, but undermines the country’s security interests when it comes to helping its crony capitalist friends.

    “After more than 24 hours of the decision by France to investigate corruption, influence peddling, money laundering, favouritism, there is one question every responsible Indian, every concerned citizen asks. Why is the Government of India still silent?” Khera asked at a press conference.

    He said the Rafale fighter jets deal was an inter-government deal between India and France, which means that the governments of the two countries were on either side.

    Khera sought to know that now that the French Public Prosecution Services (PNF) has initiated a probe into the corruption allegations against the previous president of France, who was one of the parties to the deal, why is no enquiry being ordered on the role of the key functionaries of the Indian government? “It is downright insulting to the people of India that this government and its ministers have stayed tight-lipped about this entire scandal.

    Why is the Minister of Defence silent on accountability and scrutiny?” he asked.

    “The Indian National Congress demands that a fair Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) be constituted immediately and every aspect of the Rafale deal probed by it.

    The people of India deserve to know the truth,” Khera said.

    He said every government has always prioritised and taken pride in the country’s national security policy.

    Although the Modi government makes “loud song and dance” about national security, “it does everything under the sun to undermine India’s security interests when it comes to filling the coffers of its corporate friends”, the Congress leader alleged.

    He asked why the person who caused a loss to the Indian exchequer is not being investigated.

    Khera said it is abundantly clear that this is not a loss to France, but to India.

    “It is not France that has been cheated or robbed, rather it is every single Indian taxpayer who has been cheated and robbed off,” he said.

     

  • COVID vaccine export: Congress slams Centre, leaders change profile photos after arrest over posters

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: Several leaders of the Congress party, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, on Sunday took to the social media to hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for exporting COVID-19 vaccines earlier this year amid the coronavirus crisis in the country.

    This comes days after the Delhi Police arrested at least 21 people in the national capital under sections of the Defacement of Public Property Act for putting up the same poster in different parts of the city. The profile picture of the party’s Twitter handle too was replaced by the poster. “Modi ji, Why did you send our children’s vaccines abroad?,” the poster said in Hindi.

    #ArrestMeToo….We are eagerly waiting .@narendramodi Sahab ji.. pic.twitter.com/45NLOAHnTT
    — WB Youth Congress (@IYCWestBengal) May 16, 2021

    Rahul Gandhi tweeted a photo of the poster on Sunday, along with the caption – “Arrest me too”.

    At a virtual press conference earlier in the day, Congress leaders Pawan Khera said, “On behalf of the lakhs and lakhs of people who died.. we ask you (Centre) Where is my vaccine? Why did you sell my vaccine, the vaccine that belongs to me, my family and my children abroad?”

    “On behalf of every single India, Mr Modi, I dare you to arrest me,” he added.

    The country is currently in the middle of a devastating second COVID-19 wave and is facing a massive shortage of vaccines. Over the last few days, inoculation centres across states have closed and state governments have floated global tenders to meet the shortages.

    Leaders of the opposition have repeatedly hit out at the Centre’s management of COVID-19 vaccination in the country, with many insisting that the Centre’s new ‘liberated’ vaccination policy be revised.

    Last week, twelve opposition leaders including Sonia Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Mamata Banerjee and others slammed the government over its handling of the COVID-19 situation and demanded free, universal mass vaccination campaign across the country.

    India reported 3,11,170 new COVID-19 cases, 3,62,437 recoveries and 4,077 deaths in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry informed on Sunday. A total of 18,22,20,164 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered across the country so far.

  • Congress demands judicial inquiry into death of Dadra and Nagar Haveli MP Mohan Delkar

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Congress on Friday demanded a judicial inquiry into the alleged suicide of Dadra and Nagar Haveli MP Mohan Delkar in Mumbai earlier this week and asked why the Centre had not acted when he repeatedly raised the issue of “harassment” by the union territory’s administrator.

    The Opposition party claimed the seven-time MP, who was found dead in a hotel room, had named the administrator, Praful Khoda Patel, and other officials of the union territory in his purported suicide note.

    According to Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera, Delkar had in the past written letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and other senior leaders, flagging the “harassment” he was facing at the hands of the administrator and other officials of Dadra and Nagra Haveli.

    “He (Delkar) had enumerated the manner in which he was being humiliated and harassed ever since he won the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 as an independent candidate,” Khera said at a press conference here.

    “This is a set template of the government in power (at the Centre). If you lose elections, you try and harass, you try and intimidate through agencies, governors, lieutenant governors and administrators. They try and browbeat the person, try and control him or her. If they agree with you (government), make them join you, if not then these are the tragic results,” Khera alleged.

    The Congress spokesperson also said Patel had been a BJP MLA and a minister in Gujarat, and claimed that he had close links with the top BJP leadership. Khera said that the Congress demands that Patel be immediately relieved of his duties and cases be filed against him for murder and abetment to suicide.

    He added that there should be an immediate judicial inquiry into the entire matter so that Delkar can get justice at least after his death. The body of Delkar (58), an Independent MP, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his hotel room in the Marine Drive area of south Mumbai on Monday.

    Besides being a seven-term Lok Sabha member from the union territory, he was also a member of the Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice and the Consultative Committee, Ministry of Home Affairs, of the Lower House.

    Delkar is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.