Modi remains unblemished despite Congress’s spinmills

Saswat Panigrahi

It was a witch-hunt destined to fail. The Ahmedabad Metropolitan Court has rejected the protest petition filed by Zakia Jafri against the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT)’s clean chit to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 58 others in the 2002 Gulberg Society riot case.

Zakia Jafri is the wife of Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who was among the 69 people killed by a mob during the 2002 Gujarat violence that followed the Sabarmati Express carnage. The SIT closure report had noted that it was Ehsan Jafri who fired at the mob outside the Gulberg Housing Society and ‘the provoked mob stormed the society and set it on fire’.

Zakia Jafri contends that Narendra Modi and others should be tried for ‘their role in the conspiracy which facilitated the State-wide violence’. “No conspiracy can be proved against the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet as they showed alacrity in requisitioning the Army and took necessary steps to control the situation”, said Metropolitan Magistrate BJ Ganatra while pronouncing the verdict in the open court.

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Assembly election results prove Congress’s days are numbered

Saswat Panigrahi

BJP’s 4/0 drubbing to the Congress in the Assembly election semi-finals in the run-up to the 2014 finals, sends one message loud and clear — an anti-Congress wave is sweeping the country and people are looking forward to the BJP’s coming to power.

In Madhya Pradesh, the country’s second largest State, it was Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s good governance which won the election. Shivraj steered BJP to a record third straight win delivering a crushing defeat upon the Congress. By winning a whopping 165 seats, the BJP secured a two-thirds majority in the 230-member Assembly. The Congress was finished with 58. The extent of the Congress’s rout was such that the party drew a blank in as many as 17 districts of the State.

In Chhattisgarh again, it was Raman Singh’s good governance that came out victorious dismissing the anti-incumbency factor. Like his Madhya Pradesh counterpart, Raman Singh led the BJP to a record third straight win. This dashed the Congress’s wild hopes of wresting back power, which mainly cashed in on the sympathy factor in the aftermath of the deadly Maoist attack in Sukhma that eliminated a section of its frontline leadership in the State. The BJP had a comfortable win securing 49 seats in the 90-member Assembly, while the Congress managed to win only 39 seats.

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End of Sheila ki kahani, but arrogance persists

Saswat Panigrahi

Of the Assembly elections in four States, the verdict in Delhi is the most interesting one.

The Sheila Dikshit-led Congress faced a complete rout in the Assembly election with her party dipping to third position and its tally reduced to a measly 8, thanks to the anti-incumbency factor, coupled with corruption and price rise.

The BJP, which got 32 seats — including one seat won by its ally Akali Dal — emerged as the single largest party in the 70-member Assembly. But the party still falls short of the half-way mark to form the Government.

What is more interesting is that newcomer Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) made an impressive debut in electoral politics of the national capital. The party managed to win a whopping 28 seats.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit lost her citadel New Delhi constituency to AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal by a margin of 22,000 votes. Sheila has maintained status quo along with her party and was consequently reduced to the third position. BJP’s Vijender Gupta came second.

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AAP is mere noise and of no real worth

The lies of Arvind Kejriwal-floated Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have finally gone bust. Two exposes in recent days have put the Kejriwal-led party in a tight spot.

A sting operation conducted by a website named Media Sarkar on nine different members of AAP, including the party’s senior leaders Shazia Ilmi and Kumar Vishwas, suggest that the AAP is raising funds through illegal means.

Similarly, an expose done by the news channel India News suggests that the Arvind Kejriwal-led party sold Delhi’s Badarpur Assembly seat for a whopping Rs 2 crore.

AAP, which is an offshoot of the Anna Hazare anti-corruption movement, entered politics promising to fight corruption. But now, the party itself is turning into a den of corruption.

It was the witty Arvind Kejriwal and his ilk in Team Anna who hijacked Hazare’s Jan Lokpal movement. They used the funds collected for the Lokpal movement to launch and establish AAP. Moreover, Kejriwal and company raised funds for the party using Anna’s name. Not just funds, team Kejriwal has thoroughly misused Anna’s good name to satiate their narrow political agenda.

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Five issues on which Rajasthan will vote

Rajasthan is going for poll on December 1 to elect a new Assembly. Almost all the opinion polls predicted a victory for the resurgent BJP and a defeat for the ruling Congress. Following are the issues which will drive the Rajasthan election:

Bad governance in Ghelot regime

Ashok Gehlot’s regime is marked with corruption and bad governance. Under Gehlot’s rule, development has come to a standstill in the State. Scams, sex scandals, riots, lawlessness and violence against women have become the key features of Ghelot’s five-year rule.

Scams in Ghelot Government

There are as many as hundred scams which took place during the tenure of Ashok Gehlot. These include scam in DLF-Robert Vadra land deals in Bikaner, rampant illegal mining by Gehlot’s relatives in Jodhpur, Jal Mahal land scam, scam in Kalisindh dam project and massive irregularities in clearance for construction of five-star hotels in Udaisagar lake in Udaipur. All roads to the scam go straight to the Chief Minister’s Ashok Gehlot’s office.

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