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Post Info TOPIC: Sonia Rahul gandhi Politics


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Sonia Rahul gandhi Politics
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போட்டி அரசியலே உ.பி தோல்விக்கு காரணம், ராகுல் காந்தி ஆய்வில் அதிர்ச்சி தகவல்.

Friday  06  April  2012  07:56:43 AM 

போட்டி அரசியலே உபி தோல்விக்கு காரணம், ராகுல் காந்தி ஆய்வில் அதிர்ச்சி தகவல்.உத்தரப் பிரதேச சட்டப்பேரவைத் தேர்தலில் காங்கிரஸ் கட்சி அடைந்த தோல்வி குறித்து கட்சியின் அனைத்து நிலைத் தொண்டர்கள், நாடாளுமன்ற, சட்டப்பேரவை உறுப்பினர்களுடன் காங்கிரஸ் பொதுச் செயலர் ராகுல் காந்தி வியாழக்கிழமை நீண்ட நேரம் ஆலோசனை நடத்தினார்.

தில்லி அக்பர் சாலையில் உள்ள காங்கிரஸ் தலைமையகத்தில் அல்லாது, குருத்வாரா ரகப்கஞ்ச் சாலையில் உள்ள காங்கிரஸ் கட்சிக்காக ஒதுக்கப்பட்ட அரசு பங்களாவில் இந்த ஆய்வுக்கூட்டம் நடைபெற்றது.

சட்டப்பேரவைத் தேர்தலில் தோல்வி அடைந்த 53 வேட்பாளர்களுடன் அவர் பேசினார். இந்த வேட்பாளர்கள் அனைவரும் சுமார் 20 ஆயிரம் வாக்குகளுக்கும் அதிகமாகப் பெற்றவர்கள்.

கட்சியில் தீவிரச் செயல்வீரர்களாக அடையாளம் காணப்பட்டவர்களுடன் தனித்தனியே ஆலோசனை நடத்தினார். இதைத் தொடர்ந்து உணவு இடைவேளைக்குப் பிறகு, நாடாளுமன்ற, சட்டப்பேரவை உறுப்பினர்களுடன் ஆலோசனை நடத்தினார்.

""உத்தரப் பிரதேச மாநில சட்டப்பேரவை தேர்தலில் மொத்தம் உள்ள 403 தொகுதிகளில் 28 இடங்களில் காங்கிரஸ் வெற்றி பெற்றது. கட்சிக்காக அயராது உழைத்தபோதும் வெற்றிபெற முடியாமல் போனதற்குக் கட்சியின் அமைப்பு பலவீனமாக இருந்ததே காரணம்'' என்று ஆய்வுக் கூட்டத்துக்கு வந்தவர்களிடம் கூறினார் ராகுல்காந்தி.

தோல்வி அடைந்த வேட்பாளர்கள் அனைவரும், ""அடிமட்ட அளவில் காங்கிரஸ் பலவீனமாக இருந்தது, மேல் மட்டத் தலைவர்கள் பிரசாரத்தின்போது நடத்திய போட்டி அரசியல், உத்தரப் பிரதேச மாநிலத்தைச் சேர்ந்த மத்திய அமைச்சர்களுக்கும் மாநிலக் கமிட்டி நிர்வாகிகளுக்கும் இடையே ஒத்துழைப்பு இல்லாதது போன்றவை தோல்விக்கான முக்கிய காரணங்கள்'' என்று பட்டியலிட்டதாகத் தெரிகிறது.

கட்சியின் தோல்விக்குக் காரணங்களாக அமைந்தவை, எதிர்காலத்தில் இதுபோன்ற நிலை ஏற்படாமல் தடுக்க மேற்கொள்ள வேண்டிய நடவடிக்கை போன்றவற்றை எழுதித்தரும்படி ராகுல் அவர்களிடம் கேட்டுக்கொண்டார்.

தேர்தலில் வெற்றி பெற்ற புதிய சட்டப்பேரவை உறுப்பினர்கள், காங்கிரஸ் எம்.பி.க்களுடன் வெள்ளிக்கிழமை மீண்டும் ஆலோசனை நடத்துகிறார் ராகுல் காந்தி.

தேர்தல் தோல்வி குறித்து வியாழக்கிழமை நடைபெற்ற ஆய்வுக்கூட்டத்தில், உத்தரப் பிரதேச தேர்தலுக்குப் பொறுப்பாளராக நியமிக்கப்பட்டிருந்த மூத்த தலைவர் திக்விஜய சிங் பங்கேற்கவில்லை. கட்சி வட்டாரத்தில் விசாரித்தபோது, அவர் வெளிநாடு சென்றுள்ளதாகக் கூறப்பட்டது.

வேட்பாளர்களுக்குத் தேர்தலில் போட்டியிட டிக்கெட் கொடுக்கும் பணியை மேற்பார்வையிட்ட மூத்த தலைவர் மோகன் பிரகாஷும் வியாழக்கிழமை ஆலோசனைக் கூட்டத்துக்கு வரவில்லை என்பது குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது.

 



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Rahul vows strict action for UP debacle 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi on Friday threatened swift and strict action against non-performers in Uttar Pradesh elections,triggering uncertainty about the status of Union ministers from UTTAR PRADESH and raising prospect of crackdown against saboteurs in the state organization.
My hands may be soft,but they will take harsh action, Rahul is learnt to have said at a meeting of party MLAs from Uttar Pradesh held here as part of the two-day investigation into the reasons for the partys debacle in assembly polls.The threat facing central ministers and other biggies from Uttar Pradesh appeared real when the Congress general secretary spoke of the need to fix accountability in a meeting he later had with party MPs from Uttar Pradesh.
The threat of crackdown followed a litany of complaints against Union ministers.Steel minister Beni Prasad Verma,coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal and law minister Salman Khurshid came in for sharp criticism for their statements in the campaign on Muslim quota,Batla House and imposition of central rule after elections : utterances which are widely seen as having contributed to the rout.
Sources said Barabanki MP P L Punia strongly protested that Verma kept issuing statements against him during the polls but no one in the party dared to question him.Kanpur MLA Ajay Kapoor spoke against minister Jaiswal for campaigning against him.A senior leader told Rahul that he had been betrayed by people he trusted,in what was seen as an assault on Verma.
While holding inquests into electoral defeats has been a routine with Congress,the review of the rout in UTTAR PRADESH which dented Rahuls aura as a vote winner appears be more than a pro forma exercise.His threat of action also showed that the party was ready to look beyond organizational weakness to identify the reasons for the poor show.In fact,after his meetings with Uttar Pradesh MLAs and MPs on Friday,the AICC general secretary decided on a three-point action plan division of Uttar Pradesh into five zones,fixing accountability for the debacle and reconstitution of the state organization.Rahul bluntly acknowledged the slide in the partys fortune since the 2009 Lok Sabha elections,saying the number of assembly segments where the party led had come down from around 100 to 29 in a space of less than three years.
He heard the criticism of wrong selection of candidates,although he turned down the suggestion that giving preference to outsiders boomeranged on the party.According to him,performance of the new imports was better.
The announcement that accountability would be fixed was welcomed by partymen who have been chaffing at the prospect of high flying ministers and MPs going unpunished for repeated failures.MLAs did not spare MPs either,arguing they were not taking care of their constituencies which was evident in their kin losing the polls.They said the party needed course correction for a decent show in the 2014 polls.


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  • 6 Apr 2012
  • Hindustan Times (Delhi)
  • Aurangzeb.naqshbandi@hindustantimes.com
  • Aurangzeb Naqshbandi

Ministers get blame for Cong’s UP defeat

RAHUL MEET Damaging statements hurt us, say candidates

NEW DELHI: Central ministers and MPS from Uttar Pradesh came under sharp criticism from the state’s defeated Congress candidates at a meeting chaired by party general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Thursday.

The meeting was held to analyse the outcome of the recent assembly elections in the politically important state.

Party general secretary in charge of UP affairs Digvijaya Singh, who was not present at the brain-storming session, also faced flak for delays in ticket distribution.

But most of the 153 candidates who lost but secured at least 20,000 votes, attributed their defeat to the damaging statements made by union ministers Salman Khurshid, Sriprakash Jaiswal and Beni Prasad Verma.

The three junior ministers from the state — Jitin Prasada, RPN Singh and Pradeep Jain — also came in the line of fire for what the candidates saw as their non-cooperation.

“There was complete disconnect between union ministers and party workers in the state. Most of the time, they not only refused to meet party workers but also ignored their suggestions and requests,” said a candidate.

Of the 37 assembly seats in the parliamentary constituencies of these six union ministers, the party won only three. Even some of their kin fared badly. Khurshid's wife Louise stood fifth in Farrukhabad and Verma's son Rakesh came third in Dariyabad. A candidate pointed out that Vijay Singh, who won from Farrukhabad as an independent, had initially tried for a Congress ticket.

Gandhi also sought the defeated candidates' views on a form that had 13 questions, ranging from reasons for their defeat and whether they had received support from AICC, PCC, youth and student wings, Mahila Congress and Sewa Dal.

Those who attended the meeting felt Gandhi was in a good mood but continued his attack on rival parties in the state.

On Friday, he will meet winners and party MPS to work out the strategy for the coming civic polls in UP and the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.



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Im a Brahmin & Congs gen secy: Rahul to party 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

New Delhi: Post Congresss poor show in UP,recrimination has been mixed with the hunt for a stable vote bank in a state where caste remains a key arbiter of power.
While UP Congress leaders are waiting to see how the party reinvents its caste appeal,the competition among social groups like OBCs,dalits and upper castes has become the partys focal point.The lament of Brahmin leaders has been particularly loud with Congresss minoritymandal push coming a cropper.
Matters came to an interesting point during a recent review meeting when the upper caste/Brahmin argument invoked by a local UP leader saw Congress leader Rahul Gandhi rebut the claim by remarking I am a Brahmin and general secretary in the party. The comment was read as a counter to the argument that the party had ignored its traditional base in its quest to regain salience in UP.Although upper castes have lost their dominance in the state,leaders from these sections remain vocal and pushy.
A week after Rahul conducted the UP polls review,leaders are counting on two decisive steps for moving forward action against non-performers and a clear idea on which social group to lean on.The urgency stems from the view that there should be enough time for party message to reach the grassroots for 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
The upper castes,OBCs and dalits in Congress are vying for attention.Sources said,Rahuls review saw leaders speaking of the need to fashion a base vote like Yadavs for the SP and dalits for the BSP.


Pc0102100.jpg 

Rahul Gandhi: நான் பிராமணன்...அப்புறம்தான் காங்கிரஸ் கட்சி பொதுச்செயலாளர்

 

Rahul Gandhi
டெல்லி: உத்தரப்பிரதேச சட்டப்பேரவைத் தேர்தலில் பெரும் பின்னடவைச் சந்தித்துள்ள காங்கிரஸ் கட்சி நிலையான வாக்கு வங்கியை உருவாக்குவதற்காக "சாதி" ஆயுதத்தை கையிலெடுத்தாக வேண்டிய நிலைக்குத் தள்ளப்பட்டுள்ளது.
உத்தரப்பிரதேசத்தில் தலித்துகளின் நண்பனாக, இஸ்லாமியர்களின் நண்பனாக வேஷம் போட்டு காங்கிரஸ் கட்சி பிரச்சாரம் செய்து பார்த்தது. கட்சியின் "நம்பிக்கை நட்சத்திரம்" என அழைக்கப்படும் ராகுல்காந்தி தலித்துகளின் குடிசைகளுக்குள் ஓடி, உட்கார்ந்து சாப்பிட்டு போட்டுக் காண்பித்த அத்தனை காட்சிகளுமே அட்டர் பிளாப்பில்தான் முடிந்தது!


பிற்படுத்தப்பட்ட மக்களும் இஸ்லாமியர்களும் சமாஜ்வாதி கட்சியை நம்புகின்றனர். தலித்துகள் மாயாவதி பக்கம் சாய்கின்றனர். இதனால் உத்தரப்பிரதேசத்தில் "பிராமணர்கள்" வாக்குகளைக் கவர காங்கிரஸ் கட்சி முடிவு செய்துள்ளது.

நான் ஒரு பிராமணன்!

இதன் முன்னோட்டமாக டெல்லியில் அண்மையில் ராகுல்காந்தி நடத்திய ஆலோசனைக் கூட்டத்தில் இந்த சாதி ஆயுதம் பற்றி விவாதிக்கப்பட்டது. அப்போது ராகுல்காந்தி சட்டென " நான் ஒரு பிராமின்... அப்புறம்தான் காங்கிரஸ் கட்சி பொதுச்செயலாளர்" என்று கூறியது கட்சியினரின் பிற்படுத்தப்பட்ட, தலித் பிரிவினரிடையே அதிர்வலைகளை உருவாக்கிவிட்டது.

காங்கிரஸ் கட்சிக்கென பாரம்பரிய வாக்காளர்களாக இருந்தவர்கள் பிராமணர்களே என்பதால் பிராமின் லாபி இத்தகைய ஒரு சூழலை காங்கிரசுக்குள் உருவாக்கி உள்ளது.

ராகுல்காந்தியின் இத்தகைய வெளிப்படையான ஒப்புதலால் காங்கிரஸ் கட்சியால் பிராமணர்களின் வாக்குகளைத் தக்க வைத்து அப்படியாவது ஆட்சியைப் பிடித்துவிட முடியாது என்ற கனவில் அம்மாநில காங்கிரஸ் பெருந்தலைகள் இலவுகாத்துக் கொண்டிருக்கின்றன.

இதேபோல் கடந்த ஆண்டும் ராகுல்காந்தி தம்மை இப்படி பிராமின் என்று கூறியபோதே பெரும் சர்ச்சைகள் ஏற்பட்டிருந்தது குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது.

தேறுமா கால்குலேஷன்?

கடந்த சட்டப்பேரவைத் தேர்தலில் தலித்துகள், பிராமணர்களை ஒன்றிணைத்து மாயாவதி ஆட்சியைப் பிடித்த பார்முலாவை காப்பியடித்துவிட வேண்டும் என்று காங்கிரஸ் நினைக்கிறது.. தங்களுக்கு தலித்துகள், பிராமணர்கள் மற்றும் கணிசமான பிற்படுத்தப்பட்டோர் வாக்குகள் சேர்ந்தால் ஆட்சியைப் பிடிக்கலாம் என எண்ணுகிறது காங்கிரஸ்.

ராகுல் தலைகீழாக நின்று போராடிப் பார்க்கிறார்.. எதைத் தின்றால் பித்தம் தெளியும் நிலையில்தான் காங்கிரஸ் கட்சி இருப்பதாகவே அதன் நடவடிக்கைகள் இருக்கின்றன.

இதனிடையே ராகுலின் இத்தகைய ஒரு கருத்து இணையதளங்களில் கடுமையாக அலசலையும் உருவாக்கியுள்ளது. ராஜீவ் ஒரு பார்சி குடும்பத்தைச் சேர்ந்தவர் அவர் தம்மை பிராமணர் என்று சொல்வது சரியா ? என்ற ரேஞ்சில் தொடங்கும் விமர்சனம் இத்தாலிய குடியுரிமை வரை நீண்டு கொண்டே போகிறது என்பது குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது.

அப்படியென்றால் தாழ்த்தப்பட்ட - ஒடுக்கப்பட்ட இனத்தின் காவலன் என்று தம்மை காங்கிரஸ் கூறிக் கொள்வது பொய்தானே என்ற கேள்வியும் எழுந்துள்ளது. உபி பிராமணர்களுக்காக, நாடு முழுவதும் உள்ள தலித் - பிற்பட்ட மக்களின் விரோதியாகப் போகிறதா காங்கிரஸ்?


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மீண்டும் பார்ப்பண ஆயுதத்தை கையிலெடுக்கும் காங்கிரஸ்: ராகுலின் அரைவேக்காட்டுத் தனம்!

 
images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRMwjk2v6xZ83-4Pi_W1bItyJ64F8gLRynvmMx5O2PrZacas2Mr
டெல்லி:காங்கிரஸ் கட்சி பார்ப்பணர்களின் ஆதிக்க கட்சி என்பதை மீண்டும் நிரூபிக்க தயாராகி வருகிறது. இதற்கு முன்னோட்டமாக டெல்லியில் அண்மையில் ராகுல்காந்தி நடத்திய ஆலோசனைக் கூட்டத்தில் இந்த சாதி ஆயுதம் பற்றி விவாதிக்கப்பட்டது. அப்போது ராகுல்காந்தி சட்டென “நான் ஒரு பிராமின்… அப்புறம்தான் காங்கிரஸ் கட்சி பொதுச் செயலாளர்” என்று கூறியுள்ளார்.

உத்தரபிரதேச மாநிலத்தில் சிறுபான்மை முஸ்லிம்களின் தோழன் வேடம் போட்ட காங்கிரஸ் கட்சியும், ராகுல் காந்தியும் பல வித்தைகளை பயிற்றுவித்த போதும் எதுவும் சாதிக்க இயலவில்லை. முஸ்லிம்களுக்கு இடஒதுக்கீடு, தலித்துகளின் குடிசைக்குள் திடீரென நுழைந்து சாப்பிடுதல் போன்ற நாடகங்களை மேற்கொண்டபோதும் மக்களின் விழிப்புணர்வால் காங்கிரஸால் சிறுபான்மை, தலித்து வாக்குகளை பெற இயலாமல் போய்விட்டது.
காங்கிரஸ் கட்சியின் தொடர் ஏமாற்றுப் புத்தியும், முஸ்லிம்களை வாக்கு வங்கிகளாக பயன்படுத்துவதும் அவர்களின் பெரும் மாற்றத்தை ஏற்படுத்தியதன் விளைவு சமாஜ்வாதி கட்சி ஆட்சிக்கட்டிலில் அமர முடிந்தது. இதனை உ.பி.முன்னாள் முதல்வர் மாயாவதியே கூறியிருந்தார்.
முஸ்லிம் வாக்காளர்களும், தலித்துகளும் கைவிட்ட நிலையில் தனது பழைய ஆஸ்தான வாக்காளர்களான பார்ப்பணர்களை கவரும் வகையில் முட்டாள்தனமான முடிவை காங்கிரஸ் மேற்கொண்டதன் விளைவே ராகுலின் பிராமணன் அறிவிப்பாகும்.
இதன் முன்னோட்டமாக டெல்லியில் அண்மையில் ராகுல்காந்தி நடத்திய ஆலோசனைக் கூட்டத்தில் இந்த சாதி ஆயுதம் பற்றி விவாதிக்கப்பட்டது. அப்போது ராகுல்காந்தி சட்டென “நான் ஒரு பிராமின்… அப்புறம்தான் காங்கிரஸ் கட்சி பொதுச்செயலாளர்” என்று கூறியது கட்சியினரின் பிற்படுத்தப்பட்ட, தலித் பிரிவினரிடையே அதிர்ச்சியை ஏற்படுத்தி உள்ளது.
ராகுல் காந்தியின் இத்தகைய வெளிப்படையான ஒப்புதலால் காங்கிரஸ் கட்சியால் பிராமணர்களின் வாக்குகளைத் தக்க வைத்து அப்படியாவது ஆட்சியைப் பிடித்துவிட முடியாது என்ற கனவில் மூழ்கியிருக்கும் உ.பி மாநில காங்கிரஸ் தலைவர்களின் ஆசையில் மண் விழப்போவது நிச்சயம்.
உ.பியில் பிராமணர்களின் வாக்குகளை கவருவதற்காக நாடு முழுவதும் உள்ள பெரும்பான்மை சிறுபான்மை, பிற்படுத்தப்பட்ட, தாழ்த்தப்பட்ட மக்களின் வாக்குகளை காங்கிரஸ் இழக்கப் போகிறதா? என்ற கேள்வி எழுந்துள்ளது.
ராகுலின் பேச்சுக் குறித்து தற்பொழுது இணையதளங்களில் பரபரப்பாக விவாதிக்கப்பட்டு வருகிறது. ராஜீவ் காந்தியின் தந்தை பார்சி, அதைப்போல ராகுலின் தாய் ஒரு கிறிஸ்தவர் இந்நிலையில் அவர் எப்படி பிராமணன் என்று கூறலாம் என்று பலரும் கேள்வி எழுப்புகின்றனர். இன்னொரு தரப்பினரோ அவரது தாயார் சோனியா காந்தி இத்தாலியில் பிறந்தவரல்லவா? என்று கேட்கின்றனர்.
ஆக மொத்தத்தில் காங்கிரஸ் தன் தலையில் தானே மண் அள்ளி போட்டுக் கொண்டுள்ளது என்பது மட்டும் உறுதி. ராகுலின் கருத்துக்கு ஏதேனும் விளக்கம் காங். தரப்பில் இருந்து விரைவில் வெளியாகலாம்.


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Rahul has no time for House panel meetings

U Anand Kumar

Last Updated : 16 Apr 2012 10:59:45 AM IST

 

NEWDELHI:  The Little Prince seems to have little time. What else would explain Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi’s absence at the deliberations of department-related parliamentary committee on Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry?

 

The standing committee on HRD has considered historic pieces of legislation having a wide-ranging impact on the functioning of higher educational institutions across the country; its  work directly affects the interests of crores of women and children. Rahul has kept away from the meetings of the committee during the process of finalisation of its reports. He preferred to attend only one of such several meetings meant for examining a specific Bill.

 

Rahul Gandhi, who was a member in the 14th Lok Sabha, was nominated to the standing committee on HRD.  After his re-election to the 15th Lok Sabha, he remains a member of the standing committee on HRD. Going by the reports of the standing committee, presented in Parliament in the last one year, the contribution of Rahul is practically zero.

 

Seventeen department-related parliamentary standing committees, each consisting of 15 members of Rajya Sabha and 30 from Lok Sabha, to cover various Ministries or departments of the government were set up in 1993 in order to further strengthen the accountability of the government to Parliament.



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Last Updated : 
14 Apr 2012 08:46:09 PM IST

Rahul's Brahmin comment draws criticism from BJP

NEW DELHI: BJP today took a dig at Rahul Gandhi for his reported comment that he is a Brahmin, saying it shows that he and Congress have lost patience after failing to get the mandate in the Uttar Pradesh elections.

 

"Now this is crossing all limits that Rahul Gandhi has started informing what his caste is...that he is a Brahmin.

 

Congress has lost all patience after losing the mandate in Uttar Pradesh elections," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.

 

During a stock-taking meeting of Congress on the UP poll debacle, Rahul had reportedly rebutted claims from some party leaders that the party was not giving due significance to Brahmins.

 

"I am a Brahmin and general secretary of the party," Rahul reportedly said.

 

BJP used this opportunity to take potshots at the Congress general secretary.

 

"In the UP elections, Congress had talked about religion when it promised reservations on religious lines and in doing so it had played communal politics," Javadekar said.

 

Both Congress and BJP have been analysing what went wrong for them in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh as the poll results were way below their expectations.

 

Interestingly, both these parties feel they should have wooed the upper castes, especially the Brahmins, to increase their seat tally.



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  • 1 May 2012
  • Hindustan Times (Delhi)
  • Rahul Gandhi Umesh Raghuvanshi uraghuvanshi@hindustantimes.com

GIVE ME THREE MONTHS, WILL CHANGE PARTY IN UP: RAHUL

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi promised direct access to the party’s grassroots workers in his Lok Sabha constituency on Monday, returning to Uttar Pradesh for the first time after the party’s debacle in the assembly polls.

“Give me three months. I will keep in touch with you directly. We will work out a system that keeps the ground level workers in focus,” he told party workers at a closed-door meeting at Semrauta in Tiloi assembly segment of Amethi Lok Sabha constituency.

Gandhi had a similar freewheeling interaction with party workers at Mata in Salon assembly constituency on the first day of his three-day visit, setting the agenda for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

After getting inputs that groupism, poor candidate selection and high-handedness of local leaders were to blame for the poor showing in the assembly polls, Gandhi assured a complete overhaul in the organisation. He pacified vocal grassroots workers, saying he would act against those who denied them access to the party leadership.

“What went wrong? Why did we lose? How to bring about an improvement?" were the pointed questions Gandhi posed, as he analysed the loss, which saw Congress winning only two of the 10 assembly seats in Lok Sabha bastions Amethi and Rae Bareli (party president Sonia Gandhi”s constituency).

Both the victories came in Amethi. In the 2007 assembly elections, Congress had bagged seven of the seats.

getimage.aspx?regionguid=e48fd43e-0947-4c42-a2e6-350be2f61ccb&scale=142&file=10872012050100000000001001&regionKey=IHc1s17t3%2fr37sfsNnRtYQ%3d%3d

He is likely to interact with party workers of Amethi and Gauriganj on Tuesday and follow it up with a similar interaction in Jagdishpur assembly constituency on Wednesday.



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SONIA GANDHI’S ILL-GOTTEN LOOT IN INDIA
V. Sundaram May 1, 2012
According to some estimates, the Italian-born Sonia Gandhi has amassed untold black money to the tune of 40 Billion US Dollars, through her deeds / misdeeds of massive governmental corruption in India during the last 30 years. It is now widely known that when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991, Sonia inherited from her husband’s Swiss bank accounts a sum of $ 2 billion US Dollars looted from India. Her party came back to power in 2004 and again in 2009 and in a period of less than 8 years she has succeeded in increasing her black money wealth from $ 2 billion US Dollars in 1991 to a massive amount of $ 19 billion US Dollars in January 2012. The most corrupt government in the history of post independent India has been the Government of Dr Manmohan Singh from 2004 to 2009 and again from 2009 till date. Dr Manmohan Singh has acted as the chief facilitator of all Sonia scams rather than as the Chief Executive of the Government of India.
In January 2012, the worlds-luxury-guide.com website gave the following details relating to the looted and plundered wealth held by Sonia Gandhi.

LIST: WORLD'S RICHEST POLITICIANS

Sunday, 01/01/2012
Created by: staff
World Luxury Guide’s List of the World’s Richest Politicians
Name
Country
Position
Wealth
Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz
Saudi Arabia
King
$21 billion
Hassanal Bolkiah
Brunei
Sultan
$20 billion
Michael Bloomberg
USA
Mayor of New York
$18.1 billion
Sonia Gandhi
India
President, Indian National Congress (political party)
$2-19 billion
Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan
United Arab Emirates
President (And emir of Abu Dhabi) 
$18 billion
On March 2, 2012, Businessinsider.com placed Sonia Gandhi in the 4th position in the world terms of personal wealth. I am giving below the details as presented by the Business Insider Journal in USA.
Meet The 23 Richest Politicians In The World
Natalia Angulo | Mar. 2, 2012, 10:22 AM
SONIA GANDHI
Net Worth: $2-19 billion      Residence: India
Position: President, Indian National Congress (political party)
Gandhi is originally from Italy. She is the widow of Rajiv Gandhi, the assassinated former prime minister. As leader of the Congress party, Gandhi played a key role in reviving the party's fortune and power.
Source: World's Luxury Guide (based on OpenSecrets.org, Forbes.com, Bloomberg.com, Wikipedia.org, Guardian.co.uk)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In October 2012, Dr Subramanian Swamy, President of Janata Party setup The Action Committee Against Corruption in India (ACACI) to fight corruption in the space left vacant by two major movements against corruption. The first movement initiated by Baba Ramdev focused on mass mobilisation against corruption. The second movement has been initiated under the leadership Anna Hazare focused on the need for revamping of the present laws and making them free of loopholes. The Action Committee Against Corruption in India (ACACI) will focus on specific action against macro level corrupt acts especially in the criminal misconduct of high level public officials and the illegal money flow out of and into the country.
The ACACI will leverage the existing national and international laws and move internal and global institutions to discover and recover illegal funds deposited abroad in secret banking channels in about 77 countries. The main objective of ACACI will be to bring back the looted wealth to India which now lies in various Swiss Banks and other banks in tax havens abroad.
I am of the view that the ACACI should officially get in touch with The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in USA. FATF is an international inter-governmental body. The objectives of the FATF are to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.  The FATF is therefore a “policy-making body” which works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national legislative and regulatory reforms in these areas. FATF comes under the US Department of Treasury. Timothy F Geithner is the Secretary of the US Department of Treasury.
The FATF has developed a series of Recommendations that are recognised as the international standard for combating of money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. They form the basis for a co-ordinated response to these threats to the integrity of the world financial system and help ensure a level playing field. 
Dr Subramanian Swamy could write to Timothy F Geithner about the role that is being played by the ACACI in India to fight governmental corruption at the highest levels. All the details and national/international ramifications of the Himalayan corruption of Sonia Gandhi, her sisters in Italy, the members of her extended family in India and her specially chosen corrupt Union Cabinet Ministers should be brought to the notice of FATF. The ACACI should seek an Observer status with the FATF in order to work out a fully co-ordinated and integrated strategy for combating the canker of governmental corruption in India.
The main focus of the ACACI should be to bring pressure upon the US Government through FATF to ensure that the same action as was initiated by the US Government against President Marcos of Philippines, President Mubarak of Egypt and President Ghadaffi of Libya should also be initiated against Sonia Gandhi, her extended clan and their followers/supporters both in India and Italy so that there is total Restitution of their illicit wealth to its rightful owners, namely, the people of India. If President Marcos of Philippines, President Mubarak of Egypt and President Ghadaffi of Libya can be viewed as “politically exposed persons” by the US Government for the Restitution of their illicit wealth to the common people of the three concerned countries, then there is an equally potent and valid reason for treating Sonia Gandhi as a criminal on par with those publicly disgraced political leaders in order to Restitute her illicit wealth to the looted people of India.


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The G family and Mr Q - A. Surya Prakash. Indian justice on trial - Kalyan

 

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May 1, 2012

Every possible trick has been used for covering up the Bofors bribery scandal and protecting those who got the payola. But the stain can't be washed away.

Recent revelations by Sweden’s former police chief Sten Lindstrom about the ‘political payments’ made by Bofors in connection with the Howitzer deal of 1986 has come as a huge embarrassment to the ruling UPA Government, the Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi family, all of whom have been working overtime to shield those who took bribes and commissions from that company 25 years ago.

Mr Lindstrom, who probed the allegations of bribery, has now revealed in an interview that he was the whistle-blower who gave documents exposing the scandal to Ms Chitra Subramaniam and a few other select journalists. In fact, no person in the world is better equipped to tell this story than Mr Lindstrom because he saw the documents and interviewed key persons in this ugly saga of loot and scoot.

The main points made by him in the interview published online by The Hoot are as follows: There was no direct evidence that Rajiv Gandhi received a bribe but the then Prime Minister watched the “massive cover-up” in India and Sweden and did nothing; there was conclusive evidence about payments made by Bofors to Ottavio Quattrocchi, a friend of Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi; bribes paid by Bofors landed in Quattrocchi’s account through his front company — AE Services; the payments made to Quattrocchi’s company were “political payments”, nobody in India or Sweden was allowed to interrogate Quattrocchi; Martin Ardbo, the chairman of Bofors was “terrified” about the fact that the payments to Quattrocchi would become public; Ardbo wrote in his diary that the identity of “Q” should never be revealed because of his closeness to “R”; some Indian investigators wanted Lindstrom to falsely implicate Amitabh Bachchan; and finally, Indian investigators did everything to hush up the probe.

The Congress’s response to the fresh disclosures is indeed laughable. The party’s spokespersons are going gaga over the fact that Mr Lindstrom has “exonerated” Rajiv Gandhi, but they have nothing to say about the damning indictment of Ottavio Quattrocchi.

The facts are as follows: The Bofors saga began in the early 1980s when India called for tenders for the purchase of field guns. The three main contenders for the contract were Sofma of France, AB Bofors from Sweden and Voest Alpine from Austria. Sofma was ahead of the others through the bidding and evaluation process but in the final stages Bofors pipped it to the post. Material gathered by the CBI from Sweden and Switzerland clearly establish Quattrocchi’s hand in Bofors’ success. Bofors entered into a contract with a company called AE Services in the latter part of 1985, offering three per cent commission to it if the Indian contract was concluded before March 31, 1986. Strangely, the Rajiv Gandhi Government signed the contract with Bofors on March 24, 1986 — just one week before the expiry of this deadline.
Two months later, India paid the first tranche of 20 per cent of the contract sum and Bofors, as per its deal, transferred US $7.343 million to the AE Services account in Nordfinanz Bank, Zurich. The investigators found that AE Services in turn had transferred this money to the account of Colbar Investments operated by Quattrocchi and his wife Maria. The complicity of Quattrocchi, his mentors and benefactors is further established by another bizarre fact. After the scandal broke in April 1987 and the Rajiv Gandhi Government came under a cloud, AE Services wrote to Bofors and unilaterally declared that it did not want commission on the remaining 80 per cent of the contractual value that India was to pay the company. Quattrocchi’s company therefore voluntarily surrendered US$29 million that was due to it from Bofors.

The facts about the Bofors-Quattrocchi contract were fully corroborated by our Income Tax Appellate Tribunal a year ago. It noted that Quattrocchi remained in India from February 28, 1965 to July 29, 1993, except for a brief interval from March 4, 1966 to June 12, 1968. Based on bank documents obtained from Switzerland by Indian authorities, the tribunal concluded that after India paid Bofors SEK1,682,132,196.80 (Rs 2,9615.00 lakh), equivalent to 20 per cent of the contract value, on May 2, 1986, Bofors remitted a sum of SEK50,463,966.00 (equivalent to US $7,343,941.98), on September 03, 1986, to account number 18051-53 of M/s AE Services Limited at Nordfinanz Bank, Zurich. The amount paid to AE Services worked out to exactly three per cent of the advance paid. Thereafter, the ITAT provided details of the money trail and said, while opening another account in the Union Bank of Switzerland, Geneva, Quattrocchi had mentioned his address in India as “Colony East, New Delhi / India”, “which was a fake and non-existent address”.

How did Quattrocchi, an Italian, manage to swing the deal before the expiry of the deadline? Who helped him achieve this extraordinary feat? Why did he forego further payments? These questions have been nagging Indians ever since the scandal broke in 1987.

After the UPA came to power in 2004, the Manmohan Singh Government ensured that the Italian businessman was not extradited to India after his arrest in Argentina. Thereafter, it rendered two other extraordinary services to the Nehru-Gandhi family. The Italian businessman’s bank account in UK had been frozen after the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government sent a request to London. The UPA regime stealthily informed Britain that India had no objection to de-freezing Quattrocchi’s account. UK obliged and Quattrocchi immediately cleaned out this account. Thereafter, the UPA Government directed the CBI to make an application before a court in Delhi to withdraw the criminal case of bribery against Quattrocchi.

Mr Lindstrom’s observations have shamed our investigating agencies, our system of justice and our claim that the rule of law will prevail at all times. The simple question that India has been asking for the last 25 years is: Why did Bofors pay Quattrocchi, an Italian businessman and friend of the Nehru-Gandhi family $7.3 million when we purchased guns for our Army? This brings us to another question: Will the Bofors ghost be ever exorcised? Given the shameful manner in which the Congress-led Government has shielded Quattrocchi, this ghost will forever be on the prowl and haunt the Nehru-Gandhi family time and again.

A SURYA PRAKASH

http://dailypioneer.com/columnists/item/51532-the-g-family-and-mr-q.html


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Chithra Subramaniam:போபர்ஸ்: குவாத்ராச்சிக்கு லஞ்சம் தரப்பட்டது ஏன்?

 
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டெல்லி: போபர்ஸ் நிறுவனம் குவாத்ராச்சிக்கு ஏன் ரூ. 64 கோடி லஞ்சம் தர வேண்டிய நிலைக்குத் தள்ளப்பட்டது என்ற விசாரணை நடத்தப்பட்டிருக்க வேண்டும். அது தொடர்பாக சோனியா காந்தியையும் விசாரித்திருக்க வேண்டும் என்று இந்த ஊழலை வெளிச்சத்துக்குக் கொண்டு வந்த முன்னாள் இந்து பத்திரிக்கையாளர் சித்ரா சுப்பிரமணியம் கூறியுள்ளார்.
போபர்ஸ் ஊழலை வெளியே கொண்டு வர சித்ரா சுப்பிரமணியத்துக்கு உதவியாக இருந்த ஸ்வீடன் நாட்டு காவல் துறையின் முன்னாள் தலைவர் ஸ்டென் லின்ட்ஸ்ட்ராம் 25 ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன் முதன் முறையாக வாய் திறந்துள்ளார்
Veteran journalist Chitra Subramaniam -- who blew the whistle on the infamous kickback deal on the Bofors guns, leading to the defeat of the Congress party in the 1989 general elections, and won her the 1990 Asian award for excellence in journalism -- at her office in New Delhi on March 30, 1990. 

அவர் அளித்துள்ள பேட்டியில், இந்த ஊழலில் முன்னாள் பிரதமர் ராஜிவ் காந்திக்கு நேரடி தொடர்பு இருந்ததற்கான ஆதாரம் கிடைக்கவில்லை என்று கூறியுள்ளார்.

லின்ட்ஸ்ட்ராமின் இந்தக் கருத்தை ஆதரித்துள்ள சித்ரா சுப்பிரமணியம் வேறு சில முக்கிய கேள்விகளை எழுப்பியுள்ளார். சித்ரா கூறுகையில், ராஜிவ் காந்திக்கு உள்ள தொடர்பு குறித்த ஆதாரங்கள் கிடைக்கவில்லை என்பது உண்மை தான். ஆனால், இந்திய ராணுவத்துக்கு தனது பீரங்கிகளை விற்க போபர்ஸ் நிறுவனம் ஏன் ரூ. 64 கோடியை லஞ்சமாக தர வேண்டிய நிலை ஏற்பட்டது என்பதை யோசிக்க வேண்டும்.

இத்தாலியைச் சேர்ந்த ஒட்டாவியோ குவாத்ராச்சிக்கு எதற்காக போபர்ஸ் பணம் தந்தது?. இது தொடர்பாக முழு விசாரணை நடத்தப்பட்டிருக்க வேண்டும். இந்த விசாரணையில் சோனியா காந்தியையும் சேர்த்திருக்க வேண்டும். அவரிடமும் விசாரணை நடத்தப்பட்டிருக்க வேண்டும். அப்போது தான் இந்த லஞ்சம் தரப்பட்டதற்கான உண்மையான காரணம் தெரிய வந்திருக்கும்.

மேலும் போபர்ஸ் ஊழலை மறைக்க இந்தியா, ஸ்வீடன், சுவிட்சர்லாந்து உள்பட பல்வேறு நாடுகளில் பல்வேறு மட்டங்களில் முயற்சிகள் நடந்தன.

எதற்காக குவாத்ராச்சிக்கு லஞ்சம் தந்தோம் என்பது குறித்து ஸ்டென் லின்ட்ஸ்ட்ராமிடம் போபர்ஸ் நிறுவன அதிகாரி மார்ட்டின் ஆர்ட்போ நிச்சயமாக பல தகவல்களைத் தெரிவித்திருப்பார் என்று நான் நம்புகிறேன்.

மேலும் இந்த விவகாரத்தில் அமிதாப்பச்சனையும் சேர்க்குமாறு எனக்கு பலவித நெருக்கடிகள் வந்தன. ஆனால், அதை நான் ஏற்கவில்லை என்றார்.

இதன்மூலம் குவாத்ராச்சிக்கு லஞ்சம் தரப்பட்டதற்கான பின்னணியில் சோனியா இருக்கிறார் என்பது போன்ற கருத்தை சித்ரா தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.


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Sonia Gandhi in Bofors gun’s range - Virendra Parekh

 

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Source: http://bskeshav.sulekha.com/blog/post/2011/01/cartoon-bofors-gun-booms-again.htm
Sonia Gandhi in Bofors gun’s range

Virendra Parekh

5 May 2012

Like Banco’s ghost at Macbeth’s table, Bofors refuses to go away. Every time Congress thinks the gun has fallen silent for the good, it booms again. The barrel of the Bofors gun now points unmistakably towards Sonia Gandhi, if journalists would only show the courage and perspicacity to collate facts and interpret them correctly. Politicians as a class are too compromised to attempt this.

With characteristic shamelessness, some Congress leaders demanded an apology from the opposition parties for leveling allegations against Rajiv Gandhi of accepting a bribe in the Bofors gun scandal. They did so following the recent interview given by Mr. Stan Lindstrom, former chief of Swedish Police who inquired into the Bofors swindle, saying that there is no available evidence that bribe money made it to Rajiv Gandhi’s bank account. 

Family loyalists glossed over a far more damaging assertion by the same investigator: Rajiv Gandhi watched the massive cover-up in India and Sweden and did nothing. Why? 

The clue to the political beneficiaries of Bofors payouts is money received by the British company A.E. Services. In criminal law parlance, A.E. Services is the smoking gun. In November 1985, Colonel Bob Wilson, A.E. Services’ lawyer who had served in the Gorkha Regiment, wrote a letter to Bofors MD, Martin Ardbo, offering to help him secure the gun contract from the Indian government by 31 March 1986 in return for 3 per cent commission.

The offer was clear: pay us if and only if you get the contract by 31 March 1986. Nothing was to be paid if the contract was not secured at all or secured after that date. When the offer was made, French company Sofma was the front runner among the shortlisted companies. As it happened, Bofors secured the contract on 24 March 1986. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi then handled the defence portfolio himself.

We now know that behind A.E. Services stood Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi. Money paid to A.E. Services found its way into bank accounts controlled by Quattrocchi and his wife. Over $7 million was paid from A.E. Services to Colbar Investment of which Quattrocchi was the direct beneficiary.

The logical question to ask is: who can make such an offer and also fulfill it? How can an Italian businessman swing such a large deal which had a direct bearing on Indian national security? It is an understatement to say that he was very close to the decision maker(s). It may be more accurate to say that he was acting as a dummy for them. That alone could give him the confidence to make the kind of offer he did.

How Rajiv Gandhi and subsequent governments beholden to the Gandhi family tried to shield Quattrocchi is by now well known and well documented. How he was allowed to slip out of the country by the Narasimha Rao government, how nobody in Sweden or Switzerland was allowed to question him, how he flew out of Malaysia over the weekend before a plea for his extradition to India could come up in court on Monday, how after being arrested by Interpol in Argentina he walked free because CBI goofed up in furnishing documents, how his bank accounts in London were allowed to be de-frozen and how he cleansed them the next day - all this is too well known to need repetition.

The relevant question is: Why was this Italian businessman of such tremendous importance to the Prime Minister of India that he staked the survival of his own government to ensure that he never opened his mouth? Whom was Rajiv Gandhi trying to protect by shielding Quattrocchi? Would he do all this for an Italian businessman or for someone far nearer and dearer? The answer is easy to guess, though only Quattrocchi can confirm the same.

It would not have been difficult to establish the truth if even one government since had taken genuine interest in getting to the bottom of the case. Congress governments headed by Rajiv Gandhi, Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh could hardly have been interested in pursuing the case, for obvious reasons. Governments beholden to Congress, such as those headed by Chandrashekhar, Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujaral would also not wonder in the vicinity of the truth for their own survival.

That leaves only the V.P. Singh and A.B. Vajpayee governments which could have followed the case in a meaningful manner. V.P. Singh had Arun Nehru as an important member of his cabinet and party. Arun Nehru was directly linked to the deal and even found a mention in Martin Ardbo’s diary under the code name N and Nero. V.P. Singh himself was more interested in milking the scandal for political gains. His government registered a case and had some Swiss accounts frozen, but did little else. Lindstrom tells us that Indian investigators who came to Sweden were more interested in implicating Amitabh Bachchan in the case than anything else, for reasons that remain unclear to this day.

The country had high hopes from the Vajpayee government. Not only was it beyond the shadow of the Gandhi family (or so one thought), but it also included Arun Shourie who had played a major role in exposing the scandal as firebrand editor of Indian Express. But its record on Bofors was no better than that of others. Who tied its hands? For whose benefit? The Hindujas were recipients of the Bofors commission and were said to be close to some BJP leaders. The BJP leadership therefore cuts a sorry figure when it demands a fresh probe into the scandal.

Why rake up the mud now? Because there are worrying similarities between 1980s and now: a rudderless government, a faltering economy, an insurgent anti-corruption movement, and weakness on the external economic front. As then, so now, India’s defence procurement is insufficiently transparent, and open to misuse by influence peddlers. India is still not proactive enough in catching those using offshore accounts to bypass Indian law. And the central figure in the Bofors saga continues to call the shots.

Tailpiece: “In 2004, when I asked Lindstrom to name some living persons who had full details of the Bofors kickbacks he responded without hesitation, ‘Martin Ardbo, Ottavio Quattrocchi and Sonia Gandhi.’” Seema Mustafa, DNA, 27 April 2012.

The author is Executive Editor, Corporate India, and lives in Mumbai

http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=2293


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Sonia joke with Queen of England: surrounded with intelligent people

 

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Sonia Gandhi with the Queen of England.

Sonia - "Your Majesty, now that I am also a Queen... of the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty in India...are there... any tips you can give to me to stay in power?"

‎"Well," said the Queen, "the most important thing is to surround yourself with intelligent people."

Sonia frowned, and then asked, "But how do I know the people around me are intelligent?"

The Queen took a sip of tea. "Oh, that's easy; you just ask them to answer an intelligent riddle.

"The Queen pushed a button on her intercom. "David - would you come in here, please ?"

David Cameron walked into the room and said, "Yes, Your Majesty?"

The Queen smiled and said, "Answer me this please, David, your mother and father have a child.

It is not your brother and it is not your sister. Who is it?"

Without pausing for a moment, David Cameron answered, "That would be me, ma’am."

" Very good ! Thank you , David - that will be all!" said the Queen. Then she turned to Sonia with a smile and said “See?”.

Sonia went back to India and called Manmohan Singh and asked "Manmohanji, answer this for me. Your mother and your father have a child. It's not your brother and it's not your sister. Who is it?"

"I'm not sure," said Manmohan. "Let me get back to you on that one..."

Manmohan went to his advisors and asked every one, but none could give him an answer.

Finally, he ran into Narendra Modi and asked, “Narendrabhai, can you answer this for me? Your mother and father have a child and it's not your brother or your sister. Who is it?"

Narendra Modi answered, "That's easy, it's me!"

Manmohan said, "Thanks!" Then, he phoned Sonia. " Madam , I did some thinking and I have the answer to that riddle.
It's Narendra Modi !!!"

Sonia slapped her head and shouted ,

"No! No! You idiot! It's David Cameron!"


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Swamy's letter considered by Kalam for Govt formation in 2004 (President Secretariat's letter of 26 April 2012)

 

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http://www.docstoc.com/docs/120066917/RB_SWAMY_
RB_SWAMY_



FIRST APPEAL UNDER SECTION 19(1) OF RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT

Smt Rasika Chaube
Joint Secretary & Appellate Authority
President’s Secretariat
Rashtrapati Bhawan
New Delhi-110004

Sir
I vide my RTI petition dated 11.04.2012 sought complete and detailed information together with related documents/file-notings/correspondence etc on under-mentioned aspects relating to formation of government at the centre when Dr Manmohansingh was appointed Prime Minister for the first time in the year 2004:
1. Complete and detailed information together related correspondence/documents/file-notings etc on Honourable President of India inviting Dr Manmohansingh to take charge as Prime Minister of India
2. Copies of letters/correspondence etc by individuals, political parties and others etc staking claim to form the government before Dr Manmohansingh was ultimately invited to form the government
3. Copies of replies, if any, by Honourable President of India and/or President’s Secretariat to any such claims to form the government together with related correspondence/doicuments/file-notings etc
4. Is it true that certain individuals, political parties and/or others etc had objected against some particular person being invited to form the government?
5. If yes, copies of all such letters together with replies, if any, by Honourable President of India and/or President’s Secretariat to any such objections together with related correspondence/doicuments/file-notings etc on drafting such replies
6. Is it true that Dr Subramanium Swamy has also made some correspondence with Honourable President of India and/or President’s Secretariat on the aspect/s referred in queries above?
7. If yes, copies of letters by Dr Subramanium Swamy together with replies if any enclosing also file-notings/correspondence/documents etc on drafting such replies
8. Any other related information
9. File-notings on movement of this RTI petition also

Learned CPIO vide response number 0062/RTI/04/12-13 dated 26th April 2012 declined information on points (6) and (7) exempted under section 8(1)(e) of RTI Act. It is surprising that when author of the letter namely Dr Subramanium Swamy is openly revealing through media about contents of the letter, how President’s Secretariat could claim information to be fiduciary in nature! Significantly CPIO has himself confessed that the then Honourable President of India exercised his to appoint thr Prime Minister based on that letter. At the most, CPIO could invite ‘Third Party’ comments under section 11 of RTI Act on disclosing the said letter from Dr Subramanium Swamy within five days of receipt of RTI petition, which was not done making the provision infructuous now at this stage.

Otherwise also, it is an aspect requiring disclosure under section 8(2) of RTI Act which allows access to information if public-interest outweighs the harm to be protected, because the important issue relates to possible denial of claim for the post of Prime Minister to an Indian citizen and distinguished Parliamentarian as evident from media-reports. People have right to know how and why the claim for the post of Prime Minister by the said dignitary was refused because of objection raised by Dr Subramanium swamy. Honourable Mr Justice S Ravindra Bhatt of Delhi High Court in the matter “Bhagat Singh Vs. CIC (W.P.(C) No.3114/2007)” has held that the Right to Information Act being a right based enactment is akin to a welfare measure and as such should receive liberal interpretation. I appeal that learned CPIO may kindly be directed to provide sought information together with related and sought documents but now to be provided free-of-cost under section 7(6) of RTI Act.

SUBHASH CHANDRA AGRAWAL
(Guinness Record Holder & RTI Activist)
1775 Kucha Lattushah
Dariba, Chandni Chowk
DELHI 110006 (India)
Mobile 9810033711 Fax 23254036
E-mail subhashmadhu@sify.com
Web www.subhashmadhu.com
03.05.2012


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ON RAHUL GANDHI’S ASSETS & EDUCATION – GUEST POST BY ANJANA BHARTIA

3 MAY 2012
Dear All: It is my pleasure to publish this Guest Post by Anjana Bhartia on Rahul Gandhi’s assets and educational qualifications. Anjana has done a fine job of primary research to dig up facts, link them to sources and come to some conclusions that lead to uncomfortable questions. I doubt that we will ever get any answer to them though – such is the nature of “secrecy” and hype surrounding “The Prince”. But these questions need to be asked – especially because they are uncomfortable; and because they raise the prospect of Rahul Gandhi having knowingly or unknowingly submitted information to the Election Commission about his educational qualifications that we know is not trueThe post also raises questions about his “declared assets” – and while the numbers may add up mathematically, they are difficult to explain (to say the least). Although I do not expect any reply from RG or his minions, I wonder if anyone in mainstream media will pick up the courage to put these questions on their front pages.  This is not speculation – nor attempt to defame or slander. The questions and the points they raise – are based on publicly available, verified information – which can be cross-checked fairly easily by anyone with a good access to the internet or official records. Without further ado (emphasis added),
*** “Rahul Gandhi’s Assets and Education” – Guest Post Anjana Bhartia ***
There are many in the Congress party who believe that their leaders are above reproach particularly the Gandhi family. Indians are made to believe that Rahul Gandhi is a highly accomplished individual by way of his educational qualifications. Today we wish to put this to test not by floating rumours or false allegations but simply by attempting to question the sworn statements given by Rahul Gandhi himself in his affidavit filed for his Lok Sabha election. In the 2004 election Rahul Gandhi furnished the following details about his education:
  • Senior School Secondary from CBSE 1989
  • MPhil in (Development Economics), Trinity College, Cambridge University in 1995
No details of his Graduation were deemed necessary to be declared.  However in 2009 election the following details were declared:
  • Senior Secondary from Central Board of Secondary Education 1989
  • Bachelor of Arts from Rollins College, Florida in 1994
  • MPhil in (Development Economics), Trinity College, Cambridge University in 1995
Please note the subject of specialisation. It says “Development Economics”. According to the official website of Cambridge University there is no such course as Development Economics. Now, agreed that ten years is a long time. But is it long enough to make a person forget the stream they studied in college? Rahul Gandhi’s subject for MPhil was Development Studies not Development Economics which is something entirely different. Was this an unintentional mistake or deliberately misleading, meant to create a false illusion of academic accomplishment?
Educational qualifications aside, Rahul Gandhi’s possessions seem to present an even more curious case .According to what is largely believed Rahul has dedicated himself to the welfare of this country and its people therefore his only job is being a responsible MP.  Tabled below is a very modest calculation of his said income (with many generous assumptions to give him the benefit of doubt).
Following are some of the assets declared by him in 2004 in his own sworn affidavit for MP elections:
After 5 years RG has declared the following assets in his 2009 affidavit:
The analysis which shows a massive growth in assets (Rs 1 crore, 43 Lakhs (203%!) in spite of a somewhat modest income/earnings during this period (Rs 25 Lakhs). This raises numerous questions, to say the least.
  • What is the source of this very significant increase in wealth?
  • Did Rahul Gandhi invest the amount in the intervening years in shares/assets that appreciated very significantly and sold these off before the 2009 election (since they do not appear on this statement)?
  • Is this increase in wealth the result of income of inheritance from a Trust Fund that paid out?
  • Does this amount include gift(s) by family members or friends or well-wishers)?
Leaders are expected to lead by example. Rahul Gandhi has declared the value of 6 acres of his (undivided) ancestral property in a prime area in Delhi at a meagre Rs 28 Lakhs. A farmhouse with farmland of 4.6 acres is valued at a paltry Rs 9Lakhs and 80Thousand Rupees. Is this really the true value? If it is, I would happily fork over twice of his estimated/declared price for such a prime piece of land (and I am sure there are others who would be happy to get on this “bargain” too!). Is he a fool or does he take us to be fools? Andwhat is the source of these assets? Did he inherit the land? From whom? And when? Of course he can always say he is not bound to declare  the source of these assets but that would not really be setting an example, would it?
If this how Congressmen value their assets no wonder 2G spectrum and coal blocks were sold off at throwaway prices!
*** End ***
About Anjana (in her own words):
I am an Economics Grad who somehow managed to do an MBA inMarketing… Till about a year ago I was living happily in my own cocoon. I like many youngsters believed that politics did not affectmy day to day life. However over the past one year I have started noticing the things around me and come to the realization that it isbecause of bad politics and our poor leaders. I’ve read somewhere that in a democracy people get the government they deserve. I however believe that India deserves better.
Comments, thoughts welcome as always. Pl do share among friends and family. This is the kind of “news” that not many channels and newspaper would cover or reportThanks Anjana, for this great piece of painstaking and thorough research. Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!
P.S. Note that Anjana has made several assumptions in this post that give RG the benefit of doubt. His actual declared assets in 2004 and 2009 are reported here (emphasis added):
  • In 2004, he declared total assets of Rs 22 lakh. In five years, the assets of the first-time MP have shot up 10 times to 2.25 crore.
  • In 2004, he held bank deposits of Rs 11 lakh, £30,000 and $19,200; shares of Rs 3.9 lakh; LIC and other savings certificates in Rs 3.80 lakh; jewellery worth Rs 1.25 lakh; and a farm house worth Rs 9.8 lakh.
  • In 2009, he holds bank deposits of about Rs 20 lakh, LIC and other savings certificates of Rs 10.2 lakh; land worth Rs 40 lakh, jewellery worth Rs 1.5 lakh; and two shops in a mall worth Rs 1.63 crore.

http://satyameva-jayate.org/2012/05/03/rahul-gandhis-assets-education/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SatyamevaJayate+%28||+Satyameva+Jayate+||%29



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Anxious Congress ponders early polls to cut the lossses -- Sunday Guardian

 

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Anxious Congress ponders early polls to cut the lossses

The party is worried that voter discontent with the Manmohan Singh government is pulling down its image and that of the Gandhi family.

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI | 13th May

pm-and-rahul365_1336905720.gif

Prime Minister Manmohan singh and Rahul Gandhi. Reuters

Worried about the electoral consequences of an economic meltdown next year, Congress president Sonia Gandhi is seriously contemplating an election by the end of this year. The calculation is that Congress is still in a position to win about 135 Lok Sabha seats and therefore can support a non-BJP government on the lines of the Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral model in 1996 and 1997. The fear is that an election 18 or 22 months later could push the Congress to less than 100 seats and make it irrelevant to government formation.

Mrs Gandhi is also concerned that the growing unpopularity of the Manmohan Singh government is finally affecting the image of the Gandhi family, including both Sonia Gandhi and heir Rahul. Voter discontent was manifest in the recent Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, when the Congress fared poorly in Amethi and Rae Bareli, despite vigorous campaign swings by the ruling family, especially daughter Priyanka. A group functioning under the supervision of Rahul Gandhi has been regularly polling groups of voters to gauge the intensity of public discontent. "Focus groups" have also been set up to bring up issues that can lift Congress fortunes. These are now increasingly reporting that the government is pulling down the image of the party in a way that is seemingly irreversible.

Privately, Rahul aides are dismissive of the Manmohan Singh team, referring to the senior (citizen) ministers as the "Jurassic Park". The PM, the External Affairs Minister and the Finance Minister are well into their eighth decade of life, and Home Minister Chidambaram is considered "youthful" at 66; this does not gel with voters who are a far younger demographic. Those close to Rahul Gandhi say that the Prime Minister is "resisting large-scale changes in either personnel or policies". At the same time, Rahul's opinion surveys are increasingly throwing up data which suggest that voters are "turning negative about the Congress president, because of the perception that she is not taking any action to reverse the rot".


The fear is that an election 18 or 22 months later could push the Congress to less than 100 seats and make it irrelevant to government formation.

While Rahul Gandhi, according to some of his associates, "is willing to see his party outside government" for a spell, Sonia Gandhi would like to ensure that "the next government rely on Congress for its majority" in case the party cannot itself lead the next coalition. For this, the focus groups say that "a minimum of 135 Lok Sabha seats is needed" and that "the more the election gets pushed back, the lower will be the Congress tally". The fear is of an economic crisis by mid-2013 causing a rapid erosion of the Congress vote bank. Hence, those in the know of discussions within the actual "core group" of the Congress (Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka) say that the family has decided on a snap poll, most likely before March 2013. The advantage would be to put the Opposition on the back foot, as well as face the people before the negative effects of the economic crisis become more pervasive.

The plan is to ensure passage of populist legislation such as the Right to Food Bill by the close of the next session of Parliament, and to launch a broadside against the Opposition by highlighting its past failures in governance. One idea is to hold a general election along with the Gujarat Assembly elections so that Narendra Modi is at the top of voter consciousness. This would, according to Congress strategists, ensure the return of the Muslim vote to the party.

According to key individuals involved in political planning, "informal lists have already been prepared of prospective candidates for the Lok Sabha elections", as well as of current MPs who are in danger of losing their seat because of poor performance or perception. These individuals say that the lists "are being vetted by Sonia Gandhi" but are not being shared with office-bearers of the party, for now. Should the Congress president go ahead with her plans, the country is likely to witness several populist initiatives during the year, followed by a snap dissolution of the Lok Sabha and a fresh election, "which may even take place this year", according to one of those involved in the tracking of voter opinion for the ruling family.

http://www.sunday-guardian.com/news/anxious-congress-ponders-early-polls-to-cut-the-lossses


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Snap elections and counterfeit notes around the corner - Dr. Swamy

 

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Subramanian Swamy ‏ @Swamy39
therefore a snap election around the corner
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8hSubramanian Swamy ‏ @Swamy39
Fearful EVM magic will no more work,Vishkanya has deputed Q &Anushka in London to get Rs 100 crores printed counterfeit&ship it to Guj port.


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Scams : Vadra, tip of the iceberg and Nehru-Gandhi clan

 
Arms manufacturer met Rahul Gandhi?
View SCAN COPY of itinerary foreign officials of Sig Sauer:
http://www.scribd.com/dharmanext/d/91620147-Arms-manufacturer-met-Rahul-Gandhi 

Rajiv Gandhi KGB payoffs allegation - KGB: The State Within a State
View SCAN COPY of the pages which mention Rajiv Gandhi:
http://www.scribd.com/dharmanext/d/82401168-Rajiv-Gandhi-KGB-payoffs-allegation-KGB-The-State-Within-a-State 

Rajiv Gandhi Swiss Bank Accounts allegation - Schweizer Illustrierte, 11 November, 1991
View SCAN COPY of Schweizer Illustrierte's issue of 11 November, 1991
http://www.scribd.com/dharmanext/d/75105765-Rajiv-Gandhi-Swiss-Bank-Accounts-allegation-Schweizer-Illustrierte-11-November-1991 

Robert Vadra .. And The Tip Of The Iceberg 
An EYE-OPENING expose of Robert Vadra by Economic Times
http://dharmanext.blogspot.in/2012/04/robert-vadra-and-tip-of-iceberg.html

Arms manufacturer met Rahul Gandhi?

Rajiv Gandhi KGB payoffs allegation - KGB: The State Within a State

Rajiv Gandhi Swiss Bank Accounts allegation - Schweizer Illustrierte, 11 November, 1991

04 April, 2012
Robert Vadra .. And The Tip Of The Iceberg


Rohini Singh & Sruthijith KK, The Economic Times

Vadra Makes Low-Key Entry into Real Estate

Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law ties up with DLF, buys tracts of land in tier-3 cities in Haryana & Rajasthan

New Delhi-based entrepreneur Robert Vadra, married into the country’s most powerful family, has made a quiet and relatively unheralded entry into the real estate business, including a partnership with DLF Ltd, India’s largest realty firm.

Vadra, the son-in-law of the ruling United Progressive Alliance coalition chairperson Sonia Gandhi, has stayed away from electoral politics, maintaining that he wants to be known as a businessman. In interviews he has said that his focus is on Artex, a small company specialising in jewellery and handicraft exports.

That seems to be changing as 42-year-old Vadra, known for his punishing fitness regime and love for fast bikes, has sought to scale up and diversify his business activities since 2008, acquiring tracts of land in Haryana and Rajasthan, a 50% stake in a leading business hotel in Delhi, and attempting an entry into the business of chartering aircraft.

Regulatory filings available in the public domain and reviewed by ET reporters reveal the changing graph of Vadra’s business interests. These include wide-ranging transactions with the DLF Group. Several of his companies have received loans, some unsecured, from DLF group companies, including the Bombay Stock Exchange-listed flagship DLF Ltd.

A JOINT VENTURE AND SOME LOANS

Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd, a company wholly owned by Vadra and his mother Maureen Vadra, is a partner, along with DLF Hotel Holdings and others, in a partnership firm that owns the business hotel Hilton Garden Inn in the upscale South Delhi business district Saket. The hotel is located within the DLF Place mall, also known as DLF Courtyard.

“The Hilton Garden Inn Hotel in Saket is a small business hotel. I have interest in hospitality and am happy to be part of the hotel,” Vadra told ET, speaking on the phone from Europe, where he is travelling presently. He said the business association with DLF stemmed from a long-standing friendship with the family that controls the realty giant.

“I have known the DLF people for a long time and they are friends of mine. I had wanted to invest in real estate and one thing led to another. Right now, I can only be part of a small hotel. If I were taking favours from people I would be doing far bigger things. But I am doing this on my own. I can’t expand immediately but I hope to expand a few years down the line,” he added.

DLF HAS GIVEN LOANS TO VADRA'S COMPANIES

DLF has also extended loans to various companies owned by Vadra. Some of these are unsecured loans or debt without any collateral. As on March 2009, Sky Light Hospitality had received unsecured loans amounting to 25 crore from DLF Ltd. As on March 2010, only 10 crore remained. It's unclear from the statement of accounts if the rest was paid back or written off.

Sky Light Hospitality has, in turn, loaned money to other Vadra-owned companies such as Blue Breeze Trading Pvt Ltd, North India IT Parks Pvt Ltd, Real Earth Estates Pvt Ltd and Sky Light Realty Pvt Ltd. Blue Breeze Trading, a company incorporated in 2007 with Vadra and his wife Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as first directors and equal shareholders, is in the business of chartering aircraft. The company, however, seems to have done little business, apart from acquiring agricultural land.

Priyanka Gandhi ceased to be a director as on July 2008. She is no longer a shareholder. Real Earth Estates Pvt Ltd also had a 5 crore loan directly from DLF on its books as on March 2010. The joint venture firm Saket Courtyard Hospitality had received 3.58 crore of unsecured loans from DLF Hotel Holdings Ltd, the group company that owned 50% stake in the JV.

"The business relationship of DLF Group with Robert Vadra has been in his capacity as an individual entrepreneur and on a completely transparent and arms-length basis. DLF has always respected and complied with Mr Vadra's explicit directions and wish to not utilise his name or association in any manner whatsoever. The business relationship has been conducted to the highest standards of ethics and transparency," a DLF spokesman said in a statement. The company said it intended to respond to a detailed questionnaire sent by ET on March 9. At the time of going to press, no response was received.

LAND IN TIER-3 TOWNS

Vadra’s companies have also been acquiring tracts of land in recent years. Sky Light Hospitality acquired 5 bighas in Sohna, Haryana, for 7.9 crore during the first year of operation - 2007-08. In 2008-09, the company's fixed assets included land acquired in Manesar for 15.3 crore and by the next fiscal, the company also had bought land in Bikaner for 79 lakh. The acreage of land is unknown.

Vadra's company, North India IT Parks, has been the most prolific acquirer of land. During 2009-10, the company acquired 160.62 acres (including 85.62 acres of agricultural land) in Bikaner for 1.02 crore. Another Vadraowned firm, Real Earth Estates, acquired varying quantities (undisclosed) of land in Hayatpur, Bikaner, Hassanpur, Mewat and New Delhi's pricey Greater Kailash (Part II) neighbour-hood, during 2009-10. The company paid a total of 7 crore.

Sky Light Realty has bought an undisclosed amount of agricultural land in Palwal, Haryana, and Bikaner, Rajasthan, which collectively cost the company 89 lakh. The company also has land in Hayatpur, Haryana, which cost 1 crore. The company has also paid 5.2 crore to DLF for buying seven flats at DLF's Magnolia apartment complex in Gurgaon.

Another 5 crore has been spent on flats at the Capital Green complex owned by DLF Estates Pvt Ltd. This might be related to a 'Booking of Flats' business under a joint venture between Sky Light Realty and Sky Light Hospitality, both Vadraowned companies. Vadra said he could explain the details of these transactions after he returns and reviews the documents on which this newspaper has based its questions. However, he said buying up land in tier-3 cities was part of a deliberate strategy akin to value investing.

“I've been investing in real estate every time I make money from my other businesses. I make investments in tier-3 towns because it is cheaper to invest there. I usually liquidate my real estate assets whenever I can, but I have no intention to develop. I invest like anyone else, in remote areas," Vadra told ET.

However, at least one of his companies has expressed its intention to enter the construction business. The directors' report accompanying the audited accounts of Real Earth Estates for 2009-10, says: "During the year, the company has purchased land in the state of Haryana and Rajasthan. A plot in Delhi has also been purchased during the year. The company has entered into joint venture arrangement with Sky Light Realty. Very soon the company hopes to enter into the field of construction. Necessary legal formalities are being completed in this respect."

There have been murmurs in the past about Vadra's interest in realty. Vadra's lawyers served a legal notice on the realty firm BPTP Ltd in 2006, alleging the firm has been "intentionally, falsely, and fraudulently claiming that several of their projects were part-owned by Robert Vadra and that he was helping them in their Real Estate Development Business”.

Vadra told ET that BPTP has been exploiting his name. "BPTP has been exploiting my name for a long time. In the past I have served them legal notices as well," Vadra said. "I've been married for 14 years but I keep away from politics. I am still grounded. I am because of my own talent and I have to prove myself. I do not try to benefit from my family. I never take obligations from people because if I do then they will ask me for something bigger in return,” he said.

FRIENDS AND FAMILY

But DLF was different. "I have a good understanding with DLF. Our children are friends, we are friends. They are seasoned businessmen. They are not daft. They are educated, sensible people and are reasonable and shrewd in their business. They don't need me to enhance them. They've existed for years," he said. DLF, founded in 1946, has enjoyed spectacular commercial success and built much of Gurgaon, a suburb of Delhi.

Moradabad-born Vadra, whose mother is Scottish, rose to national prominence when he married Priyanka Gandhi in 1997. Because he is married into the Nehru family, Vadra's life and activities attract a great deal of interest.

Vadra maintains a small group of friends in Delhi and is known for his interest in fitness, cycling and aviation. He has been forthcoming in recent interviews about his fitness regimen, cycling and the motorcycles he own. He is often seen at public ceremonies and state events with Priyanka Gandhi. The couple has two children - Raihan and Miraya. "People can imagine all kinds of things about me but people who matter to me know me and know how I am," Vadra said.

http://dharmanext.blogspot.in/2012/04/robert-vadra-and-tip-of-iceberg.html


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HOME SWEET HOME 
Priyanka Gandhi rebuilds dream house in the hills 

Anand Bodh TNN 

Shimla: The construction of Priyanka Gandhi Vadras dream house in the scenic and serene Chharabra village of Himachal Pradesh,about 12km from the capital city of Shimla,has started again after the previous structure was razed to the ground last year.
Changes have been made in the interior as well as the exterior of the proposed two-anda-half storey structure that would be in-sync with the architectural needs of construction in hilly terrain.
Priyankas dream project is taking shape in the lush green surroundings of the sparsely-populated village that is home to cherry and apple trees.Construction started last week after all the proposed changes in the design were made.Two months back,Priyanka had visited the site and held detailed discussions with the architects.She had bought four-and-a-half bighas of land in Chharabra to build her dream house.
Sources close to the Gandhi family told TOI that the new house has many changes.An important one is that more wood would be used instead of cement.Size of the rooms has been reduced while the foundation has been dug deeper to strengthen the structure.The rooftop would be covered with slates in accordance with hill architecture, sources said.
Sources said that Priyanka was particularly unhappy with the small size of the drawing room in the earlier structure and that part has been taken care of in the new design.All the required permissions from the concerned authorities have been taken and now the focus is on speeding-up the construction, sources said.
It was only after permission from the President that Priyanka was allowed to construct a cottage as her plot is located next to The Retreat,a summer holiday resort of the President.

Pc0122200.jpg 

 


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How Bofors case got buried. Doesn't rule of law allow re-opening of burials when there was miscarriage of justice?

 

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Guns and poses

26 May 2012

N K Singh recounts how the Rajiv Gandhi government incriminated itself on three counts and the Congress-led UPA government did its best to bury the Bofors investigation 

The recent interview given by former Swedish police investigator, Mr Sten Lindstrom, on the Bofors deal, has once again brought to the fore the controversy about this contract ~ one of the main issues over which the 1989 Lok Sabha election was fought. In particular, Mr Lindstorm’s remarks that Rajiv Gandhi did nothing about the massive cover-up and that the evidence against Mr Ottavio Quattrocchi was conclusive have generated a lot of heat. Notwithstanding the belief that people’s memories are short, they are not prepared to forget allegations of this sort at high places. In respect of this deal, the Rajiv Gandhi government incriminated itself most on three counts.

The first was the way it reacted to the Swedish radio broadcast of 16 April, 1987 that Bofors had paid commissions to win the contract. This was not straightaway very damaging as such things can happen behind the back of any government. A prompt transparent enquiry could have nipped the trouble in bud. In contrast, the response was one of successive denials. Late Rajiv Gandhi was clearly on the defensive.

The first few steps seemed in order. Our then Ambassador in Sweden, BM Oza, who was holidaying in the UK, was recalled from leave and asked to verify facts and report. The Ambassador was able to contact the acting chief of Swedish radio, who told him that the story had been filed by a headquarters correspondent, Magnus Neilson, who possessed details of payment of commissions by Bofors, “in the form of bank transfers of sums of money through Swedish Central bank into coded accounts of the agents in the Swiss banks”. The acting chief, however, declined to pass on further information. Nonetheless, Ambassador Oza succeeded in obtaining a tape of the radio broadcast, which he sent to India.

But the powers here at home insisted on immediately getting a denial from the Swedish authorities. The Swedish state’s secretary for foreign trade, Carl John Oberg whom Ambassador Oza ultimately contacted, appropriately said that the first step was investigation and not outright denial of the radio report. In India, not only were the allegations rubbished, but the Congress working committee, in a resolution adopted on 18 April, 1987, presided over by Rajiv Gandhi, said “an atmosphere of cynicism and despair is being fostered undermining the confidence and determination of the nation.” The fact of the matter was that even though the controversy broke out on 16 April, 1987 with the Swedish radio broadcast, and the nation and Parliament were repeatedly told that nobody, howsoever high, “will be allowed to go free”, nothing worthwhile was done. It was only when the VP Singh government assumed office that a regular case was registered by the CBI on 22 June, 1990 and an investigation taken up.

The second count was the way all suggestions and moves to coerce Bofors to disclose details of the deal were shot down in some way or the other at the highest level here in government. We have the corroboration on this from Ambassador Oza and late Army chief K Sunderji. Much more damning information, however, came later, in 2010, in an account given by former comptroller-general late CG Somiah, in his book The Honest Always Stand Alone.

Arun Nehru and Arun Singh, close friends, had been inducted by Rajiv Gandhi, as ministers of state, in home and defence respectively. Because of their proximity to the PM, both of them wielded enormous power. Ultimately, however, both left the government under circumstances leading to a lot of speculation. One persistent view was that Arun Singh left the Rajiv Gandhi government on account of his differences over Bofors.

This has been confirmed by Somiah in his book. He writes that much later when he questioned Arun Singh during a chance meeting on a flight from Hyderabad to Delhi as to why he had resigned, Singh told him he had no other option but to do so when the Prime Minister did not support his decision to invite the chairman of Bofors for a discussion in Delhi to clarify certain aspects of the case. He writes further that NN Vohra, then additional secretary, ministry of defence, who had worked with Arun Singh, confirmed this account later. Much earlier, Mr Vohra had been quoted as saying that Rajiv Gandhi had “lit up”, at him, when he had gone to him with some such message. Somiah goes on to write that after General Sunderji had retired and settled in Coonoor, the latter told him he had sent a secret note to the Prime Minister, suggesting cancellation of the entire deal with Bofors, but the note was returned to him by SK Bhatnagar, then defence secretary, without any action on his suggestion. Bhatnagar confirmed this to him, though he had his own grievance against the CBI, for prosecuting him in the case.

Somiah then added that Bhatnagar had shared some secrets with him that unravelled the Bofors case, “but they necessarily have to remain secret”. Somiah was well known for his honesty and integrity, and what he has written should be believed. The only regret is that he stopped short of unravelling the secrets shared by Bhatnagar which should have been disclosed in public interest even at a later stage. But whatever he has disclosed is very damaging, I think, to Rajiv Gandhi. A joint parliamentary committee that was ultimately constituted did not inspire confidence. The Opposition boycotted it.

The third, of course, was the case of Italian national, Mr Ottavio Quattrochhi. In the long history of the Bofors case, the action of the government to help de-freeze the London accounts of Mr Quattrochhi was perhaps the most sordid chapter. It was worse than even what Mr Madhavsinh Solanki, foreign minister under PV Narasimha Rao, had done when he had quietly passed on an unsigned memo to his Swiss counterpart at Davos, suggesting suspension of investigation in Switzerland. Mr Quattrochhi was the last to enter the scene in this deal. His AE Services came into the picture on 3 August, 1985, and its solicitor, Mr Bob Wilson, signed an agreement with Bofors on 15 November, 1985, for payment of 3 per cent commission by the company to it, but which, significantly, also stipulated that commission would not be paid to AE Services if the contract was not awarded by 26 March, 1986. And lo and behold, the contract was cleared in double quick time by the Union Cabinet on 23 March, 1986.

In June 2003, Interpol reportedly alerted the CBI that it had detected two accounts held by Mr Quattrochhi and his wife, Maria, with BSIAG Bank, London. The accounts held a total of Rs 21 crore. On the strength of a Letter Rogatory obtained by the CBI from the designated special court in Delhi, the two London accounts were frozen in July 2003. The CBI had contended in its petition to British authorities that Mr Quattrochhi “in a deceitful manner had been transferring funds from one account to another to evade detection by the law”. The agency had also claimed that it was believed that “the amount of three million slashed away in the account was part of 7.34 million US dollars paid to him (Mr Quattrochhi) by AB Bofors through AE Services.” The Crown prosecution service had argued on behalf of CBI before the United Kingdom Court of Appeal that there was need to probe the source of deposit and the British High Court had upheld the contention of the agency then.

The beginning of 2006, however, saw a complete somersault by the Government of India in pursuing the case against Mr Quattrochhi. A stunned nation heard Union minister of law, Mr HR Bhardwaj, telling a television channel, on 12 January, 2006 that the government had conveyed to the Crown prosecution service in UK its opinion to defreeze the two bank accounts held by Mr Quattrochhi. “We have conveyed to them the recent rulings of Delhi High Court rejecting the case against Hinduja brothers as well as status of investigation,” Mr Bhardwaj said.

It transpired that in an unprecedented move, the additional solicitor-general of India, Mr B Dutta, was sent all the way to London to brief the Crown Prosecution Service that CBI did not have any evidence to link the deposits of Mr Quattrochhi in a London bank with the Bofors pay-offs. We knew so far of investigating and senior law officers of the government being deputed abroad for pursuing cases or nabbing the culprits, but never for helping an accused getting out of legal clutches, particularly one who had been evading appearance, and against whom a non-bailable warrant and a Interpol red-corner notice had been issued. Why this compulsion to help?
The High Court in London ordered on 11 January, 2006 that the two accounts be de-freezed. A lawyer, Mr Ajay Agrawal, moved the Supreme Court the next day for directions to the government to prevent de-freezing of the two bank accounts in London. A three-member Bench comprising Chief Justice Mr YK Sabharwal, Mr Justice CK Thakker and Mr Justice RV Raveendran made it clear on 15 January, 2006 that it must be ensured that Mr Quattrochhi did not withdraw the money until further orders. Political parties, including the Communist Party of India (Marxist), an ally of the government, was outraged and wanted the government to retrace its steps. The BJP alleged collusion and asked for the dismissal of Mr Bhardwaj.

Nothing worked. During the hearing of the petition on 21 January, 2006, the Supreme Court was informed by the additional solicitor-general of India, Mr Gopal Subramanium that Mr Quattrochhi had withdrawn Rs 21 crore on 16 January, 2006 itself, soon after the order of the court to maintain the status quo. When Mr Subramanium told the court that there was “no longer any reasonable prospect of the case against Quattrochhi proceeding to trial,” the Bench told Mr Subramanium: “Why don’t you file a closure report before the special court?” Mr Subramanium replied that the CBI had now taken the position that there was no case to proceed against Mr Quattrochhi. To the delight of all in the government and others who wanted to help Mr Quattrochhi, a fait accompli was presented. Ultimately, on 29 September, 2009, Mr Subramanium told the Supreme Court Bench comprising Chief Justice Mr KG Balakrishnan and Mr Justice P Sathasivam and Mr Justice BS Chauhan that “the Central government has consented for withdrawal of the prosecution of Quattrochhi.” He further indicated that the CBI would file the closure report in the court of the chief metropolitan magistrate on 3 October, 2009. The CBI duly did so and the prosecution against Mr Quattrochhi was withdrawn. This is how a grand burial was given to the Bofors case.

The writer is a former joint director, CBI, who retired as director-general, Bureau of Police Research and Development

http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=411279&catid=39
 


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Rahul Gandhi to marry Afghani Muslim convert to Christianity?


RAHUL 'HAS AN AFGHAN LADY LOVE'

The Sunday Guardian, 24th June, 2012
RAHUL%2B%2527HAS%2BAN%2BAFGHAN%2BLADY%2BLOVE%2527.jpg


The Afghan expat community is a-twitter, with news that India's Future PM Rahul Gandhi may be ''seriously involved" with a grand-daughter of the late Zahir Shah, the hereditary King of Afghanistan. The charming Afghan princess is even reported to be a converted Christian. Some informants speak of the pair “praying together on Sundays” in what these sources describe as a “home chapel” at the residence of Rahul’s mother. The two have reportedly been seen together in the Aman Hotel in Delhi, which is known to be a regular haunt of the Future PM, who spends hours there in the Fitness Centre, trying to develop biceps that can challenge those of Shah Rukh Khan and Robert Vadra. The young lady from the Afghan royal family is known to be very well brought up, with a gentle mien and a generous nature. Hence, Rahul’s buddies hope that this time around, the Future PM will not walk away from a lady friend (as he has on numerous occasions in the past) but will follow the example of Papa Rajiv when he married Mamma Sonia in 1965. The personable lady could emerge as a key asset for Rahul Gandhi as he seeks to win a fresh mandate for his battered party in 2014. She has undeniable appeal to the upwardly mobile youth vote.

http://dharmanext.blogspot.in/2012/06/rahul-gandhi-to-marry-afghani-muslim.html

See also: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/will-rahul-gandhi-ever-marry/1/114729.html 
Will Rahul Gandhi Ever Marry?
KAVEREE BAMZAI | New Delhi, October 2, 2010 | 00:00 ...
"There are whispers about him currently dating the grand-daughter of the late deposed king of Afghanistan Zahir Shah. She's a jewellery designer whose mother is also Italian."

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/will-rahul-gandhi-ever-marry/1/114729.html



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Rajiv Gandhi's Swiss accounts, about Rs. 55 to 90,000 crores today. Can these amounts be restituted to the people of India?

 

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Yes, the amount in Swiss accounts can be restituted under a new Swiss Federation Law.http://www.admin.ch/ch/e/rs/1/196.1.en.pdfFederal Act on the Restitution of Assets illicitly obtained 
by Politically Exposed Persons Restitution of Illicit Assets Act (RIAA)effective 1 February 2011

Indian Parliament should nationalise such accounts of Indians held abroad and demand restitution of the wealth to the Consolidated Fund of India -- there is a precedent: nationalisation, in 1969, of 14 major private banks by Indira Gandhi.

Kalyanaraman

Will Congress & BJP defend the honour of Rajiv Gandhi?
June 25, 2012 15:02 IST

Are the political parties in India [ Images ] fooling us on the issue of illicit wealth parked abroad by winking at the obvious, wonders M R Venkatesh.

25usd.jpg

The Stolen Asset Recovery (STAR) initiative was launched jointly by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the World Bank (Bank) in 2007 to trace and recover stolen wealth of various countries parked in various tax havens.

The Bank estimates that the cross-border flow of the global proceeds from criminal activities, corruption, and tax evasion to be between $1 trillion and $1.6 trillion per year. Much of this happens to be from the developing countries to the developed world.

How much of this is from India? Your guess is as good as mine, but if the Government of India is to be believed not much of it is from India and whatever little went out had come back during the UPA regime, inspired obviously by the dynamic leadership of Dr. Singh!

While the Bank concedes that these estimates are "imprecise," nevertheless these estimates give us the magnitude of the problem. That explains why this multilateral initiative from the World Bank.

What is laudable about this objective is that there is paradigm shift in the approach to the global menace of corruption, capital flight and money laundering under this initiative. Till date the traditional view was to blame developing countries, its weak institutions and poor governance for the menace little realizing that the money so stolen from there is invariably parked in some developed countries.

More importantly, such capital flight takes place with the active connivance of global accounting firms, law firms, international banks and corporate formation agents in some of these exotic tax havens that use various techniques to launder such crime money, remove the taint from the money and re-circulate them in the world of global finance as clean lily white money.

Obviously it takes two to tango. The STAR initiative seeks to address these issues head on, especially on behalf of the developing nations who continue to lose their billions. By putting corrupt leaders on notice that stolen assets will be traced, seized, confiscated, and returned to the victim country, the STAR initiative surely constitutes a formidable deterrent to corruption.

Secret billions of dictators and despots

Yet after 5 years the STAR initiative has not been much of a success. Even though countries as diverse as Nigeria, Peru, and the Philippines have enjoyed some modest success in asset recovery, the process has been time-consuming, laborious and costly.

But are the corrupt only from these countries? Is it a case that leaders only from these three countries have parked their illicit wealth abroad? Or is it a case that the recovery effectuated in the cases referred to above by the Bank the end of the matter?

The answer to all these questions would be a resounding no. Why? This is simply because even by the Bank's own admission substantial amounts of illicit wealth stolen from developing countries remains to be traced and recovered. Surely, a daunting task even for the Bank.

Naturally questions arise. Is the Bank competent? Does it have the necessary wherewithal? Or is it handicapped by the lack of information on the looters?

But what is worse is there have been several media expose on the matter - yet not much traction has come about on the subject, both from the respective governments as well as by the Bank. In fact, the Asset Recovery Hand Book published by the Bank (Para 1.2.4) suggests using media reports for initiating investigations on such matters.

In this connection the most shocking media expose on this subject came from Schweizer Illustrierte, a Swiss magazine of repute which carried an expose of 14 politicians of developing nations who, it said, had stashed their illicit wealth in Swiss banks (issue dated November 11, 1991).

In an article in German (and roughly translated into English) titled as "Curse of money - The Swiss bank accounts of the Dictators," featured 14 dictators and despots from various developing countries, details of their money parked in Swiss Banks and related particulars.

Interestingly, one of the 14 happened to be Rajiv Gandhi [ Images ], the late PM of India who had been assassinated six months prior to this expose. The report under his photo, read: "2.5 billion francs on the Indian secret accounts in Switzerland [ Images ]" of "Rajiv Gandhi, Indian." That would, according to rough estimates, be equivalent to USD 10 -15 billions (Rs 55,000-90,000 crores) today.

The other leaders captured by the magazine were: Suharto of Indonesia (USD 25.5 billion), Haile Selassie of Ethiopia (USD 22.5 billion), Mobutu of Zaire (USD 6 billion), Shah Pehlvi of Iran (USD 5.7 billion), Saddam Hussein [ Images ] of Iraq (USD 800 million), and Nicolas Ceausescu of Romania (USD 500 million).

While all those who are named in the story are now no more in power or even alive, the fact of the matter is that there is no genuine attempt either by the respective governments or by the Bank to recover the stolen wealth of those named by the Schweizer Illustrierte in its story. Why? The answer to this question is the crux of the issue.

Make STAR program more realistic

The stunning expose by Schweizer Illustrierte as early as in 1991 was and continues to this day an extraordinary story by the media on the secret accounts of leaders from developing countries, unrivalled perhaps to this day in its sweep and audaciousness.

Despite the staggering amounts mentioned (remember that these amounts are staggering even after two decades) in this article, the fact remains that not one government from these countries have recovered the illicit wealth of their leaders, even after their fall. Sadly some successors pursued recovery process only to loot the recovered wealth!

While most of the leaders mentioned in the story were dictators / despots there was one honorable exception - Rajiv Gandhi. He was perhaps the only one to figure in the story from a democratic country. Unfortunately he was dead by the time the story was published in November 1991 to accept or deny the story.

Yet the Congress party has not denied or accepted this story to this day. Stranger still, the story gained traction a decade later in India in 2002 when the irrepressible Dr. Subramanian Swamy pointed out the same in the local media. By then the NDA was firmly in saddle. Yet it too did precious little to get to the bottom of the matter.

All these leave us with an extraordinary sense of unease - are the political parties in India fooling us on the issue of illicit wealth parked abroad by winking at the obvious? Remember the Schweizer Illustrierte story is never mentioned in passing by any of the opposition leaders including the Left.

And the Bank believes in system, institution and law manned by these very people who are either party to the loot or beneficiaries of the loot to recover such stolen wealth! Is this not akin to entrusting policing global terror to Al Qaeda [ Images ]? Well not exactly, but STAR initiative is somewhere close to it.

Simultaneously there have been several developments within these countries. The most notable one in the Indian context was the Task Force set up by the Supreme Court by its order of July 2011. Unfortunately, this Order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court has been referred for a review by the Government on the specious argument that it was Court was not constitutionally mandated to set up a Task Force in the first place on such matters.

If you thought such stonewalling was only an Indian phenomenon - please wait. The case of how successive governments in Philippines failed to recover the massive loot by Marcos has been brilliantly captured by James S Henry and Bill Bradley in their master piece The Blood Bankers: Tales from the Global Underground Economy.

Simply put, the global system evolved across continents is by the looters, for the looters and by the looters. And only those who connive or tolerate the looters are allowed to occupy high offices. Dr Manmohan Singh [ Images ], the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India, is a classical case in point. No wonder, given this paradigm, the Bank is having very little to show even after years of painstaking efforts.

So what is to be done? One way out is for the Bank to reward all whistle blowers on stolen assets parked in tax havens, especially if they come with unimpeachable proof of such illicit wealth. Simultaneously, for starters, how about beginning to investigate the 14 names mentioned in Schweizer Illustrierte? 

Unconventional times call for unconventional responses. Unless such whistle blowers are adequately compensated, the traditional routes suggested by the Bank to recover the Stolen Wealth is sure to be tripped from within the system. It is time for some out of the box thinking by the Bank.

As regards India, can the Congress and BJP who have been partners in eloquent silence till now defend the honour of late Rajiv Gandhi by filing defamation case against Schweizer Illustrierte in Switzerland? Such an action will be the first step in recovering the stolen wealth from India. Should Schweizer Illustrierte fail to come up with evidence, at-least the honour of Rajiv will be restored.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author's own.

The author is a Chennai based Chartered Accountant. Comments can be sent to mrv@mrv.net.in

M R Venkatesh
http://www.rediff.com/business/column/column-will-congress-and-bjp-defend-the-honour-of-rajiv-gandhi/20120625.htm
 


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சோனியாவை வாட்டுவது என்னவென்று மன்மோகனுக்கு தெரியும்: முன்னாள் சிஐஏ அதிகாரி

 

டெல்லி: காங்கிரஸ் தலைவர் சோனியா காந்தி என்ன வியாதிக்காக கடந்த ஆண்டு அறுவை சிகிச்சை செய்து கொண்டார் என்பது பிரதமர் மன்மோகன் சிங்கிற்கு தெரியும் என்று முன்னாள் சிஐஏ அதிகாரி புரூஸ் ரீடெல் தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.



காங்கிரஸ் தலைவர் சோனியா காந்திக்கு கடந்த 2011ம் ஆண்டு ஆகஸ்ட் மாதம் நியூயார்க்கில் உள்ள ஸ்லோன்-கெட்டரிங் மெமோரியல் கேன்சர் சென்டரில் அறுவை சிகிச்சை நடந்தது. அவருக்கு கர்ப்ப வாய் புற்றுநோய்க்கு அறுவை சிகிச்சை செய்ததாகக் கூறப்பட்டது. ஆனால் கணையப் புற்றுநோய்க்கு அறுவை சிகிச்சை செய்ததாகவும் கூறப்பட்டது. அவருக்கு என்ன பிரச்சனை என்பதை ரகசியமாகவே வைத்துள்ளனர்.

இந்நிலையில் சோனியா காந்திக்கு என்ன பிரச்சனைக்காக அறுவை சிகிச்சை நடந்தது என்பது பிரதமர் மன்மோகன் சிங்கிற்கு தெரியும் என்று முன்னாள் சிஐஏ அதிகாரி புரூஸ் ரீடெல் என்பவர் தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.

இது குறித்து அவர் டெய்லி பீஸ்ட் என்ற இணையத்தளத்தில் கூறியிருப்பதாவது,

சோனியாவின் உடல்நலம் குறித்த மர்மம் இந்திய தலைவர்களை நிலைதடுமாற வைத்துள்ளது. சோனியா எதற்காக வெளிநாட்டில் சிகிச்சை பெற்றார் என்பது இன்னும் ரகசியமாகவே உள்ளது. ஆனால் இந்திய தலைவர்கள் பலருக்கு தெரியாத அந்த ரகசியம் பிரதமர் மன்மோகன் சிங்கிற்கு தெரியும். சோனியா புற்றுநோய்க்காக சிகிச்சை எடுத்துக் கொண்டதாக ஊடகங்கள் கணித்து செய்தி வெளியிட்டன. ஆனால் அந்த செய்தி உறுதிபடுத்தப்படவில்லை.

சோனியா தனது மாமியார் இந்திரா காந்திக்கு நெருக்கமாக இருந்தவர். தற்போது அவர் தனது முன்மாதிரியான இந்திரா போன்று செயல்பட முயற்சிப்பதாக சிலர் தெரிவித்துள்ளனர். முதலில் அரசியலுக்கு வரத் தயங்கிய அவர் தற்போது அதிகாரமிக்க பெண்ணாக உள்ளார்.

சோனியா காந்தியின் எதிர்காலத்திட்டம் பற்றி எழும்புயுள்ள கேள்விகள் மற்றும் மன்மோகன் சிங் மீண்டும் பிரதமர் பதவிக்கு போட்டியிடமாட்டார் என்ற செய்தி இந்தியாவை சற்றே தடுமாற வைத்துள்ளது. பொருளாதார சீர்திருத்தம் மற்றும் முதலீட்டு விதிமுறைகள் குறித்த சில முடிவுகள் தள்ளிப் போடப்பட்டன. பொருளாதாரம் தற்போது வீழ்ச்சி அடைந்துள்ளது.

இன்றைய உலகில் அதிகாரமிக்க பெண்மணி சோனியா தான். ஏன் உலக வரலாற்றிலேயே சோனியா தான் அதிகாரமிக்க பெண்மணி என்றார்.


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SoniaG presidency of Congress and scandals in India -- spurious correlation?

 

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SoniaG becomes Congress President in 1998. Scandals in India occur at a faster clip. Spurious correlation?

Kalyanaraman

2012

President of India's land grab scandal - President of India Pratibha Patil allegedly grabbed 2,61,000 sq ft of defence land in Khadki Cantonment, Pune and built a home on it [1] [2] [3] [4]
Coal Mining Scam - Central government lost 1,070,000 crore (US$213.47 billion) by not Auctioning Coal Blocks says CAG's 110 page draft report [5][6] [7]
Karnataka Wakf Board Land Scam - 200,000 crore (US$39.9 billion)[8][9]
Andhra Pradesh land scam - 100,000 crore (US$19.95 billion)[10]
Service Tax and Central Excise Duty fraud - 19,159 crore (US$3.82 billion) crore)[11] [12]
Gujarat PSU financial irregularities - 17,000 crore (US$3.39 billion)[13] [14]
Maharashtra stamp duty scam - 640 crore (US$127.68 million)[15] [16]
Highway scam - 70 crore (US$13.97 million) [17] [18] [19]
Ministry of External Affairs gift scam[20] [21] [22]
Himachal Pradesh pulse scam[23] [24]
Flying Club fraud - 190 crore (US$37.91 million)[25]
Andhra Pradesh liquor scam[26][27]
Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association scam - Approximately 50 crore (US$9.98 million)[28][29]
Jammu and Kashmir PHE scam[30]
Jammu and Kashmir recruitment scam[31]
Jammu and Kashmir examgate[32] [33]
Jammu and Kashmir dental scam[34]
Punjab paddy scam - 18 crore (US$3.59 million)[35] [36]
NHPC cement scam[37]
Girivan (Pune) land scam [38] (not to be confused with Pune land scam which came to light during 2011)
[edit]2011

Uttar Pradesh NRHM scam - 10,000 crore (US$2 billion)[39][40][41][42][43]
ISRO's S-band scam (also known as ISRO-Devas deal, the deal was later called off) - 200,000 crore (US$39.9 billion) [44] [45] [46][47]
KG Basin Oil scam[48] [49] [50] [51] [52]
Goa mining scam[53][54]
Bellary mining scam
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike scam - 3,207 crore (US$639.8 million)[55] [56] [57] [58]
Himachal Pradesh HIMUDA housing scam[59][60]
Pune housing scam [61]
Pune land scam [62] [63]
Orissa pulse scam - 700 crore (US$139.65 million)[64][65] [66] [67]
Kerala investment scam - 1,000 crore (US$199.5 million)[68]
Maharashtra education scam - 1,000 crore (US$199.5 million)[69][70]
Mumbai Sales Tax fraud - 1,000 crore (US$199.5 million)[71]
Uttar Pradesh TET scam[72][73][74]
Uttar Pradesh MGNREGA scam[75]
Orissa MGNREGA scam[76][77] [78]
Indian Air Force land scam[79] [80] [81]
Tatra scam - 750 crore (US$149.63 million)[82]
Bihar Solar lamp scam - 40 crore (US$7.98 million)[83] [84]
BL Kashyap - EPFO scam - 169 crore (US$33.72 million)[85][86]
Stamp Paper scam (not to be confused with Abdul Karim Telgi's Stamp Paper scam) - 2.34 crore (US$466,830)[87]
[edit]2010

2G spectrum scam - In the audit report, CAG puts the loss at 176,000 crore (US$35.11 billion) [88] whereas CBI pegs the loss at 30,984 crore (US$6.18 billion) [89]
Adarsh Housing Society scam
Commonwealth Games scam
Uttar Pradesh food grain scam
LIC housing loan scam
Belekeri port scam
Andhra Pradesh Emmar scam - 2,500 crore (US$498.75 million)[90] [91][92] [93]
Madhya Pradesh MGNREGA scam - 9 crore (US$1.8 million)[94]
Jharkhand MGNREGA scam[95] [96] [97]
Indian Premier League scandal[98][99]
Karnataka housing board scam[100] [101] [102]
[edit]2000s

[edit]2009

Madhu Koda mining scam
Goa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) scam[103] [104]
Rice export scam - 2,500 crore (US$498.75 million)[105]
Orissa mining scam - 7,000 crore (US$1.4 billion)[106]
Orissa paddy scam[107] [108]
Sukhna land scam - Darjeeling [109] [110] [111] [112]
Vasundhara Raje land scam[113]
Austral Coke scam - 1,000 crore (US$199.5 million)[114][115]
Gujarat's VDSGCU Sugarcane scam - 18.7 crore (US$3.73 million) [116] [117] [118]
[edit]2008

Cash for Vote Scandal
Hasan Ali black money controversy[119][120][121]
The Satyam scam [122]
State Bank of Saurashtra scam - 95 crore (US$18.95 million)[123][124]
Army ration pilferage scam - 5,000 crore (US$997.5 million)[125]
Jharkhand medical equipment scam - 130 crore (US$25.94 million)[126] [127]
Haryana Teachers' recruitment scam[128] [129]
[edit]2006

Kerala ice cream parlour sex scandal
Scorpene Deal scam[130][131][132]
Punjab city centre project scam - 1,500 crore (US$299.25 million)[133]
Uttar Pradesh ayurveda scam - 26 crore (US$5.19 million)[134] [135] [136] [137]
Navy War Room Spy Scandal (related to Scorpene Deal Scam)
[edit]2005

IPO scam [138][139]
Oil for food scam (Natwar Singh)
Bihar flood relief scam - 17 crore (US$3.39 million)[140]
[edit]2004

Gegong Apang PDS scam
[edit]2003

Taj corridor scandal
HUDCO scam[141]
[edit]2002

Stamp paper scam - 20,000 crore (US$3..99 billion)[142] [143] [144]
Provident Fund (PF) scam [145][146]
Kargil coffin scam[147]
[edit]2001

Ketan Parekh securities scam
Barak Missile scandal
Calcutta Stock Exchange scam[148]
[edit]2000

India-South Africa match fixing scandal[149]
UTI scam - 32 crore (US$6.38 million)[150]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scandals_in_India


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DLF gave 500cr property cheap to Vadra: Kejriwal 

Cong Rubbishes Charge,Says It Is Politically Driven 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

New Delhi: India Against Corruption (IAC) activists Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal on Friday alleged that realty giant DLF gave properties,currently valued around.500 crore,to Sonia Gandhis son-in law Robert Vadra at grossly undervalued rates in exchange for favours it allegedly received from Congress governments in Haryana,Rajasthan and Delhi.
The allegations attracted a sharp response from Congress leaders,who accused the activists of blackmail and claimed they were violating the basic principles of decency.The leaders sought to downplay these allegations,saying they were based on papers that were in the public domain.They spoke of teaching a lesson to the irresponsible activists.
Bhushan and Kejriwal,who launched apolitical party on Monday,told a crowded press conference here that five companies promoted by Robert Vadra and his mother,Maureen Vadra,with a combined share capital of.50 lakh and with no obvious revenue stream,acquired at least 31 properties in the three states between 2007 and 2010 after getting an unsecured,interestfree loan of 65 crore from DLF.
Priyanka Gandhi was also initially a director in the companies,but quit soon,they said.
They claimed that the Vadras acquired all the properties the 114-room Hilton Garden Inn Hotel in South Delhi,a 10,000 sqft penthouse in Gurgaons DLF Aralias complex,seven flats in Gurgaons DLF Magnolia,an apartment in Capital Greens in Delhi,a plot in Greater Kailash-II and 20 plots of land spread over Haryana and in Rajasthan.
The activists distributed documents to butress their claim that Robert and Maureen Vadra paid relatively small amounts for the properties.For instance,they paid.32 crore for a 50% stake in Hilton Hotel,Saket,which they valued to be worth between.150 and 300 crore.For the DLF Aralias penthouse,allegedly worth in the region of.25-40 crore,they paid.89 lakh.Why would DLF first give an unsecured interest free loan to Vadras and then sell its properties at throwaway prices to them wondered Bhushan.

THE ALLEGATIONS 


5 companies owned by Robert Vadra and his mother Maureen bought 31 properties in 2007-10 
These include 50% share in Hilton Hotel in Saket,Delhi for 31.7cr (current price said to be 150cr or more),10,000 sq ft flat in DLF Aralias,Gurgaon,for 89 lakh (current price said to be 25cr),7 flats in DLF Magnolia,Gurgaon,for 5.2cr (currently valued at over 100cr) 
Balance sheets show these 5 firms had a total share capital of 50 lakh.Value of these properties on books was 69.64cr.Firms had no obvious revenue stream.Seed money for acquisitions came from unsecured,interest-free loan of over 65cr from DLF 
Kejriwal and Bhushan claim that the worth of the properties when bought was 300cr;now over 500cr 

THE DEFENCE 


This is blackmailWe will explore all options to teach these people a lesson.Everything was in the public domain.Dont allow these people to destroy the fabric of decency 

Salman Khurshid 


A private citizen is only being targeted because of his relationship to Sonia Gandhi.This is below the belt 

Jayanthi Natarajan 


These transactions were done in conformity with the highest standards of ethics 

DLF 



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Robert Vadra 

TO ECONOMIC TIMES ON MARCH 14,



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Allegations against Vadra baseless,says Congress 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

New Delhi: Congress slammed allegations against Sonia Gandhis son-in-law Robert Vadra as baseless and defamatory,and sought to fight its way out of the storm triggered by anti-corruption activists by dismissing them as BJPs proxies.
Information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni questioned the insinuation that zero-interest loan by real estate firm DLF was quid pro quo with an individual linked to the first family of the ruling party.It is for the entity that gives loan to decide the terms of loan.It is between the two individuals, she said,insisting that Vadra was a common man having a business of his own.
MoS parliamentary affairs Rajiv Shukla said Vadra had declared all the loans which showed that his dealings were above board.There was no quid pro quo.There was no favour given to DLF which is working in all states and has bought land even in non-Congress-ruled states, he said.
The issue,which broke the run of applause for governments reforms measures and brought the issue of corruption uncomfortably close to the leadership,figured in the meeting of the partys core group.Congress managers came to know about the impending expose by former Anna Hazare associates,including Prashant Bhushan and Shanti Bhushan but kept quiet till the BJP seized upon the allegations to say that the issue had links with Congress presidents household.
A stung party swiftly wheeled out its big guns to slam the charge against Vadra and question the activists motives.The sight was interesting since Congress has in the past been awkward about Vadras flamboyance,a regular on Page 3 for bodybuilding and business,which contrasted strongly with the media-shy Rahul Gandhi.His comments about his political ambitions during the UP polls had led to discomfiture in party ranks.
Vadras links with DLF had been a subject of discreet conversation in party circles,with many apprehensive of its fallout.That the activists decided to unleash the charge during the campaign for Gujarat polls led party spokesperson Manish Tewari to allege a BJP hand in the matter.
He said the "baseless,misconceived and utterly irresponsible" charges were aimed at hurting Congress ahead of assembly polls."Coming ahead of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections,it shows the socalled civil society groups are morphing into a political party but it is nothing more than a Bteam of BJP,"he said.

Netas brace for IACs next expose 


New Delhi: Nervousness is rife in political circles and all eyes are set on October 10 when India Against Corruption (IAC) activists are expected to make their second expose.After the serious allegations leveled against Congress chief Sonia Gandhis son-in-law Robert Vadra,there is anticipation in the political class on who the next leader will be.The second political figure is speculated to be Maharashtra based.The activists hope that through a series of revelations,they will strengthen their anti-graft image and that of their unnamed party.TNN


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Haryana,Delhi govts deny IAC charges 

New Delhi: India Against Corruption (IAC) activists Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal on Friday alleged that realty giant DLF gave properties,currently valued around Rs500 crore,to Sonia Gandhis son-in law Robert Vadra at grossly undervalued rates in exchange for favours it allegedly received from Congress governments in Haryana,Rajasthan and Delhi.
The Haryana and Delhi governments promptly denied any wrongdoings.Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said,We did not give any concession to anyone.We did not allot even a single inch of land to anyone.I had asked officials to do everything in a transparent manner and in the interest of the state. DLF,too,came out with a statement to stress that the transactions were in accordance with the highest standards of ethics. 
Citing favours that DLF has received from Congress governments,Bhushan and Kejriwal pointed out that the DLF Magnolia complex was built on 350 acres of land in Gurgaon which was acquired by Congresss Haryana government for public purpose but was transferred to the real estate company.Villagers from whom the land was taken were told that the acquisition was for setting up an industry, they said.

BJP not to back off on Vadra this time 


T he BJP had given a notice in Lok Sabha in the winter session of 2011 to discuss Robert Vadras alleged dealings with DLF before backing off at the last minute: a decision which caused severe heartburn within and upset the RSS.However,on Friday,it lost no time in latching on to fresh allegations against Vadra,claiming that Congress governments had given huge tracts of land to the realty major as a quid pro quo.TNN



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Left mum on allegations against Sonias son-in law 

Rakhi Chakrabarty TNN 

New Delhi: Left leaders were uncharacteristically reluctant to comment on the allegations leveled by Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal against Sonia Gandhis son-in-law Robert Vadra.
Senior CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said,I dont know the basis of their allegations.Why should I comment This was the common refrain of several senior Left leaders.
A CPM leader said the party was cautious about Kejriwal and his outfit.The central committee has not yet made an assessment of Kejriwals party,its leanings or who is backing it, he said.
Political analysts found the eloquent silence of the Left intriguing.Aditya Nigam,senior fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies,said,The Left may be wary of courting the unknown.They will slam the Congress,indulge in rhetoric to oppose its policies,call a bandh,but dont want to pull it down. 
Political scientist and former head of political science at Kolkatas Presidency College Prasanta Roy said the Lefts reluctance to comment on the allegations could be due to its political compulsion,especially at a time when Left parties are weak and their space is shrinking.
They (Left) may need the Congress,especially in the context of West Bengal.So,of late,their opposition to the Congress does not have bite, Roy said.
Political analysts believe the Left parties do not want to upset their equation with the Congress.The bogey of the BJP is also a reason.In a bid to keep the BJP at bay,they may not want the saffron party to benefit from such controversies, Roy said.



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India Insight

Rahul Gandhi can change Congress’ image with cabinet entry
 
OCTOBER 17, 2012

India is asking the same old question after news reports said Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday before a possible cabinet reshuffle later this month: will Gandhi be one of the cards in his deck?

Gandhi’s entry into the government would be the only opportunity for him to prove that he has what it takes to one day rule India. He’s seen as the prime-minister-in-waiting, and a cabinet post would better equip him to deal with the hurly-burly of Indian politics.

Several cabinet posts are vacant, and some cabinet ministers hold additional portfolios. And even after passing market-moving reform measures, Congress’ task of boosting its public image is incomplete.

If you go by age, Gandhi is 42, just about ripe. David Cameron became the youngest prime minister of Britain at 44. When Barack Obama took over as the 44th American president, he was 47. Gandhi’s grandmother and India’s first woman to serve as prime minister, Indira Gandhi, was appointed Congress president when she was in her early 40′s.

But Rahul has never expressed willingness to join the government or lead the Congress party. He wants to work with the people. The Uttar Pradesh poll disaster, in which the Congress party suffered a major setback, perhaps makes it more attractive for him to take the humble approach.

Gandhi’s biggest problem is communication, which is also true of his mother, Congress President Sonia Gandhi. How can you be in politics and not talk? It is tough to imagine India’s top leaders sharing a stage for debate, speaking to each other in a civilised manner, or worse yet, barely at all and without any melodrama.

If Rahul wants to be a mass leader and win hearts, he should reach out to people. In this day and age, communication is a Twitter account or a camera link away. There’s a lot to talk about that doesn’t involve implying that 70 percent of Punjab’s youth are junkies … from corruption to social activism to the state of the economy and ways to fix it.

Taking charge of the ministry of railways, for instance, could be challenging but will open a door to connect with millions of Indians who use its creaky infrastructure every day.

It would be interesting to see how he would handle unpopular measures like raising ticket prices to make sure that the railroad has enough money to keep its tracks safe. Dinesh Trivedi showed everybody how to do it, but he fell on his railroad spike after he couldn’t take the heat for his action.

Gandhi has an opportunity and he should make the most of it. If he wants to do things differently and lead the country one day, a bit of brand building is necessary in the coming years.

http://blogs.reuters.com/india/2012/10/17/rahul-gandhi-can-change-congress-image-with-cabinet-entry/



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SoniaG affidavits on educational qualifications belied again -- Now by Forbes Magazine. Why does SoniaG need recognition of a degree in oil painting conservation?

Forbes’ ‘arty’ tribute

MONDAY, 22 OCTOBER 2012 00:15 J GOPIKRISHNAN | NEW DELHI 
ScreenShot524.bmp

Forbes magazine’s latest power list of women, which ranks UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi as the sixth most powerful woman, has slipped up on her educational qualifications.

According to Forbes, Sonia holds a degree in oil painting conservation and is an “avid scholar of the arts.” However, her official résumé on the Lok Sabha website does not back this claim.

While the Congress has maintained a studied silence on Sonia’s ailment, the magazine has said she was operated for cancer last year. “Last year, the 65-year-old widow of Rajiv Gandhi, the one-time heir to the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, successfully underwent cancer surgery.”

The magazine has described Sonia as the longest serving chief in the Congress Party history, who blamed reverses in a spate of key Assembly elections this year on weak candidates and State party organisations.

“She was back in fighting spirit last month when she publicly reprimanded a fellow parliamentarian during session who had criticised her party’s handling of this summer’s rioting in Assam. Lauded for overseeing heavy economic growth, she is also criticised for tolerating political corruption and failing to forge connections with India’s fastest-growing demographic -younger voters. Gandhi is an avid scholar of the arts, and holds a degree in oil painting conservation,” says Forbes on Sonia. 

Sonia’s educational qualification was a subject of much controversy up to 2005 because her affidavits to the Election Commission and in Lok Sabha stated she had a Certificate in English from Cambridge University. After Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy complained to Lok Sabha Speaker in 2005 about her educational qualifications, Sonia wrote to the Speaker about typing mistakes in the affidavit. Her latest résumé has no mention of her education at the Cambridge University.

According to the present résumé on the Lok Sabha website, Sonia completed certificate in English from Lennox Cook School in Cambridge town in 1965.

http://dailypioneer.com/home/online-channel/360-todays-newspaper/103399-forbes-arty-tribute.html
forbes_logo_white.svg

Edited by Caroline Howard 8.22.12

100 women who rule the world

At a Glance

President, Indian National Congress, India
Age: 65
Residence: New Delhi, India
Country of Citizenship: India
Marital Status: Widowed
Children: 2

Profile


Sonia Gandhi, the longest serving chief in the Indian National Congress Party history, has had to defend herself and the party after a spate of key assembly elections this year, blaming the drubbing on weak candidates and state party organizations. Last year the 65-year old widow of Rajiv Gandhi, the one-time heir to the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, successfully underwent cancer surgery. She was back in fighting spirit last month when she publicly reprimanded a fellow parliamentarian during session who had criticized her party's handling of this summer's rioting in Assam. Lauded for overseeing heavy economic growth, she is also criticized for tolerating political corruption and failing to forge connections with India's fastest-growing demographic--younger voters. Gandhi is an avid scholar of the arts, and holds a degree in oil painting conservation.

http://www.forbes.com/power-women/gallery


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SoniaG, RahulG illegally grab Rs. 1600 crore worth realestate and properties\

SoniaG, RahulG illegally grab Rs. 1600 crore worth realestate and properties

Welcome to SFIO

http://www.sfio.nic.in/websitenew/main2.asp

Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) is a multidisciplinary organisation to investigate serious financial frauds.

The organization is having experts from financial sector, capital market, accountancy, forensic audit, taxation, law, information technology, company law, customs and investigation.

1. The particulars of organization, functions and duties;
Serious Fraud Investigation Office is a new organization. It started
functioning from 1st October 2003 only. This organization was set up in the
backdrop of recent stock market scams, failure of non financial banking
companies, phenomena of vanishing companies and plantation companies.
The Government approved setting up of this organization on 9th January
2003 on the basis of the recommendations made by the Naresh Chandra
Committee which was set up by the government on 21st August 2002 on
corporate governance. This committee inter alia had made following
recommendations on setting up of Serious Fraud Office:-
A Corporate Serious Fraud Office (CSFO) should be set up in the
department of Company Affairs with specialists inducted on the basis of
transfer/deputation and on special term contracts.
This should be in the form of a multi-disciplinary team that not only
uncovers the fraud, but is able to direct and supervise prosecutions under
various economic legislations through appropriate agencies.
There should be a Task Force constituted for each case under a
designated team leader.
In the interest of adequate control and efficiency, a Committee each,
headed by the Cabinet Secretary should directly oversee the
appointments to, and functioning of this office, and coordinate the work of
concerned departments and agencies.
Later, a legislative framework, along the lines of the SFO in the UK,
should be set up to enable the CSFO to investigate all aspects of the
fraud, and direct the prosecution in appropriate courts.
The resolution constituting this office was issued by the Government on 2nd
July 2003.
This organization has one regional office at Mumbai
http://www.sfio.nic.in/websitenew/proactive_disclosure.pdf#P1

dir-photo.pngMr. Nilimesh Baruah Director (SFIO)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUSCFIn0bwM
Published on Nov 1, 2012 by ibnlive
Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on Thursday targeted UPA chairperson Sonia and Gandhi and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi accusing them of converting a public firm into a private company. He said that Sonia and Rahul formed a private company named Young Indian and acquired a public limited company, the Associated Journals Limited.

The Associated Journals Ltd is the owner of National Herald and Quami Awaz newspapers and all high value real estate property in Delhi and other places in Uttar Pradesh associated with it. Swamy alleged that the deal between Young Indian and Associated Journals Ltd was a "fraud committed in order to grab the Herald House in Delhi, that is located in a hub and is valued at about Rs 1600 crore.


http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/et-now/daily/subramanian-swamy-accuses-rahul-sonia-of-fraud/videoshow/17048071.cms


A6nC_MFCMAEuJ9g.jpg

Statement of Dr. Subramanian Swamy, President of the Janata Party & former Union Cabinet Minister made in New Delhi on November 1, 2012

1. Ms. Sonia Gandhi (SG) and Mr. Rahul Gandhi (RG) had floated a Section 25 private company called Young Indian, each holding 38% shares (P 24 Annexures). This company acquired the Associated Journals Private Ltd. (AJPL), thus became the owner publisher of National Herald and Quami Awaz Newspapers, and all the high value real estate properties in Delhi and other places in Uttar Pradesh of the said company. RG was already a shareholder in AJ Private Ltd. In 2008 (p. 12 & 13), but RG failed to disclose this in his sworn affidavit filed as a candidate for Lok Sabha in 2009 (p.7).

2. AJPL was acquired by Young Indian by following steps:

(i) Step 1: AJPL obtains an unsecured zero interest loan of Rs. 90 plus crores from AICC (p.14). This is illegal because a political party cannot give loans for commercial purposes. Note AJPL Chairman is Motilal Vora who is also Treasurer of AICC.

(ii) Step 2: For a mere Rs. 50 lakhs, Young Indian writes off the loans due to AICC. Note SG is President and RG is General Secretary (p.18).

(iii) Step 3: By a Board Resolution dated 20.2.11 (p.14) AJPL is sold by transfer of shares to Young Indian, which is not a newspaper or Journal producing company (p 17). In turn RG transfers his 2,62,411 in AJPL shares to sister Priyanka (p. 9).

(iv) Step 4: The 7-storey Herald House is illegally opened for renting, Passport Seva Kendra rents a large space of two floors, and SM Krishna inaugurates the office. Huge rents being collected by Young Indian.

3. Young Indian filed statements with the RoC disclosing that the shareholders meeting was held in Sonia Gandhi’s Government allotted 10, Janpath (p. 21). This is in violation of the law since the 10, Janpath, New Delhi Government accommodation cannot be used for commercial purposes and business.

4. Incidentally more than 80% of the persons mentioned in the 2011 shareholders list filed with the RoC are deceased, such prominent persons such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Sharda Prasad, GD Birla etc., as also some defunct Kolkata based companies.

5. The deal is a sham, bogus, and a violation of several laws including Companies, Income-Tax Act, Indian Penal Code Sections 420, 467, and 193; Election Law, and Government Residence Allotment Rules (p. 18).

6. Thus the deal was to grab the Rs. 1600 crore worth Herald House and other properties of the National Herald/Quami Awaz in Delhi and in different parts of UP which Young Indian made a commitment to pay Rs. 50 lakh to AICC for owning the Rs. 90 crore plus as unsecured zero interest loan.

7. I urge therefore an immediate SFIO/CBI probe into this dubious stinking deal between Young India and The Associated Journals, and from the Election Commission for the illegality of the AICC giving a loan to a private company.

8. Mr. Rahul Gandhi also committed perjury when he told a lie in his nomination paper for Lok Sabha he owned ‘NIL’ share when he owned in fact over 3 lakh shares of AJPL (p. 6 & 7).

Sd. Subramanian Swamy

Note on abbreviations: 

SFIO Special Frauds Investigation Office
CBI Central Bureau of Investigation

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/134665241/Subramanian-Swamys-Statement-and-documents-released-on-Nov-1_-2012


http://www.docstoc.com/docs/134658692/List-of-shareholders-of-AJL-2008 List of shareholders of AJL 2008 http://www.docstoc.com/docs/134658704/List-Share-holders-of-AJL-2011 List Share holders of AJL 2011 http://www.docstoc.com/docs/134659301/Letter-to-Dr-Manmohan-Singh-(Dr-Swamy-30-Oct-2012) Letter to Dr. Manmohan Singh (Dr. Swamy 30 Oct. 2012)  Inauguration 20,000 sq. ft. space Passport Seva Kendra: 23 Feb. 2012 images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQHUO_tKOV-ntRF-2cPZ2JnH2Ct6F2D0A50-o5RcfGntxu3E67OPassport3.jpg images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQmMYh-zRgT0DAdysvFt3uhKbQtT-W8YdMQsmTzfEp7X04edIj3yg Excerpts from a newsreport on the inauguration on Feb. 23, 2012: 50th Passport Seva Kendra inaugurated, 27 more to open New Delhi, Feb 23,2012,DHNS: Applying for a passport will be easier and it will take not more than 45 minutes to complete all the formalities, External Affairs Minster S M Krishna reaffirmed on Thursday while inaugurating 50th Passport Seva Kendra, equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, at Herald House near ITO in central Delhi. ... Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dik****, Congress leader Motilal Vohra, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai and Tata Consultancy Services CEO and managing director N Chandrasekaran were among the dignitaries present on the occasion. Dik**** said, “Not only this is the best example of e-governance, it is one of the wonderful Passport Seva Kendra we ever got”. The new PSK, one of the largest in the country, set up in collaboration with TCS will be able to process nearly 1,000 applications per day. One can file online application and upload the required documents following which an appointment will be given by the centre for verification of the documents. The applicant will also have the option of choosing time slot in a day. The new office will be the third in Delhi and National Capital Region. http://www.deccanherald.com/content/229692/50th-passport-seva-kendra-inaugurated.html Outlook India report: National Herald Eyes Revival After Four Years of Closure NEW DELHI | OCT 09, 2012 After about four years of its closure, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru-founded newspaperNational Herald may be revived soon under the under the guidance of top leadership of the Congress Party. A new company 'Young Indian' has been registered with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), Delhi with registered office at Herald House on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg here. The erstwhile National Herald, which was founded by Nehru in 1938 and closed down in 2008, was also housed at the same address. Young Indian was incorporated in November 2010 and held its Annual General Meeting on May 15, 2012, RoC filings show. Senior journalist Suman Dubey is the authorised signatory for the company, the RoC documents show. Others involved include technocrat Sam Pitroda, Adviser to Prime Minister on Public Infrastructure, Information and Innovations. Dubey and Pitroda could not be reached over phone for their comments, while emailed queries remained unanswered. Some reports said Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul Gandhi and senior leaders Motilal Vohra and Oscar Fernandes are shareholders, but there was no confirmation from the Congress Party. A senior Congress leader said a meeting of Associated Journals was held recently to discuss the revival plan of National Herald and Qaumi Awaaj newspapers, but declined to comment on the shareholding pattern of Young Indian. The papers were being run earlier by Associated Journals. In reply to emailed queries, Rahul Gandhi's office later said: "Young Indian is a company registered and holding a license granted under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956. "As a Section 25 company, Young Indian, is a not-for- profit company and does not have commercial operations. The activities of Young Indian are in the public domain. Anyone who chooses to can inspect the Objects of Young Indian. Young Indian has no intention of starting any newspapers." In a section 25 company, the profits from its business are ploughed back into its operations. FILED ON: OCT 09, 2012 23:01 IST 1/D-156 OCT 09, 2012 11:27 PM http://www.dailypioneer.com/home/online-channel/360-todays-newspaper/100312-sonia-rahul-set-to-revive-media-interests.html AICC funds the new venture, but Madam Sonia Gandhi and son Rahul own 38% each. WHY is it private business of Madam and son when it is funded by Congress party? BHARAT, DELHI PERMALINK | LIKE (0) | DISLIKE (0) | REPORT ABUSE 2/D-157 OCT 09, 2012 11:43 PM Who will own the Herald House - AICC which paid for the new venture or the Gandhis' who own the venture? The question arises because even in the previous case when land was alloted to AICC it was appropriated by Sonia family run Rajiv Gandhi foundation. BHARAT, DELHI PERMALINK | LIKE (0) | DISLIKE (0) | REPORT ABUSE http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=777744 Young Indian to relaunch Congress mouthpiece 'National Herald' DEVESH KUMAR | October 12, 2012 | 18:43sonia-rahul-gandhi_101312091753.jpgSonia and Rahul Gandhi hold 76 per cent stake in the new venture. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are the principal shareholders in a company that is set to relaunch National Herald, the Congress mouthpiece started by Jawahar-lal Nehru way back in 1938. A private non-profit company, called Young Indian, was formed in March 2011, with Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul holding 38 per cent shares each, with the specific aim of taking over the liabilities of Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), the parent company which owned National Herald and its Urdu version, Qaumi Awaz, all with money spent from the Congress's coffers. The two newspapers had folded up on April 1, 2008. AJL's liabilities of Rs 90.21 crore have been taken over by Young Indian for Rs 50 lakh, the entire amount paid by the Congress. Another Rs 1 crore, it is learnt, has been spent by Young Indian in renovating the newspaper's headquarters, Herald House, at 5 A, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg. This amount too has been funnelled by the Congress as loan. While Sonia and Rahul hold 76 per cent stake in the new venture, the remaining shares are owned by Congress Treasurer Motilal Vora, who is also the chairman-cum-managing director of AJL, and party General Secretary Oscar Fernandes. Young Indian has been registered under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956. Veteran journalist Suman Dubey has been designated as managing committee member in the new company. National Knowledge Commission Chairman Sam Pitroda too is a member of the committee. When asked, Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said he had no information about the project. Attempts to reach Vora and Fernandes did not yield any result. Rahul's political aide Kanishka Singh, however, denied there was any plan to relaunch National Herald. "Young Indian has no intention of starting any newspaper," he said. Documents filed by the Registrar of Companies point out that the company is "engaged in activities to inculcate in the mind of India's youth commitment to the ideal of a democratic and secular society and provides for application of its profits or income in pursuit thereof". The newspaper will try to achieve this aim. URL for this article : http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/national-herald-congress-mouthpiece-sonia-gandhi-rahul-gandhi/1/224540.html Congress to relaunch ‘National Herald’ Khalid Akhter, New Delhi, May 5, DHNS: The Congress has decided to relaunch National Herald, a newspaper started more than 70 years ago by India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Preparations are in full swing as this can be seen from the swanky renovated building — Herald House at Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in national capital — from where the newspaper published its last edition on April 1, 2008. The building has been renovated giving it a new look with silver grey tiles and glass windowpanes dominating the front of the building. The Congress is planning to reopen the office to coincide with the birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru on November 14. “We are working to re-launch the paper in next few months,” said Motilal Vohra, Congress treasurer. The party is also planning to relaunch the Urdu edition of the paper — Qaumi Awaz. It will be published from the same building. Both National Herald and Qaumi Awaz were started by Nehru in 1938 in Lucknow. “We will bring out both English and Urdu edition at the moment,” Vohra said. http://www.deccanherald.com/content/159337/congress-relaunch-national-herald.html See also: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2012/10/preview-video-rs-1600-cr-ghotala-media.htmlPreview (Video): Rs. 1600 cr. ghotala. http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2012/10/rahul-gandhis-firm-misappropriated.html Rahul Gandhi's firm misappropriated funds - Swamyhttp://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2012/10/rahul-running-fraud-company-subramanian.html Rahul running a fraud company: Subramanian Swamy http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2012/10/rahulg-priyankag-foreign-exchange-money.html RahulG & PriyankaG Scam: Foreign Exchange money in Backops Services Pvt. Ltd.and other companies - Dr. Subramanian Swamy http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2012/10/rahulg-scam-violation-of-forex-company.htmlRahulG scam: violation of Forex, Company Laws : Dr. Subramanian Swamyhttp://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2012/10/sonia-rahul-convert-trust-into-over-rs.html Sonia, Rahul convert trust into over Rs. 600 crore property - Sandhya Jain Subramanian Swamy targets Sonia and Rahul, accuses them of fraud POLITICS NEWS, Updated Nov 01, 2012 at 04:55pm IST New Delhi: Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on Thursday targeted UPA chairperson Sonia and Gandhi and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi accusing them of converting a public firm into a private company. He said that Sonia and Rahul formed a private company named Young Indian and acquired a public limited company, the Associated Journals Limited. The Associated Journals Ltd is the owner of National Herald and Quami Awaz newspapers and all high value real estate property in Delhi and other places in Uttar Pradesh associated with it. Swamy alleged that the deal between Young Indian and Associated Journals Ltd was a “fraud committed in order to grab the Herald House in Delhi, that is located in a hub and is valued at about Rs 1600 crore. Here is the full statement released by the Janata Party president: (See above) http://ibnlive.in.com/news/subramanian-swamy-targets-sonia-and-rahul-accuses-them-of-fraud/303338-37-64.html Subramanian Swamy accuses Sonia, Rahul of fraud Author: Agencies Published Date: Nov 1, 2012 4:39 PM Last Updated: Nov 1, 2012 5:14 PM Swamy said the Congress chief and her son floated a private firm Young Indian to acquire the Associated Journals, which is a public limited company.swamy_PTI2.JPGJanata Party president Subramanian Swamy today alleged that UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi converted a public firm into a private company. 

Swamy said the Congress chief and her son floated a private firm Young Indian to acquire the Associated Journals, which is a public limited company and the owner of National Herald and Quami Awaz newspapers.

He also said that the Young Indian was fully controlled by Sonia and Rahul who both have 38% share each in the firm.

Alleging that the deal between Young Indian and Associated Journals Ltd was a fraud committed in order to grab the Herald House in Delhi, Swamy demanded a CBI probe into the matter.

http://newindianexpress.com/nation/article1323083.ece


Sonia, Rahul grabbed property worth Rs 1,600 crore: Subramanian Swamy
TNN | Nov 1, 2012, 04.49PM IST

NEW DELHI: Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on Thursday accused scion of Nehru-Gandhi family and ruling Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi of running a fraud company and of misusing government facilities. 

Addressing a news conference, Swamy alleged that Rahul and Sonia jointly owned 76 per cent of a company called Young Indian. 

He also accused Rahul of not disclosing about this company in his affidavit to the Election Commission while filing his nomination for the 2008 Lok Sabha elections. 

He said that public funds were converted to finance the privately-owned company. He has also claimed that meetings of the company were held at 10 Janpath, Sonia Gandhi's govt-allotted official residence, which was against the law. 

He said that Young Indian now 'owns' the Herald House in Delhi and two floors of it have been rented out to passport office that pays the company Rs 30 lakhs a month as rent, of which, 76% goes to Rahul and Sonia. 

Swamy has demanded a CBI inquiry into the case. 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Sonia-Rahul-grabbed-property-worth-Rs-1600-crore-Subramanian-Swamy/articleshow/17047761.cms

 



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Turning point: the Gandhi dynasty dominance must end -- Abhay Vaidya

Turning point: the Gandhi dynasty dominance must end
by Abhay Vaidya Oct 14, 2012

The Gandhi dynasty’s dominance over Indian politics has to end some day and what we are witnessing today is perhaps a turning point in history.

No matter how hard the Congress defends Robert Vadra in order to insulate his DLF deals from impacting his mother-in-law and party president Sonia Gandhi, the fact is that the Congress has already lost the battle of perception in the mango orchard. The aam admi- “mango people” in Robert Vadra’s words – are more than convinced that the Vadra-DLF deal is not as innocent a business deal as made out by the Congress. This perception has been further reinforced by reportage in the national press – across print, broadcast and the internet.

It was just a matter of time before a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the Vadra-DLF case. That is precisely what happened on Thursday with the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court asking the Union government why Kejriwal’s allegations against Vadra should not be investigated. The next hearing in the PIL by an activist has been fixed for November 21.

sonia3802.jpgSonia Gandhi. Reuters.

Congressmen will have to accept – howsoever grudgingly – that the anti-corruption crusader Arvind Kejriwal’s assault on a member of the Gandhi family has had a devastating impact. This impact has been greater than what was achieved at the peak of the Jan Lokpal movement last year. Kejriwal has been able to achieve what no opposition party could in contemporary times. The last time that the Dynasty came under fierce attack, raising questions over its legitimacy to power, was when the late VP Singh resigned from the Congress in 1987 and took on Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi over kickbacks in the Bofors deal. Such was the public response to his leadership that Rajiv lost the 1989 polls catapulting Singh to prime ministership.

Sonia Gandhi faced a threat to her leadership from the then senior Congressman Sharad Pawar in 1999 when his revolt over her foreign origins failed to result in a vertical split in the Congress. The Dynasty survived and over the years, Sonia Gandhi gained confidence in controlling the reins of power.

In the last few days of the alleged Vadra-DLF-Haryana Government scam, the Gandhi family has been forced to descend many steps from its lofty pedestal. Always ensconced in a class of its own, this family is now no different from the other political families in India with strong and dubious links to business houses which have received undue favours from the government through political influence.

The common man in India is deeply troubled by corruption which, in the absence of communal clashes, has taken centre-stage today. The Vadra-DLF story has discredited the Sonia Gandhi family, not on the issue of corruption as yet but on that of propriety, probity and conflict of interest.

The senior-most Congress functionaries also stand discredited with the way in which they went about defending Vadra. “Why don’t they go to the courts?”; “Where is the evidence?” was their common refrain.

Party spokesperson Rashid Alvi described Kejriwal’s charges as part of a conspiracy “against the Congress and its leadership,” while Finance Minister P Chidambaram proclaimed that “private transactions cannot and ought not to be allowed to be questioned on the basis of insinuations.” Law Minister Salman Khurshid described the allegations as “baseless”.

There was no attempt by these senior ministers to even examine the merits of the case as presented by Kejriwal. That job was done by a section of the media. The Congress ministers looked foolish- as part of a phalanx that rushed out to defend Vadra, almost in an instinctive act of self-preservation because the citadel had been attacked.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defence Minister AK Antony who are presented as paragons of honesty by the Congress preferred to remain silent and let the crisis pass by. Singh’s silence on critical issues often brings to mind Thomas Jefferson’s words: “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.” His sage advice to the nation on Wednesday to shun the “mindless atmosphere of negativity and pessimism that is sought to be created over the issue of corruption” could not have been more ill-timed.

How will history look back at the Manmohan Singhs, Antonys, Chidambarams and Sibals of the day once the Dynasty has passed by? Will they be seen as patriots or lesser men who showed greater loyalty to the Dynasty than to the nation?

With the general elections round the corner, Sonia Gandhi is at her most vulnerable today. Son Rahul has failed to inspire confidence and show results while daughter Priyanka will now have to worry about her husband’s tainted image. Sonia’s own stock has eroded with her party’s inept handling of the Vadra-DLF controversy.

From time to time, the Dynasty and the Congress reminds India about its Nehruvian legacy and the supreme sacrifices by Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi for the nation. That legacy has been sullied by the Vadra-DLF deal and has punctured the family’s charisma. The Congress will cling to the Dynasty because it has no option. But it’s now just a matter of time before a new chapter opens up in Indian history.

http://www.firstpost.com/politics/turning-point-the-gandhi-dynasty-dominance-must-end-487739.html


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AICC paid Rs. 89.5 cr. to Young Indian as loans. Young Indian accounts reports Rs. 1 crore unsecured loan.National Herald has 22,000 sq. ft. property in Indore

Mother and son own 76% of company which got Associated Journal's shares worth Rs 90 cr for Rs 50 lakh

N Sundaresha Subramanian & Kavita Chowdhury / New Delhi Nov 05, 2012, 00:37 IST

Did Congress pay Rs 89.5 cr to Sonia and Rahul through Young Indian?

N Sundaresha Subramanian & Kavita Chowdhury / New Delhi Nov 05, 2012, 00:37 IST

110512_21.jpg

The All India Congress Committee (AICC) has, in effect, paid Rs 89.5 crore to Young Indian, a Section 25 company (meaning a not-for-profit one) controlled by party president Sonia Gandhi and her son, party general secretary Rahul Gandhi.

From the notes of accounts, it appears this sum has effectively given the mother-son duo control over real estate assets running into several hundred crores of rupees.

Sonia and Rahul own 38 per cent each in Young Indian; party seniors Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandes own 12 per cent each.

FAMILY PARTY 
*Associated Journals is a limited company, having shareholders. Motilal Vora, treasurer of the All India Congress Committee, is chairman;
*Firm is formally in the business of publishing newspapers; 
*AICC had loaned Rs 90 crore to Associated, without interest. When it did so isn’t clear; 
*Young Indian was established as Sec 25 firm on November 23, 2010. Motilal Vora is also a board member of Young Indian, holding 12% 
*Associated’s board approved assignment of loan given by AICC on December 12, less than a month after Young Indian was registered, and by shareholders on January 21, 2011, a month after board approval and two months after Young India was incorporated; 
*It appears the shareholders, at the same EGM (Jan 21, 2011) had approved allottment of 90.2 million shares at Rs 10/share; 
*Board of AJ allotted 90.2 million shares to Young Indian on Feb 26, 2011. Resolution dated Feb 26 shows shareholders approved transfer of loan, as also issue of shares by extinguishment of loan, on same day; 
*Notes to accounts of Young Indian states objective of Young Indian. This does not include publishing a newspaper. Also, it says AJ is in the process of altering its object to align with the objects of Young Indian; 
*Shares worth Rs 5 lakh issued by Young Indian in 2011-12; 
*AICC accepted compromise for loan at Rs 50 lakh against the Rs 90 crore given, an effective writeoff of Rs 89.5 crore, but it seems AICC was not lucky even to get Rs 50 lakh cash from Young Indian, as latter is shown as having capital of Rs 5 lakh and loans of Rs 1 crore. Was there some benefactor who gave loan of Rs 1 crore or did AICC give loan to Young Indian to help pay off its own loan?

The notes to accounts for the year ended March 31, 2012, filed by Young Indian auditor Pradeep Shah and signed by directors Suman Dubey and Motilal Vora this April, give some clues on the actual structure of the transaction. “In pursuit of its objects, the company has acquired loan owed of Rs 90,21,68,980 by the Associated Journals, presently engaged in achieving a recast of its activities so as to have its main object congruent to the main object of the company, for a consideration of Rs 50 lakh,” the note said.

Thus, this transaction effectively has the effect of cleaning up the books of The Associated Journals (publishers of the now defunct National Herald daily, founded by Jawaharlal Nehru), wherein the entire liability is taken over by Young Indian.

Explanations
When asked, party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi (also the party spokesman) said, “Congress gave a loan to revive National Herald; it was launched in the fight against the British. It was the nation’s paper. The loan was not given to earn profit. Reviving the paper was an emotional issue for the Congress.”

Explaining the second and crucial leg of the transaction, the note added, “As part of the restructuring exercise of the said company (Associated Journals), the said loan was converted into 9,02,16,898 ordinary shares of Rs 10 each, fully paid up.”

Thus, effectively, Young Indian got shares worth Rs 90.2 crore by paying a meagre Rs 50 lakh.

By virtue of this shareholding, Associated Journals becomes a subsidiary of Young Indian.

The liabilities were paid out as an “interest-free loan” from the AICC.

On Sunday, Dwivedi claimed 700 employees had got their pay arrears due to the loan. By Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy’s estimates, even a firesale of Associated’s real estate assets would have covered the Rs 90 crore liability in the books several times over, settled all employees and still have given the shareholders of Associated handsome returns.

But, the directors of Associated thought it fit to use these resources for development of the objects of Young Indian.

Dwivedi’s reiterated defence on the “interest-free loan” to Associated Journals was: “It is an emotional issue for us...only Congress will decide what is political activity for it and no other party.”

While helping employees and getting emotional is permissible, the accounting treatment of the transactions is a little unusual, said experts. Ideally, both the liability acquired and the value of the shares would reflect in the books of Young Indian. This treatment is a bit different.

The books of Young Indian show the 90.2 million shares it owns in Associated Journals under the investments column. But it does not show any value against this. There is just a dash in the value column.

The notes to accounts explains this treatment as follows: “Since the said acquisition is treated as application on the objects of the company(and accordingly, treated in the financial statements of the company), the same has not been as an investment in shares.”

The note goes on to add: “Besides, even if these shares were to be treated as an asset (investment), having regard to the fact that the net worth of the said company is negative, recognising the entire cost as diminution in value would result in an equivalent charge in income and expenditure account.”

Elsewhere, the note says, “Any outflow designed to fulfill the objects of the company, whether or not represented by an asset, is treated as application on the objects of the company.”

Issues
What are these “objects” of Young Indian that the notes refers to again and again? There is an answer to this, too.

“The company is engaged in activities to inculcate in the mind of India’s youth commitment to the ideal of a democratic and secular society and provides for application of its profits or income in pursuit thereof.”

But somehow the objects skips the original object of Associated Journals — that of publishing newspapers. Was that intentional? Or was it just an emotional slip?

What’s a Section 25 company?
A Section 25 company is a not-for-profit entity registered with a specific objective. These are companies formed with the only purpose of promoting commerce, art, science, religion, charity or any other useful objective.

The ministry of corporate affairs’ website maintains a list of Section 25 companies, which at present are estimated at 3,350.

A Section 25 company has to be granted a licence by the Registrar of Companies. It does not have to pay any dividend to its shareholders. Any surplus from its operations is ploughed back into the company and deployed towards achievement of stated objectives.

Some of the common Section 25 companies are non-government organisations (NGOs) and entities engaged in CSR activities.

Section 25 companies cannot be listed on exchanges, as there is no profit or dividend.

Section 25 companies also enjoy several exemptions. Unlike the minimum capital requirement of Rs 1 lakh for private companies and Rs 5 lakh for public companies, a Section 25 company does not have to meet any minimum capital requirement. It also pays lower registration fees. Nor does it pay stamp duty and a company can be a member of a Section 25 company.

Section 25 companies are also exempted either fully or partially from the requirement of voting methods for resolutions, retirement of directors by rotation and government approval for increasing the number of directors beyond12.

Such companies cannot obtain foreign contributions without seeking a certificate of registration under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) from the Home Ministry. They are required to use foreign contributions only for the purpose for which they are received. Norms for foreign investment in Section 25 companies are governed under the Foreign Exchange Management Act and FCRA.

The income of a Section 25 company is taxable and it generally enjoys all the advantages of a limited company under the Companies Act.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/did-congress-pay-rs-895-cr-to-soniarahul-through-young-indian/491697/

excerpts from ‘YOUNG INDIAN’ Balance Sheet as at 31st March, 2012, as filed with ROC on 26th April, 2012 counter signed by Suman Dubey & Motilal Vora, Directors & Pradeep S Shah, Partner, Chandrakant & Sevantilal Firm Regd. No.101675W, Chartered Accountant Membership No.030632.

Balance Sheet SCHEDULE Remarks
1st Page INVESTMENTS 4 BLANK
NO FIGURE/AMOUNT GIVEN

2nd Page
YOUNG INDIAN
SCHEDULES FORMING PART OF BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31ST MARCH, 2012

AMOUNT Rs.
SCHEDULE-2 
CAPITAL FUND
Entrance Fees
Received during the period - 10,000
10,000
SCHEDULE-3
UNSECURED LOAN
Inter Corporate Loan - 10,000,000 NO MENTION OF LOAN
(Repayable within a year Rs.1 Crore) 10,000,000 FROM AICC 


SCHEDULE- 4 NO VALUE SHOWN
902,16,898 Ordinary shares of the Associated THERE IS NO SCHEDULE 7
Journals Limited of Rs.10 each fully paid (See
Note 1 in Schedule 7)


National Herald has 22,000 sq. ft. property in Indore 

Local authorities said the 22,000sqft plot in the prime Palasia area was obtained by Associated Journals at a concessional rate from the Indore Development Authority in the early nineties when P.V. Narasimha Rao was Prime Minister.

At present, the makeshift office occupies barely 5 per cent of the total plot. According to city property agents, the commercial value of the land will be between Rs 3 crore and Rs 5 crore if one goes by a conservative estimate.

Patidar, the additional district magistrate, said the land was under “some kind of dispute”. “We will look into the matter if any complaint is filed,” he said.

http://nationalherald.org/index.html

http://nationalherald.org/contact.html
All but over for a Nehru child: 2008 report

All but over for a Nehru child: 2008 report
Rasheed Kidwai
Saturday, 03 November 2012 16:51
New Delhi: National Herald, Jawaharlal Nehru’s dream project and the Congress’s voice, will soon fall silent.

The employees’ union and AICC treasurer Motilal Vora are set to sign an agreement on Friday declaring the newspaper’s death. Its publication could stop by March.

The paper has suffered massive losses for years, the problems blamed on poor management, lack of resources, surplus staff and drying up of advertisements.

So attached was Nehru to the paper since he founded it in 1938 that he had declared: “I will not let the National Herald close down even if I have to sell Anand Bhavan (the family home in Allahabad).”

Even today, over four decades after his death, the paper carries his stamp. The masthead reads: “Founded by Jawaharlal Nehru.”

The countdown to the closure began with the visit of Vora to 5-A Herald House in Bahadurshah Zafar Marg, Delhi’s Fleet Street, to close the deal.

He met Saud Akhtar, president of the National Herald and Qaumi Awaz Employees’ Union, and conveyed Sonia Gandhi’s decision. Petroleum minister Murli Deora assisted Vora in closing the protracted negotiations at the Congress chief’s behest.

“Yes, it is true that everything (the closure terms) has been finalised. It has been a good deal. I am glad to note that the employees have got a good deal, a bonanza of sorts,” Akhtar, recovering at home from an accident, said.

Vora had told this correspondent recently that the Congress high command wanted the Herald, particularly its Urdu edition, Qaumi Awaz, to be re-launched from Lucknow. The Lucknow editions were suspended over a decade back.

Under the arrangement Vora reached with the union, over 250 employees, including around 40 journalists of the English and the Urdu editions published from Delhi, will get compensation. A source said a Rs

40-crore package had been finalised to pay them.

According to Akhtar, the employees, tired of waiting for things to turn around for years, had agreed reluctantly to the idea of closure.

“Nobody wanted it this way but all of us were tired of its slow death. A general body meeting on January 16 led to a mutual agreement,” he added.

Akhtar said he had also heard Vora reassure senior employees that here could be a publication later.

“Maybe the Congress will get its act together, get state-of-the-art machinery and new staff and start afresh after a few months.”

In 1998, Lucknow’s Nehru Manzil, from where the papers were published, witnessed the sad spectacle of government officials auctioning the

Herald’s properties as a huge portrait of Nehru brooded over the sorry turn of events.

(The Telegraph, Calcutta carried this report on January 22, 2008)

September 11, 2009


Land Heralds paper rebirth
RASHEED KIDWAI

The National Herald office in Indore
Sept. 10: When land is precious, what is the best way to preserve it? Revive a newspaper, better still if it has a nationalistic past.

National Herald, Jawaharlal Nehru’s dream project founded in 1938 and the Congress’s voice for many years, has resumed publication from Indore, but nobody in the party seems to be aware of it.

The newspaper, which had suffered massive losses for years, had shut down in March 2008 when the employees’ union and Congress treasurer Motilal Vora signed an agreement to declare its death. The employees of the Delhi-based newspaper were paid a total compensation of over Rs 40 crore.

But suddenly this month, the paper has resurfaced from Indore, where it never had an edition but owned a sprawling plot of prime land on lease, with its trademark masthead saying “Founded by Jawaharlal Nehru.”

Behind the revival is Vishnu Goyal, a one-time stockbroker and chit fund operator who has assumed the role of “chief editor”.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Vora, a former Madhya Pradesh chief minister, sounded a tad perplexed. “I have to examine the records of the ownership of the Indore land,” he said.

Asked if he had assigned any franchisee or authorised its publication, the Congress treasurer said: “You are well aware that we announced suspension of the publication last year.”

Documents with the office of Indore additional district magistrate Narayan Patidar, who is empowered to sanction publications from the city, include a letter from The Associated Journals Ltd, New Delhi, National Herald’s parent company, authorising the newspaper’s publication and use of the “National Herald” title.

What is intriguing is that the letter is dated June 5, 2008, two months after Vora asked all National Herald employees to opt for a compulsory retirement scheme.

Saud Akhtar, former president of the National Herald Employees’ Union, said he “would not like to believe” such details. “It is baffling how the management could even think of starting the paper when it was giving a burial to the existing one,” he said.

Akhtar said the union had no idea the paper had resumed publication. “This was never discussed or told to us. Is Soniaji aware of it?” he asked. “We were always told that whenever the paper is revived, it will be in Delhi and that we will be taken into confidence.”

Sunil Salve, the editor of the paper, said they were utilising the land allotted to the organisation. “Land had been allotted to the paper and so we have revived it. A copy of the paper was given to Voraji and to Madhya Pradesh governor Rameshwar Thakur.”

Thakur had served as chairman of the publication during the early 1990s. He, however, refused to say anything on the Herald’s revival. “I do not wish to comment as I am no longer part of it. As governor, I meet many persons and receive books, magazines, papers, etc.,” he said.

The paper is being published from a tract at Indore’s Press Complex, surrounded by several newspaper offices. Local authorities said the 22,000sqft plot in the prime Palasia area was obtained by Associated Journals at a concessional rate from the Indore Development Authority in the early nineties when P.V. Narasimha Rao was Prime Minister.

At present, the makeshift office occupies barely 5 per cent of the total plot. According to city property agents, the commercial value of the land will be between Rs 3 crore and Rs 5 crore if one goes by a conservative estimate.

Patidar, the additional district magistrate, said the land was under “some kind of dispute”. “We will look into the matter if any complaint is filed,” he said.



National Herald, founded by Nehru, to close down
Submitted by admin4 on 22 January 2008 - 1:56pm
India News
By Ranjana Narayan, IANS

New Delhi : The National Herald, the newspaper started by India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru before World War II and being financed by the Congress party for the past several years, is likely to close down.

According to sources in the newspaper, talks between the National Herald and Quami Awaz Employees Union and Congress leaders on modalities towards a final settlement for the 265 employees, including about 40 journalists of the English and the Urdu editions published from New Delhi, have been on for the past few months.

Overstaffing, mainly of the press and non-journalists and also lack of advertisements, are said to be the main cause for the newspaper running into major losses. The Congress has reportedly decided to discontinue publication of the daily that was started in Lucknow Sep 9, 1938 by Nehru.

The Lucknow edition of the National Herald and Quami Awaz were closed down about 10 years ago. The paper also had a Hindi edition Navjivan - a name given by Mahatma Gandhi - that was closed down several years ago.

According to the sources, chairperson of the newspaper Motilal Vora, MP and treasurer of the Congress party, and some other Congress leaders have reportedly finalised a Rs.380 million compensation package for the workers.

Confirming that the paper was being closed, Saud Akhtar, senior journalist with the Quami Awaz and president of the National Herald and Quami Awaz Employees Union, told IANS: "Yes, everything has been finalised. The final agreement is likely to be signed by the end of this week or maybe a little later."

According to Akhtar, the employees have agreed to the closure.

"The employees were told about the closure at the general body meeting held on Jan 16 and earlier on Nov 15. They have all agreed; it was a mutual agreement from both sides," he said. The employees are getting a "handsome compensation".

"Five to six rounds of talks have been held between the employees union and the Congress over the last two months," he said, declining to disclose the final settlement amount for the workers till everything "was settled" with Vora, most likely by Wednesday.

The newspaper, which officially claims a circulation of around 40,000 copies, has "never had a history of making profits".

It is not yet clear what publication the Congress party plans to bring out in lieu of the paper, but Vora is reported to have told senior editors: "We'll have some publication later."

Asked by IANS Monday evening, Vora said: "We are only discussing a VRS (Voluntary Retirement Scheme) for the excess employees."

He denied that the National Herald was headed for closure. Asked what publication the Congress would bring out in its place, he dismissed it as a "hypothetical question".

But Akhtar said: "On Jan 1, Vora came to Herald House (on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg) and categorically told the employees union that the paper is going to be closed down."

T.V. Venkitachalam, editor in chief of the National Herald, said: "In my 20 years association with the newspaper, and nine years as editor, there has never been any interference from the Congress party in presenting the news. We have always tried to keep a fine balance in our news, especially the editorials, and never tried to make it sound like a party publication.

"The newspaper has been part of the country's freedom movement and has been an upholder of national values like secularism and non-alignment and we have strived to run it in a professional manner," said Venkitachalam, 79, who joined the paper in 1987 when then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi revived it.

The paper had closed down for a few months at the time due to various reasons, including financial constraints.

During the paper's golden jubilee in 1988, Rameshwar Thakur, who was chairperson of the board of directors of the publication and is now the Karnataka governor, had written in the special issue: "The freedom movement (was) at its peak, Gandhiji leading the nation through blood and sweat. His lieutenant and our great founder Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, wanting to give a new meaning to the freedom that was yet to come so that all its fruits could reach the poor and the humble...

"It was in these stirring times that the National Herald was born at the initiative of its founder, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru."

http://twocircles.net/node/40319


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Now AJPL linked to Rs. 1000 cr. land scam in Mumbai - DNA investigation

See also: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2012/11/aicc-paid-rs-895-cr-to-young-indian-as.html

DNA Investigations: Congress link in Associated’s Mumbai plot

By Kavitha Iyer

Nov 5, 2012

Mumbai

Amid allegations that the Congress party gave an interest-free loan to Associated Journals Ltd with an eye on the company’s real estate assets, it now emerges that the company that publishes National Herald and Quami Awaz was allotted a prime plot of land by the government of Maharashtra in suburban Mumbai, ostensibly for a press and a Nehru memorial library, neither of which was built. 

While a large part of the plot remains vacant after being allotted in 1983, one portion was parcelled off in 2000 to a housing society floated by Congressman Rajiv Chavan in which former Mumbai Congress chief Kripashankar Singh is a member.

This land, facing the Western Express Highway and a stone’s throw away from Bandra station, is now home to Sai Prasad Housing Society, home to Singh, Chavan and a bunch of top bureaucrats some of who already owned other properties in the city and some others who are under the scanner in the Adarsh scam.

Activist Anil Galgali, who used the Right to Information Act to obtain details about the plot on which Sai Prasad building stands, has now written to chief minister Prithviraj Chavan demanding that Associated Journal Ltd’s land be taken back by the government. 

“The plot was given for daily news publication, a Nehru library and a research centre in 1983 but it is still as it is. The government should take the land back and build a hostel for students (Scheduled Caste) for which it was originally reserved,” Galgali’s letter dated November 2 says.

Not only did Associated Journals not construct the press building and library, but it also managed to obtain repeated extensions from the state government while continuing to hold on to the 30-year lease, which now expires next year. Also, sources said the company owes a sum of over Rs 3.76 crore to the state government in unpaid lease rent.

When a part of the plot was allotted to Sai Prasad, Singh was guardian minister for the Mumbai suburban region.

“Will you as chief minister be able to initiate proceedings for the state government to reclaim land that is now under the control of Rahul Gandhi? There is a question about this,” Galgali has said in his letter. He goes on to say that the market value of the land is now about Rs 1,000 crore.

While Congress spokespersons have said the AICC loan to Associated Journals was given for “emotional” reasons and with a view to revive the newspaper started by Jawaharlal Nehru in the 1930s, the Bharatiya Janata Party has alleged that the company Young Indian, which now controls Associated Journals has its eye on the latter’s considerable real estate assets. Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are among the main shareholders of Young Indian.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_dna-investigations-congress-link-in-associateds-mumbai-plot_1760281


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Congress gave Sonia and Rahul free takeover financing -- R Jagannathan

Subramanian Swamy, Janata Party president, set the cat among the pigeons when he alleged on 1 November that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul managed to secure access to Rs 1,600 crore of property by getting the Congress party to give Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), publisher of defunct newspapers National Herald and Qaumi Awaaz, a Rs 90 crore, interest-free loan.

After threatening legal action—which has been missing so far from Rahul Gandhi’s end—the Congress party sheepishly admitted on Friday that, yes, it had indeed given a loan of around Rs 90 crore to Associated Journals as part of its “political activities”. This statement was crucial since political parties are not supposed to use their tax-free funds for non-political or commercial activities. (Read the full Congress statement by Janardhan Dwivedi here)

sonia_rahul380PTI.jpgRahul Gandhi (L) and Sonia Gandhi. PTI

But does this end the controversy? Not quite, as today’s Business Standard shows.

In fact, new questions emerge once one understands how the loan was structured. The loan went to Associated Journals, which then got taken over by Young Indian, a non-profit, Section 25 company owned by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul, for Rs 50 lakh. In the process, the loan given to Associated Journals became a loan to Young Indian, and the latter got full control over Associated Journals and all its assets.

Put another way, the interest-free loan given by the Congress was like takeover-funding for Sonia and Rahul’s acquisition of Associated Journals through a non-profit vehicle.

The questions that emerge are these.

Why did the Congress choose to let its party president and her son take over Associated Journals through their private non-profit when it could have done so directly? If the Congress is “emotionally” attached to the newspapers that Nehru started during the freedom struggle, why give it over to its current president and her son?

Why is Congress not clarifying whether this loan is ever to be recovered or never? Since Sonia and Rahul, through their non-profit company Young Indian now own Associated Journals, the loan has to be recovered from them, if at all. Sonia and Rahul own 3,800 shares—1,900 each—out of the issued capital of 5,000 shares.

Motilal Vora, Congress Treasurer, and Oscar Fernandes, party General Secretary, own 600 shares each of the remaining capital of Young Indian. Why should Congress party office-bearers own what should be a party asset created through a loan given by the party? The impropriety—to the extent it was one—of Sonia and Rahul applies equally to Vora and Fernandes, unless there is some other explanation we haven’t heard of as yet.

Why did Rahul Gandhi tell Pioneer in October that he had no intention of restarting the National Herald, when his own party now says it wants to revive the paper? In reply to a question from the Pioneer, Rahul Gandhi’s office replied: “The company has no intention of starting any newspaper.” Janardhan Dwivedi’s Friday note, on the other hand, said: “The Indian National Congress has done its duty in supporting the Associated Journals to help initiate a process to bring the newspaper back to health in compliance with the laws of the land.”

Why is Young Indian, which now effectively owns Associated Journals, not able to say what the real value of the assets acquired in the process is? The answer really lies here: if Associated Journals owns assets that are greater than Rs 90 crore, then the Congress essentially gifted Sonia and Rahul free ownership of assets in excess of Rs 90 crore – even if it is held in a non-profit company.

If, as Swamy alleges, the assets are valued at Rs 1,600 crore, then the nature of the impropriety is extraordinary. Nobody, even a non-profit, can acquire property worth several hundred crores with Rs 90 crore loans from a political party without explaining the reason for the same.

Mother and son—and the Congress party—have some explaining to do.

http://www.firstpost.com/india/congress-gave-sonia-and-rahul-free-takeover-financing-514438.html



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Subramanian Swamy moves Supreme Court against Election Commission refusal to de-recognise Congress

Dr. Swamy had only said that he would if EC does not hold a hearing. 

Subramanian Swamy moves Supreme Court against Election Commission refusal to de-recognise Congress

  | New Delhi, November 5, 2012 | 19:43
Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy.
Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy.
Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on Monday dragged the Election Commission to the Supreme Court for refusing to act against the Congress in the wake of alleged violation of its guidelines.

Swamy launched a scathing attack on the EC as the political slugfest over the land grabbing accusations against the Congress's first family got intense.

Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi
PM Manmohan Singh, UPA chief Sonia Gandhi and AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi at the Congress rally on Sunday.
The Janata Party leader, who had petitioned the EC seeking de-recognition of the Congress as a political outfit because of violations of mandatory guidelines framed by the constitutional body, has accused it of "selective leaks stemming out of malicious bias", ostensibly aimed at dismissing his petition against the biggest ruling party.

Swamy had moved the EC on Saturday after the Congress's admission to providing a loan of Rs 90 crore to Associated Journals -- the company that published the now-defunct National Herald newspaper -- seeking de-recognition of the party alleging that it had violated laws. The EC, however, stated that it was not within its jurisdiction to de-recognise a political party, giving the Congress a much needed breather.
 
 
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/subramanian-swamy-moves-supreme-court-against-election-commission-refusal-to-de-recognise-congress/1/227796.html

 

 



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Did Cong tell us full truth on Rs 90-cr loan to Sonia-Rahul firm? -- Raman Kirpal

Did Cong tell us full truth on Rs 90-cr loan to Sonia-Rahul firm?

by Raman Kirpal Nov 6, 2012

On 3 November, Congress General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi claimed that the Rs 90 crore loan given to Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) — now a subsidiary of a non-profit company owned by Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul — was to enable AJL to pay off its liabilities and revive its defunct newspapers, including National Herald and Qaumi Awaaz.

Last Friday, Dwivedi said in a signed statement: “The Indian National Congress has done its duty in supporting the Associated Journals to help initiate a process to bring the newspaper back to health in compliance with the laws of the land.”

The next day, PTI quoted him as explaining what the money was used for. “400 people working in the Associated Journals had become homeless while 300 workers in its Lucknow office had lost their jobs. We are proud that not only the salary dues of these 700 employees were paid off but even the VRS was given with all the benefits to those who opted for it and their provident funds were also paid.”

The evidence on record, however, suggests that the money could not really have gone to pay workers’ dues, or even to revive the newspapers. The money was simply given indirectly to Young Indian, the section 25 (non-profit) company 76 percent owned by Sonia and son, to enable them to take over Associated Journals (as Firstpost noted yesterday).

On 26 February 2011, the All India Congress Committee’s Rs 90-and-odd crore gift to Associated Journals was essentially handed over to Young Indian to acquire Associated Journals — which had lots of prime property assets.

Contrary to Dwivedi’s claim that the Rs 90 crore was meant to help revive National Herald and Qaumi Awaaz and pay pending dues to 700 employees, the loan was given to AJL and then converted to equity shares which were then acquired by Young Indian for Rs 50 lakh.

This how it happened. Once the loan was given, Motilal Vora, AICC Treasurer and one of the three directors of Associated Journals, got it converted to equity. The loan then went into Young Indian’s books.

Seeking the board of directors’ approval for issuance of 9.02 crore shares to Young Indian, Motilal Vora said: “9,02,16,898 equity shares of Rs 10 each be allotted to Young Indian in consideration of the extinguishment of the amount of Rs 90,21,68,980 due to Young Indian under loan facility available by the company from All India Congress Committee which loan facility and all the benefits thereunder was subsequently transferred by the All India Congress Committee in favour of Young Indian which was approved by the board in the board meeting held on 21.12.2010 and by the shareholders by a special resolution in the extraordinary general meeting of the members held on 21.01.2011.’’

Young Indian obliged and readily took over the loan of Rs 90 crore from Associated Journals in order to acquire it. This money is unlikely to have been used to pay the dues to employees of National Herald and Qaumi Awaaz.

Reason: their dues were largely settled much earlier.

Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) President SK Pande told Firstpost: “I remember that we had the last demonstration in support of National Herald and Qaumi Awaaz about four or five years ago. The Associated Journals management had then begun the negotiations.’’

Nearly 70 percent of National Herald and Qaumi Awaaz employees had already taken voluntary retirement by then. The Young Indian deal was clinched in February 2011. It is highly unlikely that Associated Journals had even 100 employees on its rolls in 2008.

However, the DUJ President said he would meet the labour ministers of Delhi and the Union government to find out the status of Associated Journals’ employees.

Noted lawyer Shanti Bhushan told Firstpost that AICC would not have done anything wrong if it had given Rs 90 crore to acquire Associated Journals. “But here the money is given to a private company where Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi hold 38 percent shares each (76 percent together). This gives the Gandhi family the virtual power to have perpetual control over the utilisation of Associated Journals’ properties.’’

Motilal Vora, who was instrumental in the deal, had a mere 0.001 percent shares in Associated Journals. In Young Indian, however, he and his Congress colleague Oscar Fernandes have 12 percent shares each.

According to a 2011 list of shareholders, Associated Journals had a total of 9.11 crore ordinary shares. Young Indian has a little over nine crore shares of Associated Journals.

Even in the remaining 11 lakh shares, the Gandhi family owns over three lakh shares in their individual capacities. Priyanka Vadra and Rahul Gandhi own 2,62,411 and 47,513 shares respectively as trustees and authorised attorneys of Janhit Nidhi (Regd) Public Trust.

Strangely, Young Indian maintains that the acquisition of Associated Journals should not be treated as an investment. “…Even if shares were to be treated as an asset (investment), having regard to the fact that the net worth of the said company (Associated Journals) is negative, recognising the entire cost as diminution in value would result in an equivalent charge to the income and expenditure account’’, argues Young Indian in its annual disclosure.

The only defence that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul for their acquisitive manoeuvres with Associated Journals is that even as directors of Young Indian, they are not entitled, directly or indirectly, to any commercial gains.

But Associated Journals now owns prime properties in several Congress-ruled states and Sonia and Rahul have full control over the utilisation of these properties.

http://www.firstpost.com/india/did-cong-tell-us-full-truth-on-rs-90-cr-loan-to-sonia-rahul-firm-516100.html


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Congress and its connections: Allegations and responses in land fraud case


THE BACKGROUND: AICC transfers Rs 90-crore loan it has given to Associated Journals Pvt Ltd (AJPL) — which used to run National Herald and Quami Awaz Newspapers — to Young Indian for a consideration of Rs 50 lakh. Young Indian is majority owned by AICC president Sonia Gandhi and her son, Rahul Gandhi. After the loan is transferred to Young Indian, AJPL — which owns properties in New Delhi and UP — issues 90.2 million shares to Young Indian. Janata Party PresidentSubramanian Swamy alleges these transactions violated several regulations, including The Representation of the People Act and Income-Tax Act. ET takes a look at the allegations, responses and the issues at stake.

Congress and its connections: Allegations and responses in land fraud case
India’s Gandhi family

Read more from The Economist. Uncompromising global perspective. www.economist.com

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/17093913.cms?prtpage=1



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India's Gandhi family

The Rahul problem

Sep 10th 2012, 11:10 by A.R. | DELHI

 

 

WHAT is the point of Rahul Gandhi? The 42-year-old scion of the Gandhi dynasty, which has long dominated India’s ruling party, is still the most plausible prime ministerial candidate for Congress at the looming 2014 election. In advance of that, possibly within weeks, he may get some new party post (some talk of a “vice presidency”) or possibly a government job (as rural affairs minister, perhaps?). A cabinet reshuffle is awaited, with the washed-out monsoon session of parliament swirling down the drain.

Promoting Mr Gandhi now would in theory make sense for Congress. He has long been presumed the successor-in-waiting to Sonia Gandhi, his mother and the party’s president. He needs time to start showing some skills as a leader before campaigning starts in 2014. And for as long as Mr Gandhi does not rise, it is hard for other relative youngsters to be promoted without appearing to outshine him. That has left Congress looking ever older and more out of touch.

But he has long refused to take on a responsible position, preferring to work on reorganising Congress’s youth wing, and leading regional election efforts, both with generally poor results. The problem is that Mr Gandhi has so far shown no particular aptitude as a politician, nor even sufficient hunger for the job. He is shy, reluctant to speak to journalists, biographers, potential allies or foes, nor even to raise his voice in parliament. Nobody really knows what he is capable of, nor what he wishes to do should he ever attain power and responsibility. The suspicion is growing that Mr Gandhi himself does not know.

 

 

The latest effort to “decode” Mr Gandhi comes in the form of a limited yet rather well written biography by a political journalist, Aarthi Ramachandran. Her task is a thankless one. Mr Gandhi is an applicant for a big job: ultimately, to lead India. But whereas any other job applicant will at least offer minimal information about his qualifications, work experience, reasons for wanting a post, Mr Gandhi is so secretive and defensive that he won’t respond to the most basic queries about his studies abroad, his time working for a management consultancy in London, or what he hopes to do as a politician.

Mrs Ramachandran’s book—along with just about every other one about the Gandhi dynasts—is thus hampered by a lack of first-hand material on its subject. Mr Gandhi can only be judged by his actions, his rare and halting public utterances, and the opinions of others who work near him. Given that limitation, she does a decent job: sympathetically but critically analysing his various efforts. She concludes that his push to modernise the youth organisation of Congress as if it were an ailing corporation, applying management techniques learned from Toyota, were earnest and well-meaning but ultimately doomed to fail. “Brand” Rahul, she suggests convincingly, is confused. A man of immense privilege, rising only because of his family name, struggles to look convincing when he talks of meritocracy.

The overall impression of Mr Gandhi from Mrs Ramachandran’s book is that of a figure who has an ill-defined urge to improve the lives of poor Indians, but no real idea of how to do so. He feels obliged to work in politics, but his political strategies are half-baked, and he fails to develop strong ties with any particular constituency. He has tried to disavow the traditional role of a Gandhi (which would pose him as a Western-educated member of the elite with a near-feudal style of concern for the masses) preferring to pitch himself as a man ready to drink the dirty water of village peasants, and to eat food among the most marginalised of society. But his failure to follow up on such gestures (and many others), with policy or prolonged interventions to help a particular group, suggests a man who strikes an attitude but lacks skills in delivering real change—either as election results, or social improvement.

Part of the problem is presumably the coterie of advisers who surround Mr Gandhi. Western-educated, bright and eager to cosset their leader within a very small bubble, they appear unready for the messy realities of Indian politics: the shady alliances that are required to win elections; the need to strike deals with powerful regional figures who increasingly shape national politics; the importance of crafting a media strategy in an era of cable TV news. More basically, they seem not to have developed any consistent views on policy. What does Mr Gandhi stand for: more liberal economic reforms; defensive nationalism; an expansion of welfare? Instead they prefer to focus on tactics. Perhaps because of their poor advice, their man too often looks opportunistic and inconsistent.

Opportunities have presented themselves to Mr Gandhi in the past couple of years. One was the Anna Hazare anti-corruption movement, of last year and this, when young, urban, middle-class voters, in the main, expressed rage at huge scandals overseen by the elderly folk who run Congress and their coalition allies. Mr Hazare’s campaign successfully drew on their anger, yet it was a halting, confused movement. Mr Gandhi might have intervened at some point, and tried himself to tap into public anger over corruption and inequality, and drawn some of the sting of the Hazare camp’s efforts.

Or, when Mrs Gandhi was absent, being treated abroad for a serious illness (rumoured to have been cervical cancer), he might have taken charge and confronted the anti-graft campaigners. He could at least have set out evidence for how the government was tackling graft, claimed credit for the government’s introduction of a right-to-information act, and lauded the fact that suspect politicians had been arrested and (temporarily) put in jail. Instead he flunked the test in hiding, not daring to speak out, other than in one ill-advised intervention in parliament.

Another opportunity of sorts was to energise Congress in state elections. The failure of the campaign led by Mr Gandhi in Uttar Pradesh (UP) early in 2012 is briefly but convincingly assessed in the biography. Congress did worse in the state during the assembly elections than it had in the 2009 general election. Mr Gandhi led the party to a humiliating fourth place, even doing dismally in constituencies where the Gandhis have long been local MPs.

Perhaps he was doomed to fail from the start (voters did not think Congress could win in the assembly elections, so did not see a reason to “waste” their votes). But his methods—poor public speaking, a failure to understand how particular castes and religious groups would act, weak connections to local organisers—did not help. The main mistake, in retrospect, may have been that he invested so much of himself in that particular poll. But similar efforts, in Bihar and Kerala, in recent years, brought similar results.

Since the poll in UP Mr Gandhi has made little impact on Indian politics. That would change quickly if he is indeed promoted to a higher position and takes on a bigger role. But the growing impression of the man—certainly the one promoted by Mrs Ramachandran’s “Decoding Rahul Gandhi”—is of a figure so far ill-prepared to be a leading politician in India.

Just possibly, therefore, this is the moment for Congress to dare to think of something radical: of reorganising itself on the basis of policies, ideas and a vision for how India should develop, and not on a particular dynasty that seems, after various iterations, to be getting less and less useful. Mrs Ramachandran’s book does not touch on this thought, but it is high time for the powerful within Congress to think about it.

(Picture credit: AFP)



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Did Maharashtra govt bend rules to allot prime plot in Mumbai for Gandhis' trust?

Even as Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy carries on with his tirade against the Gandhis, fresh allegations of land grabbing have surfaced against Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul.

On Thursday, Headlines Today accessed documents that show a prime Mumbai land plot worth Rs.90 crore was given almost free to a trust controlled by the Gandhis -- Associated Journal -- which has been squatting on the prime property for 30 years without developing it as promised.

The land was given to the trust to set up its office for the National Herald newspaper. However, it failed to start any activity even 30 years after the land was given. It leads to obvious questions being asked if Gandhis' trust has been hoarding prime land in Mumbai.

Ironically, the land allotted for the trust was originally meant for a hostel for poor Dalit students makes it even worse.

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut accused the Maharashtra government of bending rules to favour the Gandhis. Even the documents show that the state government failed to invoke lease terms against the VIP trust in an alleged case of selective application of law.

Documents show that the state government acceded to the trust's request to realign plot despite non-compliance and there was no action despite it defaulting on payment of rent. The Maharashtra government was yet to clear the air on why it never forfeited the land despite non-adherence to the lease terms.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan ducked Headlines Today's direct question on the issue, saying he would react only after getting more information on the matter.

Earlier this month, Swamy had accused Sonia and Congress's general secretary Rahul Gandhi of committing a fraud of Rs.1,600 crore worth property associated with two newspapers, the National Herald and the Qaumi Awaz.

Prior to that India Against Corruption (IAC) leader Arvind Kejriwal had accused Sonia's son-in-law Robert Vadra of shady land deals with real estate giant DLF resulting in the profit of several crore rupees to him.


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Herald land row spreads to Mumbai, Swamy plans action

Smitha Nair CNN-IBN | 08-Nov 18:26 PM

Mumbai: Yet another controversy surrounding Associated Journals Ltd has been unearthed. CNN-IBN has accessed RTI documents that raise fresh questions. The documents show that the Maharashtra government gave premium land in Bandra in 1983 to Associated Journals, now acquired by the Gandhis' Young Indian company, for building a Nehru memorial library and a research centre.

However, the documents reveal, that Associated Journals squatted on the land and did not build the library. Despite that, it got repeated extensions from the Maharashtra government. Additionally, despite owing the government Rs 3.7 crore in lease rentals, the Associated Journals facilitated the building of a housing society adjoining their land.

Reportedly, 3,479 sq mt of prime land in Bandra was given to Associated Journals. In the year 2000, Associated Journals wrote to the district collector seeking a realignment of boundaries of their plot. Subsequently, one portion of that land was given to the housing society, Sai Prasad where former Mumbai Congress Chief Kripashnakar Singh and a number of bureaucrats now live.

The RTI activist who sought these documents has now written to the CM asking why the land alloted to Associated Journal has not been reclaimed. "I asked the CM, will you have the guts to take back land from a comapny that is now owned by Rahul Gandhi himself," said Anil Galgali.

The Chief Minister, however, says he is unaware. "I don't know... the matter hasn't come to me." For many, the prime piece of land lies at the heart of allegations that Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy's made last week - that the Nehru-Gandhi family who are shareholders in Young Indian, the company that now controls Associated Journals - are interested not in the newspapers it runs, but the land it controls, which is worth thousands of crores.



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Rahul Gandhi's business partner running for cover!

 
 
According to documents released by Dr. Subramanian Swamy yesterday, Backops Services Pvt. Ltd was registered on May 27, 2002 by Rahul Gandhi. This company appointed a US citizen Ulrik R McKnight as its Director in 2005.

But Ulrik McKnight claims, in his profile at the bottom of a column he recently wrote on a website, that he “co-founded and ran BackOps Engineering”. (Screenshot 1 from Google cache). Strangely Ulrik R McKnight profile has now removed the claim “co-founded and ran BackOps Engineering”. (Screenshot 2 from today)
 
a.jpg
Above: Screenshot 1 / Right-click and 'save link as' for large size image
b.jpg
Above: Screenshot 2 / Right-click and 'save link as' for large size image


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Rahul Gandhi & Robert Vadra - Land Registry & Mutation copies. Source: Om Prakash Chautala, INLD

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