Rahul sparks row in Punjab,Akalis call him national joke

Rahul sparks row in Punjab,Akalis call him national joke

70% Youths In State Drug Addicts: Gandhi

Alkesh Sharma TNN

Chandigarh: Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh may be going to polls,but its Punjab where Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi created a political controversy on Thursday.While he said seven out of 10 youth in Punjab are addicted to drugs, the Punjab government hit back,saying Rahul is a national joke and sought an apology from him.
The sharp reaction came from Harcharan Bains,advisor to Punjab CM on media and national affairs,after Rahul raised the issue of drug addiction.Rahul was addressing a students rally organized by the NSUI here at the Panjab University (PU) campus on Thursday.
Rahul Gandhi is a national joke.He invites youth of Punjab and then refers to them as drug addicts.Is he mindful of what he is speaking and to whom said Bains.
Rahul was on a two-day visit to Punjab during which he held a meeting with state Congress leaders in Amritsar on Wednesday to introspect and find reasons for the Congresss poor show during the Punjab polls earlier this year.Youth have the power and knowledge.But what is happening to this human resource in Punjab Problem of drug addiction is high in Punjab and the government has not shown any seriousness in solving this problem.Unemployment is also on a high, said Rahul.
Senior Congress leaders said Rahul seems to have done his homework,basing his attack on an affidavit filed by the Punjab government with the Punjab and Haryana HC in May 2009.
Punjab deputy CM Sukhbir Badal,however,rubbished Rahuls claims,saying Congresss policy was first to dub our youth terrorists.Now,they want put the stigma of drugs on them.Before making such allegations,he should look at the rape cases in the state ruled by his party, Sukhbir Badal told TOI.

Kejriwal, IAC activists detained in bid to meet PM

Arvind Kejriwal and some activists were on Friday detained by police after they were stopped from marching towards the prime minister's residence demanding resignation and arrest of Union Minister Salman Khurshid over allegations of irregularities by an NGO run by him.


Kejriwal along with about 70 activists of Rashtriya Vikalang Party marched from Janpath to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's [ Images ] Race Course residence, a few kilometres away, but were stopped at Rajpath crossing by police. They were later detained when they refused to disperse and staged a sit-in.

The activist announced that his day-long protest will now continue for an indefinite period. Kejriwal said they will not leave the venue till the prime minister met them or Khurshid resigned from the Cabinet.

Kejriwal said now this is a fight to finish and "now let's make this place another Tahrir Square".

Kejriwal-led India [ Images ] Against Corruption has been maintaining that it was a protest programme by RVP and they were just guests. But after Kejriwal's protest IAC started sending text messages asking people to join the protest.

"IAC in support of disabled people is sitting on protest near National Archives, Janpath. PM refused meeting. Would sit on dharna unless PM meets or Salman Khurshid resigns," an IAC spokesperson said.

Kejriwal claimed he had sought time from the prime minister but his office refused to give him and disabled people any appointment.

The IAC had alleged financial irregularities in the functioning of Zakir Hussain [ Images ] Memorial Trust run by Khurshid and his wife Louis, a charge denied by both. Khurshid has also threatened to take Kejriwal to court.

Changing plans, activist Arvind Kejriwal and his disabled supporters will march towards Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's [ Images ] residence on Friday, instead of laying siege to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's [ Images ] house, to demand action against Law Minister Salman Khurshid for alleged malpractices in his NGO.


Kejriwal had on Wednesday announced that he will join the disabled people in gheroing Sonia Gandhi's residence. But on Thursda,y his aides said there were changes in their plan after discussions with the disabled activists and they will march to the prime minister's residence instead.

"Tomorrow, disabled people will march towards 7, Race Course Road, the official residence of the prime minister. The earlier plans have been changed," a member of Kejriwal-led India [ Images ] Against Corruption said. Kejriwal had also tweeted about plans to gherao Gandhi's residence.

A Hindi news channel had alleged that the NGO of Khurshid and his wife Louise forged signatures of senior officials in several districts of Uttar Pradesh [ Images ], depriving disabled people of their money.

Louise Khurshid denied the allegations and said it was "devoid of any merit, and is false, malicious and baseless"

Kejriwal threatens to gherao Sonia Gandhi's residence

Activist Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said he along with disabled activists will gherao the residence of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi [ Images ] on Friday demanding resignation of Law Minsiter Salman Khurshid following allegations that the NGO run by him and his wife has indulged in irregularities.



Kejriwal, who also demanded Khurshid's resignation from the Cabinet, announced his protest programme after a group of 35-40 disabled persons met him at his office.


"Money bungling in the NGO floated by the law minister's wife is a matter of shame. It is unfortunate to have such law minister in the country.


"We demand resignation of the Law Minister and immediate arrest of his wife. We will gherao Sonia Gandhi's residence asking for Khurshid's resignation," Kejriwal said.


A Hindi news channel alleged that the NGO forged signatures of senior officials in several districts of Uttar Pradesh [ Images ] depriving disabled people of their money.


Khurshid's wife Louise Khurshid denied the allegations and said it was "devoid of any merit, and is false, malicious and baseless".

In a statement, she said she herself had requested UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on September 17 to conduct an inquiry so that "truth is revealed and it is established that the Trust has not forged the signatures of any officers of the state of UP".

Vadragate: Sonia panicked, Priyanka calmed Cong down

B Raman analyses the new strategy adopted by the Congress to take on activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal.

After over 48 hours of panic over the allegations levelled by Arvind Kejriwal of India Against Corruption against Congress President Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra, the party has worked out a strategy to tire out the activist and his aides.

It is reported that the initial panic was triggered by Sonia Gandhi herself, which led to the unwise intervention of a number of senior ministers in support of Vadra and his tactless remarks on Facebook.

After this initial spectacle of panic, Vadra's wife Priyanka, who is concerned about the likely impact of the allegations on the credibility and political future of the family and the Congress, reportedly stepped in to calm down the situation.

Kejriwal fired all bullets without hurting Vadra

A new set of crisis management advisers, not haunted by memories of the old Bofors controversy against Rajiv Gandhi, took advantage of certain evolving characteristics of L'Affaire Vadra.

First, there has been no smoking gun so far. Second, there has been no paper trail. Third, Vadra's alleged involvement was with a listed company and not with shady individual businessmen, either in India or in the Diaspora abroad. Fourth, Kejriwal, during his first two press conferences, seemed to have fired all his bullets without seriously hurting Vadra.

He does not appear to have any more unused bullets at his disposal. And, fifth, by announcing beforehand that he would be exposing another prominent personality on October 16, Kejriwal has set a trap for himself.

Pro-Hindutva NRIs inspiring campaign against Gandhi family?

Those within the Congress feel that the allegations made by Kejriwal are nothing but recycled versions of those made by a national business daily earlier. Those allegations were not taken note of by the conventional media -- print or television -- but were noted and exploited on the Internet by a group of NRIs, who have been carrying on a campaign against Sonia Gandhi and her family and are in favour of Hindutva organisations.

This NRI group kept the allegations recycled through various means, which have now been picked up by Kejriwal and the IAC. It is claimed that in addition to these recycled allegations from the Internet, there have been no new allegations in the charges levelled by Kejriwal.

Congress insiders draw attention to the intriguing coincidence between the campaign against Sonia Gandhi unleashed by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of her foreign travel expenditure and the campaign against Vadra over his wealth by the IAC.

They suspect that the same group of pro-Hindutva NRIs is the inspiring force behind both the campaigns.

Kejriwal recycling old allegations against Vadra

The initial panic was also caused by the dramatic projection to viewers by TV channels of the charges made by Kejriwal against Vadra. This panic has also since subsided. They point out how the TV pendulum dramatically swung towards Anna Hazare during his fast in August last year and then equally dramatically swung away from him when there were signs of agitation fatigue in Mumbai where the Gandhian launched the second stage of his campaign.

They are hoping that the TV pendulum, which has swung towards Kejriwal, would similarly swing away from him if he keeps recycling old allegations.

The new strategy of the Congress is to give a long rope to Kejriwal and not to act in panic. Unless Kejriwal is able to come out with a smoking gun or new evidence, this strategy might work.