{"id":212687,"date":"2023-03-13T00:37:45","date_gmt":"2023-03-12T19:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/?p=212687"},"modified":"2023-03-13T00:37:45","modified_gmt":"2023-03-12T19:07:45","slug":"double-standards-opposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/2023\/03\/13\/double-standards-opposition\/","title":{"rendered":"Double standards: Opposition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Centre’s ‘Witch-Hunt’<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Insaf<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Not done! A message from nine Opposition leaders from eight national parties to Prime Minister Modi. Standing behind AAP\u2019s Manish Sisodia, who\u2019s in Tihar jail in Delhi Liquor policy scam, they condemned the \u2018witch-hunt\u2019 and \u2018blatant misuse of central agencies against Opposition members.\u2019 The letter signed by Chief Ministers of Telangana, KCR, West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, Punjab, Bhagwant Mann and Delhi Arvind Kejriwal and leaders of SP,\u00a0 Akhilesh Yadav, RJD\u2019s Tejashwi Yadav, NC Farooq Abdullah; NCP Sharad Pawar; Shiv Sena (UBT) Uddhav Thackeray, noted: allegations against Sisodia are outrightly baseless and smack of a political conspiracy; of total number of key politicians booked, arrested, raided or interrogated by these agencies since 2014, maximum belong to Opposition; these agencies go slow on cases against Opposition politicians who join BJP (cases of then Congress leader and now Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in Saradha chit fund scam, former TMC leaders Suvendu Adhikari and Mukul Roy in Narada sting operation). The letter also dealt with Governors\u2019 offices \u2018wilfully undermining democratically elected state governments and choosing to obstruct governance as per their whims and fancies\u2019 (Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Punjab, Telangana or Delhi\u2019s Lt Governor). With the ED conducting searches on Friday last in multiple cities of Bihar, including premises of Lalu Prasad Yadav\u2019s three daughters and RJD leaders, viz a money laundering probe into the land for jobs scam, guess there is more to follow.<\/p>\n

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Belligerent Telangana<\/p>\n

However, Telangana is not getting cowed down. Ruling BRS leader and daughter of Chief Minister KCR, K Kavitha, who\u2019s in Delhi to appear before ED in the excise policy case, made this amply clear to BJP at the Centre. On Thursday last, at a press meet she said she had done nothing wrong, instead it was BJP which was targeting leaders at time of elections (due in Telangana year-end) as per its modus operandi. Which is: \u201csince last June, the centre has been constantly sending agencies such as the ED to Telangana, it has conducted IT raids on over 500 businesses, NIA raids on 500 to 600 people, ED raids in 200 places and CBI raids in 100 places, and this was not her issue alone as minimum 15-16 leaders, including MPs and MLAs, have been targeted in different cases\u2026\u201d In contrast, \u201cthere\u2019s no ED probe in friendly States or against friendly leaders\/businessmen. Heads of ED, SEBI and LIC among other are given extensions to get BJP\u2019s work done\u201d, Kavitha alleged. The tirade didn\u2019t stop at BJP, but Congress too, saying it was no longer a national party, \u201cIf it wants to defeat BJP it should give up its arrogance and be a team player, work with all regional parties.\u201d Whether it cuts any ice, time will tell. For the moment she may well be BRS national face. For starters, she sat on a hunger strike on Friday at Jantar Mantar in support of women\u2019s reservation bill with friendly parties joining in. What next?<\/p>\n

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Migrant Workers in TN<\/p>\n

Migrant workers in Tamil Nadu have got entangled in the north-south political wrangle. Several videos on social media purportedly showing migrant workers, especially from Bihar, being attacked and even killed in the southern State has triggered panic, with some said to be leaving the State. However, Chief Minister Stalin sees a BJP plot. On Thursday last, he accused its leaders from \u2018North Indian States of spreading rumours about the attack on migrant labourers with bad intentions.\u2019 And this, he claimed was a day after he spoke about the need for a united national-level alliance against BJP. He also spoke to his Bihar counterpart, Nitish Kumar to allay the concern and said that Bihar delegation which visited Chennai and Tiruppur returned \u2019satisfied\u2019 as there\u2019s no such incident. The DGP termed the videos as \u2018fake news\u2019, so far, 11 cases are registered, three arrests made and an FIR lodged against a BJP leader. This apart his teams are reaching out to the workers to give confidence that their safety is ensured and special police teams are camping in Bhopal, Delhi, Bengaluru and Patna to arrest the absconding accused in the case. The situation is said to be \u2018peaceful\u2019, but for how long is anybody\u2019s guess given the political undercurrents.<\/p>\n

Maha Poll Budget<\/p>\n

Eyeing the ensuing BMC elections, the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government has announced a well targeted budget for the voters. The Rs 16,222 crore revenue deficit budget has good news for farmers, women, backward classes and families who would have a girl child. It proposed: Rs 6,000 assistance to farmers in addition to an equal amount by Centre (1.15 crore farmer families to benefit) and Re 1 crop insurance scheme (adding financial burden of Rs 3,312 crore as farmers won\u2019t have to pay premium); working women to get waiver in professional tax (up to Rs 25,000 salary instead of Rs 10,000), 50% discount on state-run bus tickets, a new scheme \u2018Shakti Sadan\u2019 to provide shelter to women in distress. Another new scheme, \u2018Lek Ladki\u2019 will be launched wherein for yellow\/orange ration card holder families, Rs 5,000 subsidy will be given after birth of a girl child, followed by Rs 4,000 in Class 1, Rs 6,000 in Class 6 and Rs 8,000 in Class 11; after turning 18 years, she will receive Rs 75,000. While Finance Minister Fadnavis said the first budget of \u2018amrit kaal\u2019 is based on five principles, Opposition said it was \u2018full of claims but lacks substance\u2019. It failed to mention the conundrum\u2014 freebies being offered which Modi government is targeting in Opposition States!<\/p>\n

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Cong & Hindu Dharma<\/p>\n

Congress workers wake up to a pleasant surprise in Madhya Pradesh. Party chief and former Chief Minister Kamal Nath asked them on Tuesday last to recite \u2018Hanuman Chalisa\u2019 before Holika dahan (bonfires) saying Lord Hanuman was \u2018disrespected\u2019 at a programme organised by the BJP, which included city\u2019s BJP mayor and a legislator as patron. A video of the event, 13th Mister Junior Bodybuilding Competition in Ratlam on March 4 and 5, went viral on social media, showing women bodybuilders posing in front of Lord Hanuman\u2019s image. Former Congress mayor accused his successor of showcasing \u201cindecency\u201d and local Congress leaders sprinkled ganga jal as a purification exercise. Tweeted Nath: \u201cMy heart is pained by this insult to Hindu Dharma. I urge you to burn effigies of evil in your city and village as per the tradition of Sanatam Dharma and recite Sundar-kand (a part of Ramayana) and \u2018Hanuman Chalisa\u2026\u2019 Is there a message: If you can\u2019t beat them, join them! \u2014 INFA<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Centre’s ‘Witch-Hunt’ By Insaf Not done! A message from nine Opposition leaders from eight national parties to Prime Minister Modi. Standing behind AAP\u2019s Manish Sisodia, who\u2019s in Tihar jail in Delhi Liquor policy scam, they condemned the \u2018witch-hunt\u2019 and \u2018blatant misuse of central agencies against Opposition members.\u2019 The letter signed by Chief Ministers of Telangana, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-212687","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-features"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212687\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}