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Gadkari colluded with Ajit Pawar to usurp farmers’ land: Kejriwal

NEW DELHI: Turning his attention to Nitin Gadkari, activist-politician Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president had colluded with Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) Ajit Pawar to exploit farmers in Maharashtra.

Questioning whether the BJP was an Opposition party or acting in concert with the government, Kejriwal said Gadkari was involved in land and irrigation scams in Maharashtra. He asked whether Gadkari's business instincts clashed with the interests of farmers in Maharashtra.

"Gadkari took away land of the farmers and their water... he has sympathy for the contractors but not the farmers," Kejriwal told a crowded press conference.

"Is the BJP an Opposition party or does it work in collusion with the ruling party," he asked.

The information against Gadkari, he said, had been obtained through RTI by his colleague Anjali Damania.

Kejriwal had earlier targeted Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra over property deals with realty major DLF in Haryana.

Kejriwal is also locked in a verbal duel with Law Minister Salman Khurshid, alleging that a trust headed by his wife Louise Khurshid had embezzled funds meant for the differently abled. — IANS

Khurshid issues veiled threat to Kejriwal

NEW DELHI: Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid waded into another controversy by daring Arvind Kejriwal to protest in his constituency in Farrukhabad and suggesting it would be hard to return from there, which was seen as a murder threat by the activist. 

“I have been made the Law Minister and asked to work with the pen. I will work with the pen but also with blood,” he said at a closed-door function in New Delhi on Tuesday night, footage of which was aired by some news channels. 

Referring to Kejriwal’s threat to stage a protest in his home constituency from November 1, 2012, the senior Congress leader said, “Let them come and visit Farrukhabad. But let him also return from Farrukhabad.” 

Kejriwal saw the comments as a death threat to him. 

Salman Khurshid has threatened me. The kind of language which he has used, it does not suit the stature of the country’s Law Minister,” the activist said. 

“Killing me won’t help because the country has been awakened. If one Arvind is killed, there will be another 100 Arvinds. Rather than threatening like this, it would be better that the Congress sensed the anger of people and took some concrete steps against corruption,” he said. 

Kejriwal has alleged that Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust, an NGO run by Khurshid and his wife Louise, was involved financial bunglings of over Rs 71 lakh, a charge dismissed by them. 

Khurshid said, “They say we will ask questions and you have to give the answers. We say you hear the answers and forget about asking questions.” — PTI

Jethmalani wants BJP to project Modi as PM candidate

NEW DELHI: Stirring the hornet's nest in BJP, Ram Jethmalani has strongly pitched for projecting Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate in the next Lok Sabha elections.
In a letter to BJP President Nitin Gadkari, he said the party must declare its prime
ministerial candidate to help convince the voters in its pre-2014 election campaign.

"I do not think that the choice is difficult...I would want Narendra Modi whose integrity and administrative ability are not in doubt," Jethamalani, a Rajya Sabha member, said in his two-page letter.

The party, which has kept the issue of Prime Ministerial candidate in the backburner with several contenders on the scene, got the letter from Jethmalani who said he wanted to attend the recent Surajkund meeting of the national executive to which he was not invited.

Speaking in favour of Modi, he said, "He has been a victim of diabolic propaganda directed to projecting him as an anti-minority bigot. This undeserved black spot is easy to erase. Every aspiring candidate should do some sincere introspection and discover his own disqualifications."

Referring to minorities, he said, they must be given complete assurance of security and opportunities for becomming prosperous and progressive.

"All past wrongs must be forgiven and forgotten. This requires projecting those who have earned the respect and confidence of the minorities," Jethmalani said.

When asked whether Gadkari was also in the race for Prime Ministership, he said, "I personally think that I will prefer Modi." — PTI

Rahul Gandhi meets PM amid talks of Cabinet reshuffle

NEW DELHI: Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday amid talks of a Cabinet reshuffle.

While there was no official word as to what transpired at the meeting, the Prime Minister has been time and again inviting Rahul to join the government.

There have been repeated demands from within the Congress that Gandhi play a "larger role" in the organisation and the government.

The meeting comes a day after Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had separate meetings with President Pranab Mukherjee.

There has been speculation about a reshuffle in the Cabinet for quite some time now, especially after the exit of Trinamool Congress ministers both at the levels of Cabinet and ministers of state levels.

There have been berths vacated by DMK representatives A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran in the last two years after their names cropped in the 2G scam. However, DMK president M Karunanidhi has recently made clear that his party will not not like to reclaim their lost berths.

Congress sources said that the reshuffle and induction could be largely from the party. There is speculation that some young faces, considered close to Rahul, like Manicka Tagore and Meenakshi Natarajan could be inducted into the council of ministers. — PTI

Obama, Romney clash over outsourcing to India, China

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney clashed over outsourcing with the Republican challenger vowing to get tough with China and the president suggesting that his rival's plans would create jobs, but in China or India or Germany. Asked about their respective plans to put back and keep jobs lost to outsourcing in the US during Tuesday night's pivotal second presidential debate at Hofstra University in Long Island, New York, Romney placed the blame squarely at China's door.

"The place where we've seen manufacturing go has been China. China is now the largest manufacturer in the world," he said noting half a million manufacturing jobs have been lost in the last four years.

Calling China "a currency manipulator for years and years and years", Romney said: "On day one, I will label China a currency manipulator" in order "to make sure that people we trade with around the world play by the rules".

And to "make America the most attractive place in the world for businesses of all kinds," Romney said he wanted to reduce "the tax rates on small employers, big employers, so they want to be here".

Obama, in turn maintained that while he wanted "to close loopholes that allow companies to deduct expenses when they move to China" his rival "actually wants to expand those tax breaks".

"And it's estimated that that will create 800,000 new jobs," the president said. "The problem is they'll be in China. Or India. Or Germany."

"That's not the way we're going to create jobs here. The way we're going to create jobs here is not just to change our tax code, but also to double our exports," he said. — IANS

Australian MP questions award to Tendulkar 

MELBOURNE: An Australian politician has questioned his Prime Minister Julia Gillard's decision to award an Order of Australia to cricketer Sachin Tendulkar for his contribution to sport. Federal Independent MP Rob Oakshott who expressed his love for Little Master, said the special award should not be used for diplomatic gain, the ABC news reported.

"I love Sachin Tendulkar, I love cricket. but I just have a problem with soft diplomacy as you call it," he said, adding "getting in on the act of the Australian honours."

Oakeshott said the Order should be focused on recognising Australians doing community work instead.

"I'm not going to die in a ditch over it...but it's about the integrity of the honours list which should be for Australians," he said.

He said that Tendulkar was an "obvious diplomatic touch point", and further suggested setting up an inter-nation gong, such as an "Australia-India award".

Yesterday Gillard, who is currently on her three day visit in New Delhi, had announced that Tendulkar would receive the special honour.

"This is a very special honour, very rarely awarded to someone who is not an Australian citizen or an Australian national," she said.

"He is away playing cricket — surprise, surprise — but the award will be conferred on him by Minister (Simon) Crean when (he) visits India," he said.

ABC also quoted Australia India Youth Dialogue chairman Ruchir Punjabi as saying that approach has worked with the Indian public.

"I think perhaps the Order of Australia to Sachin Tendulkar is probably going to be bigger than the nuclear issue," he said.

"I think the nuclear issue is a trust issue with the Indian government whereas the Order of Australia to Sachin Tendulkar is going to be the headline in most newspapers here. And I think ... things like that play an important role in bringing the two countries closer," he added. — PTI