LS polls in Karnataka 'stolen', we found out EC's 'game': Rahul Gandhi
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Hans India
17 minutes ago
- Hans India
Temple demolished in Hyderabad for Muslim votes, says MoS Bandi Sanjay
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Sunday alleged that a temple was demolished in Hyderabad to get votes of 30 per cent Muslim voters in the upcoming by-election to the Jubilee Hills Assembly constituency. He told media persons in Karimnagar that the Congress government in Telangana demolished the Peddamma temple in Banjara Hills for vote bank politics. He demanded that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy tender an apology and immediately suspend officials responsible for the demolition of the temple. 'How many Temples, Masjids and Churches are on roads? But what was the need to demolish the Banjara Hills Peddamma temple? The Congress government should immediately suspend the officials responsible. Is the government trying to appease a community who are 30 per cent in Jubilee Hills for votes in by-elections?' he asked. The BJP leader asked if the government has the courage to demolish places of worship of other communities. He stated that the Hindu community was ready to teach a lesson to the Congress government for demolishing the temple. The Minister of State alleged that the Congress betrayed Hindus and Backward Classes (BCs). Bandi Sanjay said that the 'BC declaration' released by the Congress at Kamareddy in the 2023 Assembly elections was in reality a 'Muslim declaration'. He alleged that the Congress wants to give 10 per cent reservation to Muslims and increase the reservation for BCs by only 5 per cent. The MoS also alleged that Hindus in Telangana were being projected as a 'minority' as part of a conspiracy of the Congress party. 'By giving reservations to 100 per cent Muslims, attempts are being made to show Hindus as a minority,' he said. He reiterated that the BJP would not allow 42 per cent reservation for BCs if Muslims are included in BCs. 'We have to stop this here as the Congress plans to implement this Muslim declaration across the country,' he said. Bandi Sanjay alleged that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi wants to weaken the Hindu community by breaching the 50 per cent reservation cap. He remarked that Rahul Gandhi would fail just like his great-grandfather, grandmother, and father failed in their attempts. On Congress leaders calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a 'converted BC,' Bandi Sanjay questioned Gandhi's own caste and religion. He pointed out that PM Modi's BC status was recognised by a previous Congress government. 'Rahul Gandhi's grandfather was a Parsi, and his mother is an Italian Christian. Is Rahul Gandhi a converted Christian, a converted Muslim or a converted Hindu?' he asked.
The Hindu
17 minutes ago
- The Hindu
MEA ‘nearly lost the plot' on Indus Treaty negotiations, says former Finance Secretary Subhash Garg
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) nearly 'lost the plot' over the Indus Water Treaty talks with Pakistan in 2016, as senior MEA officials entered into a tussle with the World Bank, before the issue was retrieved — the claim is made by former Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, India-appointed Executive Director at the World Bank (2014-2017), in his latest book, which recounts for the first time the tensions between the Modi government and World Bank President Jim Kim over the Kishenganga hydropower project. The point of contention was whether the World Bank, which has a limited role in guiding any disputes or differences between India and Pakistan, would decide to appoint the 'court of arbitration' Pakistan had asked for, or a 'neutral expert', as India wanted. After his controversial first book about his unceremonious exit from the Union Finance Ministry, Mr. Garg has now taken aim at the MEA in his new book, No, Minister: Navigating Power, Politics and Bureaucracy with a Steely Resolve, where he says he was sidelined during the initial stages of the Indus Water Treaty negotiations in 2016. He also claims that he was told to 'keep off the matter', and only attend meetings to be led by India's Deputy Chief of Mission Taranjit Sandhu (later the Ambassador to the U.S. before he retired and joined politics). '[However], by the middle of November, the MEA team was getting nervous. It was not able to nudge the World Bank team in the direction it wanted, i.e., to appoint a neutral expert and began to sense that the Bank was tilting towards Pakistan,' Mr. Garg wrote, in the chapter titled 'Bringing Indus Waters Arbitration Back From the Brink'. At this point, the book claims that Mr. Jaishankar made a visit to Washington and asked Mr. Garg to take charge of matters. Mr. Garg accepted the request, but insisted that no MEA official join the discussions, and even turned back then MEA Joint Secretary Gopal Baglay (now India's High Commissioner to Australia) from the meeting with Mr. Kim, although he had travelled non-stop for 20 hours to reach Washington. According to Mr. Garg, it was his own intervention, in a one-on-one meeting with Mr. Kim, that eventually helped ensure a neutral expert, Ian Solomon, was appointed, after the World Bank accepted Pakistan's demand for a court of arbitration at The Hague. The MEA did not respond to a request for comments on Mr. Garg's claims. The Hindu also reached out to Mr. Sandhu and Mr. Baglay for a comment, and they did not respond to or deny the claims. In Washington, World Bank officials privy to the negotiations confirmed the tussle between the World Bank and the Indian government, but said they could not comment on whether it was Mr. Garg's meeting with the World Bank chief or other interventions that eventually changed the course of events. The World Bank first ruled that having a neutral expert and court together could lead to 'contradictory outcomes'. However, subsequently, it facilitated the setting up of both an expert as well as a Chairperson to the Court of Arbitration. India has refused to attend the proceedings in the Court of Arbitration at The Hague. Pakistan has maintained that it is working within the terms of the treaty, whereas India says the treaty does not allow such parallel dispute mechanisms. When asked by The Hindu, Mr. Garg said this should not have been an 'institutional turf battle', and that he did not want India's case to be 'compromised' even as the World Bank, the U.S. and the U.K. had gone ahead with appointing experts to take the Pakistan application for arbitration forward. Allowing Pakistan's diplomats to continue the process unchallenged would have an impact on other negotiations, he added. After the Pahalgam terror attacks in April this year, India has decided to 'suspend' the Indus Water Treaty, but some of the book's revelations are significant for future decisions on similar issues. The book recounts Pakistan's campaign against the Kishenganga and Ratle hydropower projects in Jammu-Kashmir; India's objections to the International Monetary Fund/World Bank funding of the Gulpur hydropower project in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir; and China's objections in 2010 to multilateral funding for a hydropower project in Arunachal Pradesh, leading Mr. Garg to conclude that the government and the World Bank needed better communication between themselves. Mr. Garg also pointed out that Mr. Kim and Mr. Modi had a good relationship, and Mr. Kim's plan to fund schemes for 'stunted' or malnourished children had not gone down well with Mr. Modi. In Parliament this week, the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development said that about 37% of children under five years registered on their tracker were found to be stunted. 'I believe India's approach of not fine-tuning its stance in line with World Bank policies has harmed its own interests more than serving it,' Mr. Garg, who moved to India as Economic Affairs Secretary after his tenure at the World Bank ended, said. Differences with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman led to his transfer as Secretary in the Union Ministry of Power in August 2019. He applied for voluntary retirement that same day, and retired after serving the mandatory notice period on October 31, 2019. (With inputs from Jacob Koshy and T.C.A. Sharad Raghavan in New Delhi.)
New Indian Express
23 minutes ago
- New Indian Express
Congress sidelines ally NC with solo push for J&K statehood, raising pressure on ruling party
SRINAGAR: For the first time since the formation of the Omar Abdullah-led government in Jammu and Kashmir last year, the Congress party has pushed its ally, the National Conference (NC), into an uncomfortable political corner. By unilaterally stepping up its campaign for the restoration of statehood, Congress has not only bypassed its long-time partner but also taken the battle to the national stage on its own terms. Congress, which contested the 2024 J&K Assembly elections in alliance with NC and won six seats, has so far refused to join the government, maintaining it would only do so once statehood is restored. Now, the party has intensified its push by organising protests in Srinagar, Jammu, and at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. Top Congress leaders, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding that a bill to restore statehood be introduced during the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament. Congress's assertive stance appears to have caught the NC off guard. While the NC campaigned on restoring Article 370, the issue was effectively shelved after the party formed the government.
