logo
"INC condemns politics of harassment, vendetta": Jairam Ramesh attacks Centre over ED raids on G Parameshwara

"INC condemns politics of harassment, vendetta": Jairam Ramesh attacks Centre over ED raids on G Parameshwara

India Gazette22-05-2025
New Delhi [India], May 22 (ANI): Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that the party strongly condemned the raids by the Directorate of Enforcement on Karnataka Home Minister and senior political leader G Parameshwara on Wednesday.
Ramesh accused the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi-led centre, of politics of 'harassment, vendetta, and intimidation.'
In a post on X, Jairam Ramesh posted, 'The INC condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the ED raids on the Home Minister of Karnataka. Dr G Parameshwara is one of the country's senior-most political leaders who has made great contributions to the cause of education, particularly in the weaker sections of society.'
'The ED actions undertaken at the behest of the PM himself reflect the politics of harassment, vendetta, and intimidation of which he is the master. The BJP is clearly nervous and worried by the achievements of the Karnataka government over the past two years. We will not be silenced. We will continue to hold the PM to account for his multiple failures on multiple fronts,' he said.
After media reports emerged about the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids at several locations allegedly linked to Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara, Congress General Secretary Randeep Surjewala criticised the Karnataka government's recent decision to grant ownership rights to one lakh SC-ST families.
In a social media post on X, Surjewala wrote, 'The ED raids on the Educational Institutions of Karnataka's Home Minister, Dr G Parameshwara, one of the tallest SC Leaders, are a frustrated reaction of the BJP and Modi Government to giving ownership rights to 1 Lakh SC-ST families yesterday at Hospet.'
The Congress leader termed this development as a 'constant assault' on the Constitution and leaders of SC-ST-OBC communities across the country, adding that the 'revenge seeking against G Parameshwara is part of a sinister design.'
Aiming at the BJP, Surjewala said that the ED raids are 'a desperate attempt to cover up the corruption of previous BJP governments.'
Earlier, denying the involvement of Home Minister G Parameshwara in any case, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said that the leader is a very 'decent' and 'simple' man.
Speaking to media persons, Shivakumar said, 'I am sure that in no way my Home Minister is involved in any case. He is a very decent and simple man. No way G Parameshwara is involved in such a type of case.' (ANI)
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Suggest ways to overcome booth-wise vote margin deficit: Bengal BJP chief to affiliated organisations
Suggest ways to overcome booth-wise vote margin deficit: Bengal BJP chief to affiliated organisations

Hans India

time11 minutes ago

  • Hans India

Suggest ways to overcome booth-wise vote margin deficit: Bengal BJP chief to affiliated organisations

Kolkata: Bengal BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya has directed its affiliated organisations to suggest strategies to overcome or minimise the booth-wise vote margin deficit with Trinamool Congress in the crucial Assembly elections scheduled next year. According to the BJP state committee, Bhattacharya is of the view that the role of the affiliated organisations will be equally crucial to that of the state party unit in overcoming or minimising the booth-wise vote margin deficit with Trinamool Congress. "Precisely that is why he had meetings with the representatives of the affiliated organisations on Friday evening. The party's central observers, Sunil Bansal and Mangal Pandey, were also present at the meeting. In that meeting, Bhattacharya directed the representatives of the different mass organisations to immediately start the process for calculating the booth-wise vote margin deficits and suggest strategies to overcome them," said the state committee member on Saturday. As of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the votes secured by the BJP were 23,327,349 against Trinamool Congress' 27,564,561, which meant the vote margin deficit was 42,37,212. Percentage-wise, the BJP secured 40.7 per cent as against Trinamool Congress's figure of 43.3 per cent. On the other hand, in 2024, the Congress-Left Front alliance secured 62,35,669 popular votes. "As per a rough internal calculation, considering that Muslim votes went to Trinamool Congress' kitty in 2024, the majority of 62 lakh votes that went in favour of the Congress-Left Front alliance were Hindu votes or votes from non-Muslim other religions. Now, if we can turn around and consolidate a large portion of these Hindu votes in our favour in 2026, the vote margin deficit of around 42 lakhs could be minimised to a great extent," said the state committee member. At the same time, efforts will be made to consolidate Hindu votes from non-Muslim other religions, which went to Trinamool Congress till the 2024 polls, into the BJP's fold, he said. Bhattacharya also admitted that the vote consolidation process, as aimed by the BJP, will be comparatively easier in the metro and urban pockets than in the rural belts.

Sajad Lone: ‘Post-polls, Omar sounds and behaves more BJP than BJP… So-called secular media grills us, the oligarchs are let off'
Sajad Lone: ‘Post-polls, Omar sounds and behaves more BJP than BJP… So-called secular media grills us, the oligarchs are let off'

Indian Express

time24 minutes ago

  • Indian Express

Sajad Lone: ‘Post-polls, Omar sounds and behaves more BJP than BJP… So-called secular media grills us, the oligarchs are let off'

Sajad Lone's Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference (JKPC), Hakim Yasin's People's Democratic Front (PDF) and a Jamaat-e-Islami faction Justice and Development Front (JDF) that contested the 2024 J&K Assembly polls, have recently formed an alliance to offer a political 'alternative' in the Union Territory. The alliance has been named the People's Alliance for Change (PAC). In an interview with The Indian Express, Sajad Lone speaks on a range of issues including the PAC's roadmap and the performance of the Omar Abdullah-led National Conference (NC) government in J&K. Excerpts: I believe it (the alliance) is the need of the moment. J&K politics has been plagued with a unique type of barrenness for decades. The same set faces in different forms and nomenclatures have ruled (J&K). It is dynastic and oligopolistic. Rulers changed all across the country. But despite three decades of violence, thousands of fatalities, high unemployment rates, the same set of rulers have persisted. One needs a broader alliance where we can pool our strengths, and truthfully create a feeling of an alternative, viable platform. And there is a shared past. A past defined by pain. The alliance can identify with the pain (of Kashmiris). Ironically, while almost all Kashmiris can narrate some incidents of pain, the only few who cannot are the ones who have been the rulers in the last three decades. The exigencies of governance were such that during their rule, people died, or were jailed, or tortured. Why are Kashmiris repeatedly electing the same set of people? Either Kashmiris do not know how to vote or the system is preset in such a manner that Kashmiris vote for a preset choice. We have our ideological differences within the alliance, but we have decided to work on the overlaps. This alliance works within the Constitution of India, and believes in the concept of India. It is as mainstream as any other party taking part in elections. And there should be no impediments created. The upheaval in the last three decades and the resultant pain is a function of denial of democracy. Let us hope that overtly or covertly the same denial does not prevail now. The pain of the past can be an enabler if it is used for reconciliation. There has to be a process to accept the (pain) and do what it takes to extricate them from the psyche. The belief that pain exists and is not imaginary is a point of convergence (for the alliance). You have to understand that the system is set in a particular way. The moment someone from the huge army of victims (in J&K) dares to challenge the incumbents, the existing oligarchs forget their internecine wars, get together, and accuse the newcomers of political treason. Before the BJP came to power, they would accuse them of being agents of the central covert agencies. After the BJP came to power, it is more fashionable to accuse them of being in league with the BJP. It is a different matter that there is not a single (ruling) party (in J&K) that has not had an alliance with BJP… For example, Mr Omar Abdullah was the junior foreign minister in the NDA regime under Mr (Atal Behari) Vajpayee… At a time when violence was high in Kashmir… This invariably meant that human right violations were rampant and it was the junior foreign minister Omar Abdullah's duty to blindly defend every killing in the Valley as genuine and deserving. (People's Democratic Party's) Mehbooba Mufti was the CM in coalition with the BJP. And post (the 2024) elections Omar Abdullah sounds, looks and behaves more like the BJP than even the BJP. While the so-called secular media in India will grill us, the oligarchs will be let off and barely asked any questions about their dalliances with the BJP. People of Kashmir too have to introspect and decide whose side they are on. Are they going to support those who scripted disasters — from rigging of 1987 elections to presiding over massacres, to blinding people… Or are they going to give dignity a chance and punish those who have punished the Kashmiris? I believe that an alliance should be stitched maybe even a decade in advance. You have national alliances. They do not wait for elections. Why should we wait? Why should it be linked? There are panchayat elections, and there are by-elections. I do not see any reason why we should wait for the next five years. And the group is going to grow. More people may join. *The Omar Abdullah government has said that J&K cannot function under the dual control of the CM office and the Raj Bhawan. How do you see this row? I think statehood is a matter of our rights, not charity. We all knew before elections that we are a UT. There are limited powers… When it comes to weaponising transfers of government employees, denying funds to constituencies of rivals, corruption, this government is second to none. It is only when it comes to delivering that the ruling party in unison complains of being powerless. The NC has been in power earlier too. And in their earlier tenures when we had full statehood and Article 370, they did not deliver then… Why do you expect them to deliver now? The NC had promised the moon to the electorate… They promised free electricity for up to 200 units… 12 gas cylinders per year, regularising 61,000 daily wagers… creating 1,00,000 new jobs. I have calculated that their promises would cost the exchequer Rs 12,000 crore per year. Where will they get it from? While I bat for statehood and believe it is humiliating to live as a UT, absence of statehood should not be used as an excuse by the NC to renege on the promises made during elections. But an Omar Abdullah who leaves no chance in singing hymns in praise of Modi ji, and bends over backwards trying to please them, should be the last person to talk about dual control. The Assembly is the constitutional institution to raise such issues. In the Assembly, he has been praising Modi ji. Outside the Assembly, he talks about dual control and that too obliquely. He is not willing to confront the BJP. We have so many Opposition Chief Ministers in the country. How many of them are chasing BJP leaders with expensive Kashmiri shawls? I believe, today, retrospectively, that Omar Abdullah should not have become the Chief Minister. As a mark of protest. This is totally a personal observation. It's not a political observation. It is humiliating to see him taking the knee at any given opportunity. What government? It is a big mess. Governance seems to be on a pause mode. We are into the tenth month of government. The Cabinet is yet to be expanded. There are only four ministers. Mr Omar Abdullah apparently has 32 big and small departments. How can he run so many departments? He is never in his office. J&K is administratively destined for disaster. *A subject that has been most debated since the NC came to power is the rationalisation of reservations. You have stated your position on the subject but what, to your mind, is a clear, workable solution on this issue? Reservation is a tool used to disempower the Kashmiri-speaking ethnic group. Time has come to call a spade a spade. It is advantageous to Jammu and disadvantageous to Kashmir. The recruitment lists released in the last few years follow a trend. The Kashmiris who make up about 65% of the population have been relegated to 20% in the recruitment lists. And this started in Congress time between 2002 to 2008. And has been carried on by the BJP. This is the typical national interest consensus. No national party or leader talks about it. The recurring national interest unanimous theme is that Kashmiris need to be taught a lesson. I have presented data in the Assembly which proves that approximately 80% of Jammu population is in the reserved category. They have crossed the line in reservations and they are in the process of signing a post dated cheque for disaster.

Election Commission holding regular dialogue with parties: CEC on criticism from opposition
Election Commission holding regular dialogue with parties: CEC on criticism from opposition

The Hindu

time25 minutes ago

  • The Hindu

Election Commission holding regular dialogue with parties: CEC on criticism from opposition

With opposition parties accusing the Election Commission of ignoring their concerns, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Saturday (July 5, 2025) asserted that the poll panel maintains a regular dialogue with political parties and 5,000 such meetings have been held in the past four months, beginning from the Assembly level. Replying to queries from reporters in Firozabad, where he came to attend a private programme, Mr. Kumar said that after voters, political parties are the next important stakeholders for the EC. He was asked about the recent criticism from opposition parties, including their allegations that their concerns related to poll-bound Bihar are being overlooked by the EC. "The Election Commission keeps having a regular dialogue with various political parties. In the last four months, all-party meetings were organised in every assembly constituency, in every district and also with every State chief electoral officer. "In all, 5000 such meetings were held in which 28,000 people, including leaders of political parties, participated." The CEC said that not only this, the Election Commission itself has been meeting all national and State parties. "Five national parties and four state parties have met. If there is any issue, then all-party delegations also come, and the EC meets them," he said. The Chief Election Commissioner also said that in the electoral process, the voters are the most important, but after them, "our political parties are the most important stakeholders". Referring to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar, where Assembly elections are due later this year, CEC Gyanesh Kumar said that whoever is in the voter list of 01.01.2003 in Bihar will be considered eligible from the primary point of view under Article 326 of the Constitution. In other words, people whose names are in that list will not be required to submit any supporting documents, and when voter IDs are to be made for their children, they too will not be required to give documents for their parents. The Election Commission has said it will soon upload the 2003 Bihar electoral roll on its website to facilitate the nearly 4.96 crore voters whose names figure on it to extract the relevant portion to be attached with the enumeration form for the special intensive revision of the voters' list. According to the instructions issued by the poll authority to its Bihar poll machinery, the 4.96 crore voters — 60% of the total electors — who were listed in the 2003 special intensive revision need not submit any supporting document to establish their date or place or birth except the relevant portion of the electoral roll brought out after the revision. The other three crore — nearly 40% — will have to provide one of the 11 listed documents to establish their place or date of birth. "The basic exercise is to identify each and every individual of the remaining three crore voters before their names are included in the list," a functionary explained. Special intensive revision will ensure that no eligible elector is left out of the electoral rolls and no ineligible one is part of it, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had earlier told PTI. Bihar, as of now, has more than 7.89 crore voters spread across 243 assembly seats. Polls in the state are due later this year.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store