New Delhi: Congress chief Rahul Gandhilaunched a scathing attack on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government, pitched for change within the party and laid down what is virtually a vision document ahead of the next year's general elections. He spelled out the priorities of the party on various fronts -- on jobs, education and agriculture. "There are two visions before the world today- American and Chinese. My aim is to present an Indian vision to the world," he said.
"We are different from BJP. If we make mistakes, we accept," Mr Gandhi said. Citing the instance of demonetisation, he said had the Congress made the "mistake", "we would have accepted it and and rectified".
In what was one of his strongest attack on the BJP, its ideological leader Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and PM Modi, Mr Gandhi, in his 53-minute speech, accused the prime minister "distracting" the people from the real problems and indulging in crony capitalism.
"Modiji thinks he is an avatar of God. Modi is not fighting corruption, he is corruption," Mr Gandhi said.
Taking a dig at the Prime Minister over two other names that have become identified with corruption cases -- celebrity jeweller Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi - he said: "The name Modi symbolises the collusion between India's biggest businessmen and the Prime Minister. Modi gives Modi 30,000 crores of your money and in turn, Modi gives Modi money for marketing Modi and fighting elections."
For the party's workers and leaders, he had a clear message: That he would try to break the wall between leaders and workers, but in turn, the factionalism must stop. "Let us put all our differences aside and work together to ensure victory for the party. Please fight after the elections. But for next six to seven months, fight for the nation," he said.
Minutes after Mr Gandhi's address, the BJP rallied to launch a furious counterattack. Union defence ministerNirmala Sitharaman said it was the "rhetoric of loser, devoid of substance" and followed it up with a point-by-point rebuttal.
Without refering to Mr Gandhi's speech, Union home minister Rajnath Singh said, "There can be a debate on whether more work has been done or less, but no one can raise a question on the integrity and intention of the government."
Union minister Prakash Javadekar said Mr Gandhi should apologise for his party's misdeeds first and then attack PM Modi.
"While accusing the Modi government, he forgets that Congress did worst of genocide of Sikhs, they brought censorship in media and are known for all kinds of corruption and scams. He should first apologise for all that," Mr Javadekar said.
~The Hindu
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2) Rajinikanth’s political plunge churns AIADMK
Julie Mariappan | TNN | Updated: Mar 18, 2018, 19:38 IST
CHENNAI: Actor Rajinikanth’s prospective entry into politics has triggered a flurry of activities in the AIADMK. The EPS-OPS duo, apart from sacking party spokesman K C Palanisamy , also accommodated close to two dozen disgruntled senior leadersin key organisational posts on Friday as fissures were emerging in the ruling party owing to the inordinate delay on the part of the core leadership in giving respectable posts to senior leaders.
Despite a lapse of six months since the general council was held, there is no indication of the steering committee being filled up as promised by Edappadi K Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam to other senior leaders at the time of the merger of the factions. K P Munusamy, who was vocal in the erstwhile OPS faction, has withdrawn into a shell after he was accommodated as one of the two deputy coordinators of the steering committee, said party sources.
Many senior leaders had started functioning as a bloc, posing challenges to the leadership. They could have walked out of the party and tied up with Rajinikanth in the event of disqualification case of 18 MLAs going against the government, said a senior leader. KCP was always under scanner as he was part of a core team comprising R M Veerappan, A C Shanmugham and Jagatratchagan in mobilising support for Rajini’s aborted political plunge way back in 1996.
“It was quite natural that sidelined sections began ganging up after the actor’s political plunge. Many are still unhappy as the steering committee membership remains a mirage,” said a senior minister. Many are unhappy over the undue prominence being accorded to municipal administration minister S P Velumani. “He is the most resourceful minister at present. EPS blindly believes him,” said another minister. The appeasement move came in when Palaniswami, Panneerselvam and senior cabinet colleagues, P Thangamani, S P Velumani and C Ve Shanmugam chose to stay longer in the party headquarters on Thursday night after the legislature party meet and decided to check the possible erosion looming large.
KCP, who sided with OPS after his famous revolt against Sasikala clan, also figured on the list of organising secretaries until his comments on the no-confidence motion against Modi government made national headlines. Former minister R S Raja Kannappan is back as organising secretary after his open threat to the leadership recently that he would field candidates in 120 assembly segments. So is RS MP V Maitreyan – who complained of lack of “syncing of hearts” between camps – and P H Manoj Pandian.
The expulsion of KCP is said to bring in order among the rank and file. Though the comment on the no-confidence motion is the cited reason for KCP’s expulsion, the leadership was unhappy with him owing to his outbursts against Sasikala, which had left many ministers squirming, as till the other day, they were prostrating before her. They had been putting pressure on EPS to rein in KCP, a self-proclaimed anti-Sasikala campaigner since the early 90s. “The message EPS and OPS send across is that AIADMK cadres will be expelled for talking against Modi. They are slaves of Modi,” KCP told TOI.
'EPS, OPS acting like autocrats'
The AIADMK government is functioning like the BJP’s puppet, said expelled AIADMK spokesperson K C Palanisamy on Saturday. Alleging the BJP’s hand in his expulsion, he told reporters at his home in Coimbatore that EPS and OPS were acting like autocrats, trying to sacrifice the party for their personal gain. After Palanisamy on Friday said the AIADMK will support a no-confidence motion against theModi government if it did not set up the Cauvery Management Board, CM Edappadi K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam issued a statement expelling him.
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