Challenges before the new government
The JD(S)-Cong coalition government has come into existence with the swearing in of H D Kumaraswamy as the 25th Chief Minister of Karnataka. Senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Communist Party leader Sitaram Yechury, Chief Ministers of Andhra, Kerala and West Bengal Chandrababu Naidu, Pinarayi Vijayan, and Mamata Banerjee (respectively) had taken part in the coveted event. BJP observed a ‘dark day’ opposing this oath taking ceremony, but didn’t seem to have received much support.
Kumaraswamy who is becoming the Chief Minister for second time over has a sea of challenges before him. Some of the problems that have existed since ages have suddenly turned more complicated in the recent past. The cauvery imbroglio, the Mahadayi challenge, Ettina Hole project, law and order – all these have to be approached with a new perspective. Along with this, he also needs to focus on giving good administration to the people of the state. Some of the popular schemes launched by Siddaramaiah government have to be continued. His every step has to be counted and calculated since he has to balance the coalition of two major parties in the state.
Prime Minister Modi had indirectly said that he wouldn’t allow a chance for any government other than BJP to come into power in Karnataka. Hence, this can be a huge challenge too. The central government may try to intervene or curtail the state government’s functioning owing to their power. There could be non-cooperation too from the central government, and they may even use the governor to create challenging situations for the state. Not only this, the BJP might try to drive a wedge between the members of coalition. Kumaraswamy has to balance all the factors in order to keep the government going. During the run up to the elections, Kumaraswamy had assured the farmers that he’d waive off the loans completely if his party got people’s mandate.
Now the new CM has execute this after discussing with members of the cabinet and allies. While he took oath to the office of the CM, major opposition parties in the country have come together to create a platform to counter the ruling BJP at the centre. Narendra Modi government is hoping to turn the country into an opposition-less nation, which is quite a threat for democracy. Now, this coming together of all leaders of opposition parties presents a new challenge.
The formation of cabinet is still a challenge for the new government and this has to be resolved amicably. People have placed a lot of hope on not only the new CM, but also on the conduct of Congress and JD(S) members.
The oath taking ceremony of Kumaraswamy has gained national importance for many reasons. All the other parties such as Trinamool Congress, RJD, Telugu Desam, Rashtravadi Congress and two communist parties have come together to counter the Modi govt in 2019 elections. Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda has played a crucial role in bringing them together. All of them will face the Modi govt in solidarity in the 2019 polls.
Earlier, an attempt was made to keep Congress out of this equation and form a third front. But in the changed scenario, Congress is crucial for this effort. The leaders may have come to realize this. Mayawati of BSP, Chandrababu Naidu of Telugu Desam will play a very crucial role in this. T R Chandrashekar of Telangana will also join hands with them. This third front will be officially announced in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections. Looks like the leaders had decided to come together at a common platform without much ado. This has happened with Kumaraswamy’s oath taking ceremony. 2019 elections are very crucial as far as the nation’s future is concerned. Narendra Modi has not fulfilled any assurances he had made prior to elections. His major decisions such as demonetization and GST have further pushed people into dismay. Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi have run away from the country after duping our banks of thousands of crores. Banking sector has suffered a huge set back. The government wasn’t able to check this. Hence, the opposition parties would counter the current dispensation in the coming elections. A clear indication of this has been issued with opposition parties coming together in Benagluru when the state got a new CM.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
BharatPe fraud case: Delhi HC quashes lookout circular against Ashneer Grover, wife
New Delhi, Nov 12: The Delhi High Court has ordered cancellation of a lookout circular (LOC) issued against Ashneer Grover, the former MD of payment app BharatPe, and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, noting that the FIR lodged against them over allegations of cheating and forgery has already been quashed.
Justice Sanjeev Narula passed the order on Monday after the court was informed that another bench of the high court quashed the FIR on the same day.
The FIR was quashed by Justice Chandra Dhari Singh after considering a plea moved by the Grovers stating that they have arrived at a settlement with the fintech company.
In his order, Justice Narula said, "Although the copy of the order (quashing the FIR) is not available as of now, the aforenoted fact is not disputed by the counsel for the parties.
"In light of the fact that the underlying FIR has been quashed, the LOC issued by respondent No. 3 (Bureau of Immigration), in the opinion of the court, will not survive."
The LOC was issued by the Bureau of Immigration at the instance of Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in view of the investigation against the Grovers in the cheating and forgery FIR.
The court was hearing a plea moved by Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover seeking quashing of the LOC issued against them in connection with the investigation into the cheating and forgery case.
"Accordingly, the present petitions are disposed of with a direction to the respondents to cancel the LOC against the petitioners in their records," the court noted.
Earlier, the Grovers claimed that they were informed about the LOC for the first time when they were detained at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on November 16, 2023, while they were scheduled to travel to the US.
After being detained, they were informed that the LOC was operational from November 6, 2023.
In May last year, the EOW filed an FIR against Grover, his wife Madhuri, and others under eight sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 467 and 468 (forgery), and 471 (using forged documents as genuine) for an alleged Rs 81 crore fraud after a complaint was lodged by BhartPe, the fintech unicorn.
In its complaint, BharatPe alleged that Grover and his family caused damages to the tune of Rs 81.3 crore through illegitimate payments to bogus human resource consultants, inflated and undue payments through pass-through vendors connected to the accused, sham transactions in input tax credit and payment of penalty to GST authorities, illegal payment to travel agencies, forged invoices by Madhuri, and destruction of evidence.
Madhuri was the head of controls at BharatPe before she was fired in 2022 after a forensic audit revealed several irregularities.
Subsequently, Grover resigned as the chief executive officer of the fintech firm in March 2022.
