BJP government preparing to scuttle monsoon session: Congress
New Delhi, July 3: The Congress on Tuesday accused the Modi government and the BJP of trying to "scuttle the monsoon session" of Parliament by raising issues of conflict and confrontation and appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give up this mindset in larger interests of the nation.
The party also accused Modi of seeking to run away from his accountability to the Parliament.
"... he (Modi) is in perpetual election mode and wants to be in a state of perpetual conflict with the Opposition.
"It is this Prime Minister who has prevented building of any national consensus on key issues. In this mindset of confrontation, the Prime Minister and the government are not interested in the monsoon session of Parliament. They have started conflict on issues like in the last session.
"The Prime Minister wants to run away from his accountability before the Indian Parliament," said senior Congress leader Anand Sharma.
"The previous session was also wasted by the ruling party which had made false charges against the opposition. The BJP and the government are already preparing that the monsoon session gets wasted," he added.
Accusing the BJP and the government of "preparing to scuttle this monsoon session, so that they run away from questions and issues that have taken place since the last session", Sharma, the party's deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, said that the government must be prepared to answer questions raised by the opposition and allow the Parliament to function.
"There is no dialogue between the government and the opposition on any issue. We want the Parliament to function.
"We are appealing to the government to give up the mindset of confrontation and behave like a responsible government and allow the Parliament to function in larger national interest," he added.
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'Godman' Kharat held in 8th sexual exploitation case; court denies police remand, sends him to jail
Nashik (PTI): Police took custody of self-proclaimed godman-cum-astrologer Ashok Kharat in an eighth case related to sexual exploitation of women and produced him before a Nashik district court which sent him to jail till May 12 after rejecting the plea for his police remand on Thursday.
On April 29, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Nashik police in north Maharashtra filed a request application in the court demanding Kharat's custody in the eighth case.
After the court granted them the necessary permission, the SIT took custody of Kharat, who was in jail in connection with the seventh case of sexual exploitation registered against him.
The 'godman', named in a dozen FIRs related to rape and financial fraud, was produced before Chief Judicial Magistrate B N Ichpurani in the eighth case through video conferencing due to security reasons.
The eighth case related to Kharat allegedly sexually exploiting a woman who had approached him in search of solutions to her family problems, according to police.
During the hearing, the prosecution demanded police custody of the accused in the latest case.
However, the defence strongly opposed the demand and argued that the SIT was giving same reasons for police custody every time and there was no strong reason for accepting their plea.
The court accepted the argument put forth by the defence and remanded Kharat to judicial custody till May 12 in the eighth case.
The SIT will produce Kharat in the court on Friday again and seek his police custody in the ninth case. As the self-styled godman has been granted judicial custody in the eighth case, he will be sent to Nashik Road Central Jail and the SIT will take his custody from there.
Meanwhile, Kharat's judicial custody in the fourth case ended on Thursday. On April 18, the accused was remanded to judicial custody till April 30 in the fourth case of sexual exploitation of women.
In a related development, the SIT conducted a search at Kharat's office in the 'Canada Corner' area of Nashik city on Wednesday. A 'panchnama' (record of search and seizure proceedings) was conducted and the office was locked and sealed again.
Kharat, a well-heeled man with political connections, was arrested for the first time on March 18 after a woman alleged he had repeatedly raped her for three years.
He is accused of sexually exploiting several women by claiming to have divine powers and knowledge of black magic, and also committing large-scale financial fraud.
The SIT is conducting a probe into 12 cases of sexual exploitation and financial fraud registered against the astrologer in Nashik and Ahilyanagar districts.
