Murli Manohar Joshi-led panel slams govt over NPAs
At a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing the "chowkidar-chor-hai" charge from Congress president Rahul Gandhi, a parliamentary panel has triggered more political trouble for him.
The Estimates Committee of Parliament headed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran Murli Manohar Joshi has asked the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to depose and provide details on what action the government initiated on a list of large corporate houses, which had amassed a large amount of non-performing assets (NPAs).
The list was submitted to the PMO by ex-Reserve Bank of India (RBI) chief Raghuram Rajan during his tenure.
This is not the only salvo fired at the government by Joshi.
The Joshi-led committee has also sent notices to the coal and power ministries asking for explanations on mounting NPAs in the sectors. Rajan in his note had flagged the two sectors for their contributions to the NPAs. The coal ministry is headed by high-profile minister Piyush Goyal and he was also the power minister before RK Singh was given the charge.
Joshi has been sidelined by the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah leadership. He was removed from the top decision-making bodies of the BJP like the parliamentary board along with LK Advani and sent to an ineffective 'margdarshak mandal' after BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014.
Sources in the committee said that the PMO was sent a "notice" by the Lok Sabha committee to depose before it and provide details of the probe or legal proceedings initiated against the list submitted by Raghuram Rajan.
The Estimates Committee had asked for Rajan's "help" to resolve the mounting NPAs problem.
In his reply to the committee Rajan had said, "The RBI set up a fraud-monitoring cell when I was governor to coordinate the early reporting of fraud cases to the investigative agencies. I also sent a list of high-profile cases to the PMO urging that we coordinate action to bring at least one or two to book. I am not aware of progress on this front. This is a matter that should be addressed with urgency."
The opposition had slammed the government over this "revelation" by the ex-RBI governor, though Rajan has also backed the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government by saying in his note that "most NPAs originated in the 2006-08 period when the UPA [United Progressive Alliance] was in power".
Rajan had said that he had sought "coordinated investigation into corporates committing frauds with bank funds". He had stated that he told the PMO that it should set an example and act as a "deterrent" if a "high-profile fraud NPA was made an example of".
The fact that Rajan, in his note to the committee said that he was "unaware" of action taken, if any, on those who he had listed has armed the opposition.
Meanwhile, all is not well in the estimates committee too. Sources say that some BJP members of the committee are not happy with the actions of the committee chairman MM Joshi.
In the past few months there have been protests by BJP MPs present in the committee. Sources said Nishikant Dubey, a BJP MP, had staged a walk out of a meeting in which former chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian was deposing.
Joshi has left quite a few BJP leaders red-faced. In an article he had raised issues like 'raj dharma' and the duty of a king. In another meeting Joshi had told finance ministry that NPAs were the collective responsibility of the government and not just one particular department.
Courtesy: www.indiatoday.in
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Sena (UBT)-MNS alliance announcement for civic polls likely next week
Mumbai (PTI): The Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) are likely to announce next week their alliance for the upcoming municipal corporation elections in Maharashtra, with seat-sharing for all the civic bodies, except Mumbai, almost complete, leaders of both the parties said.
Elections to 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra, including the all-important Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), will be held on January 15, and the counting of votes will take place the next day.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) and the MNS will forge an alliance for the polls in municipal corporations of Mumbai, Thane, Mira-Bhayandar, Kalyan-Dombivli, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune and Nashik, among others.
The Sena (UBT) is headed by former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, while his once-estranged cousin Raj is the president of the MNS.
"Talks for all civic bodies, except Mumbai, are complete. The sticking point is about the seats that we are demanding in Marathi-dominated areas. The Shiv Sena (UBT) is not still not agreeing to it which has delayed the seat-sharing. But the talks have to be over soon since the date of filing nominations starts next week (December 23 to December 30)," an MNS leader said.
Talking to reporters, MNS leader and former MLA Nitin Sardesai said, "It is appropriate to say that the talks are in final stages but it is difficult to say when it will be officially announced. I can only say that all sides are putting efforts to complete the talks and they are working towards it."
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Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab met Raj Thackeray to discuss seat-sharing.
A Sena (UBT) leader said talks are in final stages and there is no hurdle in the seat-sharing agreement.
"The two brothers are expected to officially announce the alliance between the two parties on Monday in a public event or through a press conference that will set the tone for the civic body polls," he said.
Raj Thackeray quit the undivided Shiv Sena blaming Uddhav for his exit in 2005 and floated the MNS in 2006. They had been political rivals since then.
However, after the drubbing of their parties in the Maharashtra assembly polls in 2024 - the Sena (UBT) won 20 seats, while MNS drew a blank - both leaders decided to put behind their political acrimony and find a common ground for survival.
Over the past few months, the two cousins shared the stage or were spotted at public forums together multiple times for various reasons.
The cousins publicly ended their two-decade-long estrangement in July, where they addressed a joint rally. At the event, Uddhav said they have come together to stay together.
