40% Commission ads: Court issues summons to Rahul Gandhi, Siddaramaiah, DKShi
Bengaluru: A special court in Bengaluru has summoned Rahul Gandhi, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar in response to accusations against the previous BJP-led government regarding alleged 40% commission in official contracts.
The defamation petition was filed by BJP Secretary and MLC Keshav Prasad against the three Congress leaders for publishing an advertisement alleging that the BJP government had exacted 40% commission in all government projects. Judge J Preeth heard the petition and subsequently issued summons.
According to the court's decision, CM Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar are required to appear before the court on April 29, while Rahul Gandhi must present himself on June 1.
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The Sadashiv Nagar police and High Grounds police have been instructed to issue summons to Deputy CM and CM, respectively.
Responding to a request from the defense counsel for time relaxation for Rahul Gandhi, citing his busy schedule with election works, Judge J Preeth ordered the leader to attend the court on June 1.
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TMC MLA Humayun Kabir apologises for claiming 'coterie' influencing Mamata's decisions
Kolkata (PTI): Trinamool Congress MLA Humayun Kabir has apologised to the party's leadership for his recent comment that a "coterie" was influencing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's key decisions.
Kabir, the MLA of Bharatpur in West Bengal's Murshidabad district, expressed his apology on Friday in reply to a show cause notice issued by the party's disciplinary committee.
"Yes, I have sent a reply. I will certainly follow party discipline. But I think being a person from the rural belt, not conversant with the ways of the city, I faced this situation for speaking my mind. However, I had not said anything against my party or its leadership," he told reporters.
"Our CM epitomises the spirit of 'Maa-Mati-Manush' and being a person of the grassroots level, I always stay rooted to the ground. Maybe I should have been more careful about my way of expressing," he said.
A senior member of the TMC's legislative disciplinary committee said the reply to the show cause letter was received, and a decision on it will be communicated soon.
Kabir, however, said some other TMC MPs had on earlier occasions made comments against party colleagues but were not censured.
On Thursday, he met the CM in the assembly's lobby where she had asked him to reply to the show-cause notice first.
On November 26, Kabir had said a coterie within the party was taking certain decisions to cement their position and was influencing the CM's key decisions for their short-term gains.
He had said this a day after the TMC national executive meeting where the party had categorically asked its leaders not to make comments in public against any internal decision and formed disciplinary committees at different levels.
Kabir had earlier advocated for giving more responsibility to TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, reiterating that the Diamond Harbour MP was undoubtedly the number two in the party's hierarchy and those trying to undermine his influence would not succeed.
