PMO pressurised officers to cancel ration cards: Kejriwal
New Delhi, Aug 23 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday alleged that the Prime Minister's Office has "pressurised" its officers to cancel around 3 lakh ration cards in the national capital because of which poor are struggling for food.
On his Twitter account, Kejriwal shared a video report by AajTak news channel, which showed families, whose names were struck off the ration list.
In the video, Harjeet Kaur, who has been living in South Delhi's Savitri Nagar village with her family for the past eight years said on many occasions, the children in her house had to sleep hungry because they had no food in their home.
"I have been taking ration for many months now but ever since the fingerprint scanner system came in, I have not been able to avail my share of ration. Now, suddenly, they (the central government) sent me a notice that my ration card has been cancelled," she said.
On Twitter, Kejriwal wrote: "Despite strong objections by the Delhi government, the Prime Minister's office (PMO) created pressure on the officers to cancel ration cards. Now, look how the poor are suffering. The PMO should not have cancelled the ration cards."
Earlier, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj had flayed the BJP government for "defending officers responsible for large-scale corruption in ration distribution system in Delhi."
"It was the responsibility of Food Commissioner's officials to conduct a door-to-door survey to ensure genuine ration card beneficiaries were not denied their right," he said.
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CPIM's M A Baby frontrunner for general secretary post, Bengal leaders back AIKS' Dhawale
Madurai (PTI): Former Kerala minister M A Baby appeared to be the frontrunner for the post of CPI(M) general secretary with the Politburo backing him, even as leaders from West Bengal backed All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) president Ashok Dhawale.
According to sources, many leaders backed Baby at a meeting of the Politburo, the highest decision-making body of the CPI(M), on Saturday night.
However, leaders from West Bengal, including Nilotpal Basu, Tapan Sen, Ram Chandra Dome and Md Salim, put their weight behind Dhawale, the sources said.
Dhawale initially proposed Salim's name but Salim said he wanted to continue as the secretary for West Bengal, where the CPI(M) is working to regain foothold. The leaders from the state then proposed Dhawale's name.
The final decision on the general secretary will be taken after the new Central Committee and Politburo are decided on Sunday.
Many of Baby's supporters gathered at the venue of the ongoing party congress, held once every three years, in Sitaram Yechury Nagar here and raised slogans backing him.
Several top leaders of the Politburo are likely to step down as they have crossed the age of 75.
According to the sources, members said during the Politburo meeting that Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should get another extension.
Vijayan, 79, was given an extension in the last party congress as well.
Brinda Karat (77), Subhashini Ali (77), Prakash Karat (77), Manik Sarkar (76), Suryakant Mishra (76) and G Ramakrishnan (75) are among the Politburo members who have crossed or reached the age limit of 75 set by the party.
The 24th party congress of the CPI(M) began on April 2 and will end on Sunday.
