Congress plans ‘Guarantee Samavesha’ in Karnataka to counter BJP’s “zero achievement” claims: Report
Bengaluru: While the BJP alleges that the Congress-led Karnataka government has made 'zero achievements' over the past two years, the ruling party is reportedly planning to launch a campaign called ‘Guarantee Samavesha’ to showcase the impact of its welfare schemes.
The Congress government plans to organise this event at the district level, inviting beneficiaries of its guarantee schemes, as reported by The New Indian Express on Wednesday.
Senior Congress leader and Chief Whip in the Upper House Saleem Ahmed stated that the party is planning large-scale events across districts to highlight their five guarantees. “CM Siddaramaiah and KPCC chief DK Shivakumar will finalise the dates along with the format of the event,’’ TNIE quoted Ahmed as saying.
He pointed out that the saffron party keeps accusing them of having no developmental achievements. “Through these events, we will tell them and the people about what guarantees have done for the poor,’’ he said.
Furthermore, Ahmed pointed to the Centre’s failure to release grants due to the state government. “We have two prominent ministers from Karnataka who are in PM Narendra Modi’s cabinet, Nirmala Sitharaman and Pralhad Joshi. What have they done for the state? We will speak about this in front of the people,’’ he asserted.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah accused the Union government of treating Karnataka unfairly when it comes to sharing tax money and funds for central schemes.
Speaking at a public rally in Hosapete on Tuesday, which marked the completion of his government's two-year tenure, Siddaramaiah pointed out that Karnataka contributes approximately Rs 4.5 lakh crore annually in taxes but receives only Rs 65,000 crore in return.
“It means only Rs 14 for every Rs 100. Prime Minister Narendra Modi often talks of cooperative federalism. Is it cooperative federalism? This erodes the federal structure,” he said.
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Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
New Delhi (PTI): Police here have busted a crime syndicate involved in traffic fraud and extortion, arresting three people including the alleged mastermind who sold fake stickers to help commercial vehicles bypass no-entry restrictions, an official said on Saturday.
The police said they dismantled a third organised syndicate linked to traffic-related frauds, with the arrest of Rinku Rana alias Bhushan, his associate Sonu Sharma and Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, who was also connected to another extortion syndicate.
According to the police, Rinku Rana was running a well-organised network that facilitated the movement of commercial goods vehicles during restricted hours by selling fake 'marka' or stickers for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per vehicle every month. The stickers were falsely projected as authorisation to evade traffic challans.
During raids, the police recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash, property documents worth several crores of rupees, over 500 fake stickers and six mobile phones allegedly used to operate the syndicate.
The crackdown followed a complaint filed by a traffic police officer in April this year after a commercial vehicle tried to evade checking by producing a fake sticker claiming exemption from enforcement action.
Investigation revealed that social media groups were being used to coordinate the illegal movement of vehicles and alert drivers about traffic police checkpoints, police said.
"A parallel system was being run to cheat drivers and vehicle owners while undermining traffic enforcement. On the basis of evidence, provisions related to organised crime under the BNS were invoked," a senior police officer said.
Sonu Sharma, the police said, managed social media groups through which stickers were sold and real-time alerts were circulated regarding traffic police movement. He also acted as a link between Rana and drivers operating in the field.
In a related development, Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, an associate of Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, who was earlier arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was also apprehended.
Mukesh allegedly helped extort money from transporters and was involved in blackmailing traffic police personnel by recording enforcement actions, the police said.
Investigators alleged the syndicate led by Rajkumar deployed drivers to deliberately violate traffic rules and secretly record police officials during challans, later using manipulated videos to extort money under threat of false allegations.
The police said that in total, eight accused belonging to three different organised crime syndicates linked to traffic frauds and extortion have been arrested so far.
Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining members, conduct financial probes, and analyse digital evidence recovered during the raids, officials added.
