India seeks expeditious extradition of Mallya, Nirav Modi from UK
London: India has strongly underlined its interest in the expeditious extradition of former Kingfisher Airlines chief Vijay Mallya, who has completed all the legal processes related to extradition from the UK, during talks between Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and UK Home Secretary Priti Patel in London.
On the last leg of his three-nation Europe tour, Shringla has been holding discussions in London with several UK ministers and officials and during his interactions with Patel and UK Foreign Office Minister for South Asia, Lord Tariq Ahmad, on Tuesday, the issue of economic offenders being extradited to face the Indian judicial system was among the issues raised.
We strongly underlined our interest in seeing the early, expeditious extradition of Vijay Mallya, who is an economic offender who has completed all extradition procedures in the UK. We would like him to return to India as soon as possible, said Shringla.
Also, Nirav Modi. I raised this with both Lord Ahmad and the Home Secretary, and both took very careful note of our priority and sentiments in that regard, he said.
Mallya wanted in India over fraud and money laundering charges in relation to loans taken out by his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines from state-owned Indian banks, has been found to have a case to answer in India by the UK courts. He is currently on bail, undergoing a confidential legal issue before Priti Patel can consider signing off on his extradition order.
On the other hand, Nirav Modi, the fugitive diamond merchant accused of fraud and money laundering in relation to the state-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB), is currently lodged in Wandsworth Prison in London as he fights his extradition to India at Westminster Magistrates' Court.
Shringla arrived in London following visits to Paris and Berlin on Tuesday and has held a series of meetings to cover a wide range of issues, including the India-UK vaccine partnership in a post-coronavirus world and climate change as well as highlighting India's outlook on the growing importance of the Indo-Pacific region.
On India-UK bilateral ties, the Foreign Secretary noted the backdrop of Britain's exit from the European Union (EU) paving the way for a reset in the relationship both with the UK and the EU.
We are looking at early harvest deals, which would bring benefits to both our countries, followed by a more detailed, either preferential trade agreement or a free trade agreement," said Shringla.
"Obviously, a limited deal means we work on those areas on which both sides can immediately agree to. We need more time to conclude a more comprehensive trade agreement but our ministers are in touch and will work on trying to close such a deal, he said.
We are also looking at a similar deal at the EU level, but the bilateral agreement is always different from an agreement with a group, he added.
The Indian High Commissioner to the UK, Gaitri Issar Kumar, highlighted the five priority areas of food and drink, life sciences, information and communications technology (ICT), chemicals and services that have been narrowed down by both sides, with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and UK International Trade Secretary Liz Truss set to take stock of the level of movement in these areas during talks scheduled for November 9.
Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and Prime Minister Boris Johnson are among the high-level visits from the UK to India scheduled for 2021, depending on the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown situation.
Foreign Secretary Shringla noted that with the UK currently undertaking an Integrated Review of its policy framework, the Indo-Pacific region is expected to play a key part in the transformational relationship that Raab has previously made reference to vis- -vis India.
We believe in the vision of free, open, transparent, and inclusive Indo-Pacific stakeholders; we believe in multi-polarity. The framework is there in France and Germany and we see it in the UK also, though it is yet to be articulated in the policy framework. It (the Indo-Pacific) has become more significant, relevant, and topical, said Shringla.
Besides his ministerial-level and official talks, the foreign secretary also conducted a host of discussions with leading business chiefs and CEOs and is scheduled to interact with representatives of the Indian diaspora later on Wednesday before he heads back to India at the end of his European tour.
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What Trump did to Maduro, Modi has done to Nitish Kumar: Cong's Jairam Ramesh
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday took a swipe at the BJP over Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's decision to move to the Rajya Sabha, saying what US President Donald Trump did to then Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has now done to the JD(U) chief.
He also said that Kumar's decision to step down as chief minister is a betrayal of the mandate the people gave in assembly polls in November last year. Ramesh said the people of the state voted for Kumar's re-election and not for a BJP chief minister.
Ramesh's remarks came a day after JD(U) chief Kumar filed nomination papers for Rajya Sabha elections, marking a turning point in Bihar politics and virtually bringing the curtain down on his tenure as the state's longest-serving chief minister. The move has paved the way for a new government in the Hindi heartland state, likely to be headed by the BJP.
Expressing gratitude to the people of the state, Kumar had said on X, "For more than two decades, you have consistently placed your trust and support in me, and it is on the strength of that trust that we have served Bihar and all of you with complete dedication. It is the power of your trust and support that has enabled Bihar today to present a new dimension of development and dignity."
Asked about this major development in Bihar politics, Ramesh told PTI, "During the Bihar election campaign, Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, had said that Nitish Kumar would not remain chief minister for long because the BJP's aim was to remove him. Ultimately, that is what happened."
Kumar hasn't even been chief minister for four months in the present term and he's being removed, Ramesh said.
Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Modi and the BJP, Ramesh said, "What Trump did to Maduro, Modi ji has done to Nitish Kumar. This is a coup"
The US military had seized Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their Caracas home on January 3 in a stunning operation that landed them in New York to face federal drug trafficking charges.
On Kumar's move to the Rajya Sabha, Ramesh said, "This was inevitable. This is a betrayal of the people of Bihar and the mandate they gave."
The mandate wasn't to make a BJP chief minister, but to make Nitish Kumar the chief minister.
"It's possible that tomorrow, (Chandrababu) Naidu is brought here and made a minister, a coup can happen there too. There was a coup in Maharashtra too, the split the NCP and Shiv Sena... This is all the work of the 'G2'," Ramesh said.
He said the Congress just has six MLAs in Bihar but it will continue to raise the issues of the people and Kumar's move to Rajya Sabha is a "betrayal of the mandate".
The Congress on Thursday had said a "leadership coup and regime change orchestrated by G2" has taken place and is a "huge betrayal" of the mandate of the people.
