Sonia strikes SC-Jat balance in Haryana
Finally, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had his way. For quite some time, Hooda was on the edge. Last month, he nearly threatened to part ways with the Congress if he was not accommodated well. Sonia Gandhi, after much deliberations and delay, made him the Congress Legislative Party leader in the Assembly, replacing Kiran Choudhry, a Jat; she is daughter-in-law of late state CM Bansi Lal. Haryana is going to witness Assembly elections in October-November. Gandhi has opted for a Schedule Caste-Jat combination to energise a demoralised and faction-ridden party.
Rahul Gandhi was against removing an SC as state chief. He had long been of the view that after the Jat agitation in Haryana, having a non-Jat state president would be wiser, more so as sitting BJP CM M.L. Khattar was a non-Jat. So, Sonia Gandhi struck a balance by replacing state Congress chief Ashok Tanwar, an SC, with a taller Dalit leader, Kumari Selja. Hooda will also have a say in candidate selection along with the state chief. This is what he wanted. Most of the Congress MLAs backing Hooda had been agitating for long to replace Tanwar and strike a fair caste balance.
India, Pak Armies at Russian Exercise
From tomorrow to 23 September, the Indian Army along with the forces of two acrimonious neighbours, Pakistan and China, will take part in a massive military exercise “TSENTR 2019” in Russia. The exact location is Donguz training ranges, Orenburg. The multi-nation military exercise is an annual series as part of the Russian armed forces’ annual training calendar. These exercises are organised in rotation in the four Russian operational strategic commands—TSENTR (Centre), Vostok (East), Zapad (West), and Kavkas (South). In 2018, India and Pakistan took part in multilateral exercise in Russia as part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
Besides India, Pakistan and China, military contingents from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan will be taking part in this mega event.
Liberahan duped by fraudster
Justice (retired) Manmohan Singh Liberhan, who had headed the Ayodhya Commission of Inquiry and prepared a report on the Babri Masjid demolition, has been cheated of Rs 2.25 lakh. Justice Liberhan, who lives in Chandigarh, fell prey to an online fraud after a swindler called him posing as a bank executive and took his bank details and later withdrew the amount. It happened in the first week of July but he discovered the fraud recently when he issued a cheque to his gardener as salary, which was declined on account of insufficient funds. When he checked with the bank, he was shocked to learn that someone had fraudulently withdrawn Rs 2.25 lakh from his account on 3 July. Surprisingly, he did not receive the bank SMS on the withdrawal of money on his mobile phone.
Justice Liberhan says he had received a call from a person who claimed to be a bank employee and told him that his debit card had been blocked as the bank account was not linked with the Aadhaar card. He gave the required information to the caller. The Chandigarh police says that that several Punjab and Haryana High Court judges have received similar phishing calls.
Goa commits a faux pas
A faux pas occurred in Goa on Teachers’ Day. The state government on Thursday released a media statement wishing people on Teachers’ Day and mentioned the late Manohar Parrikar as the current Chief Minister. Parrikar died on 17 March.
Alka bids adieu To AAP
Disgruntled Aam Aadmi Party legislator Alka Lamba on Friday resigned from the party. Her move came days after she met Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi. Sources said that she would join her old Congress party soon and is likely to contest the Delhi Assembly elections next year. Apparently hinting at Kejriwal, Lamba told The Sunday Guardian that action should have been taken against those who took all decisions “sitting in a closed room”.
UK Sikh MP Turns Hero In Muslim World
Britain’s first turbaned Sikh MP, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, has become a hero in India, especially in Punjab, and in the Muslim world, including Pakistan. A video showing Dhesi asking British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to apologise for “racist” remarks against Muslim women in the past has gone viral. Dhesi, Labour party MP said in the House of Commons, “For those of us who, from a young age, have had to endure and face up to being called names such as towelhead or Taliban, or to people saying we come from bongo, bongo land, we can appreciate fully well the hurt and pain felt by already vulnerable Muslim women when they are described as looking like bank robbers and letterboxes.” Dhesi was referring to Johnson’s column in a newspaper. last year.