1. Rahul Gets Sister Organisation
Ending the protracted will-she-won’t-she speculation within and outside the Congress – one also fuelled by the family – Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday formally joined her party’s politics, the eighth member of the Nehru-Gandhi family to do so.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi appointed her AICC general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East signalling the party’s intention to go all out in this year’s Lok Sabha elections in the crucial Hindi heartland state. Drawing a cricketing analogy, Rahul said the Congress would no longer “play on the back foot.”
Priyanka, significantly, will manage party affairs in eastern Uttar Pradesh that accounts for around 40 Lok Sabha seats and is a BJP stronghold that includes the Varanasi constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Gorakhpur, the home turf of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
(Source: The Indian Express)
2. My Sister is Very Capable, Goal is to Present New Dream: Rahul
Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said his sister Priyanka Gandhi is capable and dedicated and her appointment as the party’s incharge for eastern UP will kick off a “new thought process” in the state.
“I am very happy personally. My sister is capable and dedicated,” Rahul Gandhi said in Amethi, his parliamentary constituency.
Asked whether Priyanka Gandhi will contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi said she will take a decision on her own. “I believe a new thought process will begin in Uttar Pradesh. The youth should associate themselves with the Congress. We are here to fight on the front foot,” he said.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
3. Piyush Goyal Gets Temporary Charge of Finance Ministry, May Present Budget
In a clear indication that finance minister Arun Jaitley, on medical leave in the US, will not present the Modi government’s last Budget on 1 February, Railway and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal was given temporary charge of the ministry on Wednesday. Jaitley will remain a minister without portfolio during his indisposition, a government statement said on Wednesday. He left for the US a week ago for a medical check-up.
“The President of India, as advised by the Prime Minister, hereby directed that during the period of indisposition of Shri Arun Jaitley, minister; the portfolios of minister of finance and minister of corporate affairs held by him, be temporarily assigned to Shri Piyush Goyal, in addition to his existing portfolios,” a statement from the President’s office said late on Wednesday.
Goyal had previously held the finance portfolio when Jaitley was recovering from a medical procedure for a kidney transplant.
(Source: The Times of India)
4. Justice (Retd) Lokur Breaks Silence on Collegium Decision Change: ‘I Am Disappointed’
Breaking his silence on the change in the resolution that stopped the elevation of Chief Justices of Rajasthan and Delhi High Courts who had been recommended for the Supreme Court by its Collegium on 12 December, Justice (retired) Madan Lokur, a member of that Collegium, said he is “disappointed” that the resolution was not made public.
When asked if he had requested Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi to upload the 12 December decision on the website, Justice Lokur said: “There is no reason to ask (the CJI) to upload the resolution. That is something that this done, once a resolution is taken…there is no standard of procedure on what should be done after a resolution…once a resolution is passed, I expect that the decision to be uploaded. It does disappoint me that the resolution passed on 12 December was not put up on the (SC) website.”
(Source: The Indian Express)
5. IAF Worry: In Next Two Years, Only 26 Fighter Squadrons, Short by 16
In another two years, the IAF will be left with an alarmingly low 26 squadrons of fighter aircraft against an authorisation of 42 – even if all the scheduled supplies, including of Rafale and Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, are completed on time.
Around the same time, the Pakistan Air Force will have 25 fighter squadrons while China’s PLA Air Force is estimated to have the capacity to bear 42 squadrons against India.
The Indian Express has reviewed official documents, which show that while the IAF currently has 30 fighter squadrons, the number will slip to 26 in 2021 and 2022. By then, six squadrons of the old Soviet-era MIG aircraft will be decommissioned, and only one squadron of the French Rafale and another of the HAL-manufactured LCA Tejas will be additionally inducted.
(Source: The Indian Express)
6. Let Pak Army Chief Come Through Govt for Talks: Gen Rawat
The chief of the Indian Army, General Bipin Rawat, on Wednesday said that his Pakistani counterpart General Qamar Bajwa will have to make any approach for talks only through the Indian government, dismissing reports that an overture was made to him by the Pakistan Army chief last year.
“Let Gen Qamar Bajwa approach me through the Indian government, and we will take a decision on whether to talk or not. I am neither saying yes, nor no,” Gen Rawat said.
“I am a soldier and we talk straight. We will take a call if I am approached,’’ General Rawat said, before going on to indicate that terror and talks cannot be delinked.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
7. Amid Citizenship Bill Anger, Govt Clears NE Sops
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared Constitutional amendments to give more resources and administrative powers to the autonomous councils of the northeastern states of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura, amid an ongoing controversy over the citizenship bill that seeks to allow minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan to become Indian citizens.
Announcing the Cabinet decision, law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Finance Commission will be asked to recommend devolution of financial resources to the 10 autonomous district councils as well as village and municipal councils in the so-called sixth schedule areas of the north-east. This move to amend Article 280 and the sixth schedule to the Constitution, the government maintained, will fulfil the “long standing aspirations” of tribespeople in the region.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
8. CBI Books AI Ex-CMD, 4 Others for Violating Norms for Promotion
The CBI has filed a case against former Air India chairman-cum-managing director Arvind Jadhav for allegedly violating procedures while deciding on various promotions and appointments.
Along with Jadhav, the CBI has also named then executive director (personnel) LP Nakhwa (now retired) and former additional general managers (operations) A Kathpalia, Amitabh Singh and Rohit Bhasin in its FIR registered under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The agency has alleged that Jadhav had constituted a panel in 2010 to promote officers to the rank of GM (operations) in violation of laid-down procedures. The three-member panel included then chief operating officer Gustav Baldauf, then executive director (operations) AS Soman and former executive director (personnel) LP Nakhwa, it said.
(Source: The Times of India)
9. Eight Held, 17-yr-old Detained for IS Links, Says ATS
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Wednesday arrested eight men and detained a 17-year-old youth for alleged links with the Islamic State (IS) and for allegedly hatching a conspiracy to carry out strikes in Mumbai, Aurangabad and other places.
Early Tuesday, ATS teams had carried out raids at homes of the accused in Aurangabad and Mumbra in Thane district.
Those arrested from Aurangabad have been identified as Mohsin Sirajuddin Khan (32), Mohammed Taqi (20), Mazhar Abdul Rashid Shaikh (21), Mohammed Mushahid-Ul-Islam (23) and Mohammed Sarafaraz (25). From Mumbra, Salman Sirajuddin Khan (28), Fahad Mohammed Ishtiyaq Ansari (25) and Zaman Nawab Khuteupad were arrested. A 17-year-old, detained from Mumbra, was sent to a juvenile home.
(Source: The Indian Express)
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