Fresh developments in a three-year-old fraud case brought by Swamy have overshadowed attempts to bridge the political divide in search of an elusive deal that would create a tax union in Asia’s third-largest economy.
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“It took them nearly a week to understand that there is no relief that they can get by blocking Parliament, by blaming government and by sacrificing public interest”. “The bill is not worth the price that I should leave fighting corruption for it. The bill should be sacrificed for the cause of fighting corruption”, he had said.
“As far as Congress’ statement (on the issue) in parliament is concerned, the impression is being given that we are not interested in the GST (bill)”, he said. Senior aides to Modi say that he sympathised with the case. “We are in conversation with some political parties”, Gandhi said.
If this is the case then, like diplomats who can claim diplomatic immunity to avoid prosecution, politicians can claim political immunity to evade the not-so-long arm of the law.
Modi has tried to undermine the Gandhis since trouncing Congress at the ballot box past year. He also said that the present regime is pro-poor and pro-market. By disrupting democracy the financial web created by the Congress leaders can not be undone.
“We would ask Rahul Gandhi, if he has courage enough; if he has a standing as a leader of his political party, he should come to Parliament and give the proof of the allegations that he has made against the judiciary, the government, and the PMO”, Rudy told the media.
Saugata Roy (TMC) used his time in Zero Hour to support Congress and target the government, inviting a sharp rebuke from the Speaker.
While Congress members did not allow the upper House to function over the issue, party lawmakers walked out in protest in the lower house.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Friday reiterated that the central government was having a political vendetta against the Congress party and that it was coming out of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). When a wedding was taking place in the house of Hima-chal Pradesh chief minister Virbharda Singh, CBI raided his house.
Suddenly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited Congress president Sonia Gandhi and his predecessor Manmohan Singh for tea on November 27 after his reply on “Commitment to Constitution” in Rajya Sabha on the same day in which he praised first PM Jawaharlal Nehru and spoke about the virtues of conciliation and consensual decision-making.
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The Congress is holding a meeting of key party leaders on Sunday after Mr Jaitley reached out to Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and deputy leader of the Congress Anand Sharma, respectively. The accused leaders of the Congress Party move the Delhi High Court for quashing, which grants them an interim protection. The judge hearing the case has opined that it “smacked of criminality”. They can either challenge the order in the Supreme Court or appear before the trial court and contest the case on merits. He said the Congress has differences on three points with the government in the current format of the Bill – the dispute mechanism, involving stakeholders in settling disputes and no cap on tax that can be levied by the government. The Election Directorate would see what needs to be done in this case. “They are suffering from hubris”.
