Rajagopal, MP who used pepper spray in LS, is also founder of loss-making Lanco Group

First Biz :13 Feb 2014

Vijayawada MP L Rajagopalan, who used pepper spray on his fellow MPs in Lok Sabha today after the Congress-led UPA government tabled the Telangana Bill in Parliament, is also the founder and former chairman of loss-making Lanco Infratech.

This morning, after Shinde tabled the Telangana Bill in Parliament, L Rajagopal, Congress MP from the Seemandhra region, reportedly whipped out a canister of spray and sprayed it inside the Lok Sabha in order to protest against the creation of a new state.

The spray resulted in many of the MPs coughing and television visuals showed Speaker Meira Kumar coughing before quickly leaving the Lower House of Parliament. Other MPs complained of irritation in their eyes and difficulty in breathing.

Opposition MPs were seen looking on in shock and amusement even as marshals restrained Rajagopal and proceedings were adjourned.

Speaking to CNN-IBN before Parliamentary proceedings, L Rajagopal said he would not allow the bill to be passed and when asked how he would stop the bill he said, "You will have to wait and see."

The Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned even as medical staff were called into action to treat the affected MPs. Three MPs were taken in an ambulance from Parliament, reported CNN-IBN, adding that the nature of their injuries wasn't known.

High security measures were in place ahead of today's proceedings as some MPs had even suggested they could attempt suicide to protest against the creation of the new state. However, MPs cannot be body searched before they enter Parliament.

Rajagopal was yesterday expelled from the Congress - along with five other MPs - for opposing creation of Telangana and giving notice of no-confidence motion against the government. These MPs from the Seemandhra region, the residuary state after Telangana is carved out of Andhra Pradesh, had been disrupting the House protesting the bill since the second half of the winter session started on 5 February.

The Vijayawada MP had been openly against the formation of Telangana, and has been protesting against it for the past few years. He had criticised the party high command for not heeding the views of Seemandhra leaders on the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, but said he had advised Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy not to quit until the Parliament session ended.

A few years ago, Rajagopal was one of the first leaders to take up the flagship of the anti-Telangana movement. After  P Chidambaram's announcement that the Centre was initiating the process for the formation of Telangana state, Rajagopal was the first MP to send in his resignation.

Here is all you need to know about Rajagopal's Constituency

Vijayawada is the third largest city in Andhra Pradesh  and is located on the banks of the majestic Krishna River, and is surrounded by the lndrakiladri hills on the West and the Budameru river on the North. The city forms a part of the Krishna district, and is spread over an area of 58 sq kms (urban area), with a population of 8,25,436 (2001 census).

Rajagopal calls Vijayawada his 'Dharma bhoomi'. Educated in Siddhartha engineering college in Vijayawada, Rajagopal has strong links to the city. And With the establishment of Lanco Kondapalli power plant in Kondapalli, his association with the city grew even closer.

As chairman of Lanco's charitable trust, LIGHT, Rajagopal undertook several initiatives in and around Vijayawada

Rajagopal founded Lanco Infratech in 1986 and remained its chairman until he joined active politics in 2002. His brother Madhusudhan Rao took over as chairman. The company is engaged in construction, power, real estate, and several other segments.

Its key businesses have been frequently kicked up controversies.

In 2007, Managing Director GV Babu was caught at an airport with a suitcase containing Rs 34 lakh unaccounted cash.

Lanco Infratech also ran ran into financial trouble and filed for corporate debt restructuring in 2013. The company has more than Rs 7,000 crore debt. In October-December, the company's loss widened to Rs 529.68 crore from Rs 465 crore a year ago.

Birla top player in donations, backs both BJP, Congress

FP 9 Jan 2014

The Aditya Birla Group has emerged as the top corporate donor to both the ruling Congress party as well as the opposition Bhartiya Janta Party, followed by Gujarat's Torrent Group, as declared by the parties to the Election Commission.

According to a study by the Association for Democratic Reforms and National Reforms, as much as 87 percent of the total Rs 435.87 crore national parties received during 2004-12 came from corporates. Business houses paid Rs 378.89 crore to various political parties.

Of the national parties, the BJP received the maximum donations of Rs 192.47 crore from 1,334 donors from the corporate/ business sector followed by the Indian National Congress which got Rs 172.25 crore from 418.

Reuters

The Aditya Birla Group donated the maximum amount of Rs 36.41 crore to the Congress and Rs 26.57 crore to BJP. Gujarat-based Torrent Power donated Rs 13 crore to the BJP and Rs 11 crore to Congress while Bharti Electoral Trust of Bharti Group donated Rs 11 crore to the Congress and Asianet V Holding Rs 10 crore to the BJP.

Table from the ADR report

The Congress and BJP also received foreign funding between 2003-04 and 2011-12 of Rs 983.50 lakh and Rs 1,942.50 lakh, respectively, by companies such as the Vedanta group (Sesa Goa, The Madras Aluminium Co, Sterlite Industries), Public and Political Awareness Trust of Vedanta, Hyatt Regency and Dow Chemicals.

Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) got Rs 1 crore each from Ambuja Cement, Hindustan Construction Company and Infina Finance.

Check out the total donations to national parties by corporate/ business houses:

Table: Share of donations from corporate/ business houses in total donations to national parties between FY 2004-05 to 2011-12

In comparison to the national parties, communist ones got much less. The Communist Party of India got Rs 11 lakh, and the Communist Party India (Marxist), or CPI(M), Rs 1.8 crore.

The study also showed that 92% of the Congress's voluntary contributions is from corporate/ business houses while the corresponding figure for the BJP is 85%.

Other highlights:

Congress received maximum contributions from trusts & group of companies (Rs 70.28 crores) while the BJP received maximum donation from the manufacturing sector (Rs 58.18 crore) and power & oil (Rs 17.06 crore).

The Congress received the maximum donations (Rs 23.07 crore) from the mining, construction and export/ import sectors. For the BJP, hte maximum donations came from the real estate sector -- Rs 17.01 crore.

Check out the full list of donors below:

Second Donation

IBN7 managing editor Ashutosh, leaves to join AAP

The journalist hasn't confirmed joining the party yet. Image courtesy: CNN-IBN

FP Politics 9 mins ago

There was plenty of buzz on Twitter since last evening, that a senior journalist was set to join the Aam Aadmi Party as it heads into the Lok Sabha polls later this year. 

After many tweets and much speculation, it has been confirmed that IBN7's managing editor Ashutosh will be leaving journalism to join the party.

While the senior journalist has confirmed his resignation, he has not yet confirmed that he will be joining the political party and a formal announcement is expected soon.

Network18 confirmed that Ashutosh was leaving IBN7 and would be replaced by Vinay Tewari, Managing Director, CNN-IBN.

"Ashutosh has played a key role in IBN7’s emergence as one of the most credible brands in Hindi news. We thank him for his immense contribution and commitment to the Network. Vinay has led CNN-IBN admirably and in this expanded mandate, we’re confident that he will not only take IBN7 to new heights editorially but also strengthen our general news network further," B Sai Kumar, Group CEO of Network 18, said in the statement.

In the statement, Ashutosh thanked all his colleagues for their support.

"Building IBN7 into what it is today has been one of the most satisfying experiences of my professional journey. I would like to thank all my colleagues for their support and look forward to newer challenges," he said.

Other former journalists in the Aam Aadmi Party include Manish Sisodia, who is presently Education Minister of Delhi and Shazia Ilmi. Many other former professionals like Meera Sanyal, Gopinath and V Balakrishnan are among those who have joined the party ahead of the national elections to be held later this year.

Step aside Modi, Rahul: The real political genius is Kejriwal

  F P Ivor Soans Dec 24, 2013 

Move over Modi and Rahul, Kejriwal may be the real political genius

Behind that utterly simple and benign aam aadmi look ticks a brilliant mind. While that's not exactly breaking news, considering Arvind Kejriwal is an IIT graduate, now it's clearer than ever that he also has a brilliant political mind and that the strong showing of the AAP in Delhi under his leadership was only the beginning.

Consider this--the BJP which was literally taunting the Aam Aadmi Party to form the government in Delhi is now wailing like a petulant child. Delhi BJP leader and CM candidate Harsh Vardhan is crying from the rooftops that the AAP has betrayed the people of Delhi and ishungry for power.

The rich irony that’s not lost on anyone is that just a few days ago Harsh Vardhan was saying the exact opposite. In his reply to Kejriwal's poser to the BJP and the Congress, Harsh Vardhan raised his own questionsstating:

"Eleven days have passed since the results of the elections were declared. Mr Arvind Kejriwal had met the Lt Governor five days ago but he is still playing hide and seek game with the people of Delhi. They are unable to decide how they shall fulfill the expectations of the people with which they voted for AAP. This party should clearly tell the people whether it will form the Government or not?" He also complained about the bureaucracy in Delhi unable to do anything in the absence of any government and moaned about it hindering the progress of Delhi since the working of Government in the capital has completely stopped.

But now that the AAP government seems all set to take over, Harsh Vardhan is singing a different tune. What got the BJP's goat is the way Kejriwal went about it. By putting the onus on the people through a referendum of sorts and by appearing extremely reluctant to take power, unlike the average Indian politician, he seems to have lulled the BJP into complacency. Thanks to Kejriwal's reluctance, today when the AAP has decided to form the government, even Delhiites who didn't vote for AAP in the recent polls would not believe that Kejriwal is desperate for power. Kejriwal has shrewdly conveyed a picture of being reluctantly placed on the throne despite his protestations by people carrying him on their shoulders. And that's a powerful picture.

The BJP's bigger worry is that the payoff of not appearing desperate for power in Delhi and taunting Kejriwal may now be tougher to come by in the quest for the bigger throne in Delhi--that of the Prime Minister, if Kejriwal manages to do a Delhi in other urban and semi-urban constituencies across India. Kejriwal had earlier dismissed a Modi wave in Delhi pointing out that the BJP's vote share in Delhi had actually fallen by 2 percentage points in the recent elections as compared to 2008, which meant that not even everyone who voted BJP in 2008 voted BJP in 2013.

Kejriwal's reluctant act was so well played that even his friend turned possible foe Kiran Bedi grudgingly admired Kejriwal for this despite some sniping by claiming the AAP was taking a big risk in forming the government. Bedi said Kejriwal had made a smart move by taking a referendum on whether to form the government with Congress support and added that this would help him escape allegations of being a political opportunist as is being alleged by some parties.

The Congress, a party that could easily win gold medals if lending support and pulling the rug from under the feet of non-Congress governments were a competitive sport, is in a bind too. AAP senior leader Prashant Bhushan has said that the AAP will not accept any conditions from the Congress, adding that they were only interested in fulfilling their agenda. And while the Congress has been crying hoarse that support to the AAP is not unconditional, beggars cannot be choosers in this scenario.

If the Congress pulls the plug and it results in the fall of a government led by a man whom the aam aadmi thinks is not power hungry, the resulting fire will only singe the Congress. And if the AAP opens up the Common Wealth Games (CWG) can of worms, the Congress can ill afford to refuse support to a party seen as investigating one of India's corruption milestones. Not after what has happened in Mumbai where the Congress-NCP government's refusal to accept the Adarsh Commission report that named politicians and bureaucrats may haunt it during the upcoming elections, and especially if the judiciary gets into the act as the BJP has promised.

The Adarsh report mess has even sullied the reputation of Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan, one of the few Congress politicians respected for his clean image. BJP PM candidate and Gujarat CM Narendra Modi is already heaping ignominy on Congress VP Rahul Gandhi for his idealistic talk on corruption but refusing to walk the talk when it comes to the very suspicious actions of the Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra. After all, what CWG is to Delhi, Adarsh is to Maharashtra.

Any Congress move thanks to AAP being proactive on investigating corruption will only backfire on the Grand Old Party and the AAP will come out smelling of roses and as a player seen as fulfilling its promises on corruption. Some Congress leaders are already planning backroom moves but not much may come of these plans.

And it's not that the AAP needs years in government to prove it can govern. “Governance is no rocket science,’’ Kejriwal told mediapersons a few days ago, but the AAP seems to be looking at doing as much as it can in as little as two months since the Election Commission will implement the Model Code of Conduct by end-February for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. A tough Jan Lokpal bill for Delhi which neither the Congress nor the BJP can afford to reject unless they want further association as parties neck deep in corruption, some more noises about reducing power bills with some arm twisting of private utilities, announcing free water per household up to 700 litres a day as promised in the AAP manifesto, are all achievable within two months. And the average Indian doesn't care much for economics and fiscal deficits at a time when inflation is wrecking his finances.

AFP

Then there's lifestyle itself, a factor that is not insignificant to the urban, educated Indian voter. Kejriwal drove to meet Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung in his Maruti Wagon R, a fact that was not lost on media or the average Delhiite. At a time when even my local municipal corporator in Mumbai drives a BMW, the average Indian's admiration for Kejriwal's lifestyle will only increase. After all, his lifestyle is the completely opposite of a normal Indian politician's who the average Indian sees as completely mired in corruption.

Plus, there's security and cavalcades and lal battis, all part of the VIP culture, which the average Indian detests and sees as more signs of corrupt politicians who are completely out of sync with the real India that's furious about corruption and luxurious lives led by politicians at the taxpayer's expense. Kejriwal has already refused security and it is very likely he won't move to the official residence of the Chief Minister too. India may well get its first ever Chief Minister who uses public transport like the Delhi Metro. A disciplined and austere lifestyle in power will endear Kejriwal to even more Indians.

I remember running into Maharashtra politician Raj Thackeray at Mumbai airport a few years ago. I was waiting with 5-6 others in queue for security screening when some security men came and started making way for someone. "There comes another VIP," I thought, and within a few seconds, Raj Thackeray popped up. He saw us, saw the queue and after a moment of indecision decided to stand in the queue, right behind me. Since his security men were frantic, I told him he could break the queue if he was in a hurry, but he graciously refused and said he would stand in queue. When I mentioned this on Facebook, some friends said they would actually vote for him because of his gracious behaviour. What's gracious about queuing up, I remember thinking, but now I realise that the average Indian hates the VIP culture of our politicians so much that even a divisive politician who evokes strong reactions becomes palatable if he is seen as not being part of the VIP culture.

And Arvind Kejriwal seems to be miles ahead of Raj Thackeray on this one. And miles ahead of the BJP and Congress on other aspects. Clearly, he has outmanoeuvred both the national parties. Now it's his game to lose.

Lokpal just the beginning, more anti-corruption bills coming up: Rahul Gandhi

FP 13 mts ago

New Delhi: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Wednesday said there were more anti-corruption bills "in the pipeline that need to be passed".

Speaking to media persons outside parliament after the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill, 2011, which provides for formation of an anti-graft ombudsman, was passed, Gandhi said more bills were needed to curb corruption.

"We need more bills and we have the framework. Congress party has bills in the pipeline that need to be passed," said Gandhi.

"We've had big success with the Lokpal bill, we had the RTI (Right to Information) earlier," he added.

The Lokpal bill was passed by the Lok Sabha Wednesday and by the Rajya Sabha Tuesday.

IANS

Fallout of DMK move? Kanimozhi faces ED heat, jail term

by FP Staff: F P :Mar 20,2013

The heat has been turned on the DMK barely hours after its party president M Karunanidhi announced his decision for the party to to pull out of the UPA government over the Sri Lankan Tamil issue.

Enforcement Directorate officials have planted media stories suggesting that Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi, who is one of the accused in the 2G spectrum case, may face another jail term – and even see her properties attached – if they file a chargesheet against her under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

M Karunanidhi. Agencies.

Kanimozhi had in 2011 spent 190 days in Tihar Jail on charges that Kalaignar TV, in which the CBI said she was the “active brain”, had received Rs 209 crore from Swan Telecom, one of the beneficiaries in the 2G spectrum allocation by former Telecom Minister A Raja. Kalaignar TV has claimed that the money was a “loan” from Swan Telecom (now Etilsat DB), which had since been returned.

The Indian Express reports quoting unidentified ED officials that the chargesheet againstKanimozhi and A Raja is being drafted and will likely be filed early next month. Under the stringent provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, properties identified as “proceeds of crime” can be attached. The Act also provides for seven years’ rigorous imprisonment.

In other words, if the chargesheet is filed next month, Kanimozhi could potentially face a second jail term.

But the timing of this selective leak of an imminent chargesheet, which is effectively a thinly veiled threat, appears to point to the usual Congress strategem of turning the screws on regional leaders in order to secure their political support for its survival at the Centre. In much the same way that the Congress has used the CBI cases against Mulayam Singh Yadav,  Mayawati and Lalu Prasad Yadav (among others) as a leverage to bail out the UPA government, it appears that the threat of Kanimozhi’s arrest is being held out now to ‘tame’ her father Karunanidhi, who has walked out (or, more appropriately, been wheeled out in a wheelchair) of the UPA government.

The report notes that the Enforcement Directorate adjudicating authority had issued orders against various other accused in the 2G scam case as far back as in January 2012, identifying properties owned by them as “proceeds of crime.” Subsequently, movable and immovable  of Shahid Usman Balwa, Swan Telecom, DB Realty and others, worth about Rs 225 crore overall, had been attached by the Enforcement Directorate. These included apartments, land, money in bank accounts and other assorted assets that had been identified as “proceeds of crime.”

But although the adjudicating authority had issued an order against Kanimozhi stating that the “so-called loan” from Swan Telecom  to Kalaignar TV was the central issue in the case before it, Kalaignar TV properties have thus far not been attached.

If that element of discretion worked to the DMK’s advantage then, so long as it was in the UPA fold, it is now at the receiving end of the prosecutors’ particular attention now that the DMK has pulled out of the UPA government.

Other reports insinuate that the DMK’s decision to pull out may have less to do with the Sri Lankan  Tamils’ issue as with the realisation that the 2G spectrum trial is not going in its favour. A report in the Economic Times says that “tension between the Congress and the DMK had been brewing” over the 2G spectrum case for some time. For one thing, the DMK, it added, was unhappy that Raja, the main accused, had not been allowed to depose before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probing the scam.

In particular, the report notes, the DMK had been rattled by the testimony of key government witnesses in the case, principally that of Attorney General G Vahanvati, which had advanced the prosecution’s case that Raja had abused the first-come-first-served policy for allocation of telecom spectrum by going behind the back of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Cabinet.

It is hard to establish the truth of these allegations and theories, but they reinforce the widely held suspicion that prosecution in big-ticket corruption cases involving the Congress’ regional allies or supporters can be speeded up or slowed down according to the political expediency of the Congress. When cynical politics – and the exigencies of political survival for the Congress – interferes with the due process of law, what chance does a fair trial have? Any case is only as good as the prosecution wants it to be.

Karunanidhi and Kanimozhi were evidently shielded for so long because the DMK was within the UPA government. Now that it has come out, it has to face the full force of the law that had been held back thus far.