oppn parties AAP Legislators Reach a New Low

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  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
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AAP Legislators Reach a New Low

By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2018-03-02 18:33:27

The charge of abusing and manhandling a government officer by anyone is serious and punishable by law. But when the officer in question is the chief secretary of a state or union territory and the abusers/manhandlers are elected representatives of the people, the charge assumes many other connotations. What happened in Delhi during the midnight meeting called by the AAP government is obviously the subject of two different versions – one put out by the officers and another by the government. But if one believes in the old adage that there cannot be smoke without fire, then one must also believe that while the officers might have overreacted to raised voices and general pushing in the melee, the AAP legislators will try to water down the event to escape censure.

But there can be no doubt that something went wrong in the meeting. The timing of the meeting at midnight also raises concerns about it being a pre-meditated event to threaten and blackmail the officers. The AAP government is fuming about the alleged excesses of the Lieutenant Governor and it feels that the officers are not helping its cause. But the officers are doing their duty as mandated by law. This meeting also looked cooked-up as the Delhi food minister, Imran Hussain, was not present when the sole agenda of the meeting was to discuss delays in ration disbursal, if the government is to be believed. The chief secretary, Anshu Prakash has said that he was called to discuss delays in the governmentÂ’s publicity campaign. Only an independent inquiry can now ascertain what went behind closed doors.

With this alleged abuse and manhandling, AAP legislators have reached a new low. For a party that professed to be different, AAP has some of the worst goons in its ranks. Its lawmakers believe they are a law unto themselves. From being vigilantes (a la Somnath Bharti) to being musclemen (Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal), they try everything. AAP is setting a record for being the party that has inculcated all the bad habits from all political parties in India. In the process, it has completely lost its individual identity and become just another political party and a bad one at that.

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