Manoj Vashishtha encounter: Rajnath Singh Assures the Family of a Fair Probe into the Incident

The family members of Manoj Vashishtha who was killed in a police encounter last week here in Delhi, have met the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Singh has given them an assurance that the alleged encounter will be thoroughly probed.  

Priyanka, the wife of the deceased, has said, "The Home Minister assured us that he has given directions for the formation of an SIT for the case and that the post mortem will also be video graphed. He also assured us that justice will be done, we are satisfied." 

Earlier, the Delhi government ordered a magisterial inquiry into the alleged encounter that led to the demise of Manoj. 

Manoj was shot-dead last Friday night in an encounter with the Delhi Police personnel. The incident took place at the Sagar Ratna Restaurant in Delhi's Rajender Nagar locality. 

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Arvind Kejriwal Fires Verbal Salvo at LG Najeeb Jung

The rift between the Delhi State Government and the Lt Governor Najeeb Jung seems to be deepening with every passing moment. The current confrontation is over the appointment of an acting Chief Secretary in the state. CM Arvind Kejriwal has said that the LG should act with the limits of the Constitution and should not try to overtake the democratically elected government.    

Senior bureaucrat Shakuntala Gamlin took charge as acting Chief Secretary despite being asked by the AAPgovernment not to do so. An aggrieved Kejriwal wrote an angry letter to the LG asking him not to act outside of the confines of the Constitution; he accused him of trying to render the government ineffective. 

"I cannot but conclude that this is a thinly disguised attempt to reduce the democratically elected government ineffective and administer the National Capital Territory of Delhidirectly," Kejriwal said in his letter.

"I would strongly request you to remain within the confines of the Constitution and the laws relating to Government of NCT of Delhi. You are holding a Constitutional position. Whatever be the political pressure, you have a duty to uphold the Constitution," CM wrote in his letter.

The LG yesterday appointed Gamlin, a 1984-batch civil-services officer, as the acting Chief Secretary of the state despite strong opposition by the AAP government. The AAP is of the opinion that she has a close links with BSES discoms. However, she refuted the accusation by terming them baseless.

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DTC Calls Off Strike After AAP Government Imposes ESMA

The drivers of Delhi TransportCooperation (DTC) called off their state wide strike yesterday after the state government imposed the Essential Service Maintenance Act (ESMA).

The strike was called by the DTC drivers in protest of the murder of a fellow driver who was killed by a biker after his bus grazed the bike from behind in the Mundka area.

CM Arvind Kerjriwal met the deceased's family yesterday and promised a compensation of 10 lakh and a job to one of the family members.   

The end of a nearly two-days-long strike comes as a breath of fresh air to the 40-lakh people who were left in a limbo after the 4,705 DTC buses went off the roads.

"It has been notified that the Haryana Essential Services Maintenance Act (HESMA) 1974 is imposed in NCT (National Capital Territory) of Delhi which prohibits the strike of DTC employees in NCT of Delhi for a period of six months," a government statement said.

"We have called off our strike," Tara Chand, a member of the DTC Worker Unity Centre confirmed after the government notification came.

The DTC staff union decided to go on an indefinite strike following the murder of DTC driver Ashok Kumar Singh bya biker who repeatedly hit the 42-year-old with his helmet and a small fire extinguisher installed in the bus; Singh bled to death while being taken to hospital.  

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DTC Orders Workers to Call Off Strike With Immediate Effect

DTC Orders Workers to Call Off Strike With Immediate Effect

The Delhi Transport Corporation has issued an advisory for its workers today that tells them to call off their strike with immediate effect.

The sources say that thegovernment of Delhi has warned the DTC union that if the strike is not called off immediately, the government will enforce the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA).

This strike comes in the wake of a 42-years-old DTC driver's death, who fell prey to a gory road rage on Sunday; the man was thrashed to death by a motorcycle rider after his bus grazed the bike from behind in the Mundka area. 

After the incident took place, the State government announced a five lakh rupee compensation to the deceased's family. However, the union wanted a compensation of Rs. one crore and a job for the victim's family member, and it called a strike for an indefinite period in protest.  

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AAP Invites PM And His Cabinet For Arvind Kejriwal's Oath Taking Ceremony

The AAP has invited PM Modi and his cabinet for the oath taking ceremony of Arvind Kejriwal as the 8th CM of New Delhi; the ceremony will be held on 14th of this month.

"We want to invite the prime minister, all union ministers and Delhi MPs," said Manish Sisodiya. 

PM Modi has given Arvind Kejriwal an appointment at 10:30 AM tomorrow. During the meeting, the CM designate will formally invite the PM to the ceremony, which will be held at the historical Ramlila Maidan. Mr Kejriwal took his oath of Chief Ministership at the same venue on the previous occasion as well.  

The chances of the PM going to the ceremony are not very bright as he has a packed schedule over the weekend; he is flying out to Maharashtra early on the Sunday morning.

"Our biggest invitation is to the people. Every citizen is becoming chief minister," Manish Sisodia said. Since getting a historic mandate yesterday, Kejriwal is urging the people of Delhi to come to his swearing-in ceremony. 

Kiran Bedi, the CM candidate of BJP, who lost even her own constituency is also among the invitees, and so in Anna Hazare. The anti-corruption crusader and Kejriwal's patron Hazare did not attend his previous oath ceremony in 2013.

It will, most definitely, be a tough task for the Delhi Police to oversee the occasion as the capacity of Ramlila Maidan is just one lakh and the attendance is expected to be much more than that.

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Former Minister and Senior Congress Leader Krishna Tirath Joins BJP

Senior Congress leader and former women and child development minister in the Manmohan Singh government, Krishna Tirath has formally joined the BJP. The senior leader met the BJP president Amit Shah this morning and took the decision that has taken the Congress party as a surprise.

Tirath was one of the most distinguished faces of the Congress in Delhi.  After the conclusion of her meeting with Mr Shah, she said, "This is about ideology. I want to serve people and I have come here with that mindset and that ideology only."

Announcement of Tirath's induction into the BJP came at the same time when Ajay Maken, Congress' election in charge in Delhi, was holding a press conference. Mr Maken accepted that he had just been informed of such development. He said, "It shows the desperation of the BJP, they have to import leaders from other parties because they have no faith in their own leaders."   

Sources say that the Congress leaders, in order to duck the massive embarrassment, are saying that Ms Tirath made this hasty decision in the light of the party denying her a ticket in the coming assembly elections in the capital city.  She contested the general elections last year on a Congress ticket from Delhi and lost to BJP's Udit Raj. 

Ms Krishan Tirath, 59, is the third prominent female leader to join the BJP bandwagon in the last few days; two other leaders being Kiran Bedi and Shazia Ilmi. 

Being a Dalit leader of repute, her exit from Congress is considered to be a big set-back for the party as it is trying to rebuild itself in the capital.

After ruling Delhi for 15 years, the Congress party was almost wiped out in the last assembly elections and was replaced Aam Admi Party as the second most powerful political organization in the city after BJP.  However, due to no party getting a clear-cut majority, fresh elections have been announced. Polling will be done on 7 February, and the results will come out on 10th of the same month.

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