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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Election Commission Issues Show Cause Notice To Arvind Kejriwal

The Election Commission (EC) has issued a show cause notice to AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal for the violation of the model code of conduct, ahead of the coming assembly elections in New Delhi today. The notice has come in the light of his allegation against the BJP of trying to break the communal harmony in the state. The EC has asked him to corroborate his corruption allegation against the state head of the BJP Satish Upadhyay.

Sources say that the notice comes after Mr Upadhyay complained to the EC of his 'unjustified' behavior. The EC has directed Mr Kejriwal to answer the show cause notice before 3PM on 20 January; if he fails to comply, the EC will take further action against him without any further communication.

The EC refers to a complaint by Upadhyay in which he has alleged that the AAP supremo has, in a press meet, made false allegations against the BJP of trying to disrupt the communal harmony in the capital city and has incited communal violence in Trilokpuri and Nandnagri and has same evil designs for Nangloi and Bawana. Upadhyay's complaint also includes Kerjiwal's allegations against the saffron party of being responsible for attacks on churches in Delhi. 

The EC has issued a statement that reminds Kejriwal of the model code of conduct which says, "no party or candidate shall indulge in any activity which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic." The statement says it looks like that by making such statement, "you (Kejriwal) have violated the provision of sub-para (1) of para I of Model Code of Conduct."

The EC notice says that EC has received anither complaint from Satish Upadhyay that alleges that Arvind Kejriwal has levelled false and baseless allegations of corruption against him and Ashish Sood, general secretary of the BJP's state unit. Taking action the corruption allegation, the EC reminded kejriwal of another provision of the code of conduct that says, "Criticism of other parties or their workers based on unverified allegations or distortion shall be avoided." 

The BJP seems pleased. Satish Upadhyay said, "We welcome the EC's decision of taking cognizance of our complaint. The commission has taken cognizance of his (Kejriwal) attempts to inflict personal damage and tarnish my image. He had remarked that BJP is inciting communal tensions in Trilokpuri and Bawana and the Commission has taken cognizance of that as well." 

On Wednesday, the AAP chief had made serious corruption charges against Satish Upadhyay and  talked about a probable nexus between him and the various power companies.

The Model Code of Conduct came into existence on 12 January when the dates for the Delhi assemble elections were declared by the EC. The voting will take place on 7 February and counting will be held on 10 February. 

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