The Rajasthan political tussle over the start of this week is already serving as a great trouble for the Congress that is preparing itself for the big Karnataka polls ahead next month.

In this phase, Congress brings back its veteran troubleshooter the former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Kamal Nath to settle down things between Sachin Pilot and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

The senior Congress leader Nath held meetings with Pilot and party general secretary KC Venugopal in Delhi on Thursday with an agenda to discuss ways to bring peace between both the senior most leaders of Rajasthan Congress.

Pilot who held a day long hunger strike two days back against his own party government accusing it of inaction against the corruption charges on the previous government in rule headed by Vasundhara Raje, flew down to Delhi and was expected to meet a series of senior leaders.

The Congress to Pilot issued a statement terming the latter’s protest to be an anti party activity and sources report Kamal Nath has argued with the party stating that the statement expressed by Congress Rajasthan In-charge Randhawa has worked as a tool to upset Pilot and stretch the situation and that it could be avoided.

Reportedly the former deputy CM of Rajasthan has shared his issues that are to solved to Kamal Nath and Venugopal and has demanded for a fair treatment.

The Nath episode is under the knowledge of Congress Chief Mallikarjun Kharge and former chief Rahul Gandhi, Kharge wants to get the crisis solved equally from all the sides with his focus on the upcoming Karnataka battle.

Kamal Nath, believed to be a loyalist of former Prime Minister s late Indira Gandhi has always been Congress’s top choices for settling down any controversy and this time for this particular matter purportedly Nath was Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s pick.

A sessions court in Gujarat’s Surat on Thursday reserved its order on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s plea against his conviction in the Modi surname criminal defamation case. The next hearing of the former Wayanad MP’s plea is now scheduled to be held on April 20 when the court will pronounce its verdict.

Additional Sessions Judge RP Mogera heard arguments from both sides and decided to hold the order till next hearing on April 20.

Earlier, Rahul Gandhi’s counsel told the sessions court that the trial Modi surname” remark was “not fair” and there was no need for maximum punishment in the case.

Senior advocate R S Cheema, the counsel for the Gandhi scion, told the judge that the trial was not “fair” and the judgement by the magistrate was “strange” because the trial court judge “made a hotchpotch of all the evidence on record”.

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Arguing on behalf of Rahul Gandhi, who wasn’t physically present in the court for the hearing, advocate Cheema said that the entire case was based on electronic evidence wherein I (Gandhi), delivered a speech during elections and a man sitting hundreds of kilometers away watched it on the news and filed a complaint.

There wasn’t any need for maximum punishment in such case, he said.

Rahul Gandhi had filed a plea in the Surat sessions court seeking a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case over the 2019 “Modi surname” remark.

On March 23, a magistrate court in Surat convicted the Congress leader in the criminal defamation case and sentenced him to two years in jail. The conviction led to his disqualification from the Lok Sabha.

The disqualification which will prevent 52-year-old Gandhi, a four-time MP, from contesting elections for eight years unless a higher court stays the conviction, has kicked up a political storm with the Congress staging a countrywide satyagraha last month to protest the decision.

ED registers case against BBC India under FEMA for foreign exchange violations

41 Jharkhand BJP members, including former CMs, Union Minister, booked for violating prohibitory orders

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday questioned the former Union Railway Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s daughter Chanda Yadav in connection with the alleged land-for-jobs scam.

The central probe agency has been questioning the children of Lalu Prasad Yadav in the ongoing money laundering case. Her statements were recorded by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Chanda Yadav’s questioning comes a day after it recorded the statement of Lalu’s other daughter Ragini Yadav. This is the third consecutive day when Lalu Yadav’s third child is being questioned by the ED officials in the case.

Earlier on Tuesday, Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar and former Bihar Chief Minister’s son Tejashwi Yadav was also questioned for almost eight hours in connection with the case. Last month, Lalu’s eldest daughter Misa Bharti was also interrogated by the central probe agency.

The Yadav family is being interrogated by the ED for their alleged involvement in a scam wherein they demanded land in exchange for government jobs during the time when Lalu Yadav served as the Union Minister for Railways.

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According to the reports, the ED claimed unaccounted cash of Rs 1 crore, $1,900, 540 gms gold and 1.5 kg of gold jewellery and other incriminating documents were recovered during the raids conducted at 24 locations in Delhi, Mumbai, Patna, and in Ranchi based on specific intelligence inputs.

The ED also said that they had detected around Rs 600 crore in proceeds of crime which were in the form of immovable properties of Rs 350 crore and transactions of Rs 250 crore routed through various benamidaars.

The agencies state that from 2004 to 2009, various people were appointed to Group D positions within different Indian Railways zones, and in exchange, transferred their land to Lalu Prasad’s family members and A K Infosystems Pvt Ltd, a beneficiary company in this case.

According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the candidates reportedly sold land to Prasad’s family members at steep discounts that ranged from one-fourth to one-fifth of the actual market values.

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41 Jharkhand BJP members, including former CMs, Union Minister, booked for violating prohibitory orders