With just a week to go before Varanasi will vote to chose its MP, the BJP on Tuesday released the vision document for the holy city.

Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi will take on Congress’ Ajay Rai and AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal in what is being dubbed as the mother of all electoral battles.

The vision document lists out the BJP’s plan for Varanasi. From promising to address the woes of weavers to cleaning up the Ganges, the document aims to give hope to the citizens of the city that has been battling lack of infrastructure for long.

The BJP document also promises to develop world class infrastructure in the city and make it a global hub for tourism while maintaining its heritage status.

Releasing the vision document, senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said, “A stable government is needed to put the country back on track, and Varanasi has an historic opportunity as it will not just chose an MP but the prime minister. It is a privilege for the voters of the city to give a stable government and the prime minister to lead that government and it is but natural that when a city gets such an opportunity then the elected person will have to look after the place.”

“Purvanchal is an economically backward region, hence it is important that power and the key to the treasure comes into the hand of this region,” he added.

The father of the woman, who is at the centre of the Snoopgate scandal in which Narendra Modi and his close aide Amit Shah allegedly played a role, on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the Centre’s reported plan to set up a one-judge probe panel.

Alleging violation of privacy, the woman’s father asked the apex court to restrain the incumbent government from setting up a commission to investigate the snooping scandal.

The SC in response issued notices to the Centre as well as the Gujarat government and ordered that the identity of the family involved in the case be protected.

It may be noted that allies NCP and National Conference have protested the UPA government’s plan to appoint a judge in this case in its “dying hours”.

While the Congress reacted by declaring that there was “no compromise” as the issue involved women of the country, the government – as per sources – appeared to be giving up the plan after receiving advice from President Pranab Mukherjee as well as the Election Commission.

It was alleged that illegal surveillance was carried out on a young woman in Gujarat in 2009 at the behest of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his then Minister of State for Home Amit Shah.

Both Modi and Shah have denied the allegations.

In a historic verdict, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will not need permission from the government to conduct an inquiry in corruption cases against senior bureaucrats.

A constitutional bench of the apex court upheld the primacy of Article 14 of the Constitution – equality before law – to bring senior bureaucrats – Jt Secretary and above – at par with the junior officers and others.

The bench said that there is no justification (for the bar on probe) as it hampers the fight against corruption.

“Corruption is the enemy of the nation. You can’t discriminate between a senior and junior level officer. A corrupt servant is a corrupt servant. You cannot protect one set,” the judges said.

As the CBI derives its powers from the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, it was bound by provision of Section 6A that requires CBI to seek prior permission of the central government to investigate officers of the rank of joint secretary and above for any offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Referred to as ‘single directive’, compliance with Section 6A would require the CBI to share with government details of corruption cases under its probe.

Today’s order has done away with that mandatory requirement and hence strengthens the power of the CBI to go after high ranking officers who indulge in corruption.

Expectedly, the CBI feels elated. “We are happy with the Supreme Court’s judgement,” CBI Director Ranjit Sinha said.

In a sensational claim, the Aam Aadmi Party has alleged that the Amethi district administration late Monday night asked the family of Kumar Vishwas, the party’s candidate from the constituency, to leave the district or else they will be arrested.

According to reports, district police officials late Monday reached the rented accommodation of the AAP leader and cited Election Commission rules to ask Kumar Vishwas’s wife, children and other family members to leave Amethi by 11 pm, after the time of campaigning ended, as they were not “registered voters” in the constituency.

An official told a news agency that this was in line with norms which mandates all non-registered voters, campaigners and supporters of a candidate to leave the constituency after the campaigning has come to an end and ahead of balloting.

Voicing his dissent, Kumar Vishwas on Tuesday said he challenged the district police officials to tell Congress campaigner Priyanka Gandhi Vadra the same if the Uttar Pradesh government has the courage.

Alleging that the administration of Amethi is working towards making Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi win, whose boat is sinking, Kumar Vishwas accused the police of picking up his party workers.

The Congress workers are openly distributing cash and envelopes, and no action is being taken, added the poet-turned-politician.

On Monday night, Vishwas tweeted that police had threatened to evict his wife, sister and others from their house mid-night. He also dared the authorities to do something similar to Priyanka Vadra and her supporters.

District admin & police asks my wife and sisters to leave Amethi immediately at 11pm. Can they dare to ask the same to Priyanka G & congis?

Senior Election Commission (EC) officials were apprised of the matter late Monday night after which Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Umesh Sinha is said to have taken a “view on the matter”.

Poll panel sources said the district administration was within its rights to take such action but have been asked to be polite, “keeping sensitivities in mind”.

Amethi is witnessing a triangular battle between Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, BJP’s television actor-turned-politician Smriti Irani and AAP’s Kumar Vishwas.

While Vishwaas has been camping in the high-profile constituency for the last four months, Smriti Irani is also giving sleepless nights to her political opponents by travelling in the countryside.

BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi while addressing an election meeting in Gauriganj Monday had called Irani her younger sister.

Worried at a surging opposition, Sonia Gandhi recently addressed her first election rally in Amethi after a gap of 10 years.

Amethi goes to polls on May 07.

Goa Crime Branch has received response from Hollywood actor Robert de Niro in connection with the rape case against Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal.

“Robert de Niro has replied to the questionnaire forwarded to him by the Crime Branch through his attorney,” Deputy Inspector General of Police O P Mishra said.

The actor’s attorneys Harvey & Hackett based at New York in the reply sent recently have confirmed the presence of the woman (who has accused the Tehelka editor of rape) and Tejpal for the ThinkFest event, Mishra said, refusing to divulge the details of the reply.

The crime branch, which had filed a chargesheet against Tejpal in the case, had sent a formal questionnaire to the Hollywood actor in January this year.

The police charge sheet mentions that the woman was sexually assaulted twice in the lift of a starred-hotel by Tejpal, when they had gone to drop the actor and his daughter to their room in the hotel where the event was being held.

The crime branch charge-sheeted Tejpal before a fast track court in February this year, accusing him of raping, sexually harassing and outraging modesty of the woman.

Sources said that on March 6, 2014, the crime branch had moved an application at the fast track court in Panaji under section 173(8) of the CrPC, seeking time to include the response of a “witness outside the country” in the supplementary charge sheet.

Tejpal is currently lodged in Sada sub jail in Goa and has applied for bail before the Supreme Court.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS has dismissed as an “election ploy” senior Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela’s allegation that the Gujarat BJP has in its possession purported video recordings of Sangh leaders similar to the sleaze CD that had resulted in former BJP leader Sanjay Joshi being expelled by the party many years ago.

Mr. Vaghela’s claim is an unambiguous attack on the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, who is also Gujarat Chief Minister and controls the state’s party unit. The Congressman was once Mr. Modi’s senior colleague in the RSS and has alleged that the chief minister’s “political attacks are consistently below the belt.”

“Where did Sanjay Joshi’s CD come from? Who brought it and why? I also hear that CDs on many other RSS leaders are there with the BJP. Attacking below the belt shouldn’t happen in politics, at least not in the Sangh.” Mr. Vaghela told in a gush of allegations at his farm house on the outskirts of Gandhinagar. He refused to share any more details.

RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav said, “I don’t believe Vagehla’s allegations. He is saying this just because it is election season.”

The BJP too laughed off the allegation. “The Congress has become a rumour-mongering brigade,” said the party’s Shahnawaz Hussain.

Mr. Joshi, an RSS volunteer drafted into the BJP, was caught in the vortex of a sleaze scandal in 2005. The party exiled him for six years, based on a CD that was later found to have been doctored. An attempt in 2012 by then BJP president Nitin Gadkari to rehabilitate Mr. Joshi, known for his formidable organisational skills, was stonewalled by Mr. Modi.

Both Mr. Vaghela and Sanjay Joshi have at different times been rivals of Mr. Modi within the RSS-led umbrella of organisations called the Sangh Parivar.

Mr. Vaghela quit the BJP in 1996. He denied reports that he has recently warmed up to Mr. Modi, seen as the forerunner for the country’s top post.

Subrata Roy, the chief of the unlisted Sahara conglomerate, was refused bail by the Supreme Court today for his company’s failure to refund investors in illegal bonds schemes.
The judges used strong language to censure Sahara and Mr Roy for repeatedly defying court orders and for “calculated mind games” to claim that his detention is illegal.
Mr Roy, 65, who was arrested in February, will stay in jail, the judges said, rejecting Sahara’s latest proposal to pay, in instalments, the Rs. 10,000 crore bail that has been set for his release.
The court also asked Sahara to make a new proposal, warning that so far, the facts it has shared appear “totally unrealistic and could well be fictitious, concocted and made up.”
The core business of Sahara, which owns New York’s Plaza Hotel and London’s Grosvenor House, includes selling financial products, largely to small investors in towns and rural areas.
Two such products were ruled to be illegal and the Supreme Court ordered Sahara in 2012 to repay nearly Rs. 24,000 crore it had raised in the schemes.
While Sahara says it has repaid most investors and its total liability is less than the Rs. 5,120 crore it has deposited with the securities regulator, the regulator and the court disagree.
The court had asked Sahara to come up with a concrete and acceptable proposal to repay the money, while ordering its chief to be held in jail. Mr Roy has not been charged with any crime.

In a case of honour killing a 19-year-old girl was killed allegedly by her family members while her boyfriend committed suicide after the incident at Budhana town, police said.

The victim was in love with 21-year-old Mubarik Hasan hailing from the same town but her family members were opposed to their relationship.

Following heated arguments, the girl was strangulated to death on Monday and later her body was hanged from a ceiling fan in the house by her two brothers Ahsan and Ashu, SP (Rural) Alok Priyadarshi said.

Meanwhile, body of her boyfriend was found hanging from the tree.

Autopsy reports have confirmed that the girl was strangulated while the boy committed suicide, he said adding, a case of murder has been registered against the girl’s brothers.

It’s an alpha-election on Wednesday for Seemandhra, the regions that will, starting June 2, form the downsized state of Andhra Pradesh.

Voters will pick 25 parliamentarians and 175 state law-makers in an election that is largely a contest between two regional powerhouses -the veteran Chandrababu Naidu and Jagan Mohan Reddy, whose fledgling party derives considerable strength and popularity from the legacy of his famous father, YSR, who died in 2009 while he was chief minister.

Mr. Naidu, 65, has linked his Telugu Desam Party or TDP to the BJP. Mr. Reddy’s new YSR Congress is contesting the election without a partner.

Mr. Naidu, who was chief minister a decade ago, is aware that this election offers him the strongest chance at a comeback in years. The BJP is being forecast to win the maximum seats in the national election. Mr. Naidu hopes to gain from that momentum.

For Jagan Mohan, who was jailed for 16 months on corruption charges, an electoral triumph would offer the chance to proclaim that voters believe in his innocence; it could also alter the pace of the investigation against him.

The stakes being what they are, it is an open secret that candidates for both major parties have been selected largely on the basis of how well they can fund their campaigns.

That is why no one is really surprised that over 134 crore rupees or nearly half of the unaccounted-for money seized before the elections has come from Andhra Pradesh. Many say that’s just a drop in the ocean.

Lagadapati Rajagopal, formerly of the Congress, grabbed national headlines after spritizing pepper spray in parliament to protest against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. He is not contesting this election. “The reports we are getting is that for an assembly seat, the minimum spending is some 10 crore rupees. Which means around 70 crore rupees for a parliament seat,” he said.

It helps that many candidates are businessmen with deep pockets.

Ramachandra Murthy, chief editor of a Telugu daily and news channel, points out that businessmen and corporate honchos have replaced those who’ve been in politics for years.

“Earlier politicians used to depend on capitalists, businessmen and industrialists. Now businessmen and industrialists have become politicians,” he said.