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Nitin Gadkari has been training his guns against the leadership of the Modi-Amit Shah duo. It began with the revelation that the election promise of Rs15 lakh being deposited into the account of every Indian out of the proceeds of black money seizures was made on the basis of the feeling that the BJP had no chance of being voted to power. More recently he attacked the leadership of Amit Shah for the poor performance of the party legislators.

It has been 13 years since Sohrabuddin Anwarhussain Sheikh died. He was killed in an “encounter” with the Gujarat police, which is widely believed to be a case of “fake encounter”. He died on November 26, 2005 and since then his brother Rubabuddin has fought for justice. Rubabuddin filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court which led to the probe into the alleged encounter

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in a recent statement has blamed to a great extent the officers of the public sector banks for delinquency in dealing with NPA accounts. He has mentioned that 6049 officers have been held responsible on account of staff delinquency in NPA accounts and in all cases, depending upon the amount involved, CBI and police complaints have been lodged.The manner in which the Finance Minister has approached the issue of tackling of NPAs does not give credit to him as a senior cabinet minister who is expected to take a holistic view of the continuing crisis in the country’s banking system It is a prejudiced view and rightly, the ALL India Bank Officers Confederation, the body of the officers of the public sector banking industry, has protested against these observations of the Finance Minister.

The Triple Talaq Bill is in focus once again with the Lok Sabha okaying it last week. It was not difficult for the Modi government to push it through with the BJP’s majority in the house but the trouble will start when it comes to the Rajya Sabha this week. In all probability, the Bill may not see the daylight because of the politics involved in it. With the Opposition adamant to send it to the joint select committee and the BJP refusing to yield, a consensus seems elusive as both sides are looking to their vote bank politics. Even the government’s refusal to send the bill to the joint select committee has its own strategy.

Actor-writer Kader Khan passed away in Canada. The sun set on his life, 6 pm, December 31, 2018, six hours short of 2019. That was neat. Same cannot be said of politics, which confounds with the intermittent, mainly because of different natures of the personalities involved. The oft-repeated quote ‘there are no enemies or friends in politics’ is cover for politicians to take political somersaults at will.

In the general elections held in Bangladesh on December 30, the Awami League-led Jatiya Oikya Front won a massive victory. So massive, indeed, that it has raised many eyebrows. In a 300 member parliament, elections were held for 299 seats. The Jatiya Oikya Front won 288 of them, the Awami League (AL) alone winning 259 seats. The Opposition National United Front (NUF) won just seven and independents another 4. Incidentally, it was the 11th general election after Bangladesh was born.

Weekly Round-Up of Major Decisions of the Courts in India as also Legal Policy Developments

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala is all set to witness a unique event, which could make it to the Guinness Book.

BHOPAL: Immediately after the allocation of portfolios Chief Minister Kamal Nath and his cabinet colleagues have made several announcements of far-reaching implications. The chief minister has announced a basic change in the functioning of state government. While addressing a public meeting in his home town Chhindwara, Kamal Nath said that in future, announcements of new projects and schemes will be made by officials and not by the chief minister and ministers. In the course of his speech at the public meeting on Sunday, he said that public is fed up of announcements and tall promises made by politicians. Now, the officials will announce the schemes and ensure that they are implemented.

Three decades after the BJP began using the Ram temple issue via the party’s Palampur resolution as a political gambit, it is again hoping to cross the hurdle of the forthcoming general election by exploiting Hindu religious sentiments.