Congress picks up babu's 'Sandesh'

The Congress party spares no opportunity to tom-tom its achievements. And for it even gets public servants to do its bidding and that too in its official mouthpiece.
Pushing the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA (National Rural Employee Guarantee Act) in the Congress party mouth piece, Congress Sandesh, Rural Development secretary B K Sinha wrote extensively hard selling the UPA government’s flagship scheme.
In the article, ‘Enhancing the Bargaining Power of Rural Poor: Mahatma Gandhi NREGA’, Sinha wrote, “The premier flagship program of the UPA government has raised productivity, increased the purchasing power, reduced distress migration and helped in creation of durable assets in rural India.”
Congress Sandesh is the official mouth piece of the Congress party. It is published by Congress treasurer Motilal Vohra on behalf of Sandesh Trust, All India Congress Committee. The trust of the office is on 25 Akbar Road, the head office of the AICC. Among its editorial board, Minister of Water Resources and Minority Affairs Salman Khurshid and other AICC officials.
Apart from Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s messages, letters, photographs, the magazine write-ups include articles on history and historical personalities. It also pushes government schemes.
Sonia Gandhi has expressed her displeasure at the Congress Sandesh for carrying dull, unimaginative content. Since then there has been a consistent effort to improve the quality of the magazine and push its sales up. Every Congress worker has to officially buy the magazine, priced at Rs 10. However, not many end up purchasing it.
Sandesh Editor Anil Shastri admitted the lapse. “We picked up the article from the PIB website. There is nothing wrong. I will write to them (my staff).”
An IAS officer of 1975 batch, Sinha praises the scheme no end. Under the government rules, an officer working his official capacity cannot favour any particular publication. According to rules, it’s the job of Press Information Bureau under the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
”Officials and specially secretaries should avoid writing in publications of political parties. The officer is writing as secretary to the government of India and not in his personal capacity. As per rules, this is not allowed,” remarked an Indian Information Service officer posted in the PIB.
However, even after more than a month’s publication, the Congress party nor the Congress Sandesh had corrected the mistake.
The Secretary refused to comment after his staff was briefed about his comments on MGNREGA.

Ajit Singh slams WikiLeaks, calls it utterly rubbish

Vehemently trashing the reports of allegedly favouring the UPA over the Indo-US nuke deal and voting for the Manmohan Singh government, the Rashtriya Lok
Dal has termed cables as “a bunch of lies” and utterly baseless” while demanding a through probe into the entire issue.
RLD leader and Member of Parliament Chaudhary Ajit Singh told PBD, “It is utterly rubbish. The RLD voted against the UPA Government in 2008.”
According to the Wikileaks, US Embassy political counselor, after a visit to MP Satish Sharma’s house, reported that Sharma’s aide Nachiketa Kapur showed him two bags of currency and told him that Rs 10 crore had been paid to four RLD members to seek their votes in favour of the Congress party.
The RLD on July 20, 2008 has issued a Whip against the UPA Government, a copy of which was also sent to the then Lok Sabha Speaker. The three MPs included Anuradha Chaudhary and Munshi Ram voted against the UPA-1.
“The party had three Members of Parliament whereas the cables mention that we had four members. They are spreading lies. Our stand was clear and we had made it known even before the voting was about to take place,” Singh said.
However, Samajwadi Party former MP Brij Bhushan Singh, trying to gain political mileage, claimed that the RLD MPs abstained from voting on nuclear deal trust vote. Ajit Singh refused to elaborate on the personal comments of a rival MP. “It is a matter of record. The Lok Sabha records will reveal the details,” he said. The Congress got 275 for and 265 against the motion. The RLD voted against the motion.
“I had issued a Whip to RLD party MPs that they were to be present in the House and openly voted against the Manmohan Singh government,” he said at his residence on Tuglak Road.
According to press reports in 2008, the RLD had pressed for a vote against the government and even was in touch with TDP, BSP and other parties.
“On July 20, 2008, I issued a public letter, a copy of which was sent to the Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. Ultimately we voted against the UPA government,” Singh, former union minister, said.
The world over, Wikileaks has come under fire for publishing unverified reports.
A source of Wikileaks is presently in US prison and even its editor Julian Assange is facing sexual charges in Sweden.
“We voted against the Congress party. "We had opposed the (Indo-US) nuclear deal and after talking to MPs from Opposition parties we had decided to vote
against the government," Singh said.
Singh said he was open to any probe. “I have been a MP for the sixth-term and have been a minister. But till date, I have not taken a single favour from the government nor have taken any land from the Government. I am open for any probe,” Singh added.
The RLD has five LS members and one Rajya Sabha member at present. The party has a strong base in Uttar Pradesh, particularly Western part of the state. Singh is an IIT graduate and a computer scientist before picking up the legacy of his father and former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh.