Cong weakening 'loktantra' with 'kutantra', alleges Naidu

Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu today hit out at Congress over the issues of Uttarakhand political crisis and VVIP chopper deal, accusing the opposition party of "weakening" democracy by indulging in "evil deeds".
The Parliamentary Affairs minister also questioned the Congress' demand for a SC-monitored CBI probe in the AgustaWestland chopper deal saying it did not initiate the same during its own rule when the scam took place.
It is the Modi government which cancelled the deal and handed over the matter to CBI and Enforcement Directorate, he claimed.
"We believe in Loktantra (They Believe in Kutantra). They did every Kutantra (evil deed) to weaken Loktantra (democracy)," he said in a tweet.

"Agusta Scam happened under Congress Rule; because of this country lost thousands of crores of money. They wasted full two years without taking action, we have cancelled the deal. CBI and ED are taking necessary action," he said in a series of tweets.
Questioning its demand, he said "during Congress regime they didn't order CBI inquiry under the SC-supervision on Agusta. Now they are asking for it. Why the new demand?"

"They are not able to hear the facts from the Defence Minister, that's why they talk out and walk out of house, that is their style."
The senior BJP leader also took a dig at Congress on conducting a floor test in Uttarakhand after disqualifying nine MLAs, saying it was their "new form of democracy".

"Disqualifying the 9 MLAs in Uttarakhand and then conduct floor strength is the 'Naya Loktantra' (new form of democracy) of Congress," Naidu tweeted.
The Supreme Court today ordered a floor test on Tuesday when ousted chief minister Harish Rawat will have to prove majority in the House between 11 AM and 1 PM.
The apex court also directed that the nine rebel Congress MLAs, who have challenged their disqualification by the Speaker in the High Court, will not participate in the floor test "if they have the same status" at the time of vote of confidence.
However, the petition of the disqualified MLAs will come up tomorrow before the Uttarakhand High Court. If these MLAs are allowed to vote, Rawat's fate in the 70-member Assembly may be sealed.

While releasing the electronic version of the Year Book,
he said the e-version provided latest technical features and conformed to the best international standards.
The e-book had a variety of reader-friendly features like searchable content, referencing, and was priced at 25 per cent less than the print books, the Union Minister said.
Taking forward the governments digital push, the Division has converted over 750 books into digital format, and is poised to meet the 12th Plan Scheme target of digitising 1,000 books by the end of March 2017, he said.
Naidu also gave an overview of the activities and initiatives taken by the Ministry of I&B and its Media Units during the two weeks Swachhta Pakhwada for the period from Jan 16 to Jan 31.

Ministry of I&B had proactively planned a theme based Swachhta Calendar for period August 2016 to July 2017 to give a thrust to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, he said.
Naidu said his ministry tried to retrieve space after disposal of old furniture, fixtures, electronic and electrical waste. It had successful retrieved 60,624 sq feet of space after the special campaign between September to November 2016.
A sum of Rs 14,21,484 was realized after auctioning of disposed goods, he said.
On the redressal of grievances, Naidu said a total of 4132 grievances had been disposed off during the last one year.

The Minister also mentioned the innovative ways that were taken to seek people participation in the mission through Swachh Bharat Short Film Festival, street plays, constitution of 'Best Section Award on Swachhta' by the Ministry.
A special 5 minutes Bulletin - Swachhta Samachar was also started on all weekdays by DD news, he added.