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M Veerappa Moily
The Supreme Court on Monday extended the interim bail granted to Gnanaprakash, an associate of forest brigand Veerapan who was convicted under the stringent TADA for his involvement in the 1993 Palar blast in Karnataka, in which nearly two dozen policemen and foresters lost their lives. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Bela M Trivedi directed for the continuation of the interim order of relief given to Gnanaprakash till further orders. Gnanaprakash (63), who has been in jail for 27 years, was granted interim bail on November 28, 2022 on health grounds on a petition filed by his wife, Selva Mary. His counsel informed the bench that he has been suffering from a life-threatening disease. The counsel appearing in the court on behalf of the Karnataka government said looking at his condition, the state has decided to release Gnanaprakash prematurely and for this, a letter has been sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs. He also said TADA convicts are not normally considered for remiss
Asserting that "winds of change" are blowing in Karnataka, senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily on Sunday claimed that his party will win at least 130 seats in the upcoming assembly polls and the gateway to South India for the BJP will be "totally closed". He also asserted that Karnataka has always played a crucial role in the formation of the government at the Centre and a victory in the upcoming assembly polls there will pave the way for the formation of a Congress-led government in 2024. In an interview with PTI, former Karnataka chief minister Moily predicted that the Congress would not get any less than 130 seats in the 224-member assembly while the BJP would not cross the 60-mark in the May 10 assembly polls. He also accused the Janata Dal (Secular) of colluding with the BJP and said people will reject the H D Deve Gowda-led outfit's "politics of opportunism". "The winds of change are blowing in favour of the Congress. The BJP is totally in tatters. There is no unity and .
Ahead of the Supreme Court taking up petitions challenging demonetisation, senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily on Monday said the "ill-timed" decision had led to migration of labour, unemployment and added to the misery of the poor. In a statement, Moily recalled that as the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, he had discussed the issue threadbare, but the report on demonetisation could not be adopted by the panel due to opposition from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members. The apex court is set to hear a bunch of petitions challenging the demonetisation exercise of 2016, when the government had scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes on October 12. Moily also voiced concern over the "rising inequality" and the "fall in employment" in the country. The former Union minister referred to the World Inequality Report of 2022, which claims that India was among the most unequal countries across the globe with rising poverty and skyrocketing weal