Cong issues notices to three of its leaders
LUCKNOW: The Congress on Friday served notice to party MLA Aditi Singh and its workers who staged a demonstration outside her office in Rae Bareli for defying the party’s directive to not take part in the special session of the state assembly that Uttar Pradesh’s Yogi Adityanath government convened on October 2.
“You have violated the party’s directives, defied the whip by taking an active part in the proceedings of assembly. This is gross indiscipline and anti-party activity. Give an explanation in two days about the gross indiscipline and antiparty activity or else necessary action will be taken against you,” Congress legislature party leader Ajay Kumar Lallu wrote in the show-cause notice to Singh, who is general secretary of the All India Mahila Congress. “The Congress had decided to boycott the session and a whip had been issued to ensure that no party legislator is present in the House,” it read.
Local party workers also held a demonstration outside Singh’s office in Rae Bareli. “I did what I felt was right… They (Congress workers) brought some outsiders and labourers to hold a demonstration in front of my office in Rae Bareli when I was away... Am I being targeted for being a woman?. Why have they not given any show cause notice to Congress MLC Dinesh Singh and MLA Rakesh Singh, who also took part in the session,” Aditi Singh said.
Lallu said the party had already submitted petitions seeking the disqualification of Dinesh Singh and Rakesh Singh.
The Congress has asked its politicians to refrain from making statements against the party ahead of the elections due in Maharashtra and Haryana. The party asked former Mumbai unit chief Sanjay Nirupam to stop fuelling conspiracy theories, and former Haryana Congress unit chief Ashok Tanwar to act responsibly.
“Mr Sanjay Nirupam would be well advised to restrain himself. It would be appropriate if he does not kite fly these conspiracy theories that are unimaginative,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said. Later in the day, Nirupam told a press conference that party leaders needed to understand that it’s the workers on streets and not politicians sitting in drawing rooms who can help revive the Congress.
Nirupam hinted at quitting the party, but also said he may wait in the hope that things fall in line. The resolution adopted by the MPC is categorical in admitting the economic slowdown. “The continuing slowdown warrants intensified efforts to restore the growth momentum,” it notes. This is in keeping with the MPC retaining an accommodative stance, which does not rule out future reductions in the policy rate. To be sure, the MPC resolution has hinted that the Indian economy has already bottomed out and a recovery might be underway. It projects GDP growth in the September quarter to be 5.3%, and accelerate further to 6.6%-7.2% in the second half of the year. The Indian economy has been losing growth momentum for five consecutive quarters, with GDP growth reaching a six-year low of 5% in the June quarter, the latest period for which data is available.
The rate cut aims at reducing rates of lending by commercial banks, also reducing the equated monthly instalment (EMI) burden of retail consumers and stoke consumption, which will eventually boost growth.
The finance ministry said in a statement that the government has “taken note of the revised growth projections” by the MPC at 6.1% for 2019-20 along with growth projections made by other institutions. Friday’s rate cut “will complement the recent measures taken by government to accelerate growth”, the statement said.
Speaking at a press conference after the MPC meeting, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das expressed confidence that the government will stick to its fiscal deficit targets despite announcing a cut in corporate tax rates which would lead to a revenue loss of ~1.45 lakh crore. Das also denied reports that the government had demanded an interim dividend from the central bank.
Capital markets registered a sharp fall after the announcement. The BSE Sensex closed 433.56 points, or 1.14%, lower at 37,673.31 and the Nifty fell 139.25 points (1.23%) to close at 11,174.75. “Today’s market fall was mainly because of RBI slashing FY20’S GDP growth target to 6.1% from its earlier forecast of 6.90% on the back of weakening domestic demand conditions,” said Shrikant S Chouhan, senior vice-president of equity technical research at Kotak Securities.
The fall ended a week in which Sensex has lost 3% since last week’s close.
Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services, said, “Despite RBI and the government’s synchronised effort to offset a slowdown in the economy, investors have taken a pessimistic view due to continued downward revision in GDP estimate and new stress in the banking system. The government’s measures do have the potential to enhance consumption and spur investment but lag in transmission of cumulative rate cuts is adding a layer of complexity in the recovery.”
Experts said that consumption — particularly loans for buying houses or vehicles — would not get a boost unless commercial banks transmit the benefit of the policy rate cuts. “Despite a cumulative reduction of 135 basis points in policy rates, weighted average lending rates on fresh loans have come down by just 29 basis points,” said Sanjay Dutt, MD and CEO, Tata Realty & Infrastructure Ltd. “A more decisive 30-40 basis point cut was envisaged by many and markets overall are disappointed,” he added.
Chandrajit Banerjee, director general, Confederation of Indian Industry, said: “The cumulative 135 basis rate cuts this year so far along with the slew of measures announced by the government in the last few months to provide growth stimulus to a variety of sectors including the corporate tax rate cut is expected to lift growth from its current stupor and unleash animal spirits.”
“His open call to cross the border and violate another country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and enter it, this statement does not behove the office he occupies,” he added.
India has repeatedly criticised the Pakistani leadership in the weeks since the August 5 decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, accusing Khan and other leaders of war mongering and calling for jihad in Kashmir. “This is not the first time such a statement has come from Pakistan. The prime minister occupies a high constitutional office and he has made similar statements earlier too. You have heard his statement at the UN General Assembly and he has used quite provocative and irresponsible language,” Kumar said.