RNI No.2016/1957, REGD NO. SSP/LW/NP-34/2019-21 Follow us on: @TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneer instagram.com/dailypioneer/ Established 1864 Late City Vol. 155 Issue 100 Published From *Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable LANDMARK 5 WORLD 7 SPORT 10 DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL MODI FACTOR WRIT LARGE BHUBANESWAR RANCHI UK MUSEUM LAUNCHES RAJASTHAN BEAT RAIPUR CHANDIGARH ACROSS COUNTRY: JAITLEY JALLIANWALA EXHIBITION MUMBAI INDIANS DEHRADUN LUCKNOW, SUNDAY APRIL 14, 2019; PAGES 12+4 `3 www.dailypioneer.com CAPSULE USUALSUSPECTS 2 TERRORISTS GUNNED SWAPAN DASGUPTA Le Monde stokes Rafale blaze DOWN IN SHOPIAN Srinagar: Two Jaish-e- Mohammad (JeM) terrorist French paper alleges 143.7 million Euros tax waiver to Ambani’s involved in the killing of a number of civilians and police 2019 LS elections personnel were on Saturday firm post jet deal; Cong calls it Modi kripa; Reliance denies link gunned down by security forces in an encounter in Shopian PNS n NEW DELHI the authorities and upon fur- panies operating in France. district of Jammu & Kashmir, polarised on Modi ther investigation for the peri- A spokesperson of Reliance police said. fresh controversy broke od 2010 to 2012 an additional Communications said here the ver the past fortnight or so, I have been camping in Aout with a French news- tax of €91 mn was levied. tax demands were “complete- FORMER IL&FS CEO OWest Bengal for the elections. The campaign has taken paper report that industrialist The total tax liability as per ly unsustainable and illegal” RAMESH ARRESTED me to countless small town that, in the normal course, I Anil Ambani’s firm was grant- the French newspaper was 151 and that the company denied New Delhi: Making its second wouldn’t visit. I have spoken at small, middle-class ed tax waiver worth 143.7 mil- million Euros and six months any favouritism or gain from arrest in the IL&FS case, the gatherings and addressed people whose principal lion Euros months after India after the announcement by the settlement. “During the Serious Fraud Investigation experience has been life in small towns, far away from the announced the decision to buy India to buy Rafale jets, the period under consideration by Office (SFIO) on Saturday metropolis. Rafale fighter jets. The Centre French tax authorities made a the French Tax Authorities arrested former IL&FS Financial For me at least this is a new experience. During earlier moved swiftly and termed it as settlement with the company 2008-2012 i.e. nearly 10 years Services chief Ramesh C Bawa, elections I have operated from the campaign headquarters a conjectural mischievous for 7.3 million Euros instead of ago, Flag France had an oper- official sources said. where you get a bird’s eye view of the campaign and where attempt to disinform and said 151 million Euros. ating loss of `20 crore (Euro 2.7 the media narrative matters a lot. In 2004, I accompanied LK any connection with the Rafale Reacting to the article, million). French tax authorities MODI CORNERS CONG, Advani on his Bharat Uday Yatra that began from issue was totally inaccurate. Government with promoting France. the Defence Ministry said in a had raised a tax demand of over SEEKS NYAY FOR ANYAY Kanyakumari and, after crisscrossing much of India (except Neither the period of tax Anil’s group in offsets associ- The Le Monde statement, “We have seen `1,100 crore for the same peri- Theni: Prime Minister Narendra West Bengal and the North-East), concluded in Puri, the concession nor subject matter ated with the deal with report published on reports drawing conjectural od,” the official said. Modi on Saturday sought to famous temple town of Odisha. That journey, exhausting as it of concession related to Rafale Dassault, manufacturer of the Saturday said Anil’s connection between tax Turn to Page 7 corner the Congress on its was, gave me a wonderful idea of the different political procurement, concluded in the aircraft. The French-registered exemption to a private com- showpiece poll promise of cultures in India. However, since the campaign involved brief present Government’s telecom company pany and procurement of “Nyay,” demanding justice for stops at meeting venues and night halts, there wasn’t much tenure, it said. Reliance Reliance Atlantic Rafale fighter jets by the victims of 1984 anti-Sikh opportunity to come to grips with a State-level campaign. Of Communications too denied Flag France was Government of India. Neither No role in tax riots, the Bhopal gas tragedy course, I have been involved in Assembly elections in favoritism but the the period of the tax conces- and violence against Dalits. Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, but the dynamics Congress seized on sion nor the subject matter of of Assembly polls are so utterly different from Lok Sabha the matter to allege the concession relate even settlement, KISHOR RUBBISHES polls where the whole country serves as one unit. that the tax waiver was due to Government remotely to the Rafale pro- RABRI’S CLAIMS My experience tells me that the idea that a general “Modi kripa” as the PM acted has all along denied the curement concluded during says France Patna: Poll strategist Prashant election is shaped entirely by national issues is somewhat as “middleman for the busi- charges. given tax waivers worth €143.7 the tenure of the present Kishor on Saturday dismissed facile. National issues do play a very large part and nessman”. Moreover, the latest news mn by local authorities, short- Government. Any connec- New Delhi: In the wake of Rabri Devi's claim of he as an invariably there is a surge in the number of votes polled by The report published in the report comes months after for- ly after the announcement to tions drawn between the tax reports that it granted huge tax emissary of Nitish Kumar national parties during general elections. The Karnataka leading French newspaper “Le mer French President Francois buy 36 Rafale jets. issue and the Rafale matter are waiver to Anil Ambani’s French meeting her husband Lalu experience of 1984 when Ramakrishna Hegde led the Monde” comes at a time when Hollande claimed in an inter- The report said Anil’s tele- totally inaccurate, tendentious firm, the Franch Government Prasad with a proposal to Janata Dal to a victory in the Assembly some three to four a political slugfest is on over the view last year that his com company was investigated and a mischievous attempt to on Saturday said a global set- merge JD(U) and RJD months after the Congress swept the board in the general `59,000-crore Government-to- Government did not have a by French tax authorities and disinform.” tlement was reached between which should declare its election is often held up as an example of different voting Government deal for 36 Rafale “choice” in selecting Reliance found liable to pay €60 million Reliance Communications the French tax authorities and prime ministerial candidate patterns. In Odisha, Naveen Patnaik has always ensured jets. Defence as an offset partner. It between 2007 and 2010. In an brushed aside any wrongdoing the Reliance subsidiary and ahead of the polls and dared that Lok Sabha and The Congress has repeat- was during his tenure that the attempt to reach a settlement, and said the tax dispute was that it was not subject to any RJD president to tell the media In this year’s election, the Assembly elections are edly alleged wrongdoing in deal was announced on April Reliance had offered to pay €7.6 settled under legal framework political interference. what transpired during their held simultaneously the contract and charged the 10, 2015 when Modi visited million which was rejected by which is available for all com- talks. Central issue is PM Modi. because such a process In many respects, the has invariably favoured the regional party. In 2014, election is turning out to amid the so-called Modi 100 YEARS OF JALLIANWALA MASSACRE be a referendum on him. wave, the Biju Janata Dal won 20 of the 21 seats. 3% jump in Phase I People either like what Indeed, where Assembly they have seen of him over and Lok Sabha elections have been held the past five years or they simultaneously, the local dislike him. I have hardly results have by and large turnout, set to rise been replicated at the met anyone who is parliamentary level. RAJESH KUMAR n NEW DELHI its Statehood in 1972. The Manipur, West Bengal, Tripura It would be fair to say highest voter turnout was 74.38 and Nagaland with 84.56 per ambivalent in their that the principal interest of he first phase of polling for per cent in 1998 in the State. cent, 83.79 per cent, 83.26 per perception of Modi. Rahul voters with modest T91 Lok Sabha seats and four As per the data, cent and 83.12 per cent turnout incomes is local politics. Legislative Assemblies saw a 3 Lakshadweep, which has only respectively. Gandhi has been trying to Experience suggests that per cent jump in voter turnout one Lok Sabha constituency, Lakshadweep, Manipur, make his presence felt all the most passionate this time round compared to recorded the highest turnout — West Bengal, Tripura and electoral contests take polling in 2014 for the same 86.78 per cent — among the 20 Nagaland recorded 86.62 per over India and attempting place during panchayat seats, apparently due to a surge States and Union Territories, cent, 79.75 per cent, 82.22 per to revive the Congress and local body elections. of 7.5 per cent in Jammu & where polling took place on cent, 84.92 per cent and 87.91 That is the point at which Kashmir, 6.5 per cent in Bastar Thursday.