Today in Politics: In the Congress manifesto today, what will the party underline?

It is also learnt that the manifesto will also likely promise scrapping of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The ambit and scope of the law was widened by the Congress-led UPA government and later strengthened by the Narendra Modi-led government through amendments in 2015 and 2019. These amendments had given teeth to the Directorate of Enforcement or ED, which has strengthened its hand under the Modi regime. The scrapping of the PMLA would tie into the Opposition’s protests over the BJP regime’s “misuse” of Central agencies, chief among them the ED.

When the Congress-led UPA was in power in 2009, “criminal conspiracy” under Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code was added to the PMLA’s schedule among various other offences. This has, over the years, allowed the ED to enter any case where a conspiracy is alleged — even if the principal offence is not part of the PMLA schedule. In 2009, the ED also got international jurisdiction as far as tracking laundered money was concerned.

Meanwhile, the CPM, which is a partner of the Congress in the Opposition’s INDIA bloc, said in its manifesto released Thursday that it will scrap laws such as the PMLA, which “empowers the Enforcement Directorate (ED)”, the Unlawful Activities Act (UAPA) that deals with terrorism, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) if voted to power.

The CPI(M) stands for the scrapping of all draconian laws like UAPA and PMLA … The ED must be divested of its law-enforcement powers … Repeal the UAPA, National Security Act (NSA) and the AFSPA,” the manifesto says.

Kejrwal’s appeal to Delhi Court

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has been lodged in the Tihar jail after being taken into judicial custody in the excise policy case, moved a city court on Thursday to allow him to spend more time with his lawyer in order to prepare for cases pending against him.

Kejriwal moved the application claiming that two meetings every week with his lawyer, as permitted by the court, was not sufficient since he was facing multiple cases in various states and needed more time for consultation. The AAP leader urged the court to increase the number of meetings to five per week.

The application is likely to come up for hearing before Kaweri Baweja, a special judge for ED cases, on Friday.

YS Sharmila to launch campaign

Andhra Pradesh Congress chief YS Sharmila, who is the daughter of veteran Congress leader YS Rajasekhara Reddy and sister of state CM Jagan Mohan Reddy, will officially launch her campaign from the Badvel Lok Sabha seat on Friday.

Badvel has become one of the most interesting fights in the Andhra poll battle, with Sharmila taking on her cousin Y S Avinash Reddy from the seat. Avinash is accused of being involved in the alleged murder of their uncle Y S Vivekananda Reddy, and has been fielded by the ruling YSR Congress party.

The Kadapa Lok Sabha seat has been held by members of the YSR family since 1989. While YSR won the seat thrice (1989, 1991 and 1998), Vivekananda was victorious twice (1999 and 2004). Jagan was elected MP from the seat in 2009 and won the 2012 bypoll held for the seat as a YSRCP candidate. It has been held by Avinash since 2014.

The Congress’s decision to field Sharmila from Kadapa assumes significance as she has alleged that Vivekananda’s insistence on fielding her or her mother Y S Vijayalakshmi instead of Avinash from the seat led to his murder.

Andhra Pradesh goes to polls in the fourth phase on May 13.

Karnataka MP to join BJP

Meanwhile in Karnataka, Mandya MP Sumalatha Ambareesh has announced she would join the BJP on Friday.

The actor-turned-politician won the 2019 general elections as an Independent candidate with the support of the BJP and had defeated former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda’s grandson Nikhil Kumaraswamy. Interestingly, the JD(S) is now part of the NDA alliance led by the BJP. As part of the seat-sharing arrangement, the BJP would is contesting in 25 constituencies while the JDS is in the fray from the remaining three, including in Mandya. Former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, who now heads the JD(S) has been named the Mandya candidate already.

In a post on ‘X’ on Thursday, she said she had declared that she would support the BJP for the development of Mandya and also to see Narendra Modi becoming Prime Minister again.

“Accordingly, I am officially joining the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of BJP leaders on Friday April 5, 2024 at 11.30 am at the Bharatiya Janata Party office in Bengaluru,” she said.

— With PTI inputs