Congress says it is allying with SP for UP polls, will contest from 105 seats

NEW DELHI: It was touch and go there for a while, but the Congress party finally announced today that it has forged an alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP) and will contest from 105 seats in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections+ .

Over the past few days, a Congress-SP alliance was looking remote as SP chief Akhilesh Yadav insisted+ he wouldn't offer the Congress a chance to contest from more than 100 seats. The Congress wanted to contest as many as 121 seats.

Yesterday, Akhilesh said his final offer was 99-100 seats for the Congress. That the Congress says it managed to wrangle 105, means it managed to save some face after what seemed to be a 'take it or leave it'offer from Akhilesh. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi may have had something to do with it, as SP sources yesterday claimed she took charge of negotiations which remained
stuck despite Priyanka Vadra+ dispatching her personal emissary to cajole Akhilesh.

One thing which is clear is all the Indian moosli pigs and scumgress chamchas want a corrupt govt like the scumgress and namajwadi party.
The pigs want India to remain backward.

Congress strategists felt that they should accept the SP's offer rather than risk electoral humiliation. So far, the SP and the BSP remain the most viable challengers for the BJP's bid to form the government in UP. Teaming up with Akhilesh offers Congress a way out of the political bind as it could project its plans as a "sacrifice for the cause of secularism."

Source:-TOI

Italy May Out PM Modi Meeting If...': Agusta Middleman's New Claim

Italy will out a private conversation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi where he allegedly asked for information against Sonia Gandhi if Delhi does not release an Italian marine, claims Christian Michel, a man India wants extradited from the UK for its investigations into the AgustaWestland chopper scam.

Mr Michel, an alleged middleman, has suggested in an exclusive interview to NDTV that the Italian government "may do something unpleasant" if a marine charged with murder is not released by India. The "unpleasant" move would be to "admit to a meeting" between PM Modi and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, he said.

Both governments have emphatically denied that PM Modi met with his Italian counterpart in New York on the sidelines of a UN conference and offered to release the two marines facing trial in India on murder charges in exchange for information about the Agusta chopper deal that could embarrass or implicate Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Mr Michel insisted that the meeting did happen, arguing that the governments had only denied a formal bilateral. "Under the auspices of the UN bilateral discussions there was no meeting. I am talking about a casual brush-by meeting which has plausible deniability attached to it," he said, claiming that the Italian embassy in Delhi briefed Agusta's parent company Finmeccanica about the meeting, which in turn informed him.

He refused to reveal the name of the embassy official citing "very delicate negotiations" between the two countries on whether the marine will return to Italy. The two marines are accused of killing Indian fishermen in 2012; one of them has been allowed to return over health reasons while the other remains in Delhi. Italy says the marines mistook the fishermen for pirates.

"They (Italy) are very upset with the Congress for not supporting them on marines issue. They have a new government and a new opportunity to solve the issue. There is a suggestion of the deal on the table of the way of doing it...the trouble with the suggestion of the deal is it requires an illegal act to have happened involving Mrs Gandhi, which hasn't happened... and I knew it would be a mess," Mr Michel told NDTV.

On the possibility of India not sending the marines home, Mr Michel replied: "If the basis of a deal is flawed, the deal will collapse...the honourable prime minister is in a horrible position - if he lets the marine go, he will be accused of a deal. If he doesn't let him go, the Italians may do something unpleasant - admit to a meeting".

The scandal over kickbacks allegedly paid by Agusta middlemen in India resurfaced after a court verdict in Milan last month. The BJP has alleged that documents attached to the verdict give new proof that Congress leaders helped Agusta swing the deal to provide a dozen choppers to India.

Mr Michel raises very awkward questions for the Congress after he confirmed that he did describe Sonia Gandhi in a 2008 note as "the driving force" of the decision to acquire new helicopters for use by top politicians.

"The note is genuine. We were asked who are the important people in India today and we sent the message," he said. Asked to explain why the note suggested the British High Commissioner should "target" Mrs Gandhi and her advisers, Mr Michel said: "It is a note about lobbying, not kickbacks."

SOurce: http://www.ndtv.com