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Nitish Kumar said on Wednesday that after the 2020 Bihar election, in which his party won fewer seats than the BJP, he agreed to become Chief Minister only because of pressure. He made the startling disclosure while replying to the BJP's allegations of betrayal in his remarks in the Bihar assembly just before a test of strength that he won easily.

"After the 2020 polls, I was ready for a Chief Minister from the BJP since they had more MLAs. But there was serious pressure on me to continue as Chief Minister. They said you become Chief Minister. So, I finally agreed," Nitish Kumar said.

He also rattled off the names of BJP leaders who lost out in the race for Chief Minister - Sushil Kumar Modi and Prem Kumar.

It all seems to have happened in a matter of two days.   On August 22, NDTV said in a stock exchange announcement that a query related to founders Prannoy Roy and wife Radhika Roy selling their stake in the company held through RRPR Holding Private Limited was a “baseless rumour” and that they are “not in discussions now, nor have been, with any entity for a change in ownership or a divestment of their stake in NDTV”.

Next day – August 23rd – saw another announcement announcing an open offer, triggered by Vishvapradhan Commercial Private Limited (VCPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adani’s Group’s AMG Media Networks, acquiring 29.18 per cent in the media major by converting its warrants into equity shares to acquire RRPR Holding.

Just a couple of hours later, came another statement stating: “This exercise of rights by VCPL was executed without any input from, conversation with, or consent of the NDTV founders, who, like NDTV, have been made aware of this exercise of rights only today”.

It may seem that the indirect acquisition happened over two days but it was actually 13 years in the making with the roots of the matter going back to July 2009 when VCPL gave a loan to NDTV to repay another loan taken from ICICI Bank. In lieu of the loan, it got warrants, which when exercised, would give VCPL almost 100 per cent ownership of RRPR Holding.

VCPL, which is at the centre of the ongoing action, has an interesting history after being incorporated in February 2008.

It is essentially a shell company with no assets apart from the warrants of RRPR Holdings. As per statutory filings, the ownership of the private entity changed in 2012 with Nextwave Televenture Private Limited and Skyblue Buildwell Private Limited becoming the new owners.  

Interestingly, both these companies are linked to Mahendra Nahata, a director at Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance India Limited.

VCPL had got the money from another company called Shinano Retail Private Limited in the form of another unsecured loan the same financial year. Meanwhile, Shinano had got the money – also in the form of an unsecured loan – from Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Limited, which is part of the Reliance India Group.  

Shinano, at the time of giving the loan, was a fully owned subsidiary of Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Limited.

More importantly, Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) record show that when the transactions took place, all the companies were closely linked. VCPL was owned by Shinano -- with which it shared a common address -- and another company called Teesta Retail Private Limited, also wholly owned by Reliance India Industrial Investments and Holdings Limited.

Statements filed by VCPL with the MCA this year further show that it was owned entirely by Nextwave Televenture, until the Adani group took it over on Tuesday.

(With inputs from agencies)

The Supreme Court will hear on Thursday, August 25, Congress MP Karti Chidambaram's review plea challenging its PMLA judgment which upheld the powers of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to investigate and arrest.

The Supreme Court had on July 27 delivered its verdict on a batch of petitions challenging the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002.

According to Chidambaram, the judgment deserves to be reviewed on grounds of grave error and being contradictory to earlier judgments and provisions of the Constitution.

The order is contrary to Article 20 and Article 21 of the Constitution, and settled principles of criminal jurisprudence and deserves reconsideration by the court, Chidambaram said.

Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Tuesday stirred a controversy when he compared a book on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bhagwad Gita. However, the comments did not go down well with Congress said that Shekhawat's remarks are "heights of flatter".

Shekhawat was addressing a gathering in Jaipur and talked about the the book 'Modi@20: Dreams Meet Delivery'.

"I can tell you with full confidence that for future generations, this book will become as important and holy as the sermons delivered by Lord Krishna in the Bhagwad Gita," he said to an applause from the gathering which mostly had BJP leaders and workers in attendance.

The Supreme Court is likely to take a call on Wednesday on the need for an expert panel to examine possible regulatory mechanisms for freebies announced by political parties, their impact on the economy and their distinction from welfare schemes essential to provide livelihood to the poor, reports Dhananjay Mahapatra.

With AAP and DMK in the forefront to oppose judicial intervention on the ground that freebies and welfare measures are intertwined and are beyond the SC's jurisdiction to scrutinise them, the apex court said the argument - "courts lack jurisdiction to interfere in a government policy decision" - is a double-edged weapon.