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BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityAsiaChinaIndiaArvind Kejriwal: India opposition calls arrest ‘decay of democracy’Published1 hour agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Mr Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, was arrested on Thursday in connection with city’s policies over alcohol salesIndian opposition leaders have strongly condemned the arrest of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.Mr Kejriwal, leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), was arrested on Thursday in connection with corruption allegations relating to the city’s policies over alcohol sales. Mr Kejriwal has denied any wrongdoing and challenged his arrest in the Supreme Court. Opposition leaders have alleged that his arrest is politically motivated.But Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has denied the allegation and say that it is merely acting against corruption.Mr Kejriwal’s arrest by a financial crimes agency comes as a blow to the opposition just weeks before India’s general elections. AAP is part of the 27-party INDIA alliance aiming to challenge the BJP. Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Rahul Gandhi has called the arrest an attack on India’s democratic principlesAlluding to Mr Modi, Rahul Gandhi of the main opposition Congress party wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday evening: “A scared dictator wants to create a dead democracy.””The arrest of elected Chief Ministers has become a common thing,” Mr Gandhi wrote.Sharad Pawar, leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) said that Mr Kejriwal’s arrest showcases the “depth to which BJP will stoop for power”.Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said Mr Kejriwal’s arrest would “give birth to a new people’s revolution”.”BJP knows that it will not come to power again, due to this fear, it wants to remove the opposition leaders from the public by any means at the time of elections, arrest is just an excuse,” he posted on X.Image source, AFPImage caption, AAP supporters protested against Mr Kejriwal’s protest on Thursday eveningPinarayi Vijayan, the chief minister of Kerala, said Mr Kejriwal’s arrest “outright vicious and part of a callous plot to silence all opposition voices just ahead of the general elections”. His counterpart in Tamil Nadu, M K Stalin, said: “Not a single BJP leader faces scrutiny or arrest, laying bare their abuse of power and the decay of democracy.” “The relentless persecution of opposition leaders by the BJP government smacks of a desperate witch-hunt. This tyranny ignites public fury, unmasking BJP’s true colours,” Mr Stalin said. In the past year or so, several opposition leaders have been imprisoned, questioned or had cases filed against them by federal agencies.K Kavitha, leader of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), was arrested in the same case as Mr Kejriwal just days ago. She denies the allegations.In January, Hemant Soren, former Jharkhand chief minister and leader of the opposition Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), was arrested by a federal tax agency on charges of money laundering and land-grabbing. Mr Soren denies the allegations.Mr Gandhi himself was convicted of criminal libel last year after a complaint by a member of the BJP.His two year prison sentence saw him disqualified from parliament for a time until the verdict was suspended by a higher court in August last year.Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren was arrested by the tax agency in JanuaryOn Thursday, the Congress party accused Mr Modi’s government of using the tax department to starve them of finances ahead of elections.Mr Kejriwal is the third AAP leader to be arrested over the alleged corruption case related to a now-scrapped liquor policy in Delhi.The Enforcement Directorate also arrested Mr Kejriwal’s deputy, Manish Sisodia, and AAP lawmaker Sanjay Singh in the same case last year. Since coming to power in Delhi in 2013, AAP secured significant victories in Punjab’s state elections in 2022 and gained a few seats in Mr Modi’s home state of Gujarat in the same year.Read more India stories from the BBC:India in undersea race to mine world’s battery metal India food delivery app rolls back green uniform planDelhi world’s ‘most polluted’ capital: reportForeign students attacked in India over Ramadan prayersNew India election to be held in seven stagesRelated TopicsAsiaIndiaNew DelhiTop StoriesBlood test reveals best lung cancer treatmentPublished6 hours agoUK’s highest student loan revealed to be £231,000Published6 hours agoConcerns raised over Steve Barclay’s role in waste projectPublished7 hours agoFeaturesThe Papers: Women ‘owed’ payouts after £35bn ‘Waspi sting”I want the £45,000 state pension that was stolen from me’Inside the ice cream van feeding familiesApple becomes the latest tech giant under siegeWhy Trump may reap billions in a stock market merger‘I want to help people fly – and keep them safe’’I couldn’t photograph The Beatles – but I captured Oasis’How an obscure horoscope clip got on Ariana’s latestUK sees biggest increase in poverty for 30 yearsElsewhere on the BBCAre you ready for a challenge?Test your pop knowledge with Vernon Kay’s music quizAttributionSoundsTracking down online trolls…Behind striker Neal Maupay’s struggle with an extreme case of online hateAttributioniPlayerUnearthing China’s terracotta armyIn 1974 a chance find by Chinese farmers led to an astonishing archaeological discoveryAttributionSoundsMeet some adorable hamsters from Wales…This family loves Casualty, News, Sport and the odd murder show!AttributioniPlayerMost Read1Starmer urges Nike to change new England kit cross2UK’s highest student loan revealed to be £231,0003Why Trump may reap billions in a stock market merger4Women ‘owed’ payouts from £35bn ‘Waspi sting’5Rayner says questions over her tax are a ‘smear’6Blood test reveals best lung cancer treatment7’I want the £45,000 state pension that was stolen from me’8Robinho arrested in Brazil to serve rape sentence9Concerns raised over Steve Barclay’s role in waste project10Apple becomes the latest tech giant under siege
[ad_1] Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest comes as a blow to the opposition just weeks before India’s general elections.
![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityBusinessMarket DataEconomyYour MoneyCompaniesTechnology of BusinessCEO SecretsArtificial IntelligenceWhy Trump may reap billions in Truth Social stock market mergerPublished1 hour agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesBy Natalie ShermanBusiness reporter, New YorkDonald Trump appears to be scrambling for funds to pay a $464m (£365m) fraud fine. Could the stock market ride to his rescue? Trump Media, which runs the social media platform Truth Social, is poised to become a publicly listed company, with shareholders of Digital World Acquisition Corp set to vote on Friday on whether to acquire it. Mr Trump would have a stake of at least 58% in the merged company, worth more than $3bn at Digital World’s current share prices. Digital World, or DWAC (pronounced D-whack), is what is known as a SPAC, or a shell business created expressly to buy another firm and take it public.It’s an astonishing potential windfall for Mr Trump in exchange for a business whose own auditor warned last year it was at risk of failure. Never mind the many red flags associated with the deal, including unresolved lawsuits from former business partners. There’s also an $18m settlement that Digital World agreed to pay last year to resolve fraud charges over how the merger plan came together. Backers of Digital World – the vast majority of whom are individual investors instead of Wall Street firms, many apparently Trump loyalists – seem undaunted. “This is putting your money where your mouth is for free speech, to save your country, potentially losing it all,” Chad Nedohin, a deal supporter, said recently on his show DWAC Live, on the video platform Rumble. If the purchase is approved, which is expected, shares will start trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker DJT.The deal is unlikely to immediately resolve Mr Trump’s most pressing financial issues, such as his New York fraud penalty. The former president is barred from selling his shares for at least six months – though the new company could grant him an exemption. Mr Trump could try to get a loan, backed by the value of the shares. But in this case, analysts said a bank would probably lend him significantly less than the shares are worth on paper, given the potential risks of the business.That hasn’t stopped some of his supporters hoping their backing will help. Mr Nedohin, who identifies himself on his website as a Canadian “worship leader” and goes by Captain DWAC on Truth Social, declined to be interviewed. But on his show this week he urged investors to approve the deal, speculating it could help the president in his legal battles. “If the merger is complete Friday at 10am and Trump all of a sudden has 120 million shares of DJT that’s worth three, four, five $10bn, who knows? He could easily leverage that to get a loan,” he said. The risk that Digital World shareholders will lose money on their investment is significant, according to analysts.Shares in the company are currently trading at nearly $43 apiece. That’s down from the highs it reached after the plans to purchase Trump Media were announced. But it still implies Trump Media has a value of more than $5bn, which is a lot given it brought in just $3.3m in revenue in the first nine months of last year and lost nearly $50m. The merger will provide an influx of more than $200m in cash to Trump Media, which it could use for growth and expansion.But for now Truth Social, which launched to the general public in 2022, branding itself as an alternative to major social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, remains small. It claims about 8.9 million sign-ups and in regulatory filings Trump Media warns prospective investors that it does not track metrics like user growth or engagement that could give them a sense of its operations. And it says it has little intention of doing so. Outside firms estimate Truth Social received about 5 million visits in February. By comparison, Elon Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, and recently valued by one investor at about $14bn, received more than 100 million. Analysts said Digital World was a prime example of a “meme stock”, in which the share price is divorced from a company’s fundamentals – and near-destined to fall, eventually.”With Trump Media, I expect that it will collapse but whether it’s going to occur a week from now or two years from now and how rapidly … those things are really difficult to predict,” said University of Florida finance professor Jay Ritter, who tracks public listings. Marco Iachini, senior vice-president of research at Vanda Securities, said individual investors piled into Digital World stock after the Trump deal was announced, and again in January, after he won the Iowa primary. This week, he said there’s been less activity, a sign that professional firms may be the ones driving the trading. Whatever is motivating buyers, Mr Trump, whose main contributions to Trump Media have been his name and posts on the platform, appears poised to be the top beneficiary. “It’s an enormous transfer of value from [investors]… to Trump, which stands to be extremely lucrative for him,” says Michael Ohlrogge, a law professor at New York University who has studied listings of companies such as Trump Media. Related TopicsMergers and acquisitionsInternational BusinessDonald TrumpUnited StatesMore on this storyTrump needs a $464m bond. What if he can’t get it?Published1 day agoReddit shares jump in New York stock market debutPublished5 hours agoTop StoriesBlood test reveals best lung cancer treatmentPublished4 hours agoUK’s highest student loan revealed to be £231,000Published3 hours agoConcerns raised over Steve Barclay’s role in waste projectPublished5 hours agoFeaturesThe Papers: Women ‘owed’ payouts after £35bn ‘Waspi sting”I want the £45,000 state pension that was stolen from me’Inside the ice cream van feeding familiesApple becomes the latest tech giant under siegeWhy Trump may reap billions in a stock market merger‘I want to help people fly – and keep them safe’’I couldn’t photograph The Beatles, but I could do Oasis’How an obscure horoscope clip got on Ariana’s latestUK sees biggest increase in poverty for 30 yearsElsewhere on the BBCAre you ready for a challenge?Test your pop knowledge with Vernon Kay’s music quizAttributionSoundsTracking down online trolls…Behind striker Neal Maupay’s struggle with an extreme case of online hateAttributioniPlayerUnearthing China’s terracotta armyIn 1974 a chance find by Chinese farmers led to an astonishing archaeological discoveryAttributionSoundsMeet some adorable hamsters from Wales…This family loves Casualty, News, Sport and the odd murder show!AttributioniPlayerMost Read1Starmer urges Nike to change new England kit cross2UK’s highest student loan revealed to be £231,0003Why Trump may reap billions in a stock market merger4Women ‘owed’ payouts from £35bn ‘Waspi sting’5Rayner says questions over her tax are a ‘smear’6’I want the £45,000 state pension that was stolen from me’7Blood test reveals best lung cancer treatment8Robinho arrested in Brazil to serve rape sentence9Concerns raised over Steve Barclay’s role in waste project10Apple becomes the latest tech giant under siege](https://newsinsightplus.com/wp-content/uploads/https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/EFCC/production/_132988316_whatsubject.jpg)
