Wednesday, November 18, 1998

BJP not worried about Mamata ‘front’
RANCHI, Nov 17 — BJP President Kushabhau Thakre said today that his party was not unduly worried about the efforts launched by Trinamool Congress President Mamata Banerjee to forge a front comprising breakaway Congress groups.

Anti-BJP wave continues
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 17 — Karol Bagh, the lone reserved constituency of Delhi, enjoys the unique distinction of coming to the rescue of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha polls early this year.

Of the seven parliamentary constituencies in Delhi, the Congress managed to overtake the BJP only here.

Despite allegations of inefficient functioning since her election in 1996, the sitting Congress MP, Mrs Meira Kumar, defeated her BJP rival and Minister in the Delhi government, Mr S.P. Ratawal by a margin of 7000 votes.

Her victory indicated that the voter in Karol Bagh was willing to give the Congress another chance. The mood continues. So does the anti-BJP wave nearly nine months after the Lok Sabha polls. The skyrocketing prices of essential commodities in recent months has compelled residents of this constituency to write off the BJP. “We will not repeat the mistake of voting in favour of a party which brings us to the brink of starvation,” said a pavement vendor who has shut his ears to the deafening poll promises of the BJP.

Price rise apart, voters in this constituency want the elected representatives to pay attention to their civic grievances. These include problems of water and sewerage.

True enough, the filth and encroachments on the roads speak volumes of the inaction of the municipal authorities. The Ajmal Khan Road which has several jewellery and saree showrooms abounds in encroachments which can compare best with Palika Bazaar. Municipal inspectors are a rare sight and business thrives in their absence.

There is no dearth of eateries on wheels and pavement vendors. So much so that even the boundary wall of the Karol Bagh police station is being used by a florist for business.

The commercial nature of this constituency which includes the Bank Street and several big showrooms makes it vulnerable to petty offences such as theft and money snatching. Karol Bagh has Asia’s biggest automobile sale, purchase and consultancy market on Arya Samaj Road.

Apart from this, shops on Abdul Aziz Road also deal in sale and purchase of automobiles. Naiwala is known for shops dealing in sale and purchase of scooters and motorcycles.

The constituency which has an estimated population of six lakh has five Assembly segments namely Karol Bagh, Rajinder Nagar, Patel Nagar, Ram Nagar and Baljit Nagar. Of these, Karol Bagh, Ram Nagar and Baljit Nagar are reserved Assembly segments.

Apart from a mixed floating population from various parts of the country, the constituency serves as home to the Vaishya and the Punjabi community. Besides, Tamilians, Bengalis, Christians, Muslims and Sikhs have also made this their home.

Those belonging to the Scheduled Caste, Jatav, Valmiki, Raiger and Khatik community also constitute a chunk of voters here. The Raiger community is estimated to have a population touching 50,000. The Sikh population is scattered in Dev Nagar, Gurdwara Road, Khalsa Nagar, Sant Nagar and Bapa Nagar.

Prominent amongst those in the fray in the coming Assembly polls are Minister of Labour and Social Welfare in the Delhi government and sitting MLA from Karol Bagh, Mr S.P. Ratawal, senior BJP leader, Mr Mewa Ram Arya and sitting Congress MLA from Baljit Nagar, Ms Krishna Tirath.

Badal to woo Delhi Sikhs
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 17 — Punjab Chief Minister, Prakash Singh Badal, will address election meetings in the Capital on November 21 seeking support of the Sikhs in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party during the Delhi Assembly polls.

The president of the Akali Dal (Badal) Delhi unit, Mr Avtar Singh Hit, said the Punjab Chief Minister would address street corner meetings in the Sikh-dominated areas of the Capital and urge them to support the BJP candidate.

Mr Hit said that Mr Badal would appeal to the Sikhs to vote in favour of the BJP to stop the Congress from coming to power.

The Akali Dal (Badal) which earlier was negotiating with the BJP to contest the Assembly polls later decided to support the BJP instead of fielding its own candidates.

The party said it changed its mind after the “Congress altered the social situation” by bringing to fore elements who were alleged to have played a role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Meanwhile, the Sikh Forum today urged the community members to support the BJP to thwart the Congress from coming to power.

Forum president, Lt-Gen (retd) J.S. Aurora, and some other eminent members of the community charged the Congress with not showing any sensitivity towards the riot victims.

“Instead leaders like HKL Bhagat, Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler, despite allegations about their involvement in the riots are very active in the party’s organisational set-up,” the hero of the 1971 Bangladesh war said.

He said unhappiness expressed by the Congress president Mrs Sonia Gandhi over the killing was “not enough” and added that “none of the Congress leaders have really apologised for the happenings.”

Former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice R.S. Narula said though the BJP had not been able to fulfil all promises made to the community, they had at least taken some steps in that direction.

The Forum has outlined six-point demands that the BJP had to meet within a period of six months. The demands include expeditious punishment to the guilty of the 1984 riots; a CBI inquiry against alleged involvement of political leaders and police officers; disbursement of enhanced compensation as per the order of the Delhi High Court to all victims within two months; introduction of Punjabi as a second language within three months; exemption of Sikh women from wearing helmets on two-wheelers; and establishment of Guru Tegh Bahadur Chair in Delhi University.

The general secretary of the All-India Riot Victim Relief Committee, Mr Kuldip Singh Bhogal, today took exception to the reported statement of Mrs Sonia Gandhi on the 1984 riots.

He said the Congress takes up the issue of 1984 riots only at the time of elections — last time it was at the time of Lok Sabha polls.

“If the Congress president is sincere on this issue, then she should dissociate these leaders from the Congress campaign and expel them from the party’s primary membership”, Mr Kuldip Singh Bhogal said.

However, president of the Delhi Shiromani Akali Dal, Mr Balwinder Singh Talwandi, the breakaway group of SAD (Delhi unit), today urged the members of the community not to support the BJP during the Assembly polls in Delhi as they had “not solved even a single problem of the Sikhs.”

Meanwhile, the All-India General Secretary of the SAD, Mr Paramjit Singh Sarna, condemned the deliberations in the seminar “Future of Sikhs outside Punjab” organised by the Sikh Forum.

The tone and tenor of the seminar was gravely disturbing, he said and added that “the Dal warns the self-promoting persons to act with a greater sense of responsibility failing which Panth will be obliged to take a stern view of their activities.”

The members of the Sikh Forum today clarified that the deliberations in the seminar were not intended to hurt sentiments of the Sikhs. The participants rather urged the Sikhs living outside Punjab to integrate with the populace where they live and decide on the political fortune of the area on their own and not depend on the leaders in Punjab.

BJP not worried about Mamata ‘front’

RANCHI, Nov 17 (PTI) — BJP President Kushabhau Thakre said today that his party was not unduly worried about the efforts launched by Trinamool Congress President Mamata Banerjee to forge a front comprising breakaway Congress groups.

“Our allies are free to think in their own way. But as long as they are not withdrawing support to us we have nothing to worry,” Mr Thakre told reporters here.

Mr Thakre who was returning after a campaign tour of Madhya Pradesh, said that he was for dismissal of the Rabri Devi government in Bihar at the earliest, adding that “the RJD government must go or else the people will suffer more.”

“Those who talk about the constitutional hitches in imposition of President’s rule do not seem to be aware of the plight of the people living in the state. If Article 356 cannot be invoked in Bihar it cannot be applied anywhere else in the country,” Mr Thakre said.

Mr Thakre said the rise in the prices of essential articles would not adversely affect his party’s poll prospects as, according to him, the people were convinced that it was the result of lack of rainfall and not the wrong policies of the BJP-led government at the Centre as alleged.

He said his party was confident of winning the elections in Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan and making its presence felt in Mizoram.

In Madhya Pradesh the non-performance of the Congress government coupled with its protective attitude towards erring ministers in the state cabinet would take its toll on the party’s poll performance, Mr Thakre claimed.

People of Madhya Pradesh had long been demanding action against as many as 18 ministers in the Digvijay Singh cabinet but the Congress government had desisted from taking action against them, the BJP leader alleged.

AIR announcer strangled
From Our Correspondent

NEW DELHI, Nov 17 — An announcer of All-India Radio, Sudha Gupta, was found strangled at her residence in the Park Street area in New Delhi district.

Her body was found this morning by a watchman of the area who had gone to her house to wash her car. He reportedly knocked at the door. When he got no response, he forced open the door and saw the body of Ms Sudha in the drawing room. He informed a neighbour who reported the matter to the police.

The police said there were signs of fighting in the drawing room. Strangulation marks were visible on the neck of the deceased. A case of murder under Section 302 of the IPC has been registered.

She was a divorcee and lived alone in her house at 876, Park Street, near Talkatora Stadium. Her father, R.K. Gupta died a few months back, the police said.

She had returned to her residence from her office at 8 last evening. She had to go to her office again at 10 pm, the police said.

Cong rules out unfair means

AJMER, Nov 17 (PTI) — The Congress president Sonia Gandhi today said that her party would not adopt “unscrupulous means” for coming to power at the Centre.

“We are not greedy for power. If we had lust for power we could have formed the government. But we do not want to get power through “jod-tod” (unscrupulous means)”, Sonia Gandhi told an election rally here.

Attacking the policies of the BJP and the government led by it she said that the party’s sole interest was in “communal politics” and it had no concern for development.

In the last elections the voters had given the BJP a chance to be in government, and “what they have done to the country is now before the people”, she said.

The Vajpayee government, she said, had failed on all fronts burdening the people with miseries and soaring prices was a case in point.

The country as a whole and especially states like Rajasthan where the BJP was in power had slid down the path of development, she said.

Mrs Gandhi said only the Congress could provide a stable government for tackling the people’s problems effectively as the BJP had neither direction nor vision.

Home Ministry man visits Bihar

RAIPUR, Nov 17 (PTI, UNI) — Home Minister L.K. Advani today said that the Centre could again recommend the imposition of President’s rule in Bihar though there was no possibility of this at present.

"There is no move to recommend President’s rule in Bihar right now, but its possibility in future cannot be ruled out," he told reporters at Mana aerodrome here.

Meanwhile, a report from Patna said Union Home Ministry official began a visit to Bihar today to review the law and order situation in the backdrop of recent observations of both Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Home Minister L.K. Advani that "jungle law continued to prevail in the state.’’

Union Home Ministry Joint Secretary V.K. Malhotra arrived here to study the law and order situation in the wake of gunning down of seven supporters of banned Ranbir Sena sympathisers by the outlawed Peoples War Group naxalites last week in Jehanabad district.

Mr Malhotra has called on state Home Commissioner R.K. Singh soon after his arrival from Delhi and reviewed the law and order situation. He also assessed the threat perception following the private army Ranbir Sena’s recent announcement to avenge the seven deaths in the Naxalite dominated district.

Mr Advani said Centre had no intention of re-introducing TADA despite a rise in crime, extremism and other subversive activities in some states.

The Home Minister also termed as "absurd" the Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s charge that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was weak and the BJP was not experienced enough to govern the country.

Mr Vajpayee had demonstrated his capacity to rule the country by solving many long-pending issues, including the Cauvery waters dispute, even though the coalition headed by him at the Centre was not having a majority in Parliament, he said.

Madanjeet Prize presented

NEW DELHI, Nov 17 (UNI) — UNESCO Director General Federico Mayor has awarded the UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Prize for the promotion of tolerance and non-violence jointly to Indian educator and writer Narayan Desai and the Joint Action Committee for People's Rights, a Pakistani NGO.

Giving away the award at a function yesterday to coincide with International Day of Tolerance, Mr Mayor lauded the anti-nuclear activism in which Mr Desai has been engaged for many decades and to his tireless promotion of religious and ethnic understanding and tolerance. "With the Shanti Sena Corps of volunteers dedicated to non-violence, this militant for tolerance has striven to spread Mahatma Gandhi's vision of Gram Swaraj", he added.

The UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Prize worth $ 40,000 was established in 1995. The donor of the prize, Mr Madanjeet Singh is an artist, writer and diplomat and serves as a special advisor to the Director General.

Two sculptures by the internationally renowned Colombian artist Liliana Laserna were given as trophies to the winners. The function ended with a concert by the Indian sitar player Ustad Imrat Hussain Khan.

BJP allies having fresh look at poll: Cong
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 17 — The Congress today said realignment of political parties within the BJP-led coalition was taking place.

The party said its assessment was based on the developments as some allies of the BJP were having a fresh look at the alliance.

The response came in reply to a question at the daily party briefing whether political re-alignment would take place after the Assembly polls with the Congress and the Left parties joining hands to change the present set-up at the Centre.

"Certainly realignment is taking place within the ruling coalition with some allies (of the BJP) having a fresh look. The fall of Atal Behari Vajpayee Government is inevitable," party spokesman, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar said today.

The party reiterated that it was not interested in toppling the present government and said the Vajpayee government appeared to be collapsing under the weight of contradictions.

Parroting its well-publicised stand, the party said in the event of the present arrangement coming apart the Congress would discharge its constitutional responsibility and strategy would be drawn up at that time.

To a question about reports of a secret pact between the Congress President Mrs Sonia Gandhi and the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Jyoti Basu, to bring a no-confidence motion in case the Assembly results go against the BJP, Mr Aiyar denied any suggestion to that effect.

The party spokesman also criticised the statement of the BJP’s Delhi Election Campaign Manager, Mr Vijay Kumar Malhotra that the Congress had "encouraged" the Inter-Service Intelligence of Pakistan.

He said there was no truth in the "absurd charge" and said it was the Congress that ended Pak-sponsored terrorism in Punjab and put up relentless fight against proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir which enabled restoration of "sufficient measure of normalcy for successfully holding elections to both the Lok Sabha and the State Assembly".

The party also took credit for ending insurgency in Mizoram, bringing about an agreement with the TNV in Tripura and driving terrorism to the wall in Manipur, Assam and Nagaland.

As compared to this, the Congress said, ever since the BJP came to power at the Centre there has been a resurgence of the terrorist-related activity all over the country which has led the Home Minister to state that he himself faced greater danger than before.

Mr Anil Shastri, the other spokesman, charged that the BJP had links with anti-social elements which resulted in deterioration of law and order in Delhi and Rajasthan.

He also alleged that a Cabinet Minister in Kalyan Singh Government in Uttar Pradesh was listed 19th on the top 20 criminals in the State.

Jaya allowed to deposit Rs 1 cr in bank

CHENNAI, Nov 17 (UNI) — Special Judge S. Sambandam trying cases of corruption during the previous AIADMK regime, today permitted former Chief Minister J. Jayalaliotha to withdraw Rs 1.01 crore from two private financial institutions and deposit the amount in a nationalised bank in her name.

The judge passed the order on a petition filed by Ms Jayalalitha, seeking to withdraw her investment from "Shriram Investments" and Kothari Orient Finance Limited and deposit it in nationalised banks.

It may be recalled that the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) had frozen her bank accounts and deposits in connection with the Rs 66.65 crore disproportionate assets case against her.

In her petition, Ms Jayalalitha said receipts of fixed deposits were seized by the DVAC and the original receipts were in the custody of the court, most of the deposits had matured. Hence, the principal amount and interest accruing on it may be directed to be redeposited in a nationalised bank in her name.

The judge said Ms Jayalalitha had deposited Rs 98 lakh in Shriram Investments and Rs three lakh in Kothari Orient Finance Limited. Most of her deposits had matured. If the amount was withdrawn from the two firms and redeposited in a nationalised bank, it would safeguard the interests of the prosecution and Ms Jayalalitha.

He also directed the two firms to send a cheque for the principal and interest till date in the name of Registrar of the city civil court. The amount would be redeposited in her name in the ice house branch of the State Bank of India (SBI).

Cong helping hoarders: BJP
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 17 — The Bharatiya Janata Party today alleged that the Congress was helping hoarders and profiteers

Briefing newspersons, the BJP General Secretary, Mr M. Venkaiah Naidu, said: “We hold the Congress guilty of trying to artificially escalate prices of essential commodities at the behest of hoarders and profiteers who have panicked because of stern measures taken by the BJP government. It is under pressure from this anti-social lobby which is its source of funds that Congress leaders are repeatedly mentioning high prices in the hope that prices will escalate once again, thus benefitting Congress benefactors.”

“Blackmarketeers and the Congress’ black hand are hand-in-glove in this evil enterprise”, Mr Naidu said. The prices that are being quoted by Congress leaders are those quoted by hoarders and blackmarketeers, not market prices, he said.

Another superfast Delhi-Chandigarh
train demanded
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 17 — Chandigarh MP, Satya Pal Jain, today urged the Rail Ministry to start another super-fast train from Delhi to Chandigarh comprising second class coaches.

Mr Jain, who met the Minister of State for Railways, Mr Ram Naik here said such a train would provide inexpensive travel facilities for passengers. He also discussed other related issues.

In a statement here, Mr Jain said he requested the Minister to start work on the Chandigarh-Ludhiana rail line approved earlier. He also requested that work to improve Chandigarh railway station be speeded up.

Congress expels 29 rebels

JAIPUR, Nov 17 (UNI) — The Congress expelled 29 leaders, including 10 former ministers, from the party for contesting the November 25 assembly elections in Rajasthan as Independents.

According to a party spokesman these leaders were expelled from the party for six years following their refusal to retire from the contest in favour of the Congress nominees despite directives from the party leadership.

Those expelled included former minister Gyan Singh Chaudhary (Bhadra), Dula Ram (Tibi), Babu Lal Khanda (Sujangarh), Ms Sumitra Singh (Jhunjhunu), Chadrashekhar Sharma (Bandikui), Sampat Ram (Khairthal), Bharat Ram Meena (Bamanwas), Surendra Vyas (Malpura), Ms Nilima Sharma (Ajmer-West) and Damodar Acharya (Nagaur).

NEW DELHI (PTI): The Lok Dal on Tuesday decided to withdraw its candidates from 20 constituencies in Delhi and Rajasthan in favour of the Congress to ensure the defeat of the "corrupt, communal and incompetent" BJP.

MP Minister sacked

BHOPAL, Nov 17 (PTI) — Madhya Pradesh Minister of State for Aviation and Public Grievances Redressal Dehru Prasad Dhritlarhe has been sacked and expelled from the Congress for six years for filing his nomination against party’s official nominee in the November 25 Assembly elections, party sources said today.

Chief Minister Digvijay Singh’s recommendation to the Governor for the sacking of Mr Dhritlarhe follows his decision to contest the Assembly election from the Maro seat in Durg district as a rebel.

The Congress denied party ticket for the Assembly poll to Mr Dhritlarhe and fielded Kamla Baghel in his place.

Meanwhile, a Raj Bhavan communique said that Governor Bhai Mahavir has accepted the Chief Minister’s recommendation to drop Mr Dhritlarhe from the Council of Ministers.

4 Lankan Tamils held
TIRUCHIRAPALLI: Four Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, all of them women, were arrested by the q-branch CID police for entering the country with fake passports. Police said those arrested on Monday include Udayarani (22), Kaniga Devi (22), Therasa (21) and Sivakumari (21), who had earlier been inmates of the Valavanthankottai refugee camp, near here, from 1990 to 1993, after which they left for Sri Lanka. Later, the women had obtained fake passports in Muslim names and travelled to the Gulf countries, before returning to the Valavanthankottai camp, they said. — UNI

Cure for leucoderma
NEW DELHI: A novel non-surgical treatment at home for leucoderma — a cosmetically disfiguring defect of the skin — was announced here on Sunday at a conference of skin specialists. Professor A Ramaiah, Head of Biochemistry at the Himalayan Institute of Medical Science in Jolly Grant near Dehradun, reported that a compound isolated from a growth factor in human body cells restored normal pigmentation of skin patches effectively in more than 70 participating volunteers. Large-scale clinical trials await permission from the Indian Council of Medical Research and the Drug Controller of India. — PTI

Court orders probe into Pillai case
NEW DELHI: A city court on Monday ordered Delhi police crime branch to probe the role of controversial godman Chandraswami and three others in the alleged conspiracy behind the death of biscuit tycoon Rajan Pillai in judicial custody in July 1995. In her complaint filed before the CMM, Rajan Pillai’s widow Nina Pillai had accused Chandraswami and others of hatching a conspiracy by using high level contacts in India to eliminate her husband due to business rivalry. Pillai died here at the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya hospital under judicial custody on July seven, 1995. — PTI

ULFA leader shot
GUWAHATI: Top ULFA leader Alok Goswami, suspected commander of the action group operating here, was shot dead at Silchar in Assam on Monday by suspected surrendered ULFA men. According to official sources, ULFA hitman Munna Mishra was also targetted in the same attempt but he managed to escape from the SULFA gang who killed the top ULFA leader to avenge the killing of their members at the hands of the ULFA here recently. Goswami was shot at close range near the district transport office (DTO) of the busy Babekanda Road at Silchar town at about 11.45 a.m. — UNI

Muslims asked not to vote
NEW DELHI: The Milli Parliament, a Muslim organisation, on Monday issued a ‘fatwa’ (religious edict) asking Muslims to stay away from the coming polls to the four state assemblies. The ‘fatwa’ issued from the organisation’s headquarters at Aligarh asked Muslims to abstain from voting “since they did not have a political option,” a release issued by the organisation here said. The Milli Parliament would also launch a Muslim political party to “bring forth a political option for the country’s 250 million strong Muslim population,” the release said. — PTI

Shekhawat for CBI probe
JAIPUR: Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat has recommended a CBI inquiry into the alleged murder of a manager of a hotel in Kota. Talking to newsmen here on Sunday, former BJP state unit president Ram Das Agarwal said Mr Shekhawat had written a letter to the Centre to conduct a CBI inquiry into the incident in which Rakesh Chaturvedi, son of PWD Minister Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi and owner of the hotel, and two others have been allegedly implicated. Mr Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi has been renominated as the BJP candidate from Kota in the forthcoming assembly polls. — PTI

Probe CBI-scamster nexus: RJD
PATNA: The Rashtriya Janata Dal on Monday demanded a judicial inquiry by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court into the alleged nexus between the CBI and scamsters in the multicrore fodder scam, party sources said. RJD spokesman and former Union Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said he had written separate letters to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Home Minister L.K. Advani demanding judicial probe into the allegation. — PTI

Brave cop promoted
NEW DELHI: A Delhi police constable, Jagdish Prasad, who chased a gang of robbers fleeing with Rs 16 lakh and shot dead one of them on Sunday, has been given an out of turn promotion, a police spokesman said. The constable was promoted as head constable for his brave and gallant work. — FOC