Monday, November 30, 1998

‘Kama Sutra author was jilted husband’
NEW DELHI, Nov 29 — The author of a new novel based on the life of Vatsyayana says the man who wrote the erotic epic “Kama Sutra” 1,600 years ago must have been a “jilted husband” and also mentally disturbed.

Khalsa march held in Delhi
NEW DELHI, Nov 29 — The tri-centenary celebrations of Khalsa Panth commenced in the Capital on Sunday with a Khalsa march from Gurdwara Rakab Ganj.

2 elected MLAs die in MP
BHOPAL, Nov 29 — Two newly-elected legislators in Madhya Pradesh died within hours of declaration of results.

Punjabis reflect bitterness for SAD: Singla
NEW DELHI, Nov 29 — The victory of the Congress in the bye-election for the Adampur seat is an indication of the people’s anger against the ruling party for failing to deliver the goods in all fronts, a former Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab. Mr Surinder Singla, said.

Delhi Sikhs, Muslims back in Congress fold
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 29 — The Akali leaders, including the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, seem to have little hold over the Sikh electorate in the Capital, if the results of the Delhi Assembly poll are any indications.

The Congress won four Sikh-dominated assembly segments, while the BJP managed to retain one seat with the outgoing Delhi Industry Minister, Mr Harsharan Singh Balli, retaining the Hari Nagar seat with a slender margin of 617 votes.

The Congress won the Vishnu Garden (Mahinder Singh Saathi), Gandhi Nagar (Arvinder Singh Lovely), Jangpura (Talwinder Singh Marwah), and Tilak Nagar (Jaspal Singh) Assembly segment.

The Punjab Chief Minister toured these Assembly segments and addressed meetings during his one-day tour of the Capital. The Delhi unit of the Akali Dal (Badal), which had earlier intended to fight the Assembly polls in the Capital, later decided to work for the victory of the BJP especially in the Sikh-dominated areas.

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr Madan Lal Khurana, known as an architect of the SAD-BJP alliance, toured these Assembly segments to woo the electorate.

Mr Badal and the BJP leaders repeatedly emphasised that the Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s “apology” for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots was an election “gimmick.”

They also highlighted the present three Congressmen, Mr Sajjan Kumar, Mr Jagdish Tytler and Mr H K L Bhagat, allegedly involved in the riots, in the Congress party campaign committee.

The poll results, however, indicate that the electorate had other issues in mind before casting their ballot. As the Congress retained both Jangpura and Vishnu Garden, which were won by the party in 1993, the Congress managed to wrest the crucial Tilak Nagar seat from the BJP besides the Gandhi Nagar seat.

The Congress party has described these wins, specially the one in Tilak Nagar, as the watershed in the hitherto strained relations with the community and has dubbed it an indicator of the Sikhs having kept the 1984-riots issue behind them.

A senior Congress leader said the Sikh community had gained an impression that the party was trying to shield the accused, some of whom were part of the party.

However, it seems to have renewed its bid to recover lost ground with the party president making a public apology for the 1984 riots in Punjab just before the 1998 Lok Sabha poll.

The apologies, which had limited and often had an impact on the way the community voted in the Lok Sabha poll, were repeated again before these Assembly polls though they were clocked as “regrets”.

Ms Gandhi not only repeated the regrets at various Sikh community functions but also made it a point to attend as many functions organised by the community as possible.

Many residents of Tilak Nagar area, where most of the riot-affected victims reside, a few days before the polls, had indicated that they were unlikely to vote for the Congress as the wounds of riots had not healed.

The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Ms Sheila Dikshit said: “The apologies made by our president Ms Gandhi have clearly convinced the community the party is serious in mending its relations with the community.”

“The Sikh community had felt the Congress will not punish the guilty and the accused. But, we have given them a clear signal that the party would not come between the rule of justice and prevent justice being given in this case,” the DPCC chief added.

Both parties, the Congress and the BJP in their respective manifestos spelt out the community-specific measures it would take if voted to power.

For the parties, attracting the Sikh voters appeared to be a major issue and both parties have pledged to take action against the culprits of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The Congress manifesto, committed itself to taking “appropriate action” against all those found guilty in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The BJP, on the other hand, promised that the 1984 riot victims will be given enhanced compensation soon and the culprits of the 1984 riots will be brought to the book.

The Congress manifesto promises to accord official status or official use for specified purpose in administration, education and information to Urdu and Punjabi and encourage schools to arrange teaching in different languages.

All linguistic groups will be ensured facilities on the lines of Urdu, Hindi, Sanskrit, Punjabi and Sindhi languages, it added.

The BJP promised that Punjabi will be given the status of the second language. “Punjabi language teachers will be recruited as per their requirement and the vacant posts of the Punjabi teachers will be filled up,” the manifesto stated.

The Congress party also won several Muslim-dominated assembly segments, which were won by Janata Dal candidates in the 1993 polls.

The victory of the Congress in these segments, except Matia Mahal segment by the Janata Dal, indicated that Muslims were back in the Congress fold. Moreover, the losing entity of the Janata Dal in the Capital also helped the Congress as Muslim voters did not have an alternative party. Muslims had alienated from the Congress following the demolition of the Babri Masjid.

Delhi CLP meet likely today
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 29 — The meeting of the Delhi Congress Legislature Party (CLP) is likely to be held tomorrow to elect its leader, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee sources have said.

The likely Congress candidate for post is DPCC chief, Ms Sheila Dikshit, who led the party to a landslide victory in the Assembly polls.

In an informal chat with newspersons at the party office, the chief Ministerial candidate said the Congress would take effective measure to control the spiralling prices of essential commodities.

Listing out the priority areas, Ms Dikshit said tackling the problems in the field of education, health, water, power and other civic amenities would be the party’s main consideration.

On the law and order situation in the Capital, the DPCC chief said the party would have better coordination with the Centre in tackling the problem as the Police was under the control of the central government.

Indicating that the crime rate would go down, Ms Dikshit stated that the Congress would not approach the matter in a confrontationist manner.

On the question of full statehood to Delhi, which had been promised by the BJP and was promised to be taken up in the Winter session of Parliament, the DPCC president said the party had demanded statehood to Delhi in 1980s and the Capital had got that.

The present status, the Delhi Government does not have control over land and law and order.

She said that there was enough powers vested with the state government in the present form and her party with better administration would show results.

While not rejecting the full statehood, if offered by the Centre, she said the Congress would first see the Bill and then react.

Earlier, the DPCC chief along with the winning MLA of the party met the Congress president, Ms Sonia Gandhi.

No anti-incumbency here

BHOPAL, Nov 29 (PTI) - In a severe setback to the BJP, the Congress today secured an absolute majority in the 320-member state Assembly belying pre-poll surveys and exit polls.

Proving that there was no anti-incumbency wave in the state against the Digvijay Singh government, the party bagged 173 seats, just one short of its strength in the 1993 elections.

Though the BJP improved its tally of 117 in 1993 to 120 this time, it failed to repeat its performance in the last Lok Sabha elections when it led in 222 Assembly segments to bag 30 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats.

A notable factor in the current elections was the total rejection by the electorate of Left parties which had fielded 45 candidates. In the dissolved House they had three members — two CPI and one CPM.

9 starve to death in Bolangir

NEW DELHI, Nov 29 (PTI) — Nine persons have died of starvation in Orissa’s Bolangir district, one of the most backward regions in India, and more people are in near-starvation state due to severe drought live conditions there, Orissa Janata Dal Legislative Party leader Narasingh Mishra has alleged.

“While nine persons died of starvation-related diseases in Badtika village of Agalpur block, the government is trying to feed the hungry with statistics and speeches,” alleged Mishra, who represents the Binka Assembly constituency of Bolangir district.

Former state Law Minister Mishra told PTI here recently that only three per cent of the land in the area was irrigated against the 94 per cent of the total cultivable land in the district.

In such conditions, the administration is violating even the order of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on providing old-age pension, which could have given some succour to the affected people, Mr Mishra alleged.

Admitting that poverty still exists in the region, state Information and Public Relations Minister Bhupinder Singh said, “the government is working hard to root it out.”

Saying that he has already asked for a report from the administration on the issue, Mr Singh, who represents Kalahandi district, said, “the district collectors will be responsible for any starvation death”.

BJP to introspect soon
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, Nov 29 — The Bharatiya Janata Party today decided to hold a “Jhinjouli type” camp shortly to have an introspection over the party debacle in the assembly elections.

A high-level meeting of the BJP’s district presidents and office-bearers was held today to discuss the post-election developments and the reasons for the party’s defeat.

The meeting was attended by outgoing Chief Minister, Sushma Swaraj, former Chief Minister, Sahib Singh Verma and senior leader, Vijay Kumar Malhotra and the party’s Delhi unit president, Mange Ram Garg.

The BJP Delhi unit President, while stating that the date for the “Jhinjouli type” camp had not been fixed, said that the BJP would fulfil its role as a responsible Opposition, “something which the Congress failed to do.”

‘Kama Sutra author was jilted husband’

NEW DELHI, Nov 29 (IANS) — The author of a new novel based on the life of Vatsyayana says the man who wrote the erotic epic “Kama Sutra” 1,600 years ago must have been a “jilted husband” and also mentally disturbed.

“Vatsyayana had to have a disturbed life and a mental obsession in order to channelise it into creativity”, says psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar, whose book “Ascetic of Desire” is now on sale here.

Khalsa march held in Delhi
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 29 — The tri-centenary celebrations of Khalsa Panth commenced in the Capital on Sunday with a Khalsa march from Gurdwara Rakab Ganj.

The marchers were led by panj piaras, five Sikhs in conformation with the legend as originally composed by Sikhism’s tenth guru, Guru Gobind Singh.

Five elephants, 25 horses with cavalrymen and wardrums (nagars) merged into the said grand procession followed by five bands, including three uniformed bands of school students from Guru Harkrishan Public School, Vasant Vihar, India Gate and SGTB Khalsa Girls Senior Secondary School, Sis Ganj.

Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president Gurcharan Singh Tohra and office-bearers of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee participated in the march.

2 elected MLAs die in MP

BHOPAL, Nov 29 (UNI) — Two newly-elected legislators in Madhya Pradesh died within hours of declaration of results.

Former member of Parliament Shiv Kumar Singh (Independent) died due to brain haemorrhage yesterday, while a former BJP minister Dr Ramesh died of a heart attack today.

Shiv Kumar Singh won the Burhanpur seat as an Independent after being denied nomination by the Congress. After declaration of results, he was returning home when he suffered a brain haemorrhage at the Burhanpur railway station. Later, he died at a local hospital.

Shiv Singh had shot into prominence when he humbled Mr Kushabhau Thakre, now BJP president, in an election to the Lok Sabha from Khandwa constituency.

Former minister Dr Ramesh, who won the Khallari seat by a margin of just 35 votes, died at a hospital at Raipur. He was 55.

He was admitted to the hospital during the election campaign.

Punjabis reflect bitterness for SAD: Singla
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 29 — The victory of the Congress in the bye-election for the Adampur seat is an indication of the people’s anger against the ruling party for failing to deliver the goods in all fronts, a former Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab. Mr Surinder Singla, said.

“By securing a historic victory for the Congress in Adampur, the people of this constituency have reposed their faith in the party and have given the marching orders for the ruling Akali Dal,” he said.

Mr Singla said the ruling SAD-BJP alliance state government, from this victory for the Congress, must learn that “every Punjabi is unhappy and bitter with the policies of the government.”

He also praised the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Mr Amarinder Singh, for uniting the party workers in the state to fight “against the misrule of the Akali Dal” in the state.

Code of conduct for AP legislators
HYDERABAD: Angry legislators wrenching mike or causing any other damage to the Assembly property will have to pay for their misconduct, according to a new set of rules and code of conduct proposed in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly. “In case of deliberate damage to the property of the House, the amount of loss as determined by the Speaker, shall be recovered from the member,” a report of the committee on ethics said. All MLAs should declare their assets within 30 days of taking oath and continue submission of such declarations before January 15 every year, said the report placed before the Winter Session which concluded on Saturday. — PTI

Steps to stop use of Bhutanese notes
JALPAIGURI: The West Bengal administration has asked the District Magistrates of Jalpaiguri and Coochbehar to take necessary measures for checking the use of Bhutanese currency of small denomination. Jalpaiguri Divisional Commissioner N.K. Raghupati said on Saturday that he had asked the two DMs to immediately stop the circulation of small denomination Bhutanese notes from Rs 1 to 10. Indian notes of Rs 1 to 50 denomination, will be sent to the two districts before December 15 and measures will be taken to ensure regular supply of such notes and coins, the Divisional Commissioner said. — PTI

Teacher held for raping minor
NAGPUR: A 53-year-old teacher of a municipal council school in Mowad in Narkhed taluka was arrested for allegedly raping a minor student and molesting another on Saturday. The police said the teacher, Kashinath Deoman Bhajikhaye, summoned two eight-year-old girls to a classroom under the pretext of giving some study tips. He allegedly raped one of them and tried to molest the other girl after locking the room. — PTI