M A I N   N E W S

Minor Cabinet expansion today
Marandi likely to be Jharkhand CM
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 6 — With Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee going in for a minor expansion of his Council of Ministers tomorrow evening, decks have been cleared for Minister of State for Environment Babu Lal Marandi to become the first Chief Minister of the new state of Jharkhand on November 15.

The Prime Minister, who took the resignation of Mr Marandi from the Union Council of Ministers today, is understood to have decided to reinduct the former Minister of State, Ms Uma Bharti, into his ministerial team.

Mr Karia Munda, who was in close race for Jharkhand chief ministership along with Mr Marandi, is being inducted as Cabinet Minister for Rural Development. Mr Munda, a tribesman leader from Jharkhand, was a Cabinet Minister in the 13-day Vajpayee government in 1996.

Major-Gen B.C. Khanduri(retd), a four-time Lok Sabha MP from Uttaranchal, is also being brought into the Council of Ministers.

The Minister for Rural Development, Mr M. Venkaiah Naidu, is likely to be shifted to the Ministry of Surface Transport which fell vacant after the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister resigned from the Union Cabinet last month.

The Minister of State for Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Mr Arun Jaitley, holding independent charge, is being promoted as a Cabinet Minister, sources said, adding that the portfolio of the Sports Minister, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, may also be changed.

The President, Mr K.R. Naryanan, who is in Ujjain today will be returning to the capital tomorrow afternoon.

With Major-General Khanduri being inducted into the Vajpayee government, the BJP high command has also cleared the way for the first Uttaranchal Chief Minister. The BJP MLAs from Uttaranchal have been asked to elect the leader of the legislative party on November 9 in Dehra dun.

Sources said the President of the BJP Uttaranchal unit, Mr Bhagat Singh Koshyari, is the front runner for the post, with Mr Kedar Singh Fonia as the close second.

Meanwhile, Mr Marandi’s resignation has been forwarded to the President for acceptance.

With the BJP high command deciding to have Mr Marandi as the Chief Minister of the National Democratic Alliance government of Jharkhand, spade work has begun to ensure a comfortable majority for the new state government. A split in the 12-MLA strong Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is likely, sources said, adding that at least four JMM MLAs were likely to cross over with promise of a cabinet berth in Mr Marandi’s government.

Uma’s re-induction today

NEW DELHI, Nov 6 (UNI) — Ms Uma Bharti will be re-inducted into the Council of Ministers in a minor reshuffle to be carried out tomorrow.

The vacancy created by the resignation of Surface Transport Minister Rajnath Singh, who has taken over as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, will also be filled in the third minor reshuffle of the Vajpayee cabinet. The swearing-in has been scheduled for 6.00 p.m. at Rashtrapati Bhavan tomorrow.

Highly placed sources said senior tribal BJP leader from Jharkhand Karia Munda is expected to take oath tomorrow to replace Minister of State for Environment Babulal Marandi, the front runner for the chief ministership in Jharkhand, which is to be founded on November 15.

Kapil meets IT officials 
CBI asks Azhar, Ajay Sharma about assets
From R. Suryamurthy and S. Satyanarayanan
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 6 — Five days after the CBI submitted its report on match-fixing and other related malpractices, cricket legend Kapil Dev met income tax officials here today.

The premises of the Haryana hurricane was among the several cricketers, whose offices and residences, were raided by the income tax officials on July 20.

Highly placed sources in the Income Tax Department told The Tribune, that the former all-rounder had met the officials in connection with the appraisal report being prepared by the department.

Income tax officials had sealed bank lockers, recovered a number of documents and other vital information to find about tax evasion.

The CBI report made public on November 3, had given a clean chit to Kapil Dev in the match-fixing and betting scandal.

The agency had initiated the probe following allegations by former all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar accusing Kapil of trying to bribe him. Prabhakar is among the five Indian players to be indicted in the report.

The BCCI has suspended Prabhakar, Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Ajay Sharma and Nayan Mongia from playing cricket at any level in the country and abroad.

In a related development, the Income Tax Department is contemplating summoning bookie Mukesh Gupta to corroborate the statements given by him to the CBI relating to the alleged payments to cricketers.

“The statement of Mukesh Gupta would be verified and if found true, the cricketers would be summoned and confronted with these statements,” sources said.

Mukesh Gupta in his statement to the CBI said he had paid over Rs 50 lakh to former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin, over Rs 3 lakh to former Delhi captain Ajay Sharma and over Rs 2 lakh to Manoj Prabhakar at different points of time.

Income tax sources said they had examined Mukesh Gupta five times in the past and he had denied any payment to the cricketers then.

“The examination of Mukesh Gupta in the light of the CBI report would be crucial,” they said.

In a countrywide swoop for two days beginning July 20, the Income Tax Department had raided simultaneously the premises of cricketers Kapil Dev, Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Manoj Prabhakar, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Ajay Sharma.

The raids were also conducted at the offices and residential premises of former ICC president Jagmohan Dalmia, BCCI treasurer Kishore Rungta, WorldTel chief Mark Mascarenhas and a number of bookies, including Mukesh Gupta, who was named by sacked South African captain Hansie Cronje, in a statement under oath before the King Commission of South Africa, as the person introduced by Azharuddin during a match in 1996.

Meanwhile, the CBI has asked Azharuddin and Ajay Sharma to furnish the details of their assets, agency sources said.

The CBI’s move is aimed at pinning down the two cricketers under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, for allegedly possessing “assets disproportionate to their known sources of income” as they are public servants. While former Indian captain Azharuddin is employed with the State Bank of India, the former Delhi captain Ajay Sharma is working with the Central Warehousing Corporation.

Legal opinion sought from former Supreme Court Judge Manoj Kumar Mukherjee and Solicitor-General of India Harish Salve by the CBI stated that the two cricketers can be booked for criminal misconduct under the PC Act. “Technically, an offence under Section 13 (1) (d) (i) and (iii) of the PC Act, can be registered against the two players, Azharuddin and Ajay Sharma, answering the definition of public servants,” the CBI report said.