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Thursday,
March 28, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Cong: no decision
yet on implementing POTO
Kamal
Nath’s notice against Modi |
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Govt sells 26 per cent
stake in HZL
Laloo, Shatrughan elected to RS
Action
on arms deals initiated: MoD DMK
decision ‘unfortunate’ Probe
into Sekhon letter leakage sought Ammo
dumps unearthed in AP 44 receive
Padma awards Ex-CJ
seeks Yasin Malik’s release Tribune
staffer bereaved
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Cong: no decision yet on implementing POTO New Delhi, March 27 Asked about the remarks of the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr Digvijay Singh, who had said POTO would not be implemented in his state, the Congress chief spokesman, Mr Jaipal Reddy, said the Congress had not considered the issue either from policy or legal angles. As the party had yet not taken a view on the matter, the party Chief Ministers were free to air their views, Mr Reddy said. He said the Central leadership of the Congress was not in the picture regarding withdrawal of the POTO case by the Maharashtra police against Mohammad Afroz, an Al-Qaida activist. The Congress today also charged the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, with resorting to “self-glorificatory outbursts’’ to wriggle out of “embarrassing situations.” Reacting to Mr Vajpayee’s outburst against the Congress President, Ms Sonia Gandhi during the debate over POTO in Lok Sabha yesterday, the Congress chief spokesman, Mr Jaipal Reddy, said Mr Vajpayee had given “vent to his despair through anger during the last Budget session in the wake of stinking Tehelka storm. Yesterday, he did the same.” Mr Reddy alleged that through his yesterday’s remarks, Mr Vajpayee had attempted to cover up “Attorney General Soli Sorabjee’s somersault, government’s shenanigans over shila daan, Narendra Modi’s naked communal dance in Gujarat, NDA partners’ protest against Sangh Parivar and the determined resistance to POTO.” |
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Shah opposes POTO
New Delhi, March 27 “I do not understand that on one hand they (government) give a call for talks to resolve the Kashmir issue while on the other they arm themselves with a draconian law,” Shah, who arrived here last evening, said. Shah said the present government led by the BJP had not learnt any lesson from the misuse of TADA.
PTI |
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Kamal Nath’s notice against Modi New Delhi, March 27 In a letter to the Deputy Speaker Lok Sabha, Mr Kamal Nath, demanded that the matter be sent to the Privileges Committee. Maintaining that the statements made by Mr Modi amounted to assault on Parliament, especially Lok Sabha, where members cutting across party lines did express their concern on the ongoing violence in Gujarat and urged the government to control violence and restore peace and harmony, Mr Kamal Nath said proceedings of Parliament and the right of members to express their views have been questioned and the derogatory remarks of Gujarat Chief Minister was clearly a breach of privilege of the members of the House. Mr Kamal Nath quoted several remarks of Mr Modi in his letter to the Deputy Speaker. |
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Govt sells 26 per cent
stake in HZL New Delhi, March 27 The Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment (CCD), which met here under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Atal
Behari Vajpayee, cleared a bid by Sterlite for HZL. Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie said that following the sale of 26 per cent equity, the government holding in the metal PSU would come down from 76 per cent to 49 per cent. Sterlite bid about Rs 90 crore higher than the reserve price of Rs 353 crore. The second best bid was from Birla Group company Indo-Gulf which quoted Rs 321 crore, he said. |
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Laloo, Shatrughan elected to RS New Delhi, March 27 Other prominent winners included Congress leader K Natwar Singh, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren and expelled Biju Janata Dal leader Dilip Ray. The Congress took the lion’s share with six seats — three each in Rajasthan and Karnataka — while the BJP came a close second with four seats, one each in Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa. The BJP’s allies Samata Party, All-India Trinamool Congress and the BJD won four seats in all. While the Samata Party bagged one seat from Bihar, the Trinamool Congress won one from West Bengal. The BJD bagged two seats in Orissa. The Left Front won four seats, the Rashtriya Janata Dal three and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) one each. Two seats went to independents. Though the BJP expelled its senior leader Dilip Ray as a last ditch effort to stop him from contesting the polls, the rebel candidate defeated sitting Congress candidate Maurice Kujur with the help of second preference votes from the BJP. In all, elections were to be held for 59 seats from 17 states to fill up vacancies in the Upper House of Parliament. As many as 34 candidates from nine states were returned unopposed. The Congress came out a clear winner in Rajasthan and Karnataka, which was not surprising given its clear majority in the two state assemblies. The three Congress winners from Karnataka were former Union Minister Janardan Poojary, former Bangalore Mayor Prema Cariappa and M.V. Rajasekharan, a member of the legislative council. The fourth seat went to Mr Mallya, an independent candidate supported by the Janata Party. His maiden entry into the Rajya Sabha, after having lost the last time by just two votes, was made possible by cross-voting by BJP members. Apart from Mr Natwar Singh, the Congress candidates who won from Rajasthan were Mr Abrar Ahmed and Ms Prabha Thakur. The BJP supported Independent candidate Anil Bhakkar had withdrawn from the contest last night. UNI
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Action on arms deals initiated: MoD
New Delhi, March 27 Reacting to a press report yesterday that the CVC had sent a reminder to the Defence Minister for expeditious action on defence deals with “serious lapses”, a ministry note said Mr Fernandes had promptly replied to Mr Vittal’s letter, assuring him that the desired action was being taken. The ministry had referred on its own about 120 cases to the CVC pertaining to contracts worth over Rs 75 crore as well as cases relating to allegations by MPs and the CAG. “The CVC had returned one third of these files without recommending any action. Out of the remaining cases, a Court of Inquiry has been ordered in four cases and cases were closed in five deals in consultation with the CVC. Action in respect of the remaining cases has also been initiated,” the ministry said. “There are certain other observations of the CVC which are purely advisory in nature and have been noted for incorporation in the revised procurement policy which is on the anvil,” it added. Mr Fernandes, meanwhile, today expressed his unhappiness with Mr Vittal for making public the communications exchanged between the CVC and the Defence Ministry on the defence deals.
UNI |
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DMK decision ‘unfortunate’
Chennai, March 27 A statement, released after a meeting of the core committee of the party attended by party President Jana Krishnamurthy, vice-president Rama Rao, general secretary Sanjai Joshi, state president S.P. Kirupanidhi and other senior leaders, said, “It is unfortunate that the DMK has unilaterally decided, in its council, to snap ties with the state unit of the BJP.” “Political courtesy demands that the DMK leaders should have talked to the state BJP about the misunderstanding, if any, with a view to sorting out matters before taking the issue to the council.” Briefing reporters about the deliberations of the core committee, Mr Kirupanidhi said there was no scope for talks with the DMK to restore the old ties at the state level. The commitee, however, “respecting the
decision of the DMK to snap ties with the state unit,” also “appreciated the DMK’s stand to continue to be a part of the NDA at the Centre.”
UNI |
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Probe into Sekhon letter leakage sought New Delhi, March 27 In a letter addressed to “Dear Maharaja Saheb”, Mr Singh has asked the Chief Minister to order an inquiry under the Official Secrets Act to identify the culprit responsible for leakage of a confidential letter by Air Marshal Sekhon to the then Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal which led to his exit from the Indian Air Force. “I am pained to know how the original letter of Air Marshal Sekhon was sent by the Punjab Chief Minister’s office to the Defence Minister,” he said in his March 26 letter. In another letter to Mr Fernandes written on the same day, he urged Mr Fernandes to find the source of leakage of Air Marshal Sekhon’s letter. “First of all (what Air Marshal Sekhon did) was not a crime and if at all it is an undesirable act, his service record was so outstanding that this small mistake could have been ignored.” |
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Ammo dumps unearthed in AP
Hyderabad, March 27 Giving this information to newsmen here today, the DGP, Mr P. Ramulu, said on reliable information the Warangal district police seized among other things eight DBBL guns, one .303 rifle, 200 AK 47 ammunition in the forest area near Dubbagudem hidden by the CPUSI (Janasakathi underground extremists). The arms and ammunition were meant to be used against the government. In Nizamabad district, the police recovered 586 grenades stored in three huge drums and 194 grenade bases belonging to the PWG Naxalites from the Sirnapalli forest area.
UNI |
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44 receive Padma awards
New Delhi, March 27 Cricketer Chandu Borde, US Congressman Frank Pallone, eminent jurist K.K. Venugopal, film maker Ismail Merchant and writer Habib Tanvir were among the Padma Bhushan awardees while Carnatic musician Mani Krishnaswami and sexologist Prakash Kothari were given the Padma Shri awards. Vice-President Krishan Kant, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Union Ministers L.K. Advani and Jaswant Singh and a galaxy of other dignitaries were present at the brief ceremony.
PTI |
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Ex-CJ seeks
Yasin Malik’s release New Delhi, March 27 In a statement issued here, Mr Sachar said to involve Yasin Malik in a foreign exchange offence on the alleged statement of an accused was “a crude attempt at deliberately sabotaging the chances for peaceful forthcoming Kashmir elections.” |
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Tribune
staffer bereaved New Delhi, March 27 The cremation will take place at Lodhi Road crematorium at 11 am on Thursday. |
INDO-US FORUM
LAUNCHED USE OF COLOUR DURING HOLI BANNED AP BANS SMOKING IN PUBLIC PLACES JOURNALIST
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