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Friday,
November 15, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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BJP in dilemma over Patel, Modi BJP, CEC on warpath again
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BSP MLA gets show-cause notice Condemn USA on Iraq, govt
urged Russian experts check
MiGs Sinha happy with
Indo-EU ties Cyclone claims 51 lives in Bengal Petrol, diesel price reduction from tomorrow
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BJP in dilemma over Patel, Modi New Delhi, November 14 Following this development, Mr Modi contacted BJP general secretary in charge of Gujarat Arun Jaitley who in turn briefed Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani and party president M. Venkaiah Naidu. The party is trying to persuade Mr Patel not to insist on an electoral battle, sources said. Mr Patel’s stand and demand of party ticket for his followers is causing a delay in the finalisation of the party list. Mr Modi has already conveyed to the party high command that it would not be possible to submit the entire list by November 16 when the BJP Parliamentary Board-cum-Central Election Committee is scheduled to meet here. The headache for the high command is growing as Mr Modi is keen to get ticket for his loyalists, particularly from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal ranks. The party can accede to Mr Modi’s request only at the cost of Mr Patel and that is the dilemma being faced by the BJP central leadership. Mr Patel, one of the prominent architects of the party in the state, has dug in his heels as he is apprehending his marginalisation in the state in the coming elections by denial of party ticket to his followers. The party high command cannot even threaten the trusted party loyalist with disciplinary action as Mr Patel is making every move within the party discipline. The former Chief Minister, who was shunted out in 2001 and replaced by Mr Modi, is stating that he wants to contest and the chief minister should be elected by the newly elected MLAs. Mr Patel has been consistently telling the party high command, including Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, that he wants to remain in the state. When Mr Vajpayee sought his consent for inclusion in the Union Cabinet, he had declined. Mr Patel, who is the election in charge in Gujarat, has been attending Mr Modi’s gaurav
yatra. |
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BJP, CEC on warpath again New Delhi, November 14 “Anticipatory gag orders which apply only to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and only with regard to what happened at Godhra railway station and not other places are inappropriate,” BJP chief spokesman Arun Jaitley said here today while commenting on the EC’s directive to the Gujarat Government to prevent the VHP yatra. Stating that the BJP had been noting with concern several recent statements made by the CEC and communications of the Election Commission, Mr Jaitley said, “the party has consciously attempted not to join issue even when the statements undermined the credibility of an august institution like the EC.” “Elections are the essence of democracy. Those who demanded elections were described by the CEC as ‘mad’. An unsubstantiated statement was made by the CEC in the course of a television interview against former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah that he was wanting to release surrendered militants on the eve of election,” Mr Jaitley said. “The Election Commission has the onerous responsibility of conducting free and fair elections and the EC or any of its members are not expected to make statements wherein they are perceived to be entering the political thicket. Unfortunately, this golden rule is being repeatedly defied,” he charged. Stating that the latest decision of the Election Commission banning the VHP’s yatra in Gujarat was “unprecedented” Mr Jaitley asserted that every organisation, whether political, social or religious had a right to carry on its campaigns and programmes. To buttress the BJP’s viewpoint, Mr Jaitley said, “In the 1984 elections, the Congress extensively used the body of Mrs Indira Gandhi, with blood splashed around it, as the theme of its campaign. This was after her assassination. It resulted in the massacre of many Sikhs. Even though the event took place 45 days earlier, the Election Commission did not debar the use of these visuals. During several elections in Orissa, electronically created visuals of the burning of Graham Staines and his two sons were extensively used.” “However, the objection now appears to be on the references to the Godhra railway station in 2002. The same objection does not appear to apply to the other condemnable incidents which took place in other parts of Gujarat,” he added. Efforts to get a reaction of the EC on BJP’s charges went in vain. |
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BSP MLA gets show-cause notice Lucknow, November 14 Mr Yadav has been given time till 3 p.m. on November 20 to submit his reply to the Speaker “either in person or through his counsel.” Ms Mayawati had earlier filed a disqualification petition against Mr Yadav, alleging that the BSP legislator from Dhuriapar in Gorakhpur had violated the anti-defection law by criticising the state government in his (legislator’s) petition to the Governor, Mr Vishnu Kant Shastri. Mr Yadav had earlier met the Governor, asking him to convene a special session of the state Assembly as the Mayawati government had been reduced to a minority after the withdrawal of support by Independent legislators. Taking this as an affront Ms Mayawati immediately suspended him for his “his anti-party activities.” Yesterday senior BSP leader and a minister in the Mayawati government, Swami Prasad Maurya, met the secretary in the Assembly secretariat, Mr R.P. Pandey, and submitted a petition seeking the disqualification of Mr Yadav. Swami claimed that the latter had violated the anti-defection law by criticising the Mayawati government. Mr Pandey told newsmen that the petition was found technically correct and subsequently a notice was issued to Mr Yadav. Earlier, the BJP, an ally of the BSP in the government, had also moved a disqualification petition against 10 of its dissident party legislators who had proposed the name of Mr Suresh Nanda as a nominee for the Rajya Sabha election. The BJP dissident legislators have been asked to give their reply by November 19. The state BJP leadership is also consulting legal experts on the matter of getting the 10 MLAs disenfranchised in the byelection, BJP legislature party leader Lalji Tandon said. A meeting of the BJP legislature group has been convened on November 17 to formulate a strategy in this connection, he said. A confident looking rebel camp has claimed that the party could expect more “shocks” in the coming days as a few MLAs were likely to skip the legislature party meeting being held at the official residence of Mr Lalji Tandon. Meanwhile, the Opposition parties, mainly the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, have declared that they would support Mr Yashwant Singh, fielded by the BJP dissident group. |
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Condemn USA on Iraq, govt
urged New Delhi, November 14 “Imperialist America is chalking out military attacks on Iraq and even threatening to override UN resolutions in this regard. A peace-loving India’s silence on this dictatorial step is indeed mysterious,” Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet said at an anti-USA rally here. Former Prime Minister and JD(S) chief H.D. Deve Gowda asked the Vajpayee government to come out with a categorical statement on the Iraq issue. Another former premier V.P. Singh also participated in the rally. CPI General Secretary A.B. Bardhan said the USA had to present a mellowed down resolution in the UN Security Council after deleting clauses which gave it power to strike unilaterally. “Now that Baghdad has accepted the UN resolution and allowed weapons inspection, India must demand that some of the rigorous embargoes against them be withdrawn,” he said, adding that Iraqi children were unfortunate victims of “sanction- inflicted” shortage of food and medicine. Accusing India of shedding the principle of non-violence, CPM politburo member Prakash Karat said a recent pattern of developments had “proved beyond doubt” that India was adopting a “servile and subservient” attitudes towards the USA. “The USA is groping for a pretext to attack Iraq and is shameful that India is not condemning such adventurism. I fail to understand why India fears to antagonise America”, he said in the rally organised under the banner of the ‘Committee Against War on Iraq”. CPI leaders D. Raja, Dipankar Bhattacharya and Atul Anjan were the other leaders who also addressed the rally. |
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Russian experts check
MiGs New Delhi, November 14 An IAF spokesman here said that the three-member Russian team would work with experts from IAF and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to check the aircraft. Team members would visit various airbases where the MiGs are operating and consult with the IAF and HAL experts on the problems with the aircraft. Meanwhile, Defence Minister George Fernandes today said that the expert team, including Russian technologists, had not found any defects so far in the MiG fighter planes after visits to several bases. “So far, they have not been able to pinpoint any defect which could be the cause of accidents,” Mr Fernandes told reporters here. He attributed the MiG crash near Bagdogra this morning to the “misjudgment of altitude by the pilots due to thick and heavy cloud.” He, however, made it clear that this was the first assessment of the Air Force and he was awaiting the report of the local commander who has gone to the accident site. Asked why the government was not placing orders for a new AJT in view of the frequent accidents involving the MiGs, he said, “Even if the order is placed today, it will take three years for the AJTs to come.” |
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Sinha happy with
Indo-EU ties New Delhi, November 14 Addressing a meeting of the Consultative Committee on External Affairs, the minister said with the third Indo-EU summit having been held, the dialogue between India and EU had been successfully institutionalised. Mr Sinha detailed the growth of Indo-EU relations against the backdrop of developments in the EU which had led to its assuming a more unified economic and political dimension over the years. He also briefed the members on meetings between India and the EU troika as well as the business summits which have taken place. The minister said the business summits had led to a greater understanding of India’s economic capabilities and had resulted in a two-way traffic of trade and investment between India and the EU. Close interaction with the EU had resulted in greater understanding of India’s concern across the board, Mr Sinha pointed out. MEA spokesman Navtej Sarna said the interactive session with the committee members covered such subjects as international response to India’s concerns on cross border terrorism, India-Pakistan relations, economic content of present-day diplomacy, problems faced by immigrants abroad, ratification by India of certain international conventions, India’s position on developments relating to Iraq and the continuing relevance of the Non-Aligned Movement. |
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Cyclone claims 51 lives in Bengal Kolkata, November 14 Ten trawlers with 115 crewmen, who had gone into the deep sea for fishing, were trapped in the cyclone. Of them, 51 bodies could be recovered, while several others are still missing. Some fishermen somehow came to the shore but lay completely unconscious. After treatment, they soon regained consciousness, according to the state Fisheries Minister, Mr Kironmoy Nanda. He said 39 trawlers with some 300 fishermen still remained untraced. Air Force helicopters and Coast Guard personnel have been deployed in search of the missing fishermen. |
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Petrol, diesel price reduction from tomorrow New Delhi, November 14 “I am happy that international prices have fallen. If the trend continues, on November 16, oil companies would revise petrol and diesel prices”, Petroleum Minister Ram Naik told newspersons here today. Mr Naik, however, did not divulge the extent of reduction in prices of the transport fuels. The average price of crude oil stood at $ 23.72 per barrel in November as against $ 26.65 per barrel during the second half of October. Benchmark brent crude fell from $ 27.31 a barrel in the second forthnight of October to $ 24.21 a barrel this month. |
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Kolkata, November 14
