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VHP welcomes inclusion of Ayodhya in NDA
manifesto
Jethmalani files nomination
Priyanka most sought-after Cong campaigner
BJP hits back at Congress
on security policy
Remove Modi as CM, says
CPM
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Prasad NDA campaign
panel convener
Political ads: SC hearing today
Digvijay vows to defeat brother
Patnaik
elected BCI chief
Army commanders’ conference
begins
SC asks
CVC to consider protecting ‘whistle blowers’ against corruption
Wheat output may be
lower
Vikram Rana denied bail
Drunk DSP fires into air at PM’s
meeting venue
SC dismisses plea on CNG deadline
Child dies, 3,000 jhuggis gutted
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VHP welcomes inclusion of Ayodhya
New Delhi, April 12 “The inclusion of the Ayodhya issue in the NDA manifesto clearly indicates that not only the BJP, but also most of the NDA allies are in favour of Ram Temple. We welcome it. But, this issue could be resolved only by bringing a legislation in parliament,” VHP general secretary Surendra Jain told newspersons here. “There cannot be any negotiation in Ram Temple issue, as negotiation involves give and take and Hindus cannot not accept any compromise on this issue,” Mr Jain said. On settlement of the issue through court verdict, Mr Jain said in the past the Muslim community had refused to accept the Supreme Court verdicts, whether it was Shah Bano judgement or the direction with regard to Uniform Civil Code. Asserting that the issue could be resolved only through legislation, the VHP leader hoped that whichever government came to power after the elections would move towards fulfilling the long cherished aspirations of the Hindus. “The inclusion of the Ayodhya issue in the NDA manifesto is clearly indicates that our movement is in the right direction and our unrelenting struggle has created an environment, where other parties apart from the BJP have also started realising the need for settlement of the issue,” Mr Jain said. Asked what was the difference between what the NDA had said and what other opposition parties had been saying on the Ayodhya issue, Mr Jain said “instead of going into the words, see their
(NDA’s) intentions.” “The secular parties should make their stand clear whether they want construction of Ram Temple or not,” Mr Jain said adding “the Congress should state clearly whether it still stands by the statement of the then Prime Minister
P.V. Narasimha Rao that Babri Masjid will be reconstructed at the disputed site.”
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Jethmalani files nomination
Lucknow, April 12 Mr Jethmalani arrived at the collectorate premises in an impressive procession, which started from the state Congress headquarters. He was accompanied by senior Congress leaders Pramod Tewari and Akhilesh Das besides leaders of Lok Janshakti Party, the Bhaujan Kisan Dal and Rashtriya Parivartan Dal. The Samajwadi Party has fielded Madhu Gupta while Naseer Ali is the BSP candidate from Lucknow. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee would be filing his nomination on April 15. —
PTI |
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Priyanka most sought-after Cong campaigner New Delhi, April 12 Ever since her public announcement that she will canvass for the Congress in the coming Lok Sabha poll, there is a virtual scramble from the states for Ms Priyanka’s participation in the election campaign. She is expected to concentrate on her mother’s constituency, Rae Barelli, and will spread out to other states once this election is over. Ms Gandhi has already undertaken an exhaustive jan samparak programme in different states but the pace of her campaign will pick up further as elections draw closer. Rahul Gandhi will focus on Amethi but he could travel to other states once his election is over. Though it is not certain if he will campaign outside Uttar Pradesh, the requests have been pouring in, particularly after he was named the Congress party’s heir apparent. There are few takers for senior Congress leaders. Except for leaders like Mr Manmohan Singh and Ms Ambika Soni, the states have shown a preference for Congress Chief Ministers like Ms Sheila Dikshit, Mr S.M.Krishna and Mr Sushil Kumar Shinde. The Uttar Pradesh unit has put in a special request for Ms Dikshit while Mr. Shinde is expected to be deployed in Gujarat and Karnataka. The former Finance Minister, it was stated, has already been interacting with professionals and captains of industry, in different cities in an effort to convince people that it is the Congress which laid the foundation of a modern India. He is being assisted in this task by Rajiv Gandhi loyalist Sam Pitroda, who is also travelling to metros to tell people that the credit for the current successes in the telecom and IT sector goes to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. On the other hand, recent entrants to the party like Mr Syed Shahbuddin and Mr Rashid Alvi top the popularity charts. Both are known to be effective and persuasive speakers and will be fielded extensively in constituencies where minorities are a dominant force. Congress sources said a series of programmes had been lined up for Mr Shahbuddin in Uttar Pradesh this week which will be followed by his tours to Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. Barely a day after Mr Rashid Alvi joined the Congress, there has been a
request that he campaign in Bhopal. These two leaders along with a host of other known Muslim faces will be positioned as the star campaigners in Uttar Pradesh where the Congress is making a concerted effort to wrest the Muslim vote from the Samajwadi Party. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has also emerged as a favourite campaigner as requests for him are pouring in from several states. Besides deploying their political faces, the Congress is also drawing up plans to use its newly acquired star power to draw in the crowds. Consequently, film stars Asrani, Celina Jaitely, Namrata Shirodkar and music director Bhappi Lahiri are slated to make a combined splash in Gujarat on April 15 and 16 and will be followed by a similar “dhamaka” in Chhattisgarh over the week-end. Govinda, however, is the hot favourite from among the stars with virtually every state wanting him for their campaign. Since the actor is busy with his own campaign, he will only be able to canvass in the neighbouring states after his election is over.
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Selja, Hooda figure in Congress
list New Delhi, April 12 suspense over the remaining four seats. According to the official list, former minister Selja has been shifted from her old constituency Sirsa to Ambala. Ms
Selja, according to party sources, faced a tough task in Sirsa with both Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and Congress veteran Bhajan Lal gunning for her. CLP leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda has been named for the Rohtak seat while Bhajan Lal’s son Kuldeep Bishnoi is being fielded from Bhiwani. Mr Bhajan Lal, party sources said, was eyeing the Faridabad seat, which is being reclaimed by his arch rival Avtar Singh Badhana, who does not wish to contest from Meerut this time. The Sonepat seat has gone to Dharampal Mallik while former MLA Atma Singh Gill is to contest from Sirsa. Both are known to be Bhajan Lal loyalists. Former minister Rao Birender Singh’s son Indrajeet Singh is being fielded from Mahendragarh. Candidates are yet to be named for the remaining four seats — Faridabad, Karnal, Kurukshetra and Hisar. The delay is stated to be primarily due to the bitter infightig in the state unit as pro-and
anti-Bhajan Lal groups are seeking to get ticket for their respective supporters. |
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BJP hits back at Congress
on security policy
New Delhi, April 12 Posing five questions to the main opposition party, BJP spokesperson Arun Jaitley said “instead of criticising us, the Congress should introspect on what it did while in power for 45 years.” There was loss of one-third of Jammu and Kashmir to Pakistan immediately after Independence, the loss of thousands of square kilometres of territory to China after the 1962 war, the Congress’ “failure” to protect its own Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984 when she was killed by her own bodyguards and the growth of terrorism in not only Kashmir but throughout the country during 1980s and 1990s and failed to check insurgency in North-Eastern states, he said. On the other hand, in the last six years the national security situation had improved considerably and it was under the NDA government that free and fair elections were held in Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Jaitley said. “Now separatist groups have also begun talks with the Centre,” he said without naming Hurriyat Conference,
NSCN(I-M), etc. He said the Vajpayee government succeeded in drawing the international focus on cross-border terrorism rather than the Kashmir issue. There was no need to emphasise that it was only under the leadership of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee that relations with neighbours had improved considerably, specially ties with Pakistan, ranging from people-to-people contact to sporting contacts, he said. |
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Remove Modi as CM, says
CPM
New Delhi, April 12 The party also asked for the shifting of the trial of all other cases in which the National Human Rights Commission had expressed apprehension that fair trial might not be possible in Gujarat. The ordering of a re-trial of the Best Bakery case by the Supreme Court is grave indictment of the Modi government in Gujarat, said the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The shifting of the case to Maharashtra, the party in a statement said showed “how the course of justice has been perverted in Gujarat.” “The BJP leadership, if it has any iota of morality, must remove Mr Modi from the Chief ministership immediately,” it said. In another statement, the party expressed shock at the Lucknow stampede, where several persons, mostly women, were killed. “It is shameful that such inducements were being given in the Prime Minister’s constituency,” the party said, adding that the BJP leadership had to explain how such distribution could take place. The CPM said the Election Commission should take immediate action against this blatant violation of the law. |
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Prasad NDA campaign
panel convener
New Delhi, April 12 The other members of the joint campaign committee are Bihar Janata Dal(U) president Brajendra Yadav, Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly Bhupendra Kushwaha, senior Janata Dal(U) leader Sudha Srivastav, state BJP chief Gopal Narain Singh, former state BJP president Nand Kishore Yadav and Mr Chandra Mohan Rai, BJP spokesperson M.A. Naqvi told newspersons here yesterday. |
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Political ads: SC hearing today
New Delhi, April 12 Right at the beginning of the hearing, Attorney-General Soli J. Sorabjee submitted before a Bench comprising Chief Justice
V. N. Khare, Justice S. B. Sinha and Justice S. H. Kapadia the ban on “offensive and slanderous advertisements” was the right solution. —
PTI |
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Digvijay vows to defeat brother
Bhopal, April 12 Some PCC leaders, however, take Mr Digvijay Singh’s promise with a pinch of salt and feel that Mr Shambhu Singh is no match to Mr Laxman Singh. A retired high court judge, Mr Shambhu Singh is at present the Chairman of the Industrial Tribunal at Indore and will be dabbling in politics for the first time. The PCC had recommended the name of Mr Devendra Singh Raghuvanshi who had been elected to the state assembly twice from Chachaura constituency, which forms part of the Rajgarh Lok Sabha constituency. If Mr Digvijay Singh’s wish prevailed in Rajgarh, the party high command has succumbed to Ms Jamuna Devi’s reported threat of resigning from the Congress if her nephew, Mr Umang Sengar, is not given the ticket from Dhar constituency. Ms Devi is the Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly. Mr Umang Sengar is also a novice in politics and has replaced the two-time Congress MP from Dhar, Mr Gajendra Singh Rajukhedi. Mr Sajid Ali, an Arjun Singh nominee, and Mr Narmada Prasad Sharma, a protégé of PCC chief Subhash Yadav, have been fielded from Bhopal and Vidisha, respectively. They, too, will be entering electoral politics for the first time and taking on the BJP’s heavyweights, Mr Kailash Joshi (Bhopal) and Mr Shivraj Singh Chauhan
(Vidisha). |
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Patnaik elected BCI chief New Delhi, April 12 Mr Patnaik, a senior advocate in the Orissa High Court was elected unanimously on Sunday to replace Mr D.V. Subba Rao and would have a tenure of two years, the BCI in a press note said here today. Mr Patnaik had been in the legal profession since 1968 and is considered an expert in constitutional law, criminal and service matters, it said. Mr
N.S. Bhatt was elected as the Council’s Vice-Chairman, Vinod Kumar Bhardwaj executive committee Chairman and Mr Fisal Rizvi as committee Vice-Chairman. The BCI nominated Mr K.K. Thomas to the Press Council and Mr B.S. Chauhan to a working group of the Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ministry on consumer related laws, the note said. |
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Army commanders’ conference
begins
New Delhi, April 12 It is understood that the Army’s new war doctrine would be finalised during the conference. The doctrine has already been circulated among various fighting formations. It paves the way for setting up of integrated battle groups and combined arms operations as against the present focus on the deployment of offensive strike corps. The new doctrine makes a case for a leaner Army, though it accepts that this will have to wait for a successful end to insurgencies in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East. It covers all eventualities from low-intensity conflict operations to a nuclear war and stresses the creation of integrated battle groups and combined arms operations against the present offensive strike corps. Another important talking point is tipped to be a re-organisation in the higher command structure with some changes in the responsibilities of the two Deputy Chiefs of Army Staff (DCOAS). This has been
necessitated by the need to place emphasis on information technology. The conference is also expected to take a decision on a proposal for setting up of an information system directorate-general in the rank of a lieutenant-general at the Army Headquarters. Army chief Gen N.C. Vij, who is chairing the conference, replied in the affirmative to a query from mediapersons during a break that the counter-terror operations to be undertaken by the Army in Jammu and Kashmir this summer will also form a major point in the agenda of the conference. On the perennial problem of the shortfall of commissioned officers, it is proposed to increase the service tenure of Short Service Commission (SSC) officers to 14 years from the existing maximum of 10, and introduce other perks to enhance attraction of the service. Under the proposal SSC officers will be eligible for foreign postings (like UN operations) and they will get an year of study leave to help them improve their prospects for civilian life when they leave the Army. Navy chief Admiral Madhvendra Singh and Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy also addressed the conference. |
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SC asks CVC to consider protecting ‘whistle
New Delhi, April 12 A Bench of Ms Justice Ruma Pal and Mr Justice P.V. Reddi, while giving a
favourable opinion on Raval’s suggestions, said that it was necessary to
protect the “brave whistle blowers” against corruption in the wake of the
murder of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) engineer Satyendra Dubey
for highlighting irregularities in the Golden Quadrilateral project in Bihar. The suggestions given by the Solicitor-General provided that all complaints regarding corruption be forwarded to the CVC, which would examine them, order CBI probe if warranted and ensure to keep secret the names of the whistle blowers. The court made it clear that these guidelines would act as interim measures till the Whistle Blower Act, as had been suggested by the Law Commission, was enacted. It
also said that the CVC would ensure that any official, found to be
revealing the name of the complainants or witnesses and in the process
put their lives in danger, as happened in the Dubey case, should be
dealt with strictly by the departments concerned. The suggestions came following two public interest litigations (PILs) seeking probe in the Dubey murder case. When
the petitioner’s counsel submitted that the CBI probe in the Dubey
murder was not making any visible progress, the Court said it would
consider the matter when the hearing resumes on April 16.
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Wheat output may be
lower
New Delhi, April 12 “Yields were affected due to higher than normal temperatures in March in almost all the wheat producing districts of the country. Output will fall by around 3 million tonnes against the latest estimates”, Director- General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Mangala Rai said here. Inaugurating the 39th All-India Rice Group Meeting in the Capital he said the actual output was now likely to be closer to 73 million tonnes against the earlier estimated 76 million tonnes. He said in the Indo-Gangetic alluvium where wheat is sown later, the shortfall in yield would be around 3 per cent and in areas of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar even upto 15 per cent. |
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Vikram Rana denied bail
New Delhi, April 12 Vikram, who was arrested by the Delhi Police on February 28, had moved an application before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Reena Singh Nag, seeking relief on humanitarian grounds for attending the religious rites tomorrow. Ms Nag, however, refused to enlarge him on bail after the police opposed the application on the ground that he was the main accused in the jailbreak case. —
UNI |
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Drunk DSP fires into air at PM’s
meeting venue
Ranchi, April 12 Dhanbad Deputy Commissioner Beela Rajesh told PTI that P.L. Khalko, Deputy Superintendent of Police of Dumka, was drunk and fired one round from his service revolver following a quarrel with Renubala, DSP of Sindri. The incident occurred outside the gate of the venue. “DSP P.L. Khalko, who is on deputation here, was in a drunken state and opened fire in the air,” the DCP said. She said Khalko was immediately overpowered and detained and sent for medical test. There was no injury to anybody due to the firing, the DCP said. —
PTI |
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SC dismisses plea on CNG deadline
New Delhi, April 12 The application was dismissed by a Bench of Justice Shivaraj V. Patil and Justice D.M. Dharmadhikari. —
UNI |
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Child dies, 3,000 jhuggis gutted
New Delhi, April 12 Fire brigade sources said the blaze, which broke out at about 2.20 pm, reduced about 2,500 to 3,000 jhuggis to ashes at Dholak Basti near Rajghat in Central Delhi. The body of an eight-year-old child has been recovered from the debris, they said. About 30 fire engines were rushed to the slum cluster.
— UNI |
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In video (
The five-day biannual Army commanders’ Conference started here today. A discussion of the Indian Army’s new war doctrine, re-organisation in the Army Headquarters, progress in the fencing of the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and measures to tackle shortfall in the officers’ cadre would be some of the issues to be discussed.
