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Cong even prepared for
short-term coalition Vote wisely, says Vajpayee Only BJP can provide stability: Jaitley Disqualify Hema from RS, Kalam urged Drought-hit Maharashtra
embraces artificial rain |
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Special team to nab Best Bakery case accused
Ban on
smoking in force ‘Healing touch’ has not touched them yet
Bail plea of Shivani murder accused rejected Amar Mani Tripathi released
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Cong even prepared for
short-term coalition New Delhi, May 1 More than forming the government, it has become imperative to ensure the exit of the present ruling combine, Congress insiders emphasise. Admitting that the exit poll results were a surprise even for them, optimistic Congress leaders are now pining their hopes on the last round of polling on May 10 to swing the fortunes in their favour. Although there is a section of Congress leaders who believe they could still be pipped to the post, the dominant view in the party is that they should do all they can to cobble a viable alternative if the numbers favour them. This is irrespective of the compromises it will be required to make to accommodate its temperamental allies. Congress strategists believe this could be their best opportunity to arrest the growth of the BJP, remove the Sangh Parivar’s stranglehold on the state apparatus and eventually ensure the exit of the allies from the NDA. The growing perception in the Congress is that if the BJP has to sit out for two years, it could come under increasing pressure from the RSS to embrace its hardline Hindutva agenda in order to retain the party’s USP. In such an eventuality, the BJP could become less acceptable to its allies, who may eventually end up deserting it. The Congress is also banking on the fact that Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee may not be at the helm of affairs by then, which would result in bitter infighting among the second-rung leaders. Having said that, Congress leaders are also quick to admit that it will be no easy task to form a government since the magic 272 figure could still elude them. While the Left Front has assured its support to an alternative dispensation in the post-poll scenario, the Congress could still be forced to look for new partners. Both Samajwadi Party Chief Mulayum Singh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati will then emerge as king makers. While the Congress is keeping its options open on both of them, the two can also be expected to extract their price for their support. Congress managers are also working on the assumption that it will not just be difficult, but even impossible, for the Samajwadi Party to bail out the BJP if it has to look for new partners to prop up its government. This, it is felt, could prove suicidal for Mr. Yadav as it could erode its support base among the minorities. “Mulayum Singh Yadav draws strength from the Yadav-Muslim combination. If he were to loose the minorities, it could have long-term
repercussions on his political career,” argued a Congress leader. As it is, he said, Mr. Mulayum Singh Yadav is feeling the heat in the ongoing election as Muslims have become increasingly disillusioned with him since he is perceived to have a tacit understanding with the BJP. |
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Sawai Madhopur, (Rajasthan), May 1 "Exercise your vote properly to send good people to the Lok Sabha to run the government for India’s development," he said here while speaking at an election rally in favour of party nominee Jaskaur Meena. The single-phase Lok Sabha poll in Rajasthan is scheduled for May 5. Maintaining that "your decision in the elections will be acceptable to us, whatever it may be," Mr Vajpayee pointed out that ‘’we have run the coalition government successfully for the past six years and our allies are also well-known to you. Everything was open and transparent’’. "Vote those back to power at the Centre whose good governance you have seen so far, and exercise your franchise judiciously". Asserting that the BJP-led NDA government had made a lot of efforts for the overall progress of the country during its five-year tenure, he said much more remained to be done to make India a developed nation. Listing out his government’s achievements on the economic front, he said the country was progressing well and there were sufficient foreign reserves with the country. Neither does the NDA need to mortgage gold as was done by the Congress government in the past, nor does it need to take loans from other countries as "we are now in position to offer loans to others", Mr Vajpayee maintained. He said the country had enough foodgrain stocks and "no one would be allowed to die of starvation and resort to begging". Stressing the need for promoting the agriculture sector, the Prime Minister said "now we want to see the second green revolution in the country". As road infrastructure was essential for development, road development projects launched by his government were being executed well throughout the country, he said. Mr Vajpayee said the interlinking of various rivers was necessary for the development of the country and added that the NDA wanted to launch this project and execute it speedily. Without naming the main opposition Congress, he lamented that over the past five decades, basic priorities had not been fixed properly. He pointed out that for development, the five sectors of health, education, power, roads and water ought to be taken proper care of. Mr Vajpayee maintained that the BJP-led NDA government had already initiated various measures for the welfare of farmers, STs, SCs and other backward classes of the society. Referring to the Sawai Madhopur region, he lamented that it had been neglected on the development front over the years. The region had been facing water scarcity and reeled under drought, he said, adding that attention ought to be given now for its overall development. BJP state president Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi, state Food and Civil Supplies Minister Kirodilal Meena and former minister and MLA Nathu Singh also addressed the gathering.
— UNI |
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Only BJP can provide stability: Jaitley New Delhi, May 1 “Already the opposition leaders have started squabbling over who will be the Prime Minister. If this is a precursor, then the situation in the event of NDA not getting a clear majority would be worse,” Mr Jaitley told newspersons here. The opposition already has six-seven leaders, Mr Jaitley said, claiming that the Congress had said it would not “tolerate” the third front. Pointing that the exit polls had brought to the centrestage the issues of leadership and stability, the BJP spokesperson said “We are a unified alliance with no debate over the leader and a common minimum programme already in place.” “There is no justification on the opposition saying that their leader as well as policies would be decided after the elections,” he added. Talking about the possibility of a third front government, Mr Jaitley said, “Where is the third front... The country has already experienced unstable governments. This tragedy should not be forced on the country again.” |
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Disqualify Hema from RS, Kalam urged Indore, May 1 In a complaint to the President sent yesterday in the form of a petition, copies of which were made available to the Press here today, the complainants, Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee’s minority cell’s vice-chairman Akthar Beg and Indore city Congress unit vice-president K.K. Mishra, alleged that Hema Malini in her papers as Rajya Sabha member had allegedly mentioned the name of ‘Deol Dharmendra’ as her husband, while they had not yet made “public” any information about their marital status. The complainants alleged that Hema Malini by providing “false and baseless” information about her marital status had committed a “fraud”. Meanwhile, in Bikaner, the vice-president of Congress legal cell Jagdish Prasad Sharma filed a similar complaint in a local court against Dharmendra seeking registration of a criminal case against him. The private complaint filed before Chief Judicial Magistrate Mahendra Singh by Sharma alleged that Dharmendra described himself as Hindu Jat Sikh while concealing that he had changed his religion before marrying actress Hema Malini.
— PTI |
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Drought-hit Maharashtra
embraces artificial rain Mumbai, May 1 The statewide cloud-seeding programme, named Project Varsha, follows successful trials in western Maharashtra last year, say state government officials. According to sources, results of cloud-seeding operations conducted in August and September last year in seven districts of western Maharashtra were encouraging, despite these being undertaken during the fag end of the monsoon. “We have invited global tenders from national and international bidders in cloud-seeding operations,” says Irrigation Secretary, Maharashtra, Mr S.V. Sodad. The entire process is likely to be completed by mid-May and the cloud-seeding process will begin from June. “Our experience has shown that cloud seeding can help increase rainfall by 20 per cent”, says Dr J.R. Kulkarni, Senior Scientist, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune. According to Dr Kulkarni, the institute has been conducting research in cloud seeding for 11 years and has reported encouraging results. He, however, added that the cloud-seeding operations must be undertaken in June and July when rain clouds are at their peak. The state government has already installed radars to detect rain-bearing clouds in the drought-affected areas of Baramati in western Maharashtra and at Buldana in the Vidarbha region. After the radars identify rain-bearing clouds, specially equipped airplanes spray hygroscopic salts into them. As a result water droplets in the clouds coalesce, become bigger and heavier, and thereby fall as rain. Though the rains were aplenty in most parts of the country last year, Maharashtra received deficient rainfall and 7,000 villages spread all over the state have been declared drought hit. However, reports from the state’s interiors indicate that the situation is far worse with the Maharashtra Government supplying water by tankers to villages in 28 of the state’s 35 districts. With crops drying up across the state, 11 lakh people, including once prosperous farmers, from 11 districts have queued up for food-for-work programmes undertaken by the Government. |
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Remand for one in PMT paper leak case New Delhi, May 1 He was brought here on transit remand and was produced before the Metropolitan Magistrate (M), Mr M.S. Chumbak. The magistrate granted five-day police remand to Mehrotra who was a classmate of prime accused Ranjit Verma at Nagpur medical college. The police alleged that Mehrotra had come to Delhi on April 9 to solve the question paper. Mehrotra had also filed an application for an interim bail to attend the heart operation of his mother. The court will hear his application on May 5. The accused were allegedly involved in selling the copies of question papers to 13 students for a price ranging between Rs 5,00,000 and Rs 8,00,000. The police suspects Ranjit had been involved in the racket for the past six or seven years. Two other accused, Vikash Verma and Rakesh Kumar Verma, were nabbed on April 10 from a place where the 13 students were held captive for the examination next morning. The students were given the solved question to memorise the answer and taken straight to the examination centres. All accused had been booked under Sections 408, 409, 420, 122 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code. |
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Special team to nab Best Bakery case accused
Vadodara, May 1 Police Commissioner S.K. Sinha said the team was free to travel to any part of the country to trace the accused, against whom non-bailable warrants were issued by a fast track court here on April 21 as per the apex court’s directives. The fast track court has sought a progress report on the execution of warrants, Mr Sinha said. The Supreme Court quashed the acquittal of the 18 accused on April 12, ordering a fresh probe and a retrial of the case in Maharashtra. Two of the 21 accused were arrested earlier. Dinesh Rajbhar and Tulsi Tadvi, arrested from Hanuman Tekri area where the bakery was located, were remanded to judicial custody. Their petition challenging the jurisdiction of the Vadodara court to issue warrants against them after the transfer of the case to Maharashtra was rejected. Senior advocate Rajendra Trivedi, who appeared for the accused in the trial court, said a petition would soon be filed in the Gujarat High Court challenging the Vadodara court’s jurisdiction to issue warrants and remand the accused to judicial custody.
— UNI |
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Ban on
smoking in force New Delhi, May 1 The government is also working on other aspects of the Act like prohibition of sale of tobacco products near educational institutions, mandatory depiction of statutory warning including pictorial warning on tobacco products and mandatory depiction of tar and nicotine content, Health Ministry officials said. These rules are likely to be ready in three months, but government would give some time to the industry before they actually come into force, they said. “The state governments have been asked to authorise people to implement the new provisions that came into force,” the officials said. There is a provision of Rs 200 fine or punishment for people who violate the rules and smoke in public places, they said.
— PTI |
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‘Healing touch’ has not touched them yet New Delhi, May 1 Noted Kashmiri Pandit poet Sarvanand Kaul ‘Premi’, who read the Koran and the Gita daily with equal reverence and translated the Bhagwad Gita and Tagore’s Gitanjali into Kashmiri language, was kidnapped, tortured and brutally killed by the terrorists in Anantnag district of Kashmir in 1990. His 14th death anniversary today passed off unnoticed except for a small function organised by his family members, friends and relatives. ‘Premi’ who was 64, was kidnapped by the terrorists from his house on the pretext of asking him “some questions”. The terrorists also took away all cash, jewellery and other valuables of the family. Premi’s 27-year-old son insisted on accompanying his aged father. Two days later, their bodies were found hanging from trees. The bodies bore tell-tale marks of torture. The part of the forehead between eyebrows where ‘Premi’ would apply ‘tilak’, was pierced by an iron rod and the skin peeled off. Both the bodies had marks of cigarette burns. Their limbs were broken, hair uprooted and eyes gouged out. They were later hanged and shot, to be sure that they were dead. ‘Premi’s’ fault was that he had dared to send a rejoinder to an article in a local newspaper written by a Jamat-i-Islami leader. In the article ‘Premi’ had criticised the idea of a fundamentalist state when compared to a secular state. ‘Premi’, a dedicated Gandhian, social worker and freedom fighter, had actively participated in ‘Quit India’ and ‘Quit Kashmir’ movements. His family members said they have no faith in the ongoing peace process in Kashmir and justice had eluded them. — UNI |
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MP Governor Gupta dead New Delhi, May 1 He was 82. Mr Gupta is survived by his wife Nirmal Devi, two daughters and three sons. He was admitted to the intensive care unit of AIIMS on April 21 and breathed his last today at 11.30 am following multi-organ and respiratory failure. Family members were present when the end came. President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam expressed grief over the death of Ram Prakash Gupta. “I pray to the Almighty to give you and your family the strength to bear this irreparable loss”, the President said in his message. Following the death of Mr Gupta, the Governor of
Chhattisgarh, Lt-Gen (Retd) K.M. Seth, has been given the additional charge of Madhya Pradesh, a Rashtrapati Bhavan comminique said. Born on October 26, 1923, in Sukwan Dhukwan village in Jhansi district of Uttar Pradesh, Mr Gupta started his political career in the early 1960s. He was elected as the Deputy Mayor of Lucknow in 1964. He also worked as the Education Minister in the Charan Singh Government and Industry Minister in the Ram Naresh Yadav Government in 1967 and 1977, respectively. CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Governor and Administrator of Chandigarh, Justice OP Verma (Retd), today expressed deep shock over the death of the Madhya Pradesh Governor and former Chief Minister of the Uttar Pradesh, Mr Ram Parkash Gupta. |
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Bail plea of Shivani murder accused rejected New Delhi, May 1 After perusing his medical records, Additional Sessions Judge Kanwal Inder Kaur said as per his medical reports, he was advised surgery for his ailment if symptoms worsen. “He has been advised physiotherapy and has been referred to physiotherapy. Thus it is not a case of advice of surgery,” the court said.
— PTI Lucknow, May 1 Special Judicial Magistrate (CBI) Shivani Jaiswal ordered Mr Tripathi’s release from jail after his lawyers pleaded for acceptance of the sureties furnished by him. The Magistrate had yesterday directed the CBI to verify the sureties furnished by Mr Tripathi before releasing him on bail as ordered by the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High
Court. — PTI |
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