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Modi govt showing arrogance, says SC
Modi takes potshots at Sonia |
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Cong rubbishes exit polls Priyanka not to campaign in last phase
Repoll ordered in 81 polling stations
EC seeks report on missing names
PM to round off campaign in Ludhiana
Russian engine to power HAL jet trainer
‘Maqbool’ wins best film award at Los Angeles
Book on Shivaji: HC allows probe
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72 militants surrender in Tripura
Agartala, May 6 The militants, including 22 women cadres, surrendered before Tripura Governor Dinesh Nandan Sahay at a function, where acting Chief Minister Anil Sarkar, his Cabinet colleagues and top civil and police officials, including Director-General of Police
G. M. Srivastava were present. They also surrendered a huge cache of arms and
ammunition. NLFT general secretary Montu Koloi, who led the surrendered ultras, said during their decade-long struggle they had realised that “the Indian Constitution is the ideal safeguard for the tribesmen and peace and prosperity of this state.” “Violence and unnecessary bloodshed have not served any purpose and we have decided to return to the national mainstream,” the rebel leader said and urged other militants to come
overground. The NLFT faction led by Koloi and Kamini Debbarma, had signed a tripartite agreement with the Centre and Tripura Government in New Delhi on April 15 in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani and senior Union and state government officials. DGP Srivastava said the surrendered militants would stay in government transit camps for about 12 months and would be provided vocational training before their rehabilitation. The NLFT faction is the second major militant group that surrendered before the government in the north-eastern region in the past five months. The Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT) had laid down their arms in Assam on December 6 last year.
— UNI |
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Modi govt showing arrogance, says SC
New Delhi, May 6 When Gujarat Government counsel Mukul Rohtagi pointed out to certain severe strictures in the judgement, which the state government had sought to be expunged, a Bench of Mr Justice Doraiswamy Raju and Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat said “it appears to be the arrogance on the part of the state” to come up with such a plea. Taking exception to the state government’s contention that the transfer order was passed by the apex court “suo motu” by going beyond the scope of the appeals even when there was no specific prayer for it, the Bench said “if this is the attitude of the state towards the Supreme Court, we can see what will happen in the high court and the trial courts.” On the plea of the Gujarat Government for expunging certain paras, in which the apex court had made stinging observation against its functionaries for their failure to protect the lives of innocent people and provide justice to the riot victims, the Bench said “we have not identified as who the persons are. But by this act you are identifying yourself.” “You seem to be giving an impression that we must take you into confidence about what we have to say in our order. We cannot be taken for ride like this,” the Bench observed. As the Gujarat Government counsel expressed regret for any of his argument if it had “hurt” the judges, the Bench said “it is not the question of out being hurt. You (the Gujarat Government) has hurt the institution.” At the very outset when the Gujarat Government came under fire from the court, its counsel was at loss for words as both Judges went on castigating the state for the manner the application for modification of the order was drafted. The Gujarat Government sought to expunge the portion of the judgement in which its functionaries were described as “modern day Neros” looking the other side when innocent people, including women and children were being burnt. Rohtagi, who was finally given an opportunity to make his plea, said neither the state government nor complainant Zahira Sheikh in her appeal had sought the transfer of the case outside Gujarat. |
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Modi takes potshots at Sonia Theog (Shimla), May 6 His 45-minute speech was mainly targeted against Ms Gandhi. He used comic expressions with effect to expose the foreign origin of Ms Gandhi with cleverly interpolated anecdotes. Mr Modi enthralled the audience like a comedian but with a political message. “Look what has happened to the Congress. The party which once swore by “Vande Matram” was today chanting “Vande Mata Rome”. “The party is being led by a person who cannot recite Vande Matram without a written script”, he said taking potshots at the Congress President. He said he was amused at Ms Gandhi’s sense of history. Only yesterday she asked where was the BJP when the Congress was waging a struggle against the British rule. What would she say if one asked her where was she when the “Jhansi ki Rani” was battling the British forces. Such stupid queries could be expected only from a person who was not well conversant with history of the country. Continuing with his witty speech, he said ask Congressmen about the family background and antecedents of Ms Gandhi. They know nothing about her but they want to hand over the reins of the government to her. These days one did not rent out even a room to anyone without verifying the antecedents, how could one think of entrusting the destiny of the country to such a person? he asked. He said he was not surprised that Ms Gandhi was not feeling the “feel good”. If a country progressed on the development front and emerged as a super-economic power only those who were emotionally attached to it would “feel good”. The Congress was a party on its way out and this might well happen after the current Lok Sabha poll. It had failed to make a comeback where even it lost power be it West Bengal, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh or Jammu and Kashmir. A similar situation was emerging at the national-level and Ms Gandhi might go down as the leader under whom the 120-year-old party won the minimum number of seat. Things had come to such a pass that it was not even in a position to contest a respectable number of seats. In Bihar it had put up just four candidates. The people had been fed up of the Congress rule long ago and they had tried to install non-Congress governments over the past 30 years. But ironically these were headed by leaders of the Congress origin and ideology and as such no visible change was felt. It was only the performance of the Vajpayee government over the past six years which made people realise that the Congress did little for them during its prolonged rule. They felt cheated. Mr Suresh Bhardwaj, state BJP chief, and Mr H.N. Kashyap, BJP candidate from Shimla seat, also addressed the rally. Our Correspondent adds from Solan: Asserting that the exit polls had exposed the claims of AICC chief Sonia Gandhi’s unanimous acceptance as Prime Minister, Narender Modi said merely within a week of exit poll results, as many as seven politicians had set their claim for the top post. Addressing an election rally in favour of the BJP nominee Mr H.N. Kashyap for Shimla parliamentary seat at Dharampur here today, he said the Congress nominee and former HVC MP D.R. Shandil for Shimla seat had joined the bandwagon of this clan. The rally was conspicuous by th eabsence of Mr Kashyap. Ridiculing Shandhil’s sudden change of party, he said he was apologetic for having appealed to the voters to vote for Shandil in the previous elections. Charging the Congress of destabilizing the nation, he said the party only furthered the political interest of one family and spared no efforts to oust successive governments at the Centre. Meanwhile, activists of the Youth Congress, led by state general secretary Sanjay Awasthy and district president Roshan Thakur, showed black flags to the cavalcade of Narender Modi at Dharampur and protested against his recent indecent outbursts against AICC chief Sonia Gandhi. |
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Cong rubbishes exit polls New Delhi, May 6 After a two-hour meeting of the party’s strategy committee, the Congress rubbished the exit polls results, making it amply clear that a secular non-NDA
secular alliance is all set to form the next government and the Congress will lead it. This is the first time the Congress has formally acknowledged that it is the leader of the alternative secular alliance though party insiders state this is an obvious fact. A written statement put out by the Congress today maintained that “a secular, non-NDA government led by the Congress party is now inevitable”. It said that after the third round of polling and keeping in view the expected trends of the May 10 elections, the Congress is convinced that the “people of India have decisively rejected the BJP-led NDA government. However, party spokespersons S. Jaipal Reddy and Abhishek Singhvi remained as ambivalent as ever on the issue of the leadership of alliance. They
reiterated the party line that the leader would be decided through a process of consensus after the elections. Congress leaders explained that the purpose of today’s statement was
two-fold. It wanted to send out a strong and unequivocal message to its cadres in states headed for polls on May 10 that they should not be demoralised by the latest exit poll results and that the Congress remains a strong contender for power at the Centre. The statement, it was said, was also a message to non-NDA parties, especially Samajwadi Party leader Mulayum Singh Yadav who has been
maintaining that all regional players, including those supporting the BJP, would form the next government. Besides issuing the morale-boosting statement, the strategy committee reviewed the party’s performance in the third phase, based on the feedback it received from its state units. The party, it was stated, had never hoped to do too well in this phase and the feedback it received matches its expectations. Senior leader Arjun Singh, it is learnt, told the committee that contrary to the exit poll results, the Congress would win at least least eight seats in Madhya Pradesh while
K. Natwar Singh, who has been camping in Rajasthan for the past 10 days, has given the Congress 10-12 seats in this state. The Congress and its allies are pinning their hopes on the last round of elections on May 10, when Kerala, West Bengal, Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu Himachal Pradesh and Delhi are among the states going to the polls. However, the last phase also includes another round in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, which are problem areas for the Congress. |
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Priyanka not to campaign in last phase New Delhi, May 6 A host of senior leaders have been deputed for the final assault. K. Natwar Singh, Sheila Dikshit, Meira Kumar and Rama Pilot have been sent to Madhya Pradesh while senior leaders Manmohan Singh and Ambika Soni are campaigning in Punjab and Sunil Dutt has been asked to concentrate on Haryana. Motilal Vora, Mohsina Kidwai along with Syed Shahbuddin, Obaidullah Axmi and Rashid Alvi have been lined up for Uttar Pradesh. This in addition to Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s back-to-back programmes. The party is also planning to seek RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav’s assistance, now that he is free from his own election. Party sources said Mr Yadav is expected to come to the Capital on Friday and may campaign for the Congress either in Punjab or Delhi. |
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Repoll ordered in 81 polling stations
New Delhi, May 6 About Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir, which witnessed poll-related violence, EC sources said the commission was awaiting reports from some of the Returning Officers and also studying the reports sent by others. A final decision on the number of polling stations where repoll would be held would be decided on Friday. The repoll would be held in Rajasthan (31), Uttar Pradesh (29), Madhya Pradesh (11), Arunachal Pradesh (2) and Nagaland (1), the poll panel said. The commission has not ordered repoll in any of the polling stations in Lucknow. In Rajasthasn, repolling will be held in 14 booths of Jhalawar from where Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje’s son is contesting. In Barmer, from where Finance Minister Jaswant Singh is contesting, repolling has been ordered in two polling booths. In Dausa, repolling has been ordered in nine booths. In Uttar Pradesh, repolling has been ordered in six polling stations in Mainpuri, from where Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav is contesting. Repolling will be held in one polling station of Allahabad from where HRD Minister M M Joshi is seeking reelection. Repolling has been ordered in nine polling booths of Khajuraho (Madhya Pradesh) and at two polling stations of Satna. The sources said the commission had directed the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary to post Mr H K Lohia, DIG (Administration), in Doda to supervise the security arrangements in the sensitive district in the strife-torn state of Jammu and Kashmir. Meanwhile, a Janata Dal (United) delegation, led by senior leader Sharad Yadav, today met the Election Commission and demanded repoll at 199 booths in Madhepura and 50 polling stations in the Sitamarhi Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar. After a meeting with the three-member commission, Mr Yadav, who contested against RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav in Madhepura, told reporters that while polling was peaceful in booths manned by paramilitary forces, at places where the Bihar police and Home Guard jawans were deployed, the polling was rigged. He alleged that the Block Development Officers (BDOs) of Udakishanganj and Singhehswar Assembly segments of Madhepura were found “openly helping” the ruling RJD. |
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EC seeks report on missing names
New Delhi, May 6 Chief Election Commissioner T. S. Krishna Murthy and two other
Commissioners taking cognizance of the story in The Tribune directed the CEO of Amritsar to submit his report on the missing names of persons by tomorrow. EC sources said the poll panel expressed surprise over the missing names of a large number of persons in Bagh Ramanand Mohalla. The report stated that of the 200 voters in the area, the names of 32 residents, including some of the office-bearers of the welfare association of the mohalla, were missing from the voters list even though they had the voter I-card. Bagh Ramanand Mohalla in Amritsar is not the only place in the country which has such cases of missing names. During the earlier three phases of polling in different parts of the country, several persons were forced to return without casting their vote as their names were missing on the voters list. |
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PM to round off campaign in Ludhiana
New Delhi, May 6 SAD chief and former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has persuaded Mr Vajpayee to pay another visit to the sensitive border state before campaigning ends at 5 pm on May 8. Mr Badal has spoken to the Prime Minister in this regard and Mr
Vajpayee has agreed to be present in Ludhiana on Saturday afternoon for a joint rally. Mr Badal believes that Mr Vajpayee’s presence in Punjab as the BJP-led NDA’s mascot 48 hours before the actual polling in the state can bolster the SAD-BJP combine’s efforts to garner the maximum number of seats out of a tally of 13. Meanwhile, the BJP today appealed to the Election Commission to take “necessary precaution” in Punjab and West Bengal where it feared problems from Congress-led and Left government’s administrative machinery, respectively. BJP President M Venkaiah Naidu said today here that this was needed as the Punjab Chief Minister was “notoriously known for misusing” the administration while the authorities in West Bengal had got a “long record of scientific rigging”. He also sought extra paramilitary forces in Uttar Pradesh as he apprehended that the ruling Samajwadi party in the state could indulge in electoral malpractices. With the last phase of polling mostly in states considered non-NDA bastions, the BJP today decided to depute senior leaders to the election-bound states. Mr L.K. Advani, Mr Yashwant Sinha and Mr Venkaiah Naidu will be campaigning in the South, Mr Jaswant Singh is being deputed to North-Eastern states and West Bengal. Law Minister Arun Jaitley is being sent to Punjab while Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhare Raje has been asked to canvass for the party in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. Party general-secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has been asked to take care of Muslim-dominated areas of Rampur, Bijnor, Bareilly and Moradabad. Besides Jaswant Singh, the party has deputed party vice-president Pyarelal Khandelwal and Bapu Apte to look into organisational matters in the North-Eastern states and West Bengal. Party general-secretary Sanjay Joshi has been deputed to oversee organisational functioning in Uttar Pradesh till the end of polling. |
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Suspected ISI agent held
New Delhi, May 6 The West Bengal Police had arrested one Mohammad Mazharul Haque, alias Nazzar (34), a resident of Bihar. Based on information provided by him, Mohammad Kamran of Bihar was nabbed from Malviya Nagar this morning. The police had seized defence documents, photographs of Danapur Cantonment and other sensitive installations from Nazzar in West Bengal. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Ashok Chand said during interrogation, Kamran said his job in Delhi was to set up base and collect money through hawala from his mentors in Pakistan. |
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Russian engine to power HAL jet trainer
Bangalore, May 6 The engine, known as the AL-55 I, has many commonalities with the famous Lyulka-Saturn thrust vectoring engine AL-31 FP, powering the Sukhoi-30 MKI. The IJT’s first flight in March, 2003, was with a Larzac O4-H20 engine made by the French Snecma Moteurs, which used to power the twin-engined Alpha Jet advanced trainer. While the IJT was generally well-received, not least because it took just 21 months for HAL to move from ‘‘metal-cutting’’ to “first flight” in a general scenario of much-delayed gestation periods, one key inadequacy that was noted was that the engine was not sufficiently powerful. Snecma had proposed to develop a more powerful version of the same Larzac, but the cost factor became “alarming” in the words of HAL’s Chairman N.R. Mohanty. He told The Tribune: “We decided to invite bids, and the Russian proposal was much cheaper.” India already has a deal with Saturn-Lyulka to produce the AL-31 FPs at HAL’s Koraput division, as part of the $ 3.3 billion deal to produce under licence 140 Sukhoi - 30 MKIs in India. The AL-55 I will also be made at Koraput. Its modular engine, and like the AL-31FP, has single crystal blades which can survive high thermal stress. It generates 1727 kg of thrust, and has a thrust to weight ratio of 5.59. Even a small 12 to 15 per cent of extra thrust can make enormous difference, especially in a training aircraft being flown by rookie pilots. Mr Mohanty said under the deal, HAL will have all rights over the engine, including the right to export it. “It will be completely ours.” The second prototype of the IJT flew recently on March 26, 2004, with HAL Chief Test Pilot Sqn Ldr Baldev Singh and Sqn Ldr S. Sapra, and the two prototypes between them have completed over 50 flights.. HAL has an order for a Limited Series Production (LSP) of 12 IJTs, while the final order is expected to be around 200. The IJT was designed and developed in a record time, benefiting from many of the technologies being developed for the
LCA. |
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Maqbool wins best film award at Los Angeles
New Delhi, May 6 The five-day festival, which concluded on April 18 with the screening of Sudhir Misra’s much-acclaimed
Hazaaron Khwahishen Aisi, also paid rich tributes to National Award winning actress Kiron Kher, whose films
Bariwali and Khamosh Pani were also screened at the fete. The stupendous response to the screening of Rituparno Ghosh’s
Chokher Bali, which was the opening film at the five-day festival, was undoubtedly one of the standout events of the fete, organisers told UNI. The screening at ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood, the official venue of the fete, was followed by a gala reception where the Indian participants at the IFFLA, including filmmaker Sudhir Mishra (whose
Hazaaron Khwahishen Aisi was the closing film at the fete), filmmaker Manish Jha (of
Matrubhoomi-A Nation Without Women fame), short filmmakers Anuj Majumdar (Equation), Dishad Husain (Holly Bolly), Prashant Bhargava (Sangam) and Keshni Kashyap (Hole), held discussions with Hollywood personalities.
— UNI |
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Book on Shivaji: HC allows probe
Mumbai, May 6 A Bench of Justice S. Radhakrishna and Justice R. S. Mohite vacated a stay on investigations launched by the Maharashtra Government against US-based author James Laine and Oxford Printing Press which published the book — Shivaji : Hindu King in Islamic India. The court’s order, however, came after counsel for the government gave an undertaking that the police would not arrest the printer and publisher of the controversial book. The book was banned by the government earlier this year after the Sambhaji Brigade, a Pune-based organisation claiming to be represent the Maratha community, attacked the well-known Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) in that town. Researchers from the institute had helped Laine in writing the book. According to the opponents of the book, they were opposed to references which allegedly questioned the paternity of Shivaji Maharaj. In its deposition before the Bombay High Court, the government held that such references hurt the sentiments of the people of the state. |
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