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Centre to discuss tainted ministers’ issue in House
CBI raid: Haryana officer moves
SC
Cong ‘disturbed’ over outcome of exit
polls
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Minor raped: principal, 3 others remanded
People’s League chief held with fake currency
Taslima welcome to Bengal: CM
3,500 poor villagers reconvert to
Hinduism
Naxalites attack RJD’s office
Former UNI Editor dead
FIR against Paswan
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Centre to discuss tainted ministers’ issue in House
New Delhi, February 18 After recording the statement of Solicitor- General G. E. Vahanvati regarding the government’s commitment about placing the matter before
Parliament for consideration, a Bench of Mr Justice N. Santosh Hegde, Mr Justice S. B. Sinha and Mr Justice A. K. Mathur said it would be “premature” to admit the petition in view of the Centre’s statement. Without specifying any time limit for placing the matter before Parliament, the Solicitor -General said even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had made a statement that the issue would be debated in
Parliament. He said this was a “sensitive issue” and should not be a subject matter of a public interest litigation (PIL), filed by Manoj Narula. In its affidavit, the UPA government said “as and when the occasion arises the matter will certainly be considered and debated in Parliament”, putting the blame on Opposition parties for not allowing parliamentary discussion on the issue due to “disruption” of both the Houses when it was earlier raised there. The court had revived Mr Narula’s PIL on September 23 last year after he filed a petition for review of July 16 order rejecting his petition on the ground that the “tainted” ministers’ issue was already before Parliament. Mr Narula’s counsel Anil Jha made a strong plea to continue with the petition, in which he had questioned the inclusion of Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav, Mohammed Taslimuddin, M. A. Fatmi and Jai Prakash Yadav (all RJD) and Shibu Soren of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in the Council of Ministers and sought their removal. Mr Jha while admitting that there was though no “explicit” provision in the law to debar inclusion of charge-sheeted person in the ministry, he said this posed a serious threat to the Constitution and the democracy . “Can we see a situation that a person who is chargesheeted for waging a war against the country could be included in the ministry merely for reasons that the law does not have any such bar,” Mr Jha pointed out. When the court specifically asked the counsel whether he could “establish” a case on fact on the issue raised by him, Mr Jha said “Laloo Prasad’s case is a living example as he has been charge-sheeted in several fodder scam cases.” The most important question arising out of the inclusion of “tainted ministers” in UPA Government is that “If a person has violated the oath of office by indulging in criminal activities when being a minister on an earlier occasion, can he be eligible to take the oath again,” the petitioner’s counsel asked. At this the Bench observed that the government has filed a counter affidavit, making a statement that the issue would be raised in Parliament. “Let it be debated in
Parliament and if you are not satisfied, you can come back to the court,” the Bench told Mr Jha. |
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CBI raid: Haryana officer moves
SC
New Delhi, February 18 Sanjiv Kumar’s counsel, Ms Kamini Jaiswal, made a special mention before a Bench of Mr Justice D.M. Dharmadhikari and Mr Justice B.N. Srikrishna about his moving an application raising the issue of the CBI raid and the agency trying to “implicate” him for his “refusal” to pay a bribe of Rs 55 lakh to one of its SP, who allegedly had demanded it for closing the inquiry against him. Ms Jaiswal alleged that the CBI action was aimed at “circumventing” the ongoing hearing on his petition on teachers’ appointment scam as well as his petition for transfer of the SP’s bribery issue from the Delhi High Court to the apex court. In his application, the officer said after “dropping” the name of Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala from the FIR in the teachers’ job scam, the said SP had approached him through two “touts” demanding Rs 55 lakh in July last year and he had recorded their conversation in an audio tape, which he had sent to the CBI Director. The court posted the application for hearing on February 21, when his original petition would be taken up by it. While CBI yesterday had claimed that it had recovered assets worth over Rs 2 crore from Sanjiv Kumar, he in the application contested the agency’s claim saying it was only aimed at “implicating” him. “The CBI with the purpose of implicating him, raided the premises of two property dealers through whom the flat (in Delhi) in which he is residing for security reasons was purchased by his father and brother, a British citizen,” he said. He alleged that the agency was now threatening the property dealers if they did not implicate him and he has nothing to do with the recovery of shares worth crores of rupees as claimed by the CBI as they belonged to “another of his acquaintance whose house was also raided.” |
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Cong ‘disturbed’ over outcome of exit
polls
New Delhi, February 18 Congress President Sonia Gandhi has held an urgent stock-taking session with her senior colleagues following internal reports that the party may not even touch 20 seats, has decided to intensify its poll campaign for the third and final phase. Congress sources said reports of its own poor performance and substantial losses being forecast for Laloo Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has raised doubts about the possibility of installing a UPA government in Bihar. In a last-ditch effort to boost its numbers, the party leadership identified 10 assembly seats in the Siwan, Champaran and Patna
districts, which, it believes, are borderline cases and could be won if it puts in some extra effort. Ten present and former MPs, including Jagmeet Singh Brar, Sajjan Kumar, Ajay Maken, Bharat Singh Solanki and Jai Prakash, have been given special charge of each of these constituencies. Ms Gandhi herself is scheduled to visit Patna and Raghunathpur (Siwan) in Bihar for the final leg of campaigning on February 19. In addition, a host of senior leaders, including AICC treasurer Motilal Vora, Union Minister Arjun Singh, Shankarsinh Vaghela, Ram Naresh Yadav and Sriprakash Jaiswal, have been rushed to Bihar to boost the campaign. Congress sources said the AICC leadership was panicking over the latest reports as it will place the party at a clear disadvantage in the post-poll scenario. The Congress had hoped to increase its tally to at least 30 seats, which would have ensured that in case of a hung assembly, the RJD would be critically dependent on it for the formation of the new government. In addition, it have helped contain the RJD chief at the Centre. As things have turned out, there is no guarantee about the formation of a UPA government itself. “If we do not touch 20, all these plans will go awry. If we do not get sufficient numbers, where’s the possibility of a secular alliance forming the next government,” explained a senior Congress leader. As the election campaign progressed, there has been a growing realisation in the Congress that it over estimated its strength in Bihar and that its plans to revive the grand old party are unlikely to materialise. In fact, the Congress strategy to go in for friendly contests with the RJD and have a tacit alliance with Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) has not helped. The Congress failed to attract the “anti Laloo” voters, who believe that a vote for it is tantamount to a vote for the RJD as the two parties would eventually join hands after the elections. Mr Paswan, on the other hand, is perceived as an alternative to Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav because of his unambiguous and strident anti-Laloo campaign. |
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Cong plans public meeting
in Goa today
New Delhi, February 18 Union ministers Mani Shankar Aiyer and Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, AICC functionaries Randeep Surejewala and Bharatsinh Solanki and Mumbai Congress chief Gurudas Kamat have been drafted to place the Congress viewpoint before the people at a especially-planned public rally in Goa tomorrow. AICC General Secretary Margaret Alva called an urgent meeting here today to discuss this issue following the Goa unit’s report that the BJP had
succeeded, to some extent, in projecting itself as an aggrieved party. Several senior BJP
leaders, including its President L.K.Advani, Jaswant Singh and Arun
Jaitely, have visited Goa recently with the specific purpose of launching a frontal attack against the Congress for the manner in which it toppled the BJP government. They have also questioned the role of Governor S.C.Jamir for the haste he displayed in dismissing the Parrikar Ministry and swearing in the Congress Government. Goa Congress leaders found themselves at a loss as they were unable to take on the BJP’s high-profile leaders. The Congress, therefore, decided to counter the BJP campaign by organising a public rally where its senior leaders are expected to put the record straight. While defending the Governor, they will instead charge the BJP for manipulating the numbers in the assembly by “misusing the Speaker’s office.” “Besides placing our viewpoint before the people, this will also be an opportunity to show our strength in public prior to the trust vote on February 24,” explained an AICC leader. Although Congress leaders are putting up a brave
face, saying they will sail through the trust vote, the party actually finds itself skating on very thin
ice. It has 18 MLAs in the 38-member assembly and this includes Mr. Fillipe Neri
Rodrigues, who faces disqualification by the Speaker for switching parties. Jaipur, February 18 The MLAs and few office-bearers were taken to a resort hotel on the Jaipur-Delhi bypass road escorted by the police after they landed at the Sanganer airport last night, police sources said. Speaking to reporters, MLA Vinay Tendulkar and party state unit office-bearer Govind Parvarkar said the group would try to call on the President to brief him about the political situation in Goa.—UNI |
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Minor raped: principal, 3 others remanded
New Delhi, February 18 The school students, their parents and teachers of various schools have widely condemned the rape incident of a 16-year-old student involving a Principal of a government school, Vice-Principal of Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, West Patel Nagar, and their two businessmen friends. Some parents of the students have expressed shock over the involvement of top authorities of the two schools. "If Principals and Vice-Principals are committing such offences then who can we believe and where can we send our children for education ?," questioned the mother of a student. The accused had lured the victim to a Haryana guesthouse in the Samaipur Badli area, in the North-West district, last week and raped her the entire night. They then left the victim the next morning and threatened her of dire consequences if she disclosed the incident to anyone. But sensing something serious, when her parents insisted on knowing about her whereabouts in the night, the victim broke down and narrated the incident to her parents. The victim's father works as a gate keeper in a factory. The victim's brother after consulting a lawyer in the Tis Hazari Court, later lodged a complaint with the police and the accused were arrested. The medical examination of the victim also confirmed that she had been raped. The accused took the girl in the car to the guesthouse on the pretext of arranging her a certificate for the board exams. The accused was accompanied by Vice-Principal Ved Prakash Sharma (52), and their businessmen friends Jagdish (35) and Om Prakash (45), were joined later in the guest house. |
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People’s League chief held with fake currency
New Delhi, February 18 The accused leader has been identified as Sheikh Abdul Aziz (53), a resident of Pampore, Srinagar. Acting on a secret information that he would be visiting the Pakistan High Commission for collecting the funds and utilising the same in Jammu and Kashmir, the sleuths nabbed the accused while he was travelling in a car near Yashwant Place. Joint Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Karnal Singh said the sleuths were verifying as to from which official he received the money. He also said that their main aim was to circulate fake currency in Jammu to destabilise the Indian currency. During interrogation, Aziz told the sleuths that he came to Delhi on February 16 by a Jet Airways flight accompanied by his party worker and stayed in a South Delhi hotel. Later on February 17, he visited the Pakistan High Commission for collecting the funds from a contact. Aziz said he had been actively involved in political life for liberation of Kashmir since 1974 and became the Supreme Commander of Al Jehad in 1992. Later he was arrested by the Jammu Police in May, 1993, under the Public Safety Act of J & K and remained in jail till August, 2000. —
TNS & UNI |
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Taslima welcome to Bengal: CM
Kolkata, February 18 Mr Bhattacharjee has been an admirer of Taslima though he recently banned her controversial novel published by a Kolkata publisher as had hurt the religious sentiments of the Muslims. In her prayer to the Home Minister, Taslima said she had been a frequent visitor to India on a tourist visa but henceforth she would like to live in the country permanently as a citizen. She expressed her desire to stay in Kolkata. |
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3,500 poor villagers reconvert to
Hinduism
Lucknow, February 18 Admitting that such a ceremony had indeed taken place in villages barely “10 to 15 km” from the district headquarters, District Magistrate R.P. Shukla told TNS that “religious conversion was a personal decision”. Pleading ignorance about the sequence of events, the DM said he was away to Lucknow on the fateful day and had learnt about it from a local newspaper. According to the DM, these families had been Hindus “some 30 years ago” and “their recoversion was not such an issue for the administration”. The inquiry was to check if there was any coercion involved in the exercise. It was also to ascertain if permission had been sought from the block administration for such a gathering, informed the DM. According to sources, the villagers, mostly dalits and backwards, were Kasona, Bamhai, Kachpura,Vasundhara, Faridpur, Fapatu, Abhijuri, Firsat, Bhojpur, Gopalpur, Kheda, Uroan, Mobri, Tolapur, Belraun, Viriya and Bijuri. An influential VHP leader Mr Manoj Joshi who orchestrated the “shudhi” ceremony has charged that the Christian clergy had lured the poverty-ridden villagers by promising them financial security. Calling the “shudhi” ceremony an endeavur to bring them back to the Hindu mainstream, Mr Joshi alleged that Christian religion had given them neither financial security nor social status. However, a statement issued by Father Prakash of the Catholic Diocese of Lucknow has appealed to the people “to exercise caution” in the face of VHP allurement. |
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Naxalites attack RJD’s office
Motihari, February 18 Heavily-armed Naxalites stormed the offices of the RJD and the LJP at Patahi in the district and burnt the offices last night, the police said. No casualty was reported. —
PTI |
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Former UNI Editor dead
New Delhi, February 18 Popularly known as “KKD,” Mr Duggal is survived by his wife and two daughters. |
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FIR against Paswan
Patna, February 18 The case was lodged with the Lalganj police station in Vaishali district against Mr Paswan and Mr Shukla charging them with having participated in “an unlawful assembly and disobeying an order promulgated by a public servant and violation of model code”, the police said. Mr Paswan, who is Union Chemicals and Fertiliser Minister, on February 14 had addressed a meeting near
Lalganj. |
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