New Delhi, May 6
The three-day annual congress of the Telugu Desam Party is expected to discuss a non-Congress, non-BJP third alternative, the effect of the continuing alliance with the BJP at the state level and the political strategy to be adopted for the next year.

The congress (Mahanadu) beginning on May 28 in Hyderabad will be crucial in determining the party’s future strategy if the first instance of the TDP’s action of going all alone in ending the boycott of Parliament is any indication.

The TDP, which was part of the United Front government, did not join the BJP-led NDA government while extending outside support to it. The party, which fought the Assembly poll in alliance with the BJP, lost power and there is a demand for ending the alliance as it is proving to be a liability.

So far, the third alternative has not figured in the party’s agenda. There is still time. If some members bring up this issue, it will certainly be discussed,” Mr K. Yerran Naidu, leader of the Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party, told The Tribune.

He said there was talk of a third front/alternative by Left parties and the Samajwadi Party. They were of the view that it should be a formation on an ideological basis and not an alliance for electoral benefits.

“The Congress is the main enemy in Andhra Pradesh. The alliance with the BJP to contest the election started only after the 12th Lok Sabha. Then also we insisted that it should drop controversial issues like the Ram Temple, the Common Civil Code and Article 370. Our alliance with the BJP is based on the common minimum programme without these contentious issues,” he said.

In the party congress, the TDP would also discuss the current political situation in the country, especially the role of Governors in the wake of incidents in Goa and Jharkhand.

“The TDP believes that the Governor’s post should be abolished. Indira Gandhi to Sonia Gandhi all have used and abused the Governor’s office for their own political ends. Goa and Jharkhand are the recent examples of how the Centre used the Governor’s office for their political mileage,” Mr Naidu said.

Mr Naidu said the party would support economic reforms with a human face. The TDP leader, however, stated that the party would oppose investment of the pension fund in equity and favoured the status quo on the issue.

“It is the savings of the people for the rainy day. How can it be invested in the share market and what is the guarantee that the investors’ money would not be lost?” he asked.

The TDP’s decision is a shot in the arm of the Left parties, which have threatened to vote against the Bill as they are in principle against the investment of the pension fund in equity.

On the Banking Regulation Bill, which is expected to be introduced next week, Mr Naidu said the party had not given a thought about it. However, he said the party would not support any legislation which was dictated by World Bank and multilateral agencies, and which affected the interests of the poor and farmers in the country.

On Vat, he said the party supported it, but was not happy in the way in which it was being pushed by the UPA government. “They should build consensus on it, address the grievances of the parties concerned and dispel the misgivings,” he said.

Under pressure from the TRS, the UPA has constituted a committee to consider the demand for the formation of a Telengana state. The TDP leader said Andhra Pradesh was one of the first states to be formed on linguistic lines and there was no justification for further division of the state. “We will oppose it at all costs as we are against the formation of small states as they weaken the federal principle,” he added.

New Delhi, May 6
The Lok Sabha today adopted the Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill 2005 aimed at removing the anomalies existing in the Money Laundering Act 2002.

The Bill, intends to prevent money laundering, provides that the chairperson or a member of any other tribunal may be appointed the chairperson or a member of the Appellate Tribunal under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002.

It also provides that a police officer would investigate an offence only after he has been specifically authorised by the Central Government. It omits the clause (a) of sub-section 1 of section 45 of the 2002 Act which provides that every offence punishable under the Act shall be cognizable.

Replying to the discussion on the Bill, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the earlier Act, which had been enacted as per the direction of the UN General Assembly declaration to prevent money laundering, had certain lacunae which needed to be removed. 

New Delhi, May 6
As the world leadership converges in Russia on May 9 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Allies’ victory in the Second World War, there is a discernible disquiet among diplomats of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) which were a part of the Soviet Union till its collapse in 1992.

The grand, global celebrations scheduled in Moscow early next week, where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would be representing India, had raised a worrying spectre among the CIS diplomatic community here that the CIS countries’ role in Allies’ victory in World War II was being ignored.

The CIS countries’ diplomats here asserted that it was not as if that today’s Russia had won the war for the Soviet Union of 60 years ago and argued that the CIS countries played a vital role in the World War II (1941-45). Apart from Russia, the following ten countries constituted the CIS grouping: Armenia, Azerbaizan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

On June 22, 1941, Germany invaded the territory of the USSR which commenced the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people against the invaders. In the first five months, Germany occupied 40 per cent of the territory of USSR, where 68 per cent of cast iron, 58 per cent of steel and aluminium, 65 per cent coal and 40 per cent railroad equipment were produced.

Outcome of war depended mainly on how fast “war-time economy” would be set to work by total relocation of production powers to the East. The scale and timeframe of the operation was unprecedented in world history.

In the areas where enemy’s seizure was expected, 1.5 million railroad wagons or 30,000 special goods trains were passed. Nine out of 10 bullets produced in the whole of Soviet Union came from Kazakhstan alone. During June to December 1941, 1530 bases of large production units and workshops were re-based into the rear areas of the Soviet Union with more than 200 of them to Kazakhstan, 30 to Kyrgyzstan, around 100 to Uzbekistan and 20 were based in Tajikistan.

New Delhi, May 6
The CBI today carried out countrywide raids at 34 places, including 26 in connection with a disproportionate assets case against a Joint Secretary-rank official of the Income Tax Department.

The raids were conducted at 11 places in Delhi, Eight in Alwar (Rajasthan), five in Port Blair (Andaman and Nicobar Islands), three each in Jaipur and Mumbai, two in Kolkata, one in Pondicherry and one in Ahmedabad, a CBI press note said here.

A case has been registered against B P Meena, an IRS official of 1980 batch, for allegedly acquiring a large number of immovable properties, mostly benami, in the name of his brother and his wife with the help of conduits in Mumbai, Delhi and Jaipur.

The raids against Meena, posted as Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeal-13) here, were carried out in Delhi, Alwar, Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Mumbai.

In another case, the CBI booked the then Collector (land acquisition) of Port Blair V Candavelou, an IAS Officer of 1997 batch, former Land Acquisition Collectors S A Awardi (a DANICs official), Ramachander (retired), Executive Engineer of Andaman Public Works Department Srinivasan, Chairman and Assistant General Manager, Andaman Timber Company, Harish Khaitan and A.N. Chengappa, respectively, for allegedly causing loss to the Government exchequer to the tune of Rs 8.70 crore.

New Delhi, May 6
Taking cognizance of Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Sarswathi’s petition for transfer of the trial in a murder case against him outside Tamil Nadu on the grounds of alleged “interference” by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa through some police officers, the Supreme Court today issued notice to the state government asking it to submit its reply to the plea of the seer.

A Bench of Chief Justice, R.C. Lahoti, Mr Justice D.M. Dharmadhikari and Mr Justice G.P. Mathur accepted the petition of the Shankaracharya for hearing after his counsel Fali S. Nariman said the “trial was being conducted in a highly surcharged atmosphere under the presence of a large contingent of the police in the courtroom.”

Mr Nariman said senior advocate K.S. Dinakaran, who appeared for the seer during the last hearing, was virtually threatened by special investigating team (SIT) chief Prem Kumar in the open court.

Prem had prompted co-accused Ravi Subramaniam, who has turned an approver, to name Shankaracharya’s counsel Shanmugham also in the case while his statement was being recorded, Mr Nariman said.

Notices were also issued to SIT chief Prem Kumar and at least 12 other accused persons.

“About 50 gun-totting police personnel had been allowed to pack the courtroom during the trial proceedings, which has virtually creating an atmosphere of terror inside it, which is against the basic principle of a free and fair trial,” Mr Nariman contended.

Since the matter had been committed to the Sessions trial by the Chief Judicial Magistrate and the Additional Sessions Judge, the case required to be transferred for trial to some other state in such circumstances, he argued.

Mr Nariman said though the Shankaracharya had filed a petition for stay of the trial in the present conditions in the state, he would not press for it at this stage and would like the court to form its own opinion.

New Delhi, May 6
Former Miss Jammu Anara Gupta today approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and demanded the arrest of two senior police officers named in an FIR regarding her alleged illegal detention in the porn CD case.

Accompanied by her mother, Raj Rani, and maternal uncle, Sanjoy Sachdev, Anara submitted her petition to the NHRC Registrar-General Ajit Bharihoke.

Ms Raj Rani told mediapersons that the NHRC Registrar-General accepted her petition. “He has assured her that the NHRC will look into the matter and a meeting will be held on Monday to discuss her case.”

Anara has alleged that two senior police officers — Kamal Saini, the then SSP (Jammu) and Prabhat Singh, the then SP (Jammu), who were named in the FIR, were allowed to go scot free without even a suspension.

“Saini is now a Commandant of a Battalion in Jammu and Kashmir and Prabhat Singh is a senior officer at the Police Headquarters in Jammu and no action has been taken against them,’’ Ms Raj Rani said.

Mumbai, May 6
The Mumbai police today arrested Mr V.P. Shetty, Chairman, Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), for abusing Dalits, particularly Babasaheb Ambedkar.

The police arrested him after the Bombay High Court ordered the authorities to take cognizance of a complaint filed against him by a senior manager of the institution.

Mr Shetty was, however, released on a bail of Rs 10,000.

In his complaint against Mr Shetty, IDBI General Manager Bhaskar W. Ramteke alleged that the former had abused him, Ambedkar and the Dalits in general.

Mr Ramteke filed a police complaint against Mr Shetty on April 30, days after the incident. Mr Ramteke alleged that Mr Shetty flared up at him during a discussion to fill the backlog in posts reserved for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates.

Mr Justice R.M.S. Khandeparkar and Mr Justice P.V. Kakade, who heard Mr Shetty’s petition ruled that the cognizance be taken under Sections 7 (1) (D) of the Civil Rights Protection Act, 1955, which deals with the protection of civil rights of the citizen.

The High Court, however, quashed the charge under Section 3 (1) (10) of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989), saying the alleged offence had taken place within the Chairman’s chamber and not in public view.