New Delhi, February 14
The Congress top brass, including party chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, met on Monday to chalk out the party’s strategy for the forthcoming Budget Session.

In its first interaction after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee convened an all-party meeting last week to break the logjam in Parliament over the Opposition’ demand for a JPC probe into the 2G Spectrum issue, the Congress core group is understood to have discussed “the meeting ground” on the contentious issue. The party has almost conceded the demand of a JPC. Modalities are being worked out.

Party sources say talks are still on and any in-principal decision will only be announced after modalities are ironed out. However, they also indicate that the Congress is not averse to a JPC probe provided the Opposition agrees to a prior debate and terms of reference for such an enquiry.

A senior Congress leader said the party was keen to see the Budget session begin on a smooth note.

“It is important for us that the Parliament runs. If the cost of running the party is a JPC, then the demand could be conceded to. But first the modalities have to be worked out, like should there be a discussion and whether the probe should begin from 1994 or 1998. What will the JPC look into, the issue need to be deliberated otherwise it will be an exercise in redundancy because matter has already gone too far,” he explained

Maintaining that the Opposition has a lot to answer, the Congress is keen that such a probe should also cover the BJP-led NDA’s stint. And as an example it is citing the CBI summons to Telecom Minister in the NDA rule Arun Shourie.

The party, however, would like to keep the S-band issue away from any such probe. Claiming it is “no scam”, Congress leaders explain that the Antix Corporation and Devas Multimedia deal was on an “all-together different footing”.

Meanwhile, party spokesperson Manish Tewari said: “Democratic institutions must be allowed to function...What modus operandi ...it is for the Government and the opposition to work it out”. Tewari said the Congress had been consistently demanding a debate in Parliament on the issue and the Opposition should not run away from a debate.

“The demand for a JPC probe should not become a subterfuge to run away from debate. Debate on the floor of the House is a fair, legitimate and just demand,” he added.

Interestingly, ruling circles feel a section of the opposition could still disrupt Parliament even if a JPC is agreed to. Corruption and inflation are two major issues that the Opposition will still use to attack the UPA government.

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has convened a meeting of all political parties on February 20 on the eve of the Budget session to make it a smooth affair. Mukherjee is also expected to meet leaders of various parties ahead of the session to resolve the issue. The Finance Minister had assured Opposition leaders last week that he would get back to them after consulting the Prime Minister.

Today’s Congress meeting also assumes significance as the government has to decide on the Bills to be brought in the upcoming session and give finishing touches to the Budget. Mukherjee is meeting party leaders at the AICC headquarters tomorrow to seek suggestions on the Budget.

New Delhi, February 14
The accusations by former Telecom Minister in NDA government Arun Shourie that his party leaders failed to “effectively” raise the 2G Spectrum issue with the UPA government has stirred a hornet’s nest in the BJP.

Shourie would be quizzed by the CBI on February 21 in connection with the 2G scam. The BJP leader had last week accused party leaders Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj, besides Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the CBI, of not following up on his leads in the scam in 2009 with the “required zeal”.

For its part, the BJP today released the statement made by Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley on July 23, 2009, then charging the Telecom Ministry of “wrongfully causing pecuniary benefit to private parties and in effect committing an act of corruption”.

Therefore, Shourie’s claim has been contradicted by his own party.

Initially, the party tried to ignore the accusations, with BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad saying that “his party was the first to raise the 2G scam with all the fervour required”.

Today, BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said: “We don’t want to go on a tangent. We have concentrated fully on this issue. He (Shourie) is an intellectual, journalist. As a former minister, he probably feels that the party should have come out in his defence more forcefully.”

But this explanation did not seem to satisfy either Shourie or Jaitley. Shourie told The Tribune over the phone: “I don’t know why the same question (whether BJP leaders spoke to him or not) is being asked again and again.”

Jaitley supporters also seemed dissatisfied with the weak defence of their leader by the party. Therefore, the BJP has released Jaitley’s speech given on July 23, 2009, in the Rajya Sabha on the issue. “There is no reason why the guilty in this case are not investigated and prosecuted for having conferred a huge pecuniary advantage on private persons while causing wrongful loss to the Government of India though this criminal misconduct,” Jaitley had said.

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 14
In the first of its kind protest, the Kerala Assembly today passed a resolution alleging that Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan was slighted during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent visit to the state.

The unusual resolution moved by Law Minister M Vijayakumar was approved amid a walkout by the Congress-led UDF Opposition after a nearly hour-long heated exchanges between the ruling LDF and Opposition members. It also decided to apprise the Centre of the state’s resentment over the manner in which the 87-year-old CPM veteran was ignored during Manmohan Singh's three-day visit from February 10.

The matter raised by Anathalavattom Anandan (CPM) through a submission virtually turned into a debate with Achuthanandan and some of his Cabinet colleagues narrating their experiences during the Prime Minister's visit.

Achuthanandan said he was not provided a room at the Taj hotel at Kochi where the PM stayed overnight on arrival on February 10. LDF members alleged that in an insult to the state as a whole the Chief Minister's name was also not inscribed on the plaque which was unveiled by Manmohan Singh at the inauguration of the international terminal of the airport here. They also said the media advertisement for the inauguration of the Vallarpadam transhipment terminal did not have the Chief Minister's picture.

The Congress lashed out at Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan for sparking a row over the Prime Minister’s vist to Kerala. “They are blowing silly things out of proportion. I pity them. The Congress strongly deplores this campaign,” KPCC president Ramesh Cehnnithala told reporters. — PTI

Mumbai, February 14
For the first time in several years, Valentine's Day (V-Day) was peaceful in Mumbai. The Shiv Sena, which played the role of moral policemen disrupting celebrations and heckling couples on the city streets, was lying low. The word was out in party circles that Aditya Thackeray, the grandson of party supremo Bal Thackeray, who launched the Yuva Sena to woo the youths of Mumbai ahead of the next year's civic polls was not against V-Day celebrations.

On the other hand, the Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, which adopted an ambivalent stand on V-Day in the past remained silent this time. “We were never against V-Day celebration. Moreover, we are busy helping people to apply for jobs with the Railways,” says senior party leader Pravin Darekar.

Only the Nationalist Congress Party appeared vindicated. Jitendera Awhad of the NCP, who opened stalls selling V-Day greeting cards last year to woo the youth could not resist taking a dig at the Shiv Sena. “The Sena has realised that it was losing popularity among the youth. So they are not opposing V-Day this year,” Awhad said.

Hyderabad, February 14
Donning the role of “moral policemen”, the VHP and Bajrang Dal activists had a field day chasing lover couples in public places here on Valentine’s Day.

Roaming around the city in vans and targeting the hot spots for dating, they managed to “catch hold” of three couples and married them off at the VHP state office as per the Hindu traditions.

Two of the couples were from the city while another pair of lovers was from Nizamabad district.

“The marriages were performed with the consent of couples according to Hindu rituals at the VHP office,” state organising secretary of the Sangh Parivar outfit A Keshava Raju said. He made it clear that the marriages were not conducted forcibly.

New Delhi, February 14
Just two days after the Supreme Court asked the Centre as to why it had not cancelled the licence of Reliance Infocomm for tapping the phone of suspended Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh on the basis of a forged document, the company today informed the court that it was legally bound to instantly comply with interception orders as part of the measures to prevent terror attacks and other serious developments.

“Postponing compliance on the ground of inconsequential mistakes like spelling errors may conceivably lead to a serious terrorist attack and the blame may well fall on us,” the company said in an affidavit, prepared by senior counsel Ram Jethmalani.

Jethmalani told a Bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly that his client had strictly complied with the legal requirements in carrying out the tapping. The Bench listed the matter for next hearing on March 2.

Reliance Infocomm also said no service provider kept any record of the conversations of the targeted numbers.

The company had to facilitate the tapping of as many as 1.51 lakh telephones during 2006-10, implying that one or two instances of resorting to such practice on forged documents were bound to happen.

Amar Singh had contended that the glaring spelling errors in a letter purportedly written by a Joint Secretary of the Union Home Ministry should have alerted the company on its veracity.

However, the company cited several genuine letters from the ministry which had similar mistakes.

BRIEFLY

23 dead as van rams into truck
NAGAUR: Twenty-three persons were killed and nine injured when a pick- up van in which they were travelling collided with a truck in Kuchera area here on Monday. The accident took place when 31 persons were returning home in Luwari village of Jodhpur district after attending a religious function in Butati village. The district magistrate has announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs 20,000 for the kin of the deceased.

Scribes ‘humiliated’
GUWAHATI: Mediapersons based in Shillong (Meghalaya) were on Monday kept confined to a room for over an hour by the SPG personnel accompanying Rahul Gandhi while the Congress general secretary was engaged in an interaction with students at North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) campus there.Feeling “humiliated” over the SPG action, the mediapersons later kept away from Gandhi’s programme. — TNS