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Prez poll: Antony meets
DMK chief Karunanidhi
CHENNAI: Congress leader and Defence Minister A. K. Antony on Sunday met DMK chief M. Karunanidhi as part of consultation process among UPA allies on the presidential election to arrive at a consensus leader to succeed incumbent Pratibha Patil, who is retiring on July 25.
After more than an hour-long meeting, Antony told reporters that he would convey the DMK leader's views on the issue to Congress
President Sonia Gandhi.
"It was a very, very fruitful meeting. I will report to the Congress
President whatever he said", he told reporters, refusing to disclose details about his discussion.
Observing that Gandhi had asked him to meet the DMK chief to discuss about the "present political situation", he said "What we discussed, I will convey to the Congress president".
He said Karunanidhi is one of the seniormost leaders in the country and "we always value his advice".
DMK parliamentary party leader T. R. Baalu and Karunanidhi's daughter and party MP Kanimozhi were also present.
Antony's meeting with Karunanidhi comes close on the heels of
Agriculture Minister and NCP leader Sharad Pawar's consultation with the Congress
President a few days ago. Pawar was understood to have urged the Congress chief on the need for a consensus on the choice. — PTI
Abducted Collector in
'good health', says mediators
RAIPUR: Abducted Sukma District Collector Alex Paul Menon is in "good health", said the two mediators who briefed Maoists on their talks with the Chhattisgarh government on their demands for release of the IAS officer.
B. D. Sharma, a former IAS officer, and Hyderabad-based academic Professor G. Hargopal, who have held two rounds of talks on behalf of the Maoists, returned to Chintanlar on Sunday after visiting Tadmetla forests, where they had gone on Saturday to update Maoists about the deliberations with the government.
The two mediators told reporters that they would now meet the government-appointed interlocutors Nirmala Buch and S. K. Mishra and give them details of their talks with the Maoists.
They declined to share with the media details of their discussions with the rebels, who have put forward three demands for the release of the 32-year-old 2006-batch IAS officer.
Sharma and Hargopal said they did not meet Menon, who was abducted on April 21 from Majhipara village in Raipur district, but they were told by Naxal leaders that he was in "good health". He was abducted when he was holding a meeting as part of the government's Special Gram Suraj Abhiyan.
A CPI leader had last week delivered medicines for the officer, who is asthmatic.
The Maoist-appointed mediators reached Chintanlar, about 450 km from the state capital, on Sunday morning from Tadmetla, a Naxal stronghold in Sukma district.
Their arrival in Raipur was delayed due to bad weather in Chintanlar, government officials said.
No breakthrough has been achieved after two rounds of talks between the mediators appointed by the Maoists and the state government.
To free the bureaucrat, Maoists have demanded release of 17 of their jailed leaders, halt to the anti-Maoist offensive "Operation Green Hunt" and sending security forces in Bastar to the barracks. — PTI
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