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Kalam will contest presidential poll: Mamata

NEW DELHI: While appealing to all parties to support APJ Abdul Kalam, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Friday said the former President will contest the presidential poll.

"Kalam will contest, I congratulate Kalamji in advance," Mamata said, adding that SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is also backing Kalam's candidature.

She maintained there should be a consensus on Kalam and insisted that he is a candidate who holds the position and stature required for the top post. 

"I call upon all political parties to support Kalam. There should not be any politics over the President's post," TMC chief said. 

Unfazed by reports that Mulayam may have a rethink on their joint proposal to pit Kalam, Mamata said the former President is their presidential candidate. "It is wrong information. I can say only this. He (Kalam) is our (TMC-SP) candidate in the presidential election. There is no ego, no quarrel, no fight," she told reporters seeking to dismiss persistent reports that the SP was no longer keen on backing Kalam.

SP and TMC on Tuesday proposed Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former Speaker Somnath Chatterjee as their candidates. Yesterday, Mamata declared that Kalam was their candidate. There were media reports today that SP may be doing a rethinking on Kalam.

The media reports were further beefed up by some interesting comments made by SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav today that the word 'hamara' candidate used by Mamata yesterday for Kalam could mean both 'ours' and 'mine'.

Asked about Ram Gopal Yadav's comments, Mamata said, "Don't put Congress words into his mouth. Don't divide and rule. Hamara means 'dono ka candidate' (candidate of both). My Hindi may be bad, that may be the reason for confusion."

Before leaving for Kolkata without attending the UPA meeting here, Mamata said it was wrong to say that Mulayam Singh Yadav has gone back on their joint proposal.

Interestingly, Kiranmoy Nanda, SP leader from West Bengal told reporters after Mamata's briefing that "we stand by the decision taken by Mulayamji and Mamataji". — Agencies

Andhra bypolls: YSR Congress bags Nellore Lok Sabha seat

HYDERABAD: YSR Congress Party candidate M Rajamohan Reddy on Friday won the Nellore Lok Sabha seat by over 290,000 votes.

Riding on the sympathy wave in the wake of its leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy's arrest, Jagan's party has bagged eight Assembly seats and is leading in seven other Assembly segments and Nellore Lok Sabha constituency.

With this, YSRCP formed by Jaganmohan Reddy, the son of late Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, popularly known as YSR, is heading for a clean sweep in the byelections to the Nellore Lok Sabha and 18 Assembly seats.

The ruling Congress party won a seat and was leading in another constituency. Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) was ahead in Parakala, the only assembly constituency in Telangana that went to polls.

The counting of votes began at 8 am amid tight security in the constituencies spread over 12 districts. About 70 per cent polling was recorded in Nellore and an average 80 per cent in the Assembly constituencies in the by-elections held on Tuesday.

In Nellore Lok Sabha constituency, Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy of YSRCP was leading by over 50,000 votes over his nearest rival and former central minister T Subbarami Reddy of Congress party.

The byelections were caused by the resignation of one member of Parliament and disqualification of 17 legislators of the Congress party who had switched loyalties to the YSRCP.

The Tirupati Assembly seat fell vacant after the election of actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi to the Rajya Sabha.

Jagan, as the YSRCP leader is popularly known, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and sent to jail on May 27 in an illegal assets case when he was busy campaigning for the party.

His mother YS Vijayamma and sister Sharmila managed to evoke sympathy by accusing Congress and TDP of targeting Jagan.

Vijayamma even pointed finger at Congress party by raising her doubts over the cause of the Sep 2, 2009, helicopter crash which killed her husband and the then chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy.

Jagan and Vijayamma had quit Congress party and Kadapa Lok Sabha and Pulivendula assembly seats, respectively, in late 2010 accusing Congress of trying to split their family. They floated the YSRCP promising to implement the pro-poor schemes launched by YSR.

They retained the seats with a massive majority in the by-elections held last year.

In March this year, YSRCP also won Kovur Asembly seat in Nellore district in the by-election necessitated by the resignation of TDP legislator. — IANS

Autonomy of IITs will remain intact: PM to federation

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday gave an assurance that the autonomy of IITs will remain "intact", the IIT faculty federation, opposing the proposed common entrance to these institutes, said after meeting him.

"We explained each of our points to him (PM). He has told us he will talk to HRD Minister and assured that the autonomy of the IITs will remain intact," secretary of All-India IIT Faculty Federation (AIIITFF) AK Mittal told reporters after the federation met Singh.

The federation has contended that the common entrance test for admission to the undergraduate programme to the IITs and other Centrally-funded institutes will undermine the autonomous status enjoyed by the IITs.

The meeting came in the backdrop of HRD Minister Kapil Sibal cutting short his US visit and returning to India late Thursday night.

During the meeting, the federation raised the issue of autonomy and said the decision taken by the IIT council about holding the one nation, one examination should be ratified by all the IIT Senates.

"We also insisted that any change in the entrance test should be effected only after 2013," Mittal said.

The federation also raised the issue of giving weightage to board marks after the process of normalisation for preparing the merit list, saying "normalisation of board marks needs more studies", he said.

Mittal felt all the IITs are free to emulate IIT-Kanpur's move to hold its own entrance test following the government's decision to hold the nation-wide common entrance test under a new format.

The federation, which is of the view that the new format will increase stress of students instead of decreasing it, has said that students aspiring to join institutes other than the IITs need not sit for two test — main and advance — as proposed.

It said that only the main be used for all institutes except the IITs to select students.It said the advance test should be required only for the IITs.

"The IITs advance test should be subjective type, just for the candidates aspiring to join the IITs. This advance test will be held on a day different from the main test and will be administered to only shortlisted candidates from the main test (50,000-70,000) by IITs only," the federation has said in a statement yesterday after meeting PMO officials.

Mittal had said the meeting with PM's advisor TKA Nair was "productive and encouraging". — PTI

Mumbai: Petrol car owners may soon heave a sigh of relief as oil marketing firms are expected to cut petrol prices by up to Rs 2 per litre on Friday due to falling international crude prices. Crude prices, which fell to $96.5 per barrel on Wednesday, the lowest level in the last one year, have provided enough legroom for the oil firms to reduce petrol prices.