NEW DELHI: Accusing Pakistan of fomenting trouble in India, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said it was helping terrorists to infiltrate into the country.

"We have information that Pakistan is helping terrorists to enter our territory. We have intelligence inputs. But we are alert," he told reporters here on Sunday.

The Home Minister said his ministry has directed all concerned to be extra vigilant during the ongoing festival season and ensure peace. "I also appeal people to be extra careful," he said.

Referring to Jammu and Kashmir, Shinde said security forces cannot be withdrawn from the Valley till the situation is completely peaceful there.

"When I was in Jammu and Kashmir, locals asked me to remove the Army from the Valley but I told them that we can't do it till the situation is peaceful. We will remove the Army when the situation is peaceful," he said.

Shinde said he had visited the Indo-Bangladesh border on Saturday and assessed the situation there. — PTI

Kejriwal dares PM, Sonia for public debate

NEW DELHI: Arvind Kejriwal today dared the Prime Minister, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi for a public debate and said the India Against Corruption will answer questions raised against it only after Congress leadership and Robert Vadra come clean on charges of corruption.

A day after Congress leader Digvijay Singh posed questions to Kejriwal on funding of his NGO and other issues, the activist hit back saying he was willing to reply to all queries but Singh should first convince Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and others to answer issues raised by the people.

"We had put some questions to Robert Vadra and the Prime Minister. Let them answer first. Then, we will answer all questions from Digvijay Singh. I request Singh to encourage Mrs Gandhi, Prime Minister or Rahul Gandhi to come for a public debate.

"Let's question each other and let public question us on personal and public issues. Is Digvijay Singh ready? If he cannot convince his party bosses or the PM, then people would think he is doing all this for cheap publicity and to divert attention," Kejriwal said.

He said the leadership did not answer questions on Vadra or Lokpal and he wants Singh to get the answers from the Prime Minister, Vadra and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

"They can ask us any number of questions about our personal life, we will answer. Then we will ask them... they should also answer in public," he said.

When asked about Singh's remarks that there was evidence against the kin of A B Vajpayee and L K Advani of alleged corruption but Congress will never use that to embarrass them, Kejriwal said his group has been talking about each party protecting others' interest.

"They are not bringing these issues out not on moral grounds but on corrupt grounds. I congratulate Singh for confessing this. He has evidence of corruption against (senior BJP leaders' kin)...BJP has evidence against Vadra and Singh.

But both have an understanding," he alleged. — PTI

NEW DELHI: Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh has suggested that there is evidence against the kin of former Prime Minster Atal Behari Vajpayee and L K Advani of alleged corruption and wrong-doing but the Congress will never use that to embarrass them.

Singh also rejected as 'hollow' and 'media hype' the allegations of 'nexus' among Sonia Gandhi's son-law Robert Vadra, DLF and the Congress government in Haryana to give Vadra undue benefits in land dealings. Defending Gandhi, the Congress leader said that she was not Vadra 'chartered accountant' to question his rising assets.

"Not only me. There were lot of things, which came out during the NDA regime. But did the Congress party ever use that. We will never use this. If I say, I do not have it (evidence against kin of Advani and Vajpayee), then it is not correct," Singh said replying to a volley of questions by Karan Thapar in Devil's Advocate programme on CNN-IBN.

He was asked about his statement that he had evidence against kin of Vajpayee and Advani.

Replying to questions, Singh also said that the evidence, which he has, 'could' lead to allegations of corruption and wrong-doing against them and will be embarrassing for the leaders.

The AICC General Secretary, was quick to add "politicians are also human beings. We are not gods. We can't keep a track or check on the innumerable relations, we have".

"Why should I be a complainant," Singh shot back arguing that there is Parliament and a number of authorities to look into these matters, when asked why was he not disclosing the evidence he has against kin of Vajpayee and Advani.

Dismissing allegations against Vadra, Singh said that there is no illegality in speedy clearance in mutation of land or change of land use permission, which are said to have happened in DLF-Vadra land deals.

"Sonia Gandhi is not the chartered accountant of Robert Vadra," he said, wondering whether "mothers-in-law also do the accounting for sons-in-law," when asked whether the Congress President was aware of the rise in fortune of Vadra and whether she ever questioned it.

It is now being questioned that why the files moved so fast in the case of Vadra's land dealings, Singh said, adding that speed is not impropriety and should instead be rewarded. — PTI

SHIMLA: Congress president Sonia Gandhi will address an election rally on Monday in the historic town of Mandi, becoming the first national-level leader to visit Himachal Pradesh for campaigning in the forthcoming state Assembly elections, an official said.
"Sonia Gandhi will address her first election rally in Mandi. One more rally has been planned after this one," a Congress leader said here Sunday.

Former Union Minister and Congress leader Sukh Ram, 83, belongs to Mandi town and commands influence in the area.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would address a rally in Una town on October 28, while a series of rallies have been planned by the party for general secretary Rahul Gandhi.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also invited its national leaders to address rallies in the state.

"Our leaders LK Advani, Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari would address poll rallies this week," BJP national general secretary JP Nadda told IANS.

He said Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will also address rallies.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made during the visit of the national leaders.

As many as 4.59 million voters will cast their ballots Nov 4 at 7,253 polling stations across Himachal Pradesh. The votes will be counted December 20, after the Gujarat assembly polls are over. — IANS

NEW DELHI: An Inter-Ministerial Group will meet tomorrow to decide on the appointment of merchant bankers to manage the stake sale of Power Grid Corporation. 

“The Inter-Ministerial group (IMG) will meet tomorrow to chalk out the process to further disinvest government’s 5 per cent stake in PGCIL and invite bids from investment bankers,” an official told PTI. 

The five per cent stake sale could fetch over Rs 3,500 crore to the exchequer. The government holds 69.2 per cent stake in Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL), as of September 2012. 

The IMG, headed by DoD Secretary Mohammad Haleem Khan, would also decide on the mode of disinvestment of the PSU, which is the most likely to be through the ‘offer-for-sale’ route, the official added. 

The offer-for-sale was introduced by market regulator SEBI early this year and allows companies to sell shares in a simplified process on the stock market platform through a one-day bidding. 

PGCIL has been engaged in power transmission business with the responsibility for planning, coordination, supervision and control over inter-state transmission system and operation of national and regional power grids. 

Shares of PGCIL closed at Rs 119 on the BSE on last Friday. 

The government has set a disinvestment target of Rs 30,000 crore for the 2012-13 fiscal. — PTI

JOHANNESBURG: Lasith Malinga's five-wicket haul and Dinesh Karthik's whirlwind 74 went in vain as Chennai Super Kings eked out a narrow six-run win over Mumbai Indians in an inconsequential Group B match of the Champions League Twenty20 on Saturday. 

Even before the first ball was bowled, the match was rendered a dead-rubber after Lions notched up a five-wicket victory over Yorkshire earlier today to become the second team from Group B to reach the semifinals, thus knocking out both Chennai and Mumbai Indians. 

However, both the IPL teams ensured that the spectators at the New Wanderers stadium don't go back disappointed as they enthralled them with an edge-of-the-seat thriller which went down to the wires. 

Sent into bat, CSK openers du Plessis (52) and Murali Vijay (39) initially lifted the spirit of the spectators with an entertaining 86-run stand in just 49 balls, studded with 10 fours and three sixes. 

However, Malinga spoilt their party as he notched up a five-wicket haul in his four overs. The Sri Lankan pacer dismissed du Plessis, Suresh Raina (8), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (35), Albie Morkel (0) and Wriddhiman Saha (5) to help Mumbai restrict Chennai to 173-8. 

Karthik then led the Mumbai run chase with a scintillating 45-ball 74, which was studded with four fours and six sixes, and almost took them to the brink of victory. Pollard also blasted a 17-ball 31 with the help of one four and three sixes but MI still fell short by six runs in the end. 

The credit goes to Man of the match, Ben Hilfenhaus (2/14) who led the bowling attack brilliantly. He was supported well by Albie Morkel (2/28) and Ravindra Jadeja (2/47) and part-timer Faf du Plessis (1/3). 

Chasing 174, Mumbai Indians failed to get a good start and were reduced to 21-2 in 4.4 overs. 

Opener Sachin Tendulkar's poor run continued and he was the first to be dismissed by Ben Hilfenhaus in the fourth over. In the next over, Morkel dismissed the other opener Smith (13) as MI slumped to 21-2. 

Rohit Sharma (32) and Karthik then tried to resurrect the innings with the former picking up three sixes but with the Chennai bowlers bowling in tandem, the run-rate kept creeping up all the time. 

Karthik too then got into the act, hitting Jadeja for a six over midwicket and successive fours at the same area to notch up 19 runs off the over. MI were 77-2 in 11 overs at that stage. 

Morkel was brought back into the attack and the South African picked up Rohit in his first delivery to reduce MI to 85-3 in 12.1 overs. 

Ambati Rayudu then handed over his wicket to du Plessis. Kieron Pollard and Karthik then brought up the 100 in 15 overs, still needing 74 runs from 30 balls. 

Karthik picked up a four and a six off Ashwin to reach his fifty and then plundered a boundary off Doug Bollinger to keep CSK in the hunt. 

Needing 51 off 3 overs, Mumbai raised 24 runs in the 18th over, courtesy a six by Karthik and a couple of sixes and a four by Pollard. 

Hilfenhaus was brought in to bowl the 19th over and the Australian, although conceded a six, got rid of Karthik off a slower delivery. 

Needing 19 runs off six balls, Pollard blasted Jadeja's first ball over the long-off but a stunning catch by Raina in the next ball put brakes to Mumbai's chase. 

Earlier, Chennai went on to a brilliant start but Pragyan Ojha brought the first break through, cleaning up Vijay after the Tamil Nadu batsman danced down the pitch in pursuit of another big hit. Malinga then struck twice in two balls to reduce them to 101 for three in 10.5 overs. 

Dhoni (35), who survived a run-out chance early in his innings, provided a much-needed spark with an entertaining 19-ball 35, laced with three fours and two sixes, before becoming a victim of Malinga. 

Once the captain was back in the pavillion, rest of the batsmen tried to accelerate and even though they perished in regular intervals, they did enough to help Chennai put up a challenging score on board. 

Earlier, opening the innings, Vijay blasted Ojha for an inside out shot over cover for the first six of the innings in the fifth ball. Du Plessis then went berserk against Mitchell Johnson, picking up two fours and a six in the last three balls of the third over. 

Vijay too continued his rampage, blasting Dhawal Kulkarni for a six over midwicket and consecutive fours at the covers and point area in the next over as CSK raised 15 runs. 

Malinga was then introduced into the attack but du Plessis didn't pay any respect to the bowler and clobbered him for three overs to take Chennai to 62 for no loss in 5 overs. 

Johnson gave away four runs in the next over, while Ojha conceded nine runs, which included a four by Vijay. 

MI skipper Harbhajan Singh then brought himself into the attack but Vijay picked up two fours in the fourth and fifth ball to take his team to 86-0. 

Mumbai clawed back after that with the help of Malinga as runs dried out and wickets started to tumble. 

However, Dhoni kept the scoreboard ticking and picked up a four and six at the deep backward point to help Chennai accumulate 13 runs of the 14th over. 

In the 17th over, Dhoni picked up a six and a four in the first two balls but Malinga cut his innings short when he had him caught at backward point by Smith. 

In the final over, R Ashwin blasted a four and six over third man off the last ball to swell Chennai's total to 173-8. — PTI