The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	India to consider Afghanistan’s request for defence equipment Ashok Tuteja/TNS New Delhi, May 21 India is not averse to considering Afghanistan’s request for providing defence equipment to the war-torn nation. This indication was available tonight after visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s meetings with President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Karzai, who is visiting New Delhi for the second time in six months, is understood to have asked India to expand its role in ensuring the security of his embattled nation by providing lethal weapons to his forces. India has so far been training Afghan security personnel in Indian institutions only. It has also supplied limited number of non-lethal equipment like jeeps and trucks to Afghanistan. New Delhi has advised Kabul to raise the issue of lethal equipment at the security partnership council meeting of the two countries to be held soon. The Afghan leader is learnt to have briefed the Indian leadership on the situation evolving in Afghanistan as foreign troops prepare to leave his nation within a year from now. At his meeting with the President, Karzai was told that India was prepared to increase its bilateral cooperation to institution building, training and equipment to the extent it could. “India would stand by the government and the people of Afghanistan in the critical period of transition, development and nation-building. India is proud to partner Afghanistan in its efforts towards reconstruction of Afghanistan,” Mukherjee told Karzai.
	IPL spot-fixing: 11 get 5-day police remand Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 21 A Delhi court today remanded 11 accused, including Sreesanth and former Ranji player Babu Rao Yadav, in police custody for five days in connection with the IPL spot-fixing case. Babu Rao Yadav, was arrested this morning. The court also remanded four bookies-Rakesh Obrio, Dipit Garg, Amit Gupta and Ajay Goel-in 14-day judicial custody. The Delhi Police has arrested 18 accused in connection with the case so far. Of them, three accused-Manish, Sunil and Kiran-are already in police custody. The police told the court that Sreesanth, the main accused in the case, had purchased two mobile phones out of Rs 10 lakh given to him by the fixers. He gave one mobile phone to his girlfriend and the other was with somebody else. The police took Sreesanth to Jaipur this morning to recover the phones. The phone that he had given to his girlfriend was recovered, while other was yet to be found. The police also informed the court that recorded transcript of the conversations of 12 accused had been sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) for examination. The police said accused Chand, Amit and Manan were responsible for giving money to the players through hawala channel. Sreesanth splurged Rs 2 lakh in a day Sreesanth purchased designer clothes, including denims worth Rs 1.95 lakh, and gifted a Blackberry Z10 phone worth around Rs 42,000 to his girlfriend, all of which he paid in cash in one day One more arrested Former domestic player Babu Rao Yadav, who was picked up from Delhi on Monday and questioned for his links with arrested player Ajit Chandila, in the case was formally arrested on Tuesday
	Defence Secy to be new CAG New Delhi, May 21 Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma was today named as the new Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG). The 1976 Bihar cadre officer will succeed Vinod Rai, who superannuates tomorrow after five and a half years of eventful tenure as the head of the Constitutional financial watchdog. “The President of India has appointed Shashi Kant Sharma, IAS, as the Comptroller & Auditor General of India, in terms of Article 148 (1) of the Constitution of India,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement. Sharma, who holds a masters degree in political science from the University of York, will be taking over charge of the CAG from May 23, it said. He will be administered the oath of office by President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday. Like Vinod Rai, Sharma too has served as Secretary in the Department of Financial Services. The CAG is appointed for a term of six years or till the incumbent attains the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. — PTI
	Li greets Indian audience with ‘namaste’ Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 21 The recent PLA incursion in Ladakh may have made China unpopular in India but Premier Li Keqiang appears to won many an admirer in this country due to his affable nature and informal mannerism. At his meeting with China experts, leaders of industry and students in the capital this morning, he began his address with ‘namaste’ amid a thunderous applause. Recalling his visit to India 27 years ago, Li said he had learnt to say ‘namaste’ during that trip which had left a lasting impression on him. Pointing that he had carefully chosen India as his first port of call after assuming office in March, the Chinese leader said he was happy that he got an opportunity to speak in Hindi. “I hope I have pronounced it (namaste) correctly,” he said amid laughter. In the midst of his speech when the loudspeaker started making noise, Li quickly quipped, “That is the effect of my remarks.” At his media interaction with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday, Li appeared quite relaxed. At his welcome ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, Li smiled at mediapersons and asked them in English if news about his visit would appear on the front pages. He would certainly not be disappointed since almost every newspaper today carried the India-China story on the front page.
	gujarat bypoll IB warns of blasts during Modi’s rallies Disappointed saffron forces may try to remind CM of Hindutva agenda Manas Dasgupta Ahmedabad, May 21 The state Intelligence Bureau has reportedly cautioned the Gujarat Police about the possibility of low-intensity blasts during the election rallies of Chief Minister Narendra Modi to highlight disappointment of Hindutva forces in the state. Byelections to four state Assembly and two parliamentary seats are scheduled to be held in the state on June 2. Reports indicated that the Hindutva forces in the state were disappointed over Modi shunning the Hindutva agenda and concentrating entirely on “development”, as was done by him during the state Assembly elections in December last year. International president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad Pravin Togadiya had ascribed the BJP’s defeat in the recent Karnataka state Assembly elections to the party shunning the Hindutva agenda. Sources said the idea to conduct blasts aimed at creating panic among the people and give a warning to Modi that his campaign trail would remain fraught with danger if he failed to mend his ways and did not return to the Hindutva path. The blasts would be deliberately kept low-intensity so that there were no casualties and hence the Hindutva campaign was not derailed. While everything is at stake for the Congress, for Modi any win would mean a major gain as all these six seats were earlier held by the Congress. The byelection to the Morva Hadaf Assembly seat (reserved for ST candidates) in the Panchamahal district was necessitated due to the death of Congress MLA Savitaben Khant on the same day the results of Assembly elections were announced in December. The byelection to the Banaskantha Lok Sabha seat was necessitated due to the death of sitting Congress member Mukesh Gadhavi. The remaining four byelections, for three Assembly seats and the Porbandar parliamentary seat, were necessitated due to resignations by elected members of the Congress. While Somabhai Patel resigned from the Limbdi Assembly seat in Surendranagar district to retain his Surendranagar parliamentary seat, the father and son duo of Vithhal Radariya and Jayesh Radariya resigned their Dhoraji and Jetpur Assembly seats, respectively, to join the BJP after the Congress high command refused to accommodate the aspirant father as the leader of Opposition in the state Assembly. Vithhal Radariya had earlier resigned his Porbandar parliamentary seat to retain the Dhoraji seat after the state Assembly elections, but had to give up his Assembly constituency also when he decided to change sides along with his son. In the byelections, Modi has again fielded Vithhal Radariya from the Porbandar parliamentary seat and Jayesh from the Jetpur Assembly seat. The election outcome would decide whether the Congress had any hold on voters or the Radariyas had been winning these seats for the party only on their personal charisma.
	Ansari in Uzbekistan to cement bilateral ties Arun Joshi in Tashkent Vice-President M Hamid Ansari arrived here on Tuesday in the “city of peace and friendship” with a clear message to forge better relations with Uzbekistan, particularly in the matter of dealing with terrorism, and also as to how to strategise in what happens in Afghanistan “tomorrow or the day after”, an unambiguous reference to the pull out of the western forces from Afghanistan next year. For Ansari, it was just like “visiting in the neighbhourhood” as the travelling time to Tashkent from Delhi was same as that to Chennai, or any other city in the north-east. “We have excellent relations with Uzbekistan , but we always want to make them more friendly as we don’t take any relationship for granted,” he told the media on board the special aircraft that brought him here. Elaborating on the issues that he would be discussing with the leaders of the host country, Ansari said those would include keeping a watch over the situation in Afghanistan, as India’s role in Afghanistan is to help that country in a best possible manner. “It is not a backyard or front-yard approach with us,” a dig at Pakistan that has been using Afghanistan as a backyard for its strategic interests. Uzbekistan has its borders with all the former Soviet nations as also with Afghanistan and it has been troubled by Taliban from the northern areas of Afghanistan. “We want to fight terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. We think terrorism is destructive, that is the commonality between the two nations,” Ansari said while dwelling on the theme of the strategic commonalities between India and Uzbekistan. “Our objective is very clear and there could be different ways to achieve that end.” This is his first visit to Uzbekistan as Vice-President of India. Earlier Presidents and Prime Ministers have been visiting this “critically important” central Asian country. Asked whether he would be making a plea for the supply of uranium from Uzbekistan for nuclear energy, he said: “We have been making this plea to all the countries that have uranium”. He was received by his counterpart in Uzbekistan - Chairman of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis I. Sobirov. Deputy Foreign Minister of the host country Akmal Kamalov was also among those who received him. Immediately after his arrival, the Vice-President went to Hazrat Imam Complex and Temurid Museum. ‘India-China must build future together’ Vice-President M Hamid Ansari wants India and China to “think of future” and work accordingly as the world is changing and both these countries have to play an important role in the 21st century. While sharing the ideas that were exchanged during his meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in New Delhi before he headed to Uzbekistan, the Vice-President said that “the two countries should think of the future.” He meant that the two countries, which are emerging superpowers in the modern day world, cannot keep their relationship frozen by revisiting the past. His obvious reference was to the boundary dispute between the two countries that keeps on cropping up time and again. — Arun Joshi, On Board Special Aircraft
	BJP’s top body discusses 2014 Lok Sabha poll Vibha Sharma/TNS New Delhi, May 21 Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s much-awaited debut at the BJP Parliamentary Board meeting today where he enumerated merits of social media to reach out more effectively to voters, especially the youth, also saw some straight talk by party’s veteran leader LK Advani. The senior leader is believed to have asked the top leadership to introspect whether the party was really being seen by the people as an alternative to the Congress. “He (Advani) said yes the people want a change, yes they are fed-up of corruption. But are they looking at the BJP as an alternative, we have to analyse that as well,” sources said, indicating thereby sharp differences within the party over the way the situation was evolving. An upbeat Gujarat CM, who is being projected by some as the BJP’s prospective Prime Ministerial candidate, advocated greater use of social media to reach out more effectively to the people. This was his first appearance at the Parliamentary Board after being re-inducted as the member of the highest decision-making body. BJP president Rajnath Singh, Advani, Modi, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and former party president Nitin Gadkari were among those who attended the meeting to discuss strategy for forthcoming polls in five states and the next year’s General Election. With less than a year left for the General Election, the top leadership deliberated upon its strategy to highlight “failures” of the UPA government as well as “scams” afflicting its nine-year tenure. On the ninth anniversary of the Congress-led coalition in power, the saffron party is expected to come out with a counter-report card against the government to highlight the shortcomings of the Manmohan Singh government. The emphasis henceforth will be to highlight the UPA dispensation’s embarrassing moments for which the Gujarat CM advised the top brass to use social media to capture the imagination of India’s youth. Modi said “failures” of the UPA rule should be discussed and people informed about them, for which agitations have also been planned in the coming week across the country. “We discussed the nine years of UPA rule. This government has failed on all fronts be it price rise, internal and external security and the economic situation,” board’s secretary Ananth Kumar said. The BJP top brass also discussed the Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Jharkhand, where the party hopes to make up the losses suffered in Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh and more recently in Karnataka. Issues related to the upcoming meetings of the party’s national executive between June 7 and 9 in Goa were also part of the agenda. The party is expected to pass two resolutions at the meet. Modi mantra Narendra Modi, who is being projected by some as the BJP’s prospective Prime Ministerial candidate, advocated greater use of social media to reach out more effectively to the people
	PM files affidavit correcting age to 80 in RS poll papers Guwahati, May 21 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Congress Rajya Sabha candidate from Assam, has filed a fresh affidavit correcting his age to 80 years prior to scrutiny of the nominations today. The Prime Minister submitted the fresh affidavit two days ago correcting his age to 80 from 82 as given earlier in his nomination papers for the May 30 election, Assembly sources said today. As per rule, there was time till yesterday for contestants to submit affidavits for making corrections in their nomination papers, they said. The Prime Minister had filed his nomination papers on May 15 at the state Assembly before the Assembly Principal Secretary GP Das, who is also the Returning officer for the Rajya Sabha elections. May 23 is the last date of withdrawal of candidature. Polling, if necessary, would be held on May 30 from 9 am to 4 pm. Votes would be counted on May 30 at 5 pm and elections should be completed before June 3, 2013. Yesterday, the second Congress candidate and All-India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) candidate filed their nomination papers for the second RS seat from Assam on the last day of filing nomination papers. Congress candidate Santius Kujur and AIUDF’s Aminul Islam filed their nomination papers yesterday. — PTI
	SP, BSP keep govt guessing ahead of UPA’s power dinner Hand of friendship remains extended to like-minded parties: Cong Aditi Tandon/TNS New Delhi, May 21 Ahead of the ninth anniversary of the UPA tomorrow, its key supporters Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) kept the ruling Congress guessing on whether they would attend the celebratory dinner being hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his residence. That the guest list of the Congress-led UPA is yet to be firmed up was evident from the response of Congress spokesperson Raj Babbar today. When asked who among the outside supporters of the government would mark their presence tomorrow at the celebrations, Babbar said, “I am not aware of the mailing list.” The response is indicative of Congress’ dwindling political support ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections for which it is now seeking new friendships. “Our hand of friendship is extended to all like-minded parties. It is for them to reciprocate,” Babbar said at the party briefing when questioned on whether the Congress would appeal for support in the wake of 16th Lok Sabha elections next year. For UPA-II, which will showcase its achievements in a report card tomorrow to dispel the angst generated by a series of scandals lately, the presence of supporters at the event is critical to make a political point after the exit of the Trinamool Congress and the DMK. While the Trinamool left the UPA opposing permission to FDI in multi-brand retail, the DMK quit on alleged soft stance of the government on human right violations in Sri Lanka. Indications from the SP and the BSP camps so far have also not been heartening with sources saying the two parties might want to maintain distance from the Congress in the wake of recent exit of Pawan Kumar Bansal and Ashwani Kumar, former ministers, following allegations of corruption and impropriety, respectively. SP chief Mulayam Singh has been publicly critical of the UPA of late. “This government is deceitful,” he had said recently on the involvement of former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar in the dilution of the CBI report on Coalgate. Mayawati has not been so stinging in her criticism of the Congress, but she also maintained a safe distance. This has promoted queries like-whether she would be the special guest at tomorrow’s UPA show like her bête noire Mulayam Singh Yadav was at the anniversary of the government last year. Key achievementS When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh releases UPA’s “Report to the People” on Wednesday, the focus will be on the “silent revolution” that has “swept the nation” over the past nine years Topping UPA’s list of achievements would be the improvement in critical human development indicators, including the rise in life expectancy The outlay on social sector has seen a record surge between the 11th and the 12th Plan periods having shot from Rs 6 lakh crore to Rs 15 lakh crore The government also plans to showcase the fact that the UPA-II government delivered around 8 per cent economic growth during the 11th Plan
	Mamata announces ban of 'online lotto' Kolkata, May 21 The West Bengal government on Tuesday banned "Online Lotto", an online lottery, in the state. Announcing the ban, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said the the online lottery was a social problem and the notification for the ban would be issued soon. "Online Lotto started during the Left Front regime. It is a social problem. It had even led to fight among members of families. It had anyway stopped functioning, but we got it banned officially as we have done in the case of Gutka," she told reporters. She noted, "Some people had started channels showing the online lottery. I am for the employees (of the channels) but against those who have done this. One has got the freedom to go to the court against me to challenge the ban. I am not going to say anything regarding that. — PTI
	Foreigner jumps off 17th floor of hotel, dies Mumbai, May 21 A 56-year-old photographer from New Zealand has allegedly committed suicide by jumping from the seventeenth floor room at Taj Lands hotel in suburban Bandra, the police said today. The deceased, John Richard Brimley, allegedly ended life late last night. "Brimley had been depressed due to some personal reasons. He used to regularly consume sleeping pills," said the police. — PTI
	CBI moves SC for removing Dutt from Coalgate probe team New Delhi, May 21 The CBI today approached the Supreme Court seeking permission to remove its Superintendent of Police Vivek Dutt, arrested in a corruption case, out of the team probing the coal blocks allocation scam. The agency sought the permission as the apex court had earlier directed that no officer, who is part of Coalgate probe team, would be dropped or transferred without its permission. In a three-page application, the agency gave details of the circumstances under which Dutt, the Chief Investigator of Coalgate, was arrested in a corruption case. "It is humbly stated that the CBI is permitted to remove the name of Dutt from the list of 33 officers associated with the inquiry and investigation in matter related to coal blocks allocation," the CBI said in its application. Dutt was arrested by the CBI along with an Inspector Rajesh Chandra Karnatak on May 17 for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs seven lakh from a person to settle his land dispute. A trial court on May 18 remanded Dutt, Karnatak, alleged middleman Rajesh Pachisia and businessman Dinesh Chand Gupta in CBI custody for three days. The CBI said Dinesh had a land dispute and a cheating case was registered against him at Amar Colony police station here and Dutt used to pressurize the Delhi Police officials, who were investigating the cheating case, to quash the FIR and for this he had demanded Rs 15 lakh from Dinesh. Taking exception to transfer of an investigating officer in Coalgate, the apex court had on May 8 directed the Centre and the CBI to take immediate steps to repatriate him and said that none of 33 officials be changed without its permission. The court had passed the order on a PIL filed by advocate M L Sharma and others seeking setting up of Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the scam. — PTI CBI custody of SP Vivek Dutt extended New Delhi: A Delhi court on Tuesday granted the CBI one more day's custody of its arrested SP Vivek Dutt, who was a key member of the Coalgate scam probe, and three others in connection with a corruption case lodged against them. — PTI
	Jessica case: HC to decide fate of hostile witnesses New Delhi, May 21 More than two years after reserving its verdict, the Delhi High Court will tomorrow decide whether to prosecute 19 witnesses, including Bollywood actor Shyan Munshi, on the charge of perjury for turning hostile during the trial of Jessica Lal murder case. A Bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and GP Mittal would pronounce its decision in the afternoon in the case in which the high court had taken suo motu cognisance and questioned the prosecution as to how all the witnesses took somersault during the trial. It had reserved its order on May 4, 2011, after hearing arguments on behalf of the police and the witnessess who had turned hostile. Lall was shot dead in April 1999 by Manu Sharma, son of Haryana Congress leader Venod Sharma, after she refused to serve a drink to him at a late night party. — PTI
	Memorial scam: Indicted ex-minister questions Lokayukta status Tribune News Service Lucknow, May 21 Reacting to the Lokayukta report on Dalit memorial scam, former BSP minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui today virtually undermined the authority of the present Lokayukta Justice NK Mehrotra by questioning the extension of his tenure. Speaking to the media in Jaunpur, Siddiqui refused to comment on the Lokayukta’s report implicating him and others in reportedly siphoning off of Rs 1,410.50 crore from the memorial money. “I question the Samajwadi Party government’s decision to extend the tenure of the present Lokayukta by two years. Its legality is doubtful. Or rather it is illegal,” said Siddiqui. According to him, the decision to extend the tenure of the present Lokayuka has already been challenged in the Supreme Court. “In this regard, the Supreme Court has already sent notices to the state government and the matter would come up for hearing on July 4. We will comment on the findings of the Lokayukta report only after disposal of the case by the apex court,” said Siddiqui.
	Assam Cong MLAs oppose party’s RS poll candidate Bijay Sankar Bora/TNS Guwahati, May 21 The selection of a ‘greenhorn’, Santiuse Kujur, as the second Congress candidate for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha election has created resentment among senior Congress leaders in the state. While Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has been fielded as the first Congress candidate for the Rajya Sabha election to two seats from Assam, the AICC has selected Kujur, a leader from the Adivasi/tea worker community from western Assam’s Kokrajhar district. However, Kujur’s selection by the AICC from the list of 36 aspirants submitted by Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has created resentment among a section of senior Congress legislators, numbering about 25, who have decided to petition Congress president Sonia Gandhi against the selection of Kujur. A senior Congress legislator Anjan Dutta said, “We have to make madam (Sonia Gandhi) understand that she was misled by a section of our party leaders that led to the election of Kujur. He had joined the party only in 2009 and has no proper geographical knowledge about all the districts in Assam. His works as a party leader have so far remained confined to only Kokrajhar district. Even if the party high command was bent upon giving nomination to a leader from tea workers/Adivasi community, there were more competent ones to choose from.” Dutta said the tea tribe community which has 65 lakh population in the state, already has a Union minister (PS Ghatowar), deputy Speaker in the Assam Assembly, deputy CLP leader in Assam besides several MLAs. “Why does the Congress remain indifferent to communities like Koch-Rajbongshi (65 lakh), Moran, Motok, Tiwa, Chutia etc. while giving nomination to Rajya Sabha though there are senior and known Congress leaders from these communities,” Dutta said. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has tried to play down the opposition to Kujur’s candidature saying everything would be sorted out and the AICC had selected the best one available as the second party candidate for the Rajya Sabha. State PCC president Bhubaneswar Kalita too said there was no dissidence within the CLP over Kujur’s candidature who was found to bethe best candidate among the 36 aspirants by the AICC. The Congress has 79 MLAs in the 126-member Assam Assembly besides 12 MLAs from its ally the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF). This will ensure comfortable victory for both the party candidates in the Rajya Sabha election. A greenhorn, say senior leaders Santiuse Kujur had joined the party just four years ago He doesn’t have proper geographical knowledge about all the districts in Assam His works have so far remained confined to only Kokrajhar district