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with general election 2014 only a few months away...
1,140 in fray in national capital
Kejriwal files papers against Delhi CM
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BJP, Cong engage in slugfest over snooping allegations
Modi gets 4 more days to file reply on ‘khooni panja’
JPC report on 2G: CPI urges Speaker to allow House debate
2 jawans dismissed for ‘clashing’ with officers
Onion prices fall as fresh supplies hit market
Present a more balanced picture, Ansari tells media
22 die in Karnataka road accident
ISRO performs last orbit-raising manoeuvre on Mars Orbiter
Geetika suicide case: Co-accused Aruna Chadha denied bail
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with general election 2014 only a few months away...
Raipur, November 16 The Gandhi scion made it clear that for the party the May 25 attack, which killed veteran Vidya Charan Shukl, state Congress chief Nand Patel and former legislator Uday Mudliyar, was the mightiest poll issue. “Congress leaders were eliminated. They were fighting your battles. No one knows what happened. The fear of violence here outstrips the fear anywhere else in India. Chhattisgarh is worse than J&K in violence,” Rahul said to a mammoth gathering that waited four hours at the Raipur indoor stadium to hear him speak at the Congress’ last mega show in Chhattisgarh where second phase campaign ends tomorrow. The Congress’ invocation to the Jhiram Ghati massacre paid with the people responding to Rahul’s calls with a sense of reflection though many in Raipur choose to dismiss the incident as Bastar-centric, one that can’t impact voting patterns elsewhere. But Congress heavyweights feel otherwise. “Our leaders were on Parivartan Yatra but it ended up being Kalash Yatra. Naxalism was confined to few districts when Chhattisgarh was created. Today, Naxals have penetrated the heart of the state. The BJP is responsible,” Motilal Vora, former Madhya Pradesh CM and head, Congress campaign committee, Chhattisgarh, told The Tribune today. While the Congress sees the Jhiram Ghati massacre as part of the overall missing law and order in Chhattisgarh which it is hammering, the BJP finds itself on the back foot. CM Raman Singh, pitted against Mudliyar’s wife Alka from Rajnandgaon, a Maoist-infested district, said, “The incident should not be politicised.” Across the state, meanwhile, people whisper conspiracy theories which they say began soon after the massacre in which Congress’ lone MLA from Bastar - Kawasi Lakma - an aide of Ajit Jogi, escaped unhurt. That explains why the BJP has shifted its entire campaign focus away from development to Ajit Jogi, convener of the Congress poll campaign panel in the state. Only yesterday, BJP general secretary in charge of Chhattisgarh JP Nadda dared the Congress to name Jogi as the CM. The saffron leaders are also recalling to the people Jogi’s three-year (2000 to 2003) rule in the state which Narendra Modi described recently as “tyrannical”. The reason -- BJP wants to polarise the anti-Jogi vote in its favour. But insiders say Jogi can positively impact 42 seats in Congress favour which is why the Congress played along with him. Across the state, opinion on Jogi is divided. Young voters like Manish Verma, a taxi driver, say, “Jogi ruled with an iron fist. If he becomes CM, he will be the only don…better than having many dons.” Others are sceptical. “Some say Jogi is an SC. But he has a tribal certificate. When he ruled, non-SC, non-STs felt left out,” says Vikas Sahu, a middle-aged OBC voter in Durg district. It’s this disenchantment which the BJP is playing up.
BJP moves EC over ‘party of thieves’ remark
Addressing another rally at Kharsian in the state on Saturday, Rahul called BJP a party of thieves (chor party) which sold out Chhattisgarh’s natural resources to top corporate houses. The state BJP unit has moved the Election Commission seeking action against Rahul for violating the Model Code of Conduct.
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1,140 in fray in national capital
New Delhi, November 16 As the nomination process for Delhi Assembly elections closed today, a total of 1,140 candidates are in fray with a total of 1,750 nominations filed in the past seven days. There are three main parties in a neck-and-neck competition for the Delhi Assembly — the Congress, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and the newborn Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Delhi Shiromani Akali Dal has also fielded four contenders this time. While the Congress is contesting with the popular face — three-times Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, BJP announced Dr Harsh Vardhan as its chief ministerial candidates around a month ago. AAP, which is being viewed as the major factor in determining the final outcome, is led by India Against Corruption leader Arvind Kejriwal. Kejriwal, who is claiming to win a simple majority, submitted his papers today, whereas, Dikshit and Harsh Vardhan filed their nominations yesterday. Though the Congress and the BJP are dismissive of the AAP’s claims of a victory, their leaders admit that the AAP is bound to hurt them. Issues like electricity, water and rising food prices have been on the agenda of almost every party contesting this year’s polls.
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Kejriwal files papers against Delhi CM
New Delhi, November 16 He chose not to contest from more than one constituency saying that he was not fighting for himself, but for the people of Delhi. His well-wishers kept on suggesting till today, the last day of filing nominations — that he should enter the fray from more than one seat —so that his entry to the Delhi Assembly was secure. His entry, according to many poll observers, looks dim given the experience of Sheila who is seeking a record fourth term in Delhi. But this in no way has dissuaded the activist-turned-politician who opted for the last day to file his papers as he wanted to contest against the Delhi CM. Hoping to translate the people’s emotions into votes for his party, he today said that this Assembly elections would bring the curtains down on the Congress rule in Delhi. “I am not here to make a political career. I am not fighting for myself, but for the common man. And I’m filing my nomination on their behalf. I had been waiting for the Delhi CM to file her papers so that I can contest against her. This elections are the countdown to the end of the 15-year misrule of the Congress government,” said Arvind. He was flanked by his parents Govind Ram and Geeta and wife Sunita after the filing of his nomination at Jamnagar House.
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BJP, Cong engage in slugfest over snooping allegations
New Delhi, November 16 BJP president Rajnath Singh rubbished the allegations and charged that the “dirty tricks wing” of the Congress was behind the controversy. “There is no question of doing a rethink on our prime ministerial candidate even if a thousand baseless allegations of this kind are made against Modi. We have already said that we apprehend the dirty tricks wing of the Congress will make such baseless allegations against Modi as the elections draw near,” Rajnath Singh said. He was responding to Law Minister Kapil Sibal's demand yesterday that the BJP would be forced to rethink its PM candidate as the charges are very serious. Modi's close aide and former state Home Minister Amit Shah was yesterday accused of misusing his power and police machinery for illegal surveillance of a young woman in 2009. Rajnath Singh also wondered how investigative portal Cobrapost got the call details when IPS officer GL Singhal, who did the illegal surveillance, had handed over the records to the CBI. "Singhal had got bail with CBI support. He was also involved in the Tulsi Prajapati encounter but still got bail," Singh said. He said Cobrapost itself has said it cannot make any claims about the authenticity of the CD. Meanwhile, the Congress upped the ante against the BJP alleging that the Opposition party wants to make India a Orwellian state. "First, the Gujarat pogrom, which was followed by fake encounter and now the brazen assault on civil liberty by state-sponsored stalking. What kind of state do these people want to create in which you and I, our family members, every man, woman on the street will be subject to stalking by state apparatus," I&B Minister Manish Tewari said. — PTI
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Modi gets 4 more days to file reply on ‘khooni panja’
New Delhi, November 16 The Commission, after deliberating on the matter, has asked Modi to now reply to its notice by 11.30 am on November 20 and granted him more time as sought by him. He was to reply by today morning. The EC had issued a notice to Modi on November 13 to reply as to why action should not be initiated against him for his “khooni panja” remarks, allegedly in reference to the Congress symbol, which is a picture of a hand. —
PTI
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JPC report on 2G: CPI urges Speaker to allow House debate
New Delhi, November 16 CPI Parliamentary Party leader Gurudas Dasgupta, who was a member of the JPC, in a letter to the Speaker, charged that “the report was never placed for discussion, but just voted out. Facts were never taken into consideration. Arbitrarily and subjectively, the report was drawn up... The report said the Prime Minister had been misled. Do you believe that the Prime Minister can be misled when he is leading a nation of 120 crores? Moreover, the stature of Dr Manmohan Singh does not permit us to believe that he can be misled”. Dasgupta said facts with him suggest the Prime Minister was in the know of things and gave the order allowing pricing of spectrum by the Department of Telecommunications in consultation with the Ministry of Finance, thus opening the door for manipulation. The Prime Minister, he said, received a letter from Union Minister Kamal Nath drawing attention to something wrong with the Telecom Department in regard to distribution of spectrum and Cabinet Secretary gave a note stating the price of spectrum should be Rs 7,000 crore more than what was being priced at. Dasgupta said a Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office had put up a note on two occasions on irregularities and all these were seen by the Prime Minister. The CPI leader said the discussion was meant not to hurl abuses at any individual but to record how politically motivated was the JPC report. “It (report) is going to tarnish the image of the Parliament because it is Parliament that had appointed the JPC.” He said since the current Lok Sabha term was coming to an end, an important discussion on the subject could not miss the attention of Parliament. He urged the Speaker to permit a discussion under whatever rules since there were many “omissions and examples of one-sidedness of the report”.
The charge
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2 jawans dismissed for ‘clashing’ with officers
Chandigarh, November 16 The dismissal comes even as proceedings against several other personnel of the regiment, including officers, are under way. A Captain from the unit, Aishwarya Saxena, is facing trial by a general court martial, while other officers, JCOs and jawans are facing administrative action or summary trials. The incident took place in 45 Cavalry at Tibri, near Gurdaspur, on May 29, 2010. One of the jawans, Lance Dafadar MR Abhilash, was allegedly thrashed by Capt Saxena and another officer, Capt R Ganguly, and forcibly taken away from the unit premises in a car. The jawan had been faring poorly in morning PT, resulting in a spat between the two, which later blew up. Later, when the agitated unit personnel were ordered to assemble in the ground by Commanding Officer Col Sumeet Puri, and the officers and the jawan involved were asked to apologise and settle the matter, some jawans expressed dissatisfaction over the way the matter was handled. After the CO left, some jawans allegedly “charged” towards four officers present there, who in their subsequent statements said they were hit. A court of inquiry, presided over by Brig AK Thakur, Commander of an artillery brigade, blamed the commanding officer for not taking effective steps to handle the situation and attempting to conceal the incident from the higher authorities. He has been awarded a severe displeasure. The two officers were blamed for ill-treating and beating a jawan which led to the altercation. The JCOs were blamed for failing to exercise due command and control over troops who “behaved in an unruly and undisciplined manner” resulting in the use of criminal force by them on two captains and two lieutenants. Charges of misdemeanour and making false statements before the court of inquiry have been levelled against some of them. Some of the JCOs involved in the incident have since retired and Section 123 of the Army Act was invoked to recall them for disciplinary proceedings.
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Onion prices fall as fresh supplies hit market
Mumbai, November 16 He expected fresh arrivals to increase in the coming days as farmers are harvesting their winter crop. "There is more acreage under onion and we expect prices to fall even further," Daga said. Wholesale onion prices at Lasalgaon had crossed Rs 55 per kilogram earlier this month following tightness in supply. Sources said onion arrivals had increased from a low of 400 quintal per day to more than 8,000 quintal in the past two days. There is also speculation that traders may have been hoarding stocks for the past several months in order to keep prices high and thus make a killing. But with the fresh crop coming in, hoarded stocks may be dumped in the markets thereby causing onion prices to crash.
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Present a more balanced picture, Ansari tells media
New Delhi, November 16 Inaugurating a seminar “Role of Media in Serving the Public Interest” organised by the Press Council of India on the occasion of National Press Day, Ansari said, “Some disconcerting developments in relation to the media have also been noticed. The Chairman of the Press Council of India had observed sometime back that the media often diverts attention from real issues to non-issues, often divides the people and at times, promotes superstition. Perhaps the regional media shoulders a greater share of this avoidable burden. “In relation to economic liberalisation in the post-1991 period, the mainstream media has generally adopted a laudatory tone and tended to underplay its negative socio-economic effects, though of course, there have been excellent exceptions. The need for presenting a more balanced picture is essential,” he said. The Vice-President said that the country has every reason to be proud of the strength and diversity of the Indian media. “All indications are that the Press and media will continue to grow and carefully adopt and adapt to new digital technologies of communication to widen its reader/viewer base and leverage the growing numbers to increase both its influence and revenue. “But what remains crucial is the credibility and commitment of the Press and media to objectivity and to that elusive search for the truth,” he said. He said it has been noted by a careful observer that the two roles that newspapers have played are credible-informational and critical-investigative-adversarial. The two can, and do, complement each other and thereby build trust so essential for retaining readership. He expressed concern that there were also larger systemic issues that need to be considered as those directly affect the media’s objectivity and credibility. These relate to cross-media ownership, the phenomenon of “paid news”, media ethics and need for effective and viable self-regulatory mechanisms. Taking part in the deliberations, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said the media’s landscape has undergone an exponential transformation due to epochal change by the World Wide Web. He said every two days more digital content is created than had been done from the dawn of civilisation until 2003 and a tale of two civilisations — one physical and another virtual — is evolving.
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22 die in Karnataka road accident
Belgaum, November 16 The police said the driver lost control over the vehicle which then toppled, resulting in the horrific tragedy. The injured have been admitted to hospitals in Belgaum and at Bailhongal, the police said. The vehicle was carrying labourers from tribal colonies in Bagalkot district to Sawantwadi in Maharashtra for stone quarry work. The mini-truck also had 30-40 wheat bags loaded on it and some victims came under its weight, they said. Only one girl aged around five has not been identified among the 22, they said. — PTI
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ISRO performs last orbit-raising manoeuvre on Mars Orbiter
Chennai, November 16 "The fifth orbit-raising manoeuvre of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft, starting at 1:27 am (IST).. with a burn time of 243.5 seconds has been successfully completed. The observed change in apogee is from 1,18,642 km to 1,92,874 km," the ISRO said. —
PTI
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Geetika suicide case: Co-accused Aruna Chadha denied bail
New Delhi, November 16 Additional Sessions Judge MC Gupta rejected the bail plea of Aruna, who had sought regular bail saying she is mother of a nine-year-old girl, and wanted to take care of her daughter. The court had granted two month interim bail to Aruna, which expired on November 15. — PTI
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Congress manifesto a ‘dying declaration’
Virtual wooing of voters JPMorgan reaches settlement Poll adjourned in Churu
Indian biotech aims high Gold gains, silver tumbles
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Raipur, November 16
Daring to take on seasoned political opponents, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal today filed his nomination papers from the New Delhi constituency where he hopes to give a tough fight.
A total of 1,140 candidates have pitched in for a fight to form the next government in the national capital.
