NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party as well as the Akali Dal on Wednesday demanded a SIT probe into the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi admitted some party members' involvement in the violence.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung on Wednesday morning to submit his request demanding a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe.

"The meeting went on for around half an hour. The LG has ensured that his request would be considered and the Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) will be informed," an official said.

Akali Dal Delhi president Manjit Singh G.K. told reporters that now that Rahul Gandhi has acknowledged the role of Congress leaders in the riots, he should take action against them too.

"We don't want an apology but action against the culprits in the 1984 riots. We demand a SIT probe," Singh said, adding that an agitation would be organised outside the Congress party's headquarters at 24 Akbar Road on Thursday morning. — IANS

LONDON: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said no Prime Minister can revoke Article 370 of the Constitution granting special status to the state "without calling into question" its accession to India.

Dismissing a question on whether he was worried at the prospect of BJP's Narendra Modi becoming the Prime Minister, Omar said, "it does not matter whether he is the Prime Minister or the President or (holds) any other position".

"Constitutionally, he cannot revoke Article 370 without calling into question the accession of J&K to India. Now as Prime Minister of India, if he wants to rewrite accession to India, he is welcome to it. But I do not think any Prime Minister would be as foolhardy as that," he said.

Omar was answering questions at BBC's 'Hard Talk' programme, during which he more then held his ground in the face of tough questioning by its anchor Stephen Sackur who focused on the insurgency, role of the armed forces and the State's accession to India.

The Chief Minister was asked about Modi's suggestion for a debate on Article 370 to which he had responded by offering to debate the BJP leader "at any time, any place".

He said Modi had not responded to this himself but "one of his minions gave a statement that he is too busy to discuss Article 370 and, to make it worse, he is far too important to discuss it with somebody like you (Omar)".

Sackur remarked that he would be "extraordinarily worried" because Modi could be the next Prime Minister if opinion polls were to be believed because the BJP leader favours doing away with J&K's special status. 

"I am not worried," Omar told him. — PTI

NEW DELHI: The Group of Ministers on Telangana will meet in the first week of February to decide on Centre’s next course of action after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy sought extension of the deadline for discussing and returning the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill.

The GoM, set up to look into the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, is likely to meet on February 4 to articulate the government’s view for recommending to President Pranab Mukherjee the next course of action, official sources said.

The GoM is headed by Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.

The move comes after the Chief Minister on Tuesday wrote to the President seeking extension of the January 30 deadline, during which the Andhra Pradesh Assembly will have to discuss and return the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill to the Central government with or without its view.

However, experts are of the opinion that whatever the Assembly does, Parliament can go ahead with its legislative process for creation of the new state.

The President initially gave time till January 23 to the state legislature to discuss the Bill and return it but subsequently extended the deadline till January 30 after the Andhra Pradesh Government sought four weeks extension.

On Tuesday, Reddy had said he had written the letter to the President but did not specify how much time was sought.

But, sources close to him said an additional three weeks were sought by the state government.

Reddy’s move came after the Seemandhra ministers and MLAs at a meeting with him decided to seek additional time citing frequent disruptions in the Assembly.

So far only about 90 MLAs, including the Chief Minister, have spoken on the Bill and expressed their views while some others gave their opinion in writing.

But most of the Assembly time was lost in disruptions by either the Seemandhra or the Telangana legislators on one demand or the other.

There is no immediate indication what would be the GoM’s next course of action as the government has already declared its intention to table the Telangana Bill in the coming session of Parliament beginning February 5.

“We are clear in our mind that the Telangana Bill will be brought in this session of Parliament. It is a commitment we have made,” Shinde had said.

The Parliament session commences on February 5 and is scheduled to end on February 21. This will be the last session of Parliament before the tenure of the UPA-II comes to an end.

The Union Cabinet had on December 5 given the go-ahead for the creation of a 10-district Telangana and outlined the blueprint for carving out the country’s 29th state.

Telangana will comprise 10 districts and the rest of Andhra Pradesh will consist of 13 districts. Hyderabad will remain the common capital for both the states for a period not exceeding 10 years.

The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister has stoutly opposed the proposed bifurcation of the state and said it would be detrimental to all regions.

Reddy, who had openly opposed the Congress Working Committee’s July 30 resolution to split Andhra Pradesh and create Telangana, spoke on the floor of the House what he had been saying in public in the last seven months.

“Our CWC has taken a decision, but I am totally opposing it. It’s not in the interest of anyone,” he had said. — PTI

AAP leaders not providing info on party funding: Centre to HC

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that AAP leaders, including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, have not provided the information sought by them on the funding received by the party.

"We have asked for certain details from them regarding bank accounts and other information vide our letter dated November 4, 2013. We had also sent another letter to them. But there is no answer," Additional Solicitor General Rajeeve Mehra, appearing for the Ministry of Home Affairs, told the court.

Meanwhile, a Bench headed by Justice Pradeep Nandrajog asked petitioner advocate M. L. Sharma to also implead AAP as one of the respondents in the PIL filed by him seeking lodging of a criminal case against founding members of the party, including Kejriwal, for allegedly receiving foreign funds in violation of law.

"AAP is a registered political party. Why you have not made them a party? File an amended memo of parties by next date of hearing, i.e., February 5," the Bench said.

Besides Kejriwal, the petitioner has made AAP leaders Manish Sisodia, Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan as party in his PIL.

The high court had earlier asked the Centre to look into "afresh" the accounts of AAP to find out the source of money received by it after its inception.

The order had came after the Centre had filed a report in which it had said that an evaluation of the accounts of civil society of Team Anna was done in 2012 and a report was filed before another bench of the high court last year in a similar PIL filed by the petitioner earlier.

The Centre had earlier submitted before the court that the issue raised by the petitioner in his PIL has already been investigated and a report was prepared on the issues earlier by the government.

Sharma, in his plea, had cited some names, including that of Kejriwal, and sought that "a direction be issued to register a criminal case against the respondents (AAP members) under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) and to conduct day-to-day trial proceedings under court supervision in the interest of justice." — PTI

NEW DELHI: Chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women Barkha Singh on Wednesday accused the AAP government of harassing her for summoning controversial Law Minister Somnath Bharti in connection with the South Delhi raid episode and refused to step down from the post.

A former Congress MLA, Singh had a public confrontation with Bharti’s lawyers last week when they came to depose before the DCW on his behalf in the case of alleged harassment of a number of Ugandan women.

Singh, who had lost the Assembly election from R. K. Puram, said she was holding a constitutional post and there was no need to resign from it, though the Congress dispensation, which had appointed her, was defeated.

Earlier this month, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Arvinder Singh Lovely had asked all partymen to quit from various posts in government-run boards and commissions, following convention.

“It is a constitutional post and I still have one year and four months left in my tenure. The AAP government is harassing me and targeting me because I summoned Bharti in connection with the the ill-treatment of Ugandan women during the midnight raid in Khirki Extension,” Singh said.

When asked about Lovely’s direction to partymen to relinquish their posts in boards and commissions, the DPCC chief said he had withdrawn his directive.

A number of AAP leaders said in keeping with the tradition, Singh should have resigned after her party was ousted from power.

The DCW Chairperson had summoned Bharti over allegations that he had led a group of supporters against some African women after claiming they were involved in a drug and prostitution racket.

Bharti did not depose before the Commission on January 24 as directed by it but sent his lawyers who were not allowed to put across their views by Singh.

“Those Ugandan women had come to me with their complaints and I did my duty. If they are removing me because I summoned the Law Minister, then it is totally wrong. It is an atrocity on me,” Singh said.

The AAP, in a statement, had accused Singh of “politicisation” of the Commission by its Chairperson. — PTI

NAGPUR: A member of the Maharashtra Women's Commission has sparked a huge controversy by saying that body language of girls should not invite attention of potential rapists and questioned why the Delhi gangrape victim went for a late night movie show.

"Girls should be very careful what they wear and at what time they move out in city. Their body language should not invite attention of the potential rapists lurking around the streets," Dr Asha Mirge, a member of the State Commission for Women, said here yesterday.

Referring to the gangrape of a 23-year-old girl in Delhi in December 2012 and the last year's sexual assault of a photojournalist in Mumbai, Mirge asked, "Why Nirbhaya, the victim in the infamous Delhi gangrape case in December 2012, should go to movie for a late night show (11 pm); and similarly, the photo-journalist in Mumbai go to an isolated place of Shakti Mills at 6 pm?" 

"Girls should always remain alert," said Mirge, a gynaecologist who is also associated with the NCP.

She made the remarks while sharing the dais with NCP MP Supriya Sule at the party's youth wing function here yesterday.

The SCW member also asked the girls to do an introspection of their dressing sense and hairstyle.

However, she later apologised for her statements and demanded strict punishment for the culprits in rape cases. — PTI

NEW DELHI: Government’s resolution on the contentious issue of spectrum usage fee seems to have found favour with telecom operators with none of them withdrawing their application from airways auction on the last day yesterday.

‘No”, a Department of Telecom official said when asked if any of the eight applicants has withdrawn application for participating in auction.

Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Jio Infocomm, Idea Cellular, Telewings (Uninor) , Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices and Aircel are in race to bid for about 403 Mhz of airwaves in 1800 MHz band and 46 MHz spectrum in 900 MHz band.

The Empowered Group of Ministers on Telecom, headed by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, decided on Monday to levy annual spectrum usage charge (SUC) on new airwaves for mobile services at 5 per cent of their adjusted gross revenue earned from telecom services. The present rate is in the range of 3-8 per cent.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had recommended a flat SUC of 3-5 per cent across all players.

This had been backed by GSM operators such as Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular though RJio and Videocon had opposed it.

On EGoM’s decision, GSM industry body COAI said it does not address the anomaly of differential spectrum usage charge and will lead to different rates being applied to telecom operators for holding similar spectrum.

“In turn, it will affect the potential investments to the sector, which is already facing hurdles presently. In addition, opportunities for arbitrage that exist between different bands and technologies would continue to exist,” COAI Director General Rajan S. Mathews said.

Following the EGoM decision, Airtel on Tuesday approached the Department of Telecom seeking reduction of bank guarantees from Rs 3,700 crore to about Rs 2,900 crore that it had submitted for the upcoming spectrum auction, indicating a toning down of its bids for the airwaves.

A new player needs to submit a minimum bank guarantee of Rs 1,918.75 crore if it plans to bid for pan-India spectrum in the 1800 MHz band.

For the scarce 900 MHz band, companies are required to deposit Rs 438.75 crore as minimum earnest money if they want to bid in all three metros — Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.

Government expects a minimum of Rs 11,300 crore in upfront payment from the upcoming auction of airwaves worth Rs 48,685 crore at the base price. Successful bidders can pay the remaining amount over a maximum of 10 yearly instalments.

In November 2012, bids worth Rs 9,407 crore were received for spectrum worth Rs 28,000 that was offered. — PTI

Thane (Maharashtra): Eight persons were charred to death and 14 others were injured when a luxury bus collided with a diesel tanker near Kude village on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway in the wee hours today.

The luxury bus was going to Ahmedabad from Pune when it collided with the tanker at Kude village within Manor police station limits in Palghar taluka.

The accident took place around 1.45 am. The tanker belonged to BPCL and was carrying diesel towards Hazira in Gujarat. Due to the collision, both the vehicles immediately caught fire, the police said.

As per the initial reports, all the deceased were occupants of the ill-fated bus.

"The bodies could not be identified as they are charred beyond recognition. The bodies have been sent for postmortem.

The district administration is in the process of contacting the bus operator to get the names of the passengers travelling in the bus," Thane District Collector P. Velrasu told PTI here.

The administration is making all efforts to establish the identify of the victims and those identified would be handed over after due verification, he added.

The injured are undergoing treatment at Manor Rural Hospital and are said to be out of danger.

Fire engines from the nearby areas brought the fire under control, officials said, adding that the district and police authorities are supervising the relief and rescue operations.

On May 29, 2013, a similar accident involving a luxury bus and tanker close to this spot had left 14 persons dead and 40 injured. — PTI

CHENNAI: Amid the simmering sibling rivalry in the DMK’s first family that triggered the suspension of his elder son M. K. Alagiri from the party, DMK chief M. Karunanidhi has written to the Prime Minister seeking additional security for his younger son M. K. Stalin.

Party sources said the DMK president had recently written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking increased protection, “after the Alagiri incident”, in an apparent reference to escalation of tension in DMK’s first family involving Alagiri.

Sources declined to divulge the contents of the letter.

Stalin has been provided security cover of armed CRPF commandos after an alleged attempt on his life at Madurai railway station in June 2006.

Accusing Alagiri of nurturing “unknown hatred” against his younger brother, Karunanidhi had on Tuesday stated that his Madurai-based son had even said that Stalin will die in three months.

“No father can tolerate such words against a son. As the party chief, I had to tolerate them,” Karunanidhi had said even as the allegations were refuted by Alagiri.

“Not even in my dream could I imagine such charges. Anyway, I take it as his greetings for my birthday...(Alagiri’s birthday falls on January 30),” he had said. — PTI

State of the Union speech: Obama pledges
to fight for middle class

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama vowed on Tuesday to bypass a divided Congress and take action on his own to bolster America's middle class in his State of the Union speech that he used to try to breathe new life into his second term after a troubled year.

Standing in the House of Representatives chamber before lawmakers, Supreme Court justices and VIP guests, Obama declared his independence from Congress by issuing a raft of executive orders —- a move likely to inflame already tense relations between the Democratic President and Republicans.

Obama's actions, while relatively modest, collectively amounted to an outpouring of frustration at the pace of legislative action with Republicans in control of the House of Representatives and able to slow the president's agenda.

"I'm eager to work with all of you," Obama told the lawmakers gathered for the annual speech. "But America does not stand still — and neither will I. So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that's what I'm going to do."

Obama's orders included a wage hike for federal contract workers, creation of a "starter savings account" to help millions of people save for retirement, and plans to establish new fuel efficiency standards for trucks.

He said he was driven to act by the widening gap between rich and poor and the fact that while the stock market has soared, average wages have barely budged.

"Inequality has deepened," Obama said. "Upward mobility has stalled. The cold hard fact is that even in the midst of recovery, too many Americans are working more than ever just to get by, let alone get ahead. And too many still aren't working at all."

Obama's strategy means he has scaled back ambitions for large legislative actions and wants to focus more on small-bore initiatives that can reduce income inequality and create more opportunities for middle-class workers.

He did, however, renew appeals for actions that still await congressional approval. He called for Congress to give him the authority to speedily negotiate international trade agreements, a proposal held up by Democratic opposition.

On one of his biggest priorities, immigration reform, Obama urged Congress to work together on an overhaul, but he tempered his criticism of Republicans who have held up the law, with signs of possible progress emerging in recent days among House Republicans.

Obama also held back from taking a step that immigration reform advocates have called on him to take. He did not take executive action to freeze the deportations of parents of children brought to the United States illegally.

"Let's get immigration reform done this year," he said.

On healthcare, the issue that rocked his presidency and caused many Americans to lose confidence in him, Obama defended the overhaul law he signed in 2010 but did not dwell on it, urging Americans to sign up for medical insurance coverage by a March 31 deadline.

"I don't expect to convince my Republican friends on the merits of this law," Obama said. "But I know that the American people aren't interested in refighting old battles."

His political objective was to create a narrative for Democrats to use as they seek to head off Republicans eager to wrest control of the Senate from Democrats in November elections and build on their majority in the House.

The party in control of the White House typically loses seats in these so-called mid-term elections, but Democrats feel they stand a chance of limiting their losses or even making some gains.

With three years left in office, long-standing issues still seemed to hang over his presidency. He called anew for closing the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"This needs to be the year Congress lifts the remaining restrictions on detainee transfers and we close the prison at Guantanamo Bay," Obama said. "Because we counter terrorism not just through intelligence and military action, but by remaining true to our constitutional ideals and setting an example for the rest of the world.

He also said nothing about whether he would approve the long-delayed Keystone XL Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline that environmentalists oppose.

Instead, Obama spoke passionately about the need to tackle climate change, a statement that could foreshadow more executive actions to reduce carbon emissions this year.

"Climate change is a fact," he said.

Republicans clambered for some of the same rhetorical ground as Obama in pledging to narrow the gap between rich and poor but staked out a different vision for doing so.

"It's one that champions free markets and trusts people to make their own decisions, not a government that decides for you," Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, chairwoman of the House Republican Caucus, said in her party's response to Obama's speech. "It helps working families rise above the limits of poverty and protects our most vulnerable."

Obama is trying to recover from a difficult fifth year in office, when immigration and gun control legislation failed to advance in Congress, his healthcare law struggled out of the starting gate, and he appeared uncertain about how to respond to Syria's civil war.

Polls reflect a dissatisfied and gloomy country. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on Tuesday showed 68 percent of Americans saying the country is either stagnant or worse off since Obama took office. People used words like "divided," "troubled" and "deteriorating" to describe the state of the country, the poll showed.

Obama dwelled mostly on domestic issues in his hour-long address, but warned Congress he would veto any effort to increase economic sanctions on Iran as he tries to reach a comprehensive deal with Tehran to ensure it does not obtain a nuclear weapons capability.

Obama will talk up the economic themes from the speech in a two-day road trip starting on Wednesday that will include stops in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Tennessee. — Reuters

MANILA: A Philippine military official says at least 37 hardline Islamic fighters have been killed in a two-day offensive against insurgents opposed to a new peace deal between the government and the main Muslim rebel group.

Regional military spokesman Col Dickson Hermoso said on Wednesday that 12 of the slain rebels of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement have been identified with the help of village leaders, while others were discovered by troops in freshly dug graves in a village in southern Maguindanao province.

One soldier died and several were wounded Tuesday by homemade bombs hidden around a mosque.

Rebel spokesman Abu Misry disputes the military report, saying there have been no deaths and only seven of fighters have been wounded in army shelling and helicopter rocket fire. — AP