Wednesday, November 4, 1998

BJP ‘earmarks’ 3 seats
for SAD
NEW DELHI, Nov 3 — The anxious wait of the Bharatiya Janata Party ticket-seekers could end tomorrow when the party is likely to announce its list of candidates for the November 25 Delhi Assembly polls.

JD-Left tie-up in Rajasthan
NEW DELHI, Nov 3 — The Janata Dal has decided to have an alliance with the Left in Rajasthan, but will it fight alone in Delhi, Mizoram and Madhya Pradesh in the forthcoming assembly elections.

Freedom fighters to get more pension
NEW DELHI, Nov 3 — The government has granted a 7 per cent dearness relief to various categories of freedom fighters and their eligible dependent pensioners with effect from August last under the Swantantrata Sainik Samman pension scheme.

Ticket-seekers throng Cong office
From K.V. Prasad
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 3 — With the deadline for filing of nominations for the forthcoming Assembly elections nearing, the suspense among aspirants for a Congress ticket is on the rise.

The Congress Central Election Committee has been holding deliberations for the past three days regularly but so far it has not made public candidates whose names have been cleared.

"It will take at least two to three days for us to release the list," Mr Shivraj Patil, Chairman of the AICC Media Department, said today.

The scene at AICC’s 24 Akbar Road headquarters resembles a ‘mela’. In recent times no such rush of aspirants and their supporters has been seen at the party office.

In fact, the surge is not just restricted to the central office. The residence of senior CWC leaders and venues where the Pradesh Election Committees are meeting also witnesses hordes of party workers who just hang around for a ‘darshan’ of the leaders.

The aspirants come armed with documents to convince the party high command of their candidature and at the earliest opportunity thrust these papers in the hands of the leaders.

Unable to bear the pressure being brought upon them, many of the leaders have gone underground and prefer to hold meetings where the aspirants do not have access.

A senior party leader said while the list of candidates has not been made public those whose names have been cleared would be informed to proceed and file their nominations.

Party sources said differences over application of norms laid down by the Congress Ethics Committee had led to the delay in finalising the candidates.

The party had adopted norms whose strict application would mean denying tickets to those who had lost elections twice or failed to secure 10,000 votes in Assembly segments during the last general election.

Another area is denial of nomination to party members who have either been convicted in a criminal case or those whose reputation is tainted on charges of corruption.

For instance in Madhya Pradesh, the party high command is reported to have cleared over 170 names deleting at least two ministers in the process.

In Rajasthan where the Congress is hopeful of regaining power, the Central Election Committee has cleared nearly 70 candidates. Candidates for Delhi and Mizoram are under scrutiny.

India for rollback of nuclear alert
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 3 — In a significant move for reducing the risks of unintentional and accidental use of nuclear weapons, India today moved a resolution in the UN General Assembly for ‘de-alerting’ nuclear weapons.

Briefing newspersons, a spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs said that main objective of the resolution was to reduce the risks of unintentional and accidental use of nuclear weapons.

The resolution, moved by the Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, Mr Dalip Lahiri, at the UNGA late last night, has called upon the nuclear weapons states (P-5) to undertake a review of their nuclear doctrine.

Mr Lahiri said: “From all accounts available to us now from hands-on experts from the nuclear weapons states, this dangerous operational configuration of nuclear weapon continues even after the end of the Cold War, posing risks to humanity which are completely unacceptable and totally divorced from the political realities of the post-Cold War world.”

“A further benefit of dealerting would be immediately to bring other nuclear-weapon countries into the dialogue on reducing nuclear dangers. Whatever one may think of the refusal of UK, France and China to participate in numerical reductions till the USA and Russian arsenals are brought below a certain threshold, it would be very difficult for them to refuse to participate in discussions on steps to reduce nuclear dangers through dealerting etc.”

“What is clear is that these matters are of legitimate concern to the international community as a whole, and that nuclear weapons states cannot claim the right to discuss these issues in a cabal of their own, when the consequences of nuclear accidents flowing from their nuclear doctrines could have disastrous effects on all the people of the world”, Mr Lahiri said.

Pointing out to the dangers, Mr Lahiri said: “ On January 25, 1995, the National Aeronautical and Space Administration of the US launched a research rocket skywards from an island of Norway. It was picked up by a Russian radar installation 470 miles away. To the Russians the trajectory apparently reassembled that of a Trident missile launched from a US submarine. Within minutes, Russia’s nuclear command and control system was placed on a higher level of alert, and President Yeltsin apparently activated his nuclear briefcase in order to be able to issue launch orders if necessary.”

“The fate of human society at that moment hung in the balance. This and other similar events led to a study by the US Congressional Budget Office on approaches to reducing the chance of inadvertent nuclear war. One of these studies, which is now underway, involves a series of steps that the US and Russia could take to reduce or stand down the alert status of their nuclear forces.”

Initial unofficial reaction of the P-5 is very cautious, sources said adding that nuclear weapons states are wary of taking a stand on the issue of dealerting of their nuclear weapons as public opinion is growing in their countries against these weapons as they have lost relevance after the end of the Cold War.

Whatever may be the ultimate fate of the Indian resolution, the P-5 powers would find it difficult to reject outright the concept behind the resolution, sources said. The issue would definitely come to centrestage on the issue of global nuclear disarmament.

Some quarters have already started questioning the motive behind the Indian move saying that New Delhi was trying to seek a backdoor entry into the nuclear weapons club.

Anticipating this, India has made clear that New Delhi was ready to accept any amendment to its resolution.

BJP ‘earmarks’ 3 seats for SAD
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 3 — The anxious wait of the Bharatiya Janata Party ticket-seekers could end tomorrow when the party is likely to announce its list of candidates for the November 25 Delhi Assembly polls.

The BJP Delhi unit president, Mr Mange Ram Garg, said “the list prepared by us would be submitted to the Central Election Committee tomorrow morning and the names of the candidates would be announced by the evening.”

Hopefuls who have been regularly visiting the party offices are anxiously waiting for the announcement so that they can begin their campaign in earnest.

The BJP poll panel is said to have cleared sixty of the 70 assembly seats but has not yet chosen a candidate for Shalimar Bagh, the seat held by former Delhi Chief Minister, Mr Sahib Singh and Kirti Nagar considered to be a stronghold of former Chief Minister, Mr Madan Lal Khurana.

The BJP has earmarked only four seats for Sikhs, giving the Hari Nagar seat to Delhi industry minister, Mr Harsharan Singh Balli, and allotting three other seats to the Akali Dal.

Rajya Sabha MP and election committee member, Mr Vijay Kumar Malhotra, today met Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Mr Malhotra is believed to have apprised Mr Vajpayee of seat sharing demands of its allies at the Centre — the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD). The decision on sharing seats with the INLD has been left to Mr Vajpayee.

Delhi Chief Minister, Ms Sushma Swaraj, Mr Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Delhi SAD president, Mr Avtar Singh Hit, SAD MP, and other senior Akali leaders met the Prime Minister to discuss the seat sharing formula.

Sources in the BJP indicated that while the BJP was willing to give three seats to the Akali Dal, Mr Avtar Singh Hit and other senior Akali leaders demanded at least four seats.

A senior party leader pointed out that the election committee was unable to decide on the seats which were represented by the political heavyweight including Mr Sahib Singh Verma and Mr Khurana, both of whom have already expressed their decision to not contest the Assembly election.

Also Ms Sushma Swaraj, who is being projected as the Chief Ministerial candidate, is likely to contest from either R K Puram or Hauz Khas. Since both the seats already have BJP MLAs, one of them may not be fighting the election this time.

The Ashok Vihar seat is also under a cloud as state party president, Mr Mange Ram Garg, is reportedly keen to field his own confidante, it being his home constituency.

Ticket-seekers aspiring for Congress tickets are also keeping their fingers crossed.

The three strongmen of Delhi politics, Mr Sajjan Kumar, Mr H K L Bhagat and Mr Jagdish Tytler, who are involved in the process of selection of candidates, appear to be garnering seats for their own candidates, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee members said.

DPCC sources said the Delhi unit’s decision to leave the final decision on the party high command has also evoked sharp resentment among the workers, who feel that those who worked in the area may not get the ticket.

In the last Assembly polls too, only 45 tickets were given to those candidates whose names were suggested by the Delhi unit. For the remaining seats, the high command had named several persons who had not worked in the area. This had evoked strong response from the then DPCC president, Mr H K L Bhagat.

Mr Prithvi Raj Yadav, general secretary, Delhi Pradesh Janata Dal told Tribune News Service here today that the party is considering an alliance with the Left parties. He said that its national president, Mr Sharad Yadav and Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, chairman of the national parliamentary board are holding talks with senior leaders of Left parties, including Mr Harkishan Singh Surjeet and Mr P Vardhan.

Mr Yadav said the party plans to field candidates from all the 70 Assembly segments in Delhi. “We will finalise names of candidates for 40 Assembly seats today and the remaining tomorrow,” he said.

Mr Balwinder Singh Talwandi, president of the Delhi Shiromani Akali Dal, breakaway group of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) said that the party plans to field candidates from Timarpur, Kalkaji, Vishnu Garden and Shahadara. He said that his party is trying to negotiate an alliance with the Congress and the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha and would finalise its names of candidates by tomorrow.

JD-Left tie-up in Rajasthan
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 3 — The Janata Dal has decided to have an alliance with the Left in Rajasthan, but will it fight alone in Delhi, Mizoram and Madhya Pradesh in the forthcoming assembly elections.

Janata Dal’s Parliamentary Board chairman Ram Vilas Paswan while pointing out that the party was viewing the poll as a mini-referendum on the performance of the BJP-led government, said that the Dal had cleared 120 seats in Madhya Pradesh, about 70 in Rajasthan and four in Mizoram. The party was likely to decide on the seats in Delhi by tomorrow.

Mr Paswan said the party had decided to have an alliance with Left parties but would go it alone in other states. Even in Rajasthan there was a hitch and there was likely to be a friendly contest on three seats. However, efforts were underway to resolve the dispute.

Mr Paswan said the party was viewing the elections as a mini referendum on the performance of the BJP-led government and the main issues on which the party would fighting the elections were inflation, and the shooting crime rate.

Mr Paswan admitted that the absence of an alliance of secular forces would split the vote and added that it should be the endeavour of every secular party to consolidate the anti-BJP vote.

On the Karnataka crisis, the Janata Dal leader exuded confidence that it would blow over soon and said the meeting of the Legislature JD Party (LJDP) would be convened at an “appropriate time”. There were no differences over the convening of the LJDP meeting, but there were some over its timing.

He said all issues raised by the party in Karnataka were being discussed and it was clear that no faction was willing to pull down the state government. He was, however, non-committal on the issue of leadership change and said the question was how to retain unity in the party.

Ban on transfer of school funds

NEW DELHI, Nov 3 (UNI) — Acting on the provisions of the Delhi School Education Act and the rules thereunder, the Delhi High Court has put a blanket ban on the transfer, diversion and siphoning of funds from a public school to a society or any other school.

A Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Justice K.S. Gupta in its recent landmark judgement on fee structure in public schools categorically said. “The scheme of the Act and the rules is that there should be no diversion of funds and what is collected shall be spent for same purpose barring accidental savings.

“The incidental use of sums collected for some ancillary purpose may be different but not the deliberate levy for one purpose, knowing that for the said purpose the amount required may be much less and knowing that the excess amount is levied and collected and later used for another purpose,” the Bench added.

The judges observed: “We do not think that the object of the Act would stand satisfied on simply showing that the amounts collected were spent for educational purpose.”

“There may be some stray cases of such diversion of funds taking place and the approach on them would be different. But when one finds a continuous pattern of such diversion which is not permissible under the Act and the rules and cannot be permitted under the garb of spreading education,” they opined.

The judgement said even the Director of Education of the Delhi Government had last year stipulated that the fees and funds collected from parents shall be utilised strictly in accordance with rule 177 of the rules which states that the fee should be spent solely for the exclusive benefit of the students.

Freedom fighters to get more pension

NEW DELHI, Nov 3 (UNI) — The government has granted a 7 per cent dearness relief to various categories of freedom fighters and their eligible dependent pensioners with effect from August last under the Swantantrata Sainik Samman pension scheme.

The dearness relief has been granted on the basis of increase in the consumer price index for industrial sector since June, 1997. Freedom fighters pension was linked to the price index only last year.

According to an official order, the ex-Andaman political prisoners will get enhanced pension of Rs 4,280 per month with effect from August 1 this year. Freedom fighters who suffered outside British India will get a higher pension of Rs 3,745 per month.

Other categories, including widow/widower of freedom fighters, will get a pension of Rs 3,210 per month. The eldest unmarried/unemployed daughter will get a pension of Rs 642 and two other daughters, Rs 375 per month.

The parents of freedom fighters will also get a higher pension of Rs 1,070 per month, the official order said.

Dacoit shot dead
FARRUKHABAD: Notorious dacoit Bhanwarpal Singh was shot dead in an encounter with the Mohamadabad police in Daudpur village here on Monday night, the police said on Tuesday. The dacoit was killed in an exchange of fire with the police which on a tip-off, surrounded the village and asked him to surrender the SSP, Mr Satnarain, told mediapersons. Bhanwarpal was an active member of the Lallua gang and carried a cash reward of Rs 7,000 on his head, the SSP said. — PTI

CPI (ML) leader killed
HYDERABAD: A top leader of the CPI (ML) Janashakthi group was killed in an encounter with the police at Kistapur village in Medak district of Andhra Pradesh, on Tuesday. The police raided a house in the village, following a tip-off that six Naxalites were hiding there. In the subsequent exchange of fire, Cheema Durgaiah, a deputy commander of the group was killed. Two hand grenades, gelatine sticks, explosive wires and some party literature were recovered from the spot, the police here said. — UNI

Remembrance service
NEW DELHI: Representatives of Commonwealth High Commissions and foreign embassies will hold the annual remembrance day service at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery here on November 8. The service commemorates those who died in the two World Wars and in subsequent action. According to a British High Commission release wreaths will be laid by representatives of the Indian armed forces, veterans’ organisations, the diplomatic and attache corps and the NCC. — UNI

Court exempts Thackeray
MUMBAI: A metropolitan court has exempted Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray from personal appearance till December 5, in a case arising from his alleged involvement in riots in suburban Jogeshwari seven years ago. Mr Thackeray’s counsel, Rajendra Shrodkar, on Monday sought exemption for him on health grounds. Allowing Mr Thackeray’s plea, the court, however, directed him to appear in person on December 5. — PTI

Film on Naxalite leader
KOZHIKODE: While the death of Naxalite Leader Varghese in police custody has kicked up a controversy, a 45 minute documentary on his life has already commenced production. The documentary titled “A Lynch of 1970” is being produced at the Thirunelli in Wayanad district by V T Faisal under the banner of the Janakeeya Cinema based on the script of V Muhammed Ali and being directed by P K Ajith Kumar. — UNI

Doc arrested for harassing wife
THANE: A doctor and six members of his family, including his parents, have been arrested by the Wagle Estate police in Mumbai on charges of harassing his wife. The police said on Tuesday that Dr Murlidhar I Karande was harassing and beating his wife as he blamed her for not being good looking. Following a complaint by the doctor’s wife the police arrested the doctor and his family members, the police said. — UNI

Golden jubilee of Guwahati HC
GUWAHATI: President K R Narayanan will participate in the golden jubilee celebrations of Guwahati High Court on November 8. The meeting will be presided over by the Chief Justice of India Dr A S Anand. Assam Governor General S K Singh (retd) will also address the gathering. — UNI

Arms dealer arrested
GUWAHATI: A notorious arms dealer, Nirmal Saikia, was apprehended from Barbetti village in Nagaon district during a joint operation launched by the Army and the CRPF on Monday. During a search carried out in his house, a Japanese pistol, a single barrel rifle and a countrymade .303 rifle were recovered. — UNI