Tuesday, August 24, 1999
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N A T I O N |
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weather  spotlighttoday's calendar |
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Jaya eclipses Sonia's
efforts BJP: Manmohan has violated EC code |
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Vasundhra, Jogi enter
fray
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SP denies support to JD
(U) in Bihar Governor seeks report Rabri sacks minister JPP merges with JMM Pawar may back Cong govt sans
Sonia NHRC asks Haryana to pay relief Govt bans sale of drugs containing
haemoglobin Ezhilmalai joins AIADMK India denies pact with Lanka NCP promises fixed LS term BJP fields Nitish Bhardwaj Book on Haryana Governor |
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Jaya eclipses Sonia's efforts NEW DELHI, Aug 23 — The failure of the AIADMK supremo, Ms Jayalalitha Jayaram, to turn up at Villupuram, an election rally venue situated 170 km South-West from Chennai on Sunday has not only given Mrs Sonia Gandhi a bad Press but also eclipsed three developments which otherwise could have hit the headlines. Ms Jayalalitha’s unexplained absence has left the Congress establishment red faced. Some say that the AIADMK leader was peeved at a remark made by Dr Manmohan Singh in a television interview. Whatever be the reason, the BJP, whose leader, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, had at length explained the reasons for his party’s parting of ways with the AIADMK in meetings addressed by him in Tamil Nadu on Saturday, can now caution the nation that the arm-twisting tactics of Ms Jayalalitha, which the BJP is now free from, will persist if they vote for the AIADMK-Congress combine. The three developments which could have been put to positive use by Congress campaign managers were: the categorical statement by Mrs Sonia Gandhi at Tiruchirapalli, the venue prior to Villupuram: "I shall live for India, I shall die for India". This comment of hers, said in a choked voice, was in reply to the campaign against her foreign origin. She had prefaced the statement by saying that she became an Indian the moment she entered the family of "Indira Amma" as her daughter-in-law. The second event of significance on Sunday was the maiden presence of Mr Rahul Gandhi in an election dais. The third was the coming to surface of the sharpening of contradictions within the ruling BJP with party general secretary, Mr Govindacharya, commenting that his party is committed to the "contentious issues" of Ram Mandir, abrogation of Article 370 and Common Civil Code even though it had not come out with its own manifesto and agreed to abide by the agenda drawn up by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which had put a moratorium on them. The significance of Mr Govindacharya’s statement can be gauged from the fact that today Mr Vajpayee, replying to the media at Ahmedabad, reiterated that the BJP was fighting the elections on the NDA agenda and contentious issues should not be brought in the political arena. The effort of the NDA to woo minority votes and to sidestep from the "Sangh Parivar" agenda apparently is being resisted within the BJP and Mr Govindacharya’s statement thus could be put to advantageous use by the Congress and other Opposition parties. However, the focus yesterday was on Ms Jayalalitha’s "snub" to Mrs Sonia Gandhi and this eclipsed all the advantage which may be silently accruing to the Congress during the campaign. The remark of Dr
Manmohan Singh, which is being cited as the possible bone
of contention for the differences between Congress and Ms
Jayalalitha, was made during the course of a STAR TV
"Janata Ki Adalat" programme. In response to a
question on corruption cases against Ms Jayalalitha and
Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav, Dr Singh was quoted as saying:
"Any accused found guilty must be punished, whether
it is Laloo Prasadji, or Jayalalitha, or anybody else.
You should understand what was Vajpayee government’s
attitude towards Jayalalitha for the past one year —
how on March 30, 1999, the Law Minister (AIADMK nominee),
Thambidurai "tried to cover up things for her".
Further asked about the possible attitude of a Congress
government towards such cases, Dr Singh is reported to
have said: "No, we won’t allow any such thing
to happen. Whoever is the accused, if found guilty, will
be punished as per law". |
BJP: Manmohan has violated EC
code NEW DELHI, Aug 23 — The BJP candidate from South Delhi parliamentary seat, Prof Vijay Kumar Malhotra, today accused the former Finance Minister and Congress candidate for the seat, Dr Manmohan Singh of violating the Election Commission code, including its guidelines, on poll expenditure. Dr Manmohan Singh, however, denied the charges and termed the allegations as "wild and baseless." Addressing a press conference here, the BJP nominee charged that Dr Manmohan Singh had already got published huge advertisements in national dailies through a private business house at a cost of more than Rs 8 lakh, which was not in line with EC directives. The campaign manager of the former Finance Minister said there had been no violation of the EC’s code as the advertisement had been placed by individuals on their own and Dr Manmohan Singh had not spent any money on it. Professor Malhotra claimed that his rival’s personal appeal to the electorate to vote for him during a programme "Janata ki Adalat" telecast by Star TV on August 20 was in contravention of EC’s directives that no channel or electronic media can accept advertisement or allow personal appeals by the candidates. Despite the ban on banners and posters during campaigning by the EC, huge posters were being put up by the Congress candidate, he alleged and added that letters regarding these "aberrations" had been addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner. The BJP candidate also accused the former Finance Minister of "sleeping over" the multi-crore securities scam and various other scams which occurred during the Narasimha Rao government. Dr Manmohan Singh said the Joint Parliamentary Committee, which probed the scam, had absolved him of all charges levelled against him in the securities scam. "The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) conducted the probe and they could not find anything wrong against me," Dr Manmohan Singh, said, adding "the BJP government has shied away from even calling the Rajya Sabha session to discuss the telecom scam." The Congress candidate addressed various street corner meetings, took out padayatras in the Hari Nagar area, which is dominated by the Sikh community. Dr Manmohan Singh in his campaign trail emphasised the failure of the BJP government on the economic front and the need to take several drastic steps to put the economy back on track. Addressing street corner
meetings, the BJP candidate said the people of South
Delhi constituency would decide whether they had absolved
the Congress of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot case charges. |
Manmohan’s claim contested by BJP NEW DELHI, Aug 23 — The BJP today contested former Finance Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s claim that he had not cut defence expenditure during his tenure and furnished official documents to prove its point. Reacting to Dr Manmohan Singh’s statement in a television show yesterday where he denied forcing a cut on defence expenditure during his tenure as Finance Minister, the BJP spokesman, Mr Arun Jaitley, said the party had documentary proof to show that the Narasimha Rao government, of which Dr Manmohan Singh was a member, cut back on defence expenditure under foreign pressure. Evidence exists in the form of the abject memoranda on economic policies submitted by Dr Manmohan Singh to the International Monetary Fund, pledging to cut back on defence expenditure and treating it as a non-crucial sector, Mr Jaitley said. These cuts, he said, over the years severely compromised India’s security. The defence forces had been starved of arms and equipment and worse, they had to prune the size of the troops defending India. Quoting from the memorandum on economic policies submitted to the IMF in 1991-92, Mr Jaitley said it clearly says that "the bulk of the savings are to be achieved from...moderation in defence spending...No area of government spending should be exempt from scrutiny in the effort to achieve fiscal correction..." A similar memorandum submitted in 1992-93 says "total defence spending is budgeted to rise by 7 per cent in nominal terms, resulting in a further real decline to 2.5 per cent of the GDP." The net effect of the Congress and Dr Manmohan Singh’s undertaking to the IMF was a steep decline in the allocation of resources for defending India in terms of percentage of GDP. Mr Jaitley said while the defence expenditure accounted for 3.16 per cent of the GDP in 1989-90, it declined to 2.88 per cent in 1990-91 and to 2.88, 2.65, 2.49, 2.24, 2.21 and 2.09 respectively in the subsequent years till 1996-97. It was only in 1997-98 and 1998-99 that the defence expenditure was hiked to 2.31 per cent of the GDP and 2.35 per cent respectively, he added. Mr Jaitley said the notional increase in rupee terms was wiped out by inflation, resulting in actual decrease of defence funds in real terms. In real terms, he said defence spending was slashed by 33 per cent of the GDP in five years.
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Vasundhra, Jogi enter fray NEW DELHI, Aug 23 (PTI) — Minister of State for External Affairs Vasundhra Raje Scindia, her brother and senior Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia and former union minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Congress spokesman Ajit Jogi were among 132 hopefuls who filed their nominations today for the second and third phases of the Lok Sabha poll as the battlelines were drawn for 20 parliamentary seats in Kerala. Mrs Vasundhra Raje entered the fray as the BJP nominee for Jhalawar seat in Rajasthan where former Chief Minister Jagannath Pahadia of the Congress and Mr Jagat Singh, son of former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh, were among 31 candidates who filed their papers on the penultimate day of the nominations for the second phase of the polling. In Madhya Pradesh, AICC general secretary Madhavrao Scindia, contesting from the Guna constituency after shifting from Gwalior, Congress Seva Dal chief Suresh Pachauri, who faces union minister Uma Bharati (BJP) in Bhopal, the BJP’s tribal leader Dilip Singh Bhuria, seeking re-election from Jhabua, and Mr Jogi were the bigwigs who entered the race today. The Mufti, who parted ways with the Congress and floated the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party, filed his papers for the Anantnag constituency in Kashmir seeking re-election. Prominent among the 12 who filed nominations in Karnataka were Congress leader G.Puttaswamy Gowda who will take on former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda in the latter’s home constituency of Hassan. BJP vice-president and former union minister Karia Munda was among the eight aspirants who jumped into the arena for the third phase in which 19 of the 54 Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar will witness balloting. While the nominations for the second phase of polling, slated for September 11, ends tomorrow, the process for the third, when elections will be held on September 18, will last till August 27. In Kerala, the final configuration for the 20 parliamentary seats emerged today as the deadline for the withdrawal of nominations expired with 143 candidates left in the fray after seven hopefuls pulled out today from the battle. Leading contenders in the state are senior Congress leader K. Karunakaran, pitted against late Marxist leader E.M.S. Namboodiripad’s son E.M. Sreedharan in Mukundapuram, and former union minister and JD (S) nominee C.M. Ibrahim facing Karunakaran’s son K. Muralidharan in Kozhikode. For the second phase of
the Karnataka assembly polls, 139 candidates filed their
papers today. |
Irked farmers cut SYL NEW DELHI, Aug 23 — Irked by low rainfall, villagers of Kakroi in Sonepat district yesterday decided to irrigate the rice crop in their parched fields by cutting the Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal (SYL) and thus set in motion a water crisis in the Capital. The villagers cut the canal early yesterday. The illegal diversion of several cusecs of water did not cause any damage to life or property, senior officials in the Haryana Irrigation Department said, adding it however, affected in water supply to Delhi and the flow in the canal for a few hours. Stating that the diversion had been checked and normal supply would be resumed within 24 hours, sources said preliminary investigation indicated that low rainfall in the area was the main reason for the villagers resorting to the illegal diversion of water. The villagers illegally diverted water 4 km upstream of the Karkoi regulator, which is nearly 2.15 lakh ft left of the Delhi branch, sources in the Irrigation Department said, adding that the police had registered an FIR under the Canal Drainage Act. "There could not have been any natural breach on this side of the canal as the inspection branch lies there and is used by motor vehicles," the sources said, adding that "even seepages would have been noticed." The illegal diversion had resulted in the flow of several cusecs to about 1000 acres in the villages of Mahlana, Barwani and Bajunpur. The surplus water had flown into the East Juan drain, the sources said, adding that "there has been no loss of life or property as the excess water flowed into this drain." For the past few years, villagers of Sonepat district had started rice cultivation, which required a large amount of water, and the unprecedented low rainfall this year could have been the reason for the villagers resorting to such an act. The diversion was 50 ft in length and had been carried out around 2 a.m or 3 a.m. yesterday. It was noticed by Irrigation Department officials at about 7 a.m. Most parts of Delhi went dry today as the canal meets more than half of the Capital’s water requirements. The canal has an optimum capacity to carry about 1400 cusecs and was carrying about 800 cusecs when the villagers diverted it. It provides over 400 cusecs to the Haiderpur water treatment plant, which supplies water to large parts of the Capital. The Haryana Government had stated that it was supplying 415 cusecs of water per day to Delhi as per the Supreme Court directive, which is in excess of Delhi’s share of 255 cusecs per day as per the Yamuna waters accord. Delhi requires more than 800 MGD of water. The Delhi Jal Board supplies only 585 MGD of potable water. There are four treatment plants which produce about 510 MGD of drinking water. Along with these, there are ranney wells, tubewells and deep-bore handpumps which produce about 70 MGD of water. The plants are located
mainly in West, North and East Delhi. The biggest is at
Haiderpur, where about 200 MGD is produced. The plant at
Wazirabad is next in terms of production with 120 MGD.
The Bhagirathi plant in East Delhi produces 100 MGD and
the Chandrawal treatment plant produces about 90 MGD. |
SP denies support to JD (U)
in Bihar NEW DELHI, Aug 23 — The Samajwadi Party today denied reports that it would be supporting the Janata Dal (United) in Bihar during the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. "There is no question of supporting any party that has links directly or indirectly with the BJP and its allies," party general secretary and spokesman Amar Singh said here while talking to mediapersons. The party also announced its candidates for three more seats in Uttar Pradesh, including that for Amethi from where the Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi and the sitting BJP MP, Mr Sanjay Singh are also fighting elections. Mr Amar Singh said the party had decided to field Mr Kamaraujamma, alias Fauji, from this all-important constituency. The party announced the name of Mr Ram Pyare Suman as the candidate from Ambedkar Nagar, the constituency from where the Bahujan Samaj Party leader, Ms Mayawati, was also contesting. The party would be fielding Mr Rama Kant Yadav from Azamgarh, who had also fought the last election from this constituency but had lost to the BSP candidate, Mr Akbar Ahmed Dumpy. Mr Amar Singh said Mr
Surendra Pratap Singh, alias, Baby Raja, who joined the
party after quitting the BJP, would be the party
candidate for the Khajuraho Lok Sabha seat in Madhya
Pradesh, the constituency which was being represented by
Ms Uma Bharati in the 12th Lok Sabha. |
Governor seeks report PATNA, Aug 23 (UNI) — The controversial issue of duplicate ballot boxes in Bihar deepened with Governor B.M. Lal directing the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to submit a detailed report to him at the earliest. In a letter to the CEO on Saturday, the Governor said there were reports of a large number of duplicate ballot boxes in the state which were allegedly used during the previous Lok Sabha and assembly elections. The Governor asked the CEO to keep him posted with the steps taken against the guilty, a Raj Bhavan spokesman said here today. He also observed that it was unfortunate that many of the guilty officers were still holding key posts and involved in the election process. He wanted to know from the CEO what arrangement he was making to ensure a free and fair Lok Sabha polls this time. The detection of double numbered ballot boxes was reported from Saharsa, Samastipur, Dhanbad, Palamau, Darbhanga, Buxar, Siwan and other areas. Earlier, the CEO had directed the authorities concerned to file an FIR in this regard. Meanwhile, the Janata Dal (United) has expressed serious concern about the attitude of the Election Commission towards the detection of duplicate ballot boxes even after a request for a high-level inquiry was made to it. JD (U) leaders George Fernandes, Nitish Kumar and Ram Vilas Paswan, doubting a free and fair polls reiterated their demand for a proper inquiry into the matter and punishment to the guilty. The leaders announced that they would again meet Chief Election Commissioner M.S. Gill and urge him to intervene to find out the facts. Asked whether JD (U) would demand the removal of state Chief Electoral Officer A.K. Basu, holding him responsible for the entire matter, Mr Fernandes said: "How can we make such a demand without knowing the facts." Mr Nitish Kumar,
however, ruled out his party demanding the postponement
of the Lok Sabha elections in the state before the
details of the duplicate ballot boxes were known.
"The election had already been delayed as our party
wanted it to be held in June and now we do not want it to
be delayed further," he added. |
Rabri sacks minister PATNA, Aug 23 (PTI) — Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi today sacked State Minister for Law Deonath Prasad after he and two other leaders joined the Janata Dal (United) at an election rally in Biharsharif after parting ways with the RJD. Hours after Mr Prasad announced his decision at a rally in Biharsharif in the presence of Defence Minister George Fernandes and senior JD (U) leaders Nitish Kumar and Ram Vilas Paswan, the Chief Minister told PTI here that she would recommend the dismissal of the minister. Former MP Ramswaroop Prasad and former Bihar minister Harinarayan Singh too joined the JD (United) at the rally. RJD President Laloo
Prasad Yadav expelled the three from his party for their
alleged anti-party activities. |
JPP merges with JMM RANCHI, Aug 23 (UNI) — In a significant pre-poll development, the Jharkhand Peoples Party (JPP) today merged with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) to strive unitedly for the creation of separate Jharkhand state and check the growth of national political parties, particularly the BJP and the Congress, in the tribal belt of Bihar. Announcing this at a press conference here JPP President Vinod Bhagat expressed full faith in the leadership of JMM supremo Shibu Soren and said under the leadership of Mr Soren, he, along with his partymen, would fight for the realisation of the over five-decade-old statehood demand”The merger is unconditional,’’ he added. Mr Bhagat, who had contested the 1996 and 1998 Lok Sabha elections from the Lohradagga (ST) constituency and is presently the executive councillor in the Jharkhand Area Autonomous Council (JAAC), said the merger decision was taken by the JPP in the larger interest of Jharkhand and as a part of its ongoing efforts to polarise pro-state Jharkhand forces. To a query, Mr Bhagat said he had no intention of contesting the Lok Sabha elections this time and instead join the JMM for statehood. The morcha had made legislator Vishwanath Bhagat its candidate for the Lohradagga Parliamentary seat, he said. He admitted that the formation of the new state had been delayed by national political parties in power as we, who could have pressurised them, were ourselves divided. “The call of the hour is that the Jharkhandis must come under a common banner and fight unitedly for the cause,” he said, calling upon other Jharkhand - named parties to shed their personal political interests and merge in with the morcha for a decisive fight to realise the region’s demand. He said he had decided to join the morcha as it had a political and electoral identity in the area and was the largest Jharkhand -named party to have struggled for the state’s creation since its inception in 1972. The JPP, floated in
1991, has two members in the Assembly and is also
proportionately represented in the JAAC, along with the
other Jharkhand -named parties. It had contested on its
own the 1996 and 1998 Lok Sabha elections and the 1995
Assembly polls. |
Pawar may back Cong govt sans Sonia PANAJI, Aug 23 (PTI) — Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar today gave broad indications that his party might support a Congress-led government without Mrs Sonia Gandhi as its leader. “Let us see. It is too early to say. I don’t say no. I don’t say yes,” he told reporters here when asked if his party would support the Congress minus Mrs Sonia Gandhi. “We are not going to support the BJP and Mrs Sonia Gandhi,” Mr Pawar said when asked about his earlier statement that no party would be able to form the government without the support of the NCP. Asked whom the NCP would support in the event of a hung Lok Sabha, he told reporters in Mumbai after releasing the NCP’s election manifesto that “this is a hypothetical question, but at any cost we will not support the BJP”. Mr Pawar said “unfortunately, at the all-India level, political parties’ leadership is not ready to digest the concept of coalition politics.” Mr Pawar’s remarks assume significane as they appeared directed at the Congress whose President Sonia Gandhi has attacked coalition governments in the past and declined to commit her party to power-sharing after the elections. The NCP President said
time had come for parties in the country to accept the
concept of coalition politics as it was unavoidable now. |
Infant’s death NEW DELHI, Aug 23 (UNI) — The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has directed the Haryana Government to pay compensation to a mother whose infant son died due to starvation in the Rohtak district jail. NHRC sources said today that taking cognisance of the report sent by the Rohtak district jail superintendent that the ten-day-old infant, who accompanied her mother Gyanwati Devi and two year-old sister to the jail, died within two months of incarceration, the commission asked the State Government to pay an interim relief of Rs 20,000 to the mother within one month. Though neither Gyanwati Devi nor her family blamed the prison authorities for the death of the infant and attributed it to natural causes, the NHRC felt that the jail authorities were under an obligation to take special care of the child. The Haryana Government in its report to the commission stated that a magisterial inquiry conducted into the incident had established that nobody could be held liable for the death of the infant. None of the witnesses examined by the city magistrate, including the mother and family of the infant, as well as jail officials, had blamed any one. However, the post-mortem examination report clearly attributed the cause of death to starvation. The mother had deposed that she was not given nutritious food while incarcerated inspite of the fact that she was suckling an infant. Based on the post-mortem
report and the deposition of the mother, the NHRC
concluded that the death of the infant could not be
attributed to ‘natural causes’, but to
starvation due to the quality and quantity of food
provided to the mother. Hence, it felt that the mother
was entitled for compensation. |
Govt bans sale of drugs containing haemoglobin NEW DELHI, Aug 23 (PTI) — As part of its effort to weed out irrational drug formulations from the market, the government has banned with immediate effect the manufacture and sale of drug combinations containing haemoglobin or pancreatin. Drugs comprising haemoglobin, an iron-containing pigment in the blood, are given to anaemia patients and pancreatin, an enzyme secreted by the pancreas, to improve appetite. Under a gazette notification issued on August 1, the health ministry prohibited the manufacture and sale of fixed dose combination of haemoglobin in any form, and pancreatin in combination with other enzymes, as they lack “adequate therapeutic justification”. This has been done as part of the government’s effort to weed out irrational formulations from the market, an official release said. Fixed dose combination of haemoglobin (derived from animal blood) has been banned as it is taken in “extraordinarily high volume” to deliver the recommended level of iron in anaemia patients, it said. Pancreatin is prescribed
only for pancreatic enzyme deficiency, and hence,
addition of other enzymes was not justified, it said. |
Ezhilmalai joins AIADMK CHENNAI, Aug 23 (UNI)—Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) General Secretary and former Union Minister Dalit Ezhilmalai, who was denied ticket by the party to contest the coming Lok sabha elections in Tamil Nadu, joined the All India Anna DMK (AIADMK) in the presence of party supremo J Jayalalitha last evening. Mr Ezhilmalai, who had been the General Secretary of the PMK ever since its inception in 1989, announced his decision to join the AIADMK two weeks ago, after it was made clear that he would not be re-nominated for the elections. He met Ms Jayalalitha at Chengalpattu, where the latter addressed an election meeting, and joined the party, along with his supporters, after presenting her a shawl, an AIADMK press release here today said. The release claimed that more than 5000 PMK volunteers, town secretaries and office- bearers hailing from Vellore, Parangipet, Chidambaram, R K Pet, Pallipet, Kaveripakkam, Tirutani, Sriperumbudur and Arokkonam had also joined the party. Former DMK legislator in
the union territory of Pondicherry S Komala and 1000 DMK
and PMK volunteers had also joined the AIADMK, the
release added. |
India denies pact with Lanka NEW DELHI, Aug 23 — India today denied reports of an accord —secret or otherwise — with Sri Lanka to curb the Tamil Tigers violent activities in each other’s territorial waters. Responding to questions, a spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs said “no accord —secret or otherwise” has been signed with the Sri Lankan Government on this issue. The spokesperson was responding to queries about a Colombo-based media report that the two governments had signed an accord to curb the LTTE activities during Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Chandrananda De Silva’s visit to New Delhi last week. However, the spokesperson confirmed the two countries had agreed to take steps to avoid untoward incidents in each other’s waters and address the problems faced by fishermen in a spirit of cooperation and understanding. She further said the two sides had also discussed the problems of fishermen with a view to ensure progress in measures to enhance their safety. The visit was part of the regular dialogue that India has with the Sri Lankan Government at all levels, the spokesperson pointed out. Indian fishermen face
problems with other countries also, she pointed out
adding that Sri Lanka had referred to hostile activities
of the LTTE activists in its waters. India had also
expressed concern over the safety of fishermen. |
NCP promises fixed LS term MUMBAI, Aug 23 (PTI) — The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), today pledged to take legal measures to bar persons of foreign origin from holding high offices and amend the Constitution to provide for a fixed term for the Lok Sabha to bring about political stability. The NCP election manifesto released by party president Sharad Pawar indicated that the party would prefer to make a new law on citizenship to bar persons of foreign origin from accessing any of the high offices like that of the President, the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers. Promising
“meaningful” measures for political stability,
the 74-page manifesto said appropriate constitutional
amendment would be made to provide for a fixed Lok Sabha
term. |
BJP fields Nitish Bhardwaj NEW DELHI, Aug 23 — Mr Nitish Bhardwaj, who rose to fame for his role of “Lord Krishna” in the mega television serial, Mahabharata, was today nominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party to contest the Ragoarh Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh. Mr Bhardwaj is not new
to politics as he had successfully contested the
Jamshedour Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar as a BJP
candidate in the 1996 elections. |
Book on Haryana Governor NEW DELHI, Aug 23 — The first copy of the biographical book on the Haryana Governor, Mr Mahabir Prasad, was presented to the President, Mr K.R. Narayanan, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, here today. The book “Mahabir
Prasad: Ek Bahuayami Vykatitva” is written by Prof
Vachaspati Upadhyay, who is the Vice-Chancellor of Sri
Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, New
Delhi. |
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| Contribution to NDF PORT BLAIR: The people of Andaman and Nicobar Islands have contributed Rs 55 lakh for the Kargil victims in a second instalment which has been despatched to the National Defence Fund, Lt Governor I.P. Gupta said here on Monday. The Lt Governor had earlier presented a cheque for Rs 25 lakh to the Prime Minister. With this the islands’ contribution for the cause has gone up to Rs 80 lakh. — PTI 3 students drowned in
Kerala Truck tramples 2
to death Company
secretaries exam results Tiger kills
12-yr-old girl 3 girls washed
away in Orissa 2 Pak nationals
arrested Sherawat is
Chairman of BCI |
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