Tuesday, May 25, 1999
|
N A T I O N |
|
| weather n
spotlight today's calendar |
 |
 |
|
|
Cong claims mass support in N-E NEW DELHI, May 24 — The Congress today emphasised that a vast majority of the party workers from North-East including Meghalaya were with the party. Refuting reports of a "vertical split in Meghalaya Congress’’ in view of the challenge thrown to the party by Mr P.A. Sangma, General-Secretary, AICC, Mrs Ambika Soni, discounted such a development. Security alert on threat to Sonia NEW DELHI, May 24 — Intelligence agencies had informed the Union Home Ministry about the possibility of the Sri Lankan Tamil militant group, the LTTE, striking against Mrs Sonia Gandhi in one of the northern states during her forthcoming election campaign tour as early as May 9. |
 |
|
|
400 farmers to protest at G-8
summit venue Framing of charges against Jaya
today Charge sheets filed against Salman Bina Ramani granted bail Second language status to Punjabi
Steps to check poll violence: EC BJP for ‘positive
mandate’ PMs’ dues: HC seeks recovery
details U.P. minister’s son arrested 25pc flour mill workers have lung
disorders |
|||||||
 |
||||||||
Cong claims mass support in
N-E NEW DELHI, May 24 — The Congress today emphasised that a vast majority of the party workers from North-East including Meghalaya were with the party. Refuting reports of a "vertical split in Meghalaya Congress’’ in view of the challenge thrown to the party by Mr P.A. Sangma, General-Secretary, AICC, Mrs Ambika Soni, discounted such a development. She said as many as 100-odd AICC delegates from eight North-Eastern states have already arrived in the Capital to take part in the day-long emergency session of the AICC tomorrow. Mrs Soni gave a state-by-state account and said even the Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr Mukut Mithi had said he would join the session tomorrow midway. She said Mr Mithi who was touring the interiors of Arunachal Pradesh had sent a wireless message that he would be reaching Delhi sometime tomorrow from Dibrugarh. He has also conveyed total support of the state unit to Mrs Sonia Gandhi and to the decision of the CWC. There were reports in a section of press that the North-East Congress members were rallying behind Mr Sangma and named Mr Mithi as one who did not even issue a statement to the contrary. Referring to remarks by Mr Sangma that he was never close to Mrs Sonia Gandhi, she said the fact that Mr Sangma was given important assignment underlined the trust the party’s central leadership had in him. "No political party leadership vests so much authority who does not enjoy total confidence,’’ she said referring to the assignments including that as Chairman, Congress Task Force of Monitoring Committee after the Pachmarhi session and being inducted into the CWC. She said Mr Sangma had
lost the respect of the party workers from the North-East
after his remarks that "any ABC cannot become the
Prime Minister’’. The remark, she claimed, has
"cut his own support base and goodwill’’
among the North-East Congress members. |
Security alert on threat to Sonia NEW DELHI, May 24 — Intelligence agencies had informed the Union Home Ministry about the possibility of the Sri Lankan Tamil militant group, the LTTE, striking against Mrs Sonia Gandhi in one of the northern states during her forthcoming election campaign tour as early as May 9, a full two weeks before the government made the information public. According to informed sources, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Research Analysis Wing (RAW) had on May 9, two days before the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence on four accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, had cautioned the Home Ministry against the possibility of the LTTE choosing a venue either in Uttar Pradesh or Madhya Pradesh to attack Mrs Gandhi. The threat perception, however, gained a serious tone only after the Supreme Court’s order. The security agencies have not ruled out the possibility of the LTTE employing "human bombs" to target Mrs Gandhi. The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, had yesterday telephonically informed Mrs Gandhi about the threat perception. The Special Protection Group (SPG), the organisation responsible for Mrs Gandhi’s security, was also informed earlier about the intelligence reports. According to the sources, an exercise to tighten security around Mrs Gandhi has already been initiated. The SPG, which provides security cover in the inner ring, the Delhi Police, which keeps guard on the outer ring and a host of other agencies concerned with providing security are coordinating the exercise. Mrs Gandhi too is being briefed about the extra precautions she had to take during her election tour. All state intelligence chiefs, Directors-General of Police and other security agencies have been asked to work closely with the SPG and the Central intelligence agencies whenever Mrs Gandhi tours their states. The Union Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, too has directed security agencies to be extra vigilant against any plot by militants or anti-socials to disturb the polls by precipitating some tragedy. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court, which has confirmed death sentences against Nalini, her husband Murugan, Santhan and Periavalan in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, today refused to entertain an application seeking a stay on their execution on the ground that no petition seeking review of the apex court judgement had yet been filed. However, when counsel for the convicts said he would file by June 7 a petition seeking review of the May 11 judgement of the apex court confirming the death sentences, a Division Bench comprising Mr Justice Sujata V. Manohar and Mr Justice V.N. Khare posted the application for consideration for that day. Counsel V. Ramasubramanian pleaded that the execution of the four, fixed for June 9 by the designated court, should be stayed as time was required to study the voluminous judgement. The Bench, however, said
it could not consider the application unless a petition
was filed by the four seeking review of the May 11 order. |
"Statute clear on naturalised
citizens" NEW DELHI, May 24 — Mr Ashwani Kumar, former Additional Solicitor General of India, said that framers of the Indian Constitution had "consciously and deliberately rejected the narrow definition of citizenship that would deny to naturalised citizens the right to hold political office on a par with citizens by birth’’. In a statement issued here in the context of the Italian-origin of Mrs Sonia Gandhi and the issue raised by the expelled Congress leaders, he said repeated reference to the American Constitution ignores the elementary principle that rights guaranteed by the Constitution of a sovereign country could not be defined or limited with reference to the Constitution of another sovereign country. "The call for a Constitutional amendment as proposed by the known detractors of Mrs Gandhi is a desperate formulation of a political agenda which is ex-facie untenable as also constitutionally questionable,’’ he said. Mr Kumar, who is member
of the AICC Media Department, also charged that the
BJP-led opposition which is being abetted by its Trojan
horses inside the Congress have sought to unleash a
xenophobic campaign against Mrs Sonia Gandhi. |
400 farmers to protest at
G-8 summit venue NEW DELHI, May 24 — Rallies will give way to caravan and ‘dharnas’ to sit-ins as more than 400 farmers, led by Kisan leaders Mahendra Singh Tikait of the Bharatiya Kisan Union and Prof M.D. Nanjundaswamy of the Karnataka Rajya Ryota Sangh take to the streets of Europe to carry forward their fight against globalisation of the Indian farm sector. According to Prof Nanjunda-Swamy, who gained fame after his organisation tried to block physically the setting up of the Kentucky Fried Chicken fast food restaurant at Bangalore and raised a hue and cry over the distribution of Monsanto seeds in the country, Indian farmers would be part of an international caravan that would travel through parts of Europe and culminate at the G-8 summit at Cologne in Germany next month. The farmers, would join protesters from other parts of the world, to hold demonstrations in Europe against the policies of globalisation and liberalisation charted by the World Trade Organisation and the European Union. The farmers, who are being aided by international non-governmental organisations to foot expenses, have already left for Europe. The announcement of the farmers’ departure was announced here yesterday by Prof Nanjundaswamy. "We have made the announcement after the farmers have left because of fears of state repression", he said. The farmers delegation to Europe include Mr Tikait and Mr Vijay Jawan of the Shetkari Sangathan. Other leaders, including Prof Nanjundaswamy would join them this week. The demonstrations primarily would target the European Union, headquartered at Brussels, and the World Trade Organisation at Geneva. The venue of the demonstration would be the G-8 conference in Germany. The international caravan, initiated last year by the People Global Action, which comprises organisations from various countries, would comprise farmers from the remotest part of India and other countries. The largest contingent of about 200 farmers would be from Kerala. The farmers would oppose a wide range of issues, including the worldwide push for free trade, Third World debt, militarism and biotechnology and the patenting of life. The farmers have decided to take their protests to the international fora as there is a general feeling that the governments of developing countries had become helpless and were being dictated by organisations like the WTO and the EU. With regard to India, Prof Nanjundaswamy said "this government has become impotent. We have been asking it to become potent by withdrawing from the WTO". He hoped that the protests would prompt developing countries to withdraw collectively from the WTO. Prof Nanjundaswamy said
most of the EU countries had been liberal in granting
visas to the farmers and the Germany Consulate in Chennai
alone had issued over 100 visas. |
Framing of charges against Jaya today CHENNAI, May 24 (PTI) — A special judge would tomorrow frame charges against AIADMK Supremo Jayalalitha and five others in the ‘Tansi land deal’ case. The Judge P. Anbazhagan, after dismissing a petition filed by a former AIADMK Minister Mohammad Asif, seeking to include the former Rural Industries Secretary Ms Lathika Padalkar as an accused in the case, today, directed all the accused to be present in the court tomorrow. On April 29 Justice P. Shunmugham of the Madras High Court had cleared the decks for framing of the charges after dismissing a revision petition by Mr Asif for a direction to replace the Special Judge P. Anbazhagan, trying the case, on the ground that the Judge was more inclined towards the prosecution, and directed the Judge to frame charges against the accused after May 10. The Supreme Court on May
7 had also dismissed a special leave petition by Mr Asif
challenging the High Court order. |
Charge sheets filed against Salman JODHPUR, May 24 (PTI) — The police today filed two charge sheets in a court here against top Bollywood star Salman Khan and others for allegedly poaching protected black bucks near here last year. The charge sheets, containing charges under Sections 147, 148, 149 and 201, IPC, and Sections 9, 39, 51 and 52 of the Arms Act and pertaining to the alleged killing of the black bucks near Mathania village, were filed in the court of Additional Civil Judge and Judicial Magistrate Pramod Kumar Vashisht. The other accused in the charge sheets are local people mostly related to the tourism trade. The prosecution case relies on the statement of Harish who reported during interrogation that on September 28 last year main accused Khan shot black bucks on the outskirts of Mathania near a stud farm while on a shooting schedule of Sooraj Barjatya’s upcoming film "Hum Saath Saath Hain". The prosecution
indicated in the charge sheets that it would be producing
78 witnesses in the cases, and annexed 76 documents in
support of the charge sheets totalling 246 pages. |
Bina Ramani granted bail NEW DELHI, May 24 (PTI) — A city court today granted bail to socialite Bina Ramani in a case registered against her for allegedly running her Qutab Colonnade restaurant, where ramp model Jessica Lal was shot dead on April 30, after midnight in violation of the Delhi Police Act (DPA). Metropolitan Magistrate V.K. Khanna granted bail to Ramani on a personal bond of Rs 25,000 and a surety of like amount and directed her not to leave India without prior permission of the court. The court also granted bail to restaurant manager Jitender Rai on a personal bond of Rs 5,000 and a surety of like amount. Ramani and Rai appeared in the court in response to instruction from police and submitted through their counsel Baldev Mallik that the offence against them was bailable and the fine for such violation was only Rs 50. The court, while taking
cognisance of the charges, issued notice to both the
accused and fixed June 10 for further proceedings in the
case. |
Second language status to Punjabi NEW DELHI, May 24 (UNI) — The Delhi Government today met a long-standing demand by granting second language status to Punjabi and Urdu. A decision to this effect was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. The departments concerned have been instructed to take appropriate action in this regard immediately, an official press note said. The Akali party and
various Punjabi literary and social groups had been
pleading for second language status to Punjabi. |
Coach urges Sonia to relent NEW DELHI, May 24 — Guests straying into a party, uninvited, is quite common but somebody losing his way into a protest and that too into indefinite fast is unheard of. This is what happened to Mr Manjit Singh ‘Coach,’ a resident of Sangrur district in Punjab. Manjit Singh alias “ Kuki Coach” , reached Delhi on Saturday at 11 p.m. to attend some personal work with a one of his friends. However, he and his friend, could not find way to Punjab Bhavan and after taking three blind turns at a roundabout “strayed” towards the front of 24 Akbar Road, the AICC Headquarters and he has since been on fast. Mr Manjit Singh, an international handball coach, was “overawed” by what he saw there.” A sudden flow of emotion overpowered me after seeing the intensity of dedication of people”, he told this correspondent. Having seen that Punjab was not represented in the group of people sitting on dharna demanding the withdrawal of Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s resignation from the presidentship of the Congress, Kuki Coach decided to go on an indefinite fast since Sunday morning. “I performed ‘ardas’ in Bangla Sahib Gurdwara early morning yesterday and I would not break my fast for anything short of Mrs Gandhi’s withdrawal of resignation”,Mr Manjit Singh told The Tribune. His friend, Mr Rakesh Sharma, who had accompanied him, meanwhile contacted people in their native place and 17 villagers, including eight Sarpanches,from Sangrur district reached Delhi today to express solidarity with their fellow villager. AICC Secretary, V. Narayanswamy, Mr Buta Singh former minister and former MP from Sangrur, Mr Gurcharan Singh has persuaded him to break the fast.” Mrs Sonia Gandhi specifically instructed me and Mr Buta Singh to tell him on her behalf to give up the indefinite fast as the Congress President is pained to hear that workers and supporters are hurting themselves”, Mr Narayanswamy said. But Mr Manjit Singh said that “ as I have performed ‘ardas’ it would not be in the fitness of things to break the fast.” Mr Singh, an NIS qualified coach, who trained the India junior handball teams in the Commonwealth Games of 1991 and 1994, said that he was not really afraid of losing his job. “I will devote full time to the Congress party”, he said adding that with the farm land he had at his disposal, he would be able to sustain his family. “ People are really
fed up with coalition politics and the Congress alone can
provide stability”, he said while a paying rich
tributes to the Gandhi family. |
Trio stand justified, says
survey NEW DELHI, May 24 — The stand taken by the expelled Congress leaders, Mr Sharad Pawar, Mr P.A. Sangma, and Mr Tariq Anwar is justified, feels a majority of respondents of a survey. As many as 49 per cent of those interviewed by the Zee News-C-Voter survey said the stand taken by the rebels was justified while 37 per cent felt that their stand was not justified and 14 per cent had no comments to offer, a Zee TV release said. In response to another question, 36 per cent felt that Ms Sonia Gandhi could remain the Congress President but not the Prime Minister while 31 per cent felt that she should be both the Congress President and the Prime Minister. As many as 48 per cent
felt that it was essential for the Gandhi-Nehru family to
be associated with the Congress to ensure that the party
survived, but 38 per cent felt that it was not necessary. |
Steps to check poll violence: EC PATNA, May 24 (PTI) — The Election Commission today said “effective and determined” steps were being taken to curb violence during the ensuing Lok Sabha poll in Bihar. “We are taking strong and effective preventive measures to meet violence... and enable people to vote without fear, intimidation and discomfort”, Election Commissioner GVG Krishnamurthy told reporters after holding a high-level meeting with top state officials. Chief Secretary SN Biswas, Director-General of Police K A Jocob and Chief Electoral Officer AK Basu also attended the meeting. The Election Commissioner said he had asked the state officials to launch a special drive to arrest criminals and history-sheeters. He also urged them to take steps to seize unlicensed weapons and unearth illicit weapon-manufacturing factories before the poll. Mr Krishnamurthy said: “The caste-based violence, the communal situation and extremism have thrown up a major challenge for us to ensure fair, peaceful and fearless voting.” He said: “I told representatives of eight parties to cooperate in the election process and asked their candidates not to take recourse to violence for electoral gains.” Mr Krishnamurthy said he would undertake a visit to extremist-hit Jehanabad and Gaya districts today to review the situation though he was advised not to tour Jehanabad. Asked whether state officials had advised him to this effect, he said: “I will not disclose it ... we are firm in our view to ensure that people of extremist-affected districts cast their ballots fearlessly.” He said of 6,520 polling stations which had a repoll during the 1998 Lok Sabha poll, 4,942 were in Bihar alone. Giving details of
poll-related violence, Mr Krishnamurthy said while 42
persons were killed during polling in Bihar in 1996, 44
persons lost their lives in 1998. |
BJP for ‘positive mandate’ LUCKNOW, May 24 (PTI) — The BJP will avoid getting “entangled” in the issue concerning Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin and will approach voters in the ensuing elections on the basis of its achievements during its 13 month tenure at the Centre, party national general secretary K.N. Govindacharya said here today. Although Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin would be an important issue in the coming poll, “we would not allow it to overshadow our achievements. We will seek a positive mandate from people,” Mr Govindacharya said in an interview with PTI. The Vajpayee Government during its 13-month tenure has done enough to seek a positive mandate from the people,” he said. He said the improvement in the law and order situation, containment of insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, communal amity, India’s assertive role in global politics, Pokharan explosions and the bus ride to Lahore were some of the big achievements of the BJP-led government. Denying that there was any “shift” from the BJP’s manifesto in the 1998 parliamentary elections, Mr Govindacharya said it continued to be the party’s “long term” goal. “The common civil code, the abrogation of Article 370 and the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya are very much part of our agenda, but they are out of the scope of the alliance government,” he said. Stating that the BJP would “implement” its “original agenda”, if it came to power on its own, Mr Govindacharya, however, said the party would continue with the “national agenda for governance even if it gets an absolute majority in the forthcoming polls”. “It is the demand of morality that we keep some of the contentious issues on the backburner and share a common platform with our allies,” he said. Admitting that there was some “disappointment” among the “cadres” over this “dilution”, he said “we will, however, continue to convince our allies on all these issues”. Mr Govindacharya made it clear that the BJP would never “impose” its own agenda on its alliance partners. Referring to Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin, he said the issue had generated “indignation in the minds of people. He also denied that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s statement that the issue might be included in the agenda of the newly formed National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was a “sudden shift from his earlier stand”. “The Prime Minister’s feelings are in line with the popular perception,” he said. Denying that the raising of the issue reflected “racism”, Mr Govindacharya said it was the “natural manifestation of nationalism”. He said the expulsions
of Mr Sharad Pawar, Mr Sangma and Mr Tariq Anwar were
indicative of the fact that there were
“reservations” on this issue even among the
Congressmen. |
PMs’ dues: HC seeks recovery details NEW DELHI, May 24 (PTI) — The Delhi High Court today sought details from the Centre about steps taken to recover the dues from four former Prime Ministers on account of their using defence aircraft for other than official purposes. A Division Bench comprising Mr Justice Arun Kumar and Mr Justice Manmohan Sarin directed the government to file an affidavit giving details about the amount spent on defence aircraft by the former Prime Ministers, the late Rajiv Gandhi, Mr Chandrashekhar, Mr PV Narasimha Rao and Mr HD Deve Gowda for unofficial trips during their tenure. The court was hearing a
PIL which claimed that over Rs 13.57 crore were to be
recovered by the Defence Ministry on this account. |
U.P. minister’s son arrested LUCKNOW, May 24 (PTI) — The son of a minister and his gunman who allegedly caused the death of their domestic servant who jumped from a multi-storeyed complex, here yesterday, have been arrested, a senior police officer said today. An FIR under Section 306/323 IPC (for assault and intimidation) has been registered against the two who were arrested last night, Senior Superintendent of Police G.P. Sharma said. The servant’s body has been sent for a post-mortem, he said. Kundan, the son of Minister of State for Hill Development Narain Ram Das, and gunman Jai Kishan had allegedly beaten up Dinesh, the servant, accusing him of stealing Rs 15,000 from the house, the SSP said. The gunman and another servant in the house told the police in their statement that though Dinesh had been beaten up, he had jumped from the sixth floor of the building on his own, Mr Sharma said. According to the police,
Dinesh, a resident of Bageshwar district, along with
Ghanshyam, was working as domestic help at the
minister’s house. |
25pc flour mill workers have lung disorders LUCKNOW, May 24 (PTI) — An estimated 25 per cent of flour mill workers, who are regularly exposed to grain dust, have been found suffering from various lung diseases, says a study. The Nagpur-based study, published in the “Indian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine”, was carried out among 286 flour mill workers. Of these, 71 workers, who had been employed in the industry for about five years, complained of one or more respiratory disorders. While more than half of the affected persons were diagnosed with chronic bronchitis and bronchial asthma, the other ailments suffered by them were tuberculosis, acute respiratory disease of lungs and obstructed lung functioning. “The higher
prevalence of respiratory disorders in workers may be
attributed to their occupational exposure to grain dust,
and that too for a long duration,” the researchers
said. |
| H |
|
||
| MP’s son held for
‘killing’ brother LUCKNOW: The Etawah police on Sunday arrested Anupam Yadav, son of Samajwadi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Ram Gopal Yadav for “accidentally” killing his younger brother, according to official sources. Asit Yadav was fatally wounded on Saturday when a double-barrel gun which was being loaded by Anupam went off suddenly at their Friends Colony residence in Etawah. — PTI PTI former employee dead Docs to serve in
rural areas 1 killed, 3
kidnapped in Tripura Naxals kill Home
Guard MLA held for
contempt of court Constable killed
in encounter Rs 5 lakh for
SI’s family Train flagged
off 2 killed in
inter-party clashes |
 |
 |
| Punjab
| Haryana | Himachal Pradesh | Jammu & Kashmir | Chandigarh | | Editorial | Business | Sport | | Mailbag | Spotlight | World | 50 years of Independence | Weather | | Search | Subscribe | Archive | Suggestion | Home | E-mail | |
