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Sunday,
September 23, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Anti-BJP Hindu front formed ‘Parivartan yatras’ doing well in Uttar Pradesh
Ajit dismisses Chautala’s impact
Opportunity for India to regain PoK: VHP |
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ISI policy on terrorism changing: MQM leader I am temporary CM, says Paneerselvam Kidnappers of two kids arrested Foreigners to pay less entry
fee FMs oppose
move on procurement Himachali function in Delhi today
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Anti-BJP Hindu front formed New Delhi, September 22 An announcement of the formation the Hindu Democratic Front (HDF), consisting of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, Hindu Mahasabha, Hindu Shiv Sena, Hindu Shakti Dal and Ram Rajya Parishad, was made by Hindu Mahasabha President Dinesh Chandra Tyagi in the company of an ex-BJP MP and former Faizabad Senior Superintendent Police Devendra Bahadur Rai, who had recently taken over as working president of the Hindu Mahasabha. Talking to newspersons, Mr Rai, who was elected twice to the Lok Sabha on the BJP ticket from Sultanpur, said the front had the blessings of both the Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). He further said that the HDF had been launched after seeking approval of the Shankaracharya of Jyotishpeeth Swami Madhavashramji Maharaj, whose Ram Rajya Parishad had also joined the front. Efforts were being made to bring in the Shiv Sena of Bal Thackeray, Mr Rai said, adding that signals were positive. The HDF is also in touch with the former UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh for roping in his political outfit the Rashtriya Kranti Dal into the alliance, sources said. Mr Kalyan Singh, whose political fortunes nosedived ever since he left the BJP after his differences with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, has been looking for an opportunity to stage a political comeback. Mr Rai, who had resigned as Faizabad SSP after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December, 1992, said that the HDF would make effort to consolidate the “genuine” Hindu organisations as the BJP had betrayed the Hindu cause by using the Hindus for capturing political power. The two time Lok Sabha MP, who became disillusioned with the BJP blaming the party for abandoning the Ram temple cause, had recently created a sensation with his revelation that Mr Vajpayee was privy to the BJP’s plans of demolishing the Babri masjid in Ayodhya and had, in fact, attended a meeting of the party leaders in Lucknow, a day before the actual demolition. The HDF would contest Assembly elections in not only Uttar Pradesh but also in Uttaranchal and Punjab, Mr Rai said, adding that Kashi and Mathura would be on the agenda of the front, along with the construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya. Issues like the scrapping of Article 371 in Kashmir and the introduction of the Common Civil Code, which had been put on the backburner by the BJP after coming to power, would also be taken up by the front, Mr Rai said. Sources said that the RSS leadership gave the green signal for launching the HDF so that the anti-BJP vote did not go to political parties like the Congress. Moreover, the disillusioned Hindu voters had to be channelised in a formation so that they remained within the larger Sangh Parivar, sources said. |
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‘Parivartan yatras’ doing well in Uttar Pradesh Meerut, September 22 Its “parivartan yatras”, being carried out simultaneously from six border areas of Uttar Pradesh, are evoking good response and the party has pulled its best resources, including Chief Ministers and key AICC office-bearers to see that its first grass-roots exercise in Uttar Pradesh in a decade makes a lasting impact. The yatras would cover virtually every block of Uttar Pradesh culminating in a big rally at Lucknow on October 4. In western Uttar Pradesh, which is closest to the national Capital and where the Congress cadre has been virtually non-existent for the past several years, ‘parivartan yatra’ has begun to interest people. A Jat-dominated area which has traditionally supported the family of Chaudhary Charan Singh, is now witnessing new alignments with the Jat leader’s son Ajit Singh having joined the BJP-led NDA. The Congress is not only trying to wean away minorities from the Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal, it is equally attacking the Rajnath Singh government in UP for “non-performance”. The Congress has been out of power in UP for the last 12 years and the Congress leaders claim that the state has come down the development ladder by several inches. Shortage of power, farmers getting lesser price for their produce than the neighbouring Haryana, unemployment, bad condition of roads.... party leaders have a whole list of allegations against the BJP-led government. The attack is equally hard at the other rivals of the Congress. “What will you gain by voting for the BSP or SP whose governments have been as bad as that of the BJP?” asks senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is in charge of UP. Explaining the objective behind the “parivartan yatras”, he explains to the people in Badot block of Meerut that any vote for the BSP or SP will be a waste as these parties would not be able to replace the BJP at the national level. And no excuses are being offered for the Congress’ dismal performance in the past. “Some party leaders have developed the habit of sitting in airconditioned rooms. They need to get the feel of the ground,” says Mr Azad, who would now be joining the other
yatras. |
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Ajit dismisses Chautala’s impact Hardwar, September 22 The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, is seeking to extend his territory to western UP which is the citadel of Mr Ajit Singh, Union Agriculture Minister, who has dismissed him as a “political non-entity”. He says Mr Chautala cannot mar his chances in the coming Assembly elections. The BJP high command, however, is apprehensive that it may have to leave a few seats to the Haryana strongman in the elections. The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader from Haryana has already addressed nine political rallies in western UP in the past two months attracting massive crowds. Unfazed Mr Ajit Singh has dismissed last week’s public rally of Mr Chautala in his home district of Baghpat as a “non-event.” “The crowd was transported from Haryana and so were the ministers,” he said. The Union Minister said the Samajwadi Party workers were helping Mr Chautala in his stronghold areas to target him. “But he cannot succeed in politics by hiring crowds and workers,” he remarked. According to him, Mr Chautala will not make any difference in the elections. He agreed that the Haryana leader was vying with him for the legacy of his father. “Many came and disappeared but only I have been accepted as my father’s heir,” he said. He said his party would make every bid to get a resolution in favour of the new state passed by the Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh in the next session. He said the BJP was not against the new state and had not rejected the demand as yet. Asserting that the Lok Dal’s understanding with the BJP was political, the Jat leader felt that Ms Mayawati was mistaken that the alliance would push the minority votes in her party’s told. He said: “On the contrary, the anti-BSP votes used to get divided between the BJP and us. Now, these will go to one candidate and we will gain.” The minister was at pains to justify his joining hands with the BJP when he had spent the past three years dubbing the NDA government as “anti-people, anti-poor and anti-farmer”. The Agriculture Minister said the prices of non-urea fertilisers would not be hiked, though it would mean a hike in the subsidy bill by Rs 2,000 crore. |
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Opportunity for India to regain PoK: VHP New Delhi, September 22 “The global fight against terrorism called by the USA has provided India a golden opportunity to wrest PoK, which was grabbed by Pakistan in 1947,” VHP general secretary Acharya Giriraj Kishore told newspersons here. However, the VHP leader regretted that the initial enthusiasm shown by the Vajpayee government soon after the devastating September 11 attacks on USA seems to be “waning”. Making a scathing attack on the Imam of Jama Masjid here, Syed Abdullah Bukhari, for openly attacking the Vajpayee government for making an open offer to the USA to fight terrorism, he said, “such an anti-national person should be put behind bars... It is
regrettable that such a person is being given security by the government”. Senior VHP leader Rajendra Pankaj, who is closely associated with the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, asserted that the parishad would not wait for the court verdict and go ahead with the “reconstruction” of Ram Temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya from March 12. |
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ISI policy on terrorism changing: MQM leader New Delhi, September 22 Mr Hussain, who is living in a self-imposed exile in London, has offered his party’s unconditional and fullest cooperation to the international community in the fight against terrorism. In a press note sent here today from London, Mr Hussain said the entire world community was aware that the ISI had given birth to the so-called jehadi organisations and continued its patronage to these outfits. He made it clear that the freedom of Kashmir was the responsibility of the armed forces and not of the civilian population. If the people would wage war for jehad then it would only be to attain the usurped rights of the Sindh province. Saying that the people of Sindh wanted to attain their rights within the boundaries of Pakistan the dissident leader said if their fundamental rights were not honoured then the people of Sindh would be forced to demand self-determination in accordance with the UN’s Charter. Highlighting the areas of discrimination, he pointed out that Sindh province had been suffering for the past 54 years under the colonial yoke of Punjabi establishment. Sindh used to be the province of optimum resources but it has been turned into a poor province in the country. Even today Sindh provides over 70 per cent to the national exchequer and is in debt because it receives only 19.9 per cent of the NFC award. Sindh supplies 63 per cent of oil and 48 per cent gas to the nation but receives only 6 per cent in return from the federal government. Pointing to water scarcity in Sindh, Mr Hussain contended that in the past 20 years 11.2 per cent agricultural land in the province had turned barren. But despite such desperate situation schemes like Kala Bagh Dam and Thal canal projects were being promulgated that would further deteriorate the water shortage. |
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I am temporary CM, says Paneerselvam Chennai, September 22 Speaking to newspersons at the secretariat after assuming office today, Mr Paneerselvam, who refers his predecessor Ms Jayalalitha as “honourable Amma’’, said he would run the government “under her guidance’’. Stating that the policies and programmes of the government were well-outlined in the Budget proposals for the year 2001-02, he said all these policies would be implemented and the government would function effectively “under the guidance of hon’ble Amma”.
UNI |
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Kidnappers of two kids arrested New Delhi, September 22 The victims, Rishabh and Shubham, both twins (4 and
half-year olds) and their driver, Sunil Poddar, were kidnapped from Rohini where the driver had gone to pick up the children from Bal Bharati School. The children studied in Kindergarten. The suspects, Jaipal, his wife Polli, Ashok, another driver of the businessman, Sunil Kumar, Madan Kumar and Dharam Singh were arrested from different places in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. They had kidnapped the children and their driver in the victim’s car and kept them in Bawalpur village near Garhmukteshwar. The incident took place on September 17 and father of the children, Rajiv Aggarwal, who had a shop in the Paharganj area reported the matter in the evening when the driver and children did not turn up. Mr Aggarwal received the ransom call of Rs 1 crore in the evening. The telephone numbers of the victims were tapped by the police. When the kidnappers told Mr Aggarwal about the police presence in the house and tapping of phones, involvement of an insider was suspected. When Ashok, another driver appointed three months ago by Mr Aggarwal, was interrogated he confessed his involvement in the kidnapping case. He disclosed the names of his other accomplices |
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Foreigners to pay less entry
fee New Delhi, September 22 Sources in the Ministry of Culture said the decision to reduce the fee from $ 10 to $ 5 for heritage monuments and $ 5 to $ 2 for non-heritage monuments had been taken following adverse criticism from the tourism industry. The decision will enable foreign tourists pay in Indian currency a fee of Rs 250 for heritage sites and Rs 100 for non-heritage monuments. |
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FMs oppose
move on procurement New Delhi, September 22 The Punjab Finance Minister, Capt Kanwaljeet Singh, said that the committee has also called for bringing farm subsidy levels on a par with those in western countries. Moreover, there is a need to restructure the public distribution system on which the government is currently spending Rs 2,200 crore on an annualised basis. The PDS should be
restructured in such a way that the benefits reach the poor purchasers and the farmers. |
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Himachali function in Delhi today New Delhi, September 22 According to a press note, former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh will be the chief guest. The function is expected to be attended by Mr Kaul Singh Thakur, former Speaker, and Mr G.S. Bali, MLA. A souvenir, highlighting the activities of the sabha, is also being brought out. |
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With the October 1st deadline for the residents of Old
Tehri to move out of their homes, the people here are a worried lot.
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