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Thursday,
April 4, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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BJP, BSP may enter alliance Vajpayee for peace
in West Asia SC grants bail to Bharat Shah
Azad meets Sonia, reluctant to go to J&K Tehelka tapes: details of missing parts sought |
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Monks battle for Rumtek’s control India, B’desh hold border talks Act or de-escalate, Farooq tells Centre German delegation to visit India
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BJP, BSP may enter alliance New Delhi, April 3 The talks between the senior leaders of the two parties are already at an advanced stage and the announcement may come any time before the two months’ stipulated period of parliamentary sanction of the President’s rule in Uttar Pradesh comes to an end, sources said. Faced with fast-eroding credibility of the BJP with the electorate and realising the vote transfer capacity of the BSP is not only in Uttar Pradesh but also in other Hindi speaking states of North India, the BJP top leadership is of the firm opinion that a long-term strategic partnership with the Dalit party will go a long way to help the two parties. While under the arrangement, the BSP deputy supremo Mayawati will be the UP Chief Minister for a full five year term, the BJP would be part of the coalition government with the post of a Deputy Chief Minister for it. Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi along with former Urban Development Minister Lalji Tandon are the chief architects of the policy that advocates a long-term strategic partnership with the BSP which would prove to be mutually beneficial. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had stressed with BSP supremo Kanshiram before the joint session of Parliament convened for passing of POTO that the two parties need to have patience and forget their past experiences. Mr Vajpayee is said to be in favour of such a relationship. The BSP has 13 MPs in the 13th Lok Sabha after the resignation of Ms Mayawati from the lower House. If the strategic tie-up is cemented then the BSP will contest about 25 Lok Sabha seats in UP in the next general elections and the rest of the seats will remain with the BJP. The BJP will not need any other alliance partners in the Hindi-speaking states in the next Lok Sabha elections as the solid BSP vote bank will obviously help the BJP to win many seats, a senior minister of the Vajpayee government observed. Even though the BSP will lose its support among the minorities but the arrangement will ensure
uninterrupted power for Ms Mayawati for a full term of five years. Politically
and ideologically both the BJP as well as BSP will have no problem in selling the understanding to its followers and cadres, sources pointed out, adding that even the National Democratic Alliance will be strengthened. |
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Vajpayee for peace
in West Asia New Delhi, April 3 Expressing concern over the health and well-being of Mr Arafat, Mr Vajpayee told the envoy, Mr Hani-Al-Hasan, that India stood ready to do whatever it could to work for peace in the region. Mr Hasan delivered a letter to Mr Vajpayee from Mr Arafat expressing his gratitude for India’s consistent support to him, to the Palestinian cause and the people. The envoy wanted India to play a role in the ongoing West Asia crisis saying “we want a just equation” in the wake of Israeli troops laying siege to the West Bank headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. To a question that External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh was attempting a balancing act, the Palestinian envoy said, “We would like India to play a role in the West Asia. Politicians are generally balanced. We want a just equation”. On the question of terrorism, he sought to make out a subtle difference on what India was facing in Kashmir valley and what was happening in the West Asia saying “India is not an occupying power”. He said there was a difference between terrorism and freedom struggle and what Palestinians were facing was “state-sponsored
terrorism”. |
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SC grants bail to Bharat Shah
New Delhi, April 3 Allowing Bharat Shah’s appeal against the Bombay High Court order refusing him bail, a Bench comprising Mr Justice M.B. Shah and Mr Justice B.P. Singh asked him to furnish a bail bond of Rs 1 lakh and two sureties of the like amount. The court also directed Bharat Shah to surrender his mobile phone to investigating agencies and that his passport which has been surrendered to the trial court shall not be released without the court’s permission. Ordering expeditious trial in the case, the Bench said the trial court would proceed with the matter uninfluenced by any order passed previously by the High Court and this order of the Supreme Court. They also directed Bharat Shah to appear before the court on every date of hearing of the case unless exempted by the court.
PTI |
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Azad meets Sonia, reluctant to go to J&K New Delhi, April 3 After his meeting with the Congress President yesterday, Mr Azad again called on her today morning. Congress sources said Mr Azad conveyed concerns about his security in Jammu and Kashmir as some members of his family have been gunned down by the militants in the past. While raising the issue of personal security, Mr Azad is believed to have told the Congress president that he would finally abide by the directives of the high-command. Sources close to Mr Azad say that apart from the reasons of physical security, the political situation in Jammu and Kashmir was not such that even a senior party leader like Mr Azad could make a big difference to the Congress fortunes in the state. They say that Congress did not have strong chances of coming to power on its own in the state where political scenario was complex and uncertain. Mr Azad, they say, had become a Rajya Sabha MP from Jammu and Kashmir only in his current term and was an MP earlier from Maharashtra. His associates feel that with his knowledge of Congress organisation in various states, Mr Azad’s services could be best utilised in Delhi. Meanwhile, the meeting of the Congress General Secretaries today discussed the ways to boost membership drive being carried out in various states. |
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Tehelka tapes: details of missing parts sought New Delhi, April 3 A direction to this effect came on an application filed by Tehelka counsel Sidharth Luthra, claiming that “on the examination of part of the transciption, the present applicant was shocked to see the transcript in relation to the tape numbers 72, 73, 80, 50, and 9, wherein important portion of the conversation had been deliberately not transcribed or omitted.” Justice K. Venkataswami asked the Tehelka counsel to give in writing by Monday the details of the portions it claimed to be missing. Tehelka had charged the government with “deliberately not transcribing or omitting” important portions in the “certified” transcribed copies of unedited tapes submitted by it to the Venkataswami Commission. Refuting the charges, the government counsel today said “there were no discrepencies in the transcription of the tapes.” |
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Monks battle for Rumtek’s control Kolkata, April 3 Since the death of the 16th Karmapa in 1981, the monastery had been running without a head following a split among the monks over the selection of the successor. In 1992, the Tibetan-born Ugyen Trinley Dorjee was identified by two of the four regent monks as the reincarnation of the 16th Karmapa and they wanted him to head the monastery. But the other two regent monks and their followers objected to it and chose the Indian-born Thinley Thaye Dorjee as the rightful heir. The quarrel ultimately went to a Sikkim court following a writ petition by the Karmapa Charitable Trust regarding the safety and security of the huge properties of the monastery for which the two rival groups were fighting. Interestingly, the Chief Minister, Mr Pawan Chambling, and his government recognised the Tibetan-born Ugyen Dorjee as the legal and moral heir of the 16th Karmapa and wanted him to head the Rumtek monastery. But the Chief Minister failed to implement the decision in the face of stiff opposition from rival political groups. The court is yet to make its judgement on the monastery’s heir. But on February 27, Sikkim Judge S.W. Lepcha issued an order to RBI Regional Director V.K. Sharma, directing him to make an inventory of the properties of the Karmapa and submit the list to the court by April 29. This judgement has angered the regent monks and Buddhists all over the country. Both groups can now be seen clashing on the streets and are being supported by rival political parties and students unions. The joint action committee of the All-Sikkim Buddhist Association has launched an agitation against the outsiders’ interference in the activities of the monastery. Followers of Thinley Thaye Dorjee say the court’s order should be honoured. |
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India, B’desh hold border talks New Delhi, April 3 It was agreed that the two delegations will submit reports to their respective Foreign Secretaries within the stipulated time. The two sides expressed the hope that the meetings of the JBWG and the submission of reports would contribute to the expenditious solution of pending issues and early implementation of the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement. The Indian delegation was led by Mr Pramathesh Rath, Additional Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs and included reprsentatives of the Ministries of External Affairs, Water Resources, Legal and Treaties Division, High Commission of India, Dhaka, Survey of India, Census of India, the BSF and Directors of Land Records and Survey of the States concerned. |
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Act or de-escalate, Farooq tells Centre New Delhi, April 3 He also urged the Centre to provide additional security forces and funds for those who had migrated from the border. The Chief Minister said tension with Pakistan could not linger on and time had come to take a decision. Dr Abdullah, who met Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee here, said he had been assured of an action plan to meet the challenge of migration from the border. The Chief Minister apprised the Prime Minister about the situation at the border and the recent escalation of militant violence in the state. The Chief Minister had met Union Home Minister L.K. Advani and Defence Minister George Fernandes last night to review the situation. Dr Abdullah brushed aside VHP’s demand for his resignation. |
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German delegation to visit India New Delhi, April 3 While in Delhi (April 4 and 5) the seven Members of Parliament will meet Minister of Power, Mr
S.P. Prabhu, Minister of Environment and Forests, Mr T.R. Ballu, Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation, Ms Maneka Gandhi, and Secretary in the Ministry of Finance Mr
C.M. Vasudeva. |
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Follow ethics, PCI tells media New Delhi, April 3 |
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