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Thursday,
August 29, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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STF steps
up search operations
Jaya flogging dead horse: Cong BJP
accuses Sonia of political hypocrisy on RPA Act Cong
opposed to poll Ordinance: Sonia
Another
Cong leader found murdered |
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SP for
alliance with Congress
MiG 21 spares not sub-standard: India
Hearing
on Sharma’s bail plea adjourned
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STF steps up search operations Mysore, August 28 STF sources told UNI that the operations had been stepped up in Gundal and Burude forest areas where the brigand was believed to have sneaked in after abducting Mr Nagappa. All top officials were camping in the area. The STF men were also focusing on farm houses adjoining the forests in Gundal reservoir areas in Kollegal Taluk. Karnataka Director-General of Police V.V. Bhaskar and STF chief R.P. Sharma were personally supervising the operations. People in various towns of Mysore and Chamarajanagar districts today observed a bandh seeking an end to the Veerappan menace. Reports received here said the bandh was observed at Chamarajanagar, Gundlupet, Santhemaranahalli and Yelandur towns. All business establishments, schools and colleges were closed. Government and private buses were off the road. However, no untoward incident was reported. Tension continued to prevail in Kamagere, the native village of Mr Nagappa. Meanwhile, a depressed supporter of kidnapped former Karnataka Minister Nagappa committed suicide even as the distraught wife of the kidnapped leader pleaded over AIR to Veerappan to release her husband unharmed, the police said today. The 22-year-old youth, the police said, ended his life by consuming poison at his Halegepura village house, near Kamagere, from where Nagappa was kidnapped by the brigand. The youth was depressed after coming to know about the kidnapping. He had also earlier visited Nagappa’s residence before returning to his house where he locked himself in a room and consumed poison yesterday, the police said adding, a case had been registered. Chennai: The Tamil Nadu and Karnataka governments have agreed to strengthen the special task forces of the two states and to seek the Centre’s help in providing “technical intelligence support” like surveillance aircraft, interception equipment, helicopters and remote sensing equipment for capturing Veerappan. Reports from Bangalore suggested that the operations were set to begin as early as Wednesday. A press note issued by the Tamil Nadu government late on Tuesday said the state would request the Centre to send trained paramilitary forces to supplement the efforts of the special task force. According to the note, Mr S.M. Krishna, Karnataka CM, had concurred with the proposals and the two Chief Ministers would be making a joint request to the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister in this regard. Ms Jayalalithaa has assured Mr Krishna that her government would extend full cooperation to Karnataka in this connection. |
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Jayalalithaa
attacks Sonia New Delhi, August 28 Ms Jayalalithaa, who made this sudden statement, also ruled out any possibility of an alliance with the Congress in the next Lok Sabha elections. “The AIADMK is firmly committed to supporting only an Indian becoming the Prime Minister of this country. The AIADMK feels it is a crying shame and a pointer to moral bankruptcy on the part of the Congress which claims to be a national party that won freedom for the country from the foreign rule,” she told a press conference here. Noting that the Congress had been in the forefront of the freedom struggle to make foreign rulers quit India, she said “now the party is making an about-turn, U-turn once again to put up a foreigner in India.” The sudden and surprising attack on Sonia came from Ms Jayalalithaa when newspersons raised questions on AIADMK’s perceived closeness to the BJP in view of her party’s support to legislating POTA, support to it on presidential and vice-presidential elections and her strong criticism of the Election Commission order on the Gujarat elections. Although Ms Jayalalithaa said she was not thinking of joining the NDA or having an alliance with the BJP, she ruled out any tie-up with Congress in the next Lok Sabha elections. “Certainly not with the Congress,” she replied to a question on whether her party would tie-up with Congress in the next Lok Sabha elections. To a pointed question why she had invited Ms Sonia Gandhi to the controversial tea party which culminated in toppling the Vajpayee government in 1999 when her party was opposed to her becoming Prime Minister, Ms Jayalalithaa shot back saying “when did I say I support Sonia Gandhi as Prime Minister of the country. I have never said anywhere that I will support her candidature as Prime Minister. Show me one statement.” Asserting that she had then backed CPM veteran Jyoti Basu as Prime Minister, Ms Jayalalithaa accused Ms Sonia Gandhi of “scuttling” the move when “everyone (in the opposition) had agreed”. To a question whether her party was prepared to bring a legislation barring people of foreign origin occupying high offices like that of the Prime Minister, Ms Jayalalithaa replied in the affirmative saying if other parties supported such a move, her party was ready. |
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Jaya flogging dead horse: Cong New Delhi, August 28 Answering questions on the comments of Ms Jayalalithaa on Ms Gandhi, Congress chief spokesman, Jaipal Reddy, said that the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister had not missed an opportunity to endear herself to the Vajpayee government in the recent past. “It was she who took the initiative to
destabilise the Vajpayee government in 1999 and lend support to the leadership claim by Ms Gandhi,” Mr Reddy said. Blaming Ms Jayalalithaa for a somersault, Mr Reddy said that it was for the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister to explain her stand. “We would like to know why she has done a U-turn,” Mr Reddy said. Hitting back at Ms Jayalalithaa, Mr Reddy said, “Everybody knows the instantaneous and infinite need of Ms Jayalalithaa to ingratiate with the Vajpayee government to get herself extricated from a number of criminal cases.” He said the issue of Ms Sonia Gandhi’s leadership had been decided by the Supreme Court and Ms Jayalalithaa was trying to flog a dead horse. |
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BJP accuses Sonia of political hypocrisy on RPA Act New Delhi, August 28 Reacting to the Congress President’s stand, BJP spokesman Arun Jaitley said Ms Gandhi had claimed that her party always wanted to support the directions of the Supreme Court with regard to disclosure about the criminal antecedents of each candidate and their assets. Taking that stand, she had conveniently forgotten the fact that it was her party which went to the Supreme Court and submitted a written affidavit contending that it was an issue to be done through a legislation of Parliament and not by a court verdict. Her statement was a clear afterthought that was wholly inconsistent with the utterances of her party, Mr Jaitley pointed out. Quoting from the May 2 Supreme Court judgment, Mr Jaitley said it had recorded in detail the Congress party’s arguments as an intervenor on the ground that the constituent Assembly had discussed in detail the issue of educational qualification and possession of assets for contesting elections and negatived the proposal to disqualify candidates on these grounds. The Congress counsel had gone to the extent of saying that the right of the citizens to know about the affairs of the government did not mean that they had a right to know personal affairs of MPs and MLAs. The Congress also chose to oppose vehemently the draft legislation of the Law Ministry providing for the
disqualification from contesting election of a candidate charged with two heinous offences. “So much for its commitment for criminalisation”, he said. He said the consensus was arrived at after two all-party meetings convened by the government prior to bringing out the legislation. Earlier reacting to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa’s today’s statement on debarring people of the foreign
origin from becoming the Prime Minister, Mr Jaitley said a wide-ranging debate and larger political consensus was needed before any action was initiated on this issue. The BJP spokesman said changes in the electoral law could be effected only through constitutional amendment and the NDA coalition did not have the requisite strength in the Rajya Sabha to amend the Representation of the People Act. Hence the party expected consensus among political parties first. About the BJP’s stand on the issue of reserving the top five executive posts for Indian-born citizens only, Mr Jaitley said the issue did figure in the National Democratic Alliance election manifesto. “For the BJP everything that figures in the manifesto is important,” he added. |
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Cong opposed to poll Ordinance: Sonia New Delhi, August 28 In a statement, Ms Gandhi said the Ordinance defied the will of a vast majority of people, was against the letter and spirit of the Supreme Court directions and the basic tenets of transparency and accountability in politics. Ms Gandhi, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said the Congress attached great importance to the issue of electoral law reforms in the light of the recent Supreme Court order for disclosure of information by the candidates. “We are distressed to find that large sections of the media continue to club the Congress with other political parties in projecting the impression that all political parties are united in opposing the implementation of the order of the Supreme Court. The erroneous reporting has been further encouraged by misleading statements issued from time to time by NDA government and the BJP functionaries,” Ms Gandhi said. The Congress, she said, had articulated its view point in the all-party meeting convened by the Union Law Minister on August 2 and a letter written to the Law Minister by senior Congress leaders on August 8. “The Congress is fully in concurrence with the orders of the Supreme Court that candidates must disclose all relevant information called for, particularly regarding convictions and charges for offences, assets, bank balances, liabilities and overdues. The Congress believes that such information must be disclosed by all candidates at the time of filing nominations and prior to elections,’’ Ms Gandhi said. |
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Another
Cong leader found murdered New Delhi, August 28 The police has arrested Sharda Jain and her brother, Raj Kumar Jain and took them on seven days police remand. They have been taken to the place of occurrence in the Ghaziabad district where he was murdered. Sharda Jain got him killed by contract killers who are absconding. They were identified as Roshan Singh, Raju Nai, driver of Sharda while the fourth one could not be identified, the police said. During interrogation Sharda confessed to have killed Atma Ram Gupta. Both were good friends and it was Atma Ram who had helped her in getting the Congress ticket to contest elections of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Since he had developed relations with another woman, which Sharda could not tolerate, she got him killed, the police said. The body of another Congressman, who was identified as Ram Singh Sharma, was recovered from behind a temple in the Vasant Kunj area near national Highway 8 (Delhi-Gurgaon Road) this morning. He was the Youth Congress President from the Palampur block. He was stabbed to death and his leg and hands were tied, the police said. |
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SP for alliance with Congress New Delhi, August 28 The party General Secretary and spokesman Amar Singh said it was up to the Congress President to send out positive signals if the party wanted to come together for an alliance before the next general elections. “I have already met the Congress President and now it is up to her to decide whether the Congress wants a tie-up with the Samajwadi Party,” he said. “We are eager to form this alliance but the Congress will now have to take the final decision,” he said. “Once we receive any positive signals from them, the politburo of the Samajwadi Party will meet and take the final decision,” he said. He criticised Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s intemperate attack on Chief Election Commissioner J M Lyngdoh, saying such remarks reflect his mindset. “Although Mr Modi has said that the controversy was over, such statements show him in poor light,” he said. |
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Extradite
Anderson, rules court Bhopal, August 28 Rejecting the CBI’s application,
CJM Rameshwar Kothe also ordered that prompt action should be taken
for the extradition of prime accused Anderson and the court be
apprised of the effective steps taken in this direction during the
next hearing of the case on October 17-18. The court termed as “futile”
the CBI’s exercise for alteration in the IPC Section from Section
304(A) (causing death by rash and negligent act not amounting to
murder), framed against Anderson and other two absconders — Union
Carbide Corporation and Union Carbide (Eastern) of Hong Kong. UNI |
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MiG 21 spares not sub-standard: India New Delhi, August 28 “The whole thing is commercially motivated,” sources in the Ministry of Defence said in reaction to reports from Moscow, quoting a Russian official as saying that the poor quality of spares could have been responsible for some of the crashes. “As far as defence purchases are concerned, there is a well laid out policy of stringent quality control and pre-purchase inspections. There is no question of buying any sub-standard or second-hand components. All defence spares meet the laid down quality standards,” the sources said. According to them, the allegations by the Russian official were surprising because India was sourcing the spares from the very companies which were involved in their manufacture before the collapse of the Soviet Union. “How can they say that the quality of spares from these companies is bad?” the sources asked. Mr Andrei
Belyaninov, General Director of Rosoboronexport, the Russian state-owned company responsible for defence exports, had told a team of visiting Indian journalists that the CIS countries had a lot of old spares and equipment for such aircraft which they were passing off as
new. |
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Hearing
on Sharma’s bail plea adjourned New Delhi, August 28 “This not only amounts to his character assassination, but to the character assassination of the deceased and her husband, a respected senior journalist,” Sharma’s counsel Dinesh Mathur argued. Meanwhile, a Delhi court on Wednesday extended the police remand of Satya Prakash by three more days and sent another key accused in the case Sri Bhagwan to judicial custody for 14 days. |
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ACP Sharma
suspended New Delhi, August 28 |
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