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Friday,
October 11, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Azad to meet Sonia today Congress
happy at J&K poll results BJP blames it on JSM, NC NC paid price for
opportunism: CPM J&K
poll process positive start: USA ‘Mother
Teresa’s role began when docs failed’ Handicrafts
fair: 20 nations to take part |
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‘Letter
to Elza’ best Asian film Krishna
continues padayatra Power
deal: CBI probe sought
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Azad to meet Sonia today New Delhi, October 10 With the Congress having made up its mind to lead the coalition government in the state to be formed along with the People’s Democratic Party, smaller parties and Independents, the main task before the party now is choice for the post of Chief Minister. Given Mr Azad’s reluctance to accept the new role as Chief Minister, the Congress high command will weigh various options before coming to a decision. Mr Azad is likely to tomorrow meet Mrs Gandhi. The Congress president, who was in Mathura today for a workers’ meeting, is scheduled to visit drought-affected areas of Rajasthan tomorrow. Mr Azad, who was sent by the high command in April this year to head the party’s Jammu and Kashmir unit, took up the assignment reluctantly. Sources said he went to the state after extracting certain promises from the high command, one of which was his eventual return to the AICC after the elections. He did not contest the elections. In his speeches in the run-up to the elections, Mr Azad had been emphasising that the future Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir would be from among the elected MLAs. He also favoured having the next Chief Minister from the Jammu region. Concerns of personal security in Jammu and Kashmir have been weighing on Mr Azad and will influence his eventual decision about going to the state to head a government. Mr Azad has been a Central leader of the Congress for almost two decades and has shouldered important responsibilities. Sources close to him said having performed his job in the state for the Congress, Mr Azad would like to return to the Centre. In view of the success of the party in the Jammu and Kashmir elections, Mr Azad, party general secretary before going to the state, may be looking for a bigger responsibility at the AICC. Central leaders, including party general secretary Ambika Soni, who had even declared during campaigning that Mr Azad was the party’s choice for Chief Minister, were cautious today. “The MLAs will decide the leader,” Mrs Soni said. Asked about her earlier remarks about Mr Azad being the party’s choice for Chief Minister, Mrs Soni explained that such statements were made during the elections. In case Mr Azad does not agree to lead the coalition government, the Congress will have to decide if its chief ministerial candidate will be from Jammu or Kashmir region. Mr Azad has been advocating the post of Deputy Chief Minister from the other region and this post is likely to go the PDP. The Congress may also formulate a common agenda of governance for the coalition that will have the support of smaller parties and Independents. The Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party of Mr Bhim Singh has declared its support to the Congress. Mrs Soni said while the “poor performance” of the National Conference government had helped the Congress, visits of Mrs Sonia Gandhi to the state after major tragedies also gave people a lot of hope from the party. Mrs Gandhi, she recalled, was the only national leader to hold an election rally in Srinagar. The party, she said, raised issues close to the people in its “aggressive campaign.” |
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Congress happy at J&K poll results Patna, October 10 Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) President Shakeel Ahmad said the people of the state had cast a categorical vote against the BJP-NC combine as an expression of their anguish and exasperation over their apathetic rule. Mr Ahmad pointed out that neither Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee nor Deputy PM L.K. Advani dared to visit the valley for electioneering. In contrast, Congress President Sonia Gandhi valiantly campaigned in Kashmir ignoring the advice of the security agencies to cancel her programmes, he stated. Mr Ahmad also congratulated Pradesh Congress Committee leader Gulam Nabi Azad for his tactful handling of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir which he attributed as the cause of the Congress victory. With this win, Jammu and Kashmir becomes the 15th State in the country to come under the Congress rule, he noted.
UNI |
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BJP blames it on JSM, NC New Delhi, October 10 BJP President M Venkaiah Naidu asserted that the defeat of the party in the state would have no impact on the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre. “The BJP and the JSM had some arrangement. But, the arrangement was not successful because they (JSM) violated it and then the division of votes seem to have affected us,” BJP President M Venkaiah Naidu told newspersons here. Jammu and Kashmir elections were the first major test for Mr Naidu, who took over as party President on July 1, 2002, succeeding Jana Krishnamurthy, who was inducted into the Vajpayee Cabinet as part of the revamping process. Another reason which had severely affected the BJP’s electoral prospects in Jammu and Kashmir, where the party had eight seats in the last Assembly, he said although the BJP and NC had alliance at the Centre and fought poll against each other in the state, the party had to suffer due to the electorate voting against the present National Conference Government because of strong “anti-incumbency factor”. On the good performance of the Congress and the PDP, Mr Naidu said the people of Jammu and Kashmir did not vote them because they liked these parties but because they had to vote against the ruling party. However, the BJP President tried to play down his party’s humiliating defeat saying “the question is not which party has won or which party has lost, but the outcome was a victory for India and democracy and a setback for Pakistan.” To a question whether the NC will continue to be an alliance partners in the NDA at the Centre, party spokesman M A Naqvi said “now it is the NC and the NDA which have to decided on the issue.” Meanwhile, BJP central leaders are of the view that formation of a Congress-led government was essential in Jammu and Kashmir in the “national interest”. “Although the PDP has done remarkably well in this elections, we understand that some of their candidates have links with the Hurriyat Conference. Therefore, in the national interest we would like the Congress, which is a national party, to lead the government there,” a top BJP leader said on the condition of anonymity. Insiders said the top leadership was very uncomfortable with the outcome of the Assembly elections. As soon as results started trickling in showing leads for the Congress and the PDP, top leaders went into hectic consultations for preparing the party line. |
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NC paid price for
opportunism: CPM New Delhi, October 10 “The electoral process underlines the fact there is no other way to resolve the Kashmir issue except through the democratic process and dialogue”, the CPM Polit Bureau said in a statement here. Commenting on the defeat of the National Conference, the statement said “The NC has paid the price for its opportunism in aligning with the BJP, at the Centre, a party which rejects Article 370 and autonomy for the state. The betrayal of the NC of its secular traditions has not been forgiven by the people in the valley”. The CPM, which won two seats in these elections from Kulgam and
Wachi, said this was “a recognition of the state unit’s record of consistently defending the people’s interests”. It said the results reflected that “the people would have exercised their franchise in a bigger way if the political dialogue to resolve the outstanding issues had been initiated well before. |
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J&K poll process positive start: USA Hyderabad, October 10 “Though elections alone can not solve the problems between India and Pakistan, it is an important component and we think that poll process will be a positive start,” the US Ambassador, Mr Robert Blackwill, told reporters here. Mr Blackwill, who is on a two-day visit to the city, refused to be drawn into a debate over the poll outcome in Kashmir saying “It would be improper to comment on domestic political configurations. We would say nothing on individual results”. Stating that the USA condemned terrorist violence during the poll process, he said terrorism directed against India from “any direction or group” was unacceptable. “After Kashmir and Pakistan elections are behind us, we hope we can make assessments and we will be engaging both sides again,” he said. Asserting that India was “one of the closest partners” of the USA in its war against terrorism, Mr Blackwill disagreed with a suggestion that his country was not mounting enough pressure on Pakistan to stop supporting cross-border terrorism. “We have made it clear to General Musharraf... there is no doubt about it.. infiltration should end permanently,” the visiting Ambassador said. He said the USA would try to ensure that underworld don Abu Salem, lodged in a Portuegese jail, was brought to India to face justice. Asked as to how the USA viewed the Abu Salem case, Mr Blackwill said “we have been working on it.” He (Abu Salem) should come to India, he asserted.
PTI, UNI |
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‘Mother Teresa’s role began when docs failed’ Kolkata, October 10 The “miraculous recovery” of Monika Basra, a 35-year-old tribal woman of Balurghat in West Dinajpur, from intro-abdominal tumor by keeping Mother’s Teresa’s photograph on her stomach on the tummy at a stretch for a few days, had been cited by the Mother’s disciples at the Missionaries of Charity, as her “supernatural power”. But the doctors attending on Monika at Balurghat Government Hospital claimed that their treatment had cured her of intro-abdominal tumor and no other magic had acted upon it. A former state Health Minister, Mr Partha De, during whose tenure Monika had been treated at Balurghat Hospital, also denied and disbelieved that Mother Teresa’s magic power had played any role. The sisters of Mother House in Kolkata, however, made a counterclaim and said after the doctors had failed to cure Monika, even after their long treatments at the hospital and private nursing homes, “the Mother’s role came in.” Monika in an interview to the press had narrated how a ‘super power’ had acted on her during her prayer at the village church in Balurghat on September 5, 1999. The story also was published in the Time magazine recently. The story says Monika had claimed how while in the church she had experienced a miraculous power of Mother Teresa when she was standing before her photograph hanging on the wall. Monika claimed that she suddenly felt that a ray of light from the photo was piercing her body and shaking her. “Then I came back home and took to bed. In the evening, senior sister Bartholomia came to our home and handed me a locket carrying Mother Teresa’s photo and advised me to put it on my stomach. A separate photograph of the Mother was also handed to me for placing it on my stomach along with the locket.” “I was also advised to pray to the Mother for my recovery every morning and evening, which I did religiously and most sacrosanctly for a few days at a stretch. And one day, I suddenly discovered there was no pain inside my stomach an The controversy over the matter has been also
persisting. I felt myself cured.” |
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Handicrafts
fair: 20 nations to take part New Delhi, October 10 The four-day fair, organised by the Export Promotion Council for Handicraft, provides an opportunity to buyers from all over the world for sourcing handicraft products from India. Over a 1000 leading manufacturers and exporters from the handicraft industry will display a wide range of traditional and contemporary products at the fair. It will be for the first time that a large number of countries from Latin America will also participate in the fair. With Europe and the USA being the traditional buyers of Indian handicrafts in the past, the addition of countries from Latin America will provide a new touch to the show. The Indian handicrafts and gifts fair is among the largest gifts and handicrafts exhibition organised in South East Asia. Popular amongst both the buyers and exporters, the fair over the years has given a big boost to the Indian handicrafts industry. At the Autumn 2002 edition of the fair, products from over 100 different categories will be on display encompassing everything from home utility products, decorative and gift items, fashion jewellery, accessories, home textiles, furnishings, furniture and floor coverings, Christmas and floral decorations. The fair will play host to buyers and their representatives from the USA, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Netherlands, Portugal, Cyprus, Israel, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Scandinavia, Latin America, South Africa and the Middle East. |
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‘Letter to Elza’ best Asian film New Delhi, October 10 The award for Most Promising Director went to Iran’s Reza Mir Karimi for his “Under the Moonlight”, which revolves around the conflict between religion and freedom and questions the system in his country. While “Letter to Elza”, which won the Golden Peacock, is an ethereal cinematic translation of innocence of a woman in an experimental form, “Mitr” which had an all-woman crew, deals with the conflict between a woman steeped in Indian traditions and her daughter brought up in the USA. Giving away the awards, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani said as a cinema lover, he watched Hindi and English film from his student days and it was only when he saw Satyajit Ray’s “Pather Panchali” that he realised Hindi films were “nothing” in comparison to the classic. Regretting that not many people in the country have seen films by directors from other regions like Ray and Buddhadeb Das Gupta, who is the chairman of the jury for the Asian competition section, he said the film festival was a good venue for opening up the windows of world cinema. He congratulated Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj for the film bazaar in the festival, saying it helped other countries get acquainted with the Indian film industry.
PTI |
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Krishna continues padayatra Chennapatna, October 10 Krishna began his march to a rousing response from thousands of farmers and party workers who had gathered here since morning to accompany him on his truncated yatra, which has been cut short by two days. Amidst chanting of slogans in support of his government stand on the Cauvery and folk dances, he began his walk which will take him to Maddur, from where he has been elected to the state Assembly. The yatra will be terminated on October 12 at Mandya in his home district, instead of October 14 as scheduled earlier, with a public rally, which is expected to be attended by Kannada film icon Rajkumar. Krishna had announced yesterday that he had decided to cut short his march so as not to cause
inconvenience to people in view of Dasehra celebrations.
PTI |
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Power deal: CBI probe sought Bhubaneswar, October 10 They alleged kickback in the deal, stating that the government had signed the agreement without obtaining bank guarantee from the private distribution companies as recommended by a Cabinet sub-committee. State Energy Minister S. N. Patra, however, dubbed their allegation as “political” and justified the signing of the agreement in the interest of the people of the state. The agitated Opposition, which demanded the tabling of the Cabinet memorandum and the revised Cabinet decision in the House for a scrutiny by the House Committee, walked out of the House in protest.
UNI |
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Rape victim’s no to identify suspect New Delhi, October 10 The victim and her two companions said Avdhesh was not the person involved the rape. However, the police said the TIP was not the only evidence for the identification of the person and there were other evidences which would confirm the involvement of the accused in the crime, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (South), P.
Kamaraj. |
SALMAN TAKEN
TO COURT JAT SIKH TO GET OBC CERTIFICATE LESBIAN, GAY MEETING FROM TODAY BIHAR EX-MINISTER LAMAI DEAD ELEPHANTS DESTROY CROPS INL LEADER MIRZA BAIG DEAD |
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