S P O T L I G H T

Modi allocates portfolios
Ahmedabad, December 23
Retaining the key Home portfolio with himself, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today allocated ministries to his 15-member team giving Finance to senior partyman Vajubhai Vala and making his trusted aide, Ms Anandiben Patel, a full-fledged Education Minister. Mr Modi, however, chose Mr Amit Shah as his deputy in the Home Ministry. Mr Shah, Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank Chairman, has been elected for the third time in a row with a whopping margin in the just-concluded poll. Mr Shah, the new face in the Council of Ministers, will look after police-related departments such as police housing, border security, civil defence, home guards, gram rakshak dal and jails. UNI

4 ultras sentenced to death
Coimbatore, December 23
Four activists of the outlawed Islamic fundamentalist outfit ‘Al-Umma’ were today awarded capital punishment in the sensational November 1997 traffic constable Selvaraj murder, which triggered communal violence in the textile city, leaving 24 dead in the next two days. Fast Track Court II Judge R. Prem Kumar sentenced to death the four accused — Mohammed Safiq, Ashiq, Abbas and Abu Tahir. Awarding life imprisonment and one year RI to Siddiq Ali (son of Al Umma leader S.A. Pasha), ‘TADA’ Aslam and Shamsudeen, the judge also slapped a fine of Rs 25,000 on each of them. UNI