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Friday,
December 27, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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PM not to attend Trinamool rally Left: PM echoed Sangh Parivar
view PM launches rail vikas
yojana BJP backs Maya
on Amethi
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BJP legislators
suspended Quit ministerial posts, BJP state chiefs told Choube appointed CRPF chief
Hearing on Gilani’s bail plea
adjourned Dalit forced to
drink urine Two rescued Nirmal heads J&K BJP unit
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PM not to attend Trinamool rally Kolkata, December 26 There has however, been no positive response from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), though BJP sources said Mr Vajpayee had already turned down the invitation. The NDA chairman, Mr George Fernandes, has also expressed his unwillingness to be present at the rally. Ms Banerjee, who is in hospital with chest pain after an accident in the Salt Lake area recently, also may not be fit to take active part in the preparation for the rally, which had been planned to consolidate her position and unite the party before the forthcoming panchayat poll next year. Trinamool sources said she was trying to contact the PMO and Mr Fernandes in this regard. Ms Banerjee today sent letters to both Mr Vajpayee and Mr Advani, congratulating them on the BJP’s victory in Gujarat. A similar letter was also sent to BJP president Venkaiah Naidu. Mr Saugata Roy, Trinamool leader, said so far the PMO had not accepted the invitation but there was no talk about either cancelling the rally or postponing it. Mr Pankaj Banerjee, Mr Sanjay Bakshi, Mr Sovendeb Chattopadhyya, all MLAs close to Ms Banerjee, want that the rally should be deferred till she was fit and would get more time to persuade Mr Vajpayee and other NDA leaders to be present at the rally. |
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Left: PM echoed Sangh Parivar
view New Delhi, December 26 “Hindutva” could not be fought by adopting the “soft Hindutva line”, two left parties said, adding that the secular forces would have to take up concrete developmental issues and the concept of secularism. “There should be no iota of doubt that Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee also speaks the language of the Sangh Parivar,” Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary H.S. Surjeet said here. He was reacting to the Prime Minister’s reported statement today that the outcome of the Assembly elections in Gujarat would help the nation understand secularism in the correct perspective. On Mr Vajpayee’s observation that the concept of secularism was now being “debated correctly”, Mr Surjeet reminded how the Supreme Court, in the case of dismissal of state governments in the wake of Babri masjid demolition, had observed that secularism is the cardinal principle of our social life and society. Meanwhile, Communist Party of India (CPI) national secretary and spokesman Shamim Faizi said the Sangh Parivar had its own definition of secularism that did not conform with the reality of the Indian society. “So, the Prime Minister has echoed what the Sangh Parivar has been preaching all these years. Indeed, he is just speaking its language,” he said. Dubbing as a “facade” the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu’s statement that his party would continue to support the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-government at the Centre as long as the BJP followed the NDA agenda, the Left leaders said Mr Naidu might seek solace in Mr Vajpayee or Mr Advani’s assurance to the effect, but the BJP’s recent National Executive meeting’s message was quite “loud and clear”. On Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) international general secretary Praveen Togadia’s statement that the VHP won’t allow the BJP to budge from Hindutva, they said the VHP leader’s remarks were part of the Sangh Parivar’s strategy to make its ground-level soldiers raise passions and mobilise voters on the basis of extreme Hindu ideology, while the BJP continued to make the “right noises” to prevent the allies from rocking the boat of the government at the Centre. In a parallel development, CPM mouthpiece ‘People’s Democracy’ in its editorial dubbed Hindutva as “nothing but pseudo-Hinduism”, expressing apprehension that the BJP would unfold the “classic fascist agenda” to consolidate its position in power. |
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PM launches rail vikas
yojana New Delhi, December 26 “Like the development of roads and highways, these projects would go a long way to strengthen, expand and modernise the rail network and connect them to the ports. Likewise, the government is also stressing on development of the civil aviation sector,” Mr Vajpayee said after inaugurating the yojana at his residence. The three major railway projects under the yojana to be completed under a time-bound programme in the next five years were Munger rail-cum-road bridge on the Ganga in Bihar, doubling of the 151 km Gooty-Pullampetta line on the Mumbai-Chennai route and gauge conversion project of the 305 km Gandhidham-Palanpur rail in Gujarat. The Prime Minister said the linking of four metros through the rail golden quadrilateral project would “enhance the speed of goods trains in particular as also of the passenger trains. It would reduce pollution also”. The government was also laying utmost stress on ensuring safety and security of rail passengers and technical and administrative aspects were being looked into, he said. Stating that it was now possible to raise financial resources through means other than budgetary, Mr Vajpayee said the railways could make use of these means to raise finances for these big projects. “No project should languish for want of resources,” he said. Railway Minister Nitish Kumar, in his speech, said the Asian Development Bank had only last week cleared a loan of $ 313.6 million for these rail projects. The Railway Minister said the golden quadrilateral project would enable freight trains to run at 100 km per hour and decongest the saturated network on these metro routes. He said the process of setting up of a special purpose vehicle for running of the RRVY called ‘Rail Vikas Nigam’ was already
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BJP backs Maya
on Amethi New Delhi, December 26 Hiding behind technalities, party general secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and official spokesman administered a snub at former Union Minister Sanjay Singh and his wife Uttar Pradesh Minister of State for Technical Education Amita Singh for opposing the change in the name of Amethi, saying that ministers were party to the collective decision and it was not fair on their party to differ publicly. If they had any reservations, they should express their views in the Cabinet or convey it to the party, the spokesman said. These comments were being seen as the BJP’s keenness to please UP Chief Minister Mayawati to woo her into a pre-poll alliance for elections in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, where the Bahujan Samaj Party has a considerable vote base. The BJP central leadership is also afraid of Ms Mayawati’s reported threat of holding a snap poll. The BJP is more than eager to have a long-term alliance with the BSP for the next Lok Sabha elections. |
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BJP legislators suspended Bangalore, December 26 In the Council, the BJP members, who were suspended for the day on December 24, continued their protest and raised slogans against the government. Council Chairman B L Shankar suspended them after his repeated plea to them to resume their seats fell on deaf ears. Earlier in the Assembly, as soon as the House began, the BJP members, led by opposition leader in the Assembly Jagadish Shettar, trooped into the well of the House, shouting slogans against the government and demanding the resignation of Chief Minister S M Krishna, Home Minister Mallikarjuna Kharge and Minister of State for Agro Processing Raju Gowda for their alleged nexus with forest brigand Veerappan, under whose custody former Janata Dal minister H Nagappa was killed. The House witnessed noisy scenes for a while following heated exchanges between the BJP and the ruling Congress members. Speaker M.V. Venkatappa, who tried in vain to restrain the agitating BJP members, announced their suspension for the rest of the session till December 31 for their misconduct. Even after his announcement, the BJP members continued their slogan-shouting in the well of the House. Later, they were evicted by the marshals following orders from the Speaker. Chief Minister S.M. Krishna regretted the whole incident and said it was unfortunate that the BJP, which was leading a coalition Government at the Centre, was disrespecting democratic traditions and had misused the platform.
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Quit ministerial posts, BJP state chiefs told New Delhi, December 26 The directive is essentially aimed at Union Minister of State for Personnel and Rajasthan BJP chief Vasundhara Raje and Union Minister for Coal and Mines Uma Bharti who is to lead the party campaign in Madhya Pradesh. |
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Choube appointed
CRPF chief New Delhi, December 26 He will succeed Mr Trinath Mishra, who retires by the end of the month, a Home Ministry spokesman said here today. Mr R.C. Agarwal, a 1968 batch UP cadre IPS officer, has been appointed the new chief of the ITBP. Mr Agarwal at presents Special Director of the BSF and replaces Mr Choube. |
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Hearing on Gilani’s bail plea adjourned New Delhi, December 26 Additional Sessions Judge V.P. Vaishya, who had summoned the trial court records to acquaint himself with the facts of the case, heard Gilani’s counsel V.K. Ohri and the public prosecutor at length. However, the court said it would pass its order only after knowing the government’s view on the matter and posted the hearing for January 4. The Delhi Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) is to hear Gilani’s plea for discharge on January 3. Iftikar Gilani, son-in-law of Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Gilani, has been in jail ever since his arrest in June last under the Official Secrets Act. The Director-General of Military Intelligence (MI) O.S. Locha has already informed the CMM that the documents seized from Gilani were not classified.
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Dalit forced to drink urine
Kolar, Karnataka, December 26 As the news spread, tension gripped the village with people belonging to the Dalit community staging a dharna in front of Circle Inspector’s Office, demanding the arrest of the culprits. Six persons were arrested, the police added. Additional forces were rushed to the village, where the situation was stated to be normal.
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Two rescued Bhind, December 26 The police said the gang, active on the interstate border, had kidnapped Uttar Pradesh residents Anand (32) and Chhabile Jatav (25) on December 15.
UNI |
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Nirmal heads J&K BJP unit New Delhi, December 26 Mr Nirmal Singh was the general secretary of the Jammu and Kashmir unit. Announcing this at a press conference here today, party spokesman M A Naqvi said Mr Nirmal Singh would soon constitute his team. |
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Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today launched an ambitious Rs 15,000 crore Rashtriya Rail Vikas
Yojana, which would strengthen the rail golden quadrilateral network connecting four metros.
In video (
