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Wednesday,
February 26, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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BJP, Oppn clash on Savarkar Sonia asks Kalam not to unveil portrait PM, Advani in league with VHP: Laloo NE poll: 136 CRPF
companies deployed
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2 killed in
pre-poll violence EC censures Jaya NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT
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BJP, Oppn clash on Savarkar New Delhi, February 25 Taking exception to the Opposition threat to boycott the unveiling of Savarkar’s portrait in the Central Hall of Parliament, BJP Parliamentary spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra said it was a decision of the Parliamentary Committee attended by the Congress and Communist party leaders. Professor Malhotra regretted the letter written by some Opposition parties to President A P J Abdul Kalam threatening to boycott the unveiling function tomorrow. “This is an insult to a great freedom fighter who instilled patriotic fervour among the youth of his generation”, he added. The Congress, the non-Congress opposition parties as well as the BJP’s ally, the BSP, today dissociated themselves from the unveiling of a portrait of Savarkar in the Central Hall asking President Kalam to reconsider his decision to attend the ceremony. In a letter to Mr Kalam, leaders of political parties, including the Left, said all Opposition parties had decided not to associate themselves with the function which would ‘give credibility’ to the activities and ‘divisive policies’ of
Savarkar. Earlier, Professor Malhotra said there was no need for the Opposition parties to kick up a row over the issue of Savarkar portrait in Central Hall as the decision was taken at a meeting of these parties as well chaired by Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi on December 5. The meeting was attended by Congress leaders like Mr Shivraj Patil and Mr Pranab Mukherjee, Mr Somnath Chatterjee of the CPM and Mr J Chittaranjan of the CPI. At this meeting it was also decided to have statues of Jyotibhai Phule, former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal and Veer Savarkar in the Parliament precincts and a statue of Shivaji Maharaj in the water pond in the outside lawns. To say that Vir Savarkar accepted two-nation theory was wrong because he was totally opposed to partition of the country. The portraits of many leaders, who accepted two-nation theory and the partition had found their way in the Parliament, he said. He said for the Congress could never imagine anyone outside one special family getting martyr status in the country while the Left parties were revising their wrong assessments on personalities like Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The BJP spokesman said the Congress had implicated Savarkar in the Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination case, out of political vengeance and he was later duly discharged by the Delhi High Court. It was a Congress regime which had accorded the status of a ‘monument’, to a prison cell occupied by Vir Savarkar in Port Blair, the capital of Centrally administered Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The letter of the non-Congress parties to the President said: “It will be a great tragedy if the Central Hall was utilised for installing the portrait of
Savarkar, who was not only an accused in the Mahatma Gandhi assassination case, but supported the two-nation theory of Jinnah and contended that the Hindus are a nation and that India should be a Hindu rashtra and who had submitted a mercy petition to the British authorities pledging loyalty to the British Raj”. The leaders said their parties’ dissociation was on principle and should not be treated as personal disrespect to the President. |
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Sonia asks Kalam not to unveil portrait New Delhi, February 25 In a letter to the President, Mrs Gandhi said, “I am writing to express my solidarity with other members of the Opposition parties about our inability to be present at the unveiling of the portrait of V D Savarkar by you in the Central Hall of Parliament tomorrow. We mean no discourtesy to you but the feelings in the party are unanimous on this matter. We believe that in view of the serious controversy this has provoked, you might want to reconsider your decision.” Congress chief spokesman S Jaipal Reddy expressed the party’s ‘deep regret’ at the decision to ‘hang’ a portrait of V D Savarkar in the Central Hall of Parliament. “While Savarkar was indeed an early pioneer in the freedom movement and spent several years of incarceration in the Cellular Jail at Port Blair, his petition for mercy to the British authorities, his advocacy of the two-nation theory and his alleged association with the assassins of Mahatma Gandhi makes it extremely inappropriate that his portrait be put up in the same hallowed precincts which celebrate the fundamental secular and democratic values of the freedom movement and nation-building,’’ the party said in a statement. However, the Congress found itself in a tight spot over participation of its two leaders - Shivraj Patil and Pranab Mukherjee - in the General Purposes Committee meeting held by Speaker in December that decided to install Savarkar’s portrait. |
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PM, Advani in league with VHP: Laloo New Delhi, February 25 Participating in the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address in the Rajya Sabha, Mr Yadav in his inimitable fiery style said that the Vajpayee government was on its last leg of poor performance and his party was determined to throw it out of power in league with the Congress and other secular parties. Marked with wit and humour, the RJD chief demanded that Mr Togadia, Mr Singhal and Ramchandra Paramhans should be slapped with POTA provisions as was being done against the minorities. He said over 3200 cases of POTA had been initiated in Jharkhand. “POTA has been invoked against a 12-year-old child and 80-year old man,” he said. Mr Yadav was not alone in demanding the arrest of Pravin Togadia. Gen (retd) Shankar Roy Choudhary (Ind) described VHP leader Pravin Togadia as the “Hitler of Hindutva” and also demanded has arrest under POTA. Mr Laloo Yadav earlier termed the sadhus’ march as an assembly of “fake sadhus”. He said that no Shankaracharya from any Peeth took part in the march. Mr Yadav made Defence Minister George Fernandes one of the targets of his attack saying defence deals were struck at the residence of the “fake socialist.” Mr Yadav said the government was toeing the American line on Iraq under pressure from Washington. Meanwhile, Opposition members charged the government of making India a soft state by failing to check terrorism against the people of the country. Initiating the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, independent member Cho Ramaswamy said Bangladesh had become a haven of ISI-sponsored terrorism. Prominent among those who took part in the debate were Mr Ram Jethmalani, Mr Rameshwar Kumar Aggarwala (BJ), Mr D.P. Yadav (Ind), Mr R.S. Gavai (RPI), Prof R.B.S. Verma (BJP), Mr Jaware Gowda (JD), Mr B.P. Singhal (BJP) and Mr Shahid Siddiqui (SP). Former Law Minister Ram Jethmalani (Ind) expressed pessimism over a legal solution to the Ayodhya problem. He wondered how a solution to the Ayodhya problem could come so easy as mentioned in the President’s Address. |
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NE poll: 136 CRPF
companies deployed New Delhi, February 25
While 75 companies have been deployed in Nagaland, 15 companies and 46 companies have been put on election duty in Meghalaya and Tripura, respectively. In Nagaland, 11 companies in Dimapur, 12 in Kohima, six in Phek, 10 in Mokukchung, nine in Zunheboto, six in Wokha, nine in Mon and 12 in Tuensang districts, a CRPF press note said here today. In Meghalaya, five companies each are deployed in Garohills, Khasi/Ribhoi and Jantia districts. In Tripura, 17 companies in West Tipura, nine in South Tripura, 11 in Dhalai and 9 in North Tripura districts. Besides 30 coys of BSF and 10 coys of Punjab Armed Police have been deployed in Tripura, five companies each of ITBP and SSB have also been put on election duty in Himachal Pradesh. Mr Sukhjinder Singh, IGP, CRPF, Tripura, Mr Subhash Goswami, IGP, CRPF, Manipur and Nagaland, Mr Rajdeep Singh, IGP, CRPF, North Eastern Sector and Mr Balwant Singh Azad, DIGP, CRPF, Chandigarh, have been nominated as nodal officers of Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Himachal Pradesh, respectively. |
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2 killed in
pre-poll violence Agartala, February 25 The police said here today that a woman was assaulted and then killed by miscreants at Belonia in south Tripura while returning home from a CPM rally. In another incident, miscreants killed a tribal youth at Kanchanpur in north Tripura. The youth was the brother of CPM candidate Rajendra Reang. Four BSF jawans were injured when militants exploded a powerful landmine at Gumsingh Bari near the Indo-Bangla border in west Tripura. The incident occurred as the jawans were patrolling in three vehicles. UNI |
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EC censures Jaya New Delhi, February 25 “The full commission has carefully gone through the contents of your letter and it is regretfully mentioned that the explanation offered has not been found satisfactory by the commission”, an EC spokesman said after a commission meeting which considered the state Chief Secretary’s letter to it. |
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NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT New Delhi, February 25 **** Punjab was allocated Rs 2,581 lakh for providing drinking water to rural areas, including the drought-affected areas in 2002-03, Minister of State for Rural Development Mr Annasaheb MK Patil told the Lok Sabha in a written reply today . While the amount allocated to Haryana was Rs 2,002 lakh, it was Rs 5,635 to Himachal Pradesh and Rs 12,324 lakh to Jammu and Kashmir, the minister told the House. He also told the Lok Sabha that the guidelines for implementation of the Rural Water Supply Programme had been revised so as to attain the goal of providing drinking water to all ‘Not Covered’ and ‘Partially Covered’ habitations in the country by 2004. **** Minister of State for Rural Development Mr Annasaheb M.K. Patil informed the House that some states had not contributed their full share for the implementation of employment and poverty alleviation schemes of the Ministry of Rural Development. Providing details of the states with shortfall in the release of the state’s share for such schemes, he informed this shortage was 22 per cent in Punjab, 14.4 per cent in Haryana and 21.97 per cent in Himachal Pradesh. **** As many as 104 colleges in Punjab, 91 in Haryana and nine colleges in Chandigarh have applied for the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) for certification , Minister of State for Human Resource Development Dr Vallabhai Kathiria told the Lok Sabha in a written reply today. He told the House that while the NAAC had accredited three universities in Punjab, two in Haryana and one in Chandigarh, the number of colleges accredited by the NAAC were one each in Chandigarh and Punjab and four in Haryana. **** Mr I.D. Swami, Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs, informed that Rs 47.55 crore for Punjab; Rs 45.71 crore for Haryana and Rs 65.39 crore for Jammu and Kashmir were approved for the modernisation of the police forces.
**** In order to accelerate the pace of the Indira Awaas Yojna, Central assistance is released every year to the District Rural Development Agencies /Zila Parishads in two instalments, Mr U.V. Krishnam Raju, Minister of State for Rural Development told the House. The amount of funds earmarked (Centre’s share) for Punjab was Rs 777 lakh; for Haryana Rs 1,172.94 lakh ; Rs 518.91 lakh for HP and Rs 620.92 lakh for Jammu and Kashmir, the minister told the House. |
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4 gunned down Madhepura (Bihar), February 25 |
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MAN KILLS DAUGHTER, HER LOVER 7 KILLED IN ROAD ACCIDENT LIFE TERM FOR COUPLE |
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