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Tuesday,
June 10, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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AYODHYA ISSUE RLD rebels may join Cabinet
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CPM for Assembly session in UP
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MADHUMITA MURDER CASE SC denies Bhardwaj bail Notice to Solanki Need felt for change in accounting system Goa may be
permanent IFFI venue MPSC member held in answersheet scam
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AYODHYA ISSUE New Delhi, June 9 “We welcome the remarks by the Prime Minister on the Ayodhya issue as they are positive and the party has never considered it to be a political issue,” party spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told newspersons here. He said the party was against any political party interfering in the matter and the only way out was either through dialogue or court. To a question that it was the BJP which had politicised Ayodhya in its Palampur resolution, Mr Naqvi said, “It was never so as we always considered Ayodhya to be part of cultural nationalism and not a political issue.” The BJP in its election manifesto before the 1996 General Election had said that “on coming to power, the BJP government will facilitate the construction of a magnificent Shri Rama Mandir at Janmasthan in Ayodhya which will be a tribute to Bharat Mata.” On the Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam Jayendra Saraswati giving credit to former Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao for the installation of the Ram Lalla idol in a makeshift temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya, he said, “The Congress should make its stand clear on the issue and not have different views on it.” On the cases filed against Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani, HRD Minister M. M. Joshi and BJP leader Uma Bharati on the Ayodhya demolition, the party spokesman said, “These were all politically motivated and those who are demanding the resignation of Mr Advani and other BJP leaders on the issue have no grounds to do so as similar demands can be made by the BJP.” Meanwhile, some NDA allies — the Samata Party and the Janata Dal (United) — also welcomed the Prime Minister’s statement. “Right from day one, we have been saying that the dispute should be settled by the court or through negotiations between Hindu and Muslim religious leaders,” JD(U) spokespersons K. C. Tyagi said. Samata Party spokesperson Shiv Kumar also made a similar reaction and lauded Mr Vajpayee for his categorical statement on the Ayodhya issue. |
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BJP meeting from June 17 New Delhi, June 9 The BJP and RSS leaders will discuss in detail the electoral strategy to be adopted by various Sangh Parivar outfits, the sources said. Taking the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Mizoram as a great challenge to the party and a litmus test of its strength for the next Parliamentary elections, they said significant emphasis would be laid at the meeting on the Sangh Parivar outfits pooling their resources and working unitedly to ensure the BJP’s victory. The meeting will be attended by BJP chief M Venkaiah Naidu, senior leaders Murli Manohar Joshi, Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha, Sushma Swaraj and the state unit presidents, among others, the sources said. |
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RLD rebels may join Cabinet Lucknow, June 9 The opposition’s efforts to resist a “certain” split in the RLD legislature party is understood to have failed with reports of at least five RLD MLAs being in regular contact with the BSP and BJP leaders. According to BJP sources, an expansion of the council of ministers was expected sometime next week when the RLD defectors would be inducted. “Presently, at least five RLD MLAs are ready to join the government and talks are under way with the rest,” sources added. The RLD has a total of 14 MLAs in the state Assembly. A suspended party MLA Samar Pal Singh is understood to be holding parleys with the legislators on behalf of the government. State BJP president Vinay Katiyar and party’s in-charge of state affairs Kalraj Mishra had earlier said the expansion of the coalition government was expected after June 18. They said at least six berths of the BJP quota were vacant, which would be filled during the expansion. Meanwhile, the RLD MLAs who were sent out of the state by the party to avoid any split have returned and were staying in their constituencies. These MLAs had stayed at Bhopal, Panchmarhi and even Srinagar during their over fortnight-long ‘escape’ from the state. Earlier, RLD supremo and former Union Agriculture Minister Ajit Singh had alleged that two senior BJP leaders were threatening his party MLAs to pledge support in favour of the coalition government in Uttar Pradesh. “Two BJP leaders, Mr Lalji Tandon and Mr Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi are constantly trying to woo RLD MLAs and even threatening them with dire
consequences if they reject their offer,” he claimed. Describing the efforts as double standards on the part of the BJP, Mr Ajit Singh said on one side, the party had moved a proposal to prevent defection through an amendment in Parliament and on the other, its leaders were attempting to break other parties. Meanwhile, sources said the expansion is also expected to include some senior BJP MLAs, including a couple of former rebels, to ensure there was no dissent like the one which occurred after the October 11 expansion.
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Cong, SP dejected: BJP New Delhi, June 9 |
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CPM for Assembly session in UP New Delhi, June 9 In a statement after the conclusion of the three-day meeting of the Central Committee at Kolkata, the CPM said the withdrawal of support to the Mayawati government by the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and the coming together of the opposition parties had led to a situation where the majority of the BSP-BJP coalition “is in doubt”. “It is incumbent, therefore for the Governor to call an Assembly session immediately to test the strength of the ruling coalition”, the CPM said.
Discussing the political situation in the four states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Delhi where elections are due later this year, the Central Committee decided that the main aim was to defeat the BJP in these elections as the record of the BJP-led government at the Centre had only led to the strengthening of the communal forces and economic policies that had spelt ruin for the people. While calling for the defeat of the BJP, the party will also expose the Congress governments’ record in these states and oppose the anti-people policies, the statement said and pointed out that the Left parties and other non-Congress secular parties do not have a significant presence in these four states except in a few pockets. The CPM will, therefore, contest a limited number of seats where it can effectively intervene in the electoral arena and have seat adjustments with the CPI and other like-minded parties. The meeting also decided to conduct a fortnight-long campaign from August 16 to 31 to highlight the problems facing the country. |
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MADHUMITA MURDER CASE Lucknow, June 9 “So far, the police have not found any indication suggesting that former BSP minister is involved in the murder … the minister may had intimate relationship with poetess it does not mean that he was killer,” said a senior CBCID police officer. He admitted that the investigating agency was yet to find the motive of the murder. The investigation has proved that the former BSP minister and deceased poetess were known to each other and had travelled together in the state as well outside the state not once but number of times. The CBCID team had so far quizzed the family members of Madhumita but had not questioned the minister or any of his family members. Incidentally, Nidhi Shukla, sister of the deceased poetess, had blamed the wife of the former BSP minister for the murder, but later withdrew charges saying she was misquoted. The 24-year-old poetess was shot dead on May 9 in her Paper Mill colony allegedly by two assailants known to Madhumita. She allegedly enjoyed a platonic relationship with a former BSP minister Amar Mani Tripathi, who was dropped from the ministry after his relationship was made public. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati handed over the case to CBCID on May 19 asking the sleuths to complete the probe within one month and submit the report to her. Sources said CBCID sleuths had prepared a tentative report and would submit the same to the chief minister after her return from abroad. “We will ask for more time as investigation in the case is at a crucial stage and the sleuths still need to quiz some witnesses,” said a police source. But he did not elaborate as how much time the investigation agency needs to complete the probe. |
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SC denies Bhardwaj bail New Delhi, June 9 Dismissing the special leave petition (SLP) filed by Bhardwaj against the Punjab and Haryana High Court order rejecting his petition earlier, the apex court Bench comprising Mr Justice R. C. Lahoti and Mr Justice Brijesh Kumar said no prima facie case was made out for grant of bail. According to the CBI case, Bhardwaj had accepted the bribe of Rs 7 lakh in the presence of two independent witnesses — Dev Raj and Madan Lal — at the behest of Jalandhar District and Sessions Judge R.M. Gupta when a trap was laid for him by the agency on May 10 after a complaint by Gurvinder Singh Samra that they had demanded Rs 11 lakh for granting him bail in a case pending before Gupta’s court. Gupta, arrested by the CBI under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act, is at present in judicial custody. Both the judicial officers have since been suspended. While asking Bhardwaj’s counsel Manoj Swarup how the magistrate had found himself in the mix-up, the apex court observed that the house of a judicial officer could not have been raided by the CBI without prior permission of the Chief Justice of the high court concerned. Mr Swarup contended that the complaint of Samra could not be taken on its face value because he had been facing several criminal cases. He also said the high court had overlooked the contradictions in CBI arguments before it and the lower court about the presence of Chandigarh Sessions Judge (Vigilance) R. M. Roojam at the time of raid at Bhardwaj’s house, which made the agency’s case doubtful. Bhardwaj, in his petition, said the CBI during the hearing on his bail application by the lower court had said that Mr Roojam was present at the time of the raid which was conducted at about 6.30 pm on May 10, but in the high court, the agency said he reached the spot around 7.20 pm. Bhardwaj had allegedly given the slip to the CBI team past midnight when the agency officials were busy completing the legal formalities about the case. While rejecting Bhardwaj’s bail plea, the high court had said the case needed a deep and meaningful probe and, as such, the CBI should be given ample opportunity for proper investigation. The high court had also accepted the CBI contention that it wanted to recover certain documents pertaining to the case. |
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Notice to Solanki New Delhi, June 9 Acting on a CBI application alleging that Mr Solanki had handed over a “memorandum” to his Swiss counterpart, Mr Rene Felber, in 1992 during his visit to that country and requested that the Swiss government should not go ahead with the probe. The Special Judge, Mr Prem Kumar, issued this notice to him for July 29. The CBI said Mr Solanki’s alleged attempt to scuttle the investigation had come amid the Swiss Justice Department’s probe into the payments to middlemen in the Bofors gun deal. |
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Need felt for change in accounting system New Delhi, June 9 Delivering the inaugural address at an international seminar on “Accounting for Results”, he said, “It has been remarked that our systems are such that the bureaucracy is encouraged to do the things rightly rather than do the right things.” “While the reduction in fiscal deficit involves several policy decisions, government accountants can play an important part to ensure better expenditure control, improved public expenditure productivity and better cash management,” he said. On the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Bill, he noted that the legislation had created an institutional framework for ensuring fiscal discipline and the government would now be obliged to present a Medium Term Fiscal Policy statement. However, he regretted that the Bill had not set the roadmap for wiping out revenue deficit within five years. Mr Rangarajan said, “Accounting practices have been designed to hide and conceal rather than educate and inform.” The three-day seminar has been
organised by the Controller-General of Accounts, Ministry of Finance, with assistance from the World Bank. The seminar is the first ever regional meet of the Heads of Government accounting organisations of South Asian countries, having common cultural heritage, history and politics. The inaugural session was also addressed by Comptroller and Auditor-General of India V N Kaul, Expenditure Secretary D. C. Gupta and Additional Controller-General of Accounts B. S.
Thapliyal. |
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Goa may be
permanent IFFI venue New Delhi, June 9 Film-makers Yash Chopra and Subhash Ghai who chair the entertainment committees of FICCI and the CII, respectively, actress Shabana Azmi and secretary of the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce L. Suresh are expected to take part in the meeting with I&B Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parikkar. Sources told TNS here today that officials of the Directorate of Films Festivals would also be present at the meeting. The last festival was held in the Capital in October. The government has been considering the proposal for a permanent venue for IFFI as most film festivals the world over are identified with reference to a particular place. Goa has emerged as the unanimous recommendation of the key group because of its geographical contiguity with Mumbai where the film industry is based. |
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MPSC member held in answersheet scam Mumbai, June 9 Sayalee Sanjeev Joshi (46), who was arrested last night after being discharged from a hospital in Pune, was produced today before a special court which remanded her in police custody till June 16. She was brought to her official residence here. Her premises in Mumbai and Pune were later searched. She is facing the charge of accepting bribe in furtherance of a conspiracy to replace original answer sheets of 399 candidates, who had appeared for 1999 written examination conducted by the MPSC for the posts of police sub-inspector, sales tax inspector and mantralaya assistant. Officials said some documents were seized from her residence. She was later questioned at the office of the bureau in Worli during which she could not give satisfactory replies. Bureau counsel S.K. Menon told designated Judge P.N. Deshmukh that her arrest had been stalled as she was admitted to a Pune hospital since April 24. The doctors had now declared her fit and accordingly she was discharged. Seeking her custody, the bureau said she had been implicated by co-accused and controller of examination Sudhakar Sarode who gave a voluntary statement before a Magistrate. She also allegedly had links with another accused Nitin Sathe. Altogether, 21 accused, including former chairpersons of the MPSC, S.D. Karnik and P.D. Vani, have been arrested in the case. They are in judicial custody.
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