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Going
gets tough for SAD Governor
asked to transfer 2 Collectors INLD
manifesto for Rajasthan poll
BJP
manifesto skirts corruption issue Sonia
makes vitriolic attack on BJP |
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Digvijay Singh sues Uma for defamation CBI
pieces together events before Madhumita’s death Loopholes
in fake stamps probe: DIG Haryana
court summons MLA from Bengal Arson in Assam during bandh Nine Kukis killed in Assam Vietnam
defence team holds talks Air
race from November 20 Tyagi
is Western Air Command chief
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Going gets tough for SAD Sriganganagar, November 17 Interestingly, the Akalis have chosen to align with the INLD and one of its candidates, Rajasthan SAD chief Surjit Singh Kang, is contesting from the Karanpur Assembly constituency on the symbol of the latter. The BJP wanted to field its district chief Surinder Pal Singh from this constituency, while the SAD wanted a chance for its nominee from this predominantly Punjabi segment. The BJP had lost from here on two previous occasions. Sitting MLA G.S. Kooner has been renominated by the Congress. In a major setback to the SAD, the papers of its only other candidate, Joginder Singh, who was chosen to contest from Kesrisinghpur were rejected yesterday as his name did not figure in the voters’ list. The constituency would now witness a direct contest between the BJP and the Congress. Insiders reveal that the insistence of the SAD on fielding five candidates from Kesrisinghpur, Sangria, Karanpur, Pilibanga and Suratgarh and the compulsion of the BJP to refuse it inroads in the area led to the breakdown of parleys. The BJP has fielded former Irrigation Minister Gurjant Singh from Sangria, Prof O.P. Mahindra from Kesrisinghpur and Ashok Nagpal from Suratgarh. SAD president Parkash Singh Badal and INLD chief Om Parkash Chautala have addressed rallies in this area, but unless more groundwork is done by the Akalis, the going is likely to be uphill for them. In a rally held a few days ago, the SAD chief had refrained from criticising his political ally in Punjab and had claimed that in case their candidates won they would not align with the Congress. It was just a minor handicap at the local level here and did not reflect on their alliance with the BJP at the state or the national level. The SAD chief and senior leaders of the party are campaigning for the INLD in the constituencies having Punjabi populace. |
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Governor asked to transfer 2 Collectors New Delhi, November 17 The commission also ordered the immediate transfer of two more senior officials in the state for violation of the model code of conduct. It asked the state Chief Secretary to transfer Collector of Surguja
S.K. Raju and SP of Bilaspur S.R.P. Kalluri. The commission in a letter to the Governor said, “In disregard of the orders of the commission and the orders of the Chhattisgarh High Court, the incumbent Collectors continue to be in position, thereby seriously hampering the conduct of free and fair elections in these two districts for which the constitutional responsibility vests with the Election Commission”. Under the circumstances the commission requested the Governor under Article 324(6) of the Constitution to ensure the implementation of the orders of the state government, transferring B.S.
Ananth, Collector, Jashpur and L.N. Suryavanshi, Collector, Bastar, to the state Secretariat at Chhattisgarh, Raipur immediately and provide a panel of names of IAS officers for posting as Collectors in the two districts. The letter said despite the commission asking the Chief Secretary to implement the transfer orders forthwith, the Commission has not received the compliance report from the state government so far and “it is understood that the transfer orders have not yet been given effect to”. “In view of the fact that the elections are already underway, the commission would urge upon the Governor of Chhattisgarh to ensure compliance by the state government at the earliest”, the letter said. The commission’s move comes in the wake of the high court vacating the stay of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). The CAT order came in the wake of a petition by the two Collectors ordering their transfer from the posts for violating the model code of conduct in force for the December 1 Assembly elections. The commission had directed their transfer as they were allegedly favouring the state Chief Minister, Mr Ajit Jogi, which was violative of their conduct as electoral officers. The directive came after an hour long meeting between Mr Lyngdoh and senior officials of Chhattisgarh, including the state’s Chief Electoral Officer, Dr K.K.
Chakravarty. The meeting discussed among other things ensuring the availability of polling personnel at various polling stations and airlifting them to sensitive areas to ensure free and fair poll in Bastar region, the Chief Electoral Officer told reporters. In another development the Election Commission would take the help of defence forces in not only transporting poll personnel to far flung areas but also to monitor the movement of those trying to disrupt the poll. “Indian Air Force personnel would not only transport poll officials to far flung inaccessible areas of Bastar district, they would also fly sorties to keep a tab on the movement of Naxalites in the region,” Mr
S.K. Paswan, Inspector-General of Police, Bastar Range told The Tribune. |
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INLD manifesto for Rajasthan poll Chandigarh, November 17 According to a copy of the manifesto available here, the party has also offered other sops to the electorate of Rajasthan on the pattern of Haryana. These include pension to the handicapped persons and widows, a financial assistance of Rs 2,500 to the mother giving birth to a girl under the "Apni Beti Apna Dhan" scheme; Rs 5,100 each to be given on the wedding of girls belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes under the Kanya Dan Scheme, and Rs 10,000 to be given on the wedding of a widow's daughter. The INLD has also promised to create smaller
districts in the desert state for its speedy development. A Desert Development Board would also be set up by the INLD Government. The INLD is the first party to release its election manifesto for the Rajasthan assembly elections. The party, whose Government is struggling to complete the SYL canal in Haryana, says that it will make efforts for the nationalisation of all rivers so as to ensure adequate water to farmers of Rajasthan, who would also be given remunerative prices for their produce. Insurance schemes would be implemented for livestock and crops. The panchayati raj
institutions would be given more administrative and financial powers. Like in Haryana, gram vikas
samitis would be constituted in all villages. The INLD says education would be made job-oriented and priority would be given even in the remote areas.
On the power front, the party has not promised free power. Instead, it talks of
setting up a solar power plant as well as to increase generation in other power plants of the state. The INLD says it would
lay focus on maintaining law and order. A special unit of the women police would be constituted. More constables would be recruited and highway patrolling
initiated. |
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BJP manifesto skirts corruption issue Bhopal, November 17 The manifesto was released at a press conference at the BJP headquarters here today by the party’s state unit president, Mr Kailash Joshi, in the presence of Ms Bharati and the Union Minister of Law and Company Affairs, Mr Arun Jaitley. The prologue to the 44-page manifesto, though, refers to the 10-year regime of Mr Digvijay Singh as a “black spot” on the history of Madhya Pradesh and adds that the state had never seen in the past “such corrupt and inefficient” government. When a reporter asked why corruption did not find mention in the manifesto, all that Mr Joshi said was that the BJP had promised to provide a clean and transparent administration. The manifesto mostly makes generalised observations instead of listing concrete steps to provide the “clean and transparent” administration. Providing protection to all sections of society and safeguarding their interests “will be our aim”, it says. |
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Sonia makes vitriolic attack on BJP Aizawl, November 17 Campaigning for the Congress for the November 20 Mizoram Assembly election, Ms Gandhi lambasted the BJP for bringing the nation to a moral crisis and cautioned the people of the state to stay away from the party. Picking up the BJP as the main target, the Congress President pointed out that the BJP’s “manipulation, blatant corruption in defence deals, and selling of PSUs” had pushed the nation to “moral bankruptcy”, which could be stopped only by supporting her party. She, however, surprised everyone by only targeting the BJP and the MNF, leaving aside the Mizoram People’s Conference (MPC)-Zoram Nationalist Party combine. Her silence has fuelled speculation of a post-poll alliance with the combine to keep the BJP and the MNF at bay. She said the past five years of “misrule” of the MNF government was the main impediment to the state’s progress. “I do not know why the national highway project of East-West corridor stops at Silchar and is not extended up to Aizawl,” she remarked. Urging the people to be cautious of the BJP’s “nefarious” design, Ms Gandhi said: “If you want to save your future and your children, support us. Stop the ulterior designs of the MNF and the BJP. We must be careful that what happened in Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh is not repeated in Mizoram.”
— UNI |
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Digvijay Singh sues Uma for defamation
Bhopal, November 17 The CJM took cognisance of Digvijay Singh's complaint under Section 500, IPC (defamation), after recording his statement and of three others. Vivek Tankha, who resigned as the state's advocate-general last week, appeared on behalf of Digvijay Singh. In his complaint, Digvijay Singh has alleged that he, his wife, his children and his friends and well wishers have been deeply hurt by the allegations made by Uma Bharti against him through newspapers. “I feel insulted due to Uma Bharti’s repeated allegations branding me as corrupt and dishonest. This is not a political matter as her charges are of personal nature. How long can I tolerate. There is limit for everything,” the Chief Minister later told reporters. “It is not a question of elections. It concerns my reputation,” he said when asked about the significance of the development ahead of assembly poll in the state. Bharti had described Digvijay Singh as "ringleader of thieves" and having bungled Rs 15,000 crore. Later asked if he was unable to meet Bharti's onslaught politically, he said the allegations made by her were not political but personal in nature and attacked his very integrity.  |
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CBI pieces together events before Lucknow, November 17 In a dramatic reconstruction of the events leading to the sensational murder, based on the confessions of the two suspects, the CBI has surmised that Madhumita was killed because she refused to undergo an abortion. The 26-year-old Hindi poetess was gunned down in her apartment in Paper Mill Colony here on May 9. The key accused in the murder has been Amarmani Tripathi, former Uttar Pradesh minister and now a Samajwadi Party legislator, currently in judicial custody. His wife, Madhumani, is also suspected of having a hand in the murder. The two suspected assailants, who were nabbed last week and were said to be extremely close to Tripathi, had confessed to the gory details, a police source said. “The confession made by the assailants give a vivid picture of how the crime was committed,” he said. He told “it was the afternoon of May 9 when two persons knocked at the door of Madhumita’s house. Her 13-year-old servant Deshraj answered the door. Madhumita addressed the two young guests as ‘bhaiya’ and asked them to walk into the bedroom. “She then told the servant to prepare tea and asked the two youths to be seated while she reclined on her bed.” The source added: “As soon as the servant went away to the kitchen, one of the young men Santosh Rai asked Madhumita to abort the seven-month-old foetus she was carrying. “That was what enraged the poetess who rose from the bed and began shouting at the two men and threatened them with dire consequences if they dared to bring up the subject again.” He said: “At this juncture, Santosh Rai got up and bolted the door and pushed Madhumita back on the bed. He told the other man, Pandey, to go ahead following which the latter took out his .315-bore country made pistol and fired on her chest.” After killing her, the assailants left the house and went to Lucknow University where they changed their clothes. Rai went to drop Pandey at the railway station from where he took a train to
Gorakhpur. |
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Loopholes in fake stamps probe: DIG Mumbai, November 17 Mr Jaiswal had earlier headed the special investigation team (SIT) set up by the Maharashtra Government on November 2, 2002, and had submitted its report on March 28 last. The DIG had submitted the 104-page report after conducting a probe into allegations levelled by the then Pune Additional Police Commissioner
S. M. Mushrif that some of his colleagues had attempted to sabotage the initial investigation into the racket and made efforts to get the wife and daughter of Telgi off the hook. The report reveals that the actual investigation process of the case was affected by a breakdown in communication between the then Commissioner of Police, Pune,
R.S. Sharma and the Additional Commissioner (Crime), Pune, S. M. Mushrif (now suspended).
R.S. Sharma, who later took over as the Commissioner of Police, Mumbai, had to undergo a questioning session for two days by the SIT recently. It is now being supervised by Special Director General of Police S.S. Puri, following a Bombay High Court directive to probe allegations against him by Mushrif and social activist Anna
Hazare, who had filed a pubic interest litigation (PIL). Hazare’s PIL has sought directions to the Maharashtra Government to implement the report of the Jaiswal Committee. ALLAHABAD: A Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court has asked the Union of India to conduct an inquiry into the multi-crore stamp scam. The court directed the Finance Ministry to submit a report in the court by December 10 after lodging cases regarding the scam.
— UNI |
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Haryana court summons MLA from Bengal Kolkata, November 17 Both have been directed to personally appear in the court on November 25, failing which a warrant arrest will be issued against them. The court’s order was served on the accused through the DGP (West Bengal) following the failure of the Chandigarh police to interrogate them. The police in Chandigarh wanted to interrogate them on their close link with a notorious ISI agent operating in the Indo-Punjab border areas, from where he had been recently arrested. The arrested ISI agent carried with him some testimonials and a residential certificate with the signatures of the MLA and the panchayat pradhan. On interrogation, he claimed he had been residing in a border village at Chapra in Nadia district in south Bengal. |
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Arson in Assam during bandh
Guwahati, November 17 The glass panes of the Samata Party office here were shattered in stone-pelting during the attack, which also left some vehicles damaged and the signboard broken, official sources said. At the Dispur capital complex, about 20 huts of Bihari dwellers and two motor-bikes were set ablaze with miscreants forcibly seizing some private vehicles at Jalukbari area near Guwahati University, the sources said. Reports of huts beings burnt and damage to cars poured in from different parts of the state, the sources said. AASU activists gheraoed the North-East Frontier Railway headquarters at Maligaon here and prevented railway employees and officers from entering office. Picketing and road blocks set up in different parts of the state by AASU activists prevented people from reaching their destinations. All flights to and from Guwahati, however, operated on schedule though the road blocks put up by the AASU volunteers hindered people from proceeding to the airport.
— PTI |
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Nine Kukis killed in Assam
Diphu (Assam), November 17 Superintendent of Police Abdul Quddus said a group of UPDS militants attacked and killed seven persons and torched their houses, forcing them to flee their inacessible Ganjam village in the Singhasan hill area. The police, which received reports only yesterday, went there to find about 200 villagers near Thekerajan fleeing their village with seven bodies of the victims — three men, two women and two little girls, Quddus said. They would be housed in camps near the Manja police outpost.
— PTI |
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Vietnam defence team holds talks New Delhi, November 17 The Vice Defence Minister of Vietnam, Senior Lt-Gen Nguyen Huy
Hieu, who is here on an official visit, held delegation-level talks with Defence Secretary Ajay Prasad here. Both sides briefed each other about the existing challenges to regional security in South Asia. An official press note issued here said issues of imparting training to Vietnamese defence personnel and the need for increased interaction between the Navies and the Coast Guard of both countries figured in the talks. The other members of the Indian delegation were Mr Ranjit
Issar, Additional Secretary (Defence), Mr Gautam Mukhopadhyay, Joint Secretary
(PIC), Mr Tapan Ray, Joint Secretary (Defence Production and Supplies), Maj-General RK Mehta, Additional Director-General, Army Headquarters, Rear Adm Ajit Tiwari, Assistant Chief of Naval Staff, Air Vice-Marshal BN
Gokhale, Assistant Chief of Air Staff, Inspector General Police, Paleri Deputy-Director General, Coast Guard, and Mr RK Parmar, Director International Cooperation. The Vietnamese delegation comprised of Lt-Gen Nguyen Ngoc Van, Director, Military Strategy Institute, Senior Col Phan Thai
Minh, Deputy Director, External Relations, Senior Col Nguyen Hong
Sinh, Secretary of the Vice-Minister, Senior Col Le Ho Can, Head, External Relations Section, and Senior Colonel Nguyen Van
Vui, Defence Adviser in the Vietnamese Embassy here. |
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Air race from November 20 New Delhi, November 17 Several civil and defence aviators will participate in the air race being organised by the Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI). The race will start on November 20 from three different locations — Barrackpore in West Bengal, Goa and Bangalore. The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, is expected to be the chief guest at the final ceremony to be held at Nagpur. Over 60 members of the Aero Club of India (ACI) will fly different flying machines — microlights, powered gliders, light aircraft, helicopters, medium aircraft and heavy aircraft. To encourage microlight activities, the ACI has also constituted a trophy for the winner in the microlight segment. The organisers have also devised a unique points system to decide on the winner. A handicap system has been evolved to enable all participating aircrafts to compete on a par with each other. Navigational routes have been worked out for the air race with leg-lengths suited to different categories of aircraft. There will be two night halts en route. The participants will be timed from set course after take-off to arrival at landing bases. Aircraft averaging the best ground speed will be declared winners. On December 17, 1903 aviation history was made at Kitty Hawk in the USA by the Wright brothers when they flew their Wright Flyer machine for 12 seconds. It was the first practical demonstration of a powered flight. |
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Tyagi is Western Air Command chief New Delhi, November 17 Earlier, he was AOC-in-C of the South-Western Air Command (SWAC) with Headquarters at Gandhinagar. Air Marshal A.R. Ghandhi would now be taking over as AOC-in-C of the SWAC. Born on March 14, 1945, Air Marshal Tyagi was commissioned in the Indian Air Force as a fighter pilot in 1963. |
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