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New Delhi, February 24 The “panj piaras” of Gujarat Congress are in demand. The state unit has suggested to the Congress leadership that if their “panj piaras” are drafted in the coming Lok Sabha elections, the tide could turn in their favour. Cong to join hands with RJD, LJP Patna, February 24 The Congress today announced that it would ally with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Lok Janshakti Party in the coming Lok Sabha elections in Bihar with a view to ''inflicting a crushing defeat'' to the National Democratic Alliance. Poll expenses limit to stay, says EC New Delhi, February 24 The possibility of raising the ceiling on the election expenses of candidates contesting Lok Sabha poll was today ruled out by the Election Commission. Yamuna water case tagged with SYL issue New Delhi, February 24 Observing that any dispute between states on drinking water is “inhuman”, the Supreme Court today ordered the tagging of a case relating to the supply of Yamuna waters to Delhi by Haryana with the pending Satluj Yamuna Link canal issue.
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Ministry overlooks security Move to allow private domestic airlines to fly to Lanka New Delhi, February 24 The Ministry of Civil Aviation seems to have overlooked the recent security concerns raised by the Union Cabinet while allowing Jet Airways and Air Sahara to fly to Colombo. The ministry apparently took advantage of an earlier decision of the Union Cabinet to allow the private airlines to fly to the six SAARC nations.
CIS degrees: medical council stand
sought
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Cong may pit Vaghela against
Advani
New Delhi, February 24 The Gujarat unit, it is learnt, would like that state leaders Madhavsinh Solanki, Amarsinh Chaudhary, Shankarsinh Vaghela, Ahmed Patel and Narhari Amin be fielded for the Lok Sabha polls as that would motivate the otherwise demoralised party cadres and give the election a higher profile. The Congress won five of the 26 Lok Sabha seats in the last election and was mauled in the last Assembly polls. “The battle will definitely spice up if these five leaders contest,” said a Congress insider, stating that both Mr Solanki and Mr Chaudhary are former chief ministers while Mr Vaghela, till recently, was the PCC president. However, both Mr.Solanki and Mr Chaudhary are seeking tickets for their sons. Mr Vaghela is being urged to take on Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani in the Gandhinagar constituency. Mr Vaghela is stated to be reluctant but the party has said that he could contest from two constituencies and also have three seats for his chosen candidates. While efforts are on to put its house in order, Congress insiders admit they have a tough contest on hand in Gujarat given the bitter infighting in the state unit. With the BJP planning to field Smriti Malhotra, Tulsi of “Kyunki Saas Bhi....”, and film star Juhi Chawla in the state, the Congress is trying to get the high-profile well-known artiste Mallika Sarabhai to either contest or campaign for the Congress. Ms Sarabhai has been a trenchent critic of the Narendra Modi government and was particularly vocal during the Gujarat riots. Congress sources said in case Mr Vaghela can be persuaded, it will ensure that the former PCC chief has no time to sabotage any other candidate’s election. It will also send out a message that the Congress is serious about giving a tough political fight to Mr Advani. Even as the party leadership is working on Mr Vaghela, there is an undercurrent of concern over reports that the BJP is trying to woo their former colleague especially since Mr Vaghela is still sulking over his removal as PCC chief. Congress president Sonia Gandhi met Mr Vaghela on Monday in an effort to mollify him and, as a compromise, he is being made chief of the state campaign committee. |
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Cong to join hands with RJD, LJP
Patna, February 24 Addressing a press conference here, Congress spokesman Aswani Kumar said the final picture regarding the allotment of seats to each party would emerge within a week after talks with the allies were completed. He, however, parried a question on the number of seats where the Congress would try its luck and said the prospects of victory would be the yardstick to accord nomination to any candidate. In Jharkhand, the Congress would share seats with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, RJD, CPI and CPM and the alliance would field candidates in all 14 constituencies, the spokesman said. —
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Poll expenses limit to stay, says EC
New Delhi, February 24 The commission also virtually absolved the Congress of any violation of the Representation of the People Act (RPA) in the release of advertisements in newspapers without mentioning who is footing the bill. Speaking to mediapersons, Deputy Election Commissioner A.N. Jha said the model code of conduct comes into force only after the announcement of the poll schedule. He said the ceiling for the election expenses of Lok Sabha constituencies in various states was raised only a few months ago through an amendment to the Act at the instance of the commission. While the ceiling had been put at Rs 25 lakh in states with large constituencies, it was as low as Rs 9 lakh in some states, he said. Asked to elaborate on Chief Election Commissioner T.S. Krishna Murthy’s statement that financial details of candidates would be passed on to the Income Tax Department, Mr Jha said a mechanism was being worked out to share information with the Tax Department. |
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Yamuna water case tagged with SYL
issue
New Delhi, February 24 The direction to club the decade-old Yamuna water case based on a public interest litigation (PIL) with the SYL matter was issued by a Bench comprising Mr Justice S. Rajendra Babu and Mr Justice G.P. Mathur after Haryana’s counsel Vinod Bobde raised the question of the maintainability of the PIL. Mr Bobde said Haryana, in its application, had raised the issue of the maintainability of the PIL on the ground that under Article 262 of the Constitution, courts, including the apex court, were debarred from entertaining any matter related to inter-state water disputes as all such cases had to be decided by the Water Disputes Tribunal. The PIL, filed by Mr Sureshwar D. Sinha, had sought a direction to the Centre and Haryana to ensure minimum flow of water in the Yamuna to meet Delhi’s drinking water needs. Consequent to the PIL filed in 1992, the apex court, in an interim order, had directed Haryana to maintain a minimum flow of 350 cusec ft of water in the Yamuna and 125 cusec ft from Narwana branch of Bhakra canal to Nangloi and Hyderpur reservoirs located in the outskirts of Delhi. Haryana had stated that the required flow of 60 cusec ft to Nangloi reservoir could not be maintained due to breaches in the canal system, but the Delhi Jal Board had stated that the canal was in proper shape to carry the water. While the amicus curiae, appointed by the court to assist it in adjudicating the case, had earlier stated that Haryana was not maintaining the required flow of water downstream of the Yamuna beyond its border, the state had said it had no control over the situation as the inflow in the river had decreased. Haryana had also taken a stand that it was not getting sufficient water from Punjab to meet its own needs due to non-construction of the SYL, which could have augmented the flow in the Yamuna. The petitioner had also alleged that even the water being supplied to Nangloi reservoir was contaminated due to pollution caused by some big industries located in Haryana close to the Yamuna. |
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Ministry overlooks security
New Delhi, February 24 The ministry apparently took advantage of an earlier decision of the Union Cabinet to allow the private airlines to fly to the six SAARC nations. However, it overlooked the latest Cabinet decision to put off the opening of Indian skies due to security reasons. The Union Cabinet, at a meeting here on February 4, put off the decision to open up the Indian skies due to the security concerns raised by some Cabinet members as well as Opposition parties. This, the sources said, would also apply to destinations within SAARC. Although the official line taken after the February 4 meeting was that the Union Cabinet did not have the time to take up the issue of the opening up of the Indian skies, but sources had later said some Cabinet members had raised specific security concerns and asked the government to put off the decision till the new government was in place after the forthcoming general election. At the meeting, some Cabinet members had specifically opposed the move to open up the Indian skies to private airlines, while putting a question mark over the ownership of Jet Airways. The Cabinet members had pointed out that the Intelligence Bureau and RAW were yet to complete their investigations regarding Jet’s ownership and that it would be improper to clear the policy before getting reports from these agencies. In a letter, apparently despatched yesterday, the Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGCA) asked Jet Airways and Air Sahara to submit their flight schedule from India to Colombo. On the instructions of the ministry, the DGCA has asked the two carriers to file the flight plans for Colombo only. The DGCA, while approving the previous schedule filed by these carriers for operations to Colombo in January this year, has asked them to submit the plan again. The DGCA authorities, however, said the ministry had given the clearance and they were just the facilitating agency. Incidentally, the clearance has been given for flying to a destination which itself remains a security concern. Sri Lanka is the only country to have seen terrorist attacks on its airports with several civil aircraft as well as a terminal building. |
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CIS degrees: medical council stand
sought
New Delhi, February 24 A Bench of Chief Justice V.N. Khare and Mr Justice S.H. Kapadia issued the direction to the MCI after its counsel Maninder Singh submitted that the council had yet to examine the Centre’s proposal. The court was hearing a bunch of writ petitions filed on behalf of nearly 6,000 medicos with degrees from medical colleges in the
Confederation of Independent States (CIS), which formed the part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR). The Union Government in its affidavit said it had decided to issue a notification specifying March 15 as the cut off date for recognising medical qualification from foreign countries for inclusion within the ambit of the amended MCI Act to grant them registration as medical practitioners. The medicos were denied registration by the MCI on the ground that many of the colleges were not recognised and most of them had become defunct due to the disintegration of the USSR. The MCI counsel stated that the medicos had to pass the screening test to be conducted by the National Board of Examinations, constituted as per the court’s earlier direction, and about 300 of them had already been granted the registration after passing the screening test since 2002. |
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Sikandar Bakht laid to rest
New Delhi, February 24 Amid chanting of verses from the Quran, Bakht’s body draped in the Tricolor was brought to the Mehndi Yaan cemetry in a flower-bedecked gun-carriage. A ceremonial tri-Services gun-salute was presented when the body was buried in the presence of leaders, including Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, central minister O. Rajagopal, Kerala Chief Minister A.K. Antony besides hundreds of late Bakht’s friends and followers. Earlier, Dr Kalam, MrShekhawat and Mr Vajpayee were among a host of leaders who paid floral tributes to the veteran BJP leader after his body was brought here from Thiruvananthapuram and kept at Kerala Bhavan for his friends and followers to pay their last respects. Meanwhile, President Kalam has appointed Karnataka Governor Triloki Nath Chaturvedi to discharge functions of the Governor of Kerala following the demise of Sikander Bakht. Mr Chaturvedi will discharge the functions of the Governor of Kerala in addition to his own duties, according to a Press note issued by Rashtrapati Bhavan. |
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CM, Hanspal suggest
candidates
New Delhi, February 24 The two leaders, who met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the morning and later attended screening committee meeting on Punjab, told the central leaders about the "winnable candidates." Ms Mohsina Kidwai, party general secretary in charge of Punjab, was also present at the screening committee meeting which was presided over by Dr Karan Singh . Sources said the Chief Minister gave suggestions about candidates for all 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state as the party had yet not firmed up any alliances in the state.The two leaders urged the central leadership to expedite decision on alliances which would help take an early decision about party candidates. The Chief Minister was expected to come to the capital on February 27 for further discussions on the choice of candidates. Though the state election committee had recommended giving party ticket to most of the sitting MPs, there were suggestions to change candidates on three seats, the sources said. They said discussions were at initial stage and no names had been finalised yet. |
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