New Delhi, February 26
The Congress may be riding high on a dose of southern comfort but it could well be pulled down by the “bimaru” states.

After its tie-up with the DMK in Tamil Nadu, today’s formal announcement of an electoral pact between the Congress and the Telengana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS) in Andhra Pradesh definitely came as a shot in the arm for the beleagured Congress in the southern region.

But the Congress gains in the South could well be neutralised by the tough battle it faces in the “bimaru” states in the North. The fact that the Congress has still not been able to forge an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) could well prove to be its undoing.

“This alliance is crucial for us not just in Uttar Pradesh but in several other northern states,” admitted a senior Congress leader. It was pointed out that this pact would not only give their party cadres the necesary pshychological boost but also convert the coming Lok Sabha elections into a battle of two equally-strong coalitions.

Congress strategists admit that the two electoral pacts finalised in the South would help the party improve on its present tally of five and two seats in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, respectively. The tie-up with the TRS, it was stated, would prove crucial in the 16 Lok Sabha seats in the Telengana region where the Congress support base was being eroded because of the inroads made by this local party.

In addition, the seat-sharing talks with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra are said to be in the final stages and a formal announcement is expected by early next month despite the tough bargaining currently on over seat distribution. The party believes the Congress-NCP, combine, which fought separately in the last election and won 16 of the 48 seats, can give a tough fight to the BJP-Shiv Sena combine.

Pointing to Kerala and Karnataka, Congress leaders said that even if the Congress tally was to come down in these states, it is not the BJP or the NDA but the non-NDA parties which will be the chief gainers.

While it is comfortably placed in the South, the Congress finds itself in trouble in the North where over 200 Lok Sabha seats are up for grabs. Party insiders admit that a tie-up with the BSP would change the complexion of the coming Lok Sabha battle. The Congress has hit rock-bottom in Uttar Pradesh, it is driven by dissensions in Gujarat and Punjab and is yet to come to terms with its poor showing in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhatisgarh.

Party analysts maintain that the Congress will improve in Haryana, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh where it was routed last time round. But again, these gains will be offset by the projected losses in Punjab.

New Delhi, February 26
The BJP’s campaign on Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin issue today got an unexpected endorsement from none other than Nobel laureate Sir V S Naipaul who said that it is “worth considering”.

“Worth considering an idea. Even Americans have rules about their President,” Mr Naipaul said when asked by a correspondent about his stand on the issue.

He was briefly answering mediapersons queries after participating in an interactive session with BJP leaders and workers at the party headquarters here this evening.

Earlier, mediapersons were asked to leave the room where Sir Vidia was about to begin his interaction with members of the BJP cultural cell.

Unpleasant task of asking the mediapersons was left to Union Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley who said Sir Vidia would not like members of the fourth estate to be present during the interaction.

A BJP functionary said the problem was not with Mr Naipaul but with his wife who was not appreciative of the media.

On the issue of the Babri Masjid issue, Sir Vidia is understood to have said that what Babar did was wrong and it was an attempt to destroy Indian culture.

“There was no point in glorifying it. The historical blunder could be rectified,” he told the gathering, according to sources.

In this context the Nobel Laureate cited the example of Spain, where after the end of Islamic invasion, all the symbols of invasion was destroyed.

After the meeting it was an entirely different scene.

New Delhi, February 26
The Congress as well as other opposition parties have got themselves a new and high-profile supporter.

Disenchanted with the NDA government, former minister and an independent Rajya Sabha member Ram Jethmalani has decided to come out in open support of the Congress and other secular parties.

Mr Jethmalani, who met Congress President Sonia Gandhi recently in this connection, has offered to bring together all Opposition parties on a common platform to ensure that the non-NDA vote is not divided.

Confirming that he had met the Congress president, Mr Jethmalani said he had no intention of joining any political party but would work for the displacement of the NDA government by trying to bring together the Opposition parties.

Mr Jethmalani, who was once a staunch critic of late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi during the Bofors controversy, maintained he was completely disillusioned with the BJP-led government. Giving a list of reasons for his disenchantment with the Vajpayee government, Mr Jethmalani maintained that, in comparison, the Congress does not have too many negative features.

New Delhi, February 26
Taking exception to the Congress “calling names and using adjectives” against people from various parties joining it, the BJP said today that the “main opposition party should instead analyse why people are leaving their party”.

Patna, February 26
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) President Mayawati today ruled out any possibility of forming an electoral alliance either with the Congress or the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) although doors for dialogue with other parties had not been closed.

Addressing a rally here, she said the Congress used to humiliate Babasaheb Ambedkar in every possible way and exhorted members of backward communities to strive for preventing the Congress from coming to power.

Describing NDA constituents as parties run by ‘Manuwadis’, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister remarked that policies of reservation for backward classes in respect of appointments and other facilities would not be implemented until “Manuwadi forces” were ousted from power.

New Delhi, February 26
New entrant to the saffron brigade Arif Mohammed Khan does not even bat his eyelid when he says “may be under compulsions, the Sangh parivar is also changing”.

Describing the “congressisation” of the BJP as “good”, Mr Khan, who completed his political journey from “Indian” to “Bharatiya” on Tuesday this week, told TNS that his rupture with the so-called “secularists” came during the Gujarat Assembly elections two years ago when he was shocked to note that the Congress did not even permit his own Muslim leaders like Ahmad Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mohsina Kidwai to campaign for the party and rather opted for him to get votes.

Mr Khan said if the “congressisation” of the BJP happens, it would be “good” as the BJP would come to represent all those “ethos” which the Congress once stood for.

“Had I not had a bigger thing in my mind and had there been just personal differences (with the Congress leadership), I would not have taken this decision”, Mr Khan said in an interview.

“I was anguished rather pained at the complete breakdown of communication between the Hindus and Muslims and what happened in Gujarat was just a manifestation of the disease that is rapidly spreading in our society”, Mr Khan, who had left the Congress on the Shahbano issue in 1987, said.

“There are only two political formations in the country and since the Congress has lost its credibility, I came to the BJP primarily to contribute my humble bit to restore the channels of communication between the two communities as I strongly believe that India cannot become the front-ranking country unless there was social harmony”, he stressed.

Coming down heavily on the Babri Masjid Action committee, Mr Khan said the committee went back on its words as the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had worked out a package deal for the Ayodhya issue. Undoing of the Supreme Court judgment in the Shahbano case by Parliament was part of the package deal, he pointed out.

Books of Ali Mian, who was the president of the Muslim Personal Law Board, reveal this and I was personally told by Mr Gandhi that there would be no trouble on the issue as he had been promised by the Board.

“Ali Mian, in his autobiography, has severely criticised those who conducted the Babri movement. The manner in which, the whole movement has been conducted has paved the way for the revival of the revivalist Hindu forces”.

Asked about his meeting with the Congress President Sonia Gandhi on the eve of his joining the BJP, Mr Khan said that 70 minutes interaction was frank and warm during which he was highly impressed with the “sincerity” with which she spoke to him.

New Delhi, February 26
The CPI has decided to field Ms Kaushalya Bhowra, wife of the late Bhan Singh Bhowra, from the Bathinda parliamentary constituency.

Her name figured in the first list of candidates announced by the party here today. The Bathinda seat has been vacant following Mr Bhowra’s demise. The party recognises Ms Bhowra as a politician in her own right.

New Delhi, February 26
The visiting Secretary of Iranian Supreme National Security Council, Mr Hasan Rohani, today met Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and PM’s Principal Secretary and National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra.

The Rohani-Mishra talks assume significance in view of the fact that the strategic ties between the two countries have gone from strength to strength in the past few years. Recently Iran had bowed to international pressure and announced to throw open its nuclear facilities for international inspection and scrutiny.

According to the Foreign Office here, this was the fourth meeting between Mr Mishra and Mr Rohani and was part of the ongoing regular consultations between the National Security Councils of the two countries.

New Delhi, February 26
Laying down guidelines for courts below to deal with the cases of assault on women, the Supreme Court has held that wrongful confinement of a woman and forcing her to consume liquor with an intention to exploit her sexually was enough to prove the offence of outraging her modesty.

Even if a person was not charged with the actual act of sexual assault but had forced a woman to wrongful confinement and consume liquor with such an intention, it would “amount to outraging her modesty for it was an affront to the normal sense of feminine decency”, a Bench of Mr Justice Doraiswamy Raju and Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat ruled.

Upholding the conviction of accused Rajesh Kopekar and Raju Pandurang Mahale and two of their accomplices from Maharashtra for assaulting a woman in their neighbourhood by confining her in the house of the former on January 12, 1996 and forcing her to consume liquor before she was raped by two of them, the apex court said all accused had acted with a common intention to commit the crime.

Dismissing Mahale’s appeal that the offence of wrongful confinement and outraging her modesty could not be made out against him as he had not assaulted her sexually, the apex court said even the sentence of one and a half years awarded to him by the trial judge was “lenient”.

“The essence of a woman’s modesty is her sex. The culpable intention of the accused is the crux of the matter...Modesty is an attribute associated with female human beings as a class. It is a virtue which attaches to a female owing to her sex,” the court said.

New Delhi, February 26
Noted danseuse Mallika Sarabhai, who was in the forefront in raising her voice against Gujarat government’s failure to tackle post-Godhra riots, has moved the Supreme Court challenging the restrictions imposed on her movements by an Ahmedabad court.

In her petition, Sarabhai alleged that the restrictions were imposed in a case based on a “frivolous” complaint against her and her dance academy “Darpan” for alleged human trafficking.

Seeking removal of all restrictions on her travel within the country and abroad, the noted classical danseuse alleged that the case against her was a “retaliatory” action by the Gujarat government for her filing a writ petition in the apex court for the CBI investigation in the post-Godhra riots.

New Delhi, February 26
The Patiala House Court today issued non bailable warrant to arrest Sher Singh Rana, prime suspect in the Phoolan Devi murder case, who escaped from high security Tihar Jail a week ago.

Taking note of a police plea, Additional Sessions Judge D.S. Punia of the Patiala House Courts issued the non bailable warrant against Rana and directed that it be executed by March 5 when the matter would be taken up for hearing.

The court also posted to that date, an application moved by coaccused Vijay Rana, brother of the prime suspect and Dhan Prakash.

In their application, the duo alleged that the police might have had a role to play in Rana’s mysterious disappearance and raised an apprehension that he might have even been killed.