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New Delhi, March 14 The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh today sought another term for the Vajpayee government in the coming Lok Sabha elections and gave a “veiled command” to its 20 lakh strong cadres to ensure the victory of the National Democratic Alliance.
Cong arrogant, says Advani
Sack Sahib Singh, demands
Cong
Powell arrives today
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PM mourns Ustad Vilayat Khan’s death
A great sitarist of his
generation
CAT paper leak accused flees to
Nepal
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RSS extends veiled support to
NDA
New Delhi, March 14 Briefing newspersons on the final day of the three-day meeting of the RSS general council (Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha), Sangh joint general secretary Madandas Devi said, “Though five and half years is not a big period but there is nothing which could be a cause of resentment,”
Mr Devi said in reply to a question if the RSS was satisfied with the performance of the Vajpayee government. Mr Devi, who is the link between the BJP government and the RSS, was chosen to address the press conference on the RSS support in the Lok Sabha poll to the NDA was the most obvious query on journalists agenda. Though Mr Devi initially avoided a direct reply to the question on the RSS support during the elections, but when pressed he said, “haan” (yes). Asked if Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani’s ongoing “Bharat Uday Yatra” was discussed during the three- day meeting, Mr Devi replied in the negative, saying that it was the BJP’s programme. The RSS, barring in 1977, has never directly worked for a political party as it has always claimed that it was a social organisation and not a political one. Even in Jaipur its spokesman Ram Madhav was maintaining that the RSS would leave it to the reasoning of individual swayamsevaks whether to work for a party or not but it appeared that the feedback from the assembled delegates was that the coming Lok Sabha poll was very crucial and nothing should be left to chance. Earlier, Mr Devi appealed to the media to highlight the plight of 50,000 Reang refugees who are living in miserable conditions in Tripura and Assam after their ouster from Mizoram. |
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Cong arrogant, says Advani
Shimoga (Karnataka),
March 14 Recalling Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s remark that coalitions were a temporary phenomenon, Advani told reporters here, “I think her new-found allies will find the Congress’ negative attitude to inclusive politics very revealing”. “I can only remind the people of the experience of leaders like Charan Singh, Chandrashekhar, Deve Gowda and I K Gujral who were installed with Congress support and then unceremoniously dumped”, Advani who is touring Karnataka as part of his “Bharat Uday Yatra”, said. —
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Sack Sahib Singh, demands
Cong
New Delhi, March 14 The Congress spokesman, Mr Kapil Sibal showed mediapersons footage of a television channel’s story on misuse of the government’s social security scheme by BJP workers in Mumbai. The camera captured images of the workers distributing pension and insurance forms with the BJP to his symbol and name printed on it. The Labour Minister told the TV channel that he did not see anything wrong in it. Mr Sibal said Dr Verma did not deserve to be a minister and was in the wrong place. “He should not be where he is. He should be elsewhere. This is nothing short of corruption and violation of the Model Code of Conduct. This is a clear case of corruption under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The CBI should take note of it and proceed in the matter. We are going to complain to the Election Commission. If political parties indulge in such practices openly, how can we have fair elections.” Dismissing the Congress charges as baseless and stemming from frustration, Dr Verma said the government was ready to order an immediate inquiry into the matter. Dr Verma who is recontesting from the Outer Delhi constituency on the BJP ticket said he would quit politics if evidence was found against him. He said if Mr Sibal was unable to prove the charges against him, he should quit public life and apologise to the citizens. In a letter to Mr Sibal, the Labour Minister said that the government was prepared to furnish all records related to the scheme to the Congress for a through investigation. He said the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, had launched the Workers Social Security Scheme’ in Lucknow on February 21, 2004, to provide triple benefits, including pension and insurance for about 37 crore workers in the unorganised sector. The Union Cabinet had approved the fully funded scheme early this year. |
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Powell arrives today
New Delhi, March 14 Sources in the US Embassy told TNS here today that Mr Powell would hold talks with Indian leaders to pursue the Bush administration’s commitment to deepen strategic partnership with India. The sources said the prime objective of Mr Powell’s visit after July, 2002, was to improve relations with India. The discussions would encompass issues related to trade, non-proliferation and the ongoing fight against terrorism.
"The US and India share objectives on terrorism,’’ a US embassy spokesperson told TNS. |
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PM mourns Ustad Vilayat Khan’s death
New Delhi, March 14 “Ustad Vilayat Khan was a child prodigy to whom goes the credit of taking the sitar beyond the shores of the country,” Mr Vajpayee said in a message. Condoling his death,
the Sangeet Natak Akademi said with his demise the world of Indian music had lost a great master and an illustrious
musician. Khan was a Fellow of the Akademi, an exclusive honour in performing arts restricted to 30 living personalities at any point of time, it said. The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) vice-chairman S.K. Misra said Ustad Vilayat Khan was a “national treasure and one of those rare people whom we encounter once in a lifetime”. —
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A great sitarist of his generation
Kolkata, March 14 Khan belonged to the family of great sitarists including his father Ustad Inayat Hussain Khan and grandfather Imdad Hussain Khan, with the family lineage going back to several generations of musicians. Both of his sons, Sujat and Hidayat, and brother Imrat and nephew Rais Khan are accomplished sitar players. Vilayat Khan, who used to spend most of his time in his second home in New Jersey in the US, was born in 1928 in Gouripur, now in Bangladesh, and was initiated to music quite early in life. Since his father died early, he received most of his training from maternal grandfather Ustad Bande Hussain Khan and maternal uncle Zinda Khan. He did his first recording at a very tender age of eight and went on to achieve worldwide fame with his brilliant sitar playing. He was probably the first Indian musician to go out of the country and perform in England after Independence in 1951. He maintained this tradition of performing abroad till his last days as he used to spend eight months a year abroad. Vilayat Khan, suffering from diabetes and hypertension for long, was recently detected with lung cancer and admitted to Mumbai's Jaslok Hospital on February 26 where the end came at 11.25 pm last night. He is survived by two wives, sons Shujaat and Hidayat and daughters Yaman Khan and Zila Khan. Considered by most music critics as the finest exponent of sitar the country has ever produced, Vilayat Khan was credited with creating his own style of sitar play. Since he had a deep interest in Mughal music as well, he invented the 'gayaki' (vocal) style in sitar playing which used to give the audience a sense of singing on sitar. For his brilliant sitar play, he was the only artiste to receive the title of 'Aftab-e-sitar' (the sun of sitar) by President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed and 'Bharat Sitar Samrat' by the Artistes Association of India. —
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CAT paper leak accused flees to Nepal
New Delhi, March 14 Mr Kumar has allegedly been named by Ranjit Singh alias Ranjit don during questioning by the CBI, the agency sources said. They said Mr Kumar had allegedly sold the question papers for CAT, exams for which were held on November 23 last year, for Rs 2 lakh. —
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