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New Delhi, March 16 The Delhi Police Crime Branch arrested two accomplices of Abdul Karim Telgi, the main accused in multi-crore stamp paper scam, in the Vikaspuri area of West Delhi last night. The sleuths also seized fake stamp papers worth Rs 60 lakh from their possession. They had specific information that associates of Telgi were to arrive near PVR Cinema, Vikaspuri. The two have been identified as Rahul, alias Vinod, and Parminder.
Kumar Sanu joins BJP
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CPI calls BJP communal, reviews its
performance
Priyanka, Rahul to campaign extensively in
UP
Cong singles out Advani for
attack
Advani hits out at Shinde govt
Mamata threatens CPM, Congress
One more minister quits Cabinet
Karunakaran set
to join RS
EC orders probe on Cong complaint
SC: journalists, newspaper staff are class apart
Kalam, Vajpayee felicitate Putin
Best Bakery property case adjourned
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Two Telgi accomplices
arrested
New Delhi, March 16 The sleuths also seized fake stamp papers worth Rs 60 lakh from their possession. They had specific information that associates of Telgi were to arrive near PVR Cinema, Vikaspuri. The two have been identified as Rahul, alias Vinod, and Parminder . The sleuths spotted a youth on a motor cycle (DL-7SR-4655) and sent a decoy customer to buy stamp papers for Rs 1,000 from him. The sleuths swooped upon the youth and arrested him, who was later identified as Rahul (22), a resident of RK Puram, and seized fake stamp papers worth Rs 5 lakh from his possession. During interrogation, Rahul said the stamp papers were given to him by Telgi’s associate Deepak and his three associates Mansoor, Mohammad Asif and Mohasin, who were lodged in the Karnataka jail. The sleuths in a subsequent raid on Rahul’s house seized fake stamp papers worth Rs 35 lakh. Rahul also disclosed that a huge quantity of fake stamp papers were kept with his associate Parminder (32), a resident of Mahavir Enclave. During a raid on the latter’s house, fake stamp papers worth Rs 20 lakh were seized by them. During interrogation, the two disclosed that they were associates of Deepak, a close aide of Telgi. The two also claimed that they had allegedly received the fake stamp papers from Telgi and were trying to sell these in Delhi. |
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Kumar Sanu joins BJP
New Delhi, March 16 Sanu is the second noted singer after Bhupen Hazarika to join the saffron party. Mr Hazarika has been given ticket from the Guwahati constituency in Assam. Introducing Sanu to mediapersons, BJP President M. Venkaiah Naidu said the singer would be campaigning for the party in the elections. Sanu, flanked by Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad, said he was highly impressed by the performance of the NDA government under the leadership of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the past five years which had not only brought about all-round development but also enhanced the country’s image internationally . Mr Mohammad Shiraz Adhikari, President of the Indian Non-Olympic Association who hails from Faizabad District in Uttar Pradesh, also joined the party. |
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CPI calls BJP communal, reviews its
performance
New Delhi, March 16 Releasing the party manifesto at the CPI Central Office here today, General Secretary A.B. Bardhan raised the slogan ‘BJP Hatao, Desh Bachao’ (Remove BJP and save the country). “The BJP is a communal fascist party whatever mask they wear or its Prime Minister wears. And that is the philosophy inherited from its parent organisation, the RSS (Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh),” he said. Mr Bardhan said the formation of a secular coalition was possible only if the BJP was defeated. “The strength of the CPI and the Left parties has to grow,” he said. He said the 24-page manifesto included the party’s appraisal of the BJP-led NDA government’s rule for five years and offered an alternative path to development. The manifesto would be released in different regional languages in the states. The manifesto states that the government’s massive propaganda is based on “half truths, lies and doctored statistics.” It has described Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani’s Bharat Uday Yatra and the Prime Minister’s telecom campaign as “desparate moves.” Enumerating the “dismal failures” of the BJP-led NDA government, Mr Bardhan drew attention to the decline in the growth rate, employment rate and rise in poverty. Voicing concern on poverty, the party manifesto says, “Chronic poverty continues to haunt our country and it is only by a change in methodology that the Planning Commission claims that for 1999-2000 it has come down to 26.1 per cent. This figure is disputed even by the Human Development Report. It has gone up in recent years and is nearly 30 per cent.’’ Mr Bardhan said the government’s tall claim of an 8 per cent growth rate had been rubbished by an international rating agency which pegged it at 6.4 per cent. He said even the President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, had contested this figure recently and said it was not more than 6.2 per cent. He pointed out that employment had come down both in the organised and unorganised sector. The CPI General Secreatry said the BJP’s promise of one crore jobs a year had been an absolute untruth. The magnitude of the problem of unemployment could be gauged by the number of applications (57 lakh) for only 13,000 vacant posts of Khalasis (gangmen) in the Railways. He said the BJP-led NDA government had paid negligible attention to education and health. “The per centage of allocation in health and education has come down in the past five years. In education, the government’s allocation has declined from 3.1 per cent of the GDP to 2.9 per cent. We are far away from the recommendations of the Kothari Commission that the allocation should be at least 6 per cent of the GDP. Only about 1 per cent of the GDP is spent on health.” The manifesto states that the CPI stands for an alternative path of development. It has suggested repeal of draconian laws like POTA, land reforms, measures for boosting agrarian production, urgent steps for universal elementary education, a comprehensive health and education programme and an end to the privatisation of PSUs and ‘jobless growth’. |
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Priyanka, Rahul to campaign extensively in
UP New Delhi, March 16 After the overwhelming response which Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and her brother Rahul Gandhi received on their last visit to Amethi, the party is learnt to have drawn up exhaustive plans for them for the next phase of its election campaign. Congressmen in Uttar Pradesh are especially looking forward to their arrival in the state as the party is at its weakest here. “Priyanka and Rahul are our trump cards...once they start campaigning, the other side will find it difficult to counter their impact,” maintained UP Congress leaders. As of now, the two are slated to go on “jan sampark” programmes, similar to those being undertaken by Congress president Sonia Gandhi as these have been found to be more effective than huge public rallies. “ Similar to what the BJP did in the last phase of the recent assembly elections, we will also carpet-bomb the state with Rahul and Priyanka”, stated a senior UP Congress leader. Congress leaders said in case they campaign all over the country as planned so far, the brother-sister duo would then concentrate on those 40-odd constituencies in Uttar Pradesh which have been identified by the party as their “strong and winnable seats.” With no allies in sight, the Congress will be contesting all the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh but it will be focussing on these identified seats. The Congress party had been hoping to forge an alliance with the BSP which, it was felt, would prove formidable in Uttar Pradesh and also have an impact in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Punjab. Now that BSP chief Mayawati has ruled out the possibility of such an alliance and the Samajwadi Party also turned its back on it, the Congress is now praying for a miracle from Priyanka and Rahul. The party’s dependence on them is also more pronounced as the Congress does not have a strong and effective second-line leadership, especially in Uttar Pradesh. It is, therefore, no coincidence that the Congress has lined up a series of video films for its election campaign which have a special focus on Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi. The films, which will be screened from mobile vans, which play up the strong
resemblance between the late Indira Gandhi and her grand-daughter Priyanka and between Rajiv and Rahul Gandhi. There is palpable concern in the Congress as it appears that Uttar Pradesh will be witnessing a four-cornered contest in the coming Lok Sabha election, which will only work to the advantage of the BJP and the Samajwadi Party. |
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Cong singles out Advani for
attack
New Delhi, March 16 "They are born swadeshi but they are inspired by videshi," Congress spokesperson Kapil Sibal charged in response to the BJP's daily attack against Congress president Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin. While the BJP kept raising such non-issues, he said, it was unwilling to accept the Congess challenge to a debate on the issue of development Singling out the Deputy Prime Minister for the attack, Mr Sibal recalled that while the Congress was in the forefront of the freedom struggle in Sindh, Mr Advani was nowhere on the scene. "Where was Mr Advani when the Sindh freedom struggle was on," he asked, adding that the RSS had actually supported the British during the freedom struggle. Quoting Mr Advani that "his family then had a victoria (buggy)", Mr Sibal maintained that families who used such buggies were generally known as "British toadies." "But he now talks of swadeshi," the Congress spokesperson stated, adding that Mrs. Sonia Gandhi might be "videshi but she draws inspiration from swadeshi, unlike Mr Advani." Mr Sibal further charged that the RSS organisation drew inspiration from the Italian extremist body "Billala" which, according to the Congress spokesperson, was "something like the Bajrang Dal." In this connection, he narrated how veteran RSS ideologue V.S.Munjhe spent a month in Italy learning how "Bilala" was organised and then set up RSS shakhas on the same pattern. "If the mindset of the BJP was as broad as the six-lane highways they are constructing, we might have a better country to live in," Mr Sibal remarked, adding that "the highway of their mindset goes only in one direction." Mr Sibal also rubbished the government's claims on the progress of its national highway development project. He said official figures actually revealed that the progress had been extremely tardy with only 45 per cent of the total stretch having been completed so far. Terming the project as "the great national highway robbery," Mr Sibal charged that there had been rampant corruption in the award of its contracts. Pointing to the NDA government's poor performance, Mr Sibal once again challenged the BJP to a debate on the issue of development. He said the BJP keeps talking of development, touting it as one of its biggest achievements, and yet its leaders were shying away from the Congress invitation to a debate on the issue. |
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Advani hits out at Shinde govt
Mumbai, March 16 Sitting Member of Parliament Pratapsinh Mohite-Patil of the BJP, who won a byelection last year, was with Mr Advani during today’s yatra. Mr Pratapsinh is the brother of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil of the Nationalist Congress Party. With Mr Chhagan Bhujbal quitting as Deputy Chief Minister in the wake of the Telgi scam, Mr Vijaysinh succeeded in getting the second biggest job. Now the BJP is uncomfortable with Mr Pratapsinh. Should it decide on another candidate in the Lok Sabha poll, the Mohite-Patil brothers will ensure the BJP’s defeat, it is felt. On the other hand, the BJP is unsure of Mr Pratapsinh’s loyalties should there be a hung house after the poll. Mr Advani, who entered Solapur last night, had discussions with party leaders and Mr Pratapsinh about the next course of action. However, there were no indications as to who will be given the BJP ticket in Solapur. However, in public the Deputy Prime Minister hit out at the Congress-NCP-led combine in Maharashtra. “It is a government that is marked by political instability, corruption, fiscal mismanagement and incompetence,” he said. |
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Mamata threatens CPM, Congress
Kolkata, March 16 The Trinamool Congress leader, at a public meeting held yesterday, made it clear to the CPM leaders that after the poll, she would again become the Railway Minister. She threatened that she would then teach them a good lesson. The CPM state secretary, Mr Anil Biswas said Ms Banerjee’s dream would not come true as she would sure to lose the elections because of her ‘misdeeds’ in the past. Mr Priya Dasmunshi of the Congress alleged that Ms Banerjee had lost her fighting spirit and ‘sold’ herself to the BJP leadership simply for a ministerial berth in the NDA government. Mr Dasmunshi said in the past few months Ms Banerjee had spent time mostly fighting Mr Sudip Bandopadhyaya, one of her party MPs in the dissolved Lok Sabha. Ms Banerjee has been ruining herself and the Congress as well in the state for personal gain, alleged the Congress leader. Meanwhile, some senior Congress leaders in Bengal are worried at the delay in announcing candidate lists by the AICC leadership. Mr A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chaudhury, the seventh time elected Congress MP from Malda, who is again a candidate in the coming polls, said the leadership was making an unnecessary delay in finalising the candidate list. The CPM and other Left parties have already marched a step ahead in their campaign in West Bengal, he said. The BJP and the Trinamool Congress are also delaying the finalisation of their respective candidate lists. Eventually delaying their poll campaign against the CPM and the Congress, admits TMC leader, Pankaj Banerjee. Meanwhile, no conseusus has been arrived at between the BJP and the TMC over the seat sharing in Purulia, Bankura and Darjeeling districts. The BJP has demanded that these three seats should go to them. Ms Banerjee had agreed to give these seats to the BJP initially, but later backed out, said Mr Rahual Sinha, BJP state unit
secretary. Ms Banerjee, however, reiterated that the TMC had allotted the maximum number of seats to the BJP it deserved and no further seat could now be given to it. She clarified as per a seat sharing agreement, the BJP had been allotted 13 seats. Ms Nafisa Ali, who is the Congress candidate against Ms Banerjee in south Kolkata, said she was confident of dislodging Ms Banerjee in the election. |
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One more minister quits Cabinet
New Delhi, March 16 The resignation of Mr Chhatra Pal comes close on the heels of the BJP fielding former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh from the Bulandshahr constituency, a seat which he (Chhatra Pal) has represented four times in the Lok Sabha. —
PTI |
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Karunakaran set
to join RS
Thiruvananthapuram, March 16 Mr Karunakaran, whose nomination was cleared by AICC chief Sonia Gandhi yesterday, and Mr Vijayaraghavan who was re-nominated by the party filed papers today. Wahab had filed his nomination last week. According to Legislature Secretariat sources, scrutiny would be held tomorrow and the result formally known on expiry of deadline for withdrawal of nominations on March 19. —
PTI |
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EC orders probe on Cong complaint
New Delhi, March 16 The Congress yesterday lodged a complaint with the EC, alleging “blatant” violation of the code of conduct by the BJP, accusing it of adopting “corrupt practice and misuse” of the Centre’s Social Security Scheme for the unorganised sector. |
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SC: journalists, newspaper staff are class apart
New Delhi, March 16 “The employees of newspaper industry have always been treated as a class apart,” a Bench of Mr Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Mr Justice D.M. Dharmadhikari said. If the legislature had embarked upon ameliorating their conditions by making a special provision in the Employees Provident Fund Act, there was nothing discriminatory about it, the court ruled. Upholding the constitutional validity of Section 80(2) of the EPF scheme, under which the benefit was extended to newspaper employees by the Union Government, the apex court said Article 14 of the Constitution did not “forbid” the reasonable classification of employees on the basis of the nature of their job. The provision of Section 80(2), which waives the ceiling of Rs 65,000 as annual salary for extending the PF benefits to the newspaper employees, was challenged by the Indian Express’ Madurai publication on the ground that it had imposed extra financial burden on it, thus affecting its fundamental right of disseminating news freely. The Supreme Court in its judgement noted that the Press Commission in its report had stated that if a newspaper establishment could not pay its employees the minimum wages “required for decent and dignified” living, it had no business to carry on its enterprise. |
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Kalam, Vajpayee felicitate Putin
New Delhi, March 16 Felicitating Putin on his re-election, Kalam in his message said the relations between “Russia and India have traditionally been warm.... Over the years they have proved to be mutually beneficial.” |
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Best Bakery property case adjourned
Vadodara, Mar 16 The matter, which came up for hearing yesterday before Vadodara District Civil Judge
D.L. Patel, was adjourned when counsel for petitioner Shehrunissa Sheikh, the mother of the prime witness in the Best Bakery case
Zaheera, sought time to file a counter-affidavit following Zaheera’s sister-in-law Yasmin Bano’s claim over the bakery property. —
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Playback singer Kumar Sanu joined the BJP here today and left the party leaders mesmerised by singing a song in praise of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee — “Atalji ko dekha to aisa laga, jaise khilta kamal...”.
In video:
Advani's
Bharat Uday Yatra reaches Solapur. (
