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Cracks
appear in NDA in Karnataka, Jharkhand Muslims
safe under BJP: Advani SC
moved against Advani’s yatra BJP’s ‘carpet
bombing’ on April 6 Cong
campaign has hit historic low, says Jaitley Cong turns to SP for alliance in UP |
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CPM
rebel MP alleges bungling by party secy BJP to
contest 9 LS, 28 Assembly seats in AP 50 pc
of poll officers to be from outside district: EC
Khushwant Singh’s ‘Burial at Sea’ released Hurriyat positive as Centre extends invitation
Punish
officers indicted for riots: NGO Infantry
gets new DG Mohsina tells Katiyar to apologise
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Cracks appear in NDA in Karnataka, Jharkhand New Delhi, March 17 “The
JD (U) would contest over 40 Lok Sabha seats spread over Bihar, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Rajasthan, Manipur and Lakshadweep,” party spokesperson Shiv Kumar said here. Regarding Jharkhand, where the BJP had yesterday disclosed its intention to go it alone, Mr Shiv Kumar said his party would contest some Lok Sabha seats on its own in the state. On the other hand, the BJP indicated that it would not succumb to the “pressure-building tactics” of the
JD (U) in Karnataka. “In Karnataka, the JD (U) has been reduced to a very small party with majority of its leaders joining the BJP and a few others joining other parties,” Union Law and Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley, who is the party in charge of elections in the state, said. He also accused the alliance partner of giving any proposal on seat-sharing in Karnataka, when the leaders of the two parties met yesterday. Despite maintaining a hard posture, Mr Jaitley left room for negotiation saying, “If the talks are held on the strength of both parties (the BJP and the JD-U), then the issue (seat-sharing) could be considered.” Meanwhile, impartial political observers termed as “tactical posturing” by the NDA ally. They observed that the BJP, which is keen on forming first BJP government in a southern state and return maximum Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka would like the
JD (U) to contest alone in those seats where the former is weak. This tactics would help the BJP in splitting the “secular votes” to its advantage, they added. |
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Muslims safe under BJP: Advani Karimnagar/Hyderabad, March 17 Addressing a public meeting at the Circus Grounds in a largely attended rally in
Karimnagar, Mr Advani said it was Mr Vajpayee who went to Pakistan on a bus to hold talks with Nawaz Sharif, however, because of Gen Pervez Musharraf the parleys could not succeed. When General Musharraf became the President, Mr Vajpayee invited him to solve the bilateral problem, but the ‘Agra effort’ did not yield any results. On the second occasion, Mr Vajpayee went to Islamabad and issued a joint statement where General Musharraf declared that he would not allow terrorists to use Pakistani territory. Muslims in the country were told by the Congress and other parties that the BJP government would make their lives miserable and attack Pakistan when they come to power at the Centre, the Deputy Prime Minister who’s Bharat uday yatra arrived here said today. Mr Advani said if Pakistan attacked India, the country had shown that it could repulse any ill-intentioned attack against India. At the same time, when Islamabad wanted the friendship to bloom, the cricket team was there in Pakistan to foster good relations between the two countries. He said the government had taken a two-pronged step to strengthen India within the country and outside through good governance and initiating several development and infrastructural projects where national security and interest was safeguarded. Referring to the proposed second round of talks between the Government of India and the All-Party Hurriyat Conference on March 27, Mr Advani said that security forces had been told to deal firmly with the wrongdoers while keeping open the doors for peace and negotiations. Mr Advani whose election rath today hit the Naxalite badlands of Andhra Pradesh said the March 27 dialogue with the Hurriyat is a significant step towards ushering in an era of peace and development in Jammu and Kashmir. Discoursing with the media in Hyderabad on day eight of the yatra, Mr Advani said the government believed in resolving political differences through dialogue and he was looking forward to the second round of discussions in Delhi on March 27 with the APHC. These discussions, he said, were important to bring peace and development to Jammu and Kashmir because the National Democratic Alliance was proud of having facilitated free and fair elections in J&K. On the controversial demand for forming a separate Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh, he said it was not on BJP or NDA’s agenda. When reminded that the state BJP had extended the promise in 1990, Mr Advani said it could not be endorsed in the absence of a consensus. The BJP would not support the demand whether it was Telangana or Vidarbha in Maharashtra unless a consensus was achieved as in the creation of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttaranchal. Mr Advani said the party supported the region’s demand of linking the Godavari river with the Krishna river.
— UNI |
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SC moved against Advani’s yatra New Delhi, March 17 The Madras and Delhi High Courts had rejected similar public interest litigations (PILs) earlier. A special leave petition (SLP) was filed in the apex court registry by Chennai-based lawyer S. Veeraraghavan, seeking blockage of the yatra on the grounds that it could result in communal tension. His petition was rejected by the Madras High Court on March 5. In the writ petition, Veeraraghavan said there was strong reason for his apprehension, as Advani’s 1990 “Somnath to Ayodhya yatra” on Ram Temple issue had resulted in communal clashes. Similarly, his tour to Tamil Nadu during 1998 elections had witnessed serial bomb blasts in Coimbatore killing over 50 persons. The petition is likely to come up for hearing tomorrow. |
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BJP’s ‘carpet bombing’ on April 6 New Delhi, March 17 The very next day, Mr Advani, who will be in Uttar Pradesh as part of his ongoing Bharat uday yatra, will address a rally at Ayodhya. Mr Naqvi and Union Law and Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley told newspersons that there was no significance to Mr Advani beginning his rally from Ayodhya. “It happens to be geographically near Lucknow and falls on the route of the second phase of his (Mr Advani’s) yatra from Porbandar to Puri,” Mr Jaitley said in defence of the hero of the Ram temple movement. Another Hindutva mascot of the party, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, has been deputed to Maharashtra where he would kick off the party’s campaign. The BJP is contesting the poll in alliance with the Shiv Sena there. Briefing newspersons about the third and final phase of the campaign, BJP spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the party’s top brass would address public meetings across the country in 25 states/union territories. Mr Jaitley would launch the party campaign from Punjab, Mr Naqvi from Jammu and Kashmir, Union Minister Sanghapriya Gautam from Haryana, Union Minister Maj-Gen B. C. Khanduri from Himachal Pradesh, party vice-president Bal Apte from Chandigarh and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh from Delhi. BJP president Venkaiah Naidu will launch the campaign from Gujarat, Union Ministers Vinod Khanna from Assam, Shatrughan Sinha from Andhra Pradesh, Murli Manohar Joshi from Orissa, Jaswant Singh from Kerala and Arun Shourie from Andaman and Nicobar. |
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Cong campaign has hit historic low, says
Jaitley New Delhi, March 17 Making a sarcasm-filled attack on the Congress, Union Law Minister Arun Jaitley said “ the BJP is grateful to the Congress for raising the foreign origin issue...but what vocation the Congress President was involved in, whether in Italy or at Cambridge, is as irrelevant to the present elections as the Victoria buggy of Karachi.” In a two-page reaction to the Congress allegation, Mr Jaitley accused the Congress of “taking the election campaign to a historic low in a desperate attempt to shift the focus from developmental and real issues to trivialities”. Mr Jaitley dared Congress leaders to join the BJP on a debate on the real issues, including economy, development, social justice, international issues, Kashmir, defence and terrorism. Referring to the Congress allegation, Mr Jaitley said the Congress spokesperson had taken the campaign to a new low and reminded the Indian people, through the media, of a Victoria buggy which Mr Advani’s family allegedly possessed in Karachi. “The possession of a horse-cart, according to the Congress, is an evidence of being pro-British. Both these statements are factually wrong and display inadequate knowledge of history and politics. A buggy, incidentally, was one of the well-known modes of transportation in Karachi when Mr Advani was a young student,” he said. Mr Jaitley said the fact that the Congress had to raise such issues indicated that the entire campaign of the Congress “was ideologically starved and not based on real issues”. Mr Jaitley said it was for these reasons that a road show had been invented as a substitute for a talk show. The road shows were an escape from discussions, debates and speeches, he added. “The Congress campaign shows that its leaders in their arguments are incoherent, points made inconsistent and the language used is intemperate. This reduces the campaign to irrelevance,” the statement said. It said the Congress President had escaped from speaking on real issues at her road shows. This escape from issue-based discussions would not last very long, he said adding that the BJP would not allow real issues to be degraded by a campaign of irrelevance. |
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Cong turns to SP for alliance in UP New Delhi, March 17 According to reports, state-level talks between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party have got under way. However, Congress President Sonia Gandhi is still to undertake a stock-taking exercise on Uttar Pradesh after it was publicly spurned by the BSP. It is clear that the Congress will need to take some remedial steps as a four-cornered contest in UP could prove disastrous for it. Party sources maintained that the Samajwadi Party had indicated that it could leave around 10 Lok Sabha seats if it was keen on an alliance with it. While the Congress is bargaining for at least 25 seats, the Samajwadi Party is learnt to have said that it might not be possible as it had already left 10 seats for Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal. The Congress, however, put up a brave face today over the BSP’s decision to go it alone. AICC general secretary Ambika Soni maintained that her party would continue its efforts “till the end” to cobble a front of like-minded parties. “Congress President has already clarified that her efforts are to unite secular forces. These efforts are still continuing and will continue till the end of the poll,” Ms Soni told mediapersons. As regards the possibility of an alliance with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, Ms Soni remarked: “Our objective is clear that all secular forces should unite, as any division in the secular vote would ultimately benefit the communal forces.” Congress leaders explained that they did not wish to take any step that would push the BSP and the SP to the NDA fold. While the Congress effort was to have a pre-poll alliance with the BSP, it was hoping for a tie-up with the SP in the post-poll scenario. Even today, after the BSP reiterated its decision to go it alone, the Congress made a conscious decision not to react to it while maintaining that “options of an alliance with the BSP are still open.” |
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CPM rebel MP alleges bungling by party secy Kolkata, March 17 Dr Pramanick, who will be contesting this election on Trinamool Congress ticket from the same constituency came out in the public today ahead of the Chief Election Commissioner’s visit to the city, in an effort to protect himself from a “conspiracy” hatched against him by the CPM. Mr Biswas, however, dismissed Dr Pramanick’s allegation as baseless. Dr Pramanick had been “sacked” from the party for corrupt practices and other anti-party activities. Dr Pramanick said he had written to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee about a threat on his life by the CPM. He had also lodged a complaint with the Election Commission and the police in this connection. Dr Pramanick alleged that over the past few years, some Rs 10 crore had been squandered away from his MP’s fund by Mr Ganguly and some other leaders in South 24-Parganas. Even his signature was forged for drawing money from his MP’s bank account. The then party secretary, Mr Sailen Dasgupta, had ordered a probe into the charges, he added. But after the death of Mr Dasgupta, the inquiry was stopped at the instance of Mr Biswas, he alleged. Dr Pramanick, the scientist-turned politician, joined the CPM in the early sixties at the request of the late Promode Dasgupta( better known as PDG). He was heading the MP’s expert committee set up by the Centre to identify a suitable site for setting up Rs 40,000-crore nuclear super-thermal power in South 24-Parganas. |
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BJP to contest 9 LS, 28 Assembly seats in AP Hyderabad, March 17 The talks have yielded better electoral prospects to the BJP in the state, which had contested eight Lok Sabha and 24 Assembly seats
in the 1999 election. The agreement was arrived at by the Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party President N. Chandrababu Naidu and BJP General Secretary Pramod Mahajan at the Chief Minister’s residence here. Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani today invited key ally Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to join the NDA headed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. “I did mention it to Chandrababu Naidu this morning that we would be very happy if your party joins the government,” he said while replying to questions at a press conference here.
— UNI |
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50 pc of poll officers to be from outside district: EC New Delhi, March 17 “Since duties discharged by polling personnel are vital in the conduct of elections, sufficient care is needed to draft and deploy such personnel in the interest of free and fair elections,” the commission said in a detailed communication to chief electoral officers of all states and union territories. The essential principle of 50:50 ratio in the composition of polling parties would be applicable in all states, except single Parliamentary constituency states and union territories, the EC said. It said in 50 per cent of the polling stations in every Parliamentary constituency, presiding officer and at least one of the polling officers should be from outside the district. The presiding officer should preferably be a gazetted officer. If gazetted officers were not available in sufficient numbers, officers working in supervisory capacity should be drawn for duties as presiding officers. It has asked the CEOs to draw up a suitable plan and finalise the groups of districts from where the presiding officers and polling officers would be drawn for their mobilisation and reciprocal exchange. |
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Over 1 lakh securitymen to be deployed for poll New Delhi, March 17 Small contingents of the central forces would be moving out to insurgency and Naxalite-affected regions for “area domination” this week itself while majority of the personnel would be
despatched by trains later this month and early next month. — PTI |
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Khushwant Singh’s ‘Burial at Sea’ released New Delhi, March 17 Speaking at the release of his novel “Burial at Sea”, by Rajmata Gayatri Devi at Le Meridien Hotel here on Wednesday evening, the 90-year-old writer said books like “Kamasutra” were hailed as classics and sculptures at Khajuraho and Ajanta and Ellora admired but literature on the same plane was not accepted. “You write the same thing and you are promptly dubbed a dirty old man.’’ The book,
published by Penguin Books India, revolves around the story of a business tycoon, Jai Bhagwan. Khushwant
Singh drew attention to a total absence of any moral commitment on the part of politicians in the run-up to the forthcoming elections. “We have subverted our religious principles. We are gradually turning from a progressive modern state into an obscurantist state. In the name of culture and tradition, we allow people to ban books, smash cinema halls showing films they don’t like. If this is not fascism, I don’t know what fascism is,’’ he said. Speaking on the occasion, Maharani Gayatri Devi said the country was being ruled by hypocrites. He thanked Maharani Gayatri Devi for gracing the occasion with her presence for the release of the novel. “She had plans to visit Pakistan to watch India and Pakistan playing cricket but she decided to honour an old friendship. We took good care that she did not have enough time to read the novel. She is known for speaking her mind.’’ |
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Hurriyat positive as Centre extends invitation New Delhi, March 17 The APHC, headed by Mr Ansari, had yesterday received invitation for talks with Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani. Mr Ansari told The Tribune over the phone that a meeting of Hurriyat leaders would be called soon to make a decision on talks. “I received the Centre’s invitation last evening. A meeting of Hurriyat leaders will be held in a day or two. It will be a positive decision,” he said. Asked about the reservations of the APHC over the alleged human rights excesses by security forces in the valley, Mr Ansari said the issues could be tackled through talks. “The government has assured to curb human rights violations,” he said. The Centre’s invitation, which reached Mr Ansari in Srinagar, said: “You are cordially invited for second round of talks to be held in New Delhi on March 27.” Senior Hurriyat leaders had met in Srinagar earlier this week to discuss issues pertaining to the second round of talks with the Centre. Mr Ansari had indicated willingness to come for the talks only after a formal invitation was extended. The dialogue process, which began with a meeting in the Capital between Mr Advani and a five-member Hurriyat delegation on January 22, ran into trouble when leaders threatened to pull out of talks in protest against the alleged human rights violations by security forces. The situation eased after Mr Advani called a high-level meeting of the top brass of the security forces and directed them to take utmost care during counter-insurgency operations to protect human rights of civilian population in the state. Immediately after the first round of talks with the Hurriyat Conference, Mr Advani had said that the next round would be held in the end of March. He announced yesterday that the talks would be held on March 27, a day after the completion of the first phase of his “Bharat Uday Yatra”. Sources said Centre’s interlocutor on Kashmir Mr N.N. Vohra has held discussions with senior Home Ministry officials to discuss the agenda for the second round of talks. |
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Fall in infiltration, says J&K Governor New Delhi, March 17 Talking with reporters at a function to launch online acceptance of donations for Shree Vaishno Devi shrine, he said the situation had changed along the Line of Control (LoC) and the International Border (IB) following the ceasefire announced last year. Lieut-General Sinha said though situation in the valley had improved, there was no slackness in security. “There is every reason for cautious optimism.... We can’t relax vigil,” he said. Earlier, inaugurating the Jammu and Kashmir Bank’s Online Acceptance of Donations Facility for Shree Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine, he said the state government would provide more facilities to pilgrims going to the shrine and Amarnath cave in Kashmir. |
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200-year-old book claims life on Mars
Gwalior, March 17 Ganesh Devagya Junnarkar, who was the court astrologer of the Scindia, had started the Panchang for the state in 1881 and wrote several books. Junnarkar’s descendant Sunil Joshi had recently come across a hand-written book, in a tattered state, which outlined details of various planets of the solar system. The first page of the book is missing while the last page mentions the name of Ganesh Devagya Junnarkar, the Raj Jyotishacharya. Junnarkar wrote, that as compared to earth, the portion of land on Mars was one-sixth and water one-ninth. Despite an abundance of water, the outer portion of the planet does not have water. The book also says that the upper part of the planet was copper coloured while some part was green. The copper colour comprised the land while the green portion had water, both the poles of Mars were snow laden. — UNI |
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Punish officers indicted for riots: NGO Bhopal, March 17 According to the report, 142 persons were killed and another 809 were injured in the riots which had broken out in Bhopal on December 7,1992. The loss of property as per the claims made before the commission was to the tune of Rs 35.87 crore while the government had estimated the loss at Rs 9.05 crore. The Sadprayas President, Mr Abdul Jabbar, congratulated Ms Uma Bharati for making the commission’s report public in spite of the fact that the commission had indicted the administration during the BJP government for its failure to prevent the riots. Mr Jabbar charged the previous Chief Minister, Mr Digvijay Singh, of the Congress with dilly-dallying over the publication of the report. His motive, according to Mr Jabbar, was to protect the bureaucracy. Not only that, the Digvijay Singh government neither reviewed the criminal cases registered in connection with the riots nor went in appeal to higher courts where the accused were acquitted. Nearly 3200 criminal cases were registered following the riots and the accused in all cases were acquitted for the lack of interest on the part of the previous Congress government, Mr Jabbar said. Mr Jabbar also appealed to the BJP Chief Minister to take care of the riot-affected persons who still had not been rehabilitated. |
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Infantry gets new DG New Delhi, March 17 Lieut-Gen Gopal has held a number of Staff appointments during his illustrious career spanning 36 years in the Army. These include Brigade Major of an Infantry Brigade, Deputy Director General in Military Operations Directorate and Deputy Director General in Adjutant General Branch at the Army Headquarters. Besides the Kargil war, he raised and commanded Rashtriya Rifles Sector in Kashmir Valley and a Mountain Division in the Eastern Sector in counter-insurgency operations. An alumnus of the Defence Service Staff College, Wellington; College of Defence Management; and the National Defence College, he is a recipient of Ati Vishist Seva Medal and Bar for his distinguished command of the Rashtriya Rifles Sector and of a Mountain Division. |
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Mohsina tells Katiyar to apologise New Delhi, March 17 Ms Kidwai, who is the in charge of Punjab, said the Election Commission should take a note of Mr Katiyar’s statements made during an election rally in Uttar Pradesh today. “The EC should debar him from contesting the elections,”. Ms Kidwai said BJP leaders were making derogatory remarks against Ms Gandhi as they feared her growing popularity. She demanded an apology from Mr Katiyar for his remarks. |
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