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New Delhi, March 20 The BJP today upped its ante against Congress President Sonia Gandhi, saying that the NDA coalition, on return to office, could enact a law to prevent “non-natural born” citizens from occupying high constitutional posts.
PM flays Cong for undermining growth
Expenditure observers to keep vigil on parties
EC rejects merger of JD-U, Samata
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Doors open for Congress, says Mulayam
Removal of 3 IPS officers
resented
Pakistani boy undergoes corneal transplant
EU advises Bhutan to resolve refugee problem with
Nepal
NLFT militants gun down five labourers
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NDA for law to bar foreign-born from top posts
New Delhi, March 20 “If need be, we will bring a law barring people of foreign origin holding the highest constitutional post. It is not a personal attack on any individual but it concerns the country,” party President M. Venkaiah Naidu told newspersons here at a programme at his residence on the eve of Ugadi, the Telugu New Year’s day. Mr Naidu said the NDA would incorporate in the NDA common agenda of governance the need for a legislation, barring people of foreign origin holding high constitutional posts in the country. Asserting that the party was justified in raising the issue, Mr Naidu said it was in line with the BJP’s stand all along that the people of foreign origin should not occupy high constitutional posts in the country like those of the President, the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India. “We are ready for a debate on the issue,” he added. To a question that the party was favouring such a legislation as it was “scared” of the Congress, Mr Naidu said “why should we be scared of the Congress. It is not strong enough to give a fight on even 200 seats.” Referring to the recent no-holds barred attack on Ms Gandhi by party's Utter Pradesh unit president Vinay Katiyar, the BJP chief said he had asked him to refrain from making personalised attacks on the Congress President. He, however, hastened to add that the Congress should also exercise restraint and not use words like “Ravana yatra”, reportedly about the ongoing Bharat uday yatra of Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani. Accusing the Congress of creating regional disparities during its 50 years rule, which had resulted in demand for creation of states like Telangana in Andhra Pradesh, Mr Naidu wanted the opposition party to clarify its stand on formation of smaller states. “The long spell of the Congress misrule has led to a neglect of regional aspirations, which is resulting in the demand for smaller states like Telangana,” he charged. He said it was the NDA which had enabled regional parties to come on the national scene and also put forward the aspirations of regions concerned. |
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BJP may renominate sitting MPs in Haryana
New Delhi, March 20 Out of the 10 Lok Sabha seats, the BJP is likely to renominate Mr Swami from Karnal, Mr Ratan Lal Kataria from Ambala (SC), Mr Ram Chander Bainda from Faridabad, Mr Kishan Singh Sangwan from Sonepat and Ms Sudha Yadav from Mahendragarh. Of the remaining five seats, the party leadership is finding it difficult to finalise the name in Rohtak with many strong contenders for the seat, sources said. Among them are Mr Abhimanyu, a brother of Union Minister Sahib Singh Verma’s son-in-law, Mr Om Parkash Dhankar, National Secretary of the BJP, and Mr Naresh Malik, who had joined the party recently. Mr Ranjit Singh Chautala, an estranged brother of Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, could be fielded from Hissar, where secretary of the BJP’s Haryana unit Shakuntala Raj, is another strong contender. In the event of Mr Ranjit Singh Chautala deciding not to contest and only campaign for the BJP, Professor Shankuntala Raj has a good chance of bagging the ticket, the sources said. While BJP’s Haryana unit vice-president Gurdayal Singh Saini could be the party's nominee from Kurukshetra, former party state unit president Ram Vilas Sharma could be fielded from Bhiwani. In Sirsa (SC), Mr Mahavir Singh, a son of former Haryana Minister Peer Chand, could be the party candidate. |
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Senior UP, Haryana leaders join BJP
New Delhi, March 20 Welcoming the two in the party-fold, BJP General Secretary Pramod Mahajan said Mr Choudhary, who belonged to Saharanpur was a respected Gujjar leader. With his entry into the party, it would gain not only in Western Uttar Pradesh but also in Haryana and Rajasthan. Former UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh was present on the occasion. Mr Mahajan said the BJP which was fighting the election in Haryana on its own would significantly gain by Mr Mann’s entry into the party. Both leaders, he said, had joined the BJP along with thousands of their supporters. A former Cabinet Minister in Uttar Pradesh, Mr Chaudhary had been a five-time legislator and also a member of the UP Legislative Council and Member of Parliament. Mr Mann, who hails from Bhiwani, has quit Bansi Lal-led HVP to join the BJP. |
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PM flays Cong for undermining growth
Beed, Maharashtra, March 20 Addressing a well-attended rally here, Mr Vajpayee said, “Pani, bijli, sadak, shiksha, chikitsa’’ (water, electricity, roads, education and health), neglected by the erstwhile Congress governments, have been given priority by the present regime. “It were these very issues which saw the downfall of the Congress governments in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in the last Assembly elections. Only future will tell the fate of the Congress in the coming Lok Sabha elections,’’ he said addressing the rally which is considered crucial as two local leaders including sitting BJP MP Jaisinghrao Patil have joined the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) recently. The work on framing of these policies were already on and the programmes would be implemented by his government when voted back to power in the Lok Sabha elections, he assured. Mr Vajpayee said effective water management was the need of the hour to usher in the second green revolution. “I am not saying that the country has not progressed at all during the Congress rule. But, basic infrastructural facilities were ignored. Who is to be blamed if there is water and electricity shortage even after 50 years of independence,’’ he asked. —
UNI |
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Expenditure observers to keep vigil on parties
New Delhi, March 20 Expenses incurred by political parties and candidates on hiring of vehicles, tents, advertisements, public meetings, distribution of items like dhotis and on film stars should be closely monitored by the expenditure observers, Chief Election Commissioner T.S. Krishna Murthy told nearly 750 senior revenue officials from various Central services, a press note said. It stated the expenditure observers, senior Central revenue service officials who will work in close coordination with general observers, had been told to visit constituencies and submit reports to the commission. They could also submit interim report on some special measures. Making a departure from the earlier stipulation, the candidates, while maintaining daily accounts of spending, should furnish a statement of accounts three times between the date of nomination and the end of the poll process. Earlier, they had to furnish accounts once in every three days. The full commission yesterday addressed over 1,000 general observers appointed to monitor the elections. |
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EC rejects merger of JD-U, Samata
New Delhi, March 20 After hearing both factions in the Samata Party, the commission came to the conclusion that the merger was not total in view of a dispute, EC sources said. The merger plan of the Samata Party with the JD(U) had run into rough weather following the objections raised by dissident Samata Party member of the dissolved Lok Sabha Brahmanand Mandal, who had claimed before the EC that he was with the original Samata Party. The commission allowed the Mandal faction to operate under the Samata Party’s name. The commission has, however, not taken any decision on allotting the Samata Party’s “torch’’ symbol to the faction. It has asked the party to apply for a reserved symbol under Rule 10(a) of the Representation of People Act. |
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Doors open for Congress, says Mulayam
Ghaziabad, March 20 “Doors are still open for the Congress,” he said addressing party workers in Meerut with Lok Dal Chief Ajit Singh. Referring to the recent controversial remarks by the state BJP president Vinay Katiyar against Sonia Gandhi, Mr Yadav termed them as “most shameful” and claimed that his party leaders have “never made personal comments” against the Congress chief or any other leader. Taking a dig at Mr Katiyar, Mr Yadav said “even Lord Rama will not forgive such comments against any woman”. Mr Yadav said opposition parties should support a joint candidate against Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee during the coming Lok Sabha elections. On alliance with a Lok Dal, he said the SP would fight eight seats while LD would contest nine. “BJP’s rath politics has now totally flopped,” Mr Yadav later told reporters, adding people wanted eradication of poverty and unemployment, which the NDA had failed to do. “The young generation which need jobs has become frustrated,” he said. Addressing the meeting, Ajit Singh claimed that both the BJP and BSP had failed to safeguard the interest of farmers, who will now vote for the Lok Dal. He denied that he was fielding his son from Mathura. —
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Removal of 3 IPS officers
resented
Kolkata, March 20 Within 24 hours of his warning against the “politically motivated policemen and government officials” in Kolkata, the CEC, Mr T.S. Krishnamurti, yesterday issued an order for the removal of the SPs of North 24 Parganas and Nadia and the Malda DIG from their respective posts. The state Chief Secretary, Mr Asok Gupta, said he had received the EC’s order and was taking necessary steps in carrying out the order. In the recent memory, such punitive action had never been taken against any officials in Bengal where the CPM was in power since 1977 at a stretch. According to the EC sources, similar action will soon follow against at least six other senior officials, including a DM and three DSPs. Deeply annoyed, the veteran CPM leader, Mr Jyoti Basu, wanted the EC to justify it’s action and prove that it action was not biased and politically motivated. |
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Pakistani boy undergoes corneal transplant
Coimbatore, March 20 A leading eye hospital here has successfully performed a corneal transplant on a Pakistani boy, close on the heels of doctors in this city having performed heart and spinal surgeries on Pakistani nationals. Eye Foundation chief D Ramamurthy said the transplant had been successfully performed on 14-year-old Muhammed Azeem, belonging to a farmers' family in a small village of Rahimyar Khan district, about 200 km from Lahore. Azeem had lost his vision in both his eyes four years ago. Consultations with eye doctors revealed that he had Keratoconus, a progressive disorder of the cornea, in both eyes. This genetical defect progressed gradually and a corneal or eye transplant was the only solution, even though in the initial stages, glasses and contact lenses help, he said here. Stating that the prospects of an eye transplant were extremely remote in Pakistan, he said the boy's brother, Shahzaed Akram, a law student, came to know about the hospital through the Net. He brought Azeem to the hospital 10 days ago, Dr Ramamurthy added. He got the eye of a 42-year-old man, who died of heart attack at the Government Hospital in Erode five days ago. Azeem is now waiting for another eye to be transplanted. Answering a question, Azeem said there was no awareness on eye donation in Pakistan. Only very few hospitals were doing eye transplants, thus making the waiting list long as they had to depend on donors from Sri Lanka. —
UNI |
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EU advises Bhutan to resolve refugee problem with
Nepal
New Delhi, March 20 The EU Commissioner said here last night after a four-day visit to the mountain kingdom (March 15-18) that he advised the Bhutanese Government to take expeditious steps to resolve the refugee problem with Nepal, apprehending the contentious issue could become the breeding ground of terrorists in the region. Mr Nielson made a brief stopover in the Capital on his way back to Brussels. Mr Nielson expressed concern at the plight of Indian workers and children in Bhutan, saying that their condition is appaling. “I saw Indian workers and children working on the roads in Bhutan, I did not like it.” At meetings with Bhutanese Minister of Finance Lyonpo Wangdi, Minister of Agriculture Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup and Minister of Trade Lynopo Yeshey Zimba, the Commissioner reviewed overall external assistance related to ongoing EU cooperation, with particular reference to Bhutan’s priorities from 2006 onwards. He said the EU has allocated Euros 15 million to Bhutan from 2002-06. |
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NLFT militants gun down five labourers
Agartala, March 20 Three others working in the field were also injured in the attack and shifted to the G.B. Hospital, where one of them died to his bullet injuries. —
UNI |
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BJP says solution to temple issue after elections. (
