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New Delhi, May 18 The RSS orchestrated campaign on Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin issue unfolded further here today when Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti jumped into the political fray by submitting her resignation to BJP President M. Venkaiah Naidu on the issue.
Sushma meets President on Sonia issue
Sena man tries to kill self over PM
issue
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HC declines to intervene in Sonia taking oath as
PM
Jaya reverses decisions to woo back
people
Security tightened at Manmohan’s residence
Political impasse may cast a shadow on Indo-Pak
talks
Pokharan residents rue govt
apathy
No CNG for vehicles more than 5 years old
Heavy schoolbag can injure
the back
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Uma submits resignation
to Naidu
New Delhi, May 18 Addressing Mediapersons at a specially convened press conference, Ms Bharti said she was leaving shortly for Kedarnath to pay obeisance to “Baba”. Ms Bharti said she would fax her resignation to Madhya Pradesh Governor K.M. Seth from there. The Chief Minister said the BJP leadership had given her permission to resign and go ahead with her movement. Observers said former Union Minister Sushma Swaraj, former party General Secretary K.N. Govindacharya and now Ms Bharti had decided to rake up the foreign orgin issue as they want to position themselves in the coming leadership battle in the BJP. The BJP top leadership is aged and there are hosts of middle aged leaders who are vying with each other to take lead in the leadership race, observers said. Earlier, Ms Bharti said she had decided to mobilise public opinion against Ms Sonia Gandhi assuming the post of the Prime Ministership as the honour of the country was at stake. She would not be able to do justice to the people of Madhya Pradesh while remaining the Chief Minister and simultaneously launching a countrywide movement on this issue, she added. Ms Bharti recalled that she had publicly stated in Bhopal yesterday that she could go to any extent to raise the issue. She claimed that the feelings of millions of people of the country had been hurt by the possibility of a “foreigner,” who did not take Indian citizenship for as long as 16 years after she came to India, becoming the Prime Minister. Ms Bharti said from Kedarnath she would proceed to Bhopal where she would address a rally. After taking the blessings of the people of Madhya Pradesh, she would kick off her campaign on the foreign origin issue from Jalianwala Bagh. |
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Sushma meets President on Sonia issue
New Delhi, May 18 “I will resign from the Rajya Sabha, tonsure my head, wear white clothes, sleep on the floor and eat chana if Ms Gandhi is sworn in as the Prime Minister,” Ms Swaraj told reporters after meeting the President. The President, she said, told her that he would get her views examined and take a constitutionally acceptable position. She declined to reveal the nature of the discussion with Dr
Kalam. Ms Swaraj said she had met the President as she could not attend the dinner hosted by him in honour of the outgoing Council of Ministers. Ms Swaraj said she took the opportunity to convey her reservation over a foreigner becoming the country’s next Prime Minister. She said there were many ways of protesting but her’s was one such method. She claimed that the BJP and the NDA were also supporting her in the protest by deciding to stay away from the swearing-in ceremony of Ms Gandhi. The BJP leader said she was happy that the party approved of her decision. Ms Swaraj declined that she wanted party MPs to resign en masse in protest on the issue. Ms Swaraj said she had conveyed her decision to party President M Venkaiah Naidu and he had taken Mr Vajpayee into confidence before announcing that the party had given to her the go ahead with the agitation. —
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Sena man tries to kill self over PM issue
Bhopal, May 18 Mr Chug daused himself with kerosene in ront of state Congress headquarters around noon and was about to set himself on fire when police personnel present at the site caught hold of him and prevented him from taking the extreme step. At least 12 of his associates were present at the spot when Mr Chug arrived at the Roshanpura crossing in the heart of the city in a jeep. He was whisked away by the police. He said he and his supporters would continue to oppose Mrs Gandhi as Prime Minister since. “It involves national self-respect,”. Mr Chug said the protest would continue in different forms for which a strategy would be chalked out. RANCHI: BJP national vice-president and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Babulal Marandi would hold a 48-hour fast from May 21, protesting against the candidature of Congress President Sonia Gandhi for prime ministership. Mr Marandi had earlier called for a “movement” opposing Mrs Gandhi as Prime Minister, saying that it was “unacceptable”. “I respect people’s mandate for change. But it was not in favour of a foreigner becoming Prime Minister as the Congress neither got a full mandate, nor had it projected its leader before the elections,” he said. —
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HC declines to intervene in Sonia taking oath as
PM
New Delhi, May 18 A Bench of the Chief Justice, Mr B.C. Patel, and Mr Justice Bader Durez Ahmed rejected the plea of the Rashtriya Mukti Morcha
(RMM) for stay on her taking oath as the Prime Minsiter, while hearing its application for preponing the hearing on its application in this regard. The application was filed by the RMM as part of its pending public interest litigation (PIL) on the Sonia’s foreign origin issue. The court, however, posted the hearing on the application for May 26. When senior advocate P.N. Lekhi, appearing for the RMM said the application would become infructous after Ms Sonia Gandhi was administered the oath of office, the Court said if it found merits in their plea, appropriate relief could be granted to them even after she had taken over the office. In the original PIL, filed by the RMM in 1999, it had submitted that all major countries foreign born citizens were debarred from holding the high constitutional posts. Such posts were only reserved to natural born citizens. It had also sought interpretation of the Article 5 of the constitution, which defines the citizenship. Interestingly the NDA government in its affidavit, filed in the intervening period, had said “no question of law was involved” in the PIL. Mr Lekhi said the petitioner would also make the Congress and Ms Sonia Gandhi as parties in the case. He said in view of the move by the party to elect her as its President, he would also seek derecognition of the party. Mr Lekhi has pointed to several documents, including Constituent Assembly debates and written Constitutions of various countries on the citizenship aspect to oppose her claim. It was a question of interpreting the original intent of the framers of the Constitution regarding citizenship, he said. Mr Lekhi had also referred to Italian Constitution, which he said prohibits citizens of that country to renounce his or her citizenship. Since Ms Sonia Gandhi has been granted Indian citizenship in 1983, it would amount to her having a “daul citizenship” as per Italian law, which the Indian Constitution did not recognise. |
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Jaya reverses decisions to woo back
people
Chennai, May 18 In a statement issued here, Ms Jayalalitha not only restored the facility of availing ration through the public distribution system for all but also ordered withdrawal of all cases against the media, cancelled all disciplinary proceedings against the state government employees who had gone on strike last year and repealed the law prohibiting religious conversions. Regarding free distribution of power, she said the earlier Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government had stopped providing free electricity to the farmers and the poor. After a group of farmers met her, Ms Jayalalitha today said, “I have now ordered that all farmers and hut-dwellers will get free electricity and the government will bear the expenses.” Regarding the PDS she said, “The income ceiling of Rs 5,000 per month for eligibility to obtain commodities under the PDS will be done away with.” On cases against the striking government employees, the Chief Minister said, “I have decided to take a magnanimous view and cancel all punishments imposed and withdraw all pending disciplinary proceedings against government employees and teachers.” “Although my government is aware that political leaders have indeed been behind the strike, in order to settle this issue once and for all, I have ordered that all the cases filed by the government against leaders of political parties be withdrawn,” she added To woo the media, Ms Jayalalitha stated, “I have ordered that all the defamation cases filed by the government against the Press and media shall be withdrawn at once. My government will move a resolution in the Assembly to drop all the proceedings against The Hindu and other newspapers,” she said. To placate the feelings of the minorities in the state who voted against her for aligning with the Bharatiya Janata Party, she said, “With the intention of promoting religious harmony my government had enacted the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religion Act. But since minority community leaders have requested, I have ordered that the act be repealed at once.” Other than discontinuing free electricity to farmers and hut-dwellers, which was done by the DMK government, Ms Jayalalitha had taken all these measures, which substantially harmed her during the Lok Sabha poll. The ruling AIADMK-BJP combine failed to win a single seat in the elections for the 39 parliamentary constituencies in Tamil Nadu. Realising the fact that the electorate has punished her, Ms Jayalalitha has now set out for a damage-control exercise even if it amounts to annoying the BJP by repealing the conversion law. In order to woo back the poorer sections of the people, the Chief Minister also offered more sops and ordered eggs be given to children in the noon meal programmes in all schools and free travel bus passes to school and college students. |
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Security tightened at Manmohan’s residence
New Delhi, May 18 Security agencies visited his house located at 7-Safdurjung Lane, and reviewed the security of his residence, official sources said. They said two platoons of Central paramilitary forces had been moved to guard his residence. —
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Political impasse may cast a shadow on Indo-Pak
talks
New Delhi, May 18 Political and diplomatic sources were tightlipped on the question whether the talks were going to be held as scheduled or whether these would be deferred. The views of Mr K Natwar Singh and Mr J.N. Dixit, two Congressmen who are perceived as decision-makers within the Congress on foreign policy-related issues, were that the decision would be taken only after the Congress-led government took over. The considered opinion of mandarins in the South Block here was that there was no problem in going ahead with the talks on nuclear CBMs as scheduled. According to this view, Mr Sheel Kant Sharma, Secretary (International Organisations) in the Ministry of External Affairs, who is to lead the Indian delegation at these talks, was fully prepared. Till a couple of days ago, the overriding view in official circles was that the nuke CBMs talks could go ahead on schedule as the new government was then expected to be installed some 10 days before these talks were slated to begin. But the fresh political developments since yesterday had considerably reduced the time span that was going to be available to the new government for the May 25-26 talks. Though the Congress has gone on record in supporting the Vajpayee government’s peace initiative with Pakistan, it would like to conduct a thorough review of Indo-Pak relations before beginning the unprecedented talks on nuclear CBMs. Pakistan’s foreign office spokesman yesterday went on record to say that a high-level official delegation would leave for New Delhi on May 24 for talks on the nuclear CBMs. The talks, a follow-up to the roadmap for peace talks worked out in February this year, would deal with such issues as strategic stability, crisis management and nuclear risk reduction. At these talks, nuclear experts from the two sides were expected to suggest ways for reducing risks of accidental or unauthorised use of nuclear weapons. The talks would also broad-base the understanding between India and Pakistan on such a sensitive issue like nuclear CBMs which was currently confined to just annual exchange of list of nuclear installations and facilities. |
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Pokharan residents rue govt
apathy
Jaipur, May 18 Today is the 30th anniversary of that epoch-making event, which went unnoticed by the world. However, old inhabitants of
Loharki, a village nearest to the ‘zero ground’, still recall how the entire village was evacuated before the nuclear test. The cracks in their houses remind them of the harrowing experience they went through on this day. It was after a gap of almost quarter of a century that Pokharan again witnessed three powerful nuclear blasts on May 11, 1998, declaring India’s formidable nuclear potentialities. This time, the test was conducted near Khetolai village in the region. These tests evidently had a considerable political and diplomatic fallout in different parts of the world, but hardly caused any impact on the socio-economic scenario and lifestyle of the populace inhabitating Pokharan and its nearby villages. Although the BARC had claimed that the radioactivity in that area was fully contained, abnormal births in animals and cattle were reported from time to time. A senior scientist of the University of Rajasthan, on conditon of
anonimity, said a part of the Plutonium that remained unused in the Pokharan blast remained buried in the sands of the Thar Desert and would continue to exist there indefinitely. Plutonium, said the scientist, emitted radiation for hundreds of years.
No CNG for vehicles more than 5 years old New Delhi, May 18 The Indrasprastha Gas Limited (IGL) today issued a notification which said that the company would discontinue CNG supply to vehicles that failed to comply with the regulations of the ‘Gas Cylinders Rules-1981’. According to the provisions of the rule, it was mandatory for CNG vehicle owners to get the CNG cylinder installed on the motor vehicle, retested and recertified by the Chief Controller of Explosives, every five years, when the validity certification expired. —
UNI
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Heavy schoolbag can injure
the back
New Delhi, May 18 Pointing a finger at heavy schoolbags, a study conducted by the American Physical Therapy Association says the schoolbags carried by children everyday cause pain and fatigue to as many as 50 per cent of children today. While health experts recommend that the school bags should not be more than 10 per cent of the child’s own weight, surveys show that children carry backpacks heavier than 15 per cent of their body weight and in some cases even up to 50 per cent of their weight. Experts say frail bodies lugging all that weight on shoulders not only affects the child’s back but also alters gait, leading to bad posture as they grow and in extreme cases also causes dizziness, chest pain and even voice disorder. —
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Bhopal, May 18
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