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Advani rues BJP’s negative
attitude
POTA detainees on fast in Tamil Nadu
Man shot at Congress MP’s farmhouse in
Delhi
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Follow G.B. Pant’s ideals: PM
Cong cadres feel
isolated from govt
Indian Air Force to man airbase in Congo
Thackeray steps in to defuse
Telgi’s associate gets bail
Three kids hurt in blast
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Advani rues BJP’s negative
attitude
New Delhi, September 9 I do regret it. But at the same time, I think some of the decisions taken by the government were outrageous,” Mr Advani observed in an interview to the BBC World’s Hardtalk India. Asked if he was prepared to let bygones be bygones and make an extra effort to ensure that Parliament functions properly when it reconvenes in November, Mr Advani replied “I have no hesitation in that, particularly when I said that Parliament not being able to debate important issues is something I do not relish. “On his side he said, “I will certainly try to do so”. Mr Advani pointed out that in many ways the BJP has been trying to build a second rung leadership in a systematic manner . He said if the UPA government lasts its full term of five years, it is “quite likely” that the BJP will be led by someone other than former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and himself as both of them will be more than 80 years old. Emphasising that the vision document released by the BJP in March remains the policy of the party today, he said that at the organistion’s last session in Goa the word Hindutva was not stressed, “Indianness was stressed, Nationalism was stressed”. Further, Mr Advani said, “when we talk of Hindutva, we do not mean anything other than Bharatiyata or Indianness”. He maintained that the BJP’s
ideology today is best expressed by the word Bharatiyata rather than Hindutva. Mr Advani reiterated that to rule India, a party must be “aggregative and inclusive”. He had expressed these views during the Bharat Uday Yatra gathering in March and “I stand by that”. He said on the basis of his experience of the NDA and the Morarjibhai government which was almost a one-party government, the NDA government for the last six years that it ruled the country was more representative of the people, society, the Geography of India and therefore more equipped to serve the country and promote its interests than a single party government. |
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POTA detainees on fast in Tamil Nadu
Chennai, September 9 Of the six women POTA detainees in the special prison for women in Vellore four began their fast on August 23 while seven men in the Chennai central prison went on an indefinite fast. On September 1, they were joined by four others. Their demand is that the Tamil Nadu Government should withdraw the POTA cases against them and try them under existing laws. They have been in jail for 21 months since their bail petitions were dismissed by the POTA court following which they approached the Madras High Court. As the condition of the four women prisoners deteriorated they were shifted to the government general hospital. However, in the case of the seven male detainees, the jail authorities did not shift them to any hospital. When counsel for the accused, Mr G. Haribabu, moved the Madras High Court it directed the prison medical officer to submit a report on the health condition of the POTA detainees. The court was informed that the seven detainees — Manivasagam, Vinayagam, Sathish Kumar, Suresh, Muthu, Sakthivel and Thangapandian — were in a critical condition, but the jail authorities refused to provide them adequate medical treatment. Though the prison hospital was not equipped to provide proper treatment to patients with serious ailments, the prison officials refused to admit them to the Government General Hospital and instead were threatening to file cases of attempt to suicide against them, the court was informed. The Tamil Nadu police had arrested 27 Naxalites, including these six women, under POTA on November 24, 2002, near Uthangarai in Dharmapuri district. Out of them two were minors and were transferred to the juvenile home. A senior lawyer of the Madras High Court, Mr K. Chandru, regretted that these detainees did not get any political, judicial, media and social attention and were being treated like “untouchables among the POTA detainees, for they lack the high profile of their counterparts belonging to mainstream political parties”. He argued that if POTA was bad, it should be considered bad for all, including the fringe groups, and pointed out that at the time of the alleged recovery of “explosives and arms” from these people, Tamil Nadu had not been declared a notified area under POTA. He contended that the Radical Youth League, to which the accused belonged, was not a banned organisation in the state. |
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Man shot at Congress MP’s farmhouse in
Delhi
New Delhi, September 9 The police got the information about the incident at 9.13 am today. The body of the deceased was, reportedly, lying on the second floor of the farmhouse. The victim was not related to the MP even though he had the same surname. While the police had registered a case of murder in the local police station, preliminary investigations revealed that there was a party in the farmhouse last night in which around 15 persons, all from Assam, were present. These included, wife of Mr M.K. Subba, their eight-year-old son and Mrs Subba’s brother Narender. Mr M.K. Subba reportedly was not present in the farmhouse at the time of the incident. Mr Subba’s two daughters live in USA. Besides, around five people working on the farmhouse were also said to be missing from the spot. Milan was working as a caretaker in the farmhouse and was residing in Chattarpur area in Southwest district. The wife of Milan Subba had reportedly told the police that she received a call at 11.30 pm last night that there was a fight going on in the farmhouse. The body had been sent for the post-mortem examination. Preliminary investigations also revealed that the shot was fired from point blank range from a .12 bore gun. Ravi, the gunman of the farmhouse, was also found missing after the incident. The police said that there were around 40 persons living in the outskirts of the farmhouse but no one heard the gun shot. The police said the statements of some of the people present in the house at the time of the incident were being recorded and efforts were being made to trace the five missing persons. They said that it was too early to ascertain the motive of the murder but the possibility of some old enmity was not being ruled out. Mr M.K. Subba was elected on the Congress ticket from Tepur and was popularly known as the lottery king. |
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Follow G.B. Pant’s ideals: PM
New Delhi, September 9 In his message to the Govind Ballabh Pant Memorial Society on the occasion of the 117th birth anniversary of Govind Ballabh Pant, the Prime Minister described Pant as a remarkable personality of our history. “At a time when concerted efforts are being made to regenerate our country and further strengthen our secular foundation and composite culture, let us recall the life and deeds of Govind Ballabh Pant and be inspired by his ideals,’’ he said. The Prime Minister said Pant is a shining example of a freedom fighter who suffered imprisonment and influenced countless people through his dedicated work and sacrifice. He said Pant was an admirable and respectable public figure who left lasting impressions as an eminent parliamentarian, able administrator and a man with strength of character and conviction. In his message, the PM said, Pant was a “leader with a progressive outlook who considered uplifting the tribes and backward sections of our society as part of our obligation to pay or debt to them.” |
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Adorna is UNICEF’s representative to
India
New Delhi, September 9 Before assuming his official duties in India, Mr Adorna served as acting representative for Sudan and led UNICEF’s work in the Darfur region. Earlier, he served as Director of Public Partnerships in UNICEF, New York headquarters. In 2002, he worked with the UN Development Group leading the work on hormonisation and simplification of UNDG agencies’ programming procedures. In over two decades with UNICEF, Mr Adorna has worked in different regions, including Latin America and the Caribbean. He was the UNICEF representative for the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, and was the area representative for Colombia and Venezuela. He joined UNICEF in 1981. |
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Cong cadres feel
isolated from govt New Delhi, September 9 "There is an increasing feeling among the cadres that they are not being heard by the government," remarked a senior AICC office-bearer. Finding
themselves shut out by their own government, party workers are now flocking to AICC general secretaries with their grievances and requests. This is despite the fact that in her opening address at the recent AICC session, Congress president Sonia Gandhi had made a pointed reference to the need for narrowing the gap between the government and the party. Stating that governments emerge from political parties, Mrs. Gandhi had cited how this disconnect had cost the Congress dearly in last December's Assembly elections. Although this was meant to warn Congress ministers about the pitfalls of ignoring the party apparatus, AICC leaders are not clear how they should bridge this gap. As of now, the ministers have been asked to be more accessible to party workers and also involve the party when they go on official visits to the states. "How many ministers take the trouble of visiting the local party office when they go out of Delhi," remarked another AICC leader. It was also suggested that ministers should be asked to sit in the AICC office
regularly to enable them to interact with party workers and hear out their
grievances. However, this idea was not found feasible since most Congress ministers are far too senior or have a busy schedule which does not allow them spare time. Besides, a lot of ministries involving public dealing, are led by Congress allies. Party leaders said this idea could be implemented in the states where the Congress is in power on its own. Although there are institutional mechanisms for coordination between the UPA allies and between the Congress and the Left parties, no such arrangement has been put in place to bridge the gap between the party and the government. Congress leaders said this, too, might not be possible as adding another formal structure to the existing ones could end up creating more confusion. As of now, it was stated, there is complete understanding between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mrs. Sonia Gandhi who meet on a weekly basis to discuss any outstanding government-party issues. Mr Ahmed Patel, Congress president's political secretary, keeps in touch with the Congress allies to keep them in good humour and deal with any contentious matters. |
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Indian Air Force to man airbase in Congo
New Delhi, September 9 The 120-member Indian Air Force team will supervise operations at the vital Kindu airbase in the volatile eastern part of Congo. It wil be the first time that New Delhi would be deploying a military team abroad for such an operation. The contingent, which will leave for Congo in phases between today and Monday, includes 30 specially trained IAF commandoes from the Garud Force that was formed last year to guard vital installations. The Air Force commandoes, trained by the Army and the elite National Security Guards, are being sent with the contingent in view of the upsurge in the civil war in Congo between tribal militia and rebel troops, said IAF sources. India has another 300-member IAF team equipped with utility and attack helicopters operating at Goma in Congo. This team is currently being guarded by a 100-member contingent of the Indian Army’s elite Para Regiment. Addressing the new contingent travelling to Congo here on Thursday, IAF Vice-Chief Air Marshal M. McMahon recalled the force’s association with peacekeeping missions in the African nation since 1961. “The mission environment is sure to make heavy demands on you mentally and physically,” he said. Referring to the volatile situation in Congo, he said, “The security environment requires you to be prepared in all respects.” Squadron Leader S. Srinivasan, the chief operations officer of the IAF team that will man the Kindu airbase, said: “The airfield takes care of three-fourths of all aerial missions in eastern Congo, with up to 12 flights of heavy aircraft like the 1L-76 from the airbase everyday.” |
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Thackeray steps in to defuse son-nephew
row
Mumbai, September 9 Speaking to reporters at his residence in suburban Mumbai, Mr Thackeray stated that he alone would decide on who would be the Chief Minister of Maharashtra in case the saffron alliance returned to power after a five-year gap. “There is still time for the next government to be formed and these matters can be decided later,” Mr Thackeray said. Before Mr Raj Thackeray expressed his ambition for the top job in Maharashtra earlier this week, Mr Uddhav Thackeray’s candidature for the post of Chief Minister was a foregone conclusion in the case of a Sena-BJP victory. Shiv Sena leaders had indicated that Mr Uddhav Thackeray would take over as Maharashtra’s Chief Minister if the saffron alliance bagged an absolute majority. The other alternative mooted by the party was to get former Chief Minister and present Leader of the Opposition Narayan Rane to take over in case the alliance needed to look for fresh partners to form the government. Earlier, Mr Bal Thackeray’s indication that son Uddhav would be his heir did not go down well with Raj, who enjoys greater popularity among party cadres. The nephew draws bigger crowds at election rallies and a section of the Shiv Sena leadership is said to be pitting Raj against Uddhav. With party workers split on Uddhav and Raj, the elder Thackeray is now working hard to soothe tempers. “There is nothing wrong in expressing a view that one aspires to be the Chief Minister,” Mr Thackeray said. He, however, insisted that Raj was not serious about aspiring for the top job and was only jesting in a lighter vein. Relations between the two camps are frosty and party workers affiliated to the cousins have come to blows before. Raj himself has in the past accused Uddhav of marginalising his supporters and is demanding more tickets for his men, according to sources. |
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Telgi’s associate gets bail
Mumbai, September 9 Mehta, arrested on June 19, in the adulterated petroleum scam case, however, would not be able to come out of the jail as he is held in judicial custody in the fake stamp paper scam case registered in Pune, his lawyer Dipesh Mehta said. According to the CBI, Telgi was also allegedly involved in adulteration of petroleum products in petrol pumps all over the country. Mehta allegedly procured adulterants like superior kerosene oil and neptha at the instance of Telgi and transported them to Bangalore. During interrogations, Mehta was also confronted with Telgi’s driver, Daniel, on alleged procurement of adulterants. Seeking Mehta’s custody, the CBI said that Telgi had acquired a polyorganic factory in Thane for the purpose. Mehta is charged with the IPC Sections 120-b (conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating). He is also facing charges under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act. — PTI |
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Three kids hurt in blast
Dehradun, September 9 The government has ordered an inquiry into the incident. Garhwal Range IG L.P. Mishra said today the police was not only examining the school which was located adjacent to the firing range in the cantonment but also the child’s house and the adjoining areas. The three children were toying with the detonator in their classroom when Shahnawaz accidentally put the two wires of the detonator and the pencil battery together, the police said. This led to the explosion leaving the three with burn injuries. |
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New Delhi, September 9
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