 |
|
Advani plays safe, retains Naidu’s team
Peace talks between farmers, govt
fail
In video:
96 CBMs exchanged by India, Pak since April
2003
SC refuses to stay JBT teachers’
appointment
13 teams formed to search Gadaria
gang
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
India-Myanmar
plan action against terrorists in November
Last date extended for suggestions
on NEP
LS Speaker leaves for Japan
Censor Board okays film on
JP
CPM condemns police firing
Keshav Rao is Andhra Cong
chief
|
|
Advani plays safe, retains Naidu’s team
New Delhi, October 30 General Secretary Pramod Mahajan about whom speculation was rife that he could face the axe in view of the party’s poor performance in the Maharashtra Assembly poll, was untouched, while Haryana MP Kishan Singh Sangwan was made Vice-President, apparently in view of the coming state Assembly elections. Former Rajasthan Governor Madan Lal Khurana, who resigned recently to join active politics, has found a place in the National Executive along with Kailashpati Mishra, who was removed by the UPA government as Gujarat Governor. Other notable inclusions in the National Executive as members or special invitees are young Varun Gandhi, former Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Najma Heptullah (both joined BJP recently), former Delhi Lt-Governor Vijai Kapoor and former minister Arif Mohammad Khan. Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti, who had to quit after a Karnataka court issued an arrest warrant against her in a 10-year-old rioting case, was excluded from the list of office-bearers at the last moment, as she reportedly had reservations about her party rival from the state Shivraj Singh Chauhan being sent as the Madhya Pradesh unit chief. Ms Bharti, however, has been included as a member of the national executive. She was also reportedly against the inclusion of Mr Pramod Mahajan in the team, alleging that he had not “cooperated” during her ‘Tiranga Yatra’ in Maharashtra. The party, however, maintained that Ms Bharti had excused herself out, citing that she wanted to continue with her “vacation”. “Her name was dropped late last night,” a party leader said. Ms Bharti had rushed to Delhi to meet Mr Advani soon after he took over from Mr Naidu, with whom she reportedly had a telephonic tiff earlier. Mr Advani has left one post each of Vice-President and General Secretary vacant. Party Vice-President and spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who released the list, told newspersons that these would be filled by the BJP chief “soon” as discussions were being held at various levels. Mr Naqvi along with former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Babulal Marandi are notable persons to be retained as Vice-Presidents in Mr Advani’s team. Mr Sudheendra Kulkarni, an aide to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Political Secretary to Mr Naidu, was included as one of the nine secretaries along with Andhra Pradesh leader Bandaru Dattatraya and Mr Om Mathur from Rajasthan. Mr Vajpayee, former Finance and External Affairs Ministers Jaswant Singh and Yashwant Sinha find a place in the 79-member National Executive along with former party chiefs Murli Manohar Joshi, Venkaiah Naidu, K Jana Krishnamurty and Bangaru Laxman, who had to quit in the wake of the Tehelka expose. Mr Advani has brought back his old teasurer Ved Prakash Goyal in his team, replacing Mr Sukumar Nambiar who has been included in the National Executive. The party recently amended its constitution to create two additional posts each of Vice-President, General Secretary and Secretary. BJP chief ministers, State unit presidents and general secretaries, regional organising secretaries, Leaders of the Opposition in state Assemblies and Councils and Parliamentary Party leaders will be permanent invitees. Hema Malini, ‘Bahu’ Smriti Irani, South Indian actress Vijaya Shanti, star-turned-MP Shatrughan Sinha and cricketer-turned-MP Navjot Singh Sidhu have been included in the National Executive as members or special invitees. Mr Vinay Katiyar, who was forced to resign as Uttar Pradesh party president after the Lok Sabha elections, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s arch rival former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel and former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi have also been accommodated in the Executive. In the Executive, Mr Advani has given representation to five members of minority communities, six to Scheduled Castes, four to Scheduled Tribes and 19 to OBCs. It also has 24 special invitees, of whom five belong to minority communities, Mr Naqvi said. At least 12 women have been included in the Executive, two of whom are special invitees. |
|
Peace talks between farmers, govt
fail
Gharsana (Sriganganagar), October 30 Leaders of the kisan, mazdoor and vyapari sangathan samitis accused the state government of not taking serious interest in the matter. Talking to The Tribune from their hideout, leaders, incluidng Mr Hetram Beniwal and Mr Vallabh Koccher, expressed anger at the "indifferent attitude" of the state government. In the afternoon, they agreed to participate in the "peace talks'' on being invited by the state government. Earlier in the day, a ministerial committee sent an invitation to the farmers' leaders, which they refused. But later in the evening they agreed to particpate in the talks. The closed-door talks were still on, till the filing of the report. The committee, led by the state Irrigation Minister, Mr Sawar Lal Jat, held a meeting but it did not brief the press. Sources close to the committee members termed the peace talks as a "failure". Criticising the committee, farmers' leaders said the state government invited those who had nothing to do with the agitation. Talking to The Tribune, Mr Beniwal said the front demanded action against those responsible for killing four farmers in firing. Till today, he said, the state government had not taken the water issue seriously. This had worsened the situation day by day. Mr Beniwal threatened to spread the agitation to other parts of Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh. The sources said the police was taking the threat seriously as the agitation on the water issue was spreading to other villages. Today, farmers held protest demonstrations at Jaitsar and Gajsinghpur villages in the district. Meanwhile, no violent incident was reported from the district during the relaxation in curfew. A firebrand farmer, Vallabh Koccher, said the farmers would not accept anything less than an end to the water crisis in the area. Meanwhile, the committee members visited the family of a farmer, Jetha Ram, who was killed in the firing and handed over a cheque for Rs 5 lakh to them. |
|
|
96 CBMs exchanged by India, Pak since April
2003
New Delhi, October 29 The current status of these 96 proposals is as follows: 13 proposals have been implemented by both sides; 17 are being unilaterally implemented by India; 20 are under discussion; and on as many as 46 Indian proposals there has been no response from Pakistan yet. To cynics and critics of the peace process, it should be an eye-opener that the two neighbours have travelled down the road to peace quite some distance in the past 19 months. But the last category of “no response from Pakistan” proposals also denotes that the two countries have still to go a long way and would have to negotiate most sensitive and treacherous points of diplomacy. Altogether 13 measures have been implemented by both sides. There are at present 20 proposals under discussion, including day-bus service between Amritsar and religious places in Lahore such as Nankana Sahib. As many 17 proposals aimed at encouraging people-to-people contacts with Pakistan are also being unilaterally implemented by India. |
|
|
SC refuses to stay JBT teachers’
appointment
New Delhi, October 30 While rejecting the plea of over 20 candidates to grant interim stay on the appointment process, a Bench of Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti and Mr Justice G.P. Mathur, however, said the appointment of new teachers would be subject to the outcome of a batch of petitions in which the year 2000 recruitments had been challenged. "Any appointment during the pendency of the (present) petition shall be subject to the result of the matter pending before the court. A note to that effect shall be inserted in the appointment order, if any, issued in pursuant to the advertisement No 7 of 2004 (for the new recruitments)," the court said. The petitioners, led by Ms Savita, had sought stay on the process on the ground that it would affect their interests. They contended that if the judgement in their earlier petition, in which they had claimed that their selection was scuttled due to the scam, came in their favour, their chances of getting the appointment would be adversely affected. A batch of petitions had been filed by several candidates in the apex court after the scam came to light, in which there were allegations and counter-allegations about the role of the Chief Minister and then Director of Primary Eduction Sanjiv Kumar about interfering in the selection process. The court assured the petitioners that their interests would be fully protected, if the judgement would be in their favour in the earlier matter. Sanjiv Kumar, at present under suspension, pending the CBI and CVC inquiries against him, in his petition had alleged that Mr Chautala during the 1999-2000 JBT teachers' appointment process had "pressurised" him to release the "second list", which he had refused and ordered the appointment as per the "genuine" selection list prepared by his predecessor. According to him, the second list was a "fake one" which was allegedly got prepared by Mr Chautala to accommodate certain candidates. But some candidates had filed another petition alleging that in fact the so-called "second list" was the "original list". |
|
|
13 teams formed to search Gadaria
gang
Bhopal, October 30 This is not the first time that the state police has diverted its full attention on the Gadaria gang. In December 2001 also, over 200 officers and jawans of the police were deputed to nab the members of the Gadaria gang. The police teams were assisted, as these are being now, by the “hawk force”, specially trained to take on the Naxalites. The provocation then was the uprising of the people against the government following the murder of a young businessman in the Narvaria block of Shivpuri district, which is the Scindia territory. Mr Jyotiraditya Scindia, son of late Madhavrao Scindia, had prevailed upon the then Chief Minister, Mr Digvijay Singh, to go full blast to finish off the Gadaria menace. It has long been suspected that Rambabu Gadaria keeps policemen on his payroll and they help him escape from the police dragnet. Mr Narendra Birthare, a BJP MLA from the region, had made some startling revelations in the Assembly in August 2001. Speaking on an adjournment motion on the killing of four persons by the Gadaria gang earlier that month, Mr Birthare said that “about a month back, gang leader Rambabu Gadaria had collected, at Imlia Talab, some 25 persons from Imlia, Karsena, Patoran and Mukheda villages and told them that he was able to escape from the police custody by paying Rs 20 lakh to the police personnel in bribes. He added that he had to collect this amount from the villagers”. Rambabu Gadaria had escaped, along with four of his colleagues, from the police custody in March that year, taking with them four rifles, over 60 cartridges and three sets of handcuffs. |
|
|
India-Myanmar plan action
against Guwahati, October 30 New Delhi, however, reportedly assured the NSCN(IM) and NSCN(Khaflang) that this proposed joint exercise would not target their bases in Myanmar, in view of the ongoing peace talks with NSCN, NSCN leaders had agreed to come down to Delhi sometime between November, December to further advance the process of dialogue. Disclosing this to this correspondent, a senior Special Branch official said the decision of the Joint Operation, a long standing demand of Assam Government, followed the recent treaty between New Delhi and Myanmar to put up a joint fight against terrorism. The joint operation is expected to curb
not only the problem of militancy in the North-East, but also to check
drug and arms smuggling on Assam-Nagaland border. |
|
Last date extended for suggestions
on NEP
New Delhi, October 30 The draft describes key environmental challenges, currently and prospectively facing the country, the objectives of the environment policy, normative principles underlying the policy action, strategic themes for intervention, broad indications of the legislative and institutional development intended to accomplish the strategic themes and mechanisms for implementation and review. The NEP 2004 is intended to be a guide for achieving a balance between economic, social and economic needs of the country, aiming at the alleviation of poverty. |
|
LS Speaker leaves for Japan
New Delhi, October 30 The delegation includes Members of Parliament Ashwani Kumar, Lalitbhai Mehta, Alok Kumar Mehta, Sudhanshu Kumar Seal and Bharat Madhavsinh Solanki. Lok Sabha Secretary General G.C. Malhotra is accompanying the delegation. |
|
Censor Board okays film on
JP
Mumbai, October 30 According to him the film was given the Censor Board certificate on Friday. "The certificate clearly shows that the film is based on the life of Jaiprakash Narayan and did not adhere to any ideological preferences," Jha said in his statement. Jha is locked in a battle with Prasar Bharti over the telecast of the documentary on Doordarshan. The national broadcaster, which had commissioned Jha to make the documentary, had asked him to delete scenes on the Emergency and the protests against former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. In all Doordarshan had asked Jha to make 12 cuts in the film. According to Jha, Doordarshan should now telecast the film since the Censor Board has already approved it. |
|
CPM condemns police firing
New Delhi, October 30 The politburo in a statement demanded end of repression unleashed against the people, withdrawal of false cases against those leading the struggle and an immediate solution to the issue of water supply. |
|
Keshav Rao is Andhra Cong
chief
New Delhi, October 30 Similarly, there is an urgency to appoint a full-fledged PCC president in Delhi. The post has been vacant for nearly three months, ever since the last incumbent Prem Singh was elevated as Speaker. Hectic lobbying is currently on for this prestigious job. The aspirants include Lok Sabha member Ajay Maken, J.P. Aggarwal, Narendra Nath and Ram Babu Sharma. The West Bengal PCC has also been without a functioning president for a long period. Defence minister Pranab Mukherjee, the state unit president, has been wanting to relinquish this post well before the last Lok Sabha poll but he has yet to be replaced. Now that Mr Mukherjee has additional responsibilities in the UPA government, the Congress president is expected to take an early decision in this case. In Himachal Pradesh, PCC chief Vidya Stokes is also a minister. If the AICC is to follow its principle of giving only one post to a person, then the state should get a new PCC president. It is the same story in Chhattisgarh, where AICC treasurer Motilal Vora doubles as the state unit president. |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
New Delhi, October 30
Curfew imposed in one more town in Sriganganagar district.
