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My views on Advani misinterpreted, says Vajpayee
Join me in penance, Uma asks Vajpayee
Housing bylaws to decide membership,
Bangladesh appoints panel to probe Akhaura incident
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Amul-man Kurien’s order set aside
BJP appreciates govt’s approach on Pak
Paswan seeks quota for Dalit Muslims, Christians
EC wants powers to bar errant nominees
Tehelka case: Col Syal questioned
Wen whispered on Security Council seat to Manmohan
N-E states to fight infiltration
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My views on Advani misinterpreted, says Vajpayee
New Delhi, April 20 “A wrong meaning is being given to my replies to questions put by mediapersons yesterday,” Mr Vajpayee said in a written statement here in an obvious attempt to put an end to the controversy whether he had suggested that Mr Advani should retire to make way for younger leaders to take over. “I have not said anything that could create a controversy over continuance of Mr Advani as BJP President,” he said, adding “Mr Advani has been unanimously elected as President a few months ago and is heading the party successfully.” “We all want him to steer the party in future too,” the former Prime Minister said in his four-para statement. According to party sources, Mr Vajpayee late last night telephoned Mr Advani to convey to him that his remarks are being “misinterpreted” by the media. Reacting to a question on the suggestion of the RSS chief, Mr K.S. Sudarshan, that the party should be headed by the next generation leaders, Mr Vajpayee yesterday said: “It is a good suggestion. I am not holding any post. I am not doing much work. Nowadays I don’t have any work.” On whether Mr Advani should step down, he said: “It is for him and the party to decide.” Meanwhile, the party also came out strongly to rule out any change till Mr Advani completed his full tenure. “There is no question of any change till Mr Advani completes his full tenure. The party is not at all considering any change,” senior party leader Jaswant Singh told newspersons here. Asked about Mr Vajpayee’s remarks endorsing Mr Sudarshan’s statement that both he and Mr Advani should give way to the second-rung leadership, he said: “The party has totally and categorically reaffirmed its faith in the leadership of both Mr Vajpayee and Mr Advani.” On Mr Vajpayee’s remarks that the second generation is ready to take over, he said the very term “second line” had been coined by the media. |
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Join me in penance, Uma asks Vajpayee
Amarkantak (MP), April 20 “Atalji ke paas abhi koi kaam nahin hai. Mere paas bhi koi kaam nahin hai (Atalji does not have any work at present. I also have no work),” she told reporters here, a day after Mr Vajpayee endorsed RSS chief Sudarshan’s suggestion that he and L K Advani should resign their posts and he himself had “no work”. “Let Atalji come here and we both `baap-beti’ (father-daughter) will perform `tapasya’,” the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister said, a day before a spiritual function here in which she is expected to announce her political plans after seeking blessings from her Guru Swami Vishveshwara Teerth of Udipi.
— PTI
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Housing bylaws to decide membership, says SC
New Delhi, April 20 “His right to become a member depended on his possessing the qualification to become one as per the bylaws of the society,” a Bench of Mr Justice B. N. Agrawal and Mr Justice P. K. Balasubramanyan ruled. The court said if there was any restriction in the bylaw on transferring the membership, then the member could not question such a restriction and the courts had no power to interfere in it. “These are restrictions in the interest of the society and its members and consistent with the object with which the society was formed. He cannot question that restriction,” the court said. “We have co-operative societies of various groups like women, handicapped persons, labourers and agriculture workers. We have societies of religious groups who believe in vegetarianism and
abhor non-vegetarian food. It will be impermissible, so long as the law stands as it is, to thrust upon the idea of others”, the Court observed. The order came on an appeal of the Zoroastrian Co-operative Housing Society, Ahmedabad, which in its bylaws had laid down that the qualification for becoming the member in it was that the person should be a Parsi and that the transfer of its
share to him had to be on the prior sanction of the committee on the membership of the society. The society had lost a case in the trial court and the Gujarat High Court against a member who had sold his property to a builder to raise a commercial complex in it, which was in violation of the laid down bylaws that a non-Parsi could not be a member of the society. Allowing the appeal of the Society, the apex court said the person who had sold the property to the builder was not even an original member but had only acquired his right over the property after the death of his father, who was a Parsi and had become a member voluntarily. |
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Bangladesh appoints panel to probe Akhaura incident
New Delhi, April 20 The inquiry committee, comprising a Joint Secretary in Bangladesh’s Home Ministry, Deputy Commissioner of the local district in Bangladesh and representatives of the police and media, has been directed to submit its report within seven days, Bangladesh’s Acting High Commissioner here, Mr Masud Bin Momen, told The Tribune. The issue is expected to be taken up at the Foreign Ministers’ level between the two countries. External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh is already in Jakarta to attend a multilateral conference where Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Morshed M. Khan is also expected to be present. Mysteriously, three major incidents, which have sent the Indo-Bangla relations nose-diving since 2001, have all taken place on April 16. On April 16, 2001, the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) had killed 16 jawans in Pyrdiwah in Meghalaya, claiming the village to be theirs. On April 16, 2003, a gunbattle erupted between in Akahura. The acting High Commissioner of Bangladesh, Mr Masub Bin Momen, was called to the Foreign Office on April 18, where Joint Secretary (Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives) in the Ministry of External Affairs, Ms Neelam Deo, conveyed India’s strong protest over the incident. The MEA gave to the Bangladeshi envoy a copy of the “demarche” (a diplomatic protest
note), which the Indian High Commission in Dhaka had handed over to the Bangladesh Foreign Office yesterday. Mr Momen told The Tribune today that he expressed “regrets” over the incident and conveyed Indian protest to the Bangladesh authorities in Dhaka. |
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Amul-man Kurien’s order set aside
Ahmedabad, April 20 Mr Justice Akhil Qureshi in his orders termed Mr Reddy’s sacking as “unlawful” and “illegal” and said he could continue as IRMA’s director till the completion of the final hearing of the petition in June. The court observed that sacking Mr Reddy by Mr Kurien was “unauthorised” and that all those concerned with the institute should abide by the court’s directives. “It appears that the chairman wants to take control of the institute on his own without taking the board into consideration,” the court observed commenting on the “high-handedness” of Mr Kurien. Reacting to the court’s orders, Mr Reddy said he would continue as the director of institute for a few month more but would not hold the post for long as the place (IRMA) had become “murky”. Mr Reddy had moved the court challenging Dr Kurien’s authority to terminate his services as the director on April 7, 2005. Mr Reddy’s counsel argued that his client was appointed by the Board of Governors collectively and not by the chairman individually. Only the board, as the appointing authority, could terminate the service of the director, Dr Reddy’s counsel contended. The issue of Dr Kurien preventing three members of the board from attending the meeting on April 15 also came up for hearing. Those who were prevented were Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) director Dr Bakul Dholakia, Ahmedabad-based National Institute of Design (NID) chairman Hasmukh Shah, and Hyderabad-based NGO ‘’Basix’’ CEO Vijay Mahajan. While granting interim relief to Mr Reddy. Justice Qureishi observed that it does not appear to be a case of simple termination.
— PTI
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BJP appreciates govt’s approach on Pak
New Delhi, April 20 Alleging that the joint statement of April 18, issued by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, “left several gaps and omits reference to important issues”, former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh asked why it omitted any “explicit reference to promoting terrorism always earlier highlighted”. In this regard, he mentioned the January 6, 2004, joint statement issued at the end of the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s statement which said in order to take forward the dialogue process, “violence, hostility and terrorism must be prevented”. “A total omission of this is extremely worrisome particularly as both the Defence Minister and the Chief of Army Staff have publicly confirmed Pakistan’s continuing role in promoting terrorism,” he said. On the UPA government’s announcement that it was now working with the Pakistani government for a “final settlement” of the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, he said: “It must clarify what this final settlement is.” The BJP also finds as objectionable and dangerous the pledge given by the UPA government about “not allowing terrorism to impede the peace process,” he said, adding, “this defeats totally the entire rationale of India’s anti-terrorism policy and campaign. Most objectionably it also equates the perpetrator of the crime with the victim of it.” |
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Paswan seeks quota for Dalit Muslims, Christians New Delhi, April 20 “When all religious communities, whether Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christians, are availing themselves of the facilities of reservation in OBC and ST categories, there is no reason why Dalit Muslims and Christians be denied facilities given to the
SCs,” the LJP leader said. Mr Paswan, who led an 11-member delegation of the All-India United Muslim Morcha, handed over a memorandum to the Prime Minister on the Dalit-Muslim reservation. He said while initially Dalit Hindus were provided facilities given to the
SCs, Sikh and neo-Buddhist communities were subsequently included in this category. Meanwhile, Mr Paswan is making frantic efforts to get salaries and allowances for elected Bihar MLAs. Sources said Mr Paswan, who had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other leaders recently, was trying to get an ordinance issued by Governor Buta Singh in this connection. The MLAs, who as per the present rule are not entitled to any perks, would also get the constituency development fund of Rs 1 crore, the sources said. Mr Paswan is making these efforts to ensure that the LJP MLAs do not switch loyalities to his political rivals like RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav and JD (U) leader Nitish Kumar. |
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EC wants powers to bar errant nominees
Hyderabad, April 20 The government should give legislative shape to the code so that the Election Commission (EC) would be competent to deal with violations. Such a power to the EC would be useful in improving the quality of elections, the Chief Election Commissioner, Mr T.S. Krishnamurthy, said here today. He was briefing mediapersons on the deliberations at the conference of state Election Commissioners convened by the commission here. Along with Mr Krishnamurthy, Election Commissioners — Mr B.B. Tandon and Mr N. Gopalaswamy — participated in the deliberations with 24 state Election Commissioners. Mr Krishnamurthy felt that there was also a need to regulate advertisements in the print and electronic media in violation of the code, which was causing anguish regarding the conduct of the governments. A monitoring mechanism had to be in place to oversee the media publicity during poll, he added. |
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Tehelka case: Col Syal questioned
Chandigarh, April 20 Deposing before the court, Colonel Syal said that the sequence of events shown in the video tapes shot secretly by tehelka.com operatives was correct. He also stated that tehelka staffer Mathews Samuel had contacted Brigadier Iqbal on his own to establish a link for carrying out arms
deals. The defence counsel, Major R.S. Randhawa (retd), also questioned the witness about his career and association with the accused. The defence had earlier sought time till April 22 to prepare for the cross-examination. The defence also pleaded that it be allowed to cross-examine Samuel before questioning Colonel Syal. Prosecution counsel Arvind Moudgil, however, contended that Samuel had been examined before the court only for the limited purpose of establishing the admissibility of the tapes and objections raised in this regard by the defence had already been overruled. The court has fixed April 25 as the next date of hearing, when the cross-examination of Colonel Syal by the defence is expected to continue. |
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Wen whispered on Security Council seat to Manmohan
New Delhi, April 20 In another important policy statement - the first of its kind from the Chinese- China has shed its earlier caution and become “very positive” on a trilateral cooperation involving China, Russia and India. Broad contours of this trilateral cooperation will be finalised when the Foreign Ministers of the three countries meet in the Russian far eastern city of Vladivostok on June 1, the Chinese Ambassador said. He said the three nations were interested in forging a strategic cooperation on global fora and not a military pact aimed against any other power. Russia had taken the initiative in forging this trilateral axis. India had acquiesced but China always kept its cards close to itself. In response to questions from The Tribune, Sun Yuxi said Mr Jiabao had told Dr Manmohan Singh during their one-to-one meeting “whenever time is ripe, India will be on top of the Chinese list for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council”. He said Beijing was under pressure from its diplomatic mission in New York not to say anything or take any sides as of now because it was bound to influence the ongoing process. |
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N-E states to fight infiltration
Kohima, April 20 Talking to this correspondent, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio said recently the Chief Ministers of the five northeastern states had a meeting in Delhi where they urged the Centre to take serious note of the infiltration problem threatening the indigenous and ethnic population of the
North-Eastern region. According to Mr Rio, the Congress government in Assam was not serious in dealing with the infiltration problem as the state was having the longest border with Bangladesh among all northeastern states.
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SC refuses Zaheera’s plea
New Delhi, April 20 A Bench of Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat and Mr Justice H. K. Sema, had appointed a high-powered committee under the Supreme Court Registrar-General, Mr B. M. Gupta, to probe the issue of Zaheera’s affidavit, which she claimed that she had never signed and filed.
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Three envoys appointed
New Delhi, April 20 Mr Ram Mohan, present Ambassador in Tunisia, has been appointed as India’s next Ambassador to Romania in succession to Mr Ajai Malhotra. Mr R O’Neil Wallang, presently Consul General of India in Osaka-Kobe, has been appointed as High Commissioner of India to Zambia in succession Mr Yogesh K Gupta. Dr Balkrishna Shetty, presently Ambassador of India in Senegal, has been appointed as Ambassador of India to Bahrain in succession to Mr Bhaskar K
Mitra.
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4 JD (S) leaders expelled
Bangalore, April 20 |
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