New Delhi, May 24
The NDA today charged the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government with ‘devaluing and denigrating’ Constitutional institutions, compromising with criminalisation of politics, corruption and blatantly “gagging” the voice of the Opposition.

The NDA, in its 40-point charge sheet against the UPA government’s performance of the past one year, made a virulent attack on Congress President Sonia Gandhi for enjoying “power without responsibility” as Chairperson of the National Advisory Council (NAC) and acting as an extra-Constitutional authority.

“The Prime Minister of India is not the CEO of India Inc, stripped of political powers that are exercised by some other person. This unconstitutional arrangement has imposed on the country a Prime Minister who is not the leader of his own party, who is not in command of his own government, who has to report to his boss at every important step,” the charge sheet said.

“The NDA demands that the Prime Minister either disband the NAC, or make its chairperson accountable to Parliament, and, additionally, make NAC’s work open to scrutiny by parliamentary committees, which should have the right to summon NAC chairperson and members before them,” it said.

“In the one year it (UPA government) has been in power, important and vital constitutional institutions have been devalued and denigrated. Look at Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh), how his office has been devalued,” BJP President L. K. Advani, flanked by top leaders of the NDA, told a crowded press conference here after the release of the ‘charge sheet’ by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Making a sarcastic remark, Mr Advani said, “I praise the Prime Minister as a person. He is a good person, but he is a weak Prime Minister.”

Referring to the recent attack by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad against the Election Commission, the BJP President said, “Had a minister in the (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee government spoken of the Election Commission in such a manner, he would have been out of the government the very next day.”

“While the Prime Minister had to perforce defend the Election Commission, which is a Constitutional authority, and distance himself from his errant minister. The ‘super prime minister’ (Sonia Gandhi), however, tacitly supported Lalu Prasad in this matter,” Mr Advani said.

Describing the UPA as an “Unprincipled alliance” and a “strange coalition”, Mr Advani said, “in most of the economic policies, the principal party in the government (Congress) and the principal allies are at loggerheads and fight against one another.

“What kind of a coalition is it,” Mr Advani asked, pointing to the sharp differences between the Left parties and the government.

“Anti-BJPism was the sole sustainer of the UPA government,” Mr Advani added.

Condemning the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly at a moment when the NDA was all set to stake its claim, he said the matter would be taken to the people’s court. “People have always given the right verdict,” Mr Advani said.

Replying to a question whether the BJP will approach the court, Mr Advani said some individual MLAs are exploring the legal possibilities. “But we have already demanded immediate conduct of elections in Bihar,” he said.

NDA convener George Fernandes said there was “nothing worth” to talk about the performance of the UPA in its one year in power. The UPA’s main aim was to “insult” the NDA leaders, he said.

Mr Fernandes said the steps taken by the government in Bihar made it more clear that the Congress and the UPA did not believe in having an “opposition.”

“We are not experiencing this for the first time. From Indira Gandhi’s time, we have gone through such experiences. But at least, there was some civility shown to us at that time,” he said.

Accusing the government of taking the support of “lies” in every field, Mr Fernandes pointed out the Phukan Commission Report as an example. “First, the government hesitated in placing the report in Parliament. They said it was not the full report. But when it was brought in Parliament, it was on the last day of the session so that there could be no debate,” he said.

Mr Fernandes also charged the UPA with promoting dynastic rule, rattling off a number of schemes named after the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. “Dynastic rule will only encourage corruption,” he remarked.

Pointing it out as “another major failure” of the UPA government, Mr Advani said “the internal security situation deteriorated after this government came to power. On the very first day in power, regarding the Naxal problem, it said let the states deal with it.”

“On the contrary, the Vajpayee government had emphasised on creating a common code for all affected states to deal with the problem,” he said.

The 28-page charge sheet enlists the UPA government’s “failures” in five chapters — dynastic rule, devaluation of the Prime Minister’s post, internal security in peril, promises unfulfilled, mistakes in foreign policy.

The charge sheet, condemning the “dynastic takeover” of names of schemes’ and places, said “This government (UPA) has freely changed the names of schemes and places to satisfy the insatiable hunger of the ‘royal family’ of the Congress party to name everything and every place after the names of the members of that family.”

On the internal security situation, it said, “the Central government is guilty of complacency and laxity and the internal security of the country has never been under greater threat then at present.”

Charging the UPA government with deceiving the nation on the issue of Bangladeshi infiltration, it said the NDA condemned the “UPA government’s myopic and selfish approach towards the grave problem of the ‘demographic invasion’ of Bangladeshi infiltrators, giving no thought to the long-term harm that this can do to India’s security, unity and integrity.”

Ranthambhore, May 24
A tigress called ‘Lady of the Lake’ walked into view barely 15 minutes after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh embarked on a safari inside Ranthambhore National Park today.

Dr Manmohan Singh who is — here on a visit to discuss the crisis plaguing Project Tiger and other wildlife reserves, his wife Gursharan Kaur and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje spent more than two hours inside the park this morning.

According to officials who accompanied the Prime Minister on the safari, the dignitaries sighted the tigress on the roadside in the Kamal Dhar area of the Nal valley in the 392 sq km park.

Her two cubs were, however, not with the tigress at the time.

They spent five minutes savouring the sight before the cavalcade moved on.

Eager to see a tiger in the wild, where large-scale poaching has been reported of late, Dr Manmohan Singh had set out on the safari in an open jeep at 5.45 am when sightings are easier.

“This is the first time I have sighted a tiger in my life,” the Prime Minister said later.

He said he had a “useful and informative visit” to Ranthambhore and gained first-hand knowledge of the challenges confronting national parks and sanctuaries.

While the entire tiger population of the Sariska reserve is feared to have been killed, 18 tigers have allegedly fallen prey to poachers in Ranthambhore in the recent past. Some tigers have also been reportedly killed in other national parks and sanctuaries of the country.

Dr Manmohan Singh is the first Prime Minister after the late Rajiv Gandhi to visit Ranthambhore. The former Prime Minister had spent a week in the park in December, 1985.

Expressing concern over the crisis plaguing Project Tiger and wildlife sanctuaries, the Prime Minister indicated that the government could chart out a fresh roadmap for reducing population pressure on protected areas.

“We must find more effective ways of reducing the pressure of human population on our forest systems,” he said while addressing a news conference.

He pointed out that biodiversity was under increasing pressure from increasing cattle and human populations and livelihood strategies had to be tailored to deal with the situation.

“The future of tigers is in our hands,” he said, adding that the government needed to focus attention on a complex web of issues responsible for the decline in their numbers. — UNI

New Delhi, May 24
The visiting Chief of Staff of China’s Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA), General Liang Guanglie, will call on Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee tomorrow to discuss ways to enhance cooperation between the armed forces of the two neighbours and further bolster military confidence building measures (CBMs) initiated earlier in the year.

While during the day, General Guanglie, who is the first PLA chief to visit India in the past seven years and after India carried out its nuclear tests in May 1998, held discussions with Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee and Naval chief Admiral Arun Prakash, Army Chief Gen J.J. Singh, and Air Chief Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi on initiating the process of mutual consultations envisaged in a protocol signed recently, major discussions will be held when he meets the Defence Minister.

Gen Guanglie, who arrived here yesterday on a week-long “routine ceremonial’’ visit, will be beginning a tour of prominent Indian defence installations. His visit is reciprocal to the visit of the then Indian Chief of Army Staff General N.C. Vij late last year.

The PLA Chief’s visit to India assumes significance coming soon after the protocol signed for enhancing military CBMs along the Sino-Indian border. The protocol, signed during the visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao here last month, provides for more flag meetings, exchanges along the border, visits by military officers and strengthening exchanges between training institutions of the two armed forces.

According to reports here, during his discussions with the three service chiefs here, the Chinese Army Chief also held talks over increasing the number of border meeting points.

An invitation to send Chinese military observers for the Army exercises in Rajasthan later this year also figured during the talks. China had recently invited Indian Army officers to observe its exercises.

The Chinese General was accorded a ceremonial Guard of Honour outside the South Block this forenoon before he began his engagements for the day.

New Delhi, May 24
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), after focussing on various aspects of regional cooperation, has now decided to pay attention to statistics/data, which have come to play a significant role in planning, policy making and programming, the essential ingredients for socio-economic development.

SAARC members now want to take advantage of India’s experience in statistics and data collection. Against this backdrop, heads of statistical organisations from the member states of SAARC are meeting in Kolkata on Thursday, to decide on the modes of cooperation in the area. Representatives from Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan, Bangladesh and India are taking part.

The two-day conference is scheduled to be inaugurated by Minister for Statistics and Programme Implementation Oscar Fernandes. At the end of the deliberations, the two-day meeting will adopt a report on the discussions and mode of collaboration.

India has prepared a concept paper for SAARC forum, for cooperation in the field of statistics.

Among other things, the conference will also discuss the Terms of Reference, SAARC Action Plan on Statistics, future course of action on SAARC forum of cooperation in statistics as well as on the venue, date and agenda of the second meeting on “SAARC and statistics”.

New Delhi, May 24
Linking the restoration of normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir to the return of Kashmiri Pandits, the state Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, today said his government was keen to start the process with the mid-June festival at the Khir Bhawani temple where the government had made housing arrangements for nearly 150 Pandit families.

Inaugurating Kisan Ghar near the Azadpur fruit and vegetable market here, the Chief Minister said the government was keen to ensure the return of nearly 300 families to the valley this year. “We say normalcy has returned to the state but we have not been able to ensure the return of Kashmiri Pandits,” he said.

“The government has beautified Khir Bhawani and made arrangements for the stay of 150 families. We want the families to return before June 15 when a festival is held there,” he said.

The Delhi Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dikshit said her government would make Azadpur’s vegetable and fruit market as the most modern in Asia. She said nearly 60 per cent of J&K’s horticultural produce came to the Azadpur market. Ms Dikshit said of the 5 per cent reservation for outside students in Delhi, 2 per cent was for those from Jammu and Kashmir.

Renovated at a cost of Rs 1.69 crore by the Jammu Kashmir Construction Corporation, the Kisan Ghar has facilities for stay of farmers. It offers several IT-enabled facilities.

Jaipur, May 24
“I understand your pain. I hope some solution will be found by all states concerned working together”. This is how the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, responded to the demand made by the Rajasthan Chief Minister, Ms Vasundhara Raje, at a public meeting after dedicating to the nation the 90-km six-lane Jaipur-Kishangarh expressway near Bagru village, about 30-km from Jaipur, yesterday.

The Prime Minister was on his way to Ranthambore where he was to preside over a meeting of the directors of all the national parks of the country followed by a round of the Tiger Sanctuary early this morning.

Ms Raje sought the centre’s intervention in solving the water dispute with Punjab and ensuring availability of the full share of waters from the Ravi-Vyas rivers by transferring control of the headworks from the Punjab Government to the BBMB, Dr Manmohan Singh said, “I do realize the problem of water in the desert state and in the coming days I hope all states would find the solution amicably”.

Dwelling on the six-lane expressway, he observed that this first expressway from Rajasthan would give a filip to the state’s economy and help promote other infrastructure projects for roads.

The Prime Minister said at Ranthambore this morning that efforts would be made for the protection of tigers and a campaign launched to prevent the poaching of the wildlife in the country. When the report of Tiger Task Force is received within the next two months, a concrete programme would be taken up in this regard, he added. 

New Delhi, May 24
The NDA today raised its pitch against Bihar Governor Buta Singh for recommending the dissolution of the state Assembly even as it declared that Janata Dal (U) leader Nitish Kumar would continue to be its chief ministerial candidate in the next Assembly poll.

“It is ironic that a person, who himself faced trial for indulging in horse-trading is now pointing fingers at others without substantiating it,” a visibly angry NDA convenor George Fernandes told newspersons here. He condemned the Bihar Governor for taking a decision without giving an opportunity for the formation of a popular government there.

“He (Mr Buta Singh) has been telling the media that he has reports about horse-trading, but he has not substantiated who were behind it and how many have been traded,” Mr Fernandes said, alleging: “what the Governor was saying is false.”

Asserting that the recent decision on Bihar was yet another example of the “misuse of Governor’s office”, Mr Fernandes said the NDA would take the issue to people’s court.

Meanwhile, replying to a question, BJP President L.K. Advani said, “Mr Nitish Kumar will be NDA’s chief ministerial candidate in the next Assembly poll in Bihar.”

Replying to another question, Mr Advani said moves were afoot to approach the court against the way the Assembly was dissolved when government formation was on the cards.

“An Opposition government was about to come to power and, therefore, deliberately without giving any opportunity to any party to try proving majority, the Assembly was dissolved”, he said while attacking the decision taken by the Centre. 

Kolkata, May 24
Veteran CPM leader Jyoti Basu held both Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav and Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, the two UPA partners, responsible for bringing the present crisis in Bihar, which led to the dissolution of the state Assembly.

Talking to mediapersons at the Alimuddin Street party office, Mr Basu alleged that both leaders had quarrelled on local issues instead of jointly fighting the BJP and communal forces in the state. It is unfortunate that they could not bridge their differences and stand on a common platform, remarked the CPM leader.

The CPM state secretary, Mr Anil Biswas, and Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, both Politburo members, however, welcomed the decision of the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly by the Governor and recommending fresh elections there. This was the right decision taken at the right moment, the Chief Minister commented.

The Left Front Chairman, Mr Biman Bose, and veteran Forward Bloc leader, Mr Ashoke Ghose, also welcomed the Bihar Governor’s decision. But they felt that both Mr Yadav and Mr Paswan could have settled their political disputes and avoided fresh elections, which would cost about Rs 500 crore to the exchequer.

The state Congress leader, Mr Somen Mitra, and the working president, Mr Pradip Bhattacharyya, commended the Prime Minister for accepting the Bihar Governor’s recommendation for dissolving the state Assembly. Mr Mitra said the government had no other alternative but to accept the Governor’s recommendation.

However, both Trinamool Congress leader, Ms Mamata Banerjee, and the state BJP president, Mr Tathagata Roy, vehemently criticised the Centre’s decision.

Mr Banerjee felt the decision was atrocious and highly immoral, which had been taken purely due to vested political interests.

The BJP leader also criticised Mr Buta Singh. He said the Governor had acted in a partisan way in suddenly recommending the dissolution of the state assembly, particularly, when the NDA had a fair chance of forming a stable government there in the wake of the division in the Paswan’s Jan Sakti Sangh.

Chennai, May 24
The legislators of the Bihar Assembly will move court against the dissolution of the Assembly, while the BJP will take the issue before the people, reminding them that the dark days of the Emergency were returning, BJP General Secretary Venkaiah Naidu said here today.

Talking to mediapersons at the BJP state headquarters, he said, “We have got legal opinion that it is a justiciable case, but it will be the aggrieved MLAs who will approach the court. The party will go to the people. The Congress is back to its attitude of the days of the Emergency, to the days of Indira Gandhi. The Assembly has been dissolved when Mr Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal-U was on the verge of forming a government. This is nothing but fascism.”

Mr Naidu lamented that the “Congress and the UPA did not learn their lessons” even though they were condemned by all political parties, newspaper editorials and were reprimanded by the court for the developments in the Jharkhand government formation.

He said, “We will fight this tooth and nail. We will go around the country to forewarn the people about the return of the fascism of the Emergency.” Mr Naidu asked the people “to rise to this challenge and give a fitting lesson to the UPA”.

He felt that the Central Government, under pressure from Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, acted in a haste to fax papers to Moscow for the President’s signature.

“Nothing would have happened if the Assembly had not been dissolved, except that Mr Nitish Kumar would have gone to the Governor with a list of MLAs supporting him,” he added.

In his usual manner Mr Naidu joked, “In the name of the Rashtrapathi, it was ‘Rabri-pathi’ who acted in Bihar,” and alleged that other than Governor Buta Singh, none had found any instance of horse-trading and no legislator had complained that he was being held against his will.