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Sonia Gandhi re-elected Congress President
Uma Bharti in BJP national executive
Centre destabilising Modi govt: BJP
NCW member moves HC over ouster
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USA discusses UN reforms with India
Promote eco-tourism as industry, demand mountaineers
Somnath faces protest over Santiniketan issue
Report on death of 2 workers in sewer sought
5 held in Bihar flood relief scam
Seized CPMT papers genuine
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Sonia Gandhi re-elected Congress President
New Delhi, May 28 Ms Gandhi was re-elected to the top party post a year after she steered the Congress to defeat the NDA in the last Lok Sabha polls. She later renounced the post of Prime Minister. Ms Gandhi, who begins her third term as Congress president, told jubiliant partymen after her unanimous election at the AICC headquarters that they should not get complacent and work more actively. She said the party had faced several challenges but had regained power at the Centre. Expressing her gratitude to party workers for their support, Ms Gandhi said she would toil hard to meet their expectations. Ms Gandhi was garlanded by party workers soon after Congress Central Election Authority chief Oscar Fernandes decalred her elected to the top party post unopposed. The official announcement was only a formality as no nomination was filed against her till the deadline for filing papers yesterday. Ms Gandhi’s re-election will be ratified at the party plenary expected to be held in the next few months. The Congress Working Committee, the party’s highest decision making authority, will also be reconstituted at the plenary. Though no election was held to the elected seats in the CWC at the last plenary in Bangalore, Ms Gandhi may insist on an election in the coming plenary. She has earlier indicated giving greater responsibility to young leaders in the organisation at various levels to make it more vibrant. Taking over the reins of the organisation in 1998 replacing late Sitaram Kesri, Ms Gandhi has faced ups and downs in her efforts to regain the party’s electoral territory. Ms Gandhi had faced contest for the party presidentship last time from late Jitendra Prasada but she had won effortlessly. Besides being the UPA Chairperson, Ms Gandhi heads the National Advisory Council on the National Common Minimum Programme. Ms Gandhi is also the Chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, whom Ms Gandhi had nominated to the post, as also several senior leaders, party chief Ministers and Union Ministers had filed 100 nominations proposing her name for party presidentship. Mr Fernandes said 97 nominations were found valid. He later presented a certificate to Ms Gandhi. Party workers burst crackers and danced in joy outside the AICC office as the announcement was made of Ms Gandhi’s re-election at the brief function which was attended by Union Ministers, CWC members and senior PCC leaders. Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was among those present. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today hailed the re-election of Ms Gandhi as party president. The Chief Minister, who is on a visit abroad, said in a letter to Ms Gandhi that her re-election will boost the morale of Congress workers and inspire them to work unitedly to usher an era of speedy growth in the country. |
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Uma Bharti in BJP national executive New Delhi, May 28 Ms Bharti’s rehabilitation comes after her two meetings with Mr Advani after her return from religious sojourn to
Amarkantak. Ms Bharti, while addressing a press conference on Thursday here, had maintained that she had never lobbied for any post but wanted to work for the party and be given some responsibility. She had also maintained that she had gone to Amarkantak not only to seek peace and shed anger but also to keep away from any possible controversy if she remained in Bhopal. Ms Bharti had also recently welcomed the appointment of her critic and another OBC leader Shivraj Singh Chauhan as the Madhya Pradesh unit president of the party and stated that cabinet expansion was the “prerogative” of state Chief Minister Babulal Gaur. Trouble for Ms Bharti started on November 10 last year when she was sacked as party General Secretary and suspended from its primary membership
after she openly defied BJP President L.K. Advani in full glare of national media. A stunned BJP leadership, including former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, watched helplessly as the accusing finger of “sanyasin” rose on some unnamed party colleagues for being behind media reports about her and demanded a discussion on her complaint at the first meeting of the party’s newly appointed central office-bearers. |
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Centre destabilising Modi govt: BJP
New Delhi, May 28 “The setting up of the ministerial committee on the statement made by a disgruntled officer who doesn’t have any credibility, clearly reflected the intentions of the UPA government and its intolerant attitude towards the Opposition,” BJP general secretary and spokesperson Sushma Swaraj told newspersons here. “This is clearly an attempt to destabilise the Gujarat Government. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had already cautioned against such misadventure,” she said, charging that “this government wants to function through the CBI.” On the news report that some BJP MPs from Gujarat were annoyed over party general secretary Arun Jaitley representing Ketan Parikh in the defrauding of the Gujarat Cooperative Bank case, Ms Swaraj said, “Mr Jaitley has taken the cases in his personal capacity as a lawyer and his actions do not have any reflection on the party and its thinking on the issue.” |
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NCW member moves HC over ouster
New Delhi, May 28 Addressing mediapersons here today, the three members, Nafisa Hussain, Nirmala Sitharaman and Anusuiya Uike, termed their arbitrary removal “humiliating, illegal and unconstitiutional”. They said their removal was a blow to the women’s movement in the country and an attack on a statutory body like the National Commission for Women should not go unnoticed. “Until our removal, we had been going around the country demanding justice for women. Now, we have to say that the National Commission for Women Act has been thoroughly violated. Members have been removed without being given a reasonable chance to explain themselves.” While Anusuiya Uike had one year and nine months left before completing her three-year tenure, Hussain and Sitharaman had one-and-a-half year left in the commission. They drew attention to the notification that has relieved members arbitrarily in violation of the Act. They said the Act clearly states that members could be removed only on six grounds, none of which can be invoked by the government. Nafisa Hussain and Anusuiya Uike said they had discussed the action plan for the year with the Member Secreatry in the commission on Friday. They said they worked in the commission till Friday evening and were informed about their arbitrary removal by the Member Secretary after they reached home. The members said they had done full justice to their work and see no reason why they should be treated in such a humilaiting manner. While Nafisa Hussain had gone to Mumbai recently to understand the problems of dance bar girls and investigate the recent rape case there, Uike had gone to meet the anganwadi worker in Dhar whose hands were chopped off for raising her voice against child marriage. |
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USA discusses UN reforms with India
New Delhi, May 28 Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who recently visited India, sent her pointperson Shirin Tahir-Kheli, to India and Ambassador Tahir-Kheli held a series of talks with senior officials of the Ministry of External Affairs in South Bloc on May 25-26. It is understood that this development acted as a valuable pointer to the Indian diplomatic brass that if India is to progress on the UNSC issue, the route is through the USA. This is even more so, considering the open campaigning by China against the Indian case, though the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, during his recent India visit, privately assured the Indian leadership of Beijing’s help to India on the UNSC issue at an appropriate time. Indian diplomats here have seen the important difference between American and Chinese approaches on the UNSC issue: the Chinese are not interested in backing any country for permanent membership of the UNSC while the USA is selective. The question is whether India will figure in the American select group which so far has only one country: Japan. India is the second country after Japan with which Washington has engaged in a formal dialogue on the the issue of UN reforms. In talks between Ms Tahir-Kheli-led American delegation and the Indian delegation, the two sides exchanged views on their respective positions on the overall UN reforms and identified areas of convergence and divergence as well as grey areas on the global issues. The Indian delegation included Ms Meera Shankar, Additional Secretary (UN), Mr Hamid Ali Rao, Joint Secretary (UN) and Mr S. Jaishanker, Joint Secretary (Americas). Ms Tahir-Kheli is the Secretary of State’s senior adviser and chief interlocutor on United Nations reform. In collaboration with the Assistant Secretary for International Organisations, Ms Tahir-Kheli reports directly to the Secretary of State. She engages the UN Secretary-General and Secretariat on UN reform efforts, including the High-Level Panel Report and the Report of the Secretary General on Reform. MEA officials have instructions to clam up on the nature of talks Ms Tahir-Kheli had with them. However, diplomatic sources told The Tribune today that Ms Tahir-Kheli’s India visit was “a very significant development”, both in terms of Indo-US relations as well as India’s quest for a permanent seat in the to-be-expanded UNSC. This was Ms Tahir-Kheli’s first visit to India after she was appointed to the present post in March this year. It was a Washington-New Dehi-Washington trip and she did not visit any other country. It was not a routine visit, but a special diplomatic engagement whose sole purpose was to engage India on an issue on which New Delhi had never been engaged before by Washington — UN reforms. According to an American diplomat here, Washington’s position on UN reforms and the expansion of the UNSC was “still evolving”. India, which has formed a Group of Four along with Japan, Germany and Brazil, needs the support of at least 127 countries to bring the issue of UNSC expansion to the voting stage. |
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Promote eco-tourism as industry, demand mountaineers
Mussoorie, May 28 Capt M.S. Kohli who set a world record in 1965 by putting 9 Indians on the summit, said four decades on, the mountain needs remained. The President, Himalayan Environmental Trust, Capt Kohli said when he had scaled the Everest in 1960, 1962 and 1965 only one expedition had been permitted from India or China. At times there used to be two expeditions, one from Tibet and one from China, but now 26 expedition groups had gathered at the base camp in Nepal before pre-monsoons, 15-16 groups would be lined up in Tibet too, to scale the peak, he said. Another 40 expeditions would line up after monsoon which was too much and like Edmund Hillary observed, the Everest should be given a break. Junko Tabei, the first woman to set foot on the Everest in 1975, said her main concern was the garbage strewn on the famous peak which included the wreckage of two Italian choppers that crashed in the mountains and tones of human waste and garbage. The onus was on mountaineers to get everything taken off the mountain, she said. Dr Harshwanti Bisht, Arjuna Awardee mountaineer and naturalist, expressed concern on increasing human interference and its adverse effects on the environment and bio-diversity of the Gangotri-Gaumukh region. This was resulting in receding of the Gangotri glacier and also endangering the Ganga. The meet also discussed the potential of Uttaranchal in eco tourism and its prospects of becoming the Switzerland of India. Commodore Hugh Gantzer said even though there was a lot of natural potential in the state to realise that dream, infrastructure on a par with Switzerland had to be developed first. The three-day meet concluded today. |
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Somnath faces protest over Santiniketan issue
Kolkata, May 28 Mr Chatterjee is the chairman of the Bolpur-Santiniketan Development Authority, which had sanctioned the new township plan allegedly in contravention of Rabindranath Tagore’s ideas and dreams of future Santiniketan. In a separate incident, the Forward bloc MP from Purulia, Mr Bir Singh Mahato was attacked by an armed gang near Ajodhya hills late last night. The revolver of his bodyguard was snatched by the attackers. The police suspected that the MCC guerrillas who were active in the Bengal-Bihar border district might be behind the attack. According to the report reaching the state government today from the Purulia district administration, Mr Mahato was returning to Purulia town after attending a tribal festival at Bagmundi village when a group of people carrying firearms, bows and arrows attacked him by stopping his car. His security tried to protect him but he too was attacked. His service revolver was also snatched by the miscreants before it could be used by him. The MP, however, soon was rescued by the local people, who could identify him. But the miscreants hurriedly escaped into the nearest jungle in the face of the attack by the villagers. |
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Report on death of 2 workers in sewer sought
New Delhi, May 28 Taking suo motu cognisance of news reports on the alleged death of the two DJB workers in a sewer in Giri Nagar, the NHRC has directed that copies of the news reports be sent to the Chief Secretary, Delhi, and Chairman, Delhi Jal Board, for their comments within two weeks. According to the reports, Mr D.C. Pant, junior engineer of the DJB had taken Hari Kishan Bahadur, a labourer, to get a sewer cleaned after receiving complaints from residents of Giri Nagar. Hari Kishan reportedly removed the manhole cover and entered the sewer. Due to strong odour of methane gas emanating from the sewer, Hari Kishan fell unconscious. The junior engineer while trying to save also fell into the sewer. Both of them were pulled out and taken to the hospital where they were declared dead. The commission has also asked the Delhi Government and the DJB to state within two weeks whether the guidelines and safety codes for operation and maintenance of the sewerage were being followed. |
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5 held in Bihar flood relief scam
Patna, May 28 Five of the accused — IDBI Bank manager (Patna branch) Sanjay Kumar Jha, employee Shailendra Kumar, Bihar Small Scale Industries Corporation’s then Managing Director Mukteshwar Prasad, employee Amlendu Choudhury and then Additional District Magistrate (Patna) Basudeo Prasad - were arrested by the vigilance sleuths during raids on their premises here today, Additional Director General of the Bureau Neelmani told PTI. The FIR was lodged under various sections of the IPC and CrPc charging Goswami and others with committing fraud, forgery, siphoning off of government funds by entering into criminal conspiracy with the owners of some fake firms, Neelmani said, adding that raids continued to arrest others involved in the case. “On investigation, all the accused have been prima facie found to be involved in the swindle of the government funds worth several crore of rupees meant for relief,” he said. Goswami, an IAS official of 1992 batch, is presently staying at Lucknow after he joined the Sahara Group following his resignation from the state service. The state government had not yet accepted resignation of Goswami and sought an explanation from him as to why action should not be taken against him for joining a private company though his resignation has not been accepted, official sources said.
— PTI |
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Seized CPMT papers genuine
Lucknow, May 28 Additional Superintendent of Police (STF) Vijay Bhushan said the seized question papers matched with the original ones. He said the Vice-Chancellor of Agra University, which was conducting this year’s CPMT, had confirmed that the seized question papers were identical to those set by the university. Bhushan said four more persons had been arrested by the STF in connection with the leakage of the question papers, taking the total number of arrests to
eight. — PTI |
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Delhi blasts: ISI may have used Punjab ex-militants New Delhi, May 28 The sources said the police had also moved away from its initial theory that militants had used only plastic explosives in bombs that exploded in Satyam and Liberty theatres, and now believed that RDX was also used in the attack. — UNI
Mumbai, May 28 A prayer was also held at the Kabarasthan mosque before his burial. Earlier, Merchant’s body was flown in from London by an Air-India cargo flight and kept at his brother’s house at Mumbai Central for people to pay respects. — PTI
New Delhi, May 28 Vyas, author of 50 books, was the first poet who established humour and satire as an important genre in Hindi literature. He was honoured with the Padma Shri in 1965. He had also received the Shlaka Award of the Delhi Government and the Yash Bharti Award of the Uttar Pradesh Government. — UNI
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