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CPM, CPI send different signals
RJD on backfoot on Shahabuddin
Fernandes flays survey
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Row over Bhattacharjee’s remarks against Bush
BJP rules out pact with SP
Valentine's Day pen
Salem confesses role in 1993 blasts
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CPM, CPI send different signals
New Delhi, February 12 A day after Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav met CPM general secretary Prakash Karat, the Marxist party said it is trying its best to build a third alternative to Congress and BJP in near future. Proposals in this regard had been already sent to “democratic and secular” forces in UPA, he told a public meeting in Guwahati but did not name any political party. The CPM would till then (forming a third alternative) like the UPA government to continue with its support from outside, he added. In Bangalore, CPI general secretary A B Bardhan told PTI that despite the UPA government’s “violation” of the Common Minimum Programme in respect of foreign and economic policies, the Left parties would let it complete its five-year term as mid-term poll was not a solution. He said the Left would let the government continue its full term. “We will keep it under pressure whenever it does something wrong, according to us, not in the interest of people or the country at large.... whenever it violates CMP”. When pointed out that the Congress was not listening to the Left and there was, therefore, a limit to what it could do, Mr Bardhan said “that’s the way democracies are run. Otherwise, you can everyday pull it down. What’s the point? Any government that does not have a majority on its own can be pulled down at any time. But that is not the way we want to play the game”. The coordination committee meeting is being held at a time when the Left has announced “common understanding” on several matters, including Iran, with Samajwadi Party, which along with TDP has threatened to move a no-confidence motion in the Budget session of Parliament beginning February 16. The CPM Politburo meeting concluded in Kolkata on Friday with its leaders issuing a veiled threat to Congress that a new situation would emerge if government voted against Iran at the March 6 IAEA meeting.
— PTI
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RJD on backfoot on Shahabuddin
Patna, February 12 RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav as well as other senior party leaders are finding it difficult to defend Shahabuddin, now lodged in Bhagalpur jail, after the reports that the Jammu and Kashmir Police may soon
question him for allegedly procuring sophisticated firearms from Hizbul mercenary. Reports about Shahabuddin’s alleged links with terror outfits, however, have not come as a surprise for the police in Bihar, as the Intelligence had earlier reportedly indicated his association with slain former Nepal MP Mirza Dishad
Beig. Sources disclosed that Beg was described in the Intelligence report as one of the pillars of strength in ISI's subversive activities. In the latest round of reports suggesting Shahabuddin's links with Hizbul Mujahideen, the police records also mentioned a recovery of cartridges and guns of Pakistan make, besides deer skin from his ancestral house at Pratappur village in Siwan. Projected as the Muslim face of the party, the controversial Siwan MP was even described as his “younger brother” by Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav. The RJD supremo depended a lot on Shahabuddin's might to secure the majority mark when the February Assembly poll had produced a hung Bihar Assembly. But if the prevailing mood in the RJD camp is anything to go by, in the wake of his alleged links with the ISI, the Siwan MP is now left to fend for himself. Even otherwise, the party is now doubtful with his political utility as his support base too was eroding in his home turf . The RJD could win only two of a total eight Assembly seats falling in Siwan district in October-November poll. The RJD camp thus now considers it politically expedient to distance itself from the one-time “younger brother” of Lalu Prasad in the aftermath of his alleged links with
Hizbul, who was also facing over 40 other criminal charges. And as if misfortune never comes alone, the decision by the Nitish Kumar government to reopen the attempt-to-murder case against the Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation and party leader Taslimuddin has further kept the RJD leadership on tenterhooks. |
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Fernandes flays survey
New Delhi, February 12 Reacting to a news report about a Muslim specific survey of the three wings of the armed forces, the former Defence Minister has said that the exercise reportedly initiated on the orders of the Prime Minister’s office, is anti national. In a statement issued here on Sunday, Mr Fernandes has said that there can be no minority and majority in the armed forces and people behind such ideas are working to weaken the Indian armed forces and break their morale. “I do not know who in government decided that the Indian armed forces should from now on be identified by their religion. Whosoever took such a decision is not just an enemy of the nation but also wholly ignorant of India’s security concerns.” While reminding the Congress led UPA government of the professional and secular reputation of the Indian Army, Mr Fernandes has asked if the government would further divide the armed forces into other groups according to religious identities and social hierarchy as Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Parsees, Scheduled Castes, Brahmins and other castes. He said the Indian Army had secular credentials-not in the sense the Marxists and the Congressmen divide the Indian people for their political purposes but in the sense that the Indian armed forces lay down their lives without such discrimination during war.
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Row over Bhattacharjee’s remarks against Bush
Kolkata, February 12 Mr Bhattacharjee, while criticising the US aggressive policy on Iraq and Iran’s stand, described Mr Bush as “the captain of an organised gang of killers”, which prompted the Ambassador to send a letter to the Chief Minister protesting his “disparaging remarks” against their President. Mr Mulford reportedly told Mr Bhattacharjee in his letter that it was quite regrettable and unbecoming for a chief of a state to make such adverse remarks against a country’s high-up. He advised the Chief Minister to refrain from making any such remarks in the future as it would give a wrong signal to the US investors who had chosen Bengal as an investment-friendly state. The Chief Minister, however, did not respond to Mr Mulford. Instead, he lodged a complaint with the Prime Minister, alleging that the Ambassador had poked his nose into an internal matter. |
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BJP rules out pact with SP
New Delhi, February 12 “We cannot even dream of having an alliance with the Samajwadi Party… The question does not arise to have such a pact with the SP,” the BJP President told newspersons here. Mr Rajnath Singh’s comment assumes significance as it comes a few days after the RSS organ, the Organiser, suggested that the BJP could try out “a certain degree of adventurism” with the SP which the Sangh mouthpiece claimed was in “frantic search” of alliance partners. The BJP chief accused both UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav’s party and the Left of fooling voters alike with what he called their hollow anti-Congress rhetoric. Also, he ruled out any alliance with the BSP in UP, where elections are due next year. |
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Valentine's Day pen
Meerut, February 12 The pen, which costs Rs 25 only, does not leave any impression on paper. But letters written with it starts glowing when a small ultra violet torch fitted on the cap, switches on. The ink, used in the pen, is a fluorescent chemical which emits visible light under ultra violet rays. A Chinese goods dealer here, Sanjai Gupta told UNI that the pen was extremely popular among the couples and it’s demand was soaring as Valentine’s Day approached. “As far as Meerut is concerned, the pen is out of stock these days,” he added. An 18-year-old girl, Sonia Ahuja, said: “I have written a full-page letter to my boy friend with this pen. And I don’t have any fear as nobody can read it without using the same pen. It is really a miracle and we should be thankful to the inventers of the new technology,” she added.
— UNI |
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Salem confesses role in 1993 blasts
Mumbai, February 12 The police officials said here that details of Salem’s confession would be forwarded to the special court constituted under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) tomorrow. With Salem’s confession coming in on Saturday, the police is preparing to question top Bollywood personalities throughout next week, sources said. So far, Salem has confessed to his role in the 1993 bomb blasts case and in the murder of builder Pradeep Jain. Yesterday, he also confessed to the murder of Ajit Dewani, secretary of actress Manisha Koirala. |
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