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BJP announces first list for LS polls
Mumbai cops to quiz Dera chief
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N-deal: Sonia meets PM, weighs options
Guv R.L. Bhatia moved to Bihar
Apang’s son released
Pak foreign minister arrives today
SIMI leader remanded in police custody
Pilots doze off on flight: Air India denies report
Congress stays away from uranium panel
Domestic Violence Act
CPI (ML) for withdrawing support to UPA
India-Sri Lanka form group to remain in touch
Sahara Shahr
‘Cops shielding accused’
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BJP announces first list for LS polls
New Delhi, June 26 The BJP Central Election Committee of the (CEC) also directed the state units to project Advani the same way they had projected former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the last three general elections, said M. Venkaiah Naidu who heads the Core Election Management Group of the CEC. It wants Advani’s face on each poster and hoarding of the party. The Plan said, “Highlight the personality of Advaniji in every nook and corner of the country. His unparalleled record of over 60 years of dedicated service to the nation; his struggles and contributions in defence of democracy; his spirited espousal of cultural nationalism and the campaign against pseudo-secularism; his remarkable parliamentary career; his role in building the party (both Jana Sangh and BJP); his role in the NDA government as Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister...and above all his selfless commitment-all these should be properly projected in order to convince the people that he is the right person to lead India after the next parliamentary elections.” It has also laid special stress on “media management.” It said, “Create Media Management committees in every state. The state committees should in turn set up district media management committees. The district committee should appoint a media convenor in each Lok Sabha constituency.” The Action Plan has also emphasised the significance of garnering additional votes of the youth. It said, “There are going to be nearly 10 crore first time voters in the next parliamentary elections. Reaching out to them and winning their support is a crucial task in our election management strategy. As part of this strategy, the Yuva Morcha has planned to launch a nationwide Pratham Matdata Samman Abhiyan (Campaign to felicitate first time Voters) soon. This should be taken up as collective responsibility of the party and accordingly full support should be extended to the Yuva Morcha for the success of this campaign.” Explaining the urgency, Naidu said, “Our experience shows that in Gujarat and Rajasthan, projecting early a leader, selecting candidates well before the deadline and starting our campaign early has helped us tremendously. We are therefore adopting the same strategy for the parliamentary elections. We have already announced Advaniji as our prime ministerial candidate,” he mentioned in this context. He also disclosed that before the end of August, the BJP may finalise and announce the names of all its candidates. Simultaneously, the party would stitch up its alliances which would also include some fresh allies as well as renew relations with others who had gone out of the NDA, Naidu said.
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Advani to address Vijay Sankalp rally today
Lucknow, June 26 However, things are not as smooth as they may appear in the BJP. Largely publicised as the formal launching of the party’s Lok Sabha campaign, the rally would not be attended either by party national President Rajnath Singh or senior leader and former chief minister Kalyan Singh. Speaking to reporters, BJP spokesperson H.N. Dixit explained that Kalyan Singh was unable to come as he was undergoing an eye operation at Chennai. He was completely at a loss of words when asked to explain why the national president and senior leader from the state, Rajnath Singh, had chosen to stay away. The party spokesman could not even enlighten reporters on the important engagement that was keeping the party national president from participating in the Kanpur rally tommrow. According to party sources, this was the first of a large number of similar rallies schedueled in various parts of the country in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections . “It is not physically possible for all leaders to be present during each rally”, clarified Dixit. Among the leaders expected to attend the Kanpur rally are Kalraj Mishra, Lalji Tandon, Kesharinath Tripathi and Vinay Katiyar.
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Mumbai cops to quiz Dera chief
Mumbai, June 26 Mumbai’s joint commissioner of police Rakesh Maria said today that the police team has left for Haryana to question the Dera chief. He confirmed that the Mumbai police has not given the Dera chief a clean chit in the shooting case. So far 14 persons, who were part of his entourage, are in police custody. According to the police, the shooting happened after Dera chief s bodyguards did not allow other people in the locality to enter the shopping mall as he was inside. This provoked the victim and other shoppers who got into an altercation with the men who were part of the Ram Rahim Singh’s entourage. Members of the entourage then smashed the windscreen of victim’s car and in the melee opened fire killing him and injuring his friend. The police is still deciding if the shooting was an unprovoked act or whether it was carried out in self-defence, Maria told reporters. But it is still not clear why members of the Dera chief’s entourage were moving in vehicles armed with pipes and sticks and carrying loaded guns when they were provided with six armed police escorts. The police is also seeking the custody of nearly 50 persons who were part of the his entourage who managed to leave with him.
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N-deal: Sonia meets PM, weighs options
New Delhi, June 26 With the communists making it amply clear that they will withdraw support to the UPA government if it pushes ahead with the nuke agreement all eyes are now on UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who has to take a final call on proceeding with the deal, which will inevitably result in an early election. A final view is yet to emerge, but a chance remark by external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee at today’s Union Cabinet meeting that the government may only have one more Parliament session to complete its legislative business got poll-wary allies worried. UPA sources say although Sonia Gandhi is fully supporting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the deal she has also expressed the need for taking the UPA allies on board. All the allies have publicly stated that they do not want elections to be advanced although they they have no objections to the nuke deal. The Centre should concentrate on fighting inflation at this juncture, they maintain. While discussions are still on, the Congress has been wooing the 39-member Samajwadi Party and other smaller parties and independent members to bail out the government in case of a floor test after the Left withdraws support to the UPA. If the government can tide over the monsoon session in August, the elections could be held by the year-end, UPA sources say. Sonia Gandhi has been confabulating with her party colleagues in this regard and is expected to have another round of consultations with the alliance partners. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief M. Karunanidhi is expected to be in Delhi next week. With the Prime Minister insisting that the government must move ahead with the operationalisation of the nuke deal, Sonia Gandhi has to either persuade the allies to change their mind or tell the Prime Minister that they are not ready to move ahead on the nuclear agreement. The UPA is in the throes of a debate on this issue. There is a section in the Congress which endorses the Prime Minister’s views and wants the government to part company with the Left parties at the earliest. “This uncertainty is only damaging the government’s credibility,” remarked a UPA minister, adding that if the UPA decided to go ahead with the nuke deal, it would also help deflect attention from the issue of rising prices. There is a large section in the Congress that does not want an early election as it feels the party is not ready for it and its first priority should be to contain inflation. The section also feel that the nuclear deal is not an issue that can get the party votes. There is also a view that the government should not risk an early election as there is no certainty if India will be able to clinch the nuke deal given the time constraint and increasing doubts about US President George Bush’s ability to convince the members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) since he is on his way out. Meanwhile, CPM leader Sitaram Yechury met Pranab Mukherjee as a last ditch effort to find a possible breakthrough in the nuclear deal deadlock with the UPA.
Deal will help us: Kalam
Bangalore: Former President A.P.J Abdul Kalam today favoured India signing the nuclear deal with the USA, saying that it would benefit the country, which needs uranium supplies till thorium reactors are ready. “We need a supply of uranium till our thorium reactors are ready,” Kalam said on the sidelines of the International Conference on Aerospace Science and Technology, organised by the National Space Laboratories to mark the institute’s golden jubilee celebration. “The pact will help us,” he said. On tapping alternate sources of power like hydel and thermal energy, Kalam said tapping thermal power had some issues related to environmental concerns. But India could explore options of hydel, solar, nuclear and biofuels, he said.
— PTI
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Guv R.L. Bhatia moved to Bihar
New Delhi, June 26 Former DG of BSF, R S Mooshahary has been appointed the Governor of Meghalaya. He replaces S S Sidhu. Meghalaya located north of Bangladesh, is often in the eye of a storm with regular contact needed with the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR). Balmiki Prasad Singh, a former union home Secretary has been appointed the Governor of Sikkim. He replaces Sudershan Aggarwal. After N.N. Vohra took over as Governor of J&K, BP Singh is the second former Home secretary to be appointed as governor of border state. No decision has been announced to appoint a governor for Maharashtra, S.C. Jamir, the Governor of Goa continues to hold dual charge. Several names are doing the rounds in the corridors of power on the possible appointees. This includes former home secretary Vinod Duggal, whose name was suggested a few weeks ago. Maharashtra has been vacant since S.M. Krishna left the post to join active politics in Karnataka ahead of assembly elections a couple of months ago.
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Apang’s son released
Itanagar, June 26 Getam Apang and Narendra Rai were kidnapped from a music school here on June 18 following which massive search operations were launched by both Arunachal Pradesh and Assam police with the assistance of the Army. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and home minister Jarbom Gamlin went to Tezpur in Assam, the headquarters of the Army’s Four corps on June 24 to seek their assistance. Family members of Getam had said they had not received any ransom call but were informed by a caller that he had been kidnapped, sources added. — PTI
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Pak foreign minister arrives today
New Delhi, June 26 Ahead of the visit, Indian government sources here today said the success of the dialogue process was dependent on three conditions: creating an atmosphere free of violence by taking firm action against terrorism; peaceful resolution of all bilateral issues, including Jammu & Kashmir.
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SIMI leader remanded in police custody
Mumbai, June 26 The Mazgaon court remanded Nagori, former all- India general secretary of SIMI, in the custody of the Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) till June 30. Nagori along with three others, including top member of the group Shibli Peedical, were brought to Mumbai by the ATS after securing their custody from the Madhya Pradesh police. Nagori, Peedical and 11 others have been booked for printing and distributing Jihadi literature in 2006, in which 7/11 Mumbai suburban train blasts accused Ehtesham Siddiqui is also
involved.— PTI
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Pilots doze off on flight: Air India denies report New Delhi, June 26 Commenting on a news report that the flight had flown past its destination of Mumbai with the pilots fatigued and fast asleep, AI’s director for public relations Jitender Bhargava said, “We emphatically deny the report. No such incident took place. We’ve checked our records.” Maintaining that the report on the incident did not mention the date of flight, he said that on June 4 the Jaipur-Mumbai flight had lost radio contact with the ATC for some time, leading the plane to fly 24 km off Mumbai — and not half-way to Goa. Bhargava said that AI pilots had not slept
on board and were not woken up by the ATC personnel. The Dubai-Jaipur-Mumbai flight IC 612, which was on its domestic leg, had about 100 passengers on board.
— PTI
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Congress stays away from uranium panel
Guwahati, June 26 The MPA government constituted the all-party committee headed by chief minister Donkupar Roy to facilitate better interaction and coordination between all political parties over the uranium mining issue that has been hanging fire because of stiff opposition from various political and non-political quarters. Besides Congress members, the all-party panel was supposed to have representatives from all other political parties, including the MPA constituents Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) and Khun Hynnewtrap National Awakening Movement (KHNAM), which are opposed to the mining project. The committee has deputy CM Hoping Stone Lyngdoh and mining and geology minister Donkupar Massar as its co-chairmen. However, the Congress has decided not to be a party of the all-party committee. The committee will have it first sitting next month. Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president O.L. Nongtdu said the Congress would not be part of the all-party panel as it would be a waste of time for it given that the Congress was not opposed to uranium mining. He termed the all-party committee a “political gimmick” on part of the MPA government. Roy said, “It is the duty of the state government to invite the Congress to be a part of the all-party committee. However, we have nothing to say if they prefer not to be part of it.” He said the MPA government was not to against mining of uranium provided the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) could convincingly allay the apprehension over health hazards that might be caused by the mining of the radio active mineral.
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Domestic
Violence Act
New Delhi, June 26 Chowdhury said the law was very much required to ensure that men did not become a problem but remain a part of the solution. “I am open to review since laws are dynamic and not static. But for present what is there is there,” she added. Men’s organisations had gathered at the round-table, “Building partnership with men to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment”, organised by the ministry to discuss issues, including the draft concept note on surrogate motherhood and participation of men in the empowerment of women. Protesting collectively under the Save Family Foundation, the organisations alleged that men were also facing domestic violence and that the new Act, like the earlier anti-dowry legislation, was being blatantly misused by women to settle martial discords with their husbands.” Statistics show that a man’s life was no less difficult than a woman’s, they said, adding that men too were victims of domestic violence. Demanding the scrapping of the two laws, Sandeep Bhartia from the Gender Human Rights Society said in the past four years four lakh men and 1.2 lakh women had been arrested under Section 498 A. He added even in case of domestic violence there were several instances when the perpetrator of the violence was in fact women but her husband was arrested on her complaint. Chowdhury said her ministry was in continuous dialogue with representatives of men’s organisations to bring about harmony in family. “However, use or misuse of a law is an individual’s prerogative. If one person chooses to misuse it, there are 100 beneficiaries as well,” she added. She categorically said if cases of violence against men were happening they should be reported to law-enforcing agencies. “This is not our domain. As a ministry our job is to become an enabling factor that will help a family to live in harmony. It is to take care of imbalance in society that the government has to bring in laws that will show the way forward in issues like female foeticide, lopsided sex ratio, dowry deaths, domestic violence,” she said.
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CPI (ML) for withdrawing support to UPA
Dehra Dun, June 26 On the second day of the CPI (ML) central committee meeting, general secretary of the party Dipankar Bhattacharya said, “The N-deal has several humiliating clauses that were shameful for an independent nation like India. Experts have said that nuclear power generated through the deal can only save a very small part of India’s power needs. So those who say that the deal will solve India’s power problems are simply fooling the people.” He said the real purpose of the deal was to shackle India to the strategic and military interests of the imperialist US. “The US would like India to be its loyal cop in the subcontinent. Worst of all, if we sign the deal, we will be signing away our right, as an independent nation, to have a foreign policy and diplomatic relations of our choice,” he alleged.
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India-Sri Lanka form group to remain in touch
New Delhi, June 26 Sources said the three-member Indian group in the mechanism comprises National Security Adviser M K Narayanan, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and Defence Secretary Vijay Singh. The Sri Lankan team consists of the Secretary to the President, Defence Secretary and the Political Secretary to the President. The Indian team had, last week, air-dashed to Colombo to meet the Sri Lankan group and discuss the steps being taken by the authorities to ensure a an incident-free SAARC Summit in August and other related matters.
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Sahara Shahr
Lucknow, 26 June Once again, the state bureaucracy was made to pay a price when principal secretary housing and urban development, Harminder Raj Singh,sent as member (judicial) to the Revenue Board. Similarly, both the vice chairman and joint secretary of the Lucknow Development Authority
(LDA) were transfered. While vice chairman Ram Bahadur is now additional commissioner,
Moradabad, joint secretary Yogesh Kumar Shukla is the new deputy director consolidation in
Ghazipur.
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‘Cops shielding accused’
Dehra Dun, June 26 Announcing that they were completely dissatisfied with the inquiry so far, Buta Singh said he had already conveyed to the chief secretary that in case nothing concrete came out within a week, the probe would then be conducted by a central agency.
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2 minors killed in road mishap 3 drowned as boat capsizes Oppn walkout in Kerala Suspended DSP held 
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New Delhi, June 26
