New Delhi, July 11
None of the smaller unattached parties in the Lok Sabha have so far made any commitment to the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to support it when the government seeks a confidence vote to prove its majority in the House sometime later this month.

On the other hand, many of them have started rallying together to present a more cohesive picture, and possibly a better bargaining position even as they are being simultaneously wooed by the Left and the now truncated United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA).

The hub of activity in this connection is former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda’s residence here and the man about town rallying these smaller groups is the Telugu Desam parliamentary party leader K. Yerrananidu.

These specifically include Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). The UNPA leaders, including Yerrannaidu, Indian National Lok Dal leader Om Prakash Chautala and a representative each from the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Jharkhand Vimukti Party (JVP), called on Deve Gowda and discussed the current political situation. Later Ajit Singh also called on Deve Gowda, according to JD-S sources.

Besides the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) leader, K. Chandrasekhar Rao also spoke to Deve Gowda on phone.

As for the party position, JD-S spokesman Kunwar Danish Ali said, “We are for India’s independent foreign policy. This nuclear deal is compromising on India’s foreign policy. As far as voting is concerned, the party will decide as and when it is required.”

Danish Ali has also been meeting Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) general secretary Prakash Karat. “I met him today and earlier also,” Danish Ali said.

Similarly, Yerrannanidu has also been meeting both Karat and Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary A.B. Bardhan.

Sources said there were repeated phone calls at Deve Gowda’s residence from Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel. But so far, Deve Gowda has avoided talking to Patel.

JD-S sources said Patel offered to get Sonia Gandhi directly speak to Deve Gowda but Gowda’s lieutenants made some excuse and the phone contact could not be established. Deve Gowda flew back to Bangalore on Friday morning. Ajit Singh too has become inaccessible. His staff members claimed he had gone out of town for some family function to Kurukshetra.

Meanwhile, Karat confirmed his contact with the JD-S and said in reply to a question here on Friday, “Not only JD-S, we are in touch with a number of other parties. We are determined to bring down this government.”

New Delhi, July 11
Despite his busy schedule, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today met the family members of IFS officer V.V. Rao and defence attache Brig R.D. Mehta, who were killed in the July 7 car bomb attack at the Indian embassy in Kabul.

The PM, accompanied by his wife Gursharan Kaur and Chief of Army Staff General Deepak Kapoor, reached the Central Industrial Security Force complex in Ghaziabad by an IAF helicopter and drove down to Vasundhara to meet the bereaved family of Brig Mehta. He remained with the family for 15 minutes before flying back to New Delhi. Though Brig Mehta belonged to Shimla, his wife Sunita had been staying with her sister at Vasundhara after his death.

In the capital, the PM and his wife paid a visit to the residence of political counsellor Rao and expressed grief at the loss. Yesterday, the PM had sanctioned Rs 5 lakh each for the families of the two Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel, Ajai Pathania and Roop Singh, killed in the blast. Similar amount was also sanctioned for the family of Niyamatullah, an Afghan national working as a watchman at the Indian mission, who was also killed in the blast.

Manmohan Singh visited the AIIMS last evening to call on the two ITBP personnel injured in the blast. A sum of Rs 2 lakh each had been sanctioned for them from the PM’s national relief fund.

New Delhi, July 11
Quality of journalism was at the core of intellectual discourses made this evening to honour the memory of Udayan Sharma, the acclaimed Hindi journalist, who set high standards of professional excellence in his lifetime.

Every year, the Udayan Sharma Memorial Trust rewards journalistic talent across the country as a mark of respect to their dear one; this year the awards for journalism and photojournalism went respectively to Sikender Parikh, the Raipur-based correspondent for Rajasthan Patrika and Arun Shridhar of the Malayala Manorama.

Doing the honours was Vice-President of India Hamid Ansari, who held out the mirror for Indian media, saying “the media was facing a crisis of content.” Declaring from the dais that ethical underpinning of professional journalism had weakened in India, Ansari said entertainment was increasingly edging out news.

He referred to how astrology, superstition and sleaze now prevailed in the Indian media, wherein the phenomenon of convergence between the news media, entertainment and telecom had blurred traditional demarcations between professional journalistic output, public relations, advertising and entertainment.

Heartening it was to see the Vice-President’s views matching those earlier expressed by H.K. Dua, Editor-in-Chief of The Tribune, who, in his unsparing fashion, listed the challenges before the Indian media, both television and print.

Delivering the Udayan Sharma Memorial Lecture at Teen Murti Bhawan’s Nehru auditorium, Dua traced the history of the Indian press to the national awakening - a period which, he said, was rich and inspiring for Indian journalism. Lauding the role of the Indian press in the freedom struggle, Dua said, “The Indian press was not a product of any Article under the Constitution; it sprung from the national awakening. Journalists in pre-Independence India were keen on social and economic reforms. This approach lent a unique character to the Indian Press, which grew after the Independence, only to find itself rattled by the Emergency.”

The address bordered on how the press, shocked by the Emergency, opposed the Defamation Bill to secure its freedom, and then how it lost its vision by succumbing to market forces.

“Earlier, the press was meant to serve the nation. But now, market forces are taking over the media and distorting its value system. Profit is dictating the content of newspapers and televisions are showing trivia,” Dua said, his tone laced with concern over TV media’s handling of the Arushi murder case, their obsession with star liaisons and heavy dependence on reality shows, which often violate rights of the child.

Earlier, D.P. Tripathi, a close friend of Udayan Sharma, paid an emotional tribute to his friend. An equally befitting remembrance of Udayan came from Alok Mehta of the Outlook, who saluted Udayan as a great and secular journalist.

The only one who did not speak from the dais today was Udayan’s better half Neelima Sharma. As the principal trustee of the Udayan Sharma Memorial Trust, she let silence do the talking.

New Delhi, July 11
The United States today welcomed India’s decision to move forward on the Indo-US nuclear deal by seeking approval of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), for the safeguards agreement and assured New Delhi of its full cooperation in ensuring the pact was implemented as quickly as possible.

In a statement here, US Ambassador to India David C Mulford, who played a key role in the thorny negotiations over the deal, said the pact would help India meet its growing energy demands in an economically efficient manner and strengthen global non-proliferation regime.

The nuclear deal was a significant component of the strategic partnership envisioned by President George W Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said.

However, Mulford said much work was still needed to be done to see this initiative through to the final stages. “We will work closely with India, with Governors of the IAEA, with our Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG) partners, and the US Congress to ensure that this initiative is implemented as quickly as possible,’’ the US envoy added.

His statement came a day after he met Prime Minister Singh on the latter’s return from Japan.

Thiruvananthapuram, July 11
The assembly in the Left-ruled Kerala today adopted a resolution asking the UPA government to dump the Indo-US nuclear deal even as Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandnan said the accord would harm the country’s interests.

Amidst noisy protests by the Congress-led UDF members, the House adopted a private member resolution moved by V.N. Vasavan of the CPM asking the UPA government not to go ahead with the deal. Only the ruling LDF members took part in the voting, while the Congress-led UDF members abstained. In all, 79 members voted in favour of the resolution after a 15-minute debate.

Vasavan moved the resolution soon after Congress MLA Sivadasan Nair gave notice for an adjournment motion on the state government’s decision to hike the bus fares, which was rejected by Speaker K. Radhakrishnan.

As the Speaker asked Vasavan to move his resolution, the UDF members rushed to the well of the House and began shouting slogans and tore off copies of the anti-nuclear deal resolution. As the cacophony continued, the Speaker asked the members from the treasury benches to conclude their speeches fast.

Achuthandnan, who wound up the debate, said the nuclear deal would seriously harm the country’s interests and its signing would amount to abject surrender of India’s sovereignty to ‘American imperialism’.

Members from the ruling party accused the UDF members of making a farce in the House over the bus-fare hike issue to help the Muslim League members to refrain from expressing their apprehensions on the nuclear deal, as the party had yesterday spoken of strong reservations about the deal.

Rushing through the day’s business, the Speaker adjourned the House as both the LDF and the UDF members trooped out shouting slogans against each other. — PTI

New Delhi, July 11
India today accused Pakistan of interfering in its internal affairs by commenting gratuitously on a demonstration in Srinagar “in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir” as relations between the two neighbours came under strain once again in the wake of July 7 car bomb blast at the Indian Embassy in Kabul.

However, official sources said the fifth round of composite dialogue process between the two nations would commence as per schedule on July 21. An external affairs ministry spokesman today reacted sharply to a press note issued by the Pakistan foreign office on July 5, expressing deep regret over the previous day’s incident at Jama Masjid in Srinagar, in which some demonstrators were reportedly injured. Curiously, India reacted almost a week after Islamabad’s statement. Pakistan’s statement “constitutes gross interference in the internal affairs of India. The Government of Pakistan should refrain from vitiating the atmosphere by such remarks,’’ the Indian spokesman said.

Another reason for the strong Indian response could be that a couple of days ago a section of the Pakistani media had reported a terrorist bomb attack on the Indian consulate in Jalalabad (Afghanistan). Indian officials promptly denied this saying it was a part of a mischievous campaign.

Chennai, July 11
The chances of Nalini, the life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case, securing freedom early appeared remote with the Tamil Nadu Government informing Madras High Court about its strong opposition to her premature release.

The DMK government made this clear in the counter affidavit to the impleading petition filed by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy opposing Nalini’s premature release.

After the government said Dr Swamy’s impleading petition was liable to be dismissed as it was against the premature release of the life convict, Justice A Nagamuthu reserved orders on the Janata Party president’s petition.

Citing a Supreme Court order, the government said “imprisonment of life lasts until the last breath of the convict” and Nalini could not seek premature release on the ground that she had already served 17 years in prison.

Nalini, who was awarded capital punishment in the case, had already secured clemency when the state Governor commuted her death sentence to life sentence on her mercy petition.

The government said the Supreme Court, while confirming her death sentence, said “taking into consideration all mitigating circumstances, there is no room for any leniency, kindness or beneficence to Nalini.”

The Apex Court also said life sentence for Nalini would be inadequate and there was no alternative but to confirm the death sentence awarded by the designated court, which tried the case, the government pointed out. — UNI

Kolkata, July 11
The Division Bench of Calcutta High Court today summoned CPM party secretary Biman Bose, also a politburo member, and two other central committee members, Shyamal Chakraborty and Benoy Konar, in the court on August 8 to explain to the Bench why they should not be put behind bars for defaming and dishonouring the court on its judgment in the Nandigram killing case.

The court dismissed a petition filed by Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, who is also the Kolkata Mayor, requesting the Chief Justice for refraining the accused CPM leaders from personally appearing before the court. Instead, the Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice S.S. Nirjhar and Justice Pinaki Ranjan Ghose, ordered that these leaders should be physically present on August 8 and justify why they should not be jailed. Incidentally, the Chief Justice ordered suo moto a CBI inquiry into the March 14 firing at Nandigram during a raid conducted jointly by the police and cadres in which 14 poor farmers had been killed.

At that time there were large-scale protests and condemnations against the innocent killings from different circles, including the political leaders, poets, writers, social welfare organisations etc.

The state government ordered a CID inquiry into the incident, but the opposition parties demanded the CBI probe. The Chief Justice then ordered the CBI inquiry suo moto and accordingly, the CBI submitted its report to the court after making an on the spot inquiry in the due course in which it was stated that the police’s action was not justified.

On the basis of the CBI report, the Bench called the police firing at Nandigram “ illegal and unconstitutional”. The court also reprimanded the state government and the police that caused anger and irrigation to the leaders, and they publicly bantered the Chief Justice and the Judges by making some disparaging remarks.

Soon several cases were filed in the High Court by the Calcutta Bar Association, the Practicing Lawyers Forum and several other legal aid cells against these leaders on the contempt charges and also defaming and dishonouring the court and the judicial profession.

Mumbai, July 11
Pravin Mahajan, who is undergoing life imprisonment for the murder of his BJP leader brother Pramod, has been denied parole. Pravin had sought parole on the plea that his wife Sarangi was to undergo surgery and needed him by her side.

Nashik jail authorities decided to turn down Pravin’s plea, Sarangi’s brother Prasad said. The Worli police station had sent a negative report stating that Pravin’s release on parole could be a threat to Pramod’s family. — TNS

BRIEFLY

NLFT ultras abduct one
AGARTALA: Suspected National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) ultras have kidnapped a person from the Ratha Roajapara area under Longtharai valley police station in the state. The police said here on Friday that a group of seven NLFT militants abducted Bikalsa in Tripura (25) on Thursday, while he was collecting bamboo from a forest. — UNI

Indian extradited to US
NEW DELHI: India has extradited a man accused by the Florida police for murdering his 20-year-old niece to the US. Indian national Kamlesh Agrawal, accused of killing American citizen Deepa Agrawal, was extradited on Wednesday through the joint efforts of the US embassy in New Delhi, the Indian government and the US Department of Justice. — PTI

7 killed in jeep accident
CHHATARPUR: Seven persons, including three children, were killed on the spot while four others swam to safety as a jeep boarded by them was washed away in the flood water. They were crossing a low-level bridge on Barana Nullah near Kisangarh in this district of Madhya Pradesh on Friday. The victims were on their way to Amanganj for a marriage function, the police said. — UNI

Mission to open hospital in MP
BHOPAL: The Rammohan Mission, active in the social service, will soon set up a modern eye hospital in Madhya Pradesh. The Mission director Rammurti Parag Babaji on Thursday met industry, environment and housing minister Jayant Malaiya and revenue and endowments minister Kamal Patel here and briefed them of his schemes. — UNI