New Delhi, July 23
While all opposition parties were in a state of turmoil after yesterday’s trust vote in Parliament, the Congress-led UPA chose to ignore the possible political price it might have to pay for its victory and instead chose to celebrate the occasion in style today.

The mandatory slogan-shouting party workers, fireworks and flowers were the order of the day at Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s 10, Janpath residence. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has clearly emerged politically stronger after winning the confidence motion, joined in the celebrations while UPA ministers, party office-bearers and members of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) lined up to congratulate the Prime Minister and Gandhi, who asked them to strengthen the party organisation and explain the Indo-US nuclear agreement to the people.

UPA leaders, including Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, Lok Janshakti Party president Ram Vilas Paswan and SP leaders Mulayum Singh Yadav and Amar Singh followed suit in greeting both Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi.

Now that the trust vote has been won, the focus will shift to Union Cabinet expansion and the reshuffle in the AICC, which have now become imperative. In return for his support in yesterday’s vote, JMM chief Shibu Soren has been promised that he will get back to the coal ministry. In addition, his party has been offered a junior minister’s berth and his son the deputy chief ministership of Jharkhand. Besides, the UPA government and particularly Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will also have to contend with SP leader Amar Singh’s wish list.

It is also expected that several Congress ministers may be drafted for full-time party work in view of the year-end Assembly elections that will be followed by the Lok Sabha polls. For today, however, the party leadership decided to savour its victory that the party said was a clear and unambiguous mandate in favour of the Prime Minister.

Re-energised by its win, an aggressive Congress also launched a scathing attack against the main Opposition party stating that it stood exposed in its true colours. Describing the party as a “communal and a political terrorist”, Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan said the BJP had damaged the secular fabric of the country by destroying the Babri masjid.

Lashing out at the manner in which its MPs smuggled currency notes into Parliament, Natarajan said this entire sordid episode was fake and stage-managed by the BJP with the sole purpose of diverting attention from the trust vote. “This is the worst manifestation of the dirty tricks department of the BJP when confronted with defeat,” she said, adding that the BJP strained every nerve to pull down the government.

New Delhi, July 23
The non-BJP, non-Congress group of parties, including the Left Front, led by Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati have decided to launch a nationwide campaign against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government and what they termed “his anti-people policies.”

The nebulous group comprising the BSP, the Left Front, former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda’s JD-S and Ajit Singh’s RLD, who came together barely two days ago, announced their joint agitation programme today at Mayawati’s house.

Left leaders Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury, A.B. Bardhan and D. Raja, Debabrata Biswas and Abani Roy with UNPA convener N Chandrababu Naidu, his party colleague K Yerrannanidu, INLD leader Ajay Chautala along with other UNPA leaders as also Deve Gowda and Danish Ali along with RLD chief Ajit Singh sat with Mayawati over breakfast to chalk out their future strategy.

Later, addressing the media, Mayawati said: “The UPA government might consider this a great victory but this is a defeat of democracy.”

Reading out from a prepared statement adopted at the meeting, CPM general secretary Karat said: “The UPA government may have won the vote in the Lok Sabha but has lost the trust of the nation in the immoral manner in which it has engineered this victory.”

“The Manmohan Singh government has lost its moral authority.” The CPM general secretary simultaneously announced a nationwide campaign.

The parties will focus on inflation and agrarian crisis leading to suicide by farmers. Said Karat: “We are also against the Indo-US nuclear deal, and the communal forces. We strongly oppose the gross misuse of government institutions like the CBI.”

Earlier, Mayawati had maintained that the NDA and UPA had jointly conspired to prevent her rise. In the run-up to the trust vote, Mayawati's name had been mentioned as the possible alternative for Manmohan Singh in the event of defeat of the government, which was promptly endorsed by the UNPA and all regional parties.

Later, Naidu separately announced the expulsion of his two MPs M Jagannath and DK Audikesavulu who voted for the UPA government.

New Delhi, July 23
Describing the expulsion of Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee from the CPM as “unprecedented”, the Congress today said the development would not have any bearing on his continuance as the Presiding Officer of the Lower House.

“Once elected as Speaker, the member concerned of the Lok Sabha does not have any party affiliation. In the case of Chatterjee also, he is without party affiliation as long as he occupies the Chair,” AICC spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan told mediapersons, while indicating that the Congress is in favour of his continuance on the present post.

“According to Parliamentary convention, the action against the Speaker by the CPM is unprecedented,” she said, while pointing out, “What they have done, however, is their internal party matter.”

Showering praise on Chatterjee, Natarajan said: “He is an exceptionally good speaker. He was fair and upright.” Asked if the Congress was in favour of a new Speaker, she said: “What is the need ... As long as he (Chatterjee) continues what is the need for a new Speaker.”

On the other hand, the BJP took a legalistic stand on the issue when it said any member is bound to lose his membership in the event of violating the party line. Asked to comment on the CPM expelling Chatterjee for “seriously compromising the position of the party”, BJP Parliamentary party deputy leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra said he was not aware if there was any whip from the party to Chatterjee.

“Had I been in his position, I would have resigned if my party were to ask me to resign under similar circumstances,” Malhotra remarked. He also revealed that Deputy Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal had offered to resign his post if the NDA wanted him to exercise his vote in the confidence motion, but the NDA allowed him to continue in his post. Malhotra’s comments come in the wake of BJP expelling eight MPs for violating the party whip in yesterday’s confidence vote in the Lok Sabha. — UNI 

New Delhi, July 23
The expulsion of Somnath Chatterjee ends on a bitter note the political journey of a man who was the Marxist outfit’s most articulate face in the Parliament for nearly four decades.

The disciplinary action against someone who was elected to the Lok Sabha ten times on the party ticket beginning in 1971 and led the CPM parliamentary party for decades, must have come as an unnerving experience for a cadre-based party.

While Chatterjee’s expulsion was in the offing after he refused to toe the party line of stepping down as Speaker ahead of the trust vote, it was not the first time that the man, whose deep baritone voice, argumentative skill of a lawyer that he is and clarity on issues left a mark in Lok Sabha, had differed with the party’s official line.

Chatterjee, 79, was one of those in the party who had supported CPM patriarch Jyoti Basu’s candidature for Prime Ministership in 1996, a move that was shot dead by majority hardliners in the party culminating in the “historic blunder”.

Born in Tezpur in Assam on July 25, 1929 in a conservative family, Chatterjee’s father was a Hindu Mahasabha leader. Educated in Kolkata and England, Chatterjee obtained his postgraduate degree from the Cambridge and Bar-at-Law from Middle Temple, UK, to become a lawyer.

New Delhi, July 23
There is considerable disquiet in the BJP over such a large number of BJP MPs and those of its alliance partners in the NDA defying their respective party whips and voting to support Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s confidence motion on Tuesday.

There were eight BJP and a total of 13 NDA MPs who either directly supported the confidence vote or abstained all together. This included one each from the Shiv Sena, the SAD and the BJD and two from the JD-U.

The BJP of course moved quickly and held a meeting of its office-bearers under president Rajnath Singh and Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani here today. It announced the expulsion of “all those who defied the party whip.” Advani later explained this away as the lure of money. But his critics in the BJP/NDA are not fully convinced.

A NDA leader said, “Advani is the prime ministerial candidate. He has been saying this government is in the ICU. The general elections are not far away and they say the wind is blowing in our favour. In such a situation there should have been at least as many if not more desertions from the other camp to our side. But there was not a single one.”

On record though BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad dismissed this as mere “money power”.

BJP insiders concede that money power did play a significant role in influencing MPs, but point out that the BJP did not lack resources. Nor does it have any compunctions of conscience in Karnataka where it is converting its slight minority into a full-fledged majority by buying JD-S and Congress MLAs. JD-S president H.D. Deve Gowda has even named the Bellary Reddy brothers, who control the state mining rights, as the persons doing all the wheeling and dealing on behalf of Chief Minister B.S. Yedyurappa. According to the JD-S, “the going rate for an elected MLA is over Rs 25 crore.”

“At this juncture MPs are concerned about their political future and some of them, like the MP from Vashi, crossed over because his constituency has ceased to exist and merged into another neighbouring constituency after fresh delimitation. They are more worried about how to return to the 15th Lok Sabha,” explained Prasad.

But all MPs cutting across party lines are facing the fall out of fresh delimitation. But there were hardly any desertions from the UPA to the NDA side. Only BSP chief Mayawati succeeded in spiriting away some SP MPs.

JD-U MP and a close confidant of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lallan had announced that five MPs from Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD were ready to cross over to the JD-U but not a single one crossed over to the NDA side.

Advani critics explain this away as the emergence of Mayawati as the new factor who has the stated support of the Left and other regional parties for the next prime ministership. After this sudden development the MPs do not see Advani-led NDA as the sole successor of Manmohan Singh and the UPA government after the next general elections.

New Delhi, July 23
A day after the Manmohan Singh government won the trust vote, India and the United States started working in tandem to speed up the nuclear deal with US ambassador to India David C. Mulford expressing optimism about the US Congress clearing the 123 agreement in early September as the final step for operationalising the pact.

Ambassador Mulford, who is in Cleveland, told Indian journalists in a telephonic conversation that the Bush administration would work closely with India in days ahead for rapid completion of the ratification process through the IAEA, NSG and the US Congress.

The Prime Minister, meanwhile, started despatching senior ministers and officials to various key NSG countries to enlist their support for the nuclear deal. The PM’s special envoy for the nuclear deal has left for Ireland, a member of the IAEA board, while others will start flying out in the coming days.

US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice spoke to external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and congratulated him on the UPA’s victory in the Lok Sabha on the trust vote. They also discussed all aspects of the nuclear deal and the next steps to be taken for implementing it.

However, what was evidently clear was that Washington was ready to play more than its part in ensuring that US Congress votes on the 123 agreement when it met in September for a brief session, before the House broke to meet only after the Presidential election process was completed in January next year.

The US envoy said Washington was keen to convene a meeting of the NSG in early August after the IAEA board’s approval to the safeguards agreement so that the 123 agreement could be presented to the US Congress by early September.

Washington, he said, would convince Pakistan into not voting against the safeguards agreement at the IAEA meeting.

Stating that he was well aware of Islamabad’s reservations on the pact, he expressed confidence that Bush administration would be able to persuade Pakistan to cooperate on the matter. Asked whether New Delhi would be granted a ‘clean, unconditional exemption’ from the IAEA and the NSG, the ambassador said: ’’I don’t think you should use the term unconditional waiver. We are working on a clean exemption draft that will go ahead and support the various theses that have been determined by both countries. We will be working for a consensus for a movement forward. There is the 123 agreement, the IAEA India-specific safeguards, the two meetings of the NSG, and a determination to be made by the President (Bush) before we go to the US Congress with this piece of legislation.’’

He said following the meeting of the IAEA, he expected the NSG members to meet after a week to 10 days. Thereafter, there would be an assessment made on whatever more was needed so that the matter came up in the US Congress in early September.

On what China’s role would be at the NSG deliberations, he admitted that Washington had talks with Beijing, and the latter had agreed to review the documentation (related to the Indo-US deal). 

Bangalore, July 23
Defiance of the party whip by three BJP MPs from Karnataka during the crucial trust vote in the Lok Sabha yesterday has attracted a strong reaction from the state BJP chief Sadananda Gowda. B S Yeddyurappa, Chief Minister in the BJP government in Karnataka, however, has preferred to remain quiet on the issue. While Manjunath Kunnur and H T Sangliana, BJP representatives from Dharwad (South) and Bangalore (North), respectively, voted in favour of the UPA yesterday, party MP from Udupi Manorama Madhwaraj decided not to be present in the house at the time of voting.

Gowda, president of the BJP in Karnataka and himself a member of the Lok Sabha, described the conduct of the three MPs as “betrayal of the worst kind”. Talking to this reporter today, Gowda said the three were induced by the UPA.

“All three of them will be dismissed from the party”, Gowda said and added that the errant MPs would attract action under the anti-defection law. On the charge levelled by Sangliana that loyalist BJP MPs from Karnataka tried to assault him in the Lok Sabha following the trust vote, Gowda said the allegation was untrue. “Even if one wants to hit a member, it will not be possible to do so inside the House”, he said.

Chief Minister Yedduyrappa’s press secretary Bhrugnesh said the CM would not like to comment on the issue of cross-voting by the three party MPs from Karnataka. Interestingly, the Chief Minister, despite an Assembly session being underway in the state, flew to Delhi on July 20 to host a dinner for the MPs from the state. The purpose of the dinner was to smoothen the ruffled feathers of those MPs who may be unhappy with him. Sangliana did not turn up at the dinner. But the other two, namely Kunnur and Manorama Madhwaraj, attended the dinner even though it did not prevent them from ditching the party in the crucial trust vote. The silence of the Chief Minister, who has now returned to Bangalore, is seen here as an admission of embarrassment of the failure of the dinner diplomacy tried by him.

Defections of MLAs from other parties arranged by Yeddyurappa himself recently to strengthen his government in Karnataka also came under the scanner in the wake of the volte face by the three MPs yesterday. Kunnur and Madhwaraj are both erstwhile members of the Congress party and the party chief Sadananda Gowda’s remark today that the two have “retained their Congress character” is believed to be a dig directed at the Chief Minister for inducting outsiders in the party fold all too quickly.

Janata Dal (Secular) chief H.D. Deve Gowda, who was under the spotlight for delaying the decision on the votes of the three party MPs, also got an embarrassing blow in the wake of the trust vote. JD(S) MP from Chamarajanagar M Shivanna voted for the UPA. The former Prime Minister himself and his only remaining colleague Veerendra Kumar voted against the motion. Much before Deve Gowda made his decision to go against the UPA public, Veerendra Kumar had announced that he would vote against the motion and would ignore the party directive if it was on the contrary. Gowda thus shows himself as one who has no control over either of the two remaining JD(S) members in the Lok Sabha.

Mumbai , July 23
The Maharashtra police has arrested scores of Bharatiya Janata Party activists in Mumbai and Yavatmal district after they damaged houses and properties belonging to MP Haribhau Rathod who abstained from the trust vote against the government in the Lok Sabha yesterday.

Police said around 40-50 workers of the BJP attacked Rathod's house in Yavatmal and burnt some furniture. Another group of workers who assembled outside the MP's house at the Ashok Nagar complex in Mumbai's suburban, Mulund, were lathicharged and taken into custody.

Rathod, who was in Parliament throughout the day, suddenly left the House before voting was taken up. Later,he told reporters that he had taken ill and was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of a hospital nearby.

However, he did not express support for the party and said he had been planning to vote against the party's directives anyway.

Rathod, who belongs to the Vanjara caste as senior party leader Gopinath Munde, said he was protesting against the treatment meted out to his mentor by the party leadership. Munde is locked in a political battle with state party chief Nitin Gadkari and had even threatened to leave the BJP earlier this year.

Only the intervention of Leader of the Opposition L K Advani prevented Munde from taking the extreme step.

Dehra Dun, July 23
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj today termed the victory of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, in the Lok Sabha vote of confidence yesterday, as tainted. “It is a suitcase win. Democracy has lost, politics has lost but the suitcase has won,” she said. Swaraj was here to participate in a rally organised by the women wing of Uttarakhand BJP to thank the Chief Minister Maj. Gen. B.C. Khanduri (retd) for reserving 50 per cent seats for women in the panchayats of the state.

She said her own party was ashamed of the eight members of Parliament who cross-voted. “We have expelled them and asked the Speaker to disqualify them from the membership of the Lok Sabha,” she added.

However, she said the Speaker should act promptly as he acted in the previous sting operation of ‘questions for money’ leading to the expulsion of eleven MPs. “There is clinching evidence this time about the money being offered by one Lok Sabha and two Rajya Sabha MPs to three of our members who brought the money to Lok Sabha. The nation was shattered to see the brazen attempt to buy MPs,” she said. Swaraj demanded that the Speaker should constitute a house committee to probe the entire matter and punish the guilty in a time-bound manner.

Swaraj also refuted allegations that the BJP was not interested in defeating the government on the floor of the house. “This is the most unfair of allegations against us. We arranged to bring four of our seriously ill MPs to Lok Sabha to vote against the government,” she said. 

Chandigarh, July 23
Fifty-six-year-old Herb Dhaliwal, the first Indian-Canadian to become cabinet minister in Canada, is in the news again, but for a different reason.

He has married Neelu Kang who teaches sociology at Panjab University here.The marriage was solemnised a couple of weeks ago. For both Herb Dhaliwal and Neelu, this is their second marriage.

Herb Dhaliwal’s first wife, Amrit, died of cancer a couple of years ago. Herb has two daughters and a son - Andrea, Justin and Jessica - from his first wife.

Neelu has a teenaged son. She teaches sociology at Panjab University here. She has also worked as lecturer at Government Colleges in Ropar and Chandigarh.

Neelu is expected to visit the city later this month. Earlier this year, she had gone to Canada on a fellowship. Her fellowship, which was to end in April, got extended by two months.

It is Neelu who confirmed the news of her marriage. Her mother lives in Mohali.

Herb Dhaliwal, who belongs to Chhaheru in Jalandhar district, immigrated to Canada at the age of six. In 1993, he was elected to the House of Commons on the Liberal ticket. He held the portfolios of fisheries and oceans and revenue, besides holding the charge of minister for British Columbia.

In 2003 because of his differences with the then Liberal leader and Prime Minister Paul Martin, Dhaliwal, who remained a member of the House of Commons for three terms, did not contest the 2003 elections.

Quitting politics, he is now back to business which he started from the basement of his house before joining politics.

BRIEFLY

18 child labourers rescued
TIRUCHIRAPALLI: The district administration has rescued 18 child labourers working in various concerns in the city. District collector T Soundiah in a release said here on Wednesday that a team of labour department officials had conducted surprise raids on July 16 and 17 and rescued them. He said cases had been filed against the concerns for engaging them. — UNI

BSF jawan killed
MALDA (WB): A BSF jawan was killed and a farmer injured when Bangladesh Rifles opened fire on them at Mirsultanpur village on the border here on Wednesday. The jawan of 123 battalion died on the way to Malda Sadar hospital. The farmer, who suffered a bullet injury in the knee, was admitted in the same hospital. — PTI

Farmer commits suicide
ORISSA: A debt-ridden farmer had allegedly committed suicide on the outskirts of the district headquarters. Unable to clear loans from moneylenders, Ananta Charan Rout (54), a native of Hazari Bagicha, committed suicide on July 19, the district unit of Orissa Krushak Sabha, a CPI (M) affiliated farmers' body, alleged. The deceased farmer had heavily borrowed from private moneylenders as nationalised and cooperative banks had rejected his application for a crop loan. — PTI

Goa to host film festival
PANAJI: Goa will host the Tri-Continental Film Festival 2008 in Panaji from July 25 to July 30. Around 21 films from Asia, Africa and America will be screened during the festival. The theme of the festival will be based on human right violation. The festival will be held in collaboration with Goa International Centre and Moving Images Goa and Entertainment Society of Goa. — PTI

Gurjar sworn in as Lt-Governor
PUDUCHERRY: Govind Singh Gurjar(76), a six-time legislator and former minister of Rajasthan, was sworn in as the new Lt-Governor of Puducherry at Raj Niwas here on Wednesday. Chief Justice of Puducherry D. Krishnaraja administered the oath to Gurjar. He is the 19th Lt- Governor of the Union Territory. — PTI

Temple auctions mobile
MUMBAI: A diamond studded ‘Motorola K1’mobile handset, donated by a devotee to Siddhivinayak temple, fetched Rs 15.55 lakh in an auction held on the temple premises. Pratap Sarnaik, an NCP member from Thane, emerged as the highest bidder and bought the phone for Rs 15,55,555. — PTI