Hyderabad, August 22
A chief priest of a popular shrine at Tirupati has confessed to stealing the temple jewellery and mortgaging them with a private money lender for Rs 10 lakh to tide over his personal financial problems.

The admission of guilt by Venkataramana Deekshitulu, chief priest of Sri Kodandarama Swamy temple for the past four decades, has sent shock waves in the state, raising fears over the safety of the invaluable ornaments of the temples under the jurisdiction of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), an autonomous body managing the affairs of the world famous Tirumala temple.

The police has taken the priest into custody and produced him before a local court today. They also arrested the pawn broker at the temple town, Sagar Lal, and seized seven ornaments, weighing 1.60 kg from him.

The preliminary investigations revealed that the priest had pledged a total of 11 ornaments for over Rs 10.20 lakh during the last two years and used the money to meet his domestic commitments. Out of them, he had redeemed four ornaments recently and restored them to the temple.

“We will take criminal action against the priest. After a thorough investigation, we will take action if any other temple staff is involved,” Endowments Minister G Venkat Reddy said.

While admitting his guilt before the media, Deekshithulu said he was burdened by poverty and health problems. “We were paid a paltry salary of Rs 2,500 per month. How do you expect us to make the both ends meet? There was no other option for me,” he said.

The matter came to light when inventory was taken up following an order by the High Court based on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL). The court had recently asked the TTD authorities to submit complete details of properties and jewellery of all temples in their jurisdiction within two months.

The tainted priest, who had prevented TTD officials from verifying the jewellery record on several occasions in the past, finally realised that his game was up and appeared before the media to make the confession.

“We are still probing the case and the full extent of misappropriation can be known only after verification of temple treasure registers and inventory reports which are given after value appraisal of the jewellery from time to time,” TTD Chief Vigilance and Security Officer Ramakrishna said.

Though there are no official records, it is generally estimated that Tirumala temple alone owns jewellery worth over Rs 50,000 crore, mostly donated by devotees.

About three years ago, Tirumala shrine was at the centre of a scandal following allegations that over 300 gold coins went missing from the temple.

Jaipur, August 22
A probe was ordered into an alleged case of child abuse, in which a Congress MLA reportedly forced school students to donate blood at a camp organised to mark the 65th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in Chomu, 60 km from here, on August 20.

The probe has been ordered after angry protests by the residents of Chomu and intense media pressure. Around 50 kids of a government school in Chomu were reportedly lured into donating blood at a camp organised by local MLA Bhagwan Sahay Saini. Almost all the students were below the age of 18. The incident came to light when one of them reported complication after blood donation and was referred to SMS Hospital in Jaipur.

“He is not even 15 years of age and is suffering from jaundice. He even told this to the organisers who said if he registers his age as 19, he will be able to donate blood and get a certificate (a donor card) which he can use later,” said Om Prakash, the boy’s father. Suresh, another student of the school, said, “We were lured with fruits and certificate.” While the MLA denied the charge and dubbed it a political conspiracy, the local residents said he was very much present at the camp when the students arrived for donating blood.

Two days after the incident, Jaipur District Magistrate Kuldeep Ranka today appointed a special committee to inquire into the matter. “We have constituted a committee consisting of Additional District Magistrate and Chief Medical Officer who will inquire to see if there were any lapses. We will speak to all the concerned people,” said Ranka.

Reacting to the incident, Congress Spokesperson Manish Tewari said the matter would be investigated and if the incident was found to be true the strictest possible action would be taken.

Meanwhile, Chomu today observed bandh on a call given by the BJP against forced blood donation by minors. Angry residents staged a protest against the Congress MLA, while the students’ wing of the BJP held a rally and burnt his effigy, demanding action against him.

They alleged that the police have refused to file a case against the MLA. According to the universally accepted criteria, donors must be between 18 and 55 years old with body weight not less than 45 kg. 

Shimla, August 22
Is there a Bal Apte report which reviewed the performance of the BJP in the last general elections and did this report come up for discussion at the three-day Chintan Baithak that concluded here this afternoon?

After the last national executive of the BJP in Delhi on June 20 and 21, its president Rajnath Singh appointed a three-member committee to go across the country and speak to BJP workers. On the basis of their assessment, BJP vice-president Bal Apte was asked to prepare a comprehensive report on the reasons for BJP’s election debacle. This report was slated to be taken up at Chintan Baithak to discuss freely the factors contributing to the party’s failure.

But after the BJP parliamentary party leader LK Advani dismissed any discussion on the elections saying that this had already been discussed at the last national executive, all others, including Rajnath, denied plans to take up such a report in this meeting.

BJP leaders started denying the existence of such a report. Then a TV channel claiming access to the report played portions of it some time back. Yesterday again the same news channel took up this report. Soon other channels and media also started mentioning the Bal Apte report.

Thereafter, Rajnath issued a brief clarification saying there was no such report and it never came up for any discussion at the meeting.

But the Apte report continued to haunt Rajnath as yesterday morning most newspapers played it up. So Rajnath modified his assertion slightly. He said, “We did discuss the last elections. But there was no draft. Ram Lalji (BJP’s organisational secretary) had made notes in his diary and he kept reading out points. He also circulated to each member the performance of the party in every state.”

Patna, August 21
Having failed to make an alliance with the Congress for the byelection to 18 Assembly seats in Bihar scheduled on September 10 and 15, RJD chief Lalu Yadav and LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan were left with no other option but to go on their own. Both the RJD and LJP today finalised their seat adjustment for the bypoll.

Being the senior partner in the alliance, the RJD will contest on 13 seats while the LJP will field its nominees only on five. On its part, the Congress has decided to contest all 18 seats on its own. The Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee in consultation with Bihar in charge of the party Jagdish Tytler has already prepared a panel of potential candidates.

Tytler has taken the list with him to New Delhi for final approval from the AICC. The left parties - CPM, CPI and CPI-ML -- which had formed a Bihar-specific alliance during the last Lok Sabha polls have decided to continue their partnership under the banner of the United Left Block (ULB). The ULB will be contesting 14 of the 18 seats going to the bypoll. They have already finalised their respective candidates on these seats. The ruling JD(U) and the BJP have also finalised the number of seats each of them would contest.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has already made it clear that the JD(U) will not prefer to field the kith and kin of its former MLAs from the constituencies vacated by them after their election to the Lok Sabha. Notwithstanding Nitish’s announcement, there are many such kith and kin who are already claiming a ticket. Some of them may jump into the fray as rebel candidates if the party does not give its symbol to them.

The byelections are being considered very important by all the political parties as they view it as a ‘mini referendum’ on the four-year rule of Nitish government.

Lucknow, August 22
Although Congress did not win any of the four seats in Assembly bypolls, it has claimed a “remarkable climb” in its vote share, terming it as a “good sign for accomplishing Rahul UP mission of 2012”.

UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi in a statement said there had been a significant increase in the party’s vote percentage. Calling it an encouraging trend, the party president said the Congress would soon launch a massive peoples' movement for resolving the problems faced by the common people.

“These bypolls have proved that Samajwadi party and BJP's vote share has come down. Both these parties have failed to retain their seats,” Joshi said, adding that though the Congress had not much at stake, as it had none of these seats in its kitty. — TNS

New Delhi, August 22
Even as the increasing activities of Pakistan’s ISI in the Himalayan nation has remained a cause of worry for New Delhi, Nepal has sought to reassure India that it would not allow the misuse of its territory for anti-India activities.

The two countries, meanwhile, completed negotiations and initialled the revised treaty of trade and an agreement on cooperation to control unauthorised trade from a third country. Both the trade treaty and the agreement to control unauthorised trade would be formally signed later. The two agreements have been under discussion for over two years and would be replacing agreements inked in 1991 and 1996.

India and Nepal agreed to consider steps to further facilitate cross-border arrangements in order to resolve border-related issues and to assist local populations in the border areas on both sides. The two sides also stressed on the need for strengthening the legal framework in order to counter their common cross-border security challenges.

These announcements were made in a joint statement issued by the two countries at the end of a five-day visit to India by Nepal Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal.

The joint statement said the two Prime Ministers directed their Foreign Secretaries to discuss and review the 1950 Friendship Treaty and other bilateral agreements to further strengthen ties between the two countries.

To accelerate implementation of Pancheshwar Multi-purpose Project, the two Prime Ministers also directed the Joint Ministerial Commission on Water Resources and Joint Committee on Water Resources to expedite the finalisation of terms of reference for Pancheshwar Development Authority and the detailed project report of the Pancheshwar Project.

The two sides agreed that enhancing bilateral trade was a priority and that the Inter Governmental Committee (IGC) at the level of Commerce Secretaries should look into the relevant issues for promoting trade, investments and industrialisation in Nepal, expanding bilateral trade on a sustainable basis and further removing barriers to trade and investment. The two Prime Ministers directed that the IGC should meet within the next two months. To facilitate Nepal’s foreign trade, India agreed to the utilisation of its port at Vishakhapatnam for movement of transit traffic to and from Nepal. 

Hyderabad, August 22
Hyderabad-based Hetero Drugs, the country’s leading manufacturer of anti-swine flu drug “Tamiflu”, is virtually racing against time to meet the growing demand.

Following an urgent order from the central government, the company delivered 90 lakh capsules of the drug yesterday and another 10 lakh would be supplied by Monday, Hetero Drugs Director M Srinivasa Reddy said.

As part of national preparedness to tackle a possible swine flu pandemic, the company has an inventory of two crore capsules - one crore in ready packs and another crore in the form of raw material.

Hetero Drugs, which has a license from Swiss drugs major Roche for manufacture of anti-influenza drug, will also supply four lakh bottles of Oseltamivir for paediatric use by the end of the month.

With manufacturing units at Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam, it can now manufacture 20 crore capsules a month.

Immediately after reports of detection of swine flu cases in Mexico and other parts, the Centre had sounded Hetero Drugs for an immediate supply of 10 lakh doses of generic versions of Tamiflu.

In India, Hetero Drugs is the biggest supplier with 60-65 per cent capacity, while CIPLA can account for around 20 per cent. Other entrants such as Strides Arcolab, Natco Pharma are marginal suppliers of the anti-influenza drugs.

Hetero has bagged orders to export 8-10 million capsules of the drug to Latin American countries, South East Asia, Africa etc. Enquiries are also coming from West Asia, especially Saudi Arabia.

The company has assured the Centre that it would keep a buffer of a million capsules to meet an emergency situation. The National Institute of Communicable Disease is the stocking point for the drug. At present, the drug is not sold over the counter and is subsidised by the suppliers.

The treatment for swine flu is for seven days at two capsules a day.

New Delhi, August 22
Despite Islamabad’s defiant attitude, India is no mood to relent the pressure on Pakistan to bring to book the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks.

A day after India presented a fresh dossier to Islamabad on the Mumbai mayhem, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said more evidence would be given to Pakistan to carry out its own investigations into the 26/11 incidents.

“We are in continuous touch with the government of Pakistan. It is an ongoing exercise between Pakistan and India,” Krishna told reporters here.

“So as and when we collect more evidence, we will keep sending it across to Pakistan and that’s what the foreign secretary did yesterday.”

Yesterday, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao had handed over to Pakistani High Commissioner Shahid Malik the latest dossier on the November 2008 terror attacks, which specifically includes “additional information” on Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed.

However, Pakistan has said that the latest Indian dossier pointing to the involvement of Hafiz Saeed in the Mumbai attacks did not contain anything substantial. Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was quoted as saying that if India has explicit evidence regarding Saeed’s involvement in the Mumbai attacks, this should be handed over to Pakistan.

In a separate statement related to elections in Afghanistan, Krishna said: “It is gratifying to see the democratic process taking strong root in Afghanistan.”

“Despite the complex security environment and threats from terrorist groups, candidates have campaigned fearlessly and new voters registered themselves in large numbers. As a fellow developing country and a democracy, we remain strongly supportive of the election process and democratic institutions of Afghanistan,” he said.