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Performance to matter: Gadkari
Soren hopes to be third time lucky
Amar turns blogger, says SP a united house
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Ruchika molestation & suicide case
Ruchika case: Candlelight vigil held
Jaitley calls J&K report a farce
Kandahar Hijack
Coomi Kapoor is Editors Guild secretary-general
Rare heart surgery done
Bulletproof Jacket Case
Mocha Shootout
Ministerial berth for ‘tainted’ MLA in Yeddy govt
Prez rule in AP?
Principal fatally thrashes 7-yr-old, held
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Performance to matter: Gadkari
New Delhi, December 24 In his first press meet here today, Gadkari though said he wasn’t ‘turning the BJP into an NGO’, he stressed that politics should be means of social reforms. Laying great emphasis on work culture, the ninth party chief said, “I would like every BJP member to be actively associated with at least one Vikas and Seva project in his or her area.” Strongly disapproving “sycophancy and garlanding’, he suggested that the money wasted on such needless expenses could be better utilised by putting it in a donation box in the party office for aiding the families of farmers who have committed suicide. Denying Sangh’s involvement in his appointment or the BJP affairs, Gadkari said: “Sangh neither wants to take over the BJP nor does it want to impose its will. Sangh is giving me no directions.” The new BJP chief said he will select his team on performance and not proximity to any leader. Assuming charge when BJP has been facing a series of electoral reverses, Gadkari underplayed the importance of elections and said: “Elections keep taking place, we lose some, we win some.” The new president ostensibly sent to do some ideological course correction in the BJP, studiously avoided any mention of the three contentious issues of Ram Janambhoomi Mandir, Article 370 and Uniform Civil Code, perceived to be central to the BJP/Sangh’s ideology. Instead he stressed with greater force on “genuine secularism (Sarva Dharma Samabhav)” and also expressed his desire to strengthen the NDA by inviting the leaders concerned shortly. Stating that discipline, determination, mutual trust and respect will be the cornerstones of our functioning, Gadkari said, “Indiscipline will not be tolerated.” Even as the new BJP president described the party as the only alternative to the Congress, he avoided any direct criticism of Congress in his first public show and instead wished Rahul Gandhi well in his endeavour to win over Dalits by going to their homes. He also offered support to the government on other issues concerning the nation and said, “We will definitely support the government if it takes strong steps to fight terrorism. We will not oppose just for the sake of opposing,” he added.
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Soren hopes to be third time lucky
Ranchi, December 24 Soren was again sworn in as CM in August last but had to resign in January after he lost the bypoll he was contesting for a seat in the House. This time too Soren did not contest the election and will have to win a seat in the Assembly within six months of being sworn in as CM. But then his younger son, Hemant, and daughter-in-law Seeta, widow of his elder son Durga, have won from their respective constituencies and it will be interesting to see who vacates the seat to get Shibu Soren into the House. Odds are that he will prefer the lady to opt out but whether the lady obliges him is something that remains to be seen. An interesting feature of the Jharkhand election is the defeat of a host of heavyweights of the Congress. The outgoing Speaker, Alamgir Alam, former deputy chief minister Stephen Marandi and retired IG-turned-MP Rameshwar Oraon, besides Pradesh Congress president Pradeep Balmuchu, lost the election. So did two otherwise high-profile candidates Dr Ramdayal Munda and Benjamin Lakra. While Munda, a former Vice-Chancellor of Ranchi University and an alumnus of Chicago University, is an internationally known anthropologist, Lakra had resigned as the Principal Accountant General of West Bengal to contest the election. The new Jharkhand House of 81 members will have eight women, five of them elected for the first time. As many as 10 political parties failed to open their account in Jharkhand. Among them are the Left parties like CPM, CPI and the RSP and also BSP, SP, LJP and Trinamool Congress. At least six constituencies went to the wire. BJP won Chakradharpur seat only by 290 votes, Khunti by 436 votes and Latehar by 438 votes. Similarly, Congress managed to win Hatia by a paltry 553 votes and Dhanbad by 890 votes. The All-Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), a misnomer because none of the candidates is a student, won the Lohardaga seat by a slender margin of 606 votes. The Congress, which steamrolled Babulal Marandi’s demand for 40 seats, would be ruing the decision. The explanation that Marandi’s party was a marginal force and had no presence in the Assembly will not wash because the party was formed after the last election. And Marandi’s 55% success rate (11 seats out of 20 contested) is far better than the Congress’ report card of 14 wins out of 61 candidates put up by it.
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Amar turns blogger, says SP a united house
New Delhi, December 24 For a recall, cracks had surfaced in the Mulayam-Amar ties after the latter had brazenly blamed the Ferozabad Lok Sabha defeat on SP top brass’ (Mulayam and son Akhilesh) overconfidence. Ever since, a shaken SP has been on a damage control spree, with Mulayam choosing to downplay his general secretary’s remarks, and shrouding his frustration behind the cover of party’s internal democracy. Amar is now in a mood to return the favour, though he continues to nurse grouses against his detractors in the party. It’s another matter that he manages to sugarcoat his grudges, as on the blog: “Post Firozabad, I have realised that politics is not a bed of roses. Some time you have to fight outsiders and some time you have to deal with own family members. I have no grudges against those who are uncomfortable with my presence and I will ensure that the Samjwadi Party stands united under the leadership of Netaji.” That’s not to say, the SP pointsman has gone back on what he thought about the Ferozabad loss. On his blog, he makes a veiled reiteration of his earlier claim, pating himself, literally: “Our acceptance of defeat has been with humility. Some of my fellow party members have been impulsive in fully understanding this setback. I won’t hold any grudges against the many emotional outbursts my family members of the SP have made against me…” But Amar does downplay the LS byelection defeat to some extent, equating it to the loss which Indira Gandhi suffered in 1975, Atal Behari Vajpayee suffered in Gwalior and Mayawati suffered in Akbarabad, all individual strongholds.
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Ruchika molestation & suicide case
Chandigarh, December 24 The High Court, in its judgment, had ruled on March 12, 2004, that the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court for preventing sexual harassment at workplaces were “fully applicable to educational institutes as well”. The HC had asserted the observations, in their opinion, were “applicable to cases where students alleged sexual harassment from individuals who might be in dominant positions and were able to adversely affect the educational career of the victims.” The Bench observed that young women in educational institutes needed as much protection as working women required in offices. The judgment assumes greater significance after the developments in the Ruchika case. The teenager had ended her life three years after the incident. She was, in fact, expelled from the school for alleged “indiscipline” soon after the occurrence; and ended her life on December 28, 1993, by consuming poison. Though cases of students taking the extreme step of ending life are not common, available information suggests the number of sexual harassment victims in educational institutions is not miniscule. It is believed a helping hand, a patient ear, and reassurance of taking the matter to a logical conclusion, on the basis of the HC’s directives, can go a long way in providing solace to the quiet victim of a boisterous crime. Also, in preventing the conspiracy of silence from encouraging the victimiser from going ahead with violating the sanctity of life. Defining sexual harassment, the SC had ruled that it would include physical contact and advances, besides demand or request for sexual favours, along with sexually coloured remarks, showing pornography or any other unwelcome physical, verbal, even non-verbal, conduct of sexual nature. Referring to the judgment, the Division Bench of Justice SS Nijjar and Justice Kiran Anand Lall, had ruled “the guidelines, which had the force of law by the virtue of article 141 of the Constitution of India, were fully applicable to educational institutes as well”.
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Ruchika case: Candlelight vigil held
New Delhi, December 24 After CBI decided to re-open the case in which former DGP Rathore was sentenced to merely six-month imprisonment, Aradhana said there was an urgent need to bring about reforms in the judicial system. Aradhana was at Jantar Mantar today with her father to join the candlelight vigil taken out by the civil society to register shock and protest against the light punishment given to Rathore. It is clear that many high-level political leaders and police officials guarded Rathore for 19 years, she said demanding separate inquiry into the role of these individuals including former Haryana chief minister O.P. Chautala. Rathore was promoted to DGP during the trail in 1999. “An enquiry should also be conducted into the amount of property and other assets accumulated by Rathore,” said Aradhana adding that the fact that culprit was laughing while he exited the court proved that the punishment should have been much hasher. Both Ruchika and Aradhana were close friends who played tennis together in Chandigarh. About the further course of their agitation, Aradhana said legal actions would be taken with proper consultation with the National Commission for Women (NCW). Professor Raj Kachroo, who has been fighting for justice for his son Aman Kachroo joined the vigil to express solidarity. Mother of Nitish Katara, Neelam Katara also lit a candle to demand justice for Ruchika.
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Jaitley calls J&K report a farce
New Delhi, December 24 BJP leader and leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley dubbed the report of the working group as a “farce” and said the document had been prepared without consulting the members of the Group. Jaitley, also a member of the group, said here today that he would write to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressing his reservations about the report. He said: “The last meeting of this group was held in September 2007. No meeting has been held since.” The group under retired Supreme Court judge Justice Sagheer Ahmad was set up in May 2006 for strengthening relations between the state and the Centre. The group has recommended that the people of the state should be able to decide whether it should retain the special status under Article 370 of the Constitution or not. “It is for the people of the state of Jammu and Kashmir to decide how long to continue Article 370 in its present form and when to make it permanent or abrogate (it),” the first recommendation of the group said, adding “The matter being 60 years old should be settled once and for all.” Justice Sagheer Ahmad submitted this report to J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah yesterday. Meanwhile, expressing his indignation over the report, Jaitley said he was surprised to see the report since the committee has held no meeting in last two years and added that it had merely echoed the National Conference demands on greater autonomy for the state of Jammu & Kashmir.
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Kandahar Hijack
New Delhi, December 24 AK Doval, the 64-year-old former Intelligence Bureau Chief, who led the four-member negotiating team to Kandahar, even went to the extent of calling the “diplomatic failure” a “bloody disgrace” for India. He regretted that the Government was unable to put up an effective case about the hijack crisis before the international community. The Indian Airlines Plane with 174 passengers and a 11-member crew on a flight from Kathmandu to Delhi was hijacked on December 24, 1999, while it was overflying Lucknow. The crisis ended on December 31. The five Pakistani hijackers secured release of Maulana Masood Azhar, Sheikh Omar and Mushtaq Zargar in exchange for 158 people. One passenger Rupin Katyal was killed by the hijackers and his body was handed over at Abu Dhabi air base. Doval said, “No one worth any consequence was contacted either by the (then) Foreign Minister (Jaswant Singh) or the (then) Foreign Secretary (Lalit Mansingh). There was a diplomatic failure on our inability. When we knew that the US is totally against the terrorists, they are against the Taliban, they had total hold over the UAE. “The engagement should been done at the highest level. If need be, the Prime Minister (could) have talked to the President of America and tell him that the plane is in Abu Dhabi, which is practically an US airbase in the middle,” said Doval, the first police officer to have been decorated with second highest military award -Kirti Chakra- in 1988. The hijacked plane first landed in Amritsar before flying to Lahore in Pakistan and later to Al-Minhat air force base in Abu Dhabi before heading towards Kandahar International Airport by the crack of the dawn the next day. Doval said the US, which is in the forefront in the fight against terrorism, should have been clearly told about the unholy link between the Taliban and the Harkat-ul-Ansar militants. After all, there were foreigners also on board the ill-fated plane to make them interested, the IPS officer, who negotiated with terrorists for 110 hours, said. The former Intelligence Bureau chief also went on to say possibly the US Ambassador to India at that point had not been even contacted. “Jaswant Singh ji says that he did a lot...but no one worth any consequence was contacted. India did not make an issue with the foreign countries opposing terrorism,” he said while terming the negotiations as casual and stressed that “it should have been made an issue”. — PTI
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Coomi Kapoor is Editors Guild secretary-general
New Delhi, December 24 Kapoor has served as Resident Editor of The Indian Express Group and her weekly column on political developments is much read. She succeeds KS Sachidananda Murthy, Resident Editor, Malayala Manorama and The Week, who was Secretary-General for three terms. After a successful stint in print journalism, Sardesai is a respected editor and anchor of CNN IBN. Bansal had a long stint in financial and general journalism and has worked as Resident Editor of Financial Express, Business Editor of Zee News and Managing Editor of India TV.
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Rare heart surgery done
Chennai, December 24 An angiogram showed seven abnormalities, including a large hole in ventricular septum (dividing partition between two tissues), a large hole in atrial septum, enlarged muscle on the heart's right side, absent pulmonary valve with severe leak, large aneurysm (widening of artery), calcification and leak in the aortic valve. He said the surgery in which all abnormalities were corrected in about seven hours was the first of its kind in the world. “The patient's heart was stopped for three hours through a device to perform the surgery,” he said. — PTI
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Bulletproof Jacket Case
Mumbai, December 24 The police department said today three clerks from the purchase department, that is responsible for handling the file, have been suspended for misplacing the document. The file, the police said, was found from the office of a DCP. It is not clear how the file disappeared from the custody of the purchase department and ended up in a DCP's office. But an inquiry conducted by the police department has found the three clerks guilty of misconduct. A report has been sent to the home department for further action against the clerks. Earlier this month, Metropolitan Magistrate RK Malabade hearing a public interest litigation petition filed by one Santosh Daundkar ordered the senior inspector the JJ Road police station to file an FIR and probe the matter about the missing jacket and the file as well. The police have been asked to submit a report to the court by January 30 next year. Daundkar is being represented by senior police officer-turned-lawyer YP Singh. In his petition, Daundkar alleged irregularity in the purchase of substandard bulletproof vests for the police. He had sought information on the purchase of the bulletproof jackets under the Right to Information Act (RTI) from the police commissioner's office. Daundkar was told that the file was missing. Meanwhile, Daundkar’s lawyer YP Singh, a former police officer, alleged that senior police officials were covering up the case of the missing jacket worn by Karkare. The statement by the sweeper, one Dinesh Lalji Gatar, employed on contract by JJ Hospital, was an attempt to hide the truth, Singh said. Senior police officials would be implicated in the purchase of bulletproof jackets, Singh said. Karkare’s widow Kavita also alleged that the sweeper's statement was a conspiracy to hide the truth.
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Mocha Shootout
New Delhi, December 24 Metropolitan Magistrate Geetanjali Goyal accepted the plea of the Delhi police and sent the accused, Vivek Singh, to Tihar jail till January 6, 2010, on the grounds that the police did not seek his custodial interrogation after the accused handed over the licensed gun used in the firing. The 27-year-old Vivek was arrested last night after he opened fire from his licensed weapon, a 32 bore Smith & Wesson revolver, at the bar manager around 11.45 am following a heated argument with him over a petty issue. No one was hurt in the incident. He had fled the spot after the incident but surrendered to the police at around 7.30 pm and was arrested. He was accompanied by his father when he surrendered. Vivek has been charged under various provisions of the IPC related with attempt to murder the bar manager.
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Ministerial berth for ‘tainted’ MLA in Yeddy govt
Bangalore, December 24 With the induction of Renukacharya at a ceremony on the lawns of Raj Bhavan, the strength of the ministry headed by Yeddyurappa rose to 34 - the upper limit permissible under the law. Party’s state unit president DV Sadananda Gowda, some Cabinet ministers and BJP legislators from Bangalore were conspicuous by their absence during the swearing-in. They were against Renukacharya induction in the ministry in view of the key role played by the latter in the recent revolt by party MLAs against Yeddyurappa. BJP general secretary and Lok Sabha member from Bangalore South HN Ananth Kumar too stayed away from the function. Renukacharya told reporters later that there were no differences in the party and he was as loyal to the CM as ‘Hanuman’ was to Lord Rama. The new minister, a first-time legislator from Honnali Assembly segment in Davangere district, had put up in hotel in Hyderabad for a fortnight along with 50 other rebel legislators demanding removal of Yeddyurappa from the CM’s post. Renukacharya’s detractors cited criminal charges of extortion, breach of peace, intimidation and insulting the modesty of a woman being faced by the MLA, to oppose his inclusion in the council of ministers. Jayalakshmi, a nurse at Davangere, about 250 km from here, filed a complaint two years ago against Renukacharya alleging sexual harassment.
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Prez rule in AP?
Hyderabad, December 24 The string of resignations by elected representatives across the political spectrum and violent street protests may lead to constitutional and political crisis, prompting the Centre to impose President's rule, the political observers said. The backward region is on the boil following Union Home Minister P Chidambaram’s statement on Wednesday night indicating that the statehood issue will be put on backburner in view of the need for “wide-ranging consultations.” A majority of ministers from Telangana region are also contemplating to quit the Cabinet to express solidarity with the agitation. This will surely set off a constitutional crisis in the state. The buzz in the political circles is that the Governor ND Tiwari may be replaced as a prelude to an exercise to bring AP under central rule.
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Principal fatally thrashes 7-yr-old, held
Lucknow, December 24 On the complaint of the Class III student’s father, Madan Lal Chauhan of Sarai Khati village in Auraiya, the police have arrested the headmaster, Amar Singh Gautam, for fatally beating the girl student. The incident occurred on December 21 in Sarai Khati in Auraiya district when the headmaster of the government primary school beat up Akansha for not bringing some books. The girl fainted after sustaining injuries in her neck and back and was rushed to the primary health centre. Two days later when her condition deteriorated the doctors referred her to the Auraiya district hospital but she died before she could reach there. Circle Officer of Bidhuna today sent the body for post mortem to Etawah. Auraiya SP Shridhar Pathak said the headmaster had been arrested. Auraiya Basic Shiksha Adhikari Raj Bahadur Maurya has recommended the suspension of the headmaster.
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The BJP’s new president Nitin Gadkari, it seems, aims at turning the party into a NGO, that he is admittedly adept at running.
In his first press meet here today, Gadkari though said he wasn’t ‘turning the BJP into an NGO’,
If Shibu Soren does manage to become the Chief Minister of Jharkhand again, he will be hoping to be luckier the third time. The first time he was sworn in as the CM in 2009. His government collapsed within nine days after he failed to muster a majority in the Assembly.
No prizes therefore for guessing the nature of take one posts on www.thakuramarsingh.com --- where you have the SP general secretary professing undiluted loyalty to his supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, and dispelling all talk of disunity within the party. “Comments, blames and accusations have been exaggerated. But, at its core, the SP is still one. Mulayamji is here and I am here. Important assets of the SP are still standing,” writes Amar.