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IPL controversy Cricket fans during a protest against IPL chief Lalit Modi in Ahmedabad on Saturday. — PTI
Gehlot, Raje in war of words
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PM: Panchayat an instrument to counter Maoists
Targets: CAG slams Railways
100 kids fall ill after ice-cream treat
Tagore Medallion Theft
Govindacharya floats new outfit to challenge Modi
Maoists damage vehicles, block roads in AP
SC to have another building
Gaffes galore at Sangma cabinet’s swearing-in
Access to Headley
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Govt in a cleft stick over Patel, Pawar
Vibha Sharma Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 24 The Congress-headed UPA government is currently in a situation where it can neither declare Pawar and Patel clean nor dump them. So even though the NCP duo are proving to be the “liquid oxygen” for the Congress-led coalition, the two masters in the game of politics will be able to ride over the current crisis, thanks to their indispensability for the government.
The core group, chaired by party president Sonia Gandhi, met for nearly two hours amidst obvious tension on what course to take with the threat of cut motion looming large over the head of government. Mayawati’s BSP was zeroed in as the party that can provide relief in case of crisis on April 27. And as far as Patel and Pawar are concerned, their indispensibility was considered far too great to take any risk. Which is why polical observers are firm that even though it is worst crisis the NCP may have faced in the recent past, it is nowhere near the end of road for Pawar and Patel. Moroever, while Congress had to sacrifice junior external affairs minister Shashi Tahroor to save face, it cannot force Pawar to take a similar action against Patel. And as far as Pawar is concerned, considering any action against Patel even to save face may be an impossible task, considering his importance for the NCP. This even though the general feeling is that the past has caught in the form of IPL with the man who single handedly killed the national carrier by merging Air India and Indian Airlines. “Instead of reviving the national carrier, Patel’s move of merging AI and IA ended up benefiting private airlines like Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines for which he is not much apologetic. And now his involvement in the IPL scam, courtesy the e-mail sent to Tharoor and his daughter’s role in diverting an AI flight,” Congress leaders say Besides being a high profile minister and indispensable for the NCP, Patel is the right hand man from Pawar. He has been with Pawar through tough times, even when the NCP boss went to contest the keenly fought BCCI elections few years back. Obviously, the Congress can ill afford to alienate NCP keeping in mind coalition compulsions. “The party fears loosing an imprtant ally. Moreover, any action against the NCP will also prove to be a question mark for other partners, who may will feel that if similar situation arises in future, the Congress will not back them,” they add.
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Gehlot, Raje in war of words
Jaipur, April 24 Responding to Gehlot’s remarks over her links with Modi, Raje had dubbed it as an attempt to cover up for his government’s failure in dealing with burning issues like water crisis, price rise and unemployment in the state. Launching a scathing attack on the CM, Raje denied the charge that she owned a house in London. Taking a dig at Gehlot, she said, “If he has proof and documents, he should hand over the keys of the house to me. Tomorrow he may come out and say that I own the Bukingham Palace.” She charged that the Mathur Commission was constituted by the government with a political motive to probe into the functioning of the previous BJP regime. “The government spent crores, but nothing came out and even the Supreme Court raised questions over its validity. Moreover, the members of the commission themselves were under scanner,” she claimed. The BJP general secretary said she would have been happy if instead of raking up the IPL issue, the CM had done something for the welfare of BPL families in the state over the past 17 months. Meanwhile, Gehlot is finding himself in a spot amid constant media queries as to why his government was not acting fast enough in the case of sale of heritage havelis. “The government has received the report and is examining its legal aspects,” is all what he had to say over the issue. An inquiry committee headed by the Divisional Commissioner, Jaipur, as well as the Anti-Corruption Bureau had found that the havelis purchased by Modi were government properties. Questions are also being raised as to how the Gehlot government, in an affidavit filed in the high court, justified the previous BJP regime’s initiative to form the Amer Development and Maintenance Authority (ADMA) in which Modi’s wife, Minal Modi, was a member.
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PM: Panchayat an instrument to counter Maoists
New Delhi, April 24 “We should pay special attention to ensure that PRIs function effectively in remote and backward areas, which include tribal areas. This will help us in tackling the challenges such as the Maoist menace,” he said inaugurating a conference to celebrate National Panchayati Raj Day. Manmohan Singh said participation of panchayats in various development programmes was essential as “they understand the local needs.” “Panchayats not only make direct participation possible for the marginalised section of society in governance, but also play an important role in ensuring transparency and accountability in the functioning of government institutions and officials,” he added. Describing the day as “historic” for PRIs, he said it was on this day in 1993 that the 73rd Constitutional Amendment was implemented to enable the three-tier Panchayats to take responsibility of governance. “This has made decentralisation (of power) possible up to the grassroot level. The impact of the 73rd amendment is now very clearly visible. It has empowered the common man and poor, and has brought about changes in the power equations in rural India,” he said. Expressing happiness over the regular conduct of Panchayat elections, the PM said over 28 lakh people have now officially become part of the country's democracy through about 600 district panchayats, 6,000 intermediate panchayats and 2.3 lakh gram panchayats. Noting that 33 per cent reservation for women has been implemented in the PRIs, the Prime Minister said it was a matter of pride for the country that today about 10 lakh women work in rural India as elected representative, which is more than the number of reserved seats. — PTI
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Targets: CAG slams Railways New Delhi, April 24 As Mamata laced humour almost turned question hour into a discussion on the functioning of the Railways, the country’s top auditing body pointed out that her ministry had achieved just about 28 per cent of the total 11th Five-Year Plan targets in the first two years. “Performance of the Railways, in the first two years of the plan period, was much below the proportionate targets as it could achieve only 28 per cent of total plan size,” the latest report of the CAG has said. According to the CAG report tabled in Parliament yesterday, there was a plan to add 2,000 km of new lines, convert 10,000 km of metre/narrow gauge into broad gauge, double the 6000 km of single track and electrify 3500 km of routes during the 11th Plan. However, in the first two years of the plan period, 513 km (25.65 per cent) of new lines, 2,612 km (26.12 per cent) of gauge conversion, 789 km (13.15 per cent) of doubling and 1,299 km (37.11 per cent) of electrification was completed. The annual growth rate in passenger earnings declined from a peak of 15.21 per cent achieved in 2007-08 to 10.52 per cent in 2008-09. The report revealed that out of 144 ongoing Railway projects, six projects have been delayed by over 10 years. The anticipated cost of completion of these projects has been revised to Rs 13,055.47 crore from original cost of 3,463.60
crore. The 11th Plan size of Rs 2,33,289 crore envisages financing of Rs 63,635 cr through general budgetary support, Rs 90,000 crore through internal resources and Rs 79,654 crore through extra-budgetary resources. Meanwhile, in the Rajya Sabha, with four out of the six questions asked related to the Railways, Mamata pointed out, "You can purchase cloth from the market but not wagons," when members sought to know about the shortage of rolling stock in trains.
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100 kids fall ill after ice-cream treat
Lucknow, April 24 The factory located in the village has been sealed and the owner Kannulal Sahu has been arrested. Soon after consuming it, the children started vomiting, having loose motions and a few even fainted. All of them were rushed to the Hathgam PHC. Around a dozen serious ones were referred to the Sadar hospital in the district headquarters and some private nursing homes. According District Magistrate P Guruprasad the condition of all the children was now stable.
— TNS
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6 years on, CBI abandons probe
Subhrangshu Gupta Tribune News Service
Kolkata, April 24 Tagore’s medallion and other valuables had been missing mysteriously from the Visva Bharati Museum from August 29, 2004. Immediately, the CBI started the probe as desired by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is also the chairman of the Centre-run Visva Bharati University. The CBI director, however, said if they get new leads in the case, they could restart the probe. Regarding the Purulia arms-dropping case, the CBI director said the prime accused Kim Davy, now in detention in Denmark, would be soon handed over to the agency as per the recent extradition treaties between India and Denmark. He said the CBI would now take up the matter with the judicial administration in Denmark for bringing Devy to India. Kim Davy was the pilot of the aircraft that dropped bombs and explosives in an open field near Purulia town.
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Govindacharya floats new outfit to challenge Modi
New Delhi, April 24 Govindacharya is currently lending his shoulder to a movement of known Modi detractors, including his one-time home minister Gordhan Zadafiya, who are launching a 45-day agitation for clean drinking water throughout Saurashtra from May 1, exposing how the Narmada waters have failed to reach targeted villages, as Modi claimed. Zadafiya fell out with Modi soon after the 2002 Gujarat riots. In the last assembly elections, he and some BJP rebels -- mostly from the Patel community -- formed their Mahagujarat Janta Party and fought against Modi, but lost badly. Zadafiya unveiled his region-wide agitation plans here today and Govindacharya presided over the event. Govind, who recently quit his Rashtriya Swabhiman Andolan appointing his confidant as its convener, indicated his political ambition and plans to spread his influence nationally through a new outfit he has floated, the Rashtravadi Morcha (Nationalist Front), with affiliates across the country. “Gordhan Zadafiya’s Mahgujarat Janta Party is one such organisation with which I propose to work,” Govind said later. He also listed the Bihar Krantikari Janata Party, run by Rajendra Pandey, as another. The Jagrut Bharat Party led by Dr Sanjit Singh Dang is Govind’s affiliate in UP. In Madhya Pradesh and Bundelkhand, it is Bhartiya Janashakti Party and in parts of West UP sections of Hindu Mahasabha have aligned with the Rashtravadi Morcha. Quite on the pattern of the RSS where Govindacharya did his early years, he has about 70-72 groups and organisations with some 250-300 people working for these, affiliated to his Nationalist Front. These include the Bengal Hindu Sangh in West Bengal and Tamil Makkal Kazhgam in Tamil Nadu. Brought up on the staple of nationalism, Govind denies he is in competition with the RSS, notwithstanding his attempt to emulate the Sangh in so far as his propensity to float new organisations and affiliate them to his Morcha is concerned. He, of course, rejects both the Congress and BJP as pro-rich and pro-foreign investors and stresses the need for a new pro-people force to enter the political field, but denies he is in competition or challenging the might of either the BJP or the Sangh. Instead he would rather describe his affiliates as “miners and sappers for nationalist forces”.
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Maoists damage vehicles, block roads in AP
Hyderabad, April 24 Two vehicles were burnt by CPI (Maoist) ultras on the Chintalamma and Koyyur ghat road in Koyyur mandal in the morning, Vishakhapatnam SP Vineet Brij Lal said. The ultras chopped off several trees on the Koyyur ghat road resulting in road blockades. Vehicular traffic between Vishakhapatnam and East Godavari districts came to a standstill even as efforts were underway to clear the road. Roads were dug out at some places and banners pasted in protest against the “Operation Green Hunt”. The Maoists have given a 48-hours bandh call in Malkangiri district and other areas of Orissa bordering Andhra Pradesh in protest against “Operation Green Hunt”. “The security has been tightened in the area. A search operation has been launched and additional forces are being sent to the area to nab the ultras,” the SP said.
— PTI
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SC to have another building
New Delhi, April 24 Speaking on the occasion, the CJI observed that the new building, which would come up in three years, would somewhat solve the acute space problem the apex court has been facing. The workload and the strength of SC judges had increased manifold since the court shifted to the present building in 1958. "We were suffocating for space for the last several years. The Supreme Court staff have been working in a miserable and pitiable condition. This building would be a great asset for the Supreme Court," the CJI said. The new building would come up on a 12 acre area, which had earlier housed the children’s amusement facility known as Appu Ghar. The proposed building will be located just on the other side of the road on which the existing SC building stands.
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Gaffes galore at Sangma cabinet’s swearing-in
Shillong, April 24 A murmur accompanied with suppressed giggles broke the silence in the packed Durbar Hall of the Raj Bhavan as the members of the audience tried to figure out if they had indeed heard the Governor right. A bewildered-looking Congress legislator Founder Strong Cajee, who had begun reading the oath, however, continued. Realising his mistake by now, the Governor promptly corrected himself and said: “I shall bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution...." In the course of the swearing-in ceremony, the lone lady legislator Ampareen Lyngdoh forgot to convey the customary greetings to the Governor after signing the oath of office and secrecy. It was only after someone from the audience prompted her that Ampareen, who had almost gone back to her seat, rushed back to the podium to shake hands with the Governor.
— PTI
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Solicitor General leaves for US
New Delhi, April 24 Subramaniam’s five-day visit is primarily to understand the US legal system within which India could get access to Headley, a Pakistani-American national who has confessed to his involvement in the Mumbai attacks, sources say. He will discuss with officials of the US Justice Department modalities for access to Headley, a Lashkar-e-Toiba operative, in an appropriate legal format. Sources pointed out that the legal system in the USA was different than that of India and hence there was need to understand it properly and move ahead accordingly. India wants to question Headley in a manner that his statement becomes acceptable in a court of law here. In this regard, a chargesheet will also be required to be filed against Headley in India. — PTI
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New Delhi, April 24
At least the Congress Core Committee seems to have decided to keep mum on its regional ally in Maharashtra by rejecting Opposition’s demand for their resignation. No wonder, therefore, that after another Parliamentary day was lost to the IPL cricket controversy yesterday, the party’s core group left it to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to decide whether a joint parliamentary probe was needed on the issue.
In an apparent bid to provoke her, the CM said he was surprised that Raje had not replied to the charges that she had purchased a house in London. “It was the then CM who would send bureaucrats and even ministers with files to meet Modi in Hotel Rambagh Palace. She does need to explain her actions,” he charged.