New Delhi, May 31
Having earned severe criticism from the party high command for violating its clear-cut directive for not going ahead with a rally in Andhra Pradesh’s volatile Telangana region, son of late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, YS Jaganmohan Reddy is camping in Delhi, hoping to meet AICC chief Sonia Gandhi and explain his position.

But there are doubts that the Kadapa MP, whose rally last week led to violence in the Telangana region, will be granted an audience at the 10 Janpath soon. Jaganmohan, who is in Delhi to attend a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, has sought an appointment with Sonia Gandhi and other senior party leaders.

Regarding rally, Jaganmohan says that the yatra was for his father. “Whatever I'm doing is for my father. I am sure the Congress president will understand my point,” he said in his defence and alleged that his opponents had sent an adverse report to the party leadership.

Jagan explained it was his “moral responsibility” to console families of those who had either died or allegedly committed suicide after hearing the news of the death of his father and claimed that he did not make a single political statement. On whether he would continue with the tour, he said it was precisely this that he wanted to discuss with the party high command. “I have full faith in Congress president Sonia Gandhi. I will explain to the high xommand that there is nothing political about the yatra. This is purely personal,” he said, adding that he wanted to continue with the yatra.

Incidentally, the Congress bosses had asked him not to conduct the rally in Telangana in view of the tension prevailing over separate statehood issue. However, defying the order, Jaganmohan embarked on the rally, triggering violence between his supporters and opponents.

After Jaganmohan’s open defiance, the meeting between actor-turned politician Praja Rajyam party chief Chiranjeevi and Sonia Gandhi assumed much significance in the politics of Andhra Pradesh. It is believed that Congress is wooing Chiranjeevi to counter Jaganmohan.

The party says the high command is seized of the matter and will take suitable action at a suitable time. Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan said the “matter is under consideration of the party high command” and “whatever action is required, will be taken by the general secretary in charge” of Andhra Pradesh. She also said there was no timeframe for any action.

New Delhi, May 31
The Congress today said it would not form an alternative government in Jharkhand after the resignation of Shibu Soren as Chief Minister, thereby setting the stage for President’s Rule in the state.

Notably, Jharkhand has been in political turmoil after Soren decided to vote against BJP’s cut motions on Budget proposals in the Lok Sabha last month.

“We have decided that we will not seek to form a government in Jharkhand. We don't have sufficient numbers and we do not want to get into this atmosphere of horse-trading,” AICC in charge of Jharkhand K. Keshav Rao said.

Rao said his party wanted a “stable and honest” government in the state and did not find itself in a position to form a government as of now. On whether the Congress has had consultations with Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), he said, “They had talked to us. But we have decided that we will abstain from forming government.”

But, Rao ducked queries on whether the state was headed for President’s Rule, saying it was for the Governor to decide. He also refused to answer questions on whether the Congress was in favour of keeping the Assembly under suspended animation.

Meanwhile, the state now appears to be headed for President’s Rule. There are two options before the Governor under the President’s Rule: dissolve the Assembly and go in for fresh elections or keep it in suspended animation. The latter option suits the Congress more.

Party sources said suspended animation of Assembly under President's Rule could serve the purpose well till elections for Rajya Sabha from the state are held. Thereafter, it is possible that the Congress will make an attempt to form the government with the help of allies. “A positive situation is likely to materialise in a couple of days,” a senior state leader said.

Moreover, none of the MLAs in the six-month old Assembly would want it to be dissolved and fresh elections announced.

Home Minister P Chidambaram met Congress president Sonia Gandhi to discuss the situation in Jharkhand. The Home Ministry today received a report from Jharkhand Governor MOH Farooq on current the political situation in the state and sources said the Cabinet may meet tomorrow to take a call on it.

Soren resigned from his post on Sunday, a day before he was to prove his majority in the Assembly. Apparently eight of JMM’s 18 legislators refused to face the trust vote, leaving Soren with no other option but to resign. The JMM-led government was reduced to minority after party's ally BJP finally withdrew support on May 24 after 10 days of dilly-dallying.

Chandigarh, May 31
Defence Research and Development Organisation’s only woman scientist to head a high altitude research laboratory, Dr Shashi Bala Singh, has been conferred DRDO Scientist of the Year Award by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

She is serving as the director of Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR) at Leh since 2007 and has contributed immensely to the understanding of high altitude physiology and pioneered research to counter several high altitude maladies like hypophagia and cognitive impairment. — TNS

New Delhi, May 31
About 35 years after five soldiers were sacked and jailed in the Samba Spy Case, the Armed Forces Tribunal today asked the Army to produce their court martial documents, raising their hopes of clearing their names in the infamous scandal.

On a petition by Gunners Banarasi Das, Milkhi Ram, Satpal, Harish Singh and Balkar Singh, the Tribunal Bench headed by Justice SS Kulshreshtha said the Army should produce the documents by June 30 failing which “adverse inference” will be made about the Army’s contention.

Banarasi Das, Milkhi Ram, Satpal, Harish Singh and Balkar Singh, were sacked and jailed in 1975-76 after being held responsible of spying on the basis of statements their two colleagues Gunners Sarwan Dass and Aya Singh. They served jail terms between seven and 14 years.

The appeals of the soldiers, making efforts to get their names cleared, were among the cases transferred from the high court to the Tribunal after it was launched in August last year.

“This is the first time in over 34 years since the case came up that we would get to see the court martial documents. I am hopeful that this will make it easier for us to get justice,” said Deepak Bhattacharya, counsel for the five gunners.In the case of two other accused, Captain AK Rana and Captain RS Rathore, whose pleas are still pending in the Supreme Court, the Tribunal said it would hear their case on September 7. Rana said that he and Captain Rathore were acquitted of spying charges by the Delhi High Court in 2000 but the verdict was challenged by the Army in the Supreme Court.

Rathore said that in custody of the Military Intelligence for over two years, Sarwan Dass and Aya Singh kept on adding names of officers and men in the list of spies working for Pakistan resulting in arrest of over 45 people around 1978-79. — PTI

New Delhi, May 31
The recently reconstituted National Adivsory Council (NAC), headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, has inducted 11 eminent persons as its members.

Businesswoman Anu Agha and agricultural scientist MS Swaminathan are among those who have made it to the NAC, which was revived in March, four years after Sonia Gandhi resigned as the chairperson following the office of profit controversy.

Among those who have been re-nominated include economist-activist Jean Dreze, Right to Information campaigner Aruna Roy, retired bureaucrat NC Saxena and economist AK Shiva Kumar. They had been members of the NAC during the UPA-I and had contributed in key polices like the Right to Information Bill, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Communal Violence Bill and the Relief and Rehabilitation Bill.

Other names are women’s rights activist Farah Naqvi, Planning Commission member Narendra Jadhav, social worker Deep Joshi, ecologist Madhav Gadgil and former bureaucrat-turned-rights activist Harsh Mander.

A few more members might be inducted shortly, government sources said.

In its previous avatar, the NAC will advise the government on its social agenda and its first task will be to scrutinise the Right to Food Bill which is being redrafted by an empowered group of ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Rita Sharma, an IAS officer, who retired as the rural development secretary earlier this year, has been appointed as the member-secretary. The term of the members will be for one year though it can be extended.

Bangalore, May 31
Karnataka Director General of Police Ajai Kumar Singh today said that the firing at Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s convoy in his ashram here yesterday evening was not an attack on his life.The DGP’s claim, however, did not go down too well with Sri Sri, who said the police should not hastily jump to any conclusion without proper investigation.

Ajai Kumar Singh, who visited the spiritual leader’s ashram today morning, said the bullet was fired at least five minutes after his Innova had left the spot. “He was not there when the bullet was fired,” the DGP said. He said the police had spoken to a number of people in the ashram, including Vinay who was hit by the bullet.

The .32 bore bullet recovered from the spot apparently lost its force by the time it struck Vinay and failed to pierce his flesh. “He felt that he had been hit by something and felt pain,” the DGP said. He said that a case had been registered under 307 IPC (attempt to murder) and the Arms Act. He said the police would carry out a joint security audit at the ashram to ascertain if more security was needed.

Vinay, a Bangalore-based young man who had recently enrolled as a participant in an Art of Living yoga course, told reporters that he suddenly felt a sharp blow on his thigh and saw that his trouser was torn at the point where he felt the blow. “Someone pointed at a bullet lying on the ground. Otherwise the thought of a bullet hitting me would have never come to my mind,” Vinay said.

Dismissing speculations that he might have been targetted because of a property dispute, Vinay said he was the only son of his parents. He added that he stayed in a rented accommodation in Bangalore and had no house in the city.

Sri Sri, who addressed a press conference here, appeared before the media with his trademark benign smile intact. The spiritual guru, however, was clearly annoyed by various rumours spawned by the firing incident. Vinay is a recent entrant in the Art of Living course and there was no question of any other inmate nursing a grudge against him, Sri Sri said. He also added that he had heard the gunshot but could not immediately identify the noise as that of a bullet fired from a gun.

New Delhi, May 31
It has been over 16 days since many Dalit families from Hisar’s Mirchpur village arrived in the National Capital after bearing the brunt of caste violence. Despite government claims that the situation has “normalised” and there is no threat from the upper caste, these families are living in impoverished conditions, demanding rehabilitation to a safer place.

“No matter whatever they promise, we do not wish to go back. We are asking for rehabilitation because the atmosphere in the village will never be the same again. I have a young son and daughter who wish to study further, but we have been left in a lurch due to prevailing circumstances,” said Ramniwas, one of the affected from Mirchpur. The upper caste community allegedly torched nearly 26 Dalit houses in April and killed a polio-stricken 17-year-old girl, Suman, and her father, Tarachand.

Mukesh also left her Mirchpur home with her husband and four children, all below the age of seven. “It is extremely hot here. The children are always restless and it is a difficult life away from home, but we don’t even have a home in the village... It is better to stay here now than in Mirchpur. We never know what would happen next,” she said.

When asked how long they could live like this in the Capital, Sunita, who also lost her house in the April 21 torching, said, “We’d rather stay here, whatever the conditions. What do we do with compensation when we cannot even spend a penny in the village? No one was ready to sell anything to us and we lived amidst total boycott and neglect. We are asking for respectable lives where we do not have to fear a repeat of what happened...”

The families are currently staying at Valmiki Mandir on Panchkuian Road here. Food and shelter is being provided by the Haryana Dalit Bachao Sangharsh Samiti. “There are many who have left their children with relatives in other villages.

They are demanding rehabilitation at any other place. So far, we have not heard from the Haryana Government. We now await the Central Government’s intervention,” said OP Shukla, convener of the Samiti.

Lucknow, May 31
In what could mean fresh trouble for Amitabh Bachchan, the Barabanki district court today asked the police to investigate allegations that the Bollywood star along with five others had “cheated” people by delaying the college he had promised to set up at Daulatpur village in the name of his daughter-in-law.

The Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate has asked the Mohamadpur Khala police to investigate the complaint and submit a report to the court by June 10. The complainant happens to be Raj Kumari, the village pradhan.

Last week, Avanindra Singh had moved the court on behalf of the pradhan for filing a case against Bachchan and five others. Singh alleged that the actor had virtually “cheated” the people by announcing the establishment of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan Mahavidyalaya Degree College with much fanfare at Daulatpur village two years ago. However, much to the disappointment of the people, work had actually not started on the project, the petition points out.

Notably, the Daulatpur land has implicated Bachchan in controversy from the word go. He had purchased land in the village in Fatehpur tehsil of Barabanki district in two phases -- in 2006 and 2007 -- and had announced that it would be used for the college.

Concealing this property in her affidavit during her re-nomination in 2006 had made the Election Commission take cognizance and order an FIR against Jaya Bachchan, which, however, was never filed and Bachchan is now due to retire next month.

In a high-profile event, Bachchan, his wife Jaya, son Abhishek, daughter-in-law Aishwarya, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and then general secretary Amar Singh had attended the college’s foundation laying ceremony in 2008.

The petitioner also charged that Jaya Prada’s NGO Nishtha Foundation was to build the college. “Whenever we tried to contact Devendra Rai of the Nishtha Foundation, he threatened us,” the complainant said.

Chandigarh, May 31
Disgraced Haryana cop SPS Rathore failed to get any relief from the Punjab and Haryana High Court today and stays behind bars for at least one more day.

The arguments on the issue of his suspension of sentence were adjourned after an hour’s hearing following which the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the court a reply was being filed in the matter.

Before adjourning the case for Tuesday, Justice Ajay Tewari expressed his willingness to hear the matter on merits during the vacations, as the workload was comparatively less.

As the case came up before noon, Rathore’s counsel-cum-wife Abha Rathore initially attempted to build arguments on sentence suspension on health grounds and “merits”. She later referred to the technical grounds also. Abha said Rathore had undergone a major heart surgery, was on drugs, and required medical attention.

Describing Rathore as a man of “high moral character”, Abha said he was never guilty of misconduct. He had never violated the terms and conditions of bail earlier granted to him and would always remain present during the hearings, she said.

Abha claimed the entire case was built around “forged document”. Elaborating, she contended that the minor girl’s signatures were forged. Moreover, her brother and father’s signatures were not even present on the complaint document.

Comparing signatures with another set, Abha said some of the alphabets were very differently written and the difference was perceptible even to the naked eye. The document was prepared by two cops at the residence of Anand Parkash, husband of complainant Madhu Parkash. Labelling Ruchika’s father a greedy man, Abha said he joined in because money was offered to him.

Assailing the prosecution case, she said Haryana’s former director-general of police RR Singh -- author of a report in the matter -- was “not a clean person” and was facing chargesheets.

Abha also tried to use the “site map” to show Rathore could not have embraced Ruchika in his office with windows and security guards all around.

Countering arguments, CBI counsels Anmol Rattan Sidhu and Ajay Kaushik said best possible medical attention was being provided to Rathore. Portraying it as “fight of unequals”, Sidhu said the “poor persons” had to go from one office to another and finally only the courts came to their rescue.

Issues such as greed and forged documents had already been dealt with. Sidhu said Rathore had spent just five days in jail, against the sentence of 18 months. “It is too little for him to be let loose,” he said. “He should at least complete one-third of the sentence.”

Raipur, May 31
The country should be prepared for more deadly blasts by the Maoists as the guerrillas are planning to use some 19 tonnes of explosives before the ammunition expire by the end of this year, a senior de-mining expert of the Chhattisgarh Police claimed today.

In February, 2006, the Maoists had stormed into an explosives depot of public enterprise, NMDC Ltd at Bailadila hills in Dantewada district and walked away with 20 tonnes of high-powered explosives after killing eight Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel, guarding the stock meant to blast rocks for mining iron ore.

“We have definite information that guerrillas have used nearly 1 tonne of the NMDC explosives loot so far and they are in a hurry to use the remaining 19 tonnes before its expires by the end of 2010,” the expert said.

The officer advised that policemen and paramilitary troopers deployed in the Maoist strongholds in states hit by leftist insurgency must carry sufficient number of de-mining experts as well as sniffer dogs while going on combing operations, particularly in jungles and hilly stretches.

The officer, who is based in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, the nerve centre of Maoist militancy, claimed the NMDC explosives were used by the Maoists for all major attacks in the recent months, including the April 6 in Dantewada district in which 76 security personnel were killed. — IANS

Guwahati, May 31
The Left parties have raised eyebrows over the Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA) recent decision to put Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and his Cabinet colleagues on job of taking care of political process to solve the vexed ULFA problem. The CPI and the CPM said there would be a very slim chance of talks materialising with the banned outfit unless the Centre take a key role in initiating the political process.

Veteran CPI leader and the party’s National Council member Promode Gogoi said: “It can be construed as an evasive policy on part of the central government to put Assam government on the job to carry forward political process with the ULFA whose demands are beyond the reach of the state government.”

“Such a step by the Centre will definitely send a wrong signal. It will also prolong the agony of Assam,” the CPI leader claimed. He said that a decision to entrust a state government to deal with a secessionist outfit is unprecedented given that it was the Centre that dealt with the Lal Denga-led Mizo National Front (MNF) at the level of Prime Minister and it paid dividend in signing of Mizo Peace Accord in 1986.