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Tapuriah threatened to kill me: Hasan
I was transparent in my dealings, says Tejender
DoT may scrap some licences next month
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14 pilots grounded
BJP gloats over Budget Session
Jaitley: PM’s jibe not meant for Advani
Octogenarian icon is CPM’s most popular face in Kerala
Nitish Katara Case
Indian Navy exercises in S-China Sea
‘Andhra Octopus’ who predicts poll results
Storm over Telangana panel’s ‘secret note’
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Tapuriah threatened to kill me: Hasan
Mumbai, March 25 Earlier in the day, Khan was produced before Principal Sessions Judge Swapna Joshi, who remanded him in judicial custody. According to the Enforcement Directorate, both Khan and Tapuriah were actively involved in money laundering operations. The duo traveled together to Singapore way back in 1997 to operate the former's Swiss bank accounts which were used to park the black money. Investigators of the Enforcement Directorate are now questioning Chandrika, wife of Tapuriah, who also allegedly held Swiss bank accounts which were used by the duo. Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Police Ashok Deshbrathar, who was suspended by the Maharashtra Government for allegedly trying to extort money from Khan has denied the accusations against him. “They have suspended me so that I cannot testify in the Supreme Court in my official capacity,” Deshbrathar told reporters here. Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate today interrogated Abbas Naqvi, a Mumbai-based interior designer in connection with the alleged money laundering case of Hasan Ali Khan, sources said. He was summoned by the agency at 3 pm today. Abbas is believed to be a close aide of Hasan Ali as well as Kolkata based businessman Kashinath Tapuria, who was also arrested yesterday in connection with the same case.
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I was transparent in my dealings, says Tejender
New Delhi, March 25 Shunglu has held Khanna responsible for endorsing a whopping bailout package to private developer of the Games' Village Emaar MGF, which is accused of contriving an emergency to maximise its profits by exploiting the lack of time for the construction of flats. The Tribune has, however, learnt that both Union Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrashekhar and Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit had backed the easing of financial congestion to Emaar for the timely completion of the project. In a February 17, 2009, letter to Chandrashekhar, the DDA said that due to economic slowdown, Emaar was unable to meet its working capital and the authority was considering buying some flats at a negotiated rate. "The Cabinet Secretary observed that an out-of-box solution is needed", Khanna has stated in his 271-page explanation on the Shunglu report to the PM. Documents reveal that Emaar MGF had, as early as November 2008 (after the High Court ruled that the Village construction shouldn't hamper environment around it) started expressing concerns over the waning interest of customers and bankers in the project. On November 17, 2008, Emaar sought from the DDA an interest-free advance of Rs 800 crore, which the DDA didn't give. Subsequently, on December 11, 2008, Emaar told the DDA that the labour count at the site had fallen from 5,400 to 3,800. It was then that on December 30, 2008, Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit met Lt Governor Khanna to discuss an alternative solution till the credit squeeze eased. Khanna, at this point, asked the DDA to examine the matter. "When asked, Emaar gave two options to the DDA - it sought Rs 321 crore loan or a purchase of 250 flats from its quota", says Khanna's report, adding that the DDA then started considering the option of buying flats. Finally on April 24, 2009, the decision was taken to purchase 333 flats for Rs 11,000 per sq feet negotiated rate between the DDA and Emaar. "As equal partners, we could not have loaned money to Emaar. So we decided to buy flats to get the Village ready in time. On May 21, 2009, the DDA told the Cabinet Secretary that Emaar's problem had been solved. Had the Lt Governor been contacted, we could have put the record straight," sources in the Lt Governor's Secretariat said. Sheila TO reply
New Delhi: Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit on Friday said the state government will soon send a “detailed report” to PM Manmohan Singh in response to findings of the probe panel which blamed her and Lt Governor Tejender Khanna for losses in CWG projects. — PTI
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DoT may scrap some licences next month
New Delhi, March 25 The licences were issued by Raja on first-come-first-served basis in 2008. Telecom Secretary R Chandrasekhar said, “We have received replies from all 85 licence holders who were issued show-cause notices. We are legally examining them and should be able to take a decision on it in a month.” He denied that any licence had been cancelled so far. In its reply to the PAC, DoT has said that 13 companies have been sent these notices. The PAC, headed by BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, had sent 40 questions to DoT relating to the Spectrum scam. The Ministry again rejected the allegation of any notional loss due to issuance of 122 new licences in 2008, and said the premium placed on the scarce resource from the perspective of a producer need not necessarily translate into a loss when seen from the view point of the consumer and public welfare. “The concept of notional loss when Spectrum is given at a price discovered few years earlier has to be balanced with the gains accruing to the consumers and the general improvement in public welfare in the form of faster economic growth,” the DoT said. — PTI
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BJP gloats over Budget Session
New Delhi, March 25 Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal’s assessment was: “We lost some time.” Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said, “For the Opposition this was a very successful session. First, Parliament functioned. After the washout of the Winter Session the frequently asked question was whether it will function. Second, our demand for a JPC on the 2-G spectrum scam was accepted," she said. The Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley qualified this by saying, "We take satisfaction in the fact that we raised the bar of accountability of the government," he said. Swaraj said the BJP victory was not limited to just the government conceding their demand for a JPC on the 2G scam. She mentioned the Prime Minister eating humble pie on the CVC appointment and raising several "issues of human interest" like attacks on Indian fishermen by Sri Lankan navy, plight of Indian sailors held captive by Somali pirates, harassment of Indian students in Tri-Valley University in US, and preventing use of tobacco to control cancer. Jaitley claimed how the BJP successfully took the issue beyond the Prime Minister’s "Bald generic statement" on the CVC issue. Swaraj took credit for behaving responsibly and aggressively at the same time, by citing the BJP support for the introduction of the Pension Regulatory Bill in the Lok Sabha yesterday. She also mentioned how the BJP preferred not to disrupt the House on March 22 during passage of the Finance Bill and instead chose a walkout to register their protest against the Government not taking up the cash-for-votes debate immediately on demand.
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Jaitley: PM’s jibe not meant for Advani
New Delhi, March 25 Asked today about the Prime Minister’s remarks about Advani, Jaitley said, “When the Prime Minister addressed Advaniji to suggest that he considers the prime ministership his birthright, I think he was addressing somebody else. Neither Advaniji nor the BJP believes in the politics of dynasty,” Jaitley said here. He, along with Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj was listing the BJP achievements in the just-concluded budget session. “Democratic parties elect leaders on the basis of merit and never accept the concept of birthright. It is only parties which work on the concept of succession talk of birthright,” Jaitley said. To Prime Minister’s advice to Advani to wait for three-and-a-half years for the next General Election instead of getting restless and impatient every now and then, Jaitley’s take was that it too was aimed at his party colleagues who were getting impatient to replace him. But Jaitley dodged a reply when reminded that the general perception even in the BJP is that Rahul is reluctant to don the mantle and therefore where was the question of the Congress seeking to replace Manmohan Singh.
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Octogenarian icon is CPM’s most popular face in Kerala
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) sought to deny the seat to Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan for the April 13 Assembly elections, saying he was not in good health to steer the campaign. Ironically, after the decision was reversed in the face of street protests, party candidates have been looking towards the octogenarian leader for a helping hand. The candidates from not only the CPM but also its allies in the Left Democratic Front want him to campaign for them.
His office at the state secretariat has been flooded with requests from candidates for addressing their election meetings, according to his aides. These candidates included even those who had vigorously opposed his candidature at the party committees. They have apparently set aside their factional rivalries considering his rapport with the masses. Curiously, the popularity of the 87-year-old leader soared manifold after the party decided to deny him a seat. He was mobbed by party workers and people from different walks of life when he went to Kollam to inaugurate the party’s election convention last week. The Chief Minister is trying to accommodate the requests of as many of his colleagues as possible. His next engagement is in fact in the northern district of Kannur, which was almost prohibited for him for the past few years. He will inaugurate the election convention of E P Jayarajan, one of his staunch critics in the party who had taken a dig at Achuthanandan after he expressed his willingness to contest the election. Political observers attach importance to the welcome extended to Achuthanandan in Kannur, which is under the firm grip of his bete noire and party secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, whom the party had originally picked up to lead the LDF in the election. Some of the observers see this as an indication of changes to come in the factional equations in the party post-election. They believe that many leaders might join the Achuthanandan camp if the LDF returns to power and he becomes the Chief Minister once again. Achuthanandan is trying exactly that and has taken the battle to the opposition camp by turning the focus of the campaign on corruption and sex scandals that haunt them. He has touched a chord with the people by repeating his promise to send all those involved in corruption and sex racket cases to jail. “No mercy would be shown towards the corrupt and those who sexually exploit women”, he said at the convention at Palakkad amidst a huge applause from the gathering. He said his aim would be to build a new Kerala and he will make unsparing efforts to achieve that goal if the LDF was voted back to power. The response Achuthanandan drew in Kollam and Palakkad has rattled the Congress-led United Democratic Front, which fear that the focus on corruption may offset the advantage they enjoy over the anti-incumbency factor weighing down the LDF. In 2006, these issues helped Achuthanandan to lead the LDF to a landslide victory. Though Achuthanandan is no intellectual giant like EMS Namboodiripad, nor does he have the charisma of EK Nayanar, he has carved out a niche for himself championing the causes of Dalits, tribals, women and other downtrodden sections of the people. By articulating their concerns as leader of opposition for a long time, this school dropout has etched out a place in the hearts of the people and had emerged as the most popular face of the CPM in the state. This explains the outpouring of support for him when the party denied him seat in 2006 as well as now. His sympathisers hit the street shouting slogans against his detractors in the party. They ended the protests only after the CPM reversed the decision. He is a rage even among the youth, who have been flocking his meetings with colourful T-shirts with his image, that are selling like hot cakes in most parts of the state.
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Nitish Katara Case
New Delhi, March 25
The court then posted the matter for further hearing on April 7, the next date of hearing. Vikas, son of controversial Uttar Pradesh leader D P Yadav, and his cousin Vishal are undergoing life imprisonment in Tihar jail after being convicted by a lower court for killing management graduate Nitish Katara on the intervening night of February 16-17, 2002. In the application, Vikas, whose appeal against the conviction is pending in the High Court, said his brother is getting married on April 29 and other related ceremonies would commence from April 14 itself. Earlier, in August 2009, the High Court had rejected the bail of the convict cousins saying "although both the accused persons were in custody for past several years, their incarceration cannot be a ground by itself for grant of bail". The lower court, in May 2008, had sentenced Vikas, 37, and his cousin Vishal, 36, for killing Katara, son of an IAS officer. According to the prosecution, Vikas and Vishal had kidnapped Katara from a marriage party in Ghaziabad and later killed him as they were against Katara's intimacy with their sister Bharati Yadav. — PTI
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Indian Navy exercises in S-China Sea
New Delhi, March 25 A large volume of China’s sea trade and oil supplies are routed through these straits. Beijing is touchy about international navies sending their ships for exercise in the South China Sea which it considers its own backwaters. The exercise is part of the annual Singapore Indian Maritime Bilateral Exercise (SIMBEX) and is the 18th in the ongoing series. The Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) is the host this time, hence the chance to practice in the South China Sea. The seven-day exercise ends tomorrow. Leading the Indian Naval flotilla is the 6,700-tonne destroyer, INS Delhi.
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‘Andhra Octopus’ who predicts poll results
Hyderabad, March 25 Like “Octopus Paul”, which had accurately predicted the results in the last year’s soccer World Cup, this industrialist-turned-politician had accurately predicted the poll results in the past. While his political views evoke strong and diverse reactions, his poll predictions have earned him admiration even from his critics. However, the MP’s latest survey predicting bright electoral prospects for the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress Party will certainly be unpalatable for his party bosses. Jagan had quit the Congress in November last year and floated his own regional outfit, claiming to be the sole inheritor of his father former Chief Minister late YS Rajasekhar Reddy’s political legacy. Despite being a critic of Jagan and his brand of politics, Rajagopal predicted that the YSR Congress would get a comfortable majority if snap polls were to be held now in Andhra Pradesh. Jagan’s exit from the Congress had caused considerable damage to the ruling party, a survey commissioned by the MP said. According to Congress sources, the MP has sent a 20-page note to Gulam Nabi Azad, AICC general secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh, giving details of his survey on the prevailing political situation. The coming bypolls in Jagan’s home district of Kadapa would be a cakewalk for him, Rajagopal said. The bypolls were caused by the resignations of Jagan and his mother Vijayalakshmi from the Kadapa Lok Sabha and the Pulivendula Assembly seats, respectively. In the past, the poll surveys conducted by the resourceful MP, whose business interests include infrastructure and power sectors, were accurate. During the last year’s bypolls to 12 Assembly seats in Telangana region, Rajagopal had predicted a clean sweep for the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). True to his predictions, the TRS had won all seats it contested with a huge majority. In 2009 general elections, Rajagopal had predicted that the Congress would bag more than 30 out of the total 42 Lok Sabha seats and 155-160 seats in the 294-member Assembly. And the results proved him right.
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Storm over Telangana panel’s ‘secret note’
Hyderabad, March 25 Cutting across party lines, the Telangana protagonists have reacted strongly to the observations made by the five-member panel on the law and order and security implications of the bifurcation. The Chapter 8 of the 500-page report was not made public by the Central Government as it dealt with sensitive law and order issues. However, while directing the Centre to make the entire report public, the High Court had yesterday disclosed key contents of the supplementary note. In its note, which was submitted to the Union Home Ministry in a sealed cover on December 30 last year, the Srikrishna panel observed that Telangana would become an “epicentre” for Maoist and communal violence if Andhra Pradesh is divided. “The Maoists will extend their activities to various districts of Telangana. They are already trying to make a comeback using Telangana agitation. In the event of the demand of a separate Telangana state not being realised, some militant elements which have been in the forefront of the agitation may go underground to revive the Maoist movement in certain pockets of Telangana which, however, could be tackled within a small time frame with firm political will and strong administrative action,” the Committee said. On the possible rise of communal forces in the event of the state’s division, the report said: “There is a certain sense of mutual suspicion between two communities. If communal passions become an additional factor in an atmosphere where unemployment and social unrest exist, it may give rise to the birth of militant, Jihadi elements.” The report also spoke about the danger of competitive communal politics by the BJP and the Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) in the new state. The committee also predicted migration of faculty and experts in the education field in the event of formation of separate Telangana state. MPs meet Azad over Telangana New Delhi: A delegation of Congress MPs from the Telangana region today met Union Minister and AICC general secretary in-charge of Andhra Pradesh Ghulam Nabi Azad and appealed to him to use his good offices with the Centre for a positive decision in favour of carving out a separate state of Telangana immediately. The delegation also submitted to Azad a memorandum in which the MPs claimed that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had asked the pro-Telangana MPs to wait for a decision on the issue until May 15 by when the outcome of the forthcoming Assembly elections would also be known. — TNS
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New Delhi, March 25
Khan, who was remanded in judicial custody till April 8, told reporters outside the court that he was actually framed by Tapuriah and his associate RP Goenka. He reportedly passed on a note to a television channel promising to co-operate with investigators. Khan was quoted as saying that he would identify the real culprits behind the money laundering operations.
A division bench headed by Justice B D Ahmed sought the response from Delhi police on the application of Vikas who is seeking interim bail for a period of three months for attending the marriage of his younger brother Kunal.