Bankura, (WB), May 4
Rubbishing West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee's charge that Trinamool Congress has links with Maoists, Mamata Banerjee today said the CPM and ultras were both sides of the same coin.

Mamata alleged that the CPM was acting as a mask for the ultras and anyone who protested against the party's "reign of terror" was branded as a Maoist.

Often false cases were lodged against ordinary people in the name of anti-Maoist operation, she said.

"The CPM and Maoists are the face and the mask. During the daytime they are the Marxists and in the night they are Maoists," she said at election meetings in Borjora and Sonamukhi in Bankura district parts of which are affected by Maoist activity.

She said the Left parties ruled the state for 34 years and it was during their regime that the Maoists came.

"How the Maoists came here? You (CPM) have imported them," she said.

She had earlier said Maoists' call for a boycott of the state Assembly elections was designed to help the CPM win the poll in Jangalmahal.

It is the CPM, she alleged, which has unleashed terror in the region with the help of guns and have set up armed camps.

Yesterday, the chief minister said at an election meeting in West Midnapur district that voting for Trinamool Congress meant voting for the Maoists.

As many as 38 constituencies in the Maoist-hit districts of Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapur as well as some parts of Burdwan district will go to poll on May 7 in the fifth phase of election.

Mamata observed that there was no rigging in the polling till now unlike the previous elections in which the CPM took recourse to rigging to come back to power.

She, however, made an exception for the 1977 election in which the CPM-led Left Front government had scored massive victory on popular support. — PTI

New Delhi, May 4
After eight days of strike that crippled national carrier Air India's domestic operations, the Civil Aviation Ministry today held talks with agitating ICPA pilots. The talks, however, remained inconclusive, sources said, adding that the two sides would meet again tomorrow to find a way to end the deadlock.

“The talks were held in a positive environment. However, some issues remained unresolved, which will be again taken up tomorrow,” ICPA sources said after the meeting. Efforts to resolve the issue mounted with talks between strikers and management following pilots writing to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The sources said the pilots held talks with a two-member team of the ministry headed by Joint Secretary Prashant Shukul as they objected to hold parleys with Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav. Earlier in the day, Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi reviewed the situation arising out of the strike at a meeting with Jadhav, Civil Aviation Secretary Nasim Zaidi and other officials. Yesterday the ICPA has written to the PM again asking him to intervene in this matter in the dispute “on an urgent basis” to help find a solution. The letter also claimed that the management was trying to coerce them back to work.

The letter accused Jadhav of “demoralising and alienating employees” by making humiliating remarks in the media, deferring salaries and cutting benefits for family members and went on to say that “entire administrative structure of the airline has been systematically crushed” because Jadhav had quarrelled with “almost all directors, executive directors and general managers resulting in a complete vacuum in decision making”.

Meanwhile, domestic operations of Air India remained virtually on a standstill with pilots continuing their strike for the eighth day. They are demanding that all sackings, suspensions and transfers effected during the strike period be revoked, the ICPA's recognition restored and the contempt of court petition filed by AI management be withdrawn.

New Delhi, May 4
BJP president Nitin Gadkari’s plans to push through the re-induction of former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti hit a roadblock when he failed to evolve a consensus in party’s core group which deliberated on this issue for two and half hours today. Uma, parked in Madhya Pradesh Bhawan for last few days, reportedly left for Haridwar immediately thereafter. 

Most core group members, including LK Advani, Gadkari, Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, Murli Manohar Joshi, Rajnath Singh and M Venkaiah Naidu were all present today.

Sources in the BJP said the issue of Uma’s return is still open and under consideration. Gadkari had, while speaking to a group of newsmen in Jaipur yesterday, indicated the early return of Uma.

Party sources said while Gadkari offered to guarantee Uma’s good conduct and that she would stay away from Madhya Pradesh, he failed to convince her detractors on either of the two counts.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and senior RSS leader Suresh Soni are not yet convinced that Uma Bharti who had gone out of the party once to return and then to go out attacking all the leaders on TV camera would really behave on her return.

Gadkari is still pressing for her return citing the UP assembly elections due next year and the political need for an OBC face to lead the party, along with a Brahmin leader and both Uma and Advani believe, along with many others in the party, that her presence with Brahmin leaders like Kalraj Mishra would act as tremendous value addition. That is why the urgency to expedite her return, party sources said.

Mumbai, May 4
Yoga guru Baba Ramdev, who is on a nation-wide tour against corruption in public life, announced here today that he would go on a fast-unto-death from June 4 in New Delhi to force the Central government to bring back money stashed away in Swiss banks.

Addressing a huge gathering at the Bandra-Kurla Complex here today, Ramdev said he would not invite either social activist Anna Hazare or the father-son duo of Shanti and Prashant Bhushan who are at the forefront in drafting the new Lokpal Bill. "I have not invited either Shanti or Prashant Bhushan...... Anna Hazare can join me without my invitation, I joined his fast without any invitation from Hazare," Ramdev said here today.

Ramdev stated that he had nothing against Hazare. "Annaji's fast was in support of the Lokpal Bill. Our issues are larger like eradication of corruption and black money," Ramdev said.

Regarding his own fast-unto-death, Ramdev said a large number of his followers from India and abroad will participate in the event to be held at New Delhi's Ramlila Grounds. "The satyagraha will be held to force the Indian government to bring back money held in Swiss banks and disclosure of the names of account holders in foreign banks," Ramdev said.

He went on to demand that the government ratify the UN Convention against Corruption and enforce a ban on currency notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denominations to eradicate black money.

Ramdev, however, said he supported the Lokpal Bill to be enacted by August this year. "The Lok Pal should have the powers to award the death penalty to corrupt people and recover the money swindled by them," Ramdev said. He said that vested interests were carrying out a conspiracy against the movement against corruption.

"There are false allegations made against us. The battle against corruption will not be easy," Ramdev said.

New Delhi, May 4
The Supreme Court today reserved its judgment on the plea for setting up a special investigation team (SIT) for a speedy and comprehensive probe into black money cases in order to bring back the huge amounts stashed in secret overseas bank accounts and to expose the possible nexus between those holding such slush funds and arms smugglers, drug peddlers, bureaucrats and politicians.

A Bench comprising Justices B Sudershan Reddy and SS Nijjar passed an order after hearing arguments of PIL petitioners and Solicitor-General Gopal Subramanium, who appeared for the government.

The Solicitor-General (SG) strongly pleaded against setting up an SIT or appointing a judge, sitting or retired, to monitor the investigations being conducted by a 10-member high-level committee constituted by the government comprising, among others, the Directors of the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate.

“That is not the best solution” if one were to go by past experience, the SG argued. “Those who are responsible for the investigations under the law should be made accountable”, if there were lapses on their part, he reasoned. Further, appointing someone at the top of the 10-member committee “doest not speak highly of them”, he said implying that senior bureaucrats would be demoralised by the move.

Senior counsel Anil Divan, who argued for the PIL petitioners, however, would not agree. “Can this high-level committee go against any powerful political leader found involved in such a crime?” he wanted to know. In a democracy, bureaucrats had to function as subordinates of political masters, he pointed out.

Divan said the government wanted to have “exclusive control” over the probe in order to ensure “it does not go in a particular direction”.

At one stage, the Bench said it was “anxious to ensure speed and efficiency” in the investigations as the very same departments had time and again shown “lack of will” to proceed against the culprits. Even the Pune-based stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan was subjected to custodial interrogation only after the SC orders, though the case against him was registered in 2007, the judges pointed out.

The SG said that even in the 2G scam, the SC did not set up an SIT. The same CBI and the ED had delivered the results in the 2G case in which the investigations were monitored by another apex court Bench. But Divan said unlike on the black money issue, there was not a four-year delay in the 2G case. Also, the report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAT) formed a basis for the 2G case.

The SG said the high-level committee should be directly reporting to the SC without any intervener. The committee could be given an additional task of giving a “paper” on the problem of illicit money. The government was also not averse to appointing an amicus curiae to assist the SC Bench on the issue or involving the two Vigilance Commissioners.

Acknowledging that there was a delay in pursing the black money case, the SG said this was due to the reluctance on the part of Switzerland to share information relating to secret bank accounts.

The investigations were going in the right direction and any drastic changes in the composition of the investigation team would “torpedo” the probe, he said.

Chennai, May 4
Amid reports that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi might be arrested by the CBI on May 6 in connection with the 2G scam, senior DMK leaders and functionaries oppose any move to take an aggressive stand against the Congress to protect the party chief’s daughter.

Only a few leaders spoke in support of Kanimozhi at the party’s high-level meeting held immediately after Kanimozhi was chargesheeted and the mood is unlikely to change if she is arrested. Senior DMK functionaries fear that any move to withdraw party’s ministers from the Centre will not be approved by the people, as the party did not make such an aggressive move even at the height of the Sri Lankan war, when thousand of Tamil civilians were allegedly massacred by the island army.

A senior functionary said, “It will be embarrassing for the party to oppose the Centre for protecting the member of a leader’s family, at a time when a UN panel report on Lanka had stated that about 40,000 Tamils were killed during the last phase of the Lankan military offensive. People will question why the DMK, which is ready to fight for its leader’s daughter, did not pull out its ministers when Tamil people were being massacred in the island nation.”

After the UN report on Lankan war crimes, the DMK cadres are also not happy with Kanimozhi, as she was reportedly busy lobbying for a ministerial berth for party propaganda secretary A Raja while the final offensive was on and Tamil people were crying for help from Tamil Nadu.

DMK functionaries recalled that the last high-level meeting convened by the party chief with an objective of raising the anti-Congress pitch, ended tamely with most of the leaders disapproving such a course of action. Only a few leaders expressed the opinion that the party should take up the fight for Kanimozhi, while most of the senior leaders opposed it.

Senior functionaries were strongly supported by Union Ministers MK Alagiri and Dayanidhi Maran, while Deputy Chief Minister MK Stalin refused to come to his father’s rescue. Finally, Karunanidhi said, “I will not betray the party for my personal interests”. 

BRIEFLY

9 hurt as aircraft crash lands
AIZWAL: A Cessna Caravan aircraft, belonging to the North East Shuttle Service, crash-landed at Lengpui airport near here on Wednesday morning after overshooting the runway, injuring nine persons who were on board. Aizawl district SP Lalbiakthanga Khiangte, said that the nine-seater small aircraft overshot the runway, apparently due to strong wind, and fell into a brook after hitting the Instrumental Landing System. — PTI

Bank employee shot dead
JAIPUR: A bank employee was shot dead by unidentified persons who decamped from the bank with Rs 5.22 lakh here on Wednesday, DCP (Jaipur North) Ashok Naruka said. The accused entered the Vidhyadhar Nagar branch of the Central bank of India after noon and threatened its employees. — PTI