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BJP strategy: Reach Delhi via UP
Gadkari evasive on Lokpal Bill feedback
‘Manmohan govt most corrupt’
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Agni-V to be test-fired by year-end
Supporters confident of Ramdev’s victory
SC rejects students’ plea on AIEEE answer keys
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BJP strategy: Reach Delhi via UP
Lucknow, June 3 Addressing the media, party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Parsad said Nitin Gadkari in his presidential address spoke of a grand project of compiling and digitalising the collected works of Vajpayee. Describing his speeches, poems and writings as part of the national heritage that has inspired the nation, Gadkari said the party was releasing a “Samagra Atalji” (collected works of Vajpayee) in the presence of former President APJ Abul Kalam in New Delhi on June 8. He urged his party cadre to rediscover the fertile electoral land of Uttar Pradesh. Extensively dwelling upon the failure of the UPA I and II to curb corruption, Gadkari charged the Congress-led UPA government of being vindictive. Substantiating his point, he said the central investigating agencies were deliberating targeting BJP-ruled states. He also advocated the setting up of an independent mechanism to deal with the appointment of Lokpal, as well as a National Judicial Commission to deal with the appointment of judges and complaint of their misdemeanour. Spelling out the party’s strategy for Uttar Pradesh, through which the party hopes to reach Delhi, Gadkari reiterated the party’s stand to go alone and not have any pre or post poll alliance with the SP, the BSP or Ajit Singh’s RLD.
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Gadkari evasive on Lokpal Bill feedback
Lucknow, June 3 Joint Drafting Committee chairman Mukherjee’s letter seeking the views of political parties and chief ministers on the Lokpal issue was discussed on a priority basis at the first session after inauguration of the two-day national executive earlier this morning in Lucknow. Replying to Mukherjee’s letter, BJP chief Nitin Gadkari stated that his party “is committed to the creation of an independent Lokpal,” adding however, “You will appreciate that in our governance model the Constitution is supreme. Sovereignty lies with the Indian Parliament in the matter of legislation.” The BJP president said, “Expecting political parties to give their views to a drafting committee comprising civil society representatives for acceptance or otherwise would be upsetting the constitutional propriety where parties, Parliamentarians and Parliament have the last word.” Simultaneously, he also complained why and how they were kept out of the consultation process with the civil society so far in spite of being the main opposition party. The BJP had all along maintained that former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee favoured including the office of Prime Minister within the ambit of the Lokpal and on this basis vociferously supported Anna Hazare’s draft of Jan Lokpal Bill. But the party avoided making any commitment, sources said, because the civil society proposal of including the PM and the CJI would extend by the same argument to the states where the CMs and the HC chief justices would also be accountable to their respective Lokayukta. Mukherjee had written a letter on May 31 to the BJP, other political parties and CMs seeking their opinion on the proposed bill.
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LUCKNOW: In an obvious bid to deflect attention from widespread allegations of corruption and misuse of government machinery by its leaders in the BJP-ruled states, the BJP national executive repeated its oft-quoted charges against PM Manmohan Singh singling him out for all the fire. Gadkari said the UPA government was trying to victimise the BJP-led governments. But notwithstanding the extra effort to circumvent a discussion on the goings on within the BJP, it seems the party has not quite succeeded. According to inside reports yesterday at the meeting of the national office-bearers where they discussed today’s agenda, a senior vice president specially raised the issue of allegations of corruption against BJP leaders. He reportedly mentioned how BJP men were charging their leaders with corruption, with a clear hint at Uttarakhand, Himachal and Karnataka and wondered how the party could lead any credible campaign against corruption unless it was ready to confront and set its own house in order. Party spokesman Prakash Javadekar said, “We believe Manmohan Singh government is the most corrupt of all the governments since Independence and he is presiding over it like Bhishma Pitamah.”
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Agni-V to be test-fired by year-end
New Delhi, June 3 Speaking to reporters at a function of the DRDO, Dr Vijay Kumar Saraswat, Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister, said the Agni-V test launch would take place before the end of this year. Earlier, Defence Minister AK Antony called on defence scientists to deliver the Agni-V missile soon. “The DRDO must demonstrate its capability to reach the range of 5,000 km at the earliest,” he said. “The interceptor missile development programme has put India into an elite club of nations that possess the capability to demonstrate and deploy missile defence. The DRDO should now work towards developing a credible Ballistic Missile Defence for our country.” The Defence Minister sounded optimistic as he hoped that Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas would soon get the final operation clearance. “After getting the initial operational clearance, Tejas is moving towards final operational clearance. I am sure the DRDO and our Air Force will work together to provide Tejas on schedule.” Antony repeated his favourite objective narrating that he wanted the nation to achieve self-sufficiency through indigenisation in the defence sector. This would be possible only if all participants - the DRDO, DPSUs, the armed forces and the private sector come together to contribute to the defence sector in equal measure.
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Supporters confident of Ramdev’s victory
New Delhi, June 3 “I have spent Rs 8,000 on air fare to come to Delhi to join Baba’s campaign against corruption. If the money deposited in foreign banks by senior politicians, film actors and others is brought back, the entire scenario of the country will change. No one will remain jobless and sleep hungry,” said R. Balasundram, who has come all the way from Coimbatore. Chanan Ram Chaudhary, a principal in Hanumangarh in Rajasthan, said public campaigns were the only way to force the government to take stringent action against the corrupt. “I have come here along with 500 people from Hanumangarh. We came to know about this movement through TV channels and SMSes. It’s the duty of every citizen of the country to support campaigns against corruption,” he said. BL Yadav, a resident of Madhubani in Bihar, said Ramdev has adopted a democratic way to force the government to curb corruption. Ashok Panigrahi, an advocate in Orissa, who is here with his wife and a five-year-old kid, said it has become a habit with politicians and government officials to harass the poor. Wishwas Kumar from Nagpur suggested that the media should also join the movement to clean the system.
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SC rejects students’ plea on AIEEE answer keys
New Delhi, June 3 A Vacation Bench of Justices BS Chauhan and Swatanter Kumar asked the students to approach the Board seeking the information. The students’ counsel argued that the AIEEE answer keys should be provided on the lines of the IIT-JEE.
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Amod Kanth case: HC notice to Centre Siachen issue very complicated: Antony Gun factory in CPM leader’s house Land grab case against Shinde’s son-in-law ED questions Kalmadi, two others HC rejects Behura’s bail plea
in 2G scam
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Lucknow, June 3
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