Lucknow, June 4
The BJP concluded here today a lacklustre and uninspiring two-day national executive, billed as a source of inspiration for the party supporters to bring it back to power in the state when Assembly elections are a year away.

It commenced yesterday with a long rambling speech of president Nitin Gadkari, where he merely repeated what he and other BJP leaders had said often in Delhi - the corruption of UPA government, BJP good governance, step motherly treatment by the Centre to BJP governments and his pet subject bio fuels. Even the assertion by BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi a day earlier that the BJP will have no truck with SP, BSP and RLD of Ajit Singh was missing from Gadkari’s core speech.

The party prioritised discussion on corruption and Lokpal, but it avoided showing its cards on Lokpal.

BJP chose Lucknow as the national executive venue ostensibly to give a fillip to its election campaign against Mayawati’s BSP government and bid for power in UP. But all it amounted to at the end was the promise of a Vision Document to be prepared by a 22-member (jumbo) committee chaired by Kesrinath Tripathi, which would present its report after visiting each nook and corner of UP and consulting experts from India and abroad to act as a guiding paper for strategising and organising future programmes, announced BJP general secretary and UP in charge Narendra Singh Tomar after the Valedictory address of L.K. Advani.

But there was one issue which rankled the BJP more than UP, more than corruption and more than Lokpal or Ramdev. And that was the fear that using various laws, the Centre may corner the BJP/RSS leaders and states on the question of communalism and terrorism. Thus the recommendations of the National Advisory Committee (NAC) of Sonia Gandhi in respect of the Communal Violence (Prevention) Bill that are likely to come up for introduction in the coming Monsoon Session of Parliament, was the primary target.

Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley singled it out for his attack charging the government with trying to usurp the powers of states, guaranteed by the Constitution under the federal structure. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi too spoke for more than half an hour about the victimisation of the BJP/NDA states by the UPA-led Central government. His real anger was the cases piling up against his former home minister Amit Shah.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan named the National Investigating Agency (NIA) as an agency trying to transgress on the state’s subject - law and order. The UPA Government created the NIA because of constant and continuous pressure from the BJP to bring in “effective anti-terror law and create a national agency to deal exclusively with terror and terror related crimes.” The BJP used every terror attack to put the UPA government in the dock for having scrapped POTA. 

BJP’s primary target was the National Advisory Committee recommendations in respect of the Communal Violence (Prevention) Bill likely to come up for introduction in the coming monsoon session of Parliament

Burdwan (WB), June 4
Eight local CPM leaders were today paraded by being pulled with the ropes tied around their waists before being beaten up by villagers at Saraighar in Burdwan district over alleged corruption.

The eight CPM leaders - Achinta Mondal and Srikanta Ghosh, both local CP committee members, former secretary of the gram panchayat Jahar Ghosh, besides Ashwini Mondal, Sukumar Pramanik and Kartik Mondal, three gram panchayat members and Sunil Mullick, the secretary - had called a meeting of the villagers, local Trinamool Congress leader S K Jamal said. The villagers had demanded an explanation on how Rs 6 lakh in development funds was spent about a fortnight ago and the CPM leaders had said that an explanation would be given today, he said. — PTI

New Delhi, June 4
Medical establishments and practitioners will soon be barred from transporting ultrasound machines at will. Meeting for the first time since Census 2011 projected shocking declines in the child sex ratio in India, the Central Supervisory Board of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostics Techniques Act 1994, the supreme body responsible for monitoring implementation of the law, today recommended banning the use of portable ultrasound machines which are being indiscriminately used for sex selection.

At present, India has close to 40,000 registered ultrasound machines, of which a majority is being openly transported from one place to the other to aid sex selective practices. Speaking to The Tribune after the meeting today, top Health Ministry officials said, all ultrasound machines would henceforth have to be used at the place where they are listed and registered for use.

“We will not allow portable sonography facilities unless of course they are part of duly registered mobile genetic clinics. At present, it is routine for medical practitioners to take the machines to places where there is a demand for sex selection.”

So far, progress under the PNDT Act has been poor, with just 55 convictions in 17 years. All this while, there have been just 843 court cases for violations; 42190 medical units have been registered under the Act and 298 machines have been sealed and seized.

To strengthen the Act, the Board, in another major decision today, directed the Medical Council of India to evolve a framework for the accreditation of sonography training centres which are operating with impunity, offering courses of durations ranging from 15 days to a month. “These centres have mushroomed, furthering the interests of the sex selection industry. Once the MCI framework is ready, only accredited centres would be allowed to function and trainees from these centres alone would be allowed to work in ultrasound clinics,” sources said.

Hyderabad, June 4
Sportsmen-turned-politicians are having a field day in Andhra Pradesh. After former cricketer N Kiran Kumar Reddy was anointed as Chief Minister, it is now the turn of former national level tennis player Nadendla Manohar to be elected as the Assembly Speaker. The 47-year-old Manohar, a national-level tennis player and a bronze medallist in the 1986 Delhi National Games, was today elected the Speaker of the Assembly.

The election of Manohar, who has been the Deputy Speaker since 2009, was preceded by a high drama with the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) fielding its candidate for the post.

For the first time in the history of the state Assembly, an election was held for the post after the opposition party pressed for division. Manohar, a two-time Congress legislator from Tenali in coastal Andhra and son of former Chief Minister Nadendla Bhaskar Rao, polled 158 votes while TDP’s KE Krishnamurthy got 90 votes in the 294-member House. The TRS, CPI, BJP and the Lok Satta abstained from voting.

The Praja Rajyam Party (PRP), headed by actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi, and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) supported the Congress candidate. Interestingly, Congress MLAs loyal to YSR Congress Party president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy voted in favour of the ruling party candidate, obeying the whip.

The Speaker’s post was vacant since November last year when Kiran Kumar Reddy became the Chief Minister. Meanwhile, the government chief whip M Bhatti Vikramarka was elected the new Deputy Speaker, polling 164 votes against 88 secured by his rival Suddala Devaiah of the TDP.

Initially, the Pro-tem Speaker, JC Diwakar Reddy, declared Manohar elected as the 17th Speaker by a voice vote but later allowed voting following objections from the TDP. The one-day session of the Assembly was specially convened to elect the Speaker and Deputy Speaker and the chairman and vice-chairman of the Legislative Council. A Chakrapani and N Vidyasagar were elected unopposed as council chairman and vice-chairman, respectively. 

BRIEFLY

Tank sinks, two jawans killed
AHMEDNAGAR: Two jawans of the Mechanised Infantry Regimental Centre (MIRC) were killed when an Army tank sank in an artificial pond here, a senior police official said. The jawans were undergoing training on Friday when suddenly the tank sank in the pond along with them, senior police officer SB Shaikh said. The deceased were identified as Bhupinder Singh (24), and VP Naidu (26), he added. — PTI