New Delhi, June 17
The Delhi Police today refuted the allegation of lathicharge on yoga guru Ramdev and his supporters at the Ramlila Maidan here but justified its midnight crackdown saying permission had been given only to hold a yoga camp.

Defending the eviction, Delhi Police Commissioner BK Gupta told the Supreme Court in an affidavit that Ramdev and his associates were moved from the Maidan as intelligence inputs revealed a security threat to him.

Gupta said that Ramdev was asked to move out as prohibitory orders had been imposed in the area on the night of June 4-5 but instead he began protesting there. He filed a personal affidavit after being asked to do so by the apex court detailing the circumstances under which Delhi Police used force and fired tear gas to evict Ramdev and his supporters from Ramlila Maidan.

The Delhi Police said it fired eight tear gas shells after its efforts to get the ground vacated met with resistance from Ramdev's supporters. The affidavit said though the venue was booked for yoga exercises, it turned into a political assembly.

Ramdev was instigating the crowd during his fast on the issue of corruption and black money at the ground where more than 20,000 people had gathered, it said.

It further said Ramdev was informed that Section 144 - which prohibits the assembly of five or more people - had been declared at the Ramlila Maidan and he had to move out. But Ramdev, instead of leaving, started agitating.

The city police had filed the response following a direction of the apex court, which took suo motu cognizance of the crackdown and had directed it to explain why it resorted to such action against Ramdev and his supporters.

In the FIR filed at the Kamla Market police station, the police had alleged that Ramdev and his associates refused to accept the letter cancelling permission for his camp and dared senior officials to do "whatever they wanted" to do.

SHO Surinder Jeet Kaur said in the FIR, which has been annexed to the affidavit, that around 12.30 am, the police went to meet Ramdev, who refused to accept the letter cancelling the permission. Since none of his followers listened to requests to stay calm, Kaur said that the police resorted to using water canons to disperse the crowd, which had some effect. However, they gathered together with "renewed vigour" and began pelting stones.

"The followers and office-bearers of Bharat Swabhiman Trust gathered there and using dangerous substances attacked police and obstructed the functioning of public servants leading to injuries to policemen. Their act also resulted in damage to private and public property. They created a riot situation in a public place," the FIR said. — Agencies 

New Delhi, June 17
The Congress top brass tonight left the contentious issue of bringing the Prime Minister within the ambit of the Lokpal to the government to decide.

Party president Sonia Gandhi, who returned from a tour abroad, is learnt to have expressed concern over controversies surrounding the Lokpal issue as also the fresh turmoil over Telangana issue.

The meeting of the Congress core group, chaired by Gandhi with PM Manmohan Singh by her side, saw threadbare discussion on the Lokpal issue.

The meeting of the Core Group took place against the backdrop of the showdown between Anna Hazare camp and government representatives in the Joint Committee with the Gandhian insisting on bringing the Prime Minister and higher judiciary under the ambit of the proposed Lokpal.

The Civil Society also held consultations and gave finishing touches to changes in their proposed draft Bill. Activists have decided to remove the word ‘misconduct’ of the public servants from the next proposed Lokpal Bill after people's feedback from several public consultations.

“It was argued that the word ‘misconduct’ had a broad meaning that included many more aspects than just corruption. The Jan Lokpal Bill will include all kinds of corruption, including ‘deemed’ corruption resulting from non-performance of the government departments to provide services such as ration cards, pensions, passport, etc,” said the activists.

Another new addition to the proposed Bill, which is also the result of public feedback, is that the bribe-giver will no longer be considered guilty if he or she discloses the act of corruption within a prescribed time limit and returns illegitimate benefits he or she received, if any. This will cause fear in the minds of the bribe-takers since they could be exposed by the bribe-giver later, they said.

New Delhi, June 17
The BJP has intensified its attack on Home Minister P Chidambaram, with its former president and PAC chairman Murli Manohar Joshi being the latest in line to demand his resignation.

Joshi today demanded removal of the Home Minister in connection with the CAG report about pricing of gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin. Chidambaram has never handled the Petroleum portfolio.

Referring to reports appearing in the media that the CAG has found grave irregularities in the Petroleum Ministry’s allotment of gas basins to some private companies, Joshi also demanded a probe on how the report leaked out and hinted that Chidambaram was behind the leakage of the CAG draft sent up to the Petroleum Ministry for vetting.

He also threatened that “We will move privilege motion against this leakage. The CAG report is first placed before the House before that it cannot be publicised.”

The PAC chairman had earlier drawn swords with Chidambaram charging him with remote controlling Congress members of the PAC and engineering rejection of his report on the 2G scam seems to be nursing a grouse against the minister even now.

Meanwhile, he acted coy refusing to explain the grounds on which Speaker Meira Kumar rejected and returned his report and said it would all depend on the next meeting.

He neither denied nor accepted the fact that for all the fanfare and noise he made about his draft it would eventually be consigned to obscurity. This sustained campaign against Chidambaram is a recent development in the BJP.

New Delhi, June 17
The CBI today opposed in the Supreme Court the bail plea of DMK MP Kanimozhi and co-accused Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar in the 2G case on the ground that if released, they could tamper with evidence and influence witnesses.

In a related development, two Supreme Court judges scheduled to hear DMK MP Kanimozhi’s bail plea on Monday, have recused themselves from the hearing. Instead, Justice GS Singhvi, whose Bench has been monitoring the case, will hold a special hearing on Monday along with Justice BS Chauhan, to decide on the bail applications of Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar.

In an affidavit filed before the apex court, the investigating agency contended that Kanimozhi and Kumar were key conspirators and Rs 200 crore transferred to the Kalaignar TV was part of the "bribe" amount and not a loan as claimed by the accused.

The agency said that since investigation in the 2G case is at an advanced stage, it will not be proper for the apex court to grant bail to the accused. The Bureau submitted that the special CBI court and later the Delhi High Court had carefully evaluated various material evidence and other factors to decline bail to them.

The apex court had on June 13 asked the CBI to explain where the Rs 200 crore, allegedly diverted to DMK-owned Kalaignar TV in 2G scam, has gone and also to file a response on their bail pleas in a week's time. — PTI

New Delhi, June 17
While announcing far-reaching reforms in its skilled migration programme, Australia today declared that it would not tolerate violence against Indians Down Under.

“There is a clear understanding between the Government of India and the Government of Australia that the rule of law applies to all workers in Australia, whether temporary or permanent,” Peter Speldewinde, Assistant Secretary of Australia’s Department of Immigration and Citizenship told reporters here.

He said Australia was vigorously enforcing laws to protect foreign workers in the kangaroo land, pointing out that there were significant punishments for those violating rules and regulations in the country.

His statement assume significance against the backdrop of racial attacks on Indian students and workers Down Under over the past two years which had also triggered strains in Australia’s relationship with India.

Australia is again trying to woo Indian workers to the country in a bid to fill an acute resource crunch in skilled labour.

Speldewinde said Australia would fast-track visa processing and reform the immigration programme to bring human resources from around the globe, including India.

The Australian Government is hopeful that the new skilled migration programme would enable highly skilled human resource from India with Indian degrees in the fields of health care, IT and engineering.

Two major changes in the new programme would make permanent migration to Australia a lot easier for skilled labour. A new “Points Test” would encourage an older age group of migrants by giving extra points to people between 25 and 32 years. Two, overseas qualifications would be given as much weight as an Australian qualification.

New Delhi, June 17
Even as BJP Deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde made his displeasure with his party leadership public, the party today appeared largely unmoved even as Maharashtra in charge M Venkaiah Naidu invited the veteran Maharashtra leader to hear his reasons for annoyance.

Munde is coming here tomorrow to meet Naidu “and possibly some other leaders”, said a senior BJP leader discounting a meeting of the top leadership to speak to the most eminent BJP’s OBC face in Maharashtra. He did not say whether Gadkari will be meeting Munde.

The BJP leader, who has been meeting leaders of the Shiv Sena and the Congress, sounded ominous in Mumbai when he declared that he will decide his political future after returning from Delhi. Though he denied plans to join other political parties, he also made it clear that he was unhappy in the BJP.

"I will decide my future political course after tomorrow's meeting. I will seek some time to decide on what they (BJP leaders) have to say. Whatever I have to say, I will say on the party platform," he said.

Denying that his meeting with leaders of other parties had anything to do with his joining any party, Munde said, "In the past, when I was unhappy, Sena chief Bal Thackeray called me and told me to stay in the BJP. Even now, I will go and attend a meeting if called by Sena chief. These relations are beyond politics," Munde added.

Party sources said that Munde who has had an uneasy relation with fellow Maharashtrian and BJP president Nitin Gadkari for several years, has felt increasingly marginalised since Gadkari became the national president. Even before that Munde has had run ins with Gadkari. But Gadakri is virtually steamrolling his decisions, ignoring senior leaders like Venkaiah Naidu as well, which became evident when he appointed Vikas Mathkari the Pune city president ignoring Naidu’s recommendations and putting down Munde’s candidate Yogesh Gogawle.