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Suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt gets bail Sanjiv Bhatt with his wife after he was released from jail in Ahmedabad. — PTI
This time, expect a colder winter in country’s northwest
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Yeddyurappa moves HC for bail
BJP takes credit for Congress defeat
Anna factor ensures Pawar drubbing in Khadakwasla
‘Right to recall’ to be part of all-party meet: Khursheed
SC notice to Centre, M’rashtra on PIL against Hazare’s NGO
Mumbai RTI activist assaulted, dumped in Surat
Santosh Makrande Tiwari had filed a number of queries on the Adarsh scam
River networking
UP Assembly disqualifies another MLA
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Suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt gets bail
Ahmedabad/New Delhi, Oct 17 Sessions Judge VK Vyas granted bail on the condition that Bhatt would cooperate with the investigation and would remain present when called for. The state government opposed the bail plea of Bhatt, who had created a flutter accusing Modi of complicity in the post-Godhra riots. Bhatt was arrested for allegedly fabricating evidence to implicate Modi. Walking out of the Sabarmati Central Jail after his release, Bhatt, who appeared relaxed, said the rule of law has prevailed. "I am happy that the rule of law has prevailed. It is a victory for the victims of the state-sponsored riots... My stay in jail was like a sabbatical... I am still resolute for my cause... The cause is much bigger than me," he told reporters outside prison. Bhatt was in jail after being arrested on September 30 in connection with an FIR filed against him by Constable KD Pant for allegedly threatening him and making him sign a false affidavit with regards to the IPS officer's presence in the February 27, 2002 meeting called by Modi shortly after the Godhra train attack. He had moved the bail application on October 3. Bhatt received a very emotional welcome at his Memnagar residence by his wife Shweta Bhatt, his two children and other family members and relatives. A relieved Shweta thanked all those who stood by Bhatt's family. "We had faith in judiciary and now it has been proved right... I thank all those who have stood by us," said Shweta, who had written a letter to Home Minister P Chidambaram urging him to ensure that no harm is caused to her husband. Union Law Minister Salman Khursheed said the court order showed the "independence" of the legal system. "No matter how much people speculate and put question marks, ultimately and repeatedly, we have shown our system is independent and it does not get swayed either by public opinion or by any kind of pressure," Khursheed told reporters in New Delhi.
— PTI
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This time, expect a colder winter in country’s northwest
New Delhi, October 17 IMD chief Ajit Tyagi told The Tribune today that North India can expect “less than normal temperatures” because of prevailing La Nina conditions, a weather phenomenon that results from lower ocean temperatures. Tyagi explains that whenever the La Nina effect is strong, it causes good rains in southern and northeastern parts and lower than normal temperatures in the northwest in the winter months of November, December and January. World meteorologists expect La Nina conditions to gradually strengthen and continue into the entire Northern Hemisphere through the 2011-12 winter, something that may result in a consecutively good monsoon next year as well. The sudden change in Pacific Ocean temperatures, which caused the sudden revival of La Nina, thereby resulting in heavy rains post-August, is something that the IMD had not initially bargained for. The country’s leading weather forecaster, in fact, grossly underestimated the actual rainfall in their initial long-range forecasts for the 2011 monsoon, a fact it also recently admitted to. “Most of the operational long-range forecasts issued for the 2011 southwest monsoon rainfall were underestimating the actual rainfall and, therefore, were not very accurate,” the IMD said. How way off the mark the IMD was can be judged from its two initial forecasts. In April, the IMD predicted rains to the tune of 98% of the long period average (LPA) and followed it up in June with a forecast predicting rains 95% of the LPA. The northwest comprising Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, J&K, Himachal, Uttarakhand and Western UP was expected to do badly. However, by the end of the season, 33 of the total of 36 meteorological subdivisions — 92% of the country’s total area — actually received excess or normal rainfall. The only three subdivisions that did not do well were Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya, constituting merely eight per cent of the country’s total area. Tyagi explains why the IMD made the error. He says that from February to March, temperatures over the Pacific Ocean had started rising and neither La Nina nor its cousin El Nino were observed. However, somewhere around August, La Nina conditions suddenly became favourable, resulting in the country getting rainfall that was 101% of its long period average (LPA). Monsoon was 107% of its LPA over northwest, 110% of its LPA over Central India, 100% of its LPA over south Peninsula and 86% of its LPA over northeast.
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Yeddyurappa moves HC for bail
Bangalore, October 17 The court will tomorrow hear two bail pleas of the former Chief Minister. His counsel Ravi Naik filed two petitions today, one for interim bail and another for regular bail, and requested they be heard tomorrow. Judge BV Pinto accepted the request. Yeddyurappa, 68, credited with bringing the BJP to power in Karnataka for the first time in history in the 2008 General Election, spent only a few hours behind bars at the Central Jail near the Electronic City area here. He was shifted to Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research in the wee hours of Sunday after he complained of chest pain. Institute director CN Manjunath has appointed a team of five doctors to monitor Yeddyurappa’s health. An angiogram was carried out today to ascertain his heart condition. Manjunath told reporters that though no
significant blockade was found in the former CM’s arteries, a soft clot was detected. He said in all probability Yeddyurappa would be discharged from the hospital tomorrow after carrying out the Halter Test. Manjunath added that Yeddyurappa would also require consultations with urology specialists, besides seeing an orthopaedician and physiotherapist. A medical bulletin issued by the hospital also mentioned Yeddyurappa being afflicted with Parkinson syndrome. The former Chief Minister was arrested after Lokayukta Court judge N Sudhindra Rao declined him bail on Saturday in two of the five cases of corruption and illegal land deals filed against him by two Bangalore advocates. Advocates Sirajin Basha and NK Balaraj, have charged Yeddyurappa, his two sons -- BJP Lok Sabha member BY Raghavendra and B Y Vijayendra - and son-in-law R Sohan Kumar of conspiracy to denotify government land in return for monetary gains. In another development, the Lokayukta Court today rejected the bail plea of former Karnataka BJP minister Katta Subramanaya Naidu, an accused in another land scam, but permitted him to avail medical treatment in any hospital in the country.
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BJP takes credit for Congress defeat
New Delhi, October 17 This notwithstanding the fact that in real terms despite the HJC-BJP alliance, Bishnoi’s margin against the INLD has been reduced compared to what his father former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal polled in 2009. Instead, it was the INLD candidate Ajay Chautala who emerged a big gainer improving upon his party’s 2009 performance and closing the gap between the INLD and the HJC. The Congress was a poor third in 2009 and retained the same position losing about 50,000 more votes this time getting only 1,49,785 votes against 2,04,539 in 2009. The BJP also won the Khadakwasla Assembly seat in Baramati parliamentary constituency of Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. The seat was held earlier by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) of Raj Thackeray. Similarly, its ally the Significantly, in Daruanda there was a direct contest between the JD(U) and the RJD of Lalu Prasad in Bihar and between the BJP and the MNS in Khadakwasla. But that did not deter the BJP and Anna from claiming success against the Congress through their campaign against corruption. "This is an auspicious day for democracy. Congress, neck-deep in corruption, has lost the Hisar seat. This is a victory of the people and of those who are raising their voice against corruption," commented BJP spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Husain. The party’s supporters started bursting crackers even before the formal results were announced for Hisar. But on Anna’s claim that his campaign has defeated the Congress, Husain said, "I have read Anna's statements. He had appealed not for victory of any candidate but for the defeat of a party." Continuing his tirade against the Congress, Husain said the ruling party should stop covering up corruption. "It is deplorable the way the Congress has tried to suppress agitations, sit-ins and movements.... The real test in a democracy is through votes," the BJP spokesman said. He also reiterated that the BJP alliance with the HJC will continue in the Haryana Assembly and the next Lok Sabha elections. "We will contest eight Lok Sabha seats while the HJC will contest two. In Vidhan Sabha elections, each party will contest 50 per cent of the seats. If we come to power, their candidate will be the Chief Minister for the first two-and-a-half years. Our alliance may have happened late but it is strong," said the BJP leader. However, when reminded about its Achilles heel former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa's arrest in graft cases, the former minister dismissed it saying, "In Karnataka we acted within hours of the Lokayukta report coming out."
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Anna factor ensures Pawar drubbing in Khadakwasla
Mumbai, October 17 The seat located on Pune's outskirts is seen as
a pocket-borough of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and the man seen as the political heir of Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar, who was confident of victory of the party candidate Harshada Wanjale. However, riding on the Anna Hazare wave, BJP candidate Bhimrao Dhondiba Tapkir won by a margin of 3,625 votes. The BJP candidate had the backing of the Shiv Sena and the Republican Party of India. The vacancy was created following the death of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MLA and Harshada's husband, Ramesh Wanjale. Ajit Pawar had earlier boasted that he would split the MNS by inducting Harshada into the party. However, he had not counted for the Anna Hazare factor upsetting his political calculations. Though Hazare did not officially call for the defeat of Wanjale because it was not a candidate of the Congress party who was contesting, supporters of the social activist were actively campaigning for the BJP candidate, according to reports from the constituency. The NCP itself admits that the defeat is a major setback. Party MP Supriya Sule, who campaigned with her cousin for the party candidate, expressed disappointment at the verdict since Khadakwasla falls within her Baramati Lok Sabha constituency. "I take full responsibility for the defeat of the NCP candidate. This surely calls for introspection on the part of the NCP," Sule told reporters shortly after the results came in. However, state unit NCP president Madhukar Pichad said low turnout of voters of 32.76 per cent was one of the reasons for the defeat. "It is wrong to attribute this defeat as one against our government and party and an indicator of political change in the state. Each constituency has different issues. One byelection cannot decided the course of politics in the state or the country," Pichad maintained. On the other hand, the BJP leaders in Mumbai said the attempt to forge a three-way alliance with the Shiv Sena and the Republican Party of India proved to be a winning combination. They also admitted that the anti-corruption campaign by Hazare swayed a large number of young voters who showed up to cast their votes. (With inputs from PTI)
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‘Right to recall’ to be part of all-party meet: Khursheed
New Delhi, October 17 He said the demand for right to recall of elected lawmakers was a difficult task, but the government was "working on that". "We have a very strong lobby that is questioning us on the need to introduce the right to reject," he said speaking on 'Bharat and India: Challenges and Ambitions' at the Asian Forum for Global Governance here. Khursheed said there are also "strong demands" for right to recall inspired largely by some small segments in US and Europe, particularly in municipal elections. "Right to recall in a constituency that has more than 1.5 million voters. Get signatures from 100 thousand or 50 thousand, authenticate those signatures is not an easy job. But we are working on that," he said. The minister later elaborated that the Law Ministry has prepared a note on the subject. "We have given papers on it. I have discussed it with the Election Commissioner as well. He has talked to the media and he has expressed some of his reservations. But we will be happy to put it to the all-party consultations that will take place," he said.
— PTI
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SC notice to Centre, M’rashtra on PIL against Hazare’s NGO
New Delhi, October 17 A Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Desai passed the order on a PIL by advocate ML Sharma, who contended Hazare and his NGO had “played fraud” on the Centre and state government by siphoning off crores allocated from the exchequer. The trust got Rs 45 lakh from the Centre in 1994-95 and Rs 65.85 lakh from Maharashtra in 1995-96, while the Council for Advancement of People’s Action and Rural Technology released Rs 5 crore in 2001 and Rs 75 lakh in 1995, the petitioner said. The Centre and the state government had failed to act on the 2005 PB Sawant Commission Report which “disclosed the true admitted facts”, the petition said. The state government had rejected the commission’s report.
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Mumbai RTI activist assaulted, dumped in Surat
Mumbai, October 17 The activist, Santosh Makrande Tiwari, was picked up by the police in Surat and taken to a local hospital where he claimed to have been beaten up by goons close to a former Maharashtra Chief Minister for not withdrawing his queries under the Right to Information Act. Tiwari works as a security consultant for a firm in Mumbai. In his complaint, Tiwari said his attackers — posing as policemen — picked him up from the Mira Road railway station in suburban Mumbai and bundled him into an SUV and took him to an unknown destination. The activist was then locked up in a transport container where he was constantly punched and hit and forced to drink alcohol to render him drowsy, Tiwari said in his complaint.
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Citing “high inflation”, SC doubts project viability
R Sedhuraman
New Delhi, October 17 “We will not place any financial burden on the government. Inflation is very high,” a three-member Bench headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia clarified while hearing PILs on the subject. Just because an earlier Bench of the apex court had entertained the petitions by issuing notice did not mean that the court would insist on the implementation of the project, the Bench, which included Justices KS Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar, remarked. Besides financial viability, the Bench also raised questions on the problems relating to the acquisition of land for the project and getting the consent of all the states.
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UP Assembly disqualifies another MLA
Lucknow: State Vidhan Sabha speaker Sukhdev Rajbhar on Monday disqualified another BSP MLA Krishna Kumar Singh from the membership of the Upper House under the Anti-Defection Law for defecting to the Samajwadi party. This is the fourth such disqualification by the Speaker in the last few weeks. Singh, who represents Mallawan seat of Hardoi, has been disqualified from the House from August 3, the date on which he defected to the SP. The action has been taken on a petition filed by BSP state president and Panchyati Raj Minister Swami Prasad Maurya. A total of five BSP MLAs have defected to the SP during the last two months.
— TNS
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jail, suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who is locked in a public confrontation with Chief Minister Narendra Modi over the 2002 Gujarat riots, was released on bail today by a local court.
New Delhi, October 17
