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Will miss Pranab, says PM at CWC farewell meet
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Monitors submit report on combat aircraft deal
SC refuses to restrain docs from going on strike
Ex-CM Shinde appears before Adarsh panel
31 killed in UP mishaps
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Will miss Pranab, says PM at CWC farewell meet
New Delhi, June 25 Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh set the tone for today’s special CWC meeting that heaped praise on Pranab Mukherjee and recalled how the senior leader had steered the party through many crises in his role as chief troubleshooter. Hailing the 76-year-old as the senior-most member of the CWC, Sonia Gandhi said it was a matter of pride that the UPA had nominated him as its Presidential candidate. In an indirect reference to his quick temper, Sonia Gandhi remarked lightheartedly that the party would miss his “tantrums”. This comment was received with smiles all round the table. The Congress president expressed confidence that Mukherjee would emerge victorious with a huge margin, AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi told mediapersons after the meeting. Recalling his long association with Mukherjee and the various responsibilities he had discharged, the Prime Minister said the senior leader’s wise counsel will be missed by the party and the government. Special sweets, particularly the Bengali ‘sandesh’, were ordered for the occasion as an emotional Mukherjee recalled his long association with the Congress. Mukherjee, who became a member of the CWC in 1978, has been an important member of the party’s highest decision-making body ever since. Describing himself as a true Congress soldier, Mukherjee dwelt at length on his association with the late Indira Gandhi. Stating that he had held every important position in the party and the government, Mukherjee said he had always done what he thought was good for the party. He thanked the Congress for nominating him for the President’s post, stating that the reward he had received from the party was far more than what he had done for it. While praising Mukherjee, leaders including AK Antony, Mohsina Kidwai and RK Dhawan, also used the opportunity to compliment Sonia Gandhi for her handling of the Presidential election. They pointed out that the party’s image had suffered after its dismal performance in the recent Assembly polls, but its graph had picked up after it succeeded in nominating its candidate for the Presidency while the Opposition was in disarray. Mukherjee is all set to file his nomination papers on June 28 in the presence of the Prime Minister, Sonia Gandhi and representatives of other UPA allies. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal is coordinating Mukherjee’s poll campaign and former minister Suresh Pachouri is handling his travel plans while an informal committee, comprising senior party leaders, has also been set up to assist them.
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Gadkari asks BJP men, NDA allies to exercise restraint
New Delhi, June 25 In a late night statement, Gadkari appealed to BJP functionaries and its alliance partners to show restraint while speaking on NDA-related matters. He said despite the divergent views taken by NDA constituents as regards the presidential election, the alliance would remain unaffected and continue to "navigate the country out of its present problems" as it had been doing so far. Gadkari's formal statement follows a complaint by Janata Dal (U) president Sharad Yadav, who also doubles as the NDA convener, about BJP leader Balbir Punj's remark that the party had not outsourced the responsibility of defining who is secular. This was a clear reference to JD(U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's recent statement that the NDA's next prime ministerial candidate should have secular credentials, thus indicating that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi would not be acceptable to him. Nitish Kumar's comments and his party's decision to support UPA presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee put severe strain on the relations between the BJP and the JD(U). However, just as the two parties subsequently pulled back from the brink, Punj's statement led to a fresh row. Taking strong objection to his statement, Sharad Yadav lodged a protest with Gadkari and asked him to "restrain" such members in his party, especially when he had called for a "ceasefire". "What was the need for such an untimely and illogical statement by the BJP MP? I have talked to BJP president Nitin Gadkari. He should restrain such persons," said Yadav. Just two days ago, Yadav had pulled up his own party spokesperson for speaking out of turn and declared that there was no rift in the party. The JD(U) president also clarified that his party had extended support to Pranab Mukherjee's presidential candidature, but it remained opposed to UPA's economic policies. The truce proved short-lived as Balbir Punj sought to revive the debate over Narendra Modi's projection as the PM.
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Committed to peaceful ties with Pak: Krishna
New Delhi, June 25 “Things are getting normal with Pakistan. It is our fond hope that a sincere effort has to be made by both countries to live as good neighbours. India has always being willing to do that. I hope that Pakistan will respond,’’ he told reporters in a brief chat here. His comments came ahead of the foreign secretary level talks between the two countries in early July. The talks between the top diplomats of the two countries are to be followed by Krishna’s visit to Islamabad in the later part of July to review the progress in the second round of the dialogue process with his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar. Responding to a question on the tardy pace of the dialogue process, the minister said India was not expecting ‘big solution’ to protracted problems between the two countries at a time when Pakistan was passing though upheavals and needed space to settle down. “These problems have been there for the last 60 years and you do not expect big solutions in six days or six weeks or in six months,’’ he said. India’s endeavour was to keep the dialogue process going as it was in the larger interest of both countries. “I think the thrust is to keep Pakistan engaged. They are also going through many upheavals. So we will have to provide them space to settle down… India, which is a country that is stable and growing, will have to think on that.’’ Krishna was obviously referring to the recent disqualification of Yousuf Raza Gilani as Pakistan PM by the country’s apex court in a contempt of court case and the appointment of Raja Pervez Ashraf as the new PM. Asked whether India would raise with Pakistan the issue of the arrest of Sayed Zabiuddin, a key suspect in the Mumbai terror attack, he said the police, when through with the investigations, would send a report to the government. Thereafter, the government would decide what follow-up action could be taken.
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Monitors submit report on combat aircraft deal
New Delhi, June 25 Sources in the government told The Tribune today that the report prepared by three independent monitors, including a former top Finance and Defence Ministry bureaucrat appointed by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), submitted the report to the Ministry of Defence. Sources in the Government privy to the development maintained that the monitors found that the Indian Air Force had followed the laid down procedure. The report is being perused by the Ministry before it will be placed before Defence Minister A.K. Antony for his views. The Government on January 31 this year declared French-manufacturer Dassault Aviation’s Rafale to be the lowest bidder in the multi-billion dollar competition after it shortlisted the company along with Eurofighter Typhoon, manufactured by European consortium Cassidian from a field of six competitors. In a matter of a few weeks, the Government received a letter written by the then Telugu Desam Party MP, M.V. Mysura Reddy who expressed doubts over the selection process while separately two senior officials of the Defence Ministry contract negotiation team differed over the method adopted in identifying the lowest bidder. In addition, the minister is also in receipt of anonymous letters pointing out to certain “loop-holes’’ in the various processes followed by the IAF and the Ministry. Besides insisting that the deal should be fair and transparent, as a matter of extreme caution, Defence Minister Antony outlined an eight-stage mechanism through which the deal will have to go through, including vetting by the CVC before it finally reaches the Cabinet Committee on Security for assent. The minister has made it known to the top military brass and also foreign vendors that he would not hesitate to cancel any defence deal if at any stage the Government detects the process has been vitiated through unfair means. The IAF hopes to acquire 126 aircraft, with the first 18 in ‘fly-away’ condition and the rest manufactured in India under Transfer of Technology. There is an option of additional 60 plus planes. Considering the pace, people privy to the process feel it would be reasonable to expect the deal to take concrete shape towards the end of this year. The government on January 31 declared French-manufacturer Dassault Aviation's Rafale to be the lowest bidder in the multi-billion dollar competition after it shortlisted the company along with Eurofighter Typhoon, manufactured by European consortium Cassidian from a field of six competitors.
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SC refuses to restrain docs from going on strike
New Delhi, June 25 A Bench comprising Justices HL Gokhale and Gyan Sudha Misra, however, observed that it did not “expect the doctors to resort to any such act.” The PIL has been filed by an NGO, People for Better Treatment (PBT), expressing concern over the
plight of patients arising from the strike called by the IMA to protest against the Clinical Establishment Act-2010 under which doctors would have to compulsorily work in rural areas for a specific period. Under the new law, which is yet to be implemented, medical graduates would have to clear a test for becoming eligible to do private practice. Arguing for the petitioner, senior counsel MN Krishnamani cited an SC verdict to contend that there was no statutory right to go on strike. Doctors could resort to such agitations only if their dignity and autonomy were in jeopardy.
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AI impasse: Ministry firm on its stand
New Delhi, June 25 Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh has been insisting that for any dialogue to begin the pilots would have to return to work “unconditionally”. “First fly and then talk” has been his tough stand since Day I of the agitation that has now reached the famous protest spot of Jantar Mantar here. “All they have to do is to come back on work unconditionally. I don’t even know what their issues are. They don’t know themselves, so, what can we do?” he said. Ajit Singh, who is also being accused by the pilots of supporting the management’s partiality toward the pilots of the erstwhile Indian Airlines, made it clear that any Air India pilot, who is on strike, was sacked or faced action from the courts or referred to a Air Force doctor for calling in sick, was welcome to join back. On a lighter note he also added that pilots had “the right to go on a hunger strike. It will be good for their health. It is (only) for 48 hours anyway.” But despite the minister’s assurance of “no victimisation”, the pilots have remained unyielding, saying that orders to sack them and de-recognise their union, the IPG, should first be withdrawn. On an indefinite fast simultaneously in Delhi and Mumbai, they are determined to continue with the protest till the government relents and calls them for talks. “Ask Mr Ajit Singh,” said Tauseef Mukadam when asked when the agitation, which has dented the market share of the airline, would end. Sources say Ajit Singh wants to make this strike an example for times to come, thus the tough stand. The ministry held a review meeting where options like conditional revocation of the IPG were considered but it was decided that the strike should be broken. Some trade unions have questioned the “faulty execution” of the strike, which is headed nowhere. Mukadam, joint secretary of the India Pilots Guild, asserts the industrial stir could not have been handled in a better way and what better proof than the fact that all the pilots have stuck together even in such dire circumstances.
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Ex-CM Shinde appears before Adarsh panel
Mumbai, June 25 He was summoned as a witness. He was quizzed on the files he had cleared during his tenure as CM between 2001 and 2003. — TNS
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31 killed in UP mishaps
Lucknow, June 25 Members of Charan Singh Yadav’s family, from Kamalpur village, were returning from Haridwar after the ‘mundan’ ceremony of his grandson when their bus rammed into a tree. In Hathras, a Tata Magic and tractor had a head-on collision on the Hathras-Sikandermau road, killing six persons. In Jalaun district, Bundelkhand, a dumper overturned after one of its tyres burst. Two more dumpers following it rammed into the overturned dumper one after another killing three persons. In Sultanpur district, a Jeep, carrying the members of a ‘baraat’, rammed into the Amritsar-Howrah Express at the unmanned level crossing near Naharpur village, killing three persons, including the father of the bridegroom. Three persons were injured in the accident. In the fifth accident, a car hit a tree near the Gola Kuan crossing at Kanshiram Nagar killing both its occupants.
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