The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Modi’s man Amit Shah to look after BJP affairs in UP Vibha Sharma/TNS New Delhi, May 19 In the run-up to the general election, the BJP today unveiled its long-awaited list of "prabaharis" (in-charge) for different states in the country, except Delhi, assigning the responsibility of all-important Uttar Pradesh to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's close aide Amit Shah and augmenting its poll machinery in three election-bound states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajashthan and Chhattisgarh. The "prabharis" of the three election-bound states were left untouched with party president Rajnath Singh choosing to repeat Ananth Kumar in Madhya Pradesh, JP Naddha in Chhattisgarh and Captan Singh Solanki in Rajasthan. Additional work force has been assigned to Rajasthan in the form of two new faces - Bhupendra Yadav and Kirit Sommiaya - according to the party's strategically-important list of state in-charges and convenors of different fronts. Assigning Shah the responsibility of UP, a state crucial to the party's 2014 plans, is a clear indication of Modi's growing clout in BJP affairs. Trivendra Singh Rawat, Rameshwer Chaurasiya and Satyendra Kushwaha will help Shah build the party's fortunes in the state, which is significant for any political outfit in the Lok Sabha elections. Modi had apparently been pushing for Shah as he planned to contest from UP in the general election. The BJP president also made Varun Gandhi in-charge of the party's affairs in West Bengal, an indication of the young leader's growing stature within the party. No announcement has been made in Delhi because the party is yet to resolve the ongoing debate whether the state should have a "purvanchal prabahri". Currently, poll-bound Delhi is being looked after by senior leader Venkaiah Naidu along with Navjot Sidhu and Chaurasiya. Sources say the Delhi charge may be assigned to Bihar leader Ravi Shankar Prasad, the deputy leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. For Punjab, the party has chosen Himachal Pradesh stalwart Shanta Kumar, who was ignored in party organisational rejig. The BJP is hoping for good performance in Punjab and the former Himachal Chief Minister will be helped by Shyam Jaju to achieve the target. Haryana will be taken care of by Jagdish Mukhi, who will replace Dr Harshvrardhan, a Delhi leader. Chandigarh's charge has been given to Arti Mehra, a former Delhi Mayor, who replaces Saroj Pandey, now the head of the party's Mahila Morcha. Uttarakhand will be looked after by Radha Mohan Singh, a Bihar leader. Jammu and Kashmir will be taken care of by Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab Avinash Rai Khanna, who will replace Jagdish Mukhi, a former Delhi minister, now in-charge of Haryana. Journalist-politician Balbir Punj will replace Kalraj Mishra in Himachal Pradesh, a state that the BJP lost badly in the last elections. Bihar has been assigned to Dharmendra Pradhan and Vinod Pandey and Odisha to Chandan Mitra. Bihar leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy gets the job of looking after politically-important Maharshtra, while actor-turned-politician Smriti Irani will be the in-charge of Goa.
	UP wants terror accused’s death probed by CBI Tribune News Service Lucknow, May 19 The Akhilesh Yadav government today recommended a CBI inquiry into the alleged custodial death of terror accused Khalid Mujahid (30) who died mysteriously while being brought back from a court appearance in Faizabad yesterday. The family had refused to take Mujahid’s body till a CBI probe was ordered. The Chief Minister had earlier ordered an inquiry by Secretary Home and Additional Director General of Police Jawed Akhtar. A judicial inquiry will still be conducted by Chief Judicial Magistrate Avinash Kumar Pandey. Mujahid’s uncle had lodged an FIR at the Barabanki Kotwali police station against 42 persons, accusing them of murder, concealing design to commit offence and criminal conspiracy, said lawyer Randhir Singh Suman. Those named in the FIR included members of the police team that made the arrest in 2007 and the escort team that took him from Lucknow for the Faizabad yesterday. They include the then Director General of Police, Vikram Singh, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Brij Lal and heads of the STF and the ATS at the time of Mujahid’s arrest.
	Death in custody Villagers protest police action Tribune News Service Lucknow, May 19 Angry protestors blocked the Agra-Bareilly highway and refused to perform the last rites of Balveer, a murder suspect, demanding lodging of murder cases against the policemen who had tortured Balveer to death inside an Etah police station. A resident of Isauli village of Etah, Balveer had succumbed to injuries suffered during police interrogation at Lucknow’s King George Medical College Hospital on May 17. After the district administration’s assurance, the villagers accepted the body. The merciless face of Uttar Pradesh police had surfaced once again when they reportedly injected acid and kerosene into Balveer’s private parts. From his hospital bed he made a declaration before the media where he accused the Etah police of injecting him with acid and petrol in order to extract a confession out of him. Three policemen have been suspended for this gruesome act which occurred at Avagarh police station in Etah district in western Uttar Pradesh. A home guard has also been arrested in the case. A magisterial inquiry has been ordered.
	UPA plans to counter BJP with report card Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 19 Ahead of its ninth anniversary celebrations on May 22, the Congress-led UPA got into a defensive mode today vowing to counter the Opposition BJP with its many achievements. “The UPA government will celebrate its ninth anniversary on May 22. That day, it will also release its report card,” PC Chacko, Congress spokesperson, said in the capital today, listing a series of achievements to differentiate between a “constructive government” and a “destructive Opposition”. Among these achievements are the opening up of the Indian economy to single and multi-brand retail; the Right to Information Act, the Right to Education Act and the three Bills which the Congress plans to market as its “biggest USPs” vis-à-vis the Opposition - the National Food Security Bill, the Land Acquisition Bill and the Lokpal Bill. “The BJP has been constantly disrupting Parliament and not allowing us to take up and pass these pro-people and pro-poor Bills. The BJP is behaving irresponsibly and the people will judge them for this,” Chacko said on a day when Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi made a similar pitch during his Kerala visit where he said he “could understand politics but not the fact that the BJP should hurt the sentiments of the poor”. The Congress has now decided to go to the people with its campaign on the food security law and paint the BJP black in the process. Congress spokesperson Bhakta Charan Das, who represents a food insecure district of Kalahandi in Odisha, had recently listed the statistics pertaining to malnutrition in India, blaming the Opposition for jeopardising their futures by stalling the food Bill. Already the Congress Core Group has asked Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath to hold talks with Opposition parties on the food security law. Chacko today said a special session would be convened if there was a consensus on the issue and talks would be held with everyone on this subject. Meanwhile, the Congress is busy these days preparing its report card to be released at the UPA anniversary celebrations to be held at the PM’s residence on May 22. In the wake of the recent controversies that have marred the image of the Congress and brought forth the differences between the PM and the Congress, the party is hoping its achievements would deflect the nation’s attention from the recent muck including the exit of former ministers Pawan Bansal and Ashwani Kumar on charges of alleged corruption by the former’s nephew and impropriety respectively. There is also a buzz that the party might go in for a reshuffle in the AICC soon to send a strong message that clean leadership would be promoted and corruption would not be tolerated. A lot of youngsters are likely to get key roles in the restructuring with Rahul Gandhi asserting himself, as is evident from the recent changes in Odisha and Jharkhand where he brought in young people from disadvantaged sections as PCC chiefs. JPC to meet in June PC Chacko, chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee examining the allocation of 2G Spectrum, said on Saturday that the panel would meet in June to decide on the future of the draft report. It was rejected earlier after 15 members wrote to the Speaker against the chairman's alleged biased stance in not calling the PM and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram as witnesses. The JPC's term was extended in the Budget Session until the end of Monsoon Session.
	IPL probe triggers turf battle between Mumbai, Delhi cops Shiv Kumar/TNS Mumbai, May 19 The police teams of Mumbai and Delhi are locked in a show of one-upmanship over investigations into the latest spot-fixing scandal. The old turf war between the two outfits has sparked to life yet again after a contingent of the Delhi Police swooped down on the three Rajasthan Royals players, including pacer S Sreesanth, earlier this week. The Mumbai police, who were kept out of the loop were conducting their independent investigations, had arrested three prominent bookies days before the bust. After smarting at being upstaged by their traditional rivals, Mumbai cops got their own back when they raided hotel rooms occupied by Sreesanth and his bookie friend Jiju Janardhanan. Sources say, the Delhi police team was unaware that Sreesanth and Janardhanan had checked into Hotel Sofitel at Bandra-Kurla Complex independently. Their Mumbai counterparts made the most of the visitors’ lapse and laid their hands on what could be incriminating information. Rubbing home their advantage, the Mumbai police has seized CCTV footage from the hotels where the Rajasthan Royals team were staying in Mumbai. "We will examine the footage and see who frequented these hotels," a senior police officer said today. With Mumbai's police officers making it clear about conducting their own independent investigations in the spot fixing scandal, it appears that they are likely to be locked into a tough fight with their Delhi counterparts.
	Kumaraswamy set to be Leader of Oppn Shubhadeep Choudhury/TNS Bangalore, May 19 Former Chief Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) state president HD Kumaraswamy is all set to assume the post of the Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly. JD(S) MLAs will be meeting here tomorrow to elect their legislature party leader. However, the meeting is just a formality. It is a foregone conclusion that Kumaraswamy, son of JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda, will be chosen the leader of the JD(S). Kumaraswamy, Lok Sabha member from Bangalore (Rural) constituency, has won the Assembly election from Ramanagaram constituency. He will now quit the Lok Sabha and retain his seat in the Assembly. This makes good sense because the term of the Lok Sabha will expire next year but the present Karnataka Assembly will complete its term in 2018. While both JD(S) and the BJP have won 40 seats each in the Assembly, the status of the principal opposition party in the Assembly will go to JD(S) since its MLAs have secured more votes than their BJP counterparts. The Leader of the Opposition carries with it the status of a cabinet minister.
	Ambani’s security: CRPF red-flags Home Ministry New Delhi, May 19 The CRPF, which recently took over the duties of guarding RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani, has raised concerns over ensuring a “foolproof” “Z” category security to the business tycoon in the absence of local logistical support to its squad. The paramilitary force has written to the Union Home Ministry alerting it about possible limitations its personnel may face in the event of an attack on Ambani who has been given VIP security. Official sources said the CRPF had asked the Home Ministry to take immediate steps and notify all states in the country to provide a local police squad whenever the VIPs under its elite ‘Z’ category cover moved in their respective jurisdictions. Also, they said local intelligence and data on topography should be provided to its 28-member squad commander moving along with the protectee. The CRPF has recently deployed an elite squad of its commandos for securing Ambani who has been accorded a ‘Z’ category security after the Home Ministry analysed security threats to the industrialist and found them to be ‘positive’. The force has reasoned that its security team deployed with the VIP is a mix of commandos coming from various parts of the country and they do not always know escape routes and potential threats particular to an area and at the place where the VIP they are securing is on the move, like in Mumbai or Kolkata. The CRPF has asked notification of this arrangement in specific context of Ambani, whose security duty it has just taken over, while it has also asked for providing a similar facility to its new ‘Z’ class protectees. It has recently taken over the security of media personality and former Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Matang Singh under the same category. With Ambani’s security under its belt, this is the first time that the CRPF is providing VIP security to a private person on the lines of a similar cover it extends to government functionaries in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab. In the case of Ambani, the security expenditure will be borne by him which is estimated to cost about Rs 15-16 lakh per month. Under the ‘Z’ category security, Ambani will have pilot and follow-on vehicles with commandos armed with sophisticated weapons and they will give him proximate security every time he moves in Mumbai or any other part of country. The central security agencies had earlier recommended round-the-clock armed security cover for Ambani after which the Home Ministry issued the orders in this regard. — PTI
	Terror to dominate Indo-US security dialogue today New Delhi, May 19 Threats from terror groups such as Lashkar-e-Toiba and Al-Qaida, illicit financing and trans-national crimes will top the agenda of the four-day India-US Homeland Security dialogue between Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and his American counterpart beginning in Washington tomorrow. Shinde, who left early this morning for the US, will hold talks with US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano on challenges such as cyber security, counterfeit currency, illicit financing and cooperation between the two nations to tackle the crimes at the plenary session of the dialogue. The Home Minister is leading a delegation comprising over a dozen senior officials, including Home Secretary RK Singh and Home Secretary-designate Anil Goswami, official sources said. During the stay, Shinde will also visit Ground Zero in Boston where a bomb attack took place during a marathon recently killing three persons. Both sides are expected to take stock of the existing mechanisms such as the Joint Working Group on Counter- terrorism and the Counter-terrorism Cooperation Initiative in advancing Indo-US cooperation. Shinde and Napolitano will also discuss how to further strengthen agency-to-agency engagement, including in areas of intelligence exchange, information sharing, forensics and investigation, access and sharing of data relating to terrorism, security of infrastructure and transportation and trade. The two leaders are expected to share ideas and experiences on the ongoing transformation of their countries' security-related organisational structures and systems as well as regulatory framework in a democratic and federal environment, sources said. The Home Minister will also have meetings with FBI director Robert Mueller and US Attorney General Eric Holder. — PTI Home Minister in Washington The four-day India-US Homeland Security dialogue between Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and his American counterpart will begin in Washington on Monday Both sides are expected to take stock of existing mechanisms such as the Joint Working Group on Counter- terrorism and the Counter-terrorism Cooperation Initiative in advancing Indo-US cooperation
	Assam CM claims militancy down by 75% in state Bijay Sankar Bora/TNS Guwahati, May 19 Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today claimed that recent arrests of several senior Maoist functionaries in Assam have dealt a severe blow to the Maoists’ plan to gain a foothold and expand their base in the state. On the completion of 12 years as Assam Chief Minister, Gogoi claimed around 75 per cent of militant activities had been neutralised in the state during his tenure that began in May 2001. “Maoists have been trying to set up base in the state. We had alerted the Centre even before it could gather much information about it. We have been keeping a close watch on their activities and this strict vigil has served as an impediment for the Maoists”. On the completion of two years in his third consecutive term as Chief Minister, Gogoi claimed his government had been able to check “at least 75 per cent” of militant activities in the past 12 years.