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Telengana aftermath
Agitation hits train services in Assam
Sujatha Singh takes charge as Foreign Secretary
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Cabinet clears Rail Tariff Authority
Shobaa’s
tweet
Govt cancels entire Kailash Mansarovar yatra
Maoists kill minister’s relative
BJP, RSS brainstorm on Modi, poll plan
SIT to investigate Sirhind bus mishap
DSP murder case: CBI gives clean chit to Raja Bhaiya
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Division will set a wrong precedent: Pallam Raju Says a national party shouldn’t have yielded to a political demand Aditi Tandon/TNS
New Delhi, August 1 “It is sad that our concerns were not factored in. The process (of division of the state) was very fast. The party knew it was moving ahead with the division of Andhra Pradesh but enough opportunity wasn’t created to address our issues,” Raju told The Tribune in an exclusive interview today. Raju’s statement is significant considering Congress general secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh Digvijay Singh, while announcing the bifurcation of Andhra two days ago, had said that “widest possible consultations had been held before the decision to support Telangana state was taken.” Speaking for the first time after decision on Telangana, Raju, an MP from Kakinada in East Godawari district of coastal Andhra (where mass protests are on), warned that a wrong precedent had been set. He asserted that the Telangana demand was political and the Congress should have never yielded to it. “A national party like the Congress should have never granted the political demand of Telangana. This will set a very wrong precedent. We conveyed this to our leaders. There is no real justification for Telangana state. Even the Srikrishna committee agreed there was no justification,” the minister said cautioning that emotions will run high in the state for a long time to come as party leaders had underestimated the sentimental attachment others in the state have to Hyderabad. Though Digvijay had earlier maintained that the state wasn’t granted out of political expediency, Pallam Raju mentioned today that the demand of Telangana state was political. “The original justification for Telangana state was backwardness. That justification no longer stands. It is now a political demand. Any decision on Telangana should have brought us goodwill but it will divide the people of the state,” Raju said. On Hyderabad, the HRD Minister said a better decision would have been to leave the question of the city capital of Hyderabad open. “A cap of 10 years on Hyderabad being a common capital of Telangana and residual Andhra Pradesh could have been avoided. Had it been left open ended, it would have been better. People would have not felt as insecure as they are now feeling. There is a tremendous sense of insecurity among people settled in and around Hyderabad,” Raju said expressing hope that in the future discussions in the sharing of natural resources between the new and the old state, the concerns of proponents of united Andhra would be taken into consideration. Importantly, Raju said he, as a loyal Congress worker, would abide by the decision of the Congress Working Committee and would see how best animosities in the state could be minimised. “We would have loved to make a political sacrifice in our regions had it been for the good of the party and the country. But that can’t be said now,” Raju added. He along with his ministerial colleagues D Purandeshwari, KS Rao and JD Seelam had on the day of the CWC meeting on Telangana petitioned Digvijay Singh with concerns around the division of Andhra Pradesh.
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Agitation hits train services in Assam
Guwahati, August 1 The police had to fire in the air near Diphu where Karbi people, including women, had blocked traffic. The mob set many government buildings on fire in the area. The agitators are demanding resignation of all executive members of the Congress-led Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KKAC) to press for the creation of a separate state for Karbi people. All KAAC members are reportedly planning to go to New Delhi to meet Central leaders and apprise them of the volatile situation prevailing in the hill district because of the renewed statehood movement after the UPA government’s decision to create a separate state of Telangana. Karbi Anglong hill district was created in 1951 and the Karbi Anglong Autonomous District Council (KAADC) was formed in 1952. The movement demanding a separate state for the Karbi tribe took roots in 1986. It was headed by the CPI-ML-backed Autonomous State Demand Committee
(ASDC).
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Sujatha Singh takes charge as Foreign Secretary
New Delhi, August 1 Talking to reporters at the South Block soon after formally taking charge of her office this morning, she recalled that the dialogue with Pakistan was resumed in 2011 and two rounds of talks had already been held since then. ‘’There is a new government in Pakistan now. We will be picking up the threads from where we left off with the old government.’’ Asked about a new video in which a Pakistan soldier admitted to killing Captain Saurabh Kalia in 1999, the 59-year-old Singh said, ‘’We strongly condemn any treatment of our soldiers that is not in line with the Geneva Conventions.’’ This was precisely why the issue had been repeatedly taken up starting with then External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh with his counterpart Sartaj
Aziz.
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Cabinet clears Rail Tariff Authority
New Delhi, August 1 The cabinet at its meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave a nod for the setting up of the tariff authority for the railways in line with the broad contours which had been finalised by the Railways. Required amendments would be carried out in the Railway Act and placed before Parliament in the forthcoming session for clearance and the formation of the authority, reports said. The move would come as a major relief for the Indian Railways, whose finances have been taking a beating over the years, with successive railway ministers choosing to overlook the financial health of one of the world's largest railway networks over their political constituencies. The authority would, as per the needs, take a look at the fares of the railways and revise them if need be. In fact, former Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi from the Tirnamool Congress, lost his job after he initiated a move to raise fares. The RTA was mooted by Trivedi in his rail budget 2012-13 as part of the move to delink railways financial health from politics. Reports said the RTA will be a five-member body headed by its Chairman. A current Railway Board Member is being tipped to head the regulatory body.
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M’rashtra CM calms tempers
Mumbai, August 1 “Maharashtra and Mumbai??? Why not? Mumbai has always fancied itself as an independent entity, anyway. This game has countless possibilities,” De had tweeted on Wednesday. Retaliation from political parties like the Shiv Sena, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and even Congress leaders were swift. Protests by the Shiv Sena outside De’s house demanding that she must apologise continued for the second day today. Others like Nitesh Rane, son of Shiv Sena leader-turned Congressman Narayan Rane, even threatened to assault her in public. — TNS
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Govt cancels entire Kailash Mansarovar yatra
New Delhi, August 1 Hundreds of people lost their lives and thousands went missing following the cloud burst that left a trail of destruction in the state. "In view of continuing disruption of roads, bridges and tracks on the Kailash Manasarovar yatra route and in the interest of yatris' (pilgrims') safety and security, it has been decided to cancel remaining batches 15-18," the ministry of external affairs, which organises the Kailash Mansarovar yatra , said in a statement. This year, the yatra was to take place from June 9 to Sep 9 with 18 batches of approximately 60 pilgrims each taking the arduous journey, involving trekking at high altitudes of up to 19,500 feet under inhospitable conditions. The ministry had earlier cancelled batches 11-14 on July 8. Batches 2-10 were cancelled in June following the Uttarakhand tragedy. Only one batch had proceeded before the floods and returned July 11, taking longer than the usual 22 days to complete the yatra due to the disruption in communications. In 2012, a record number of 774 pilgrims took the yatra, said the ministry. —
IANS
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Maoists kill minister’s relative
Raipur, August 1 Soon after getting the news of the incident, security forces were immediately dispatched to the spot, the official said.
— PTI
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BJP, RSS brainstorm on Modi, poll plan
New Delhi, August 1 The meeting holds significance as Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was present in the coordination committee meeting, his first after becoming the chief of the BJP’s election campaign committee. Sources said Modi could be named the party’s candidate for the Prime Minister’s post by the end of this month or early September to cash in on his popularity in the Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh Assembly elections. Sources said a blue print of the election strategy, including a review of all states, was discussed and finalised at the meeting. The BJP-RSS leadership also took stock of over 100 seats that the party lost by a lakh or less votes in the 2009 elections. The BJP sees a great potential in these seats to push it through the half-way mark in Parliament in 2014.Modi later held a meeting of the newly constituted 20 sub-committees. Both the RSS and the BJP want to capitalise on Modi's popularity in the Assembly elections, meaning the big announcement may come before the Election Commission notifies the Assembly elections around September 21. While Modi has strong backing of the RSS and a large section of the BJP, leaders such as LK Advani are still not comfortable with what now seems like a foregone conclusion. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi were not present at today’s meeting.
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SIT to investigate Sirhind bus mishap
Ludhiana, August 1 “It is a tragic incident. All passengers onboard the bus have been feared drowned and the bodies of a majority of them cannot be located yet. I will not comment whether the incident took place due to the poor condition of the road or because of the negligence of the bus driver. An SIT will conduct a probe and action will be taken accordingly," said
Kohar. PWD Minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon said the state was paying a heavy price for the non-completion of the expressway project. "Several accidents have occurred on the National Highway No. 1 due to its poor condition. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal have made several representations to the Central Government for the early completion of the expressway, but the project continues to hang fire due to a pending litigation," he added. Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Dinkar Gupta, who holds the charge of the traffic wing, and AIG, Traffic, Amrit Brar could not be contacted for comments.
MLA's verdict
Even before the SIT could probe the reasons behind the mishap, Punjab PWD Minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon has held the bus driver responsible for the tragedy. He said he had visited the spot and prima facie it appeared to be a case of the driver’s negligence.
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DSP murder case: CBI gives clean chit to Raja Bhaiya
Lucknow, August 1 The CBI has requested the court to tag it along with the case registered by the state police after the incident which is also being probed by the agency. The agency told the court it has come to light during the probe that Raja Bhaiya used his influence to obtain a substantial number of arms licences for local villagers from the district administration of Pratapgarh, which were used at his behest for carrying out alleged illegal activities. However, the CBI said this was not the area of its probe and a report in this regard is being sent to the state government for a thorough probe and necessary action. The CBI also recommended major penalty against an Inspector, two Sub-Inspectors and a constable as they had abandoned Haq when he was attacked by villagers. The agency had filed a charge sheet in connection with the case on June 7 naming 13 persons as accused in the DSP's murder. In today's charge sheet, the CBI provided additional evidence against the accused persons. In its charge sheet, the CBI had said the then CO of Kunda had gone to the house of Nanhe Yadav, then pradhan of Balipur in Pratapgarh district, on March 2 in order to deal with law and order situation arising out of his murder. The sources had said the agency had not found sufficient evidence to prosecute him. Raja Bhaiya was questioned by the CBI on May 15 and 16. He was also subjected to a polygraph test on June 20.
— PTI
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“Extremely disappointed” at the division of Andhra Pradesh to create a separate state of Telangana, Congress MP from coastal Andhra and Human Resource Development Minister MM Pallam Raju today said the party didn’t create enough opportunity to discuss the concerns of leaders who favoured a united state.
Emphasising that she would accord the highest priority to India’s ties with its neighbours, new Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh today said New Delhi looked forward to developing ‘peaceful and cooperative’ relations with Pakistan in an atmosphere free of violence and terror.
