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Battle of ballot in 5 states
Cong delaying ticket list to adjust leaders’ wards
Kin of three jailed leaders in Cong 3rd list
Manmohan ranked world’s most powerful Sikh
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Cong knocks at EC’s door over Modi’s ‘khooni panja’ barb
AAP close to Rs 20-cr donation target
Sheila questions source of funds
RTI activist serves legal notice on CEC
Mizoram ex-Speaker is richest candidate
Services chiefs want assets merged for 3 new commands
Shinde’s chopper lands on wet ground
Sibal plans Bill to bar criminals from politics
Scientists give hope to HIV-infected patients
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“As a political party, we acknowledge that he (Modi) is a challenger. We cannot ignore him. He is a candidate fielded by the principal Opposition party. We have to take note of him,” he said during an interaction in Goa. The minister, however, said that as an individual, he was concerned about Modi’s ideology, philosophy and the kind of language he has been using in public rallies. “So far, Modi is extremely opaque. So far, he has not spoken on any of the major issues. He has just made election promises,” Chidambaram said. He said the rank and file of the Congress feel that Rahul Gandhi should be the leader of the party and leader of government, if it is voted to power in the forthcoming General Election. "The rank and file seem to think that if the party is voted to power, Rahul Gandhi should be the leader of the party and leader of the government," he stated. "As far as my personal opinion is concerned, I feel that the time has come to hand over the torch to the younger generation," Chidambaram stressed. "There are enough young men and women in the country who can take part in the government and provide good governance," he said. The minister noted that Rahul Gandhi has been addressing various public rallies. "But if I was advising him (Rahul), I would have advised him to spell out his views on various major issues (in the rallies)," he said. When questioned why Congress leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have not been commenting on major issues, the Finance Minister said, "The PM does address the audience and addresses press conferences, although it is not as much as I expect him to do." "You can agree or disagree with what he speaks but certainly he speaks," Chidambaram said. — PTI
On Rahul’s leadership The Congress rank and file seem to think that if the party is voted to power, Rahul Gandhi should be the leader of the party and leader of the government.
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Cong delaying ticket list to adjust leaders’ wards
Sources said that Jag Pravesh, son of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar — one of the suspects in 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, is in queue for a ticket. Though Sajjan Kumar was earlier in the anti-Sheila Dikshit camp, but now having seen her say in the party and her interference in ticket distribution, Sajjan has bowed before her. Jag Pravesh has invited Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister of Delhi, to a number of public functions held at Sangam Vihar Assembly constituency where from he wants to contest. He may be a strong contender in Sangam Vihar where minority and backward votes are in a majority, sources said. West Delhi MP Mahabal Mishra is trying for a ticket for his son Vinay Mishra from Dwarka where people of Poorvanchal form a large share. Mahabal, who claims to be a leader of Poorvanchalis, has been a corporator and three-time MLA from Dwarka. At present he is MP from West Delhi. He is neither in the camp of the Chief Minister nor in that of DPCC president Jai Prakash Aggarwal. He is just demanding a ticket on the basis that he is a representative of Poorvanchalis — a Congress vote bank. The third ticket seeker is Antul Bhattewala, son of late Mahender Singh Bhattewala, a Congress leader. He is a rich man, but has no connection with any senior leader in the party. The fourth hopeful is Vinay Singhal, son of former Social Welfare Minister in Delhi Government Mangat Ram Singhal. He wants a ticket from Adarsh Nagar, his home constituency, as Mangat Ram himself is not willing to contest the election. The fifth one is Vijay Mohan, who has been active in party politics for the past many years and is the son of Congress leader late Brijmohan. Brijmohan was a strongman of Delhi during the tenure of former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. In the last election, his name was on top from Chandni Chowk Assembly constituency. But the party had allotted the ticket to Parlad Singh Sahni due to some internal party politics.
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Kin of three jailed leaders in Cong 3rd list
Congress third list, released late yesterday, includes names of 71 candidates for the December 1 Assembly polls. While Maderna and Bishnoi are accused in Bhanwari Devi rape and murder case, Nagar is in jail on charges of rape. Maderna's wife Leela Maderna will contest from Osian seat, whereas Bishnoi's 80-year-old mother Amri Devi and Nagar's brother Hazari Lal Nagar will try their luck from Luni and Dudu Assembly constituencies. Besides, party has also fielded two former ministers Ramlal Jat and Bharosi Lal Jatav, who had to step down from Ashok Gehlot Cabinet on charges of sexual harassment and involvement in illegal mining, respectively. Jat, who had to step down as minister after allegations of sexual harassment, has been shifted from his present constituency of Mandal to Asind in Bhilwara district, whereas Jatav will contest from Hindaun (SC) seat. The party has also dropped Parmnavdeep, sitting MLA and wife of ADG (Law and Order) Navdeep Singh, along with five other legislators including Aadram, Rita Chaudhary, Mahaveer Mochi, Roopram Dudi, and Shankar Lal Ahri. PCC president Chandrabhan, who had lost Assembly polls in 2003 and 2008, has been given ticket from Mandwa. He replaces Rita Chaudhary, sitting MLA and daughter of former Congress veteran Ram Narayan Chaudhary. — PTI
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Manmohan ranked world’s most powerful Sikh London, November 10 According to the list, the world's first comprehensive ranking of the most powerful, influential and contemporary Sikhs in the world brought out by the Sikh Directory, 81-year-old Manmohan Singh is "highly acclaimed as a thinker and a scholar". "He is well regarded for his diligence and his academic approach to work, as well as his accessibility and his unassuming demeanour", a brief profile of Manmohan Singh read. Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, 69, ranks as the second most powerful ikh on the list, released on Saturday night. Jathedar Singh Sahib Giani Gurbachan Singh, current religious head of Sri Akal Takht Sahib, the supreme religious authority of the Sikhs based in Amritsar, is listed third. He is followed by Chief Minister of Punjab Parkash Singh Badal, who ranks 4th. Ajaypal Singh Banga, president and CEO, MasterCard Worldwide, USA is ranked 8th on the list while Rabinder Singh, high court judge, Royal Courts of Justice, UK is 9th. Gursharan Kaur, wife of Prime Minister Singh is 13th on the list while Sukhbir Singh Badal, president of Shiromani Akali Dal and deputy chief minister of Punjab is 14th. Others figuring on the list are Sir Mota Singh, Judge (UK) (17th), Sant Singh Chatwal, president and CEO, Hampshire Hotels and Resorts (USA) (19th), Malvinder & Shivinder Singh, chairman/director, Fortis Healthcare, India (21st) and Khushwant Singh, Journalist and Novelist (22nd). Onkar Singh Kanwal, chairman, Apollo Tyres, India (23rd) Bhupinder Singh, managing director, Punjab National Bank (26th), Harbhajan Singh, cricketer (28th), Capt Amarinder Singh,, president Punjab PCC (29th), Lord Indarjit Singh, director, The Network of Sikh Organisations, UK (42nd), Rami Ranger, chairman, Sun Mark Ltd (UK) (48th) and Kartar Singh Lalvani, director, Vitabiotics, UK (52nd) are others on the list. Gurinder Kaur Chadha, film director/producer, UK (55th), Baroness Sandip Kaur Verma (58th), Kmel Kaur Hothi, business and community director, Lloyds Bank, UK (64th), 'Flying Sikh' Milkha Singh, sportsman (71st), Paul Singh Uppal, MP (UK) (76th), Tarlochan Singh, former chairman of the National Commission for Minorities and former member of the Rajya Sabha (77th) are some of the others on the list. — PTI
Montek is No 2
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Cong knocks at EC’s door over Modi’s ‘khooni panja’ barb
New Delhi, November 10 In its communication to Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath, the Congress accused BJP's prime ministerial candidate of making "intemperate, malicious and defamatory" remarks by referring to the hand symbol, allotted by the Commission to the Congress, as "khooni panja" and "jalim haath" "The use of the expression 'khooni panja' is extremely significant and deplorable and has an effect of terrorising the public at large against the Congress," the party has said in its petition. The Congress’ move to approach the EC last night came days after the poll body notice to party vice-president over his remark that the Pakistani intelligence agency was in touch with some victims of Muzaffarnagar violence. After BJP's petition to the EC in this regard, Rahul Gandhi was served a notice to which he had replied on Friday last stating that he had not violated the moral code of conduct. The Congress also sent to the EC a DVD of Modi's speech at Dongargarh in Chhattisgarh on Thursday in which he had made the remarks as well as clippings of a newspaper report. The party also sent the EC the text of Modi's speech in which the BJP leader had said, "Yadi aap chahte hain ki Chattisgarh ke upar kisi khooni panje ka saya na pade, to aap sabhi kamal mein button dabana aur Chhattisgarh ko khooni panje se bachana. (If you want that the shadow of bloodied hand does not fall on Chhattisgarh, press the button on lotus)" The party has alleged that Modi had gone on to say, "Jalim hatho mein Chhattisgarh ko dena chahate ho?.... Galti se bhee jalim panje ke hatho me Chhattisgarh nahi jane dena." (Do you want to give away Chhattisgarh to brutal hands...Don't let Chhatisgarh slip into the grip of brutal hands even by mistake)." —PTI
What BJP PM Nominee said
If you want that the shadow of bloodied hand does not fall on Chhattisgarh, press the button on lotus. Do you want to give away Chhattisgarh to brutal hands...Don’t let Chhatisgarh slip into the grip of brutal hands even by mistake.
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AAP close to Rs 20-cr donation target
New Delhi, November 10 It is this “white and public money”, whose details are posted on the party’s website on a daily basis, that the party has been utilising for its campaigns and rallies. The party has collected over Rs 18 crore since its inception on November 26 last year from people around the world who have volunteered not only their services, time and skills, but also came readily to contribute monetarily. “We had aimed for Rs 20 crore for Delhi and we are closing in on it. In a week’s time, we should we will close the process. We have collected around Rs 19 crore from 63,000 individuals across the world. We are reaching out to the people through personal contact, messages and mails. We want to show that we can fight elections with white and people’s money and can emerge victorious,” said Pankaj Gupta, AAP national secretary and in-charge of donations. “The first donation that the party received was Rs 1 crore from Shanti Bhushan after the party was formed. The donations increased after our online account was started in the second week of January,” he added. Among the donors, the maximum contribution to AAP’s fund kitty is from donors in India (Rs 13,21,23,909) followed by NRIs in US (Rs 1,95,52,315) and Hong Kong (1,14,63,302) followed by Singapore, United Arab Emirates and UK. “We receive donations only from Indian citizens after ensuring their identity details. All transaction details are transparent. The details of all donations — be it Rs 10 — are declared on our website for all to see,” said Pankaj in reference to complaints made against the party related to violations of the Foreign Contribution (Regulatory) Act 2010. In this regard, the Delhi High Court has directed the Centre to scrutinise the accounts of AAP and see if the party has received any foreign funding in violation of the law and inform the court or take appropriate action by December 10.
Yatra launched
New Delhi: To reach out to maximum possible people before the Delhi polls, AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday launched 'Jhadu Chalao Yatra'. But it came under EC scanner for using more vehicles than the permissible limit.— PTI
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Sheila questions source of funds
New Delhi, November 10 “From where is AAP getting money? We can call each other liar, but is there any proof? Pointing fingers at somebody does not mean that you are right and others are corrupt,” said the Delhi CM. — TNS
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RTI activist serves legal notice on CEC
Chandigarh, November 10 The notice said that “you are advised to maintain proper code of conduct for cable operators during elections” failing which legal action would be initiated. The notice said that “I have noticed that you are not implementing the provision of The Representation of the People Act 1951 in its true sense” under which the Election Commission is expected to — on the basis of the past performance of a recognised political party — allocate equitable sharing of time on cable television network and other electronic media.” Chadha said, “Due to the non-allocation of equitable share of time on all channels, political parties influence elections in their favour. There should be proper code of conduct for cable operators.”
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Mizoram ex-Speaker is richest candidate
Aizawl, November 10 Meanwhile, Biakmawia of the BJP contesting from Aizawl North-III is the poorest, with assets worth a little more than Rs 10,000. — PTI
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Services chiefs want assets merged for 3 new commands
New Delhi, November 10 The CoSC has submitted a suggestion on three new commands, each one headed by the Army, Navy and the IAF, sources said. The Ministry of Defence will now initiate an in-house discussion on this. Before getting okayed, the suggestion will need a calibration at the level of the National Security Council and also the Cabinet Committee on Security headed by the Prime Minister. This will entail a new working environment, new standard operating procedures and amalgamation of all assets and manpower. In the past, the MoD opted for tri-services or staff formations. These have Commanders appointed by rotation from each of the three Services. The CoSC wants that the new upcoming Commands be entrusted with one service making it the overall in charge with officers and staff coming in from all three Services. The CoSC is presently headed by IAF Chief, Air Chief Marshall NAK Browne, and the baton will pass to Gen Bikram Singh on January 1 next year. The focus is on for having three new commands-the aerospace command, the cyber command and the special operations command. As per the CoSC suggestions, the IAF should get the aerospace command, the Navy should be in charge of the cyber command and the Army will be responsible for the Special Forces operations command, sources said. The logic for each has been assessed. The need to have one Service in-charge of one command stems from the ‘not-so-smooth’ experience of India’s only operational theatre command at Andaman and Nicobar Islands which has a Lt-General, Vice-Admiral or Air Marshal heading it by rotation. This model had not been successful according to the feedback and assessment of the CoSC, hence the need to have one Service responsible for the command and draw the mandated resources from the other two. The special operations command has been suggested by the 14-member Naresh Chandra taskforce on National Security. In its report to the Prime Minister last year, it had favoured setting up of an SOC. The report was of the opinion that the Indian Special Forces are not being utilised to their full potential and they needed to be brought together under the SOC, which would report directly to the Chiefs of Staff Committee. The Indian Army has some 10,000 special forces trained and kept ready for any ‘commando style operation’. The Special Forces with the IAF, called the Garuds, and under the Navy, called the Marcos, are too small in number to be sustainable on their own. Also, the Army provides the National Security Guards with some its best trained men. This will be fitted within the newly increased capacities by way of specialised planes like the just-inducted C-130-J and the recently-inducted heavy lifter, the C-17. Both can land on mud-strips. The C-130-J demonstrated it at a recent exercise called Livewire in the desert. The proposal is to base the aerospace command with the IAF that will draw forces from the Army and Navy besides getting some component of the DRDO. In the future, the specialised ‘X-band’ radars, which can spot a six-inch object some 4,600 km away and can provide live imagery, can be aid to this command.
Altering war fighting strategies
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Shinde’s chopper lands on wet ground
Meerut, November 10 Shinde was not hurt in the incident. He attended a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) function where he inaugurated Academy for Riot Control. The incident happened when the Mi-17 helicopter carrying Shinde landed on a wet ground in the CRPF camp here. “The wheels dug in the wet ground but there was nothing untoward. The home minister was safe and the same chopper flew him back to Delhi,” a senior CRPF official said. — PTI
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Sibal plans Bill to bar criminals from politics
New Delhi, Nov 10 Sibal proposes to bring a Bill to bar persons charged with heinous crimes with an aim of keeping criminals away from politics. He said he had already sought the opinion of the Law Commission on this issue. “I have written to the Law Commission. I have sought their opinion. But personally, I have even done a draft of the Bill,” he said. Sibal said he “personally” was of the opinion that the people charged with very serious offences like murder, kidnapping, rape, which carry minimum sentence of seven years, should not be allowed to fight elections. “Even if they are not convicted, even if they are charged, they should not be allowed to fight elections,” he said, adding, “hopefully (we can) take it forward.” Asked whether he has discussed this issue with his party, Sibal replied, “No, this is my view... I will certainly, before the next session, see that I consult with my colleagues and try and bring it to the Cabinet. If I can do it, nothing like it.” Parliament, during the monsoon session, negated the Supreme Court order that barred jailed people from contesting elections. — PTI
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Scientists give hope to HIV-infected patients
Chandigarh, November 10 These specific inhibitors, once developed, are expected to tackle the prevalent problem of drug resistance in HIV patients. “The inhibitors being used currently target the virus inside the cells and not the host proteins. This gives way drug resistance in a significant number of patients,” said Dr Debashis Mitra, Scientist and Dean, Academics, at the NCCS, Pune, who was here today. In fact, in a recent research, a team of scientists, including Dr Debashis, has identified how down replication of host proteins can curb replication of the HIV inside cells. The research titled “Cellular heat shock factor 1 positively regulates human immunodeficiency virus-1 gene expression and replication by two distinct pathways” was published in Nucleic Acids Research in 2011, formed the basis of the development of the specific inhibitors being developed for blocking host proteins. During his lecture at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) today, Dr Debashis shared the abstracts of two other researchers where specific host proteins and their function in enhancing HIV replication was tracked. “Under the current treatments for HIV available, the virus is not eradicated from the cells. Also, there are 27 FDA approved inhibitors but there are no specific inhibitors developed as on date,” he added. |
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Cong ‘chargesheet’ against MP govt Sure woman victor An oath for voters
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Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, 69, ranks as the second most powerful Sikh on the list, released on Saturday night
