The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Third Front will form govt, says Mulayam

Bhadohi (UP), May 3
Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today exuded confidence that a Third Front government will come to power at the Centre.

"This time the Third Front government will come to power. You give me a chance once," Yadav said at an election rally in Bhadohi. Terming the Congress government a "failure", Mulayam claimed gross domestic product of the country had reduced drastically in their rule.

The SP supremo claimed that after intrusion by Chinese army in the Indian territory, two union ministers and several officials came to take his suggestions. — PTI

FIR against Beni for calling Modi ‘monster’

Gonda, May 3
An FIR was today registered against Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma for violating the model code of conduct by making "objectionable" remarks against Narendra Modi.

"The FIR was registered against Verma at the Chhapia police station this morning for violating the model code of conduct by making objectionable remarks against Modi,” District Magistrate Vikas Gothalwal said.

"A person who discriminates between Hindu and Muslim in this country and creates hatred between them is not a human being, but a monster," the Congress leader said addressing an election rally in Maskanwa town last night.

"Modi must tell whether he is a human being or not. On the massacre of the people in Gujarat you (Modi) say that it's a reaction. You tease Muslims by stating that even if a puppy comes under you vehicle you feel sad," he said.

The EC had two days ago censured Beni for "insulting" remarks against Modi and warned that further violation could result in banning his campaign activity.

Beni said a person like Modi is an "enemy" of the country and democracy.

"If such a person comes to power then 85 per cent of the country’s downtrodden will lose their self-respect and will lead to the dominance of a handful of persons in the society," he alleged.

On April 8, another FIR was registered against Beni in Balrampur for calling BJP prime ministerial candidate the "biggest goonda" of RSS and party's National President Rajnath Singh his "slave". — PTI

Controversial remarks

A person who discriminates between Hindu and Muslim in this country and creates hatred between them is not a human being, but a monster.

Beni Prasad Verma, Congress leader

Snoopgate scandal
BJP assails ‘agenda of confrontation’

New Delhi, May 3
As the war of words on Snoopgate inquiry intensified, the BJP today accused Congress of laying down an "agenda of confrontation" and suggested that it will be "reciprocated" once the saffron party comes to power.

Attacking the Congress-led UP government, BJP leader Arun Jaitley said the "Shah Alams" were failing to realise the limits of their jurisdiction, a reference to the Mughal king who presided over a declining empire.

"If the Congressmen on the eve of their departure are laying down an agenda of confrontation with the current Opposition, they are only laying down an agenda for the future.

"Nobody will accept the argument that what the Congressmen are doing is justice and when the same is reciprocated it is vindictiveness," he said.

Asking Congress to reconcile to a spell in opposition, Jaitley said the idea of getting out of power is making it "bitter and desperate".

"The Gandhis believe that they were God's gifts to India and were meant only to rule. They frown at the very idea of a tea vendor defeating them at the polls and ruling India.

Others believe that till 16th May they have unlimited power," he said.

It was alleged that illegal surveillance was carried out on a young woman in Gujarat in 2009 at the behest of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Yesterday, the government had said that the judge to head the inquiry, announced by it in December last year into the issue, will be appointed before the Lok Sabha poll process comes to an end on May 16, drawing a sharp reaction from BJP.

Needling the ruling party, the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha wondered why Congress is "scared" of sitting in the opposition when it is clear that the popular mandate is not with it and it is likely to be a "two-digit" party.

"It cannot wildly dream of being a part of the ruling combination.... All political parties need to be well trained to sit in opposition," Jaitley wrote on his blog.

Taking potshots at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Jaitley said the PM has become cynical and "complains" to people that he has been unfairly targeted.

He even advised Congress on the role of opposition and said it has a powerful role in safeguarding public interest.

"They will do well if they reconcile to their seats in the opposition. It does a lot of good to you when you introspect and plan for the future," he said. — PTI

Govt has no moral authority to order probe: Shah

Varanasi: Slamming the UPA government's move on snoopgate probe, Narendra Modi's aide Amit Shah on Sturday said it had no "moral or constitutional authority" to take decision on it at the fag-end of its tenure. He blamed Congress’ "dirty tricks department" for the government's move to appoint a judge to probe allegation of snooping of a young woman in Gujarat before the Lok Sabha poll process comes to an end on May 16.

BJP seeks EC action against Rahul
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 3
The BJP today approached the Election Commission to seek action against Rahul Gandhi, claiming he had made a “highly provocative” statement that 22,000 people will be killed in the country if Narendra Modi becomes the Prime Minister.

“We brought to the EC notice the statement of Rahul Gandhi yesterday in Solan (Himachal Pradesh) that if Modi becomes Prime Minister there would be massacre of 22,000 people. This is a highly provocative statement by the Congress vice president,” BJP leader Ananth Kumar said.

Kumar said the alleged remark was “uncalled for and the breach of model code of conduct” and the the BJP “urged the CEC to take serious note of it and take action to restrain Rahul Gandhi from giving such statements”.

About the EC response, Kumar said, “The CEC assured us that appropriate action will be taken.”

SP wrestlers will stop Modi with 56-inch chest: Akhilesh

Sant Kabir Nagar, May 3
Taking dig at "56-inch chest" remarks of Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today said the Samajwadi Party had several "wrestlers" to stop him. "Only SP people can counter the BJP prime ministerial candidate, who is roaming with a "56 inch chest". The party has several wrestlers, who can stop the one who claims to have "56 inch chest"," Akhilesh said while addressing an election rally at Khalilabad.

Modi, in a rally in Gorakhpur last month, had said that "56 inch chest" was needed to turn Uttar Pradesh into Gujarat. Yadav said UP had seen much more development during the SP government than Gujarat.

"Gujarat has no welfare schemes like Uttar Pradesh and the state lacks facilities. Modi's wave in only in air and a false propaganda of 'Gujarat model of development' is being propagated," he alleged.

The 'Third Front' led by SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav would form the government at the Centre after the polls, Yadav said.

He said the SP had always struggled against communal forces. "It is easy to be communal, but difficult to be secular. SP government works for villages, poor, farmers and workers at the ground level," he said. He reiterated that the next government at the Centre would be formed with the support of the Samajwadi Party. — PTI

Jodhpur court orders police to book Ramdev

Jodhpur, May 3
A court here has ordered the police to register a case against yoga guru Ramdev and initiate an inquiry against him for his controversial "honeymoon" remark against Rahul Gandhi.

The court of Metropolitan Magistrate gave this order while admitting an complaint by Vijay Rao of Jodhpur on Friday through his counsel MA Rao demanding an FIR against Ramdev and an appropriate action against him for his comments involving the Dalit community.

Ramdev had stoked a controversy last month by saying: "Rahul goes to Dalits' houses for honeymoon and picnic." After outrage, Ramdev had expressed regret for the remarks. — PTI

Modi’s Gujarat supporters head for Varanasi in droves
Manas Dasgupta

Ahmedabad, May 3
A large number of BJP supporters from Gujarat are heading to Varanasi from where Chief Minister and BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is contesting the Lok Sabha election. He is also contesting from Vadodara in his home state.

Sources at the Ahmedabad airport said ever since the polling in Gujarat concluded on April 30, all flights from the city to Varanasi and Lucknow were running full till May 12. A large number of people have been unable to book a flight to the UP destinations due to heavy rush.

Seeing the high demand, private airlines operators have increased the air fare on the route by three times. A one-way trip from Ahmedabad to Varanasi now costs between Rs 17,000 and 24,000, while a return ticket costs over Rs 30,000.

Trains, which otherwise run full during the summer vacation, are also witnessing an unprecedented rush. Railway sources said the passenger traffic for Varanasi and nearby destinations in Uttar Pradesh is much higher for the period. Despite long distance, a large number of people were travelling by road to reach Varanasi in time and support their leader.

Around 50,000 BJP workers were expected to reach Varanasi before the polling day i.e. May 12, sources said.

Air fare up three times; all flights full

All flights from Ahmedabad to Varanasi and Lucknow are running full till May 12

The air fare on the route has increased by three times

BJP supporters are also taking the train and road route to reach UP

UP riots: SIT records victims’ kin statement

Muzaffarnagar, May 3
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Muzaffarnagar riot cases has recorded the statement of family members of a deceased couple in connection with their murder at Lisadh village.

Appearing before a local court yesterday, the family members said Naimuddin (65) and his first wife Aliman (60) were killed and their bodies burnt in the house by rioters in Lisadh village on December 8, 2013.

Naimuddin's second wife and son also lodged an FIR against more than 60 people and named seven people in this connection. — PTI

Nido case: Court takes cognisance of chargesheet

New Delhi, May 3
Taking cognisance of the chargesheet in the Nido Tania death case filed yesterday by the CBI, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pritam Singh today directed the investigating agency to supply copies of the chargesheet and other documents annexed with it to the four adult accused on May 7.

The chargesheet was filed against seven accused, including three juveniles. The case against the juveniles will be sent to the Juvenile Justice Board.

The CBI has dropped the murder charge on the accused allegedly involved in the death of Tania, son of an Arunachal Pradesh MLA, on the grounds that his killing was not premeditated, but a result of altercation over the breaking of a glass counter.

The Delhi police had already booked all accused on the charge of murder. The CBI has filed the chargesheet for culpable homicide, illegal confinement under the IPC and the provisions of the SC/ST Atrocities Act. — TNS

Poonam Pandey detained, let off

Mumbai, May 3
Actor Poonam Pandey was detained by the police at Mira Road in suburban Mumbai for behaving indecently in public.

The police said they had received a complaint about a couple behaving indecently inside a car outside a park on Friday night. Around 11 pm, the police went to the spot where they found Pandey in a skimply outfit inside the car.

She was brought to the Mira Road police station and questioned. She was let off after warning, the police officer said. — TNS

BSP leader, hugged by ‘human torch’, dies

Lucknow, May3
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader hugged during a television election debate by a “human torch” has died of burn injuries, the family said on Saturday.

The politician died late on Friday in hospital, his family told AFP, after suffering 75 per cent burns when a member of the audience doused himself in petrol and grabbed him.

The local leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party, Kamruzzama Fauji, and his attacker were engulfed in flames in front of the horrified audience as the television debate was being recorded for broadcast later. The media had described the attacker as looking like a "human torch".

The attack occurred as the state-owned national TV channel Doordarshan was recording the debate for broadcast later.

The programme was being recorded in a park in Sultanpur, a town 160 km from Lucknow. Fauji's attacker, who suffered 95 per cent burns, died shortly after the incident, police said.

The police have not come up with any motive for the attack on the politician who was a father of nine children.

But Khalikurzama, the elder brother of Kamruzzama, called the attack "politically motivated" and demanded "a proper probe". Numerous TV channels are holding debates during the nation's marathon parliamentary election. The show on Monday that featured five local leaders was ending when the attack took place. — AFP

Assam govt bred communal tension at Centre’s behest: BJP
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 3
The BJP has reacted sharply to Congress leader Kapil Sibal and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s assertions, blaming Narendra Modi for “inciting violence” in Assam that left 32 people dead.

Senior BJP leader Ravi Shakar Prasad reminded the two Opposition leaders of previous incidents of violence in the area and accused the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government in the state and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for “letting the situation deteriorate for the sake of vote bank politics”.

“The BJP strongly condemns the violence. Those who are guilty must be apprehended. But what has the PM done for the state he has represented for the past 25 years? What has he done to reduce communal violence in the state? This is the third such incidence in the state, 2008 and 2012 being the previous two instances,” he said.

The BJP alleged that the state government allowed the communal tension to prevail at the direction of the Centre. “The situation is a result of indifference and patronage of the Congress government in the state,” he said.

The BJP said it was against giving refugee status to illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. "Those who illegally came here for business or other purposes cannot get refugee status," BJP spokesperson Siddharthnath Singh was quoted as saying.

Modi had said that “Bangladeshis” would be deported if he came to power. “They have been given red carpet welcome by politicians just for votes,” he had said.

K-rant: Sort out your home, India tells Pak
KV Prasad
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 3
India today joined issue with Pakistan suggesting the country would be better served by addressing the problem it faces and provide security to its citizens instead of raking up the Jammu and Kashmir issue and not to pre-judge results of the ongoing general elections in the country.

Reacting to the recent statement by Pakistan Army Chief Raheel Sharif of Kashmir being the “jugular vein” and a dispute that needs to be solved in accordance to the wishes of Kashmiris and UN resolution, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid termed it as “unwholesome and unacceptable”.

Taking a break from election campaign, the minister ticked off the Pakistan General: “He (Pak Army Chief) has mentioned Kashmir in a manner which is unwholesome and unacceptable. I think that these are matters that, frankly it is not for me to advise them but, are best left to bilateral discussions between civilian authorities. This is not the realm of the armed forces to be discussing publicly.

The minister said all political parties in the country have specifically and categorically repudiated whatever has been said from Pakistan. While acknowledging the position and associating with it, he emphasised the common position that Kashmir is an integral part of India and “it is part of the idea of India, and there can be no remotest way in which we will accept any attempt to qualify that or to put a question mark on that. That should be categorically clear”.

In the same breath, the minister reminded Islamabad that it faces difficult challenges in the form of threat from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, whose masters are the Al-Qaeda.

Khurshid said the Pakistan Army, its armed and security forces would be well advised to address the challenges and other unwholesome forces that are attacking civilians in their country causing both hurt and enormous anxiety.

Khurshid on ‘jugular vein’ remark

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid was reacting to the recent statement by Pakistan Army Chief Raheel Sharif calling Kashmir their ‘jugular vein’

Khurshid said the Pakistan Army would be well advised to provide security to its citizens instead of raking up the Kashmir issue

He emphasised that Kashmir ‘is part of the idea of India, and there can be no remotest way in which we will accept any attempt to qualify that or to put a question mark on that’

Modi’s interview to DoorDarshan
Tewari rejects Prasar Bharati CEO’s claim
Ashok Tuteja
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 3
The controversy over BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s interview to Doordarshan refused to die down with Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari today dismissing Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar’s suggestion that certain portions of the interview were edited because of the Ministry’s constant failure to give autonomy to the public broadcaster.

“We have an arm’s length relationship with Prasar Bharati. It’s a board-driver organisation whose autonomy is guaranteed by an Act of Parliament,” Tewari said.

Refusing to join issues with Sircar, Tewari said the PB CEO was a distinguished bureaucrat and much elder to him. “In our culture, it is extremely inappropriate to join issues with your elders but we have never interfered with the functioning of Prasar Bharati.”

Asked why the government was yet to implement the report of the Sam Pitroda Committee on autonomy to Prasar Bharati, Tewari explained that the report was submitted in February and after that the Lok Sabha elections were announced. “The report was being considered and it would be wrong to say its implementation had been delayed,” he said.

Manish Tewari’s remarks came after Prasar Bharati sought to distance itself from the row, saying it was completely left to the editorial team of DD News to go ahead and telecast the interview.

Acknowledging that certain comments on personalities were apparently edited, the public broadcaster, which supervises the functioning of Doordarshan, said a free hand was given even though there were concerns that a "balancing interview" from the other side could not be procured despite best attempts of DD News.

Sircar wrote to members of the Prasar Bharati Board, informing them about the circumstances surrounding the delay in the telecast of Modi’s interview, editing of portions related to his observations on Priyanka Gandhi and his “friendship” with Ahmed Patel.

Sircar referred to the "non-stop" calls, social media messages, e-mails and other queries that he had been inundated with to find out why DD “withheld the interview” on April 27 and why it “edited out” portions as was evident from the video clips that were now being shown by other channels.

Sircar said if an initiative of the PB board to bring in "external professionals" and change the rules regarding appointment of DGs of Doordarshan and All India Radio had succeeded, they might not have faced the criticism a single interview had invited.

About the interview being withheld, Sircar said he was told by the DG News of Doordarshan on the April 27 afternoon that his team was on the job and the interview would be telecast soon.

He reportedly decried “political interference” and slammed Tewari for lack of autonomy of the public broadcaster.

DD struggling to maintain freedom: Modi

Ahmedabad, May 3
Escalating the controversy over his interview to Doordarshan, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi today rued the "decline" in journalistic freedom in the public broadcaster and invoked "horrific" memories of the Emergency days in 1975.

He joined the war over Prasar Bharati editing out certain portions of his interview and the subsequent raging controversy that it stoked by the "delayed" telecast.

"On days such as this, I feel very sad to see our national TV channel struggling to maintain its professional freedom," Modi said on Twitter, while extending his wishes to journalists on the World Press Freedom Day observed today.

Modi did not forget to remind the people of the Emergency imposed by late Indira Gandhi in 1975 when curbs were placed on the media.

"We have witnessed the horrors of Emergency when freedom of press and freedom of expression were suppressed. It is a blot on our democracy," Modi said in another tweet.

A controversy erupted yesterday following reports that Modi had said that Priyanka Gandhi was like his daughter, remarks that were neither appreciated by her nor Congress leaders. However, it turned out that Modi had not made any such description. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Devotees carry water-filled earthen pots to pour on ‘Grahraj Sanidev’ in Cuttak. PTI

Deogarh (Jharkhand)
Giriraj’s bail rejected: The anticipatory bail application of Bihar BJP leader Giriraj Singh, who is facing charges for his alleged hate speeches, was rejected on Saturday by a court here. Deogarh District & Sessions Court (first) Judge, Pankaj Srivastav, rejected the petition a week after he issued arrest warrants against Singh. — PTI

Chidambaram (Tamil Nadu)
4 hurt in crude bomb blast: Four persons were injured when a country-made bomb exploded in a residential area on Saturday, sparking tension in this temple town in Tamil Nadu, which is on high alert after the twin blasts on Kaziranga Express in Chennai on Thursday that claimed a woman's life. The incident occurred in a room located above a medical shop here. — PTI

An Army jawan performs a stunt in Jorhat, Assam, on Friday. PTI

Varanasi
Film on Varanasi poll battle: The excitement behind the high-octane poll battle in this holy city is being adapted into a movie by a national award-winning filmmaker. Known for his genre-defying, independent film "Om-Dar-Ba-Dar", Kamal Swaroop is now shooting a documentary here with an aim to record the "madness and the noise". — PTI

Panaji
Tejpal to get unedited footage: A local court on Saturday asked the Goa Government to hand over unedited portion of CCTV footage of the area near a lift in a hotel to senior journalist Tarun Tejpal, accused of sexually assaulting a junior woman colleague last year. Tejpal had requested the fast track court for the footage. — PTI