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Upbeat Amit Shah pegs BJP tally at 290-305
Amit Shah
SC rejects plea against counting in Varanasi
PU India’s best in Times ranking, but doesn’t figure in Asia’s top 100
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Cong, allies trash exit polls; NCP takes a surprise call
SC rejects plea to scrap INS Vikrant
Manmohan meets staff, hosts farewell tea for key officers
Sonia to host farewell for PM today
ED confiscates Jharkhand former minister’s assets
Badrinath yatra halted
Arihant N-sub gets ready to fire ballistic missiles
Anandiben may succeed Modi
Anandiben Patel. PTI
Centre agrees to send help to violence-hit Bodoland
Cong puts up poor show in Seemandhra civic polls
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Upbeat Amit Shah pegs BJP tally at 290-305
New Delhi, May 13 With a large number of exit polls predicting a comfortable win for the party, Narendra Modi’s key aide Amit Shah today said his party would welcome the support of all the parties in the national interest. Claiming that the NDA would get anywhere between 290 and 305 seats, including 50 to 55 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, the party in charge of the key state said: “We fought for 272+ seats and we are getting them. Any party who has even a single MP and wants to support us, we will welcome it in national interest”. Though he declined to answer queries over whether the BJP had established contacts with prospective new allies, sources said the party ideologue RSS has advised BJP to keep the lines open with regional parties so that a strong and stable government could be established. Party’s PM candidate Narendra Modi too indicated that his party would welcome all to lend support even if it gets a majority of its own. On the issue of Punjab predictions, all that Shah offered was that “two times exit polls have gone wrong. Hopefully we will prove them wrong again.” Exit polls have not predicted a very good going for the BJP-Akali Dal alliance in Punjab. In fact majority of surveys have predicted between seven and eight seats for the rival Congress. However, the party’s internal survey predicts seven seats for the Akali Dal and two seats for the BJP in the state. Meanwhile, on the future role of senior BJP leaders like L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, Shah said the party’s Parliamentary Board would take a call on it. To a question on his own future role if the party comes to power, Shah said he would “abide by the party’s decision”. Speaking on the BJP’s strategy in improving its tally of seats in UP, he said it was devised block-wise and not seat-wise. Each block had a few seats and a different strategy was adopted for each of them. Modi’s close aide, who was sent specially by the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate to work in UP, said he had to work a lot to tone up the party’s organisational structure and hoped the party would emerge victorious in 50 to 55 seats. Predicting major gains in western and eastern Uttar Pradesh, he claimed that the Bahujan Samaj Party, which has been decimated by many exit polls, would emerge as the second largest player in terms of number from Uttar
Pradesh.
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SC rejects plea against counting in Varanasi
NewDelhi, May 13 A vacation Bench headed by Justice BS Chauhan told advocate Lilly Thomas that shehad approached the court very late and as such it was not in a position toentertain the plea. Thomas, who was instrumental in the SC verdict disqualifying MPs and MLAs immediately upon being sentenced for two years or more, sought the stay contending that the SC had issued notice on a PIL seeking a directive disallowing candidates from contesting more than one seat. When theapex court was seized of the issue, BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate NarendraModi should not have chosen to contest from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, besidesVadodra in Gujarat, she pleaded. On March14, a Bench comprising Chief Justice P Sathasivam (since retired) and Justice NV Ramana issued notice to the Election Commission and the Centre on the petition filed by advocate HK Naik objecting to political leaders contesting from more than one constituency. The petitioner has sought a ruling striking down Sections 68-70 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which allowed candidates to contest from more than one constituency, state assembly or Parliament.
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PU India’s best in Times ranking, but doesn’t figure in Asia’s top 100
New Delhi, May 13 The QS Asia’s Top 300 Rankings include 17 institutions of higher learning from India but the biggest take away from the list is that PU Chandigarh is ranked in the group 171-180 far behind several other varsities and institutes. In the October rankings released by Times Higher Education, PU was India’s highest ranked institute in the group category 226 to 250 whereas IIT Delhi and IIT Kanpur were behind PU at 351 to 400. But in the 2014 QS rankings, which share the reputation of Times Higher Education World 400 rankings, PU has come down several notches with IIT Delhi emerging India’s top at rank 38 followed by IIT Mumbai at rank 41. IIT Delhi and IIT Bombay are the only Indian institutes in the top 50 among QS’ Asia’s Top 300 institutions. The top five Asian varsities are The National University of Singapore, The Korea Advanced Institute for Science and Technology, University of Hong Kong, Seoul National University and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. China’s Peking University is also among top 10 in the list. The Indian institutes in the top 100 include IIT Kanpur (52), IIT Madras (53), IIT Kharagpur (60), IIT Roorkee (70). The University of Delhi is the highest ranked non-IIT institution from India at 81 while IIT Guwahati is ranked at 95. Most of the top ranks are shared by higher educational institutions from China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia, a sign that Indian varsities need to pull up their socks though there has been improvement from the last year when only 11 Indian institutions made to the QS list as against 17 in 2014. Interestingly, Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences at 106 is ahead of several top Indian varsities including PU Chandigarh which was ranked highly by the Thomson Reuters Times Ranking on account of its industry collaboration, foreign student strength and academic excellence.
Don't know parameters taken into account: PU
Panjab University's Director Public Relations Vineet Punia said it was yet not known the parameters taken into account while ranking institutions in the QS list. "Different agencies use different parameters and attach varied weightage to different parameters. QS asked us for number of international students and fee in US dollar etc among other data. We will have to wait for a detailed analysis of institutions to know the reasons behind rankings. This is the first time we participated in QS."
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Cong, allies trash exit polls; NCP takes a surprise call
New Delhi, May 13 The rejection of the results came from the Congress, the BSP, the SP, the JDU and the National Conference. The Congress reiterated its old stand on the exit polls saying it did not take them seriously and that in a vast country like India such projections could not go right. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “This is not the first time that a pro-BJP hype is being created. Let us wait for the results.” NCP leader and Union Minister Praful Patel, however, surprised everyone when he said the people’s mandate had to be respected and the country had to move forward. “One may call it an exit poll or whatever, the general view is that the BJP will emerge as the single largest party. But the question is how close they are able to come to the halfway mark, or, if they want any ally. All this will become clear on May 16. But a stable and good government is good for the country,” Patel said. JDU leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar rejected the exit poll projections saying the results must be awaited. Samajwadi Party’s Rajendra Chaudhari said exit polls were gimmicks and did not reflect the real mood of the people. The BSP refused to comment on the exit polls saying these had proved wrong in the 2007 and 2012 Assembly elections. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah termed exit polls a “great time pass”.
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SC rejects plea to scrap INS Vikrant
New Delhi, May 13 A vacation Bench comprising Justices BS Chauhan and AK Sikri said that since a regular Bench had ordered status quo on the issue on May 5, it did not want to hear the plea for vacating the order. A Bench headed by Justice KS Radhakrishnan had passed the status quo order on a plea to convert the 70-year-old warship into a museum, instead of scrapping it. The Centre has filed an affidavit through Commodore Dinesh K Tripathi, Principal Director Naval Plans, contending that no state was willing to maintain the ship as a museum and the Navy was not in a position to spend more than Rs 5 crore every year on its upkeep just to keep it afloat. Besides the annual expenditure, repair work on the aircraft carrier was undertaken thrice during 2000-11 at a total cost of Rs 22
crore.
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Manmohan meets staff, hosts farewell tea for key officers
New Delhi, May 13 All his personal staff, numbering over 100, were lined along the square either side of the four-sided lobby leading to his office to greet the prime minister who took a round of the square conveying `Namaste’ and thanking them for all the assistance during his tenure. The corridors of the South Block witnessed some emotions as the extend staff including those in the periphery services stood to greet person who served the country as the Prime Minister since 2004. During the day prime minister presided over a meeting of the Union Cabinet in his South Block office. Over the past few weeks, the PM was working from his official residence since his room and the one in which Cabinet meets was being redone. Later, in the evening Dr Singh hosted a tea for officers who worked with him in the PMO. It was attended by officers including the Adviser TKA Nair, NSA Shiv Shankar Menon, Principal Secretary Pulok Chatterjee and those from the SPG. One officer who thanked prime minister for having been provided the opportunity to work in the PMO said he was moved by the humility of Manmohan Singh who thanked the officer in return for having given his time and energy to be part of his team. Meanwhile, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley came out in praise of prime minister stating that after having provided leadership to the country, he ``goes out with dignity and grace’’. While making critical reference for not standing up at times, Jaitley in his blog, said: ``Prime Minister goes out with dignity and grace. He will remain an elder statesman and a man of credibility to guide the nation. Only if he had stood up at the right time and disagreed he would have been regarded with still a greater honour. I wish the Prime Minister a very good health and many more years of public service.
Jaitley praises PM
Prime Minister goes out with dignity and grace. He will remain an elder statesman and a man of credibility to guide the nation. Only if he had stood up at the right time and disagreed he would have been regarded with still a greater honour. I wish the Prime Minister a very good health and many more years of public
service. — Arun Jaitley, bjp leader
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Sonia to host farewell for PM today
New Delhi, May 13 Singh will be presented with a memento of appreciation signed by all Union ministers and Congress Working Committee members. A message will be inscribed on the memento to be presented by Sonia. At the dinner, set to be anchored by Congress general secretary in-charge of the organisation Janardan Dwivedi, both Sonia and the PM are expected to make speeches. Congress sources said this is the first time a Congress PM is being presented with a farewell plaque.
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ED confiscates Jharkhand former minister’s assets
Patna/Gurgaon, May 13 The ED officials of Patna zonal office confiscated assets, including five commercial and residential properties in the posh area of Gurgaon in Haryana, 10 acres at prime locations in Ranchi, 10 acres in Garhwa district and a few bank accounts in New Delhi, ED sources said. The officials, who did not take assistance from Gurgaon authorities, attached these properties based in posh areas in connection with a case registered against Shahi in 2009 to probe money laundering. Sources said the ‘raid’ was part of a nationwide operation. The officials refused to divulge details. “The property acquired by Shahi is way above his known sources of income after he was elected an MLA in 2005. Prima facie he seems to have abused his position of a minister in the state government and the ED has ample proof to nail him in court,” a source said. The ED had, earlier, provisionally attached the assets of Shahi in December 2013. “It was confirmed for confiscation by the PMLA adjudicating authority based in New Delhi. With this, the ED will take possession of all marked assets of the former Jharkhand minister,” the source said, adding Shahi amassed these assets between 2005 and 2009 by abusing his office. The ED registered a case against Shahi in 2009 to probe money laundering. Other agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Jharkhand Vigilance Department were investigating the criminal side of the case. Bhanu Pratap Shahi was an accused in the Madhu Koda mining scam between 2006 and 2008.
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Badrinath yatra halted
Dehradun, May 13 Bad weather has been playing spoilt sport for the past three days. The local weather department has predicted light rain and thundershowers in Chamoli Rudraprayag and Pithoragarh. More than 1,000 pilgrims on their way to the shrine were asked to stay at different places till further clearance from the local administration. “The route between Pipalkoti and Joshimath has been opened for vehicles after the yatra to Badrinath remained disrupted. The yatra to Kedarnath could not resume today following landslides. The entire Kedar valley witnessed heavy snowfall,” said Subhash Kumar, Chief Secretary, Uttarakhand. He said rain had exacerbated conditions around Pagal Nullah, triggering landslides. “Badrinath yatra will resume tomorrow if the administration removes the roadblock but Kedarnath yatra will remain suspended even tomorrow,” he said. — TNS
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Arihant N-sub gets ready to fire ballistic missiles
Chandigarh, May 13 “We willbe conducting a test launch of the K-4 missile from the Arihant submarine,which is already undergoing sea trials, within the next few months,” ScientificAdviser to the Raksha Mantri and DRDO Director General, Dr Avinash Chander toldThe Tribune during his visit to Chandigarh. The3,000-km range K-4 Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) was successfullytest launched by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) froman underwater pontoon, simulating a submerged submarine, on March 24. Thedevelopment of the K-4 comes in the wake of the K-15 a submarine launchedballistic missile that has a range of 750 kms and is already in production. Aland-based version of the K-15 is also on the anvil. INSArihant, which will have at least three more sister submarines which arealready under construction, will carry four K-4 missiles or 12 K-15 missilesalong with six torpedoes. Four submarines with unlimited range, each carryingfour 3000-kms range missiles gives an enormous degree of flexibility,reliability, survivability and stand-off attack capability to the nucleartriad. Alsocoming up shortly is the test launch of the containerised version of the Agni-4Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile. The 4000-kms range missile would beroad-mobile and launched from a contained, from which it would be shot in theair and its engines would ignite in mid air. The conventional version of themissile was test fired by the Strategic Forces Command in its road-mobileconfiguration in January this year, paving its way for serial production andservice induction. DrChander said that following the successful launch of the Astra beyond visuaklrange air to air missile from a Su-30 fighter earlier this month, a launch totest its performance against a live aerial target will be conducted next month.A test of Hellina, the helicopter launched version of the Nag anti-tankmissile, is also scheduled shortly.
Lethal fire power
INS Arihant, which will carry four K-4 missiles or 12 K-15 missiles along with six torpedoes K-4 missiles with a range of 3,000 km, was successfully test launched by the Defence Research and Development Organisation from an underwater pontoon on March 24.
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Anandiben may succeed Modi
Gandhinagar, May 13 A meeting of the BJP legislature party held today under the chairmanship of Modi is reported to have discussed the successor issue but left a final decision on the party’s central leadership. After the meeting which was also attended by the senior leaders of the organisational wing of the party, the state BJP spokesman Vijay Rupani said the BJP central parliamentary board would take the final call on naming Modi’s successor. But the decision would be taken only on or after May 17 after the results of the Lok Sabha elections were declared. He claimed that there was no groupism within the BJP legislature party and any leader named by the central board would be acceptable to all without any grievance. He refused to name the possible successor but hinted that someone from amongst the sitting members of the state Assembly would in probability succeed Modi in the state. The issue became important after a senior leader of the party Bhikhubhai Dalsania threw his hat in the ring for chief ministership in addition to Anandiben, Finance Minister Nitin Patel and Energy Minister Saurabh Patel, who were considered to be close contestants for the post. Bhikhubhai, who was functioning as the link between the executive and the organisational wings of the state BJP and had played key roles in the selection of the candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, was believed to have been backed by the RSS to succeed Modi in the state. Modi, meanwhile, also held a meeting with senior ministers and the government officials to discuss the prevailing drought situation in some parts of the state and issued instructions to immediately arrange for supplying drinking water in the affected areas.
In the race
* Gujarat Revenue Minister Anandiben Patel, state Finance Minister Nitin Patel, Energy Minister Saurabh Patel and senior party leader Bhikhubhai Dalsania are also in the reckoning for post of the Chief Minister *
A meeting of the BJP legislature party on Tuesday reportedly agreed on the consensus candidate but left the final decision to the party's central leadership
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Centre agrees to send help to violence-hit Bodoland
Guwahati, May 13 Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today said the state government had asked for 50 companies of paramilitary forces, while the Centre agreed to send 30. As many as 46 people, including children, were killed in the latest spell of violence in BTC areas — 39 in Baksa district and seven in Kokrajhar. About the agitation by junior doctors in Assam Medical College Hospital over the murder of a student, Gogoi said the doctors couldn’t be blamed for the protest.
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Cong puts up poor show in Seemandhra civic polls
Hyderabad, May 13 However, in Telangana region, the Congress put up an impressive show, apparently reaping rich political dividends of carving out a separate Telangana state. The elections were held for 1,096 Zila Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTCs)and 16,589 Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTCs) across the two regions on April 6 and April 11. The trends suggested that the TDP, which swept urban local bodies polls in Seemandhra yesterday, continued its winning streak in the rural areas as well, while the Congress is ahead of its main rival, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), in Telangana region. The counting of votes was slow as ballot papers were used in these elections instead of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). As per the latest figures released by the State Election Commission (SEC), the TDP has captured 21 of the 653 ZPTC seats and 2,444 of the 10,092 MPTC seats as compared to the YSRCP’s 12 and 1,980seats, respectively in Seemandhra. In Telangana, the TRS bagged 66 of the 443 ZPTCs and 978 of the 6,497 MPTCs as against the Congress’s31 ZPTC seats and 1,125 MPTC seats. The Congress has failed to open its account in ZPTCs so far and had to be content with just 63MPTC seats in Seemandhra, while the TDP did relatively better in Telangana,accounting for six ZPTC and 475 MPTC seats. The decimation of the Congress in Seemandhra is largely attributed to the public anger against the division of the state. The main Opposition TDP, headed by former ChiefMinister N Chandrababu Naidu, appears to have capitalised on this. The results of the elections to 145 municipalities and 10 corporations spread across Andhra Pradesh were announced yesterday. The TDP was a dominant player in Seemandhra, bagging 65 of the 92 municipalities and five of the seven municipal corporations. The YSRCP won 20 municipalities and two corporations. In Telangana, however, the Congress put up a creditable performance, winning 23 of the 53 municipalities, followed by the TRS winning 11 and TDP-BJP five. Most of the national TV channels have predicted a close contest between the TDP and the YSRCP in Seemandhra for the Lok Sabha seats in exit polls.
TDP is frontrunner
* The trends suggest that the TDP, which swept urban local bodies polls in Seemandhra, continued its winning streak in the rural areas as well, while the Congress is ahead of its main rival, the TRS, in Telangana region *
As per the latest figures released by the State Election Commission, the TDP has captured 21 of the 653 ZPTC seats and 2,444 of the 10,092 MPTC seats as compared to the YSRCP's 12 and 1,980 seats, respectively in
Seemandhra.
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New Delhi, May 13
Days before he demits office, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today added a personal touch by bidding farewell to the staff that served in the office, he occupied for the last 10 years.
For the first time in the history of the Congress, a farewell will be organised for an outgoing Prime Minister. Congress president Sonia Gandhi will host a dinner at her 10 Janpath residence tomorrow to applaud PM Manmohan Singh for the 10 year UPA rule, thank him for his leadership and bid him well for the future.
Movingcloser towards completing the nuclear triad, the indigenously
developednuclear-powered submarine, INS Arihant, will soon be testing its capability tolaunch long range ballistic missiles from within the depths of the ocean.
Gandhinagar, May 13
