Saturday, February 20, 1999
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BJP doves score a point HC
displeased over stir |
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 Dr V N Dutta addressing a seminar on the 1947 Punjab partition at the India International Centre in New Delhi. Dr Manmohan Singh, former Finance Minister, India is also seen in the picture— Photo by Vijender Tyagi |
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Lokur
appointed HC judge No
move to cut retirement age |
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Bhandari relents on NDC meeting NEW DELHI, Feb 19 — The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, embarks on his mission of peace to Pakistan tomorrow in the backdrop of the doves within the BJP having scored a point against the hawks. Facing television cameras at the National Development Council (NDC) meeting, Mr Vajpayee looked relaxed. The Union Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, though smiling, seemed tense. The decision of the Bihar Governor, Mr Sunder Singh Bhandari, to relent and agree to head the state’s delegation at the NDC, rung down the curtain on one of the most intense intra-party contradiction dramas in Indian politics. Mr Advani made two comments in the course of the past week and they both boomeranged. The comment that leaders with four MPs were holding the government to ransom, made at Jhinjholi, Haryana, brought forth belligerence from Mr Om Prakash Chautala and his Indian National Lok Dal (INLD). Similarly, his comment about the need to send an "apolitical Governor" to Bihar resulted in Mr Bhandari packing his bags and travelling to Delhi from Patna by train. In both cases, the efforts of the doves in the BJP resulted in the crisis being averted. Mr Chautala, while deciding not to send the withdrawal letter to the President of India, had a dig at Mr Advani during a Doordarshan chat show. Today, Mr Sunder Singh Bhandari made no bones about his being a RSS member while facing television cameras: "Mein RSS ka banda aaj bhee hoon, mujhe is per abhimaan hai", he said while ridiculing the talk of sending an "apolitical Governor" to Patna. In both the Chautala and Bhandari cases, the dice inadvertently got cast against Mr Advani due to his own pronouncements. This has helped the doves to score a point. However, the infighting which has been going on in the ruling party is likely to intensify in the days to come. With the doves looking happy, the hawks, especially the RSS hardliners, are likely to step up their belligerence in the days to come. The threat to the government is not from outside but from within the ruling party. The flashpoint reached this week, if repeated during the forthcoming session of Parliament, will indeed provide nail-biting moments. Whatever the outcome of Mr Vajpayee’s bus journey to Lahore, a rough ride awaits him when the Budget session gets under way from Monday. Commenting on the end of
the Bhandari drama, Mr Vajpayee stated today, "Ant
bhala to bhala (all’s well that ends well)"
— an interesting phase in his Prime Ministership
will emerge on the eve of his completing a year in
office. It is to be seen if everything will end well. |
HC displeased over ATC stir NEW DELHI, Feb 19 (PTI) — The Delhi High Court today took serious note of the "go slow", agitation by the Air Traffic Controllers’ (ATC) Guild and asked it and the Airport Authority of India (AAI) to take a conciliatory approach to normalise the air services in the country. Mr Justice Dalveer Bhandari in his order on a contempt plea moved by the AAI said the guild members should adhere to the court’s February 16 order and at the same time the AAI should not take any further action against traffic controllers till February 26 so that both the parties got sufficient time to resolve the dispute amicably. The order came after ATC counsel Harish Salve assured the court that "no unavoidable inconvenience" would be caused to the passengers and there would be no deliberate delay in flights by the guild members on all 89 airports and the connected air services in the country. The court also sought assurance from AAI Chairman D.V. Gupta, who was present in the court, that no further punitive action would be taken for a week by the AAI if the ATC immediately started functioning normally. The Court on February 16 while issuing a notice to the guild on the AAI contempt plea restrained it from resorting to any agitation. Expressing his displeasure
over the agitation, Mr Justice Bhandari during arguments
observed, "This is not a contempt of the court only.
ATC members should apologise to the nation as it involves
the national and public interests at large." |
Installation of Puran Singh opposed NEW DELHI, Feb 19 (PTI) — The head priest of Takht Harmander Saheb of Patna, Bhai Man Singh, and four of his colleagues have come out against the installation of Puran Singh as head priest of Akal Takht, describing it as 'violation of Sikh traditions and tenets.' In a resolution, a copy of which was released here by Mr S.S. Ahluwalia, the President of the Prabandhak Committee of Takht Patna, the five priests said, 'Removal of Bhai Ranjit Singh as head priest of Akal Takht has dealt a serious blow to the Panth.' The resolution said they would not "accept" Puran Singh as the Jathedar of Akal Takht as his installation was 'ridiculous' and against the 'tenets of Sikh religion'. The signatories to the
resolution, besides Bhai Man Singh, are — Giani
Iqbal Singh, Bhai Rajinder Singh, Bhai Baldev Singh and
Bhai Dilip Singh. |
Lokur appointed HC judge NEW DELHI, Feb 19 — The Additional Solicitor-General, Mr Madan Lokur, today took over as a judge of the Delhi High Court. He was appointed as the additional judge of the high court by the President, Mr K. R. Narayanan, through a notification for a period of two years. Mr Lokur was administered
the oath of office and secrecy by Delhi High Court acting
Chief Justice Devinder Gupta at a simple function here
this morning. |
No move to cut retirement age NEW DELHI, Feb 19 — The Centre clarified today that there was no porposal to reduce the retirement age of the government employees from 60 years to 58. An official press note said attention of the government had been drawn to some news items appearing in a section of the Press regarding a proposal of the Central Government to reduce the retirement age. The press note clarified
that the media reports were "baseless". |
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| CBI arrests programme
executive NEW DELHI: The CBI has arrested a programme executive of the Ahmedabad Doordarshan kendra and a woman artiste on the charge of taking a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a producer of television serials. A CBI press note said here on Friday that the programme executive had been remanded in police custody for two days and the artiste released on bail. CBI sources identified the executive as Dilip Wagheshwari and the artiste as Miss Shetal Trivedi. The producer had complained that this serial, — "jadu na khel" in Gujarati — was taken off the air after four episodes and the executive demanded a bribe of Rs 20,000 for resuming its telecast. — UNI UP
Budget presented Eve bashes up Romeos IMW taken off air |
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