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Minister
attacked with 'chappals'
BANGALORE, Feb 19 (PTI) — Top Janata Dal leaders
today lashed out at the Vajpayee Government for its
"anti-farmer policies", even as the
party-organised rally here was marred by an attack with
stones and chappals on a senior minister. Karnataka
Transport Minister P.G.R. Sindhia escaped unhurt after a
group of people hurled stone and chappals at him, minutes
before the start of the rally, billed as a personal show
of strength of former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda. The
attackers shouted slogans against Mr Sindhia and alleged
that he instigated party workers in his Assembly
constituency of Kanakapura to stay away from the rally.Surjeet operated upon
NEW DELHI, Feb 19 (PTI) — CPM leader Harkishan Singh
Surjeet, who was injured below his left eye recently in
Hyderabad, was operated upon here this morning after he
complained of problems in the eye. Doctors attending on
Mr Surjeet, who slipped and fell at his party office on
Wednesday, said they were satisfied with the success of
the operation and his condition, a press note from the
CPM office said.
MLA’s election
NEW DELHI, Feb 19 (PTI) — The Supreme Court has
upheld an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court
setting aside the election of Congress candidate Rakesh
Kumar, who was declared elected from the north Ludhiana
Assembly constituency in 1997. A three-judge Bench headed
by Chief Justice A.S. Anand, while dismissing the appeal
filed by Mr Rakesh Kumar against the high court order,
held that the returning officer had "wrongly and
illegally" rejected the nomination papers of BJP
candidate Sunil Kumar.
Rise in medical
reimbursement
NEW DELHI, Feb 19 (PTI) — The government today
announced an increase in the ceiling on medical care
reimbursements to state governments for employees’
state insurance (ESI) to Rs 600 from the existing Rs 500
per insured person every year. The increase in per
capital ceiling is estimated to result in an additional
expenditure of Rs 85 crore in the coming financial year,
Labour Minister and Chairman of the ESI Corporation
Satyanarayan Jatiya said at the 113th meeting of the ESI.
Naidu meets PM
NEW DELHI, Feb 19 (PTI) — Andhra Pradesh Chief
Minister and Telugu Desam supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu
today met Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee here.
During his brief meeting, Mr Naidu, whose party had
criticised the Vajpayee government over the attacks on
Christians, is understood to have discussed about the
political situation in the country.
Minister apologises
HYDERABAD, Feb 19 (PTI) — Andhra Pradesh Legislative
Affairs and Finance Minister P. Ashok Gajapathiraju today
apologised for his unparliamentary remark yesterday
against Congress associate member G. Muddukrishnama Naidu
following a furore over an issue in the House. The
minister yielded following the direction of Speaker Y.
Ramakrishnudu, who termed the remark as a "word of
abuse and unparliamentary".
Rail Budget
NEW DELHI, Feb 19 (PTI) — The Railway Budget for
1999-2000 will be presented by Railway Minister Nitish
Kumar in the Lok Sabha on February 25, immediately after
question hour, official sources said here today. Later,
the Budget papers would be laid on the table of the Rajya
Sabha at 2.30 p.m., they said. The Railway Minister will
also present the supplementary demands for grants for
1998-99 and the demands for excess grants for 1996-97 in
the first week of March, 1999.
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