Saturday, May 15, 1999
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N A T I O N |
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spotlight today's calendar |
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BJP open on tie-up with
MGP Cong flays sack of governors |
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No truck with Congress:
Tohra
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BJP, allies to meet today
When did Sonia cast her first
vote? Video film ‘catches’
murderers |
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BJP open on tie-up with MGP NEW DELHI, May 14 — The BJP has decided to go in for an understanding with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) for this month’s assembly elections in Goa. While officially, the BJP spokesperson, Mr Venkaiah Naidu, said the party’s central election committee had asked the state unit to discuss a proposal from the MGP for an understanding on seat-sharing, the sources confirmed that an understanding with the MGP “was almost perfect” waiting for a formal announcement on May 16. The sources said that the announcement had been delayed as some Congressmen from Goa were likely to leave the party and join the BJP. The BJP would contest 24 seats and the MGP would have 16 seats in 40 member Goan Legislative Assembly, the sources pointed out. Mr Naidu said that the CEC, which met under the chairmanship of the party President, Mr Kushabhau Thakre this morning, reviewed the list of candidates submitted by the state unit of the party and had cleared it. In view of the MGP proposal, the CEC asked the state unit to discuss the proposal and get back to it by May 16, he said. The meeting was attended by the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Union Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, the Human Resource Development Minister, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and the Industry Minister,Mr Sikander Bakht. Mr Naidu said that he would be going to Goa on May 17 to discuss the campaign strategy of the party with the assembly elections candidates and party managers. The party state unit was in favour of going in for Assembly elections on its own strength and thus had prepared a list of candidates for all 40 assembly seats but the central leadership had to persuade the state leaders to accept the MGP proposal. The BJP’s decision to go in for an understanding with the MGP was taken after a serious review of the political situation. The party leadership felt that in view of the coming Lok Sabha elections, the BJP must ensure that there was no division in anti-Congress votes, the sources said adding that a clear victory in the Goan Assembly elections would send a positive signal for the coming Lok Sabha elections. In response to a
question on the political situation in Uttar Pradesh, Mr
Naidu said that the party leadership had sent the General
Secretary, Mr K.N. Govindacharya to Lucknow to talk to
leaders. “We are hoping that the issue would be
resolved shortly”, he said. |
Cong flays sack of governors NEW DELHI, May 14 — The removal of governors of Arunachal Pradesh and West Bengal by the Centre was today condemned by the Congress which said that this unethical and improper action had exposed a method in madness of the Vajpayee Government. “The government selected a Muslim and a Dalit for dismissal from about 25 governors and this revealed the communal, fundamentalist and fascist face of the BJP,” Congress spokesperson Ajit Jogi said. The argument of the government that the term of these governors had ended was interesting, he said, and pointed out that in fact, their term ended long ago when Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee was heading a regular government. It could have made new appointments at that time and its late realisation only proved that the party’s 13-month rule was a disgrace, he said. He said peaceful demonstrations would be held at the state and district-levels in protest against the action of the Vajpayee Government. Mr Jogi described the plan of the Prime Minister to start a seven-day poll campaign as misuse of government funds. Replying to a question, he said senior Congress leader Sharad Pawar had reported to party President Sonia Gandhi about the details of his talks with AIADMK General Secretary J Jayalalitha in Chennai. Mr Pawar was deputed by Ms Sonia Gandhi to hold discussions with the AIADMK leader. Mr Jogi said the Congress was yet to take a final decision about its alliance with the AIADMK. The Congress Working
Committee (CWC) would meet here tomorrow to discuss the
latest developments after the dissolution of the 12th Lok
Sabha. The CWC was likely to finalise the party’s
list of candidates for the Goa Assembly elections
scheduled to be held on June 4. |
No truck with Congress:
Tohra NEW DELHI, May 14 — Former SGPC chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra today proposed conditional reconciliation with Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and said he was not having any truck with the Congress. "I do not demand any office or anything else but my only demand is that Mr Badal should accept Bhai Ranjit Singh as the Akal Takht Jathedar and apologise for the violation of "hukamnama" (edict) issued by the Sikh highest priest," Mr Tohra said, while addressing a press conference here. “If Mr Badal accepts, I will continue to accept him as the party president.” To a query on whether he was going to float a new party, Mr Tohra said: "There will be no need to form a new Akali Dal, if Mr Badal accepts the wish of a majority of Sikhs to recognise Bhai Ranjit Singh as the Jathedar." However, a decision in this regard would be taken only after May 20. "We are alliance partners of the BJP and still continue to be with it," the senior Akali leader said dismissing allegations about his secret understanding with the Congress. He claimed that Bhai Ranjit Singh continued to be head priest of Akal Takht and Mr Badal should abide by his decree asking him to appear before Akal Takht by May 20. He denied having any role in the setting up of the gurdwara management committee in Pakistan for managing the Sikh shrines there. Mr Tohra said he had in fact written to the Pakistan authorities protesting against the move to set up separate management committees to look after gurdwaras. Asked to comment on reports that his faction received Congress support in "capturing" the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee in the elections to the executive body, Mr Tohra said: "If somebody supports us because of their own interest, we cannot be blamed for it". Later in the day, Mr Tohra met the Union Home Minister, Mr L K Advani, to apprise him of "certain issues related to Punjab." The "newly-elected" president of the DSGMC, Mr Paramjit Singh Sarna said the issue of the threat made by the general secretary of the SAD, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, to take forcible possession of the DSGMC offices was also raised during the meeting with Mr Advani. Mr Sarna continued to claim that the "new executive body" had started functioning and "even the local administration of the DSGMC was taking their orders." On the other hand, the president of the Delhi unit of the SAD, Mr Avtar Singh Hit, stated that any decision taken by the Sethi group was illegal. "We are waiting for the announcement for fresh dates for the elections," he said. He stated that Mr Badal
had told them not to take any action that would be an
affront to the Sikh religious sentiments. Mr Hit claimed
that they have a majority support which they would prove
during the "election". |
Panel for minority status to
Hindus NEW DELHI, May 14 — The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has recommended that local Hindus in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir should be accorded minorities status. The Chairman of the NCM, Dr Tahir Mahmood, told TNS here today that he had made the recommendations in a special report submitted to the Union Government. The reports have been submitted to the Prime Minister, the Union Home Ministry and the Welfare Ministry. The special report, made on the basis of suggestions and complaints received from various communities in the states, says that in a vast federal country like India, the minority status of any community cannot be defined at the national level alone, especially since many of the subjects which necessarily affect the life and rights of the minorities, like law and order, education, personal law etc, in the Constitution either in the exclusive jurisdiction of the states or the states have concurrent jurisdiction on them along with the Centre. The Union Government has listed only five communities, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis) as minorities. The report says that the national level majority of India the Hindus are demographically a minority (less than 50 per cent of the population) in five of the 25 states of India and in one of the seven union territories. In these six places the local majority belongs to one or another of three national-level minorities-Christians, Muslims and Sikhs. According to the report, Hindus constitute 32.12 per cent of the total population of Punjab. Similarly in Mizoram they constitute 5.05 per cent, Nagaland 10.14 per cent and Meghalaya 14.67 per cent. In the union territory of Lakshadweep, too, the Hindus are a minority with a percentage of 4.04. Recommending that the local Hindus in these states and union territories should be declared as state level minorities, the commission has said that they should be entitled to all constitutional, legal and administrative measures and safeguards meant for the minorities in general. The report also says that in Punjab, a representative body of the local Hindus be identified and recognised by the state government so that it could effectively interact with the administration in respect of its religious and other rights and interests. Setting up of similar bodies in other states have also been recommended. The report also says that a statutory state minorities commission be set up in Punjab and other States for the benefit of the local minorities, including Hindus. On the status of Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir, the report says that apart from formally recognising them as a state level minority, all possible measures should be adopted to effectively protect the life, property, fundamental rights and civil liberties of the Hindus living, or domiciled, in the state. Conditions must be created for an early return of the displaced Kashmiri Hindus to their homes and necessary steps taken for their rehabilitation, the report says. It has also recommended that the jurisdiction of the National Commission for Minorities should be extended by appropriate means to Jammu and Kashmir in order to enable the Hindus and other minorities in the state to avail the benefits of its statutory intervention wherever necessary. The Commission has also
recommended that through appropriate measures the
Religious Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act 1988
and the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991
should be extended to Jammu and Kashmir. |
BJP, allies to meet today NEW DELHI, May 14 — The BJP and its friendly parties are meeting here to discuss a draft of the common manifesto based on the national agenda for governance (NAG). The meeting, scheduled to be held at the Prime Minister’s official residence tomorrow morning will incorporate the suggestions from other parties like the DMK, the sources said. The Defence Minister, Mr
George Fernandes, and the External Affairs Minister, Mr
Jaswant Singh, have jointly prepared a draft of the
common manifesto which is largely based on the NAG. |
5 die as squall lashes Jaunpur JAUNPUR, May 14 (UNI) — A severe dust storm and heavy rains last night left five persons dead and threw normal life out of gear in the district. High velocity winds at the speed of over a 100 km per hour uprooted thousands of trees, totally disrupting power and telecommunication services. According to the SP, Mr Atul Kumar, two persons, Pannu Pal and Sankar Prasad, were killed when a tree fell over them in Siholi village under Kerakat police station of the district. Two others Ram Vriksh
and Baijanth, met a similar fate in another village of
the same police circle. |
When did Sonia cast her first vote? GUWAHATI, May 14 (UNI) — The BJP Vice-President, Mr K.L. Sharma, today urged the Election Commission to institute an inquiry to confirm when Ms Sonia Gandhi had cast her first vote. “We all know she became a citizen of India 15 years after her marriage. But when did she vote for the first time? The EC should take the nation into confidence”, Mr Sharma said while addressing a press conference here. He said he had been asking the question for sometime, “but the reply given by the Congress was most unconvincing. The Congress only said that she exercised her franchise when she became a voter. But the EC must tell us the truth”. “Can a non-citizen of India vote? the EC must clarify”, Mr Sharma said asserting that his party had nothing to say about Gandhi’s citizenship but had the right to know the answer to his question”. The EC should tell who applied for her roll registration. Is it a case of impropriety or a violation of laws? he added. “She now has equal
right. But the Congress will have to reply to the
questions being raised during the election. It should not
brush aside these questions”, he said. |
Video film ‘catches’ murderers LUCKNOW, May 14 (UNI) — Thanks to a video film taken during a wedding, the Lucknow police has identified the duo responsible for the death of a local salesman. Deputy Inspector-General of Police Arun Kumar Gupta said here that one of the killers was Rakesh Misra, son of a Deputy Superintendent. The two drunken youths, who were attending a wedding at Jehangirabad Palace on Wednesday night, went to an ice-cream parlour in the complex. When the salespersons told them the particular variety of ice-cream demanded by them was not available, the youths whipped out a revolver and shot one of the employees dead. Mr Gupta said eyewitnesses recognised the faces of the killers when they spotted them on the film, holding the weapon while dancing. The police had not yet
been able to arrest the duo. However, the Deputy
Superintendent’s licensed revolver, which was used
for the murder, had been seized, Mr Gupta disclosed. |
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| New diamond rock deposits
found NEW DELHI: New diamond-bearing rock deposits have been discovered in Anantpur district of Andhra Pradesh by scientists of the Geological Survey of India (GSI). The deposits have been discovered in Kalyandurg near Pillalapalli and Nagireddipalli villages, according to a report in the journal “Current Science”. These may constitute part of a major cluster forming the primary source of large diamonds being picked up by local villagers around kalyandurg and in parts of the Hagari river basin. — PTI Three students drowned Six pilgrims
killed V-C arrested |
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