Saturday, September 11, 1999
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weather  spotlighttoday's calendar |
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HC cancels 5 LPG,
kerosene dealerships |
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Advani foresees easy victory for
BJP, allies EC vigilant on J&K situation CBI seeks to try Laloo, Mishra SP, 4 others die accidentally US clarification on survey Congress asks PM to come out with
truth Laloo files papers from Madhepura Woman shot at, robbed |
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HC cancels 5 LPG, kerosene dealerships NEW DELHI, Sept 10 (UNI) — Holding that allotments lacked material to prove genuineness, the Delhi High Court today cancelled licences of five dealers for LPG and kerosene outlets, sanctioned by former Petroleum Minister Satish Sharma from his discretionary quota. Hearing several review petitions for revoking its order of cancellations of petrol stations, LPG and kerosene dealership, a Division Bench comprising Mr Justice Arun Kumar and Mr Justice D.K. Jain heard some of the petitions and adjourned the hearing on the remaining till September 30 for want of required papers. During arguments, the court said financial hardship was not a ground for allotment under the guidelines for giving connections from discretionary quota by the minister. "We are on the general conduct of the minister and there was no material before him to decide that the cases were genuine," the court observed. On the allotment made to some people in Andhra Pradesh on the ground that the allottees were freedom fighters or their kin, the bench observed this argument was not accepted by the court while deciding the petition challenging the allotments. Whether a particular freedom fighters’ application was a genuine case or not, there was no material before the minister to support this view, the judges said. The high court in 1997 had cancelled some 350 petrol stations, cooking gas and kerosene dealerships given by Capt Sharma from his discretionary quota between 1991 and 1995, after those were challenged by the centre for public interest litigation (CPIL). CPIL counsel Prashant Bhushan told the court that most of the applications from Andhra Pradesh were considered on the ground that the applicant was a freedom fighter or his kin and belonged to the Naxalite-infested areas. He charged that 20
allotments were made by the minister in such cases
without looking into the merit of the case. |
EC: desist from personal attacks PATNA, Sept 10 (UNI) — The Election Commissioner, Mr G.V.G. Krishnamurthy, today asked political parties to ensure healthy debate of current issues rather than making personal insinuations during campaign and said all steps would be taken to stop poll violence in Bihar. Mr Krishnamurthy, who arrived here this morning to review poll preparation in the state, told newsmen that the commission had chalked out a detailed strategy, including a three-phase poll, to ensure free and fair elections in the state. He said that adequate number of Central paramilitary forces would be deployed in sensitive and hyper-sensitive booths to prevent rigging. He said all polling booths in Patna would be provided with static armed forces and the super-sensitive booths would be manned by the Central forces. He, however, assured the state government that he would try to give more Central forces for the state after he returned to New Delhi. This was Mr Krishnamurthy’s second visit to the state in connection with the Lok Sabha elections. Earlier today, he visited the Patna Lok Sabha constituency and expressed satisfaction over the arrangements. He is likely to visit Madhepura, a key constituency, from where former Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal President Laloo Prasad Yadav would seek re-election against Janata Dal (United) President Sharad Yadav, tomorrow before returning to New Delhi in the evening. "The people should
vote for the candidate based on their work without going
into the consideration of caste and religion," he
said. |
Advani foresees easy victory
for BJP, allies NEW DELHI, Sept 10 — An internal assessment by the Bharatiya Janata Party shows that the BJP and its allies are ahead of its main rival, the Congress, in the constituencies where elections are over and the National Democratic Alliance was all set to defeat the Congress, and its allies, in the constituencies where polling was due tomorrow. Union Home Minister, L.K. Advani, taking stock at the mid-point of campaign, told reporters here that after campaigning across the country, he was convinced that the general election would be known for its positive, rather than negative, character and the BJP and its allies would get more than 300 seats. Describing main features of the campaign, Mr Advani said there was a strong pro-incumbency wave and it appeared that for the first time after 1984 an incumbent Prime Minister was also set to receive a renewed mandate. The nationwide acceptance of Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee as an able leader and the emergence of a new India after Kargil would also be responsible for getting the BJP and its allies a decisive mandate, he added. He said this general election would also go down in history for the sharp contrast between the campaign of the main contender, the BJP, and its main rival, the Congress. While the BJP was contesting this election on the strength of issues and programmes from a positive platform, he said their rivals were contesting from a negative platform. When asked about personalised attacks on the Congress President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, launched by the spokespersons of the BJP, Mr Advani said the party was only highlighting those issues that were political in nature and those which had a bearing on the nation. He felt that there was nothing wrong with raising the foreign origin of Mrs Sonia Gandhi and pointed out that it was a section of the Congress led by Mr Sharad Pawar which had raised the issue for the first time. Mr Advani however, said he was in favour of having a principled campaign and would not like the campaign to make any personal attack on any person. “We believe that an election campaign should focus on issues— a campaign is also a public debate between contenders. Unfortunately the present Congress leadership does not believe so. It is too alien to our democratic tradition and national ethos to realise that it has paved the way for its own defeat”, he said. He said the Congress
campaign was based on the policy of shooting and
scooting, of hurling a lot of mud in the hope that some
of it would stick. |
EC vigilant on J&K situation NEW DELHI, Sept 10 (PTI) — Concerned over the spurt in militant activities in Jammu and Kashmir, the Election Commission (EC) today said it was keeping a close watch on the situation in the state where polling for two of the six Lok Sabha seats would be held tomorrow. "Because of the situation, we are in constant touch with the top officials of the state government particularly Home Secretary, Director-General of Police and the Chief Electoral Officer’’, Deputy Election Commissioner Subas Pani told reporters when asked what special steps EC was contemplating in view of the recent militant attacks. He said the commission reviewed the situation in the state even today and expressed the hope that polling would pass off peacefully in the two Lok Sabha constituencies of Udhampur and Jammu. Polling for Srinagar and Ladakh seats was completed in the first phase. Both Udhampur and Jammu
have been categorised as "highly sensitive" by
the commission as both constituencies have recently
witnessed stepped-up attacks by militants including
blowing up of a polling booth in Poonch town near the
Line of Control and grenade attacks on poll meetings of
the BJP in Doda. |
CBI seeks to try Laloo, Mishra PATNA, Sept 10 (PTI) — The CBI has sought Bihar Governor, Justice B.M. Lal’s, assent to prosecute former chief ministers, Laloo Prasad Yadav and Jagannath Mishra in yet another conspiracy angle case in the multi-crore rupees fodder scam. A top CBI source said here today that the agency had petitioned for gubernatorial sanction a couple of days back. Others among the 50 accused in the case number RS 38 are: former state ministers Bholaram Toofani, Vidya Sagar Nishad and Chand, and the Director of Animal Husbandry Department (AHD) (Ranchi), Dr K. M. Prasad. The case relates to fraudulent withdrawals of Rs 4.7 crore from Dumka treasury by AHD officials through forged bills. The CBI source said the
agency was awaiting the nod from the state government and
other sanctioning authorities to begin prosecution in 13
more cases related to the scam in which a chargesheet had
already been finalised. |
SP, 4 others die accidentally GUWAHATI, Sept 10 (UNI) — Five persons — Sibsagar District Superintendent of Police P.K. Lohia, two journalists, an Army officer and a police constable — were killed when a landmine exploded in the SP’s office during a demonstration of the device before mediapersons today, Official sources said Mr Lohia had organised a media demonstration to show how a landmine worked the mine had been recovered from a hideout of ULFA activists earlier in the day. The device accidentally went off during the demonstration killing five persons including the SP. The journalists were identified as Mr Jiten Chutia of Dainik Agradout and Mr Al-Farid Sazzad of Amar Asom. The young IPS officer
was showing the intricacies of the switching system and
wiring of the landmine when the accident took place. |
US clarification on survey NEW DELHI, Sept 10 (PTI) — The US Embassy here today clarified that the timing of the release of a State Department survey attacking the BJP, the RSS and "other Hindu organisations" for their attitude towards religious conversion and non-Hindus "has no relation to events in any particular country." In a brief statement here, Press Counsellor Kiki Skagen Munshi said "the first annual report on International Religious Freedom was mandated by the International Religious Freedom Act of the USA which was passed on October 27, 1998, and the report covered 194 countries. "The timing of its release was determined by the Act itself and has no relation to events in any particular country," she said. The global survey, released in Washington yesterday, on religious freedom like the one on human rights is mandated by Congress. Rejecting the survey,
the BJP termed it as "mischievous and designed to
tarnish the party's image during general election." |
Sugar import NEW DELHI, Sept 10 — Contesting Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s statement wherein he said that the Government had no role in Sugargate, the Congress today said the public sector undertaking Projects Equipments Corporation of India (PEC) had admitted import of sugar from Pakistan till February this year. Briefing reporters, Congress spokesman, Kapil Sibal asked the Prime Minister “to at least now come out with the truth and tell the nation when the last sugar imports came from Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s mills. “When a Prime Minister himself encourages a policy that hands over valuable foreign exchange to an ISI-backed entity, surely an explanation is owed to the nation”, Mr Sibal asserted. The Prime Minister should tell the nation where is the national interest in all this, he said. Referring to media reports about PEC’s admission of import of sugar from Pakistan, Mr Sibal said that the PEC’s admission contradicts the untenable claim made by Union Law Minister Ram Jethmalani on September 3 this year in Hyderabad that sugar imports from Pakistan ended in September 1998 itself. “Would the Government at least care to tell the nation on which day precisely in July this year the imports stopped. Obviously, the imports must have been stopped through an act of the Government”, Mr Sibal said pointing out to contradictory statements of some of the Ministers of the Vajpayee Government. Earlier lashing out at the Government for its claim of successful economic policies, Mr Sibal said the Vajpayee Government, with a view to duping the electorate, had attempted to send a message to the nation that it had brought down inflation and had claimed that because of its efficiency, inflation had come down and the public was getting relief. The Congress said that
prices of all essential commodities shot up during the
Vajpayee Government despite a record buffer stock of
foodgrains. Mr Sibal said that fall in wholesale price
index (WPI) did not reflect ground realities on the price
front at the consumer level because of faulty indexation. |
Royalty absent from fray GWALIOR: For the people of Gwalior, it is for the first time since 1984 that they will not have to keep in mind the royalty factor while casting their vote. While the Congress, which has fielding Mr Madhavrao Scindia from the constituency on the last three occasions, has this time put up Mr Chandra Mohan Nagori, not really a heavyweight, the BJP has again fielded Mr Jaybhan Singh Pavaiyya, the former Bajrang Dal president. Others in the fray include engineer Phool Singh Braiva of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), who has been steadily gaining ground, Mr Babu Singh Gujjar, alias Baby Singh of the Samajwadi Party,Dr O.P. Singh Yadav of the RJD and Mr Jawal Prasad Kushwaha of the Janata Dal (Secular). Even the SJP and the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasangh, which once had a sizeable hold over Gwalior and had sent Mr V.G. Deshpande to Parliament from here in 1952, have put up candidates. As for Mr Scindia, the shift from Gwalior to Guna people say, is on purpose. They say the big brother wanted a change because of BJP’s Jaybhan Singh Pavaivya’s presence there. The BJP nominee had given him a close run in 1998, even when the local party unit was not united. But with the BJP putting its act together this time, reports here say, it would have been difficult for Mr Scindia to see Parliament for the record ninth time and on the fourth occasion from Gwalior. Mr Scindia’s shift to Guna led to several recalculations. Princess Yashodhara then wanted Gwalior, but the BJP would not oblige. It was then rumoured that she would switch to the Congress to protect the family fiefdom. But the big brother settled the issue by nominating a non-entity, Mr Chandra Mohan Nagori. He, in the process, also ensured that Gwalior would never be won by a non-Scindia for the Congress. Gwalior has always been under the control of either the ABHM or the Bharatiya Jana Sangh on occasions when none from the royal family have contested from here, excepting Mr Radha C. Sharma who won on the Congress ticket from here in 1957. On this occasion, reports here point to a three cornered contest with Mr Phool Singh Braiya expected to spring a surprise. Although the BJP has a strong hold over the region, the BSP, which has been managing around 10 per cent of votes could well be in the race, specially as the royal presence is missing. The Congress seems to be far behind, but could still cut into the BSP votes. The community-wise breakup in Gwalior is Muslims — 6 per cent, Scheduled Castes 21 per cent, Scheduled Tribes 2 per cent and Brahmins 10 to 15 per cent. Others in sizeable strength are Kachis, Aishyas, Rajputs and Ahirs. Chamars/Jatavs with 14 per cent presence and Kolis with 4 per cent presence are among the Scheduled Castes. Seharias with 2 per cent presence among the Scheduled Tribes are the most dominant. This breakup of the
community is actually what gives the BSP a strong
presence in the region. |
Laloo files papers from Madhepura MADHEPURA, Sept 10 (PTI) — Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) President Laloo Prasad Yadav today filed his nomination papers from the Madhepura lok Sabha constituency in Bihar which goes to the polls on October 3. Mr Yadav seeking a second term from the seat filed four sets of papers before the District Magistrate-cum-Returning Officer Lian Kunga at 11 am. Mr Yadav won the seat in 1998 by defeating Janata Dal (U) President Sharad Yadav by over 52,000 votes. Mr Sharad Yadav, who had successfully contested the elections from here in 1989, ‘91 and ‘96 is likely to file his papers on September 13 from the same seat. The RJD leader charged Mr Sharad Yadav with having entered into an “unholy alliance” with the BJP for electoral gains. Mr Yadav told reporters
he would highlight the Centre’s “shabby
handling of the Kargil intrusions and BJP-led National
Democratic Alliance’s communal agenda” during
his election campaign. |
Woman shot at, robbed NEW DELHI, Sept 10 — A 27-year-old woman was shot at and stabbed by three unidentified persons at Paharganj in Central Delhi this afternoon. The assailants came to the house of the victim, Nina Madan, in Aram Bagh in Paharganj on the pretext of getting a donation for a ‘jagran’. They entered the house, tied her up and ransacked the house. The assailants took away some jewellery and cash, the police said. While leaving the house, the assailants shot at her and stabbed her. She was admitted to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, where her condition was stated to be serious. The incident occurred
when the victim was alone in the house. A case of attempt
to murder and robbery has been registered, the police
said. |
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| 5 TDP men killed in
mishap HYDERABAD: Five Telugu Desam Party (TDP) activists, including four women, were killed when their car collided with a lorry near Kappalagunta in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday night, the police said. The victims were returning after attending an election meeting of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu at Bhimadole, the police said. — PTI Tiger kills youth Panchayat
Secretary freed Mizoram tops in
literacy Murder mystery
takes new turn White tigress
dead Girl stabbed to
death Gun factory
unearthed |
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