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Minor
reshuffle in portfolios NEW DELHI, Nov 7: Uma Bharti was today sworn-in as a Cabinet Minister and Law Minister Arun Jaitely was elevated to Cabinet rank in a minor expansion and reshuffle of portfolios in the Vajpayee cabinet, but BJP’s tribal leader Karia Munda declined to join the ministry. BJP MP from Uttaranchal B C Khanduri was sworn in as Minister of State with Independent Charge of Road Transport and Highways, carved out of Surface Transport Ministry. In the reshuffle of portfolios, Uma Bharti, who resigned early this year as Minister of State, has got back Sports and Youth Affairs as a Cabinet Minister. S S Dhindsa, who held this portfolio, has been shifted to Chemicals and Fertilisers. Sundarlal Patwa, Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, has been moved to Ministry of Mines. President K R Narayanan administered oath of office to the new ministers at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan in the presence of Vajpayee, Home Minister L K Advani and several other ministers and MPs With this expansion, the present strength of the Vajpayee Ministry is 75— 30 with Cabinet rank, seven Ministers of State with independent charge and 38 Ministers of State. The Vajpayee Ministry was last expanded on September 30 when six BJP members including Sushma Swaraj and Venkaiah Naidu, both with Cabinet rank, were inducted. Asked about Munda’s refusal to take oath, Vajpayee told reporters shortly after the swearing-in ceremony that perhaps, he wanted to work in State politics. Party sources, however, earlier said Munda was unhappy over being offered the position of MoS after being a Cabinet minister in the 13-day old Vajpayee Government in 1996. BJP vice president Kailashpati Mishra told reporters the decision to induct Munda was taken in a haste. Munda wanted more time to consider whether to join the Government or continue as a party vice president, he said adding this had been conveyed to Vajpayee this morning. Both Munda and Khanduri were also in the race for the Chief Ministership of Jharkhand and Uttaranchal respectively. Bharti had resigned to concentrate on party agitation against Congress rule in Madhya Pradesh and later sent her resignation from Lok Sabha and announced self-imposed political exile. She recently re-considered her decision after talks with Vajpayee and Advani and took back her resignation as MP. Babulal Marandi had resigned as Minister of State yesterday to make himself available for heading the NDA Government in Jharkhand. But the race for the top post has assumed interesting dimensions with Munda declining to join the Vajpayee Ministry. Mishra said the issue of Chief Ministership of Jharkhand is still open and the party was considering the names of both aspirants. Jaitley, who has emerged as a pointsman for Vajpayee, has also been given additional charge of Shipping which was earlier clubbed with the Surface Transport Ministry. A Rashtrapati Bhavan communique issued tonight said Arun Shourie will assist Prime Minister as Minister of State in the Ministries of Planning, Statistics and Programme Implementation. He will also assist Vajpayee in the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions in addition holding independent charge of the Department of Disinvestment. Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav has been shifted from Surface Transport to Ministry of Shipping as Minister of State. Meanwhile, newly-inducted Cabinet Minister Uma Bharti, who had quit active politics, today vowed not to throw tantrums again and said she would continue in politics all her life. I will not throw tantrums any more. I have decided to be in politics till I am alive. It is a new birth for me, Bharati told reporters after being sworn-in at Rashtrapati Bhavan. But the BJP fire-brand leader asserted she as cabinet minister, would launch a crusade to ensure reservation in the Lok Sabha for women belonging to backward classes and also take up the cause of the poor and the weaker sections on a war-footing. Asked what led to her return to politics after a self-imposed exile which saw her going to Kedarnath, Bharti said there were certain reasons which forced me to return to politics. Asked to elaborate, she said there were some people whom I could not say no and adopted the course of returning to politics. But I cannot name anyone .... They are both in politics and outside. Maintaining it was solely her decision to resume political life, she said I left it to my elders whether I should be in the Government or given party work. Bharti had last month laid siege of the New Delhi office of a magazine which published remarks attributed to her that she had been in love with BJP leader K N Govindacharya. Bharti had denied having given the interview. (PTI) |
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3 KZF activists arrested Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 7: Jammu Police today confirmed a nexus between Kashmiri and Punjab militants, which was working under the command of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and was involved in smuggling of weaponry and narcotics. The nexus was confirmed with the arrest of three activists of Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF Panjwar Group) from Kathua recently. All of them were working in-league with Kashmiri militants. Addressing a press conference this evening, IGP Jammu Zone R V Raju and DIG Jammu-Kathua Range Dr S P Vaid said there were confirmed reports of a nexus existing among Punjab and Kashmiri militants. Punjab militants were also involved in infiltration and smuggling of weapons and narcotics through the International Border in Jammu sector, Raju said. Three militants, who were arrested from Kathua recently have been identified as, Hardev Singh alias Sanju and Sartaj Singh alias Raja, both residents of Kathua and Lakhwinder Singh alias Lakha, a resident of Gurdaspur district in Punjab. Lakha was a dismissed constable of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The trio were working in collusion with each other and were activists of KZF Panjwar Group. They had their area of operation in both Jammu and Punjab. From their possession, police recovered 10 kgs heroin, one AK-47 rifle, two pistols, a large quantity of RDX, fake currency and ammunition. Police said Raja was a frequent visitor to Pakistan and used to smuggle arms and narcotics consignments for both Kashmiri and Punjab militants. They were working for the ISI for the past quite sometime but their activities remained unnoticed. According to police, a couple of activists of KZF Panjwar group were also arrested by police in New Delhi. Besides 25 kg deadly RDX, some other arms and fake Indian currency was also recovered at the instance of arrested KZF activists in the Union capital. Admitting that infiltration of Pakistan-sponsored militants was on the increase on the IB between Kathua-Jammu, the IGP Jammu, however, said that 70 militants were killed on the border during infiltration attempts this year so far. In Jammu province, an approximated 700 dreaded militants have been killed this year so far, he added. Replying to a question, Raju said Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Harkat-ul-Jehad Islami (HUJI), Tehreek-ul-Jehad Islami (TJI), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Hizbul Mujahideen outfits were active in the province. Raju said huge seizures of arms and explosives have been effected along Jammu province this year. The Border Police of Jammu have also seized a large quantity of arms, ammunition, explosives and fake Indian currency during the last couple of months. Besides on the basis of Border Police information, some militants were also arrested in New Delhi and recoveries made from them. |
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Militants fear force
parents to marry daughters in teen-age From Dinesh Manhotra MAHORE, Nov 7: Even as the hapless parents were marrying their daughters in teen-ages to ‘dispose-off’ their responsibility due to the fear of so-called Mujahideens, militants were now resorting to kidnapping married women, with whom they failed to marry, to fulfill their sexual desire. In the intervening night of November 5 and 6, a group of five militants, including two locals, with assault riffles in their hands, barged into the house of one Mohammed Rafiq of Sheladada village of this tehsil. Two of them dragged Mohammed Rafiq out of the house and threw him in the fields after torturing him brutally. The remaining three ‘Mujahideens’ made abortive attempt to rape Gulzar Bano, 20, wife of Mohammed Rafiq at gun point. Gulzar, who was five month pregnant, forcibly resisted militants’ attempt. Following their failure to accomplish their inhuman task, the militants lobbed grenades through chimney of the house. As the poor woman rushed out of the house after explosion of the grenades the brave ‘Mujahideens’ who were standing out-side resorted to indiscriminate firing with sophisticated weapons on the pregnant woman, killing her on spot. Giving excuse of executing this inhuman act, the militants dubbed the deceased pregnant woman as ‘informer’. Giving detail of the incident, Defence sources said that Gulzar Banu was daughter of Rehana Bano whom militants brutally butchered following her refusal to marry her two young daughters with foreign mercenaries. Some foreign militants tried to forcible marry Jamila and Gulzar, daughters of Rehana Bano. In the intervening night of January 19 and 20, militants had entered into the house of Rehana and asked her to prepare meal for them. Smelling some foul play, the alert woman, somehow, helped her daughters to whisk away from the back-door and saved them from militants’ clutches. Enraged over the act of a mother to protect her young daughters, the Mujahideens dragged the poor woman out side and brutally butchered her. To protect the girls from militants, who were hell bent to forcibly marry them, some relatives, somehow, married both the sisters. Even after their marriages militants have been chasing them in their in-laws houses as they wanted to teach a lesson to those who dared to refuse their diktats. On the intervening night of November 5 and 6, militants got an opportunity. Though they failed to accomplish their inhuman act, they killed the pregnant woman to take their revenge. Gulzar or Rehana Bano’s case is not an isolated case, forcible marriages are routine affair in this tehsil which was once considered as a hot-bed of militancy. About 60 forcible marriages by militants have been reported at various police and army posts during the past one year. "Fearing wreath of the militants, initially both parents and women were usually trying to hide information about forcible marriages but now they are informing security forces about the same ", said SDPO, Mahore Mr Sanjay Sharma. He said that fear of militants and humiliation normally prevent villagers from coming out openly about these incidents. Mr Sharma said that they mostly come to know about these cases after death of militants. Most of these women, with whom militants forcibly married, have now undergone a state of depression and some of them are even mentally disturbed. On April this year, a group of Lashkar-e-Toiba militants barged into the house of one Mohammed Ikram in Bassan village of this tehsil. Militants tied him to a tree and tortured him till he agreed to marry his daughter Rashida Begum to Aftab, a Pakistani mercenary. Three days after the marriage Aftab was killed in an encounter. Since then Rashida is sitting at her father’s house with depression. Every effort of her father to get her remarried went awry as no one was ready to marry her due to the fear of militants. As the number of forcible marriages was on the rise, the hapless parents of girls have started marrying their daughters in teen-ages. "How can a father give the hand of his daughter to a person whose life is full of uncertainties and who has no respect of human values and relations", said Rehmat-Ullah, father of two daughters. Fear gripped parents as militants now resorted to making attempts to kidnap married women with whom they failed to get married. |
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Two cops hurt; 35 kg RDX
seized Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 7: Poonch Brigade and Mandi police, in a joint operation this afternoon, gunned down six militants of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) outfit and recovered six assault rifles besides other weaponry from their possession. Five militants were still holed-up in the operation. Meanwhile, troops also recovered 35 kg RDX in another search operation in village Meenan in Lassana Top area today. DIG Rajouri-Poonch range Ram Lubaya said SHO Mandi police station got a specific information from civilians that a big group of 11 militants was hiding in Sathra Top area of Mandi. Immediately after getting the tip off, police party swung into action, cordoned off the area and launched a search operation. In a hand-to-hand fight with the militants, police personnel killed a militant with rifle butts and gunned down another. In the process, an Armed Police constable Baldev Singh and Special Police Officer (SPO) Mashkoor Ahmed were injured. They have been hospitalised. Meanwhile, troops of 8 JAK Li, 8 Dogra and Rajputana Rifles under the command of Poonch Brigade also rushed to the village and stepped-up the operation. In the exchange of fierce gun-fighting, army jawans eliminated four more militants taking the toll to six. No casualty was reported on army side. Poonch Brigade Commander Brig W J B Sturgeon and SSP Poonch Pankaj Saxena visited the scene of encounter and lauded the efforts of army and police in killing six hardcore foreign mercenaries affiliated with Masood Azhar’s Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit. Recoveries made from the scene of gun-fight include six AK-47 rifles besides a large quantity of ammunition, explosive devices and wireless sets. Bodies of all six slain militants have been recovered from the scene of encounter but not identified so far. Sources said all of them were believed to be foreign mercenaries, hailing from Pakistan. Sources said atleast five more militants were still holed-up in Sathra Top village but had managed to hide themselves in a forest area. Army and police personnel continued searches in the village to trap and kill the remaining militants. Officials were confident of more successes by tomorrow morning. Another search operation was carried out by army personnel at village Meenan in Lassana Top area this morning on the basis of a tip off about militants’ presence. However, by the time, troops reached the village the militants had escaped to a forest area. From the spot, army recovered 35 kg of deadly RDX besides other arms and ammunition. Operation in the village was still going on with army personnel hunting the fleeing militants, who numbered three to four. |
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Two ultras, Gujjar, SPO
killed Excelsior Correspondent UDHAMPUR, Nov 7: Militants, suspected to be Fidayeens, attacked Rashtriya Rifles camp at Dessa in Doda district last night killing an army jawan while two militants, a Gujjar and a Special Police Officer (SPO) were killed in separate incidents in Udhampur-Doda range overnight. According to official sources, the militants opened firing on a camp of 10 Rashtriya Rifles at Dessa late last night killing a Sentry on duty Sandeep Roger on the spot. Army personnel from inside the camp retaliated forcing the militants to flee. Militants reportedly didn’t suffer any casualty in the operation. Body of the deceased army jawan was today sent to his native town after the completion of legal formalities. Meanwhile, BSF and police today carried out a joint search operation at village Mangloi in Sangaldan area under the jurisdiction of Gool police station and gunned down two militants. The operation was launched on a tip off that militants were moving in the village. BSF surrounded the village and gunned down both the militants in a swiftly executed operation. Slain militants have been identified as Jassi Mohd son of Jamal Din of Afghanistan and Abu Hassan of Pakistan. Two AK rifles, four AK magazines, one wireless set and a tape recorder were recovered from the possession of slain militants. A search operation was still going on in the area following reports that some more militants were present in the village. In another incident of militants’ barbarism, the ultras kidnapped two Gujjars from village Gemslam in Mahore tehsil last night and beat one of them to death while causing serious injuries to another. Identified as Mohd Yaqub son of Qadir Gujjar and Mir Hussain, the Gujjars were kidnapped by the militants and taken to a forest area where Mohd Yaqub was beaten to death. Mir Hussain was seriously injured. Local people who spotted the injured shifted him to a BSF medical camp where his condition was stated to be critical. Local people have resented the killing of a Gujjar by the militants. BSF authorities have launched a search operation in the village to track down the militants involved in the killing of a Gujjar. A Special Police Officer (SPO) identified as Baldev Singh son of Sant Ram, a resident of Kantha Morh, Dalwa was found dead along Jaggar nullah in Dharamkund area of Ramban tehsil this morning. The SPO was missing from October 30 from the village. A .303 rifle and 50 cartridges, which had been issued to the SPO in his capacity as a Village Defence Committee (VDC) member, were also recovered from his possession. His body was taken to hospital and handed over to his family after post-mortem. |
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Lone waiting Centre's nod to attend son's marriage NEW DELHI, Nov 7: Hurriyat leader Prof Abdul Ghani Lone, who has been camping in the capital for the past three days for permission to attend his son’s wedding in Pakistan, has approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for help. Prof Lone’s son, Sajjad, is to wed JKLF chairman Amanullah Khan’s daughter Asma in Pakistan on November 20. While Prof Lone’s entire family has left for Pakistan, he himself is still waiting for clearance of passport by the External Affairs Ministry. The Hurriyat leader told UNI that he had approached the NHRC yesterday but had not got any response so far either from the Commission or from the Ministry of External Affairs. He hoped that the NHRC would do something within a couple of days. He said he had put in an application at the Regional Passport Office (RPO) in Srinagar "a long time back" intimating them about his son’s wedding. He received a reply on September 19 saying that the application had been forwarded to the Ministry of External Affairs. A formal letter had also been sent to the Ministry of External Affairs by the Hurriyat leadership. However, nothing had been done so far. Alongwith Prof Lone five other senior leaders of the Hurriyat have applied for passports to attend the wedding. They include Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, Yaseen Malik, Syed Ali Shah Gilani, Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat and Sheikh Abdul Aziz. Meanwhile, Home Ministry officials are tight-lipped about the entire issue. A senior Home Ministry official said Prof Lone had not so far formally applied for the permission. However, Prof Lone, said he can only apply to the External Affairs Ministry and it is the responsibility of the latter to inform the Home Ministry. (UNI) |
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Militants hijack
ambulance at Lal Ded Excelsior Special Correspondent SRINAGAR. Nov 7: Even as security forces have eliminated at least seven militants of two pro-Pakistan militant outfits in Kashmir valley since last evening, an ambulance of Lal Ded Hospital disappeared tonight in mysterious circumstances and security forces and Police have been put on alert throughout the Valley. A driver of Lal Ded Hospital reported to Police late this evening that militants snatched away his staff ambulance vehicle well inside the unguarded premises of the maternity hospital at 9.30 p.m. Immediately, authorities sounded red-alert throughout the Valley and directed all Police stations, pickets, paramilitary posts and Army formations to seize the vehicle wherever seen. Bearing registration number JK01-E-4033, the ambulance was untraced till late tonight. Authorities were particularly disturbed over the possible use of the ambulance at the Fatiha ceremony of the slain Shia leader Aga Syed Mehdi at Budgam tomorrow as there were apprehensions that militants could plant explosives in it. Police are also investigating whether the driver had lent the vehicle to the saboteurs wilfully or it had actually been hijacked from the hospital premises. Official sources told EXCELSIOR that on the basis of a specific information, troops of 1/9 GR alongwith SOG Vilgam raided the house of one Ghulam Qadir Bhat at Solina-Shumnag in Kupwara-Trehgam belt of north Kashmir. According to the tip-off, a group of Lashkar-e-Toiba militants were present at Bhat’s house. During the operation, troops destroyed the targetted structure and four militants got killed. Two of them were believed to be local cadres and two more Pakistani nationals. However, residents were certain that all the four could be Kashmiris. Four AK-56 rifles, one UBGL, one rifle grenade gun and a wireless set were claimed to have been recovered from the devastated site of encounter. Sources said that the identities of the militants killed would be ascertained tomorrow. Troops of 2-Para and SOG Tangmarg intercepted a group of militants at Narakhar village, near Kunzar, in Tangmarg belt late last night. Exchange of fire took place for about one hour in which two local militants got killed. They were identified as Meraj-ud-din Ganai S/o Abdul Aziz Ganai of Gokahama (Kunzar) and Riyaz Ahmed Hajam S/o Ghulam Mohammad Hajam R/o Panditpora. Students of a higher secondary school, they had disappeared from their respectives home in August and September last. They seemed to have been trained in Bandipore forest area. Police had registered their missing reports lodged by parents. One militant escaped with gunshot wounds in his foot. This morning, with the trail of blood, troops found the militant hiding at the nearby hamlet of Gund-e-Maqsood. As the troops zeroed in on him, he threw grenades and fired in air. Later, he too was eliminated in action. He was identified as Hussain Akhtar alias Ansaar Bhai R/o Daira Ismail Khan, Pakistan. He was believed to be commander of his group. Two AK-56 rifles, one pistol, 3 UBGLs, 7 hand grenades and 19 rifle grenades were recovered from the two spots of encounter. Reinforcements also rushed from 3-Field Regiment and BSF 194 Bn. Sources said that there was no civilian or troops’ casualty. The militants killed in action were believed to be members of Jaish-e-Mohammad. Militants targetted a vehicle of BSF 151 Bn on Kulgam-Noorabad road in Damhal Hanjipora area in south Kashmir. However, the landmine missed the intended target. Still, two BSF soldiers sustained injuries and the vehicle suffered minor damage. Yet another bomb blast occurred at the community graveyard of Nihalpora in Pattan. There were no reports of any damage. |
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ISI agents nabbed, Rs 9 cr heroin, weapons seized AMRITSAR, Nov 7: Punjab Police arrested four operatives of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency and Babbar Khalsa terrorist outfit and seized from them explosives, weapons and heroin worth Rs 9 crore, State Director General of Police Sarabjeet Singh said today. Singh told reporters here that acting on prior information, the four were nabbed while crossing into India from Lopoke area. He said two AK-47 guns, four pistols, 7.50 kg of explosives, 10 detonators, nine packets of heroin worth Rs nine crore in international market and Rs two lakh in fake currency had been recovered from the arrested persons. A case has been registered in this connection. Singh said the arrested persons acted as couriers of terrorists and the weapons and explosives were meant for carrying out sabotage and target killings in Punjab. He said the recovery of heroin and fake currency proved beyond doubt that ISI was sponsoring narco-terrorism in Punjab. (PTI) |
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Nityanand Swamy likely to be Uttaranchal CM NEW DELHI, Nov 7: Senior BJP leader Nityanand Swamy is likely to be the first Chief Minister of the new hill State of Uttaranchal scheduled to come into being tomorrow, party sources said today. A meeting of BJP’s Uttaranchal legislators in Dehradun tomorrow is expected to elect Swamy, chairman of UP Legislative Council, as their leader in the presence of BJP vice president Pyarelal Khandelwal. The move to select Swamy for the Chief Minister’s post followed the demand by MLAs that the top post should go to only a person from among them. The MLAs had held discussions with the BJP central leadership here on the issue and pressed that no person, who is not an MLA, be given the post. Union Home Minister L K Advani is expected to attend the swearing-in of Governor Surjit Singh Barnala. Others in contention for the top post included Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Bhuvan Chand Khanduri, BJP chief whip in Lok Sabha, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman K C Pant and Bhagat Singh Keshyari, the sources said. (PTI) |
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HC suspends sentencing of Rao,
Buta in JMM NEW DELHI, Nov 7: The Delhi High Court today suspended a trial court’s verdict sentencing former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao and former Union Minister Buta Singh to three years Rigorous Imprisonment in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MPs bribery case. Justice R S Sodhi, however, stayed the October 12 order of Special CBI Judge Ajit Bharihoke but extended their bails on one surety and a bond of Rs 10,000 each. The sentences have been suspended till pendency of their appeals in the High Court. Justice Sodhi said Mr Rao and Mr Singh should check with the court in December-end when the matter can be taken up for hearing. Earlier, counsel for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) A K Dutt submitted before the court that the sentences should not be suspended if the court is going in for an early hearing of the appeals. Mr Rao’s counsel R K Anand and Mr Singh’s counsel Rajendra Singh argued that both convictions were based on the statement of Shailendra Mahato who should not have been accepted as approver under Article 105 of the Constitution and who had given contradictory statements during the hearing in the trial court. Both Mr Rao and Mr Singh were sentenced to three years rigorous imprisonment on October 12 by a trial court. But Mr Bharihoke had granted interim bail to the two till November 8 to enable them to file appeals. Mr Singh and Mr Rao were convicted on September 29 for criminal conspiracy and corruption when the CBI special court held them guilty in the JMM MPs bribery case. The case relates to the bribing of opposition Members of Parliament to defeat the July 28, 1993 no confidence motion against the then Congress Government headed by Mr Rao. Both the accused were sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs one lakh for offences punishable under Section 120 B of the Indian Penal Code (Criminal Conspiracy) read with Sections 7, 12, 13(2) and 13(1)(D) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) 1988. They were also sentenced to imprisonment of three years and a fine of Rs one lakh for offences punishable under Section 12 of the PCA. Both sentences are to run concurrently. If they do not pay the fines, the sentences will be extended by six months. In his judgement, Mr Bharihoke had said that Mr Singh and Mr Rao committed a crime of grave nature. "By bribing JMM MPs, accused P V Narasimha Rao with the help of Buta Singh have tried to purchase the right to remain in power and rule the country. The act by its very nature amounts to cutting the roots of democratic system provided by the Indian Constitution." While convicting the two Congress leaders, the trial court had acquitted nine others on the basis of benefit of doubt. They were former Union Ministers Satish Sharma and Ajit Singh, former Chief Ministers Bhajan Lal of Haryana and Veerappa Moily of Karnataka, Mr V Rajeshwar Rao, a relative of Mr Narasimha Rao, Mr H M Revenna and Mr Ramalinga Reddy (former Karnataka Ministers in the Moily Cabinet) and Bangalore-based liquor barons D K Adikeshavalu and M Thimme Gowda. (UNI) |
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PM walks unaided in swearing-in ceremony NEW DELHI, Nov 7: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a picture of health as he walked unaided to attend the swearing in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan, his first public appearance outside his residence after the October 10 knee operation. Mr Vajpayee, whose only other outing after coming back from Mumbai on October 22 was a private call on President K R Narayanan to wish him on his birthday, looked cheerful and fit as he walked slowly but steadily into Ashoka Hall without using any support. Later talking to a battery of reporters and cameramen, he brushed off the controversy created by Mr Karia Munda not taking oath as Minister by saying that the BJP tribal leader perhaps felt it more important to serve the Jharkhand State. "Shayad Woh Apne Rajya Ki Seva Karna Chahete Hain", Mr Vajpayee said. Asked how Ms Uma Bharti, who had the tendency of resigning, been re-inducted into the Cabinet, Mr Vajpayee smiled and said "she’s standing at the back. Ask her". Immediately after fielding two questions from the media, Mr Vajpayee left for his residence. (UNI) |
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CHENNAI, Nov 7: The father of ‘green revolution’ and elder statesman C Subramaniam died here today after a brief illness. He was 90. He is survived by wife, a son and two daughters. Subramaniam, one of the leading lights of freedom movement in Tamil Nadu, breathed his last while being taken to hospital at 1.00 pm, his son said. Affectionately called CS by his admirers, Subramaniam, who was conferred Bharat Ratna for his services to the nation, had occupied many important posts at the Centre and was Maharashtra Governor from 1990 to 1993. One of the best administrators in the country, he started his political career as a member of the Constituent Assembly. He served under four Prime Ministers — Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi and Charan Singh -besides being the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission. A man with varied interests, he was a former president of the All India Lawn Tennis Association and chairman of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan till the end. His funeral would be held tomorrow, his family announced. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, accompanied by his Cabinet collegues, placed a wreath on the body of the departed leader. (PTI) |
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Pak forcing OIC to play assertive role on Kashmir DOHA, Nov 7: Pakistan is making serious efforts to seek support of a majority of Muslim countries to force the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) to play an assertive role in the Kashmir issue, but the 55-member group appears hesitant to come out strongly against India. Pakistani senior officials are in touch with Muslim countries to enlist their support on the Kashmir issue, which has triggered three major wars between India and Pakistan. In fact Chief Executive Gen Pervez Musharraf who paid a visit to Kazakhastan and some other Central Asian countries two days ago also discussed the Kashmir issue with them and sought their positive support in the OIC. However, Qater, which hosts the 9th summit of the OIC here, is of the opinion that OIC member- nations should "tread carefuly and cautiously" on the Kashmir issue. OIC sources, however, said that the Kashmir issue pending unresolved between India and Pakistan will come up for discussion and debate. Gen Musharraf, who is heading a 20 - member delegation to the summit, is expected to rake up the Kashmir issue. Pakistan Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar is also participating in the Ministerial level meeting of the OIC, which will finalise agenda of the summit, beginning November 12. Pakistan is impressing upon member nations to give due consideration to the Kashmir issue along with the Palestinian problem. Infact the Pakistan Government held an international Islamic conference in Islamabad a few days back to drum-up support of the Muslim clergy on the Kashmir issue. The conference attracted religious scholars from many Islamic countries. This time no leader of the All Party Hurriyat Conference is expected to attend the summit. Moulvi Omer Farooq and Maulanna Abbas Ansari, prominent Hurriyat leaders, attended OIC in Morocco some years back. Besides Qatar, many Islamic nations are in favour of taking a moderate stand on the Kashmir issue in view of historical and friendly ties with India. But some nations are dismayed over the Vajpayee regime’s growing relations with Israel in recent months and feel Indian support to the Palestinian cause was not forthcoming. India has a been strong supporter of the Palestinian cause in the past, but this time its approach towards the problem was not to the liking of some Arab countries, an Arab official said. (UNI) |
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GPCP splinter group MLAs join BJP PANAJI, Nov 7: Two days ahead of the vote of confidence in the State Assembly on Thursday, the Manohar Parrikar Government in Goa today got a boost when two Goa Peoples Congress Party (GPCP) (Venkatesh group) MLAs joined BJP, lead partner in the State’s ruling coalition. "Venkatesh Desai and Francisco Desouza were admitted into the BJP today after their applications seeking entry into the party were approved", State unit BJP president Laxmikant Parsekar told PTI. They were enrolled as primary members of BJP for three years, Parsekar said, adding with the two joining the party, its strength in the 40-member House has gone up to 20. Earlier, in another development, the duo "split" the four-member GPCP (Venkatesh group) and communicated the same to the Speaker Pratapsingh Rane today, Legislature Department sources said. Neither Venkatesh nor Desouza were available for comments. At the height of last month’s political developments in the State, Venkatesh Dessai, Francisco Desouza, Aleixo Sequeira and Arecio Desouza, who were Ministers in the Francisco Sardinha Government, resigned and formed a separate group after breaking away from GPCP led by former Chief Minister Francisco Sardinha. The 11-month old Sardinha Government then quit ahead of a trust vote and the Manohar Parrikar led BJP Government was sworn in. Governor Mohd Fazal had asked Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to prove his majority in the State Assembly within 21 days. (PTI) |
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