Excelsior... Nation

Atal Behari Vajpayee

Govt prepared to
face any enquiry: PM

NEW DELHI, Mar 14: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today said the Government is prepared to face any enquiry or probe but only after a......more

Surjit Singh Barnala

Uttaranchal Governor
denies rift with CM

DEHRADUN, Mar 14: Uttaranchal Governor Surjit Singh Barnala today said he had no differences with Chief Minister Nityanand Swami and termed.....more

Tekriwal’s resignation
jolts RJD, NDA offers to
support breakaway group

PATNA, Mar 14: Dealing the embittered RJD a body blow, state BJP chief Sushil Kumar Modi today said the National......more

Orissa CM urged to
remove encroachment
from Jagannath
temple land

BHUBANESWAR, Mar 14: Cutting across party affiliation, as many as 30 MLAs in Orissa have....more

George Fernandes

Mamata threatens to
reconsider support,
seeks Fernandes ouster

NEW DELHI, Mar 14: Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee today threatened that her party would.....more

HC seeks status report
of Jain-hawala
accused persons

NEW DELHI, Mar 14: The Delhi High Court today sought from the Centre a status report on the alleged findings.......more

Laloo Prasad Yadav

RJD to stage dharna today

PATNA, Mar 14: RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav today said his party would organise Dharnas and demonstrations to press for resignation of Atal....more

Heart institute
in memory of
dowry victim

NEW DELHI, Mar 14: President K R Narayanan will tomorrow inaugurate a multi-speciality heart institute hospital established in the memory of a dowry victim. Run by the Ganesh Das Chawla Charitable Trust, the Saroj Hospital was founded ....more

Govt prepared to face any enquiry: PM

NEW DELHI, Mar 14: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today said the Government is prepared to face any enquiry or probe but only after a discussion in Parliament.

Talking to mediapersons after emerging from his office in Parliament house, Mr Vajpayee said "let there be a discussion in the House."

Replying to a question that there was a conspiracy in the disclosure of certain names figuring in the defence deal, the Prime Minister said "Dal Main Kuch Kala To Hai" (there is something fishy).

When asked would the Government agree to a joint parliamentary probe, Mr Vajpayee said the Government would consider the issue (JPC probe), if Parliament agreed to it.

Earlier, Mr Vajpayee had a brain-storming session with his senior cabinet colleagues including Home Minister L K Advani and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan.

Mr Advani, coming out of the Prime Minister Office, said "we have no objection," when asked if the Government was ready to face an enquiry. (UNI)

Uttaranchal Governor denies rift with CM

DEHRADUN, Mar 14: Uttaranchal Governor Surjit Singh Barnala today said he had no differences with Chief Minister Nityanand Swami and termed reports on the same as ‘baseless’.

"I don’t know from where these reports are being cooked up. I am having very healthy and congenial relations with the Chief Minister", Barnala told newsmen here last evening.

Referring to reports in a section of media regarding his report to the Centre about the performance of the State Government, Barnala said he never sent any report which ‘belittled’ the performance of the Government.

"I do send reports to the Centre every month on the State Government. But I have never passed any adverse comments in these reports," Barnala said.

On how he assessed the performance of the four- month-old State Government, the Governor said "I don’t see anything wrong with the Government." (PTI)

Tekriwal’s resignation jolts RJD, NDA offers to support breakaway group

PATNA, Mar 14: Dealing the embittered RJD a body blow, state BJP chief Sushil Kumar Modi today said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would extend unconditional support to the breakaway faction of the ruling party.

The Congress also offered to support the breakaway faction in forming a Government.

The resignation of Finance Minister Shankar Prasad Tekriwal, who put in his papers yesterday, gave a fillip to RJD dissidents aiming to dislodge Chief Minister Rabri Devi.

His resignation is apparently leading the party towards a split and might trigger a chain of resignations by rebel ministers.

Mr Modi today said the countdown of the Rabri Government had begun, and Mr Tekriwal’s resignation was indicative of an imminent split in the party.

He said the NDA would extend unconditional support to the breakaway group in forming an alternative Government to avoid a political vacuum.

The NDA was not in favour of President’s rule, he said, Mr Modi said, adding that RJD working president Ranjan Yadav was the most suitable candidate for the post of Chief Minister.

Mr Modi claimed that yesterday s emergent meeting of the RJD Legislator Party leaders "exposed" its strength as only 85 MLAs attended it.

Meanwhile, the Congress, the RJD’s main ally said Mr Tekriwal’s resignation had jolted the Government. Pradesh Congress Committee president and Bihar Medical Education Minister Shakeel Ahmad termed the resignation as unfortunate, saying the Government had been ‘weakened’.

Mr Ahmad said the Congress would extend unconditional support to the breakaway group of RJD MLAs in forming a Government if the Rabri Devi Government collapsed.

To keep communal forces at bay, the Congress might think of going with the Samata Party, Lok Jan Shakti and Janata Dal (U), but only if they severed ties with the BJP, he added.

Meanwhile, Governor V C Pande today accepted the resignation of the Finance Minister. It was forwarded to him by Mrs Rabri Devi yesterday. Mr Tekriwal had also submitted his resignation to the Governor for acceptance.

RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav was trying to mobilise all ten independent MLAs, and political observers feel he might tempt them with a berth in the cabinet.

Despite demands by loyalists seeking action against the rebel group, the RJD chief was avoiding initiating extreme steps.

Mr Tekriwal was, however, waiting for his expulsion from the party, which he said, will pave the way for him to launch a tirade for change in the leadership.

The Finance Minister’s resignation came at a time when Mr Yadav needed the moral support of his party colleagues. (UNI)

Mamata threatens to reconsider support, seeks Fernandes ouster

NEW DELHI, Mar 14: Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee today threatened that her party would reconsider support to NDA Government unless "the resignation" of Defence Minister George Fernandes is accepted and the allegations made in the video footage are investigated.

In a letter to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee released to the press, Banerjee said that Fernandes has resigned owning moral responsibility in the highest traditions of democratic functioning. His resignation should be accepted pending investigation, she said.

There has been no official confirmation in the wake of the expose that Fernandes has resigned but sources close to him had said that he had offered to resign but the cabinet turned it down.

Demanding a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee or a sitting Supreme Court Judge or CBI, Banerjee said since the entire issue related to defence deals, all the officials named in the video footage must not continue in office.

Since lapse of time was causing irreparable damage to the image of the Government and the country internationally, it was essential that all the steps suggested by her should be initiated by the Government, Banerjee said, adding "in case such actions are not taken, All India Trinamool Congress will be left with no alternative but to reconsider continuing its support to the NDA Government."

"Specific allegations have also been made in the video footage and the transcript against certain highly placed officials. The whole nation is convinced about the integrity of the Prime Minister. No bureaucrat should be allowed to tarnish that. Officials whose names figure must be asked to go till the investigations are over," she said.

Her party would help in restoring the damaged image of the Government in people’s mind, Banerjee said.

Banerjee, who held a meeting with all her party MPs and other leaders this morning, said the "very foundation of Government’s functioning depends on people’s faith and their perception about it."

"It is in an hour of crisis like this, that the Government is expected to take immediate action to restore the faith of the people," she said.

Demanding that no guilty person "however highly placed he is" should be spared, the Trinamool chief said those making such serious charges must also be asked to conclusively prove their allegations, failing which they also must be proceeded against as per the law.

Banerjee’s letter comes in the backdrop of her decision last night not to attend the meeting of the union cabinet, soon after the portal’s charges became known. (PTI)

HC seeks status report of Jain-hawala accused persons

NEW DELHI, Mar 14: The Delhi High Court today sought from the Centre a status report on the alleged findings of Income Tax Department that 17 politicians and bureaucrats, chargesheeted by CBI in the Jain-hawala case, had acquired income disproportionate to their known sources of income.

The 17 probed by Income Tax Department in this regard included Union Ministers Yashwant Sinha, L K Advani, Sharad Yadav and Ajit Panja.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Arijit Passayat and Justice D K Jain sought status report on the latest position of the case after Solicitor General Harish Salve said "the probe in the matter was almost over".

Pleading for a chamber hearing of a petition seeking action against these persons, Salve said "we have to explain the procedure" adopted in this regard.

He said in the status report, the latest position would be given but it might not be possible to explain what was the procedure followed by the tax authorities.

Following his request, the court adjourned the hearing on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by local scribe O P Tapas to March 20.

Tapas in his petition had sought follow up action against the 17 persons regarding tax recoveries, on the ground that two it officers had prepared separate investigation reports against them, which stated that their income during 1989-91 was found to be disproportionate to their known sources of income. (PTI)

RJD to stage dharna today

PATNA, Mar 14: RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav today said his party would organise Dharnas and demonstrations to press for resignation of Atal Behari Vajpayee Ministry and immediate arrest of Defence Minister George Fernandes, Samata Party president Jaya Jaitly, and BJP president Bangaru Laxman for alleged involvement in the fictitious defence deals.

All those involved including politicians, ministers, bureaucrats be arrested and sent to Tihar Jail, Yadav said while congratulating tehelka.Com for exposing the deals.

He said everything captured in the camera had exposed those involved in the racket.

Alleging that the country’s security was not safe in the hands of Vajpayee Government, Yadav said the president should ask the Government to resign if it did not do so on its own following serious graft charges.

Yadav said there was no need for an inquiry into the allegations since the expose had been established by video footage.

He announced that his party activists would stage dharnas and demonstrations throughout Bihar tomorrow to force resignation of "anti-nation and anti-people Vajpayee Ministry" and immediate arrest of those involved in the deal. (PTI)

Heart institute in memory of dowry victim

NEW DELHI, Mar 14: President K R Narayanan will tomorrow inaugurate a multi-speciality heart institute hospital established in the memory of a dowry victim.

Run by the Ganesh Das Chawla Charitable Trust, the Saroj Hospital was founded by Mr Ganesh Das Chawla in 1969 in the memory of his daughter Saroj, a victim of dowry harassment.

The cardiology team is headed by Dr Deepak Natarajan, cardiologist to the President of India and formerly chief of Cardiology and Additional Medical Superintendent of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital here.

The need to establish the institute, equipped with ultra modern equipment and supported by cardiologists and cardio vascular surgeons, was felt keeping in mind the prevalence of ischemia heart disease among 14 lakh Indians.

Addressing a press conference last night, Dr Natrajan said cardiac health care will be available through the most modern state of art equipment designed for identifying and diagnosing cardiac ailments. A state of the art cardiac catherization laboratory has been installed for diagnosis and percutaneous cardiac interventions. (UNI)