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Advani to appear before NEW DELHI, May 13: Home Minister L K Advani will appear tomorrow before the Liberhan......more
NEW DELHI, May 13: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today left on a four-day official visit to.....more
‘Electoral reverses will NEW DELHI, May 13: Bharatiya Janata Party president K Jana Krishnamurthy today......more |
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PMSCP merges with BJP NEW DELHI, May 13: The Progressive Manipur State Congress Party (PMSCP) with 18 MLAs has merged with the Bharatiya Janata Party raising its strength to 26 in the 60-member State Assembly.....more Capital punishment: NEW DELHI, May 13: Stating that the Capital Punishment Act in Pakistan has given the "state a licence to kill", a leading Pakistani daily has stressed the need for its dispassionate examination to avoid miscarriage of justice.......more Frank refuses to comment LONDON, May 13: Katherine Frank, author of a controversial book on Indira Gandhi, today declined ....more SAD criticised for NEW DELHI, May 13: Former Union Minister B S Ramoowalia has criticised the Shiromani Akali ....more Rajasthan Govt JAIPUR, May 13: The Rajasthan Government is undertaking the biggest ever relief operation to fight the third successive severe drought that has hit this desert state. More than Rs 150 crore has been spend, till the last month, on various relief activities, according to State Relief ......more |
Advani to appear before Liberhan Commission today NEW DELHI, May 13: Home Minister L K Advani will appear tomorrow before the Liberhan Commission of inquiry probing the December 2, 1992 demolition of Babri Mosque in Ayodhya to explain his role in the incident. Mr Advani, who had launched a movement in support of the Ram Temple construction in Ayodhya in the beginning of 1990s, was present in the Ramjanam Bhoomi-Babri Masjid complex on the fateful day. The BJP leader, who recently got a legal reprive as the CBI special court in Lucknow dropped charges against him in the matter, had played a significant role in mobilising public support for the Ram Temple construction in Ayodhya through his ‘Rath Yatras’. During his earlier deposition before the commission last month, the BJP leader had said that the demolition was the result of the anger of Karsevaks and he was ‘pained and dejected’ by their act. He said that karsevaks took the ‘wrongful course’ as they felt that leaders of the Ayodhya movement will not be able to get the temple built in accordance with the law. "So in their impatience they adopted to a wrongful course. And I felt dejected, pained and distressed by the turn of the events." He had also claimed that not only a ‘de-facto’ but a ‘de-jure’ temple was existing in Ayodhya. Mr Advani said that no ‘Namaz’ was being offered at the site of the disputed structure since the 1950s and the Muslims also were not treating it like a mosque. Even the courts had also accepted that no ‘Namaz’ was being offered there, he had said. However, he had clarified that by describing the structure as a "de jure temple"he was not ruling out the possibility of the courts deciding something else finally in this regard. All he meant was that political parties which were emphasising that a mosque should be re-built at the same spot had also not raised this demand during the 1996, 1998 and 1999 general elections as also the last Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. According to the Home Minister, Ayodhya issue can only be solved through legislation or negotiations and not by litigation. "Throughout the BJP’s participation in the movement, we kept on telling people and the Government that there were only two ways for settlement of the issue — one through talks and the other through an appropriate legislation, if the talks failed". Admitting that he and other leaders failed to assess the ‘anger’ of ‘Karsevaks’, Mr Advani had also blamed the then Narasimha Rao Government for the events of December 6, 1992 by not seeking an early verdict on Karseva. "If the Government had approached the high court and sought an early verdict, the demolition may not have taken place," he observed. Despite pleas and persuation form all of them and request by the Uttar Pradesh Government, the Centre failed to appeal to the High Court to give its verdict before December 6 allowing physical Karseva on 2.77 acre of land adjoining the mosque instead of symbolic Karseva that would have given a peaceful and smooth outlet to the anger of Karsevaks. He charged that by not approaching the court the Government wanted to discredit BJP leaders associated with the Ayodhya movement. "The demolition of the structure was something that pained me and the happening was unfortunate and regretful," Mr Advani said adding "the wrongs of the medieval past could not be corrected by similar wrongs in modern times. These have to be done by due process of law". "December six was one of most depressing day of my life. Many others were ecstatic but I did not share their mood. I have seldom felt as dejected and downcast as I felt on that day," he said. He had also expressed unhappiness over the continuous legal delay in the Ayodhya issue. In 1954, the Allahabad High Court had regretted that the issue had been dragging along for so long and the matter should be decided forthwith. But today in 2001, the issue which arose in the first petition has remained unresolved so far as the court of law was concerned, the BJP leader said. (UNI) |
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NEW DELHI, May 13: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today left on a four-day official visit to Malaysia, expressing confidence that it would strengthen India’s relations with ASEAN nations. "My visit... Is a continuation of our policy of strengthening our relations with ASEAN countries", he told reporters here before explaning. Vajpayee said during the visit, the first by an Indian Prime Minister since 1995, he would be discussing a wide-range of bilateral and global issues of mutual interest with malaysian leaders. "We have similar views and common approaches on a number of international issues and are both committed to a meaningful intensification of south-south cooperation,’ he said. A number of bilateral agreements including on information technology, space and counsellor services are expected to be signed during the visit. An extradition treaty that could help bring Italian businessman Ottavio Quattarocchi, an accused in the Bofors pay-off case, to India from Malaysia to stand trial is also expected to be signed during the visit. "I am hopeful my visit will further strengthen the economic ties between the two countries", Vajpayee said. Vajpayee would hold talks with his Malaysian counterpart Mahathir-Bin-Mohammad on Monday on a wide range of bilateral issues covering trade, industries, science and technology, information technology, defence, railway, petrol and natural gas. The two Prime Ministers will also discuss multilateral and global issues including New Delhi’s membership for ASEAN where Malaysia is the coordinator for India, according to officials. (PTI) |
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‘Electoral reverses will not impact NDA stability’ NEW DELHI, May 13: Bharatiya Janata Party president K Jana Krishnamurthy today claimed that the setback received by the National Democratic Alliance in just-concluded Assembly polls would not have any impact on the stability of the NDA Government at the Centre. Mr Krishnamurthy told mediapersons that even as NDA allies were badly mauled in elections to Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Kerala Assemblies, strength enjoyed by the alliance in Parliament would remain intact. Results in Assam are trickling in, while the congress-led front is reaching towards victory in the Pondicherry Assembly. The number of MPs supporting the A B Vajpayee Government would remain unaffected as the Trinamool Congress had quit the NDA before the elections and the Assom Gana Parishad, which had no Lok Sabha members, had joined the alliance, he said. However the number of members in Rajya Sabha may decrease in the coming years but even today, the NDA does not have majority in the upper house , he said. In democracy, we have to accept the people’s mandate. We respect their decision, however, unpalatable it may be, he said. Mr Krishnamurthy said the BJP expected the Left Front to win majority in the West Bengal Assembly as ‘Mahajhot’ against the front failed to take off and the ‘wrong strategy’ was adopted by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee. In his home state of Tamil Nadu, he could not see any factor other than the people’s preference for a change. He had not seen any perceptible negative factor against DMK or positive factor for AIADMK during electioneering, the BJP president addded. Asked if AIADMK leader J Jayalalitha could now become the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister despite her conviction, Mr Krishnamurthy said she would not be able to occupy the post unless her conviction by the lower court was reversed by the higher judiciary. Once her nomination papers for contesting elections were rejected, she could not take advantage of the provision that allowed a non-legislator to head the Government for six months without being a member of either house of the legislature, he said. (UNI) |
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float pressure group NEW DELHI, May 13: Former Union Minister B S Ramoowalia has criticised the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for supporting the move to float a Sikh MPs ‘pressure group’ saying it would again isolate the Sikhs from the mainstream and harm national unity. Mr Ramoowalia, a Rajya Sabha MP took umbrage to the statement of SAD secretary general and Union Cabinet Minister S S Dhindsa supporting the forming of an ‘exclusive Sikh MPs group’ to take care of Sikhs and Punjab’s interests and said such an approach itself was against Sikh tenets. The Sikh philosophy vouchsafes the welfare of all and makes no difference on the basis of religion, caste and creed, he said. Also, Mr Ramoowalia said, Mr Dhindsa had conveniently forgotten that as a minister, he represented a secular state and had to subscribe to secularism as enshrined in the Indian Constitution. "The move smacked of a hidden conspiracy to intermix religion and politics," he added. Akalis had refused to learn a lesson from the commotion of the 1980s when their ‘self-imposed and self-inflicted’ segregation on the Sikh community, made them a target of misplaced wrath of the majority of the countrymen who paid heavily for the blunder of Akali leaders who failed to see things in the broader prospective, Mr Ramoowalia said. Besides, there already existed several political leaders, intellectuals, journalists and writers to advance the Sikh cause, and this ‘so-called pressure group’ would dissuade them from doing so in the future. (UNI) |
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Rajasthan Govt undertaking biggest ever relief operation JAIPUR, May 13: The Rajasthan Government is undertaking the biggest ever relief operation to fight the third successive severe drought that has hit this desert state. More than Rs 150 crore has been spend, till the last month, on various relief activities, according to State Relief Secretary Ram Lubhaya here. The entire operation, from January to July, could cost about Rs 600 crore. The state is to get Rs 350 crore, including Rs 50 crore from the Prime Minister Relief Fund, from the centre for the purpose. As the drought affects 31 out of 32 districts of Rajasthan (all except Dolpur), people from 30,500 affected villages are being employed in developmental ( relief ) works and given wheat, under the food for work scheme, along with the wages. Last year 26 districts of the state were in the grip of drought, effecting 2.6 crore people of 23,000 villages, necessitating an expenditure of 280 crore. This year about 3.3 crore people are affected. The relief operations started in January this year, unlike last year when it began in february. The State Government seeks to employ much more people this time and also increase the wages. The more than nine lakh people, engaged in the works in April 2001, were paid wages upto Rs 60 per day. The money was paid fortnightly and within ten days of the expiry of a wage period. Each person was given five kg wheat each day and the remaining wage in cash after subtracting the cost of the subsidised wheat. As much as 92,000 mt of food grain has been distributed since January. More than 3,60,000 mt wheat will be required in the period between may and July. The State Government has increased the ceiling for employing people in May to 14 lakh and about 20 lakh people could be involved in the works in June, requiring more than 6.5 mt of wheat for distribution. As the rainfall fell short by 29 per cent this year, rs 53 crore has been sanctioned for the revival and repair of 16,000 traditional sources of water. 1706 tankers are ferrying drinking water to 2379 villages and three towns. Additional Rs 18 crore would be required to run the provision for the rest of the dry season. Transportation of water by rail has started in Jodhpur, Ajmer and Udaipur divisions. About 2300 new hand pumps and tube wells will be set up and 88,000 hand pumps repaired. The drought has also affected more than four crore cattle in the state compared to last time Rs 3.5 crore. (UNI) |
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