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Sonia
seeks more time from President NEW DELHI, Apr 23: The Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today shot down the Congress plan of forming a single party government at the Centre but the forces ranged against the BJP- led coalition have not given up hope of forging an alternative government. Congress president Sonia Gandhi met President K R Narayanan at Rastrapathi Bhavan tonight and sought time for the secular forces to be able to cobble up a majority. After a 40 minute meeting with the President, she told newspersons that she has the support of 233 Lok Sabha members and would report back to him as early as possible on the progress of the efforts to muster majority in the 543-member House for a secular government to be in place. She however declined to elaborate on the response from the President. On the other hand the BJP combine declared that it would not stake claim for government formation. It is for the President to realise that it is "only our coalition that can form government in the 12th Lok Sabha," Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Kumaramangalam told reporters. The BJP and its allies turned down Prime Minister A B Vajpayee’s offer to step down as their Parliamentary Party leader. Mr Kumaramangalam told news-persons after a meeting of MPs belonging to the BJP and its allies that Mr Vajpayee argued that in view of the sustained campaign in political circles and a section of the media that a defeated Prime Minister cannot be reinstated, it would be better for him to step down to make way for someone else to take his place and be able to form a government. Besides BJP-led coalition partners, the meeting was attended by members of Parliament belonging to DMK and Indian National Lok Dal. Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Kumaramangalam declined to give a direct reply to the question if National Conference members attended the meeting. The fast changing political situation however appeared to be leading the country towards a mid term poll though both the ruling BJP- led coalition and the combined opposition continued to maintain that they would do everything to avert a fresh election. Ms Sonia Gandhi said it is for the secular parties to decide how to prevent the BJP from staging a come back indicating the possibility of the defeated coalition being able to limp back into reckoning. Also it opens up room for the Congress to agree to a coalition government idea which it had been resisting so far. The first indication of the Congress mellowing on its position on a coalition or supporting a Third Front government came from party spokesperson Arjun Singh when he said secular parties should remain united and not allow the resurgence of communal forces . This was soon after the RSP (5 members) and the Forward Bloc (2) besides the Samajwadi Party (20) informed the President that they would not support a government led by the Congress. The lone ASDC member from Assam Dr Jayanta Rongpi also made a similar declaration. The five member Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati said her party favoured mid term polls since both BJP and Congress are not in a position to provide a stable government. Meanwhile president Narayanan continued his consultations with a number of political leaders and constitutional experts to find a solution to the present impasse. Congress president Sonia Gandhi tonight kept alive the possibility of formation an alternative government by not rejecting the idea of a coalition and said talks will be held with Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, who has refused to give support for a minority Congress government. "We will talk to them again", Gandhi said after a 40-minute meeting with President, K R Narayanan when asked about the 20-MP strong Samajwadi Party’s decision not to back the Congress in forming a minority government. She admitted that she has so far not succeeded in securing the requisite support for formation of an alternative government and submitted a list of 233 members supporting her. "I will continue to discuss the matter with those who voted against the confidence motion in the Lok Sabha", she said while adding that the list submitted " does not add up to the requisite figure". Replying to questions, Gandhi said she had been asked by the President to complete the exercise of consultations "as early as possible". Asked whether she favoured installation of a coalition government, she said "it is for other side.....Other secular forces to see and to decide how to ensure that BJP government does not come back to power". On supporting a Third Front candidate for Prime Ministership, she said that the matter had only come up this afternoon and she would have to discuss the issue with the party working committee. Soon after Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav called on President K R Narayanan, the party announced it would neither support a minority Congress Government nor BJP but would favour a Third Front candidate for Prime Ministership who is acceptable to the Congress as well. Earlier, leaders of RSP and Forward Bloc called on Narayanan and told reporters after the meeting that we will not vote for a minority Congress Government and will maintain equidistance from both BJP and Congress. RSP leaders Debabrata Bandho-padhyay and Pankaj Akshan and A R Pradhan and Debabrata Biswas of AIFB also opposed resurrection of a BJP-led Government, saying if need be, we will again vote against BJP. Samajwadi Party has 20 members in Lok Sabha, RSP five and AIFB two. Yadav, who deferred his meeting with Narayanan scheduled for last evening, in a letter to the President charged both BJP and Congress with being responsible for ruination of the country and said both the parties had been acting against the interests of dalits, minorities and backward classes. Under the circumstances, SP would neither support the Congress nor BJP, the letter said. Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who had declared that she would furnish letters of support from other parties to the President by today. After the meeting of Yadav with the President, she went into a huddle with her senior party colleagues to discuss the turn of events. Earlier, in a surprise move former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar, who has been opposing the idea of Congress forming a minority Government, met Gandhi at her residence and discussed with her the emerging political situation. Mayawati, leader of Bahujan Samaj Party which had voted against the Vajpayee Government, said her party would decide its stand on the formation of an alternative Government only after the situation became clear but favoured mid-term polls in view of the political crisis. Later, party spokesman Arjun Singh told reporters that the Congress position on leading a minority government stands. Pressed further, he shot back "has the Congress president withdrawn her earlier statement (on the issue)"? "Everything stands," he said. Asked whether the party had established fresh contacts with Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav on the formation of an alternative government, Singh said "our desire and our intention has always been to identify ourselves with all secular forces". He went on to add "all the secular forces are determined to see formation of a viable alternative government. This is our priority." On how long Sonia Gandhi would take to complete the exercise of consultations, Singh said that Narayanan did not specify the time-frame "I will leave it at that". Singh declined to elaborate on Gandhi’s comments made earlier to reporters at Rashtrapati Bhavan that she would consult the Congress Working Committee (CWC) on being asked whether Congress would back a Third Front Government. "I do not to have to elaborate on party president’s statement. What is wrong when she says she is consulting the CWC members. How do you draw the conclusion (that she is reconsidering the minority Congress government)," he said. (Agencies)ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ |
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Yadavs divided over Govt formation NEW DELHI, Apr 23 : Serious differences persisted in Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha (RLM) tonight on the issue of an alternative formation with the two Yadav chieftains sharply divided over supporting a minority Congress Government. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Laloo Prasad Yadav submitted to President K R Narayanan a letter pledging support of his 17-member party to Congress president Sonia Gandhi for installation of a new Government at the centre. The RJD leader’s decision came hours after the 20-member strong Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav refused to support a minority Congress Government . While the former Bihar Chief Minister justified Congress decision to form a minority Government as it was the second largest party, the Uttar Pradesh leader made a scathing attack on Congress for taking unilateral decision on the issue. Congress has the ‘dubious’ record of pulling down a host of non-Congress governments including that of Charan Singh, Chandra Shekhar, Deve Gowda and I K Gujral, Samajwadi Party MP Azam Khan said, adding Congress should clean its sins by supporting Third Front in forming next Government. On the other hand Laloo Yadav said Congress being the second largest party in the Lok Sabha should be called to form the government before a specific date to avoid horse-trading and its strength could be tested on the floor of the House. However, both the Morcha leaders said their respective stands on the issue would not affect RLM’s unity. Making light of the differences between them on the Congress issue, the RJD leader said Mulayam is my elder brother ... It is my duty to bring him back to the right path. There is no fight between us as we do not want BJP and Sangh Parivar to come back to power ... We don’t even want BJP to continue as caretaker. On the other hand Mulayam Singh Yadav asserted that Samajwadi Party’s refusal to support Congress would not affect Morcha’s unity and his relationship with CPI-M. Neither CPI-M nor its leaders Harkishan Singh Surjeet and Jyoti Basu can be angry with me, he said. Both the leaders said they were committed to the task of keeping communal forces away and their main responsibility now was formation of an alternative government. On Mulayam Singh Yadav’s suggestion for selecting a Prime Minister from the Third Front, Laloo Yadav said where is the Third Front....There is only Left Front and RLM. But, Mulayam Singh Yadav was of the view that immediate priority should be given to strengthen Third Front.(PTI) |
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Mid-term poll after exploring all possibilities: Singhvi NEW DELHI, Apr 23 : Noted constitutional expert and BJP MP L M Singhvi today said the President should resort to a mid-term poll only after exploring all possibilities including claims of the BJP-led coalition to form a new Government. In a statement, he said in the given situation the President may opt for mid-term poll and even rule out a second round exploration but if the Congress does not have the support of 270 or more members, the BJP-led coalition which has that number cannot conceivably be overlooked and excluded in the second round. Singhvi who said he was privileged to be consulted by seven Presidents of India said if Congress fails to muster the numerical strength to outnumber those supporting Vajpayee, the President must necessarily call him to satisfy that he has a credible majority. If Vajpayee has the backing of a larger number, it would be a travesty of constitutional principles and Parliamentary norms to ignore what is clearly a more viable alternative which can be expected to avert a mid-term poll which takes a heavy and wasteful toll on the nation’s scarce resources. If there is no objective basis for the claim on behalf of the Vajpayee coalition, and if the President on the objective scrutiny, rejects the claim, then only should the President resort to a midterm poll Singhvi said. Agreeing that no two situations were identical, Singhvi said it was however clear that the President had to explore and exhaust the possibility of a party forming the Government. If there are two groups, each staking its claim, the President has to opt for the group having the largest majority, he said adding not to do so would appear to be too subjective, discriminatory and unrelated to the basic principles. I am sure, the President will act in such a way that if a viable alternative offered by Vajpayee, the country would not have to go through a general election so soon after the election held in 1998, he said. But, if there was no viable alternative offered by Congress party or Vajpayee, a general election is the price we have to pay for democratic system, he said. There was absolutely no warrant for the proposition that in the second round of exploration after the Congress party fails to make its claim regarding having the support of 270 or more members of Lok Sabha, the President was precluded from considering the claim in favour of Vajpayee merely because of the fate of last vote of confidence, he said. That vote of confidence did not give us an alternative. That is why we have the exploration de novo, he added.(PTI) Amnesty package for
defaulters extended Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Apr 23: The Government today announced a major package for tax concessions on various public utility items and amnesty package for payment of electricity, sales tax and passenger tax arrears. As per the package, the sales tax on edible oil has been reduced from 8 per cent to 4 per cent, on foot wear from 12 per cent to 8 per cent and on ready made garments from 8 per cent to 4 per cent. Decision to this effect was taken at a high level meeting of senior officers of the State Government and the representatives of the Chambers of Commerce and Industries, J&K and Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation held here today under the chairmanship of the Works Minister, mr Gh Mohi-ud-Din Shah. The Finance Minister, Mr Mohammad Shafi was also present. The meeting was sequel to the discussions initiated by the Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah last month with various organisations of trade and industries to redress their grievances. The Chief Secretary, Mr Ashok Jaitly, the Principal Secretary Planning and Development, Mr JA Khan and the Principal Secretary Finance, Mr Ajit Kumar and Sales Tax Commissioner, Mr Najam-us-Saqib also attended the meeting. It was also decided to reduce sales tax on automobiles of all kinds from 8 per cent to 4 per cent. However, this decision would be subject to review at the next meeting of the Finance Ministers of the Northern States and in case, all the States adopt uniform rates, the same will be applied in J&K State also. The meeting also decided to extend the period of amnesty for clearing electricity arrears by the consumers by one year more. The Government also decided to extend the package of amnesty for payment of sales tax on the condition that the tax assessed/admitted for the year 1997-98 and 1998-99 will be paid in full upto 31st July 1999. The arrears of sales tax prior to March 1997 will be payable in 30 equal quarterly instalments beginning Ist April 1999. The payment of first quarter will be due before 31st July, 1999. The second quarter payment will be made as due upto 30th September, 1999. In case, the dealer falling under amnesty make one default in one single instalment of arrears, the same will be payable in full along with the instalment of the next quarter. Any other default will result in withdrawal of amnesty and full amount of taxes along with interest and penalty will become payable. A similar amnesty will be given to the transporters for payment of passenger tax arrears. Speaking on the occasion, the Works Minister called upon the people particularly business community to extend fullest co-operation to the Government in launching welfare programmes in the State. He said Government was fully seized of the problems of the people and business community who have suffered severally during worst period of turmoil in the State and believes on dialogue and discussion to solve their problems earnestly. He said confrontation and agitational approach was no solution to any problem and the people of the State have seen the futility of confrontation and gun. Mr Shah said despite acute financial crisis the Government have shown magnanimity in reducing the taxes on some items of common use to provide relief and respite to the people. He said, after feeling the problems of trading community, the Government lost no time to extend amnesty for payment of sales tax, electricity and passenger tax arrears and hoped the people would respond with social commitment. The Finance Minister called upon the traders to avail benefits of fresh amnesty as it will be a final opportunity to clear the tax arrears. He said Government will review the tax structure periodically and every effort would be made to rationalise it in consonance with neighbouring states to protect the traders and business community interests in the State. Responding favourably to the demands of traders to reduce sales tax on note book paper, the Finance Minister assured that the item would be included in the exemption list of common items. He sought the co-operation of traders and business community for checking illegal trade practices and tax evasion. |
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12 shot dead in Bihar massacre GAYA, Apr 23 : In a revenge killing, outlawed Ranvir, a private Army of Upper Caste landlords, Sena shot dead 12 people, including Dalits, prompting the authorities to sound a red alert across the state. Fear stalked vast areas of extremist-hit Gaya and Jehanabad districts following the incident at Khagribigha and Jahirbigha Tolas in Sindani village of Gaya district late Wednesday night. A red alert has been sounded and an intensive combing operation launched to nab the culprits. Around 20 people have already been taken into custody for interrogation, police said. Governor Justice B M Lal, who visited the site said socio-economic imbalances were the root of extremism. He asked the state administration for according top priority to accelerating the pace of development in Central and South Bihar. He directed the administration to examine the alleged lapses on the part of policemen posted at the nearby police picket and the Belaganj police station and take punitive action against them if their guilt was established. The Belagunj Police Station incharge B K Pandey has been transferred on charge of dereliction of duty. Rabri Devi announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs one lakh besides government jobs to at least one of the dependents of each of the deceased and handed over letters of occupation of houses built under the Indira Awaas Yojna. The Ranbir Sena, which is locked in a bloody conflict with the ultra-left organisations in Central and South Bihar, appears to have made inroads into Gaya district for the first time. The Sena has already mowed down at least 300 people in central Bihar’s Bhojpur and Jehanabad districts in the past two years and a half. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister in a statement alleged that sinister attempts were on through such massacres to defame Bihar and destablise her government.(PTI) |
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Pak Army, ISI ignore Lahore Declaration NEW DELHI, Apr 23 : There has been no perceptable change in the attitude of Pakistani Army or the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) even after the Lahore Declaration as militants continue to attack Hindu minorities besides trying to extend militancy to other areas in Jammu and Kashmir, Union Home Secretary B P Singh has said. "There is nothing to indicate that Pakistan Army or the ISI of Pakistan have decided to follow the spirit of the Lahore Declaration or the spirit that has been unanimously sponsored and supported by Members of Parliament of India and members of various sections within Pakistan itself," Singh said in his presentation of the situation in the state to the standing committee of the Ministry of Home. According to the 54th report of the Committee presented to Rajya Sabha, the Home Secretary said though there was a marked improvement in the state, the situation was still difficult in certain other ways. "The militants are attacking Hindu minorities in isolated places and are trying to extend the garb of militancy to other areas of the state". He, however, said that the number of incidents in 1998 had declined as compared to those in 1997. There had also been a decline in the number of persons killed last year as compared to those killed in 1997. The situation in Srinagar has vastly improved and nearly one lakh tourists visited the state in 1998 as against 7,000 in the previous year.(PTI) |
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Shoot-out in Srinagar
downtown Exclesior Special Correspondent SRINAGAR, Apr 23: Separatist militants have gunned down atleast seven surrendered and pro-India militants in three different incidents in Kashmir valley since last evening while as one Hizbul Mujahideen militant has got killed in a group clash in Kalaroos areea of Kupwara district. Security forces have, meanwhile, recovered a massive haul of arms and ammunition at Rangat-Gali forest area in Kupwara. Informed sources told EXCELSIOR that last evening, militants appeared at Watlaar village of Ganderbal, barged into the residence of a surrendered militant, namely Mohd Amin Khan of Pakhtoon Mohalla, and shot him dead. The same group of militants fired upon another person, namely Sabir Khan, and left him critically injured. He was later rushed to hospital for treatment. As police and security forces refused to take notice and avoided confrontation with the militants, the same group of gunmen stayed in the same locality, rather leisurely, for the night and in the morning and struck on another bastion of surrendered militants at the nearby village of Choontwaliwaar. Four pro-India militants were captured like lame ducks and gunned down. They were identified as Mohd Lateef Khan, Ghulam Nabi Shah S/o Inayat Shah, Qasim Khan and Manzoor Awaan S/o Yusuf Awaan. Another of their associate, namely Ishfaq Mughal, escaped with critical injuries. He was rushed to hospital later in the day. Sources said that four of the slain pro-India militants were the members of "Sadaam Group", associated with National Conference MLC Javed Shah's "National Security Organisation (NSO). However, reports said that a brother of one of the slain persons happened to be a constable in CRPF. Dead body of another pro-India surrendered militant, namely Mitha S/o Jan Mohd, resident of Myan, Turkapora, had been recovered the other day from Sek-Dob forest area of Bandipore. He too was reportedly associated with Shah's counter-insurgent NSO. Reports said that dead body of Mohd Maqbool Dar S/o Habib Dar was also recovered from Manasabal lake in Ganderbal-Bandipore belt. Both Mitha as well as Maqbool, had been kidnapped by militants in March and were missing for the last three weeks. At 1815 hours this evening, militants fired upon a 3-member group of local counter-insurgents in the downtown locality in Tarabal and left one of them killed, two injured. The slain young man was identified as Showkat Ahmed Dar S/o Abdul Majeed R/o Lokhriyaar, Nawakadal. His neighbourers and associates, namely Ajaz Ahmed Daga of Lokhriyaar and Mukhtar Ahmed Sheikh of Khankah-e-Sokhta escaped with injuries. While as Ajaz sustained gunshot wounds, Mukhtar ran away, stumbled and broke some of his teeth. Local people believed them as the sources of a DySP, posted at Pattan. Reports from Bandipore today said that troops of Rashtriya Rifles laid an ambush and shot dead a Hizbul Mujahideen militant at Pazalpora. He has been identified as Fayaz Ahmed Rather of Pazalpura. Another managed to escape in injured condition. One AK-56 rifle was recovered from his possession. Official sources at Kupwara said that early this morning a heavy shoot-out took place between two militant outfits in Kalaroos area of Kupwara in which a top-wanted Hizbul Mujahideen militant, namely Wali Mohd Lone S/o Jabar Lone of Madmadou, Kalaroos, got killed. huge arms seizure Sources said that security forces recovered a massive quantity of arms and ammunition as they demolished a major militant hide-out at Rangat-Gali forest area in Kupwara. The seizure included 3520 rounds of Pika ammunition 3660 rounds of Pak ammunition, 105 handgrenades, 35 rifle grenades, 12 RPG rockets with boosters, 30 remote control devices, 20 gelatine sticks, 4 rockets, 9 electric detonators, 2 anti tank mines and 2 anti-personnel mines. In another search operation at Lashdat and Knai Bahak forest area of Kupwara security forces recovered 7 remote control devices, one tele-sight, 4 handgrenade, one APM and 4 blankets. Sources said that SOG Srinagar apprehended a Harkat-ul-Mujahideen militant, namely Ajaz Ahmed Shora of Mandir Bagh while as BSF apprehended Al-Jihad militant, namely Farooq Ahmed Wani alias Aadil from Rajbagh. Early this morning, militant hurled a handgrenade towards Police Station building at Safakadal, Sekidafar, which missed the intended target and exploded on road without causing any damage. Late night reports said that an encounter took place somewhere in the downtown. However, no details were available. |
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President not to take any hasty decision: Communique NEW DELHI, Apr 23 : President K R Narayanan will not take a hasty decision and conclude shortly his exploration of all the possibilities of a new Government from the 12th Lok Sabha, a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique said tonight. The communique said the President would take into account past precedents as well as new circumstances, some of which are altogether without earlier paradigms in India. The communique said the President will shortly conclude his exploration of all the possibilities of a new Government from the 12th Lok Sabha, arising from the outcome of the vote of confidence tabled on April 17, 1999. Without rushing into a hasty decision in the matter which will be of significance for the future of the country, he had considered all valuable comments from persons across the political spectrum and will take into account past precedents as well as new circumstances some of which are altogether without earlier paradigms in India, the communique said. It said the President had held further consultations on the subject of Government formation today with legal and constitutional experts and political leaders. Representatives of the All India Forward Bloc and the Revolutionary Socialist Party expressed their preference for a Third Front Government led by Jyoti Basu, while saying that they may revise their stand of not supporting a Congress-led government if it became necessary, the communique said. The prospects of a Third Front Government led by a person acceptable to the non-BJP parties in Parliament who could also perhaps be supported by the Congress, either from outside or as a coalition partner, were discussed by some of the President’s other callers also, the communique said. BSP leader Mayawati conveyed to the President that her party was watching the situation and would decide at the appropriate time, it said. Samajwadi party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav presented a letter to the President which said his party will not support any party towards Government formation. Congress president Sonia Gandhi gave to the President a list of 233 MPs who would extend support for the formation of a Congress Government. When it was put to her that the numbers did not add up to the requisite strength, Gandhi conveyed to the President that she would continue discussions with parties and individuals who voted against the trust vote and inform the President on her efforts, as early as possible, the communique added.(PTI) |
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Militant captured alive in encounter Excelsior Correspondent UDHAMPUR, Apr 23: A militant was injured and captured alive in a joint encounter with police and Village Defence Committee (VDC) members at village Laher near Salta Narkot, about 15 kms from Arnas last night. According to official sources, militants attacked village Laher at 2245 hours last night in a bid to indulge in selective killings and loot goods from the houses. Seeing the militants intruding into the village, the Village Defence Committee members became alert and challenged the militants. An encounter followed between the two sides which continued for over two hours. In the meantime, after getting a report of militants’ attack on the village, the jawans of BSF and Indian Reserve Police (IRP), fourth battalion, also rushed to the spot from their Jig Babbly camp and joined the encounter. The exchange of firing continued till 0400 hours in which one militant was seriously injured and apprehended alive by the BSF, IRP and VDC personnel. Other militants managed to escape taking advantage of darkness and thickly populated area. A BSF head constable Madan Lal was also injured in the encounter. The arrested militant has been identified as Mohd Ismail son of Mohd Din, a resident of Mendhar tehsil in Poonch district. Arms and ammunition recovered from his possession include one AK-47 rifle, three magazines, 36 high explosives, one grenade, 86 rounds, and one magazine pouche. The militant was shifted to a local hospital in an injured condition. His condition was stated to be improving. He has been kept under arrest in the hospital. Meanwhile, police and security forces personnel rushed to village today and were searching the absconding militants. No arrest has been made so far. |
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NEW DELHI,Apr 23 : Congress President Sonia Gandhi tonight told the President that she has the support letters from 233 Lok Sabha members, 39 short of a simple majority in the House. Following is the break up of parties which have formally extended support to the Congress in forming the Government with others supporting from the outside. The Congress (140), Republican Party of India (4), Indian Union Muslim League (2) Kerala Congress Mani(I) CPI-M (32), AIADMK (18), CPI (9), Tamil Maanila Congress (3), Rashtriya Janata Party (17) and Independents (5).(UNI) Disqualification of Soz sought NEW DELHI,Apr 23: BJP MP from Chandigarh Satya Pal Jain has petitioned Lok Sabha Speaker GMC Balayogi for the disqualification of former National Conference MP Saifuddin Soz under the Anti-Defection Act. Mr Jain, also a lawyer, in his ‘formal petition said Mr Soz had violated the whip issued by the National Conference. The BJP leader said there was neither any split in the NC on the issue nor had he sought written permission from his party’s president and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah to defy the whip. He had been expelled from the party. He could not seek protection under the Tenth Schedule by saying that since he constituted one-third of the party strength in the Lok Sabha, he had every right to ignore the party whip, Mr Jain said.(UNI) |
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