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| Political
scenario heats up Bihar RJD, BJP in difficult position
Narrow escape for AMRITSAR, July 30: Former Youth Congress president Maninderjit Singh Bitta escaped unhurt.....more
Jain brothers, Jakhar NEW DELHI, July 30: A special court today acquitted former Lok Sabha Speaker.....more Law & order first NARNAUL, July 30: Haryana Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala today said law and order and....more |
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NHRC deplores NEW DELHI, July 30: Justice M N Venkatachaliah, chairperson of the National Human...more
Cong prospects NEW DELHI, July 30: Congress party’s prospects in the coming Lok Sabha elections are "better...more NCP demands President’s PATNA, July 30: Nationalist Congress Party general secretary Tariq Anwar....more Jain brothers, Jakhar NEW DELHI, July 30: A special court today acquitted former Lok Sabha Speaker....more |
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Political
scenario heats up PATNA, July 30: The two major political combines—one led by the ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal and the other by the Bharatiya Janata Party—in Bihar are now in a difficult position as the time for finalising candidates is drawing nearer with Lok Sabha polls round the corner. Both the combines had hoped that seat sharing among the alliance partners would not be a major problem. But it does not appear to be that easy following certain developments which had influenced the state’s political scenario recently, particularly in the state’s opposition camp after the merger of the Samata Party with the Janata Dal. The merger of the Samata Party which had ten members in the dissolved Lok Sabha with the Janata Party led by Mr Sharad Yadav has provided an edge for the all India organisation to get a larger slice of the cake. Political observers say that the Janata Dal, which had only one member from the state in Parliament, would press for larger number of seats this time. Janata Dal’s constituent Samata Party had contested in 22 seats during last Lok Sabha polls. The BJP-Samata Party alliance, however, made room for Mr Ramvilas Paswan and Mr Sharad Yadav which had helped the former to go to the lower house of Parliament representing the party from the state. RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav had an electoral alliance with the Congress, the CPI, the CPI (M) and the Samajwadi Party for the Lok Sabha polls. But problems have now cropped up as all the proposed alliance partners are demanding seats which the RJD chief finds difficult to accommodate. The ruling RJD will have to be satisfied with only 24 seats for contesting the Lok Sabha polls, if it had to meet the Congress’ demand of as many seats, CPI four and CPI(M) two. The Samajwadi Party’s state unit is also hoping to get a few seats from the RJD-led group because of their involvement in the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha. The RJD, during the 1998 elections, had contested 38 seats out of which it had won 17 and its ally Congress-five. The Left Parties which contested the elections without any alliance drew a blank. The state’s ruling party is handicapped particularly in the Jharkhand areas because of its opposition to the bifurcation of the state which would mean that the RJD would prefer to leave the area with 14 seats to the Congress, who is committed to creation of the new state. Thus the party has very little to accommodate with its partners in other parts of the Central and Northern parts of Bihar. Though Congress and the two Left Parties are pressing for their seats, RJD president Laloo Prasad Yadav is confident that the issue of seat sharing would be solved amicably with all parties getting their due share. Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party’s state chief Saroj Kumar Bharati said the RJD would maintain its alliance with the Rashtriya Loktrantrik Morcha and was confident that a few seats would be allocated to his party for the coming polls. After the merger of the Samata Party with the Janata Dal a new problem has cropped up for the BJP-led alliance. The state BJP leaders are keeping their fingers crossed hoping to farner a large number of seats from the state as its constituent Samata Party was in the fray in 20 seats. Two Janata Dal leaders—Mr Sharad Yadav and Mr Ramvilas Paswan—were supported by the Samata Party in the last election though Mr Yadav’s case was finalised just before the polls with the withdrawal of the Samata Party candidate from Madhepura constituency from where RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav managed to win. Thus the Samata Party and Janata Dal combine are trying to pressurise the BJP leadership to concede more seats to them. The BJP-Janata Dal combine will also have to accommodate other forces including those of Mr Anand Mohan, who had made it to the Lok Sabha last time as the Rashtriya Janata Party candidate and with the support of the state’s ruling RJD. His Bihar people’s party is also staking claim for more than one seat. Another RJD leader captain Jai Narain Nishad switched his alliance to the BJP-Janata Dal combine. Meanwhile, new parties like the Nationalist Congress Party, and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha(Soreen) have announced that they would keep away from the BJP and Congress, and would try to promote a third force in the state. In the 1998 elections, the RJD got 26.58 per cent of the votes polled while its partners Congress got 7.27 per cent and CPI— 3.40. On the other hand BJP got 24.03 per cent the while Samata Party got —15.74 and the Janata Dal —8.72 per cent votes. (UNI) |
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Narrow escape for Bitta in road accident AMRITSAR, July 30: Former Youth Congress president Maninderjit Singh Bitta escaped unhurt, while four commandos of the National Security Guard (NSG) deployed as his personal security were injured in a road accident near Daburji village on the outskirts of the city this morning. The accident occurred when a jeep rammed into the gypsy in which Mr Bitta and the commandos were travelling. The gypsy then dashed against a road-side electric pole, police said. The occupants of the jeep were taken into custody and a case of negligent driving had been registered against the driver police said. Mr Bitta, who was on his way to Hoshairpur, was not in his official bullet-proof ambassador as the 150 litres per month quota of petrol for the car had already been utilised. Mr Bitta is provided with the bullet-proof car as he is on the terrorist hit list. The injured commandos identified as P K Gosain, Dev Pal, Amar Nath and driver Barimer Singh have been admitted to the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital here. (UNI) |
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Jain brothers, Jakhar acquitted in Hawala case NEW DELHI, July 30: A special court today acquitted former Lok Sabha Speaker Balram Jakhar and four Jain brothers in the Rs 65 crore Hawala case. In his 93-page order, Special Judge V B Gupta said: "I came to the conclusion that prosecution has failed to prove that Jakhar, during his tenure as a public servant, was in conspiracy with co-accused Jains and received Rs 89,928 from them as illegal gratification." "The mere fact that accused S K Jain was known to Balram Jakhar ... Will not fasten any accused in the present case with criminal liability as alleged by the prosecution. Mere association between certain persons will not amount to any criminal act." The CBI had alleged that Mr Jakhar had obtained favours from Jain brothers for his wife Rameshwari and her friend Kulwant Kaur’s foreign trip in September 1989. The ticket cost of Rs 89,928 was paid by Bhilai Engineering Corporation (BEC) owned by the Jains. (UNI) |
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NHRC deplores insensitivity of
society NEW DELHI, July 30: Justice M N Venkatachaliah, chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission, today deplored the insensitivity of the society towards the problems of children in general and child labour in particular and said only education of women and children could help solve this complex issue. Inaugurating a two-day seminar on "child labour and their rehabilitation: Some issues" organised by the Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation here, Mr Justice Venkatachaliah said a partnership between the NHRC and the Non-Governmental Organisations could go a long way in amileorating the deplorable conditions of these children and weaning them away from child labour. Commending the work done by NGOs in the field, he emphasised the need to work out proper strategies on the basis of which the commission could tackle the problem of child labour. Only with concerted efforts of all sections of the people, the civil society would be able to extract its dues from the political society’’, he added. The seminar, presided over by Dr L Mishra, secretary in the Labour Ministry, discussed the results of the study conducted on the assessment of the rehabilitation programme for the released child labour from the carpet industry. He results of the Non Formal Education (NFE) programme conducted by the local NGOs in the carpet weaving belt, with the funding from the Government, international and national donor agencies, were also deliberated upon. It explored the possibilities of coordination between the government and voluntary sector in the field of providing rehabilitation strategies which includes human rights of children, nfe and poverty alleviation programmes to the target groups identified. The seminar discussed the current status of NFE programme among local NGOs’ teachers in NFE centres, Government officials, educational planners and funding agencies on the basis of which recommendations could be made to the Government. The experts dicussed the problems of NFE so as to arrive at some consensus solution. Eminent social worker and child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi presented the theme paper in the seminar which was attended by academics, social scientists, Government officials, representatives of funding agencies, NGOs and grass root workers. (UNI) |
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Cong prospects ‘better than before’ in LS polls: Digvijay NEW DELHI, July 30: Congress party’s prospects in the coming Lok Sabha elections are "better than before" and BJP is unlikely to register any significant gain on the Kargil issue, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh claimed today. "We are hopeful of a better result this time," Singh said at a press conference at the Press Club of India here. In response to a question, he said Congress president Sonia Gandhi had offers from all the states to contest the polls. "It is for her to decide from which constituency she would like to contest." Singh was non-committal when asked about the possibility of an electoral tie-up between the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). "At the moment, the issue is not before us," he said maintaining that in the last elections, Congress had not arrived at any electoral alliance with the BSP but had only worked out a "strategic understanding". He, however, conceded that discussions were underway with the RPI for a possible tie-up before the polls. Referring to the Kargil issue, he said the BJP-led Government would have to explain to the people when they came to know about the Pakistani incursions ? why did Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Defence Minister George Fernandes attempt to absolve Pakistan Premier Nawaz Sharif and blame only the Pakistan Army ? under what circumstances did they speak about giving safe passage to infiltrators and whether the Army was adequately equipped with weapons and other needs to fight the enemy? Deprecating the Vajpayee Government for going ahead with the telecom deal "heavily loaded in favour of the private operators" despite being asked not to do so by President K R Narayanan, he said the haste with which they took the decision "smacks of corruption and scam". He was of the view that the BJP would lose substantially in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab and some other states. He contended that the BJp had touched its peak with 180 seats in the last Lok Sabha elections and was unlikely to improve its position this time. Asked about former minister Arun Nehru’s forecast that Congress would not be able to get more than 139 seats in the elections, he said "I am amazed how, sitting in the drawing room, he is able to draw this table". Singh ruled out his shifting from MP to move up the political graph of his party, saying "my task in MP is still not finished. I intend continuing there." On delay in the passage of the University’s Bill, he said it was before the governor. "If he doesn’t want to sign it, he should return it". About Madhavrao Scindia contesting from the Guna constituency, Singh said there was no need to read more into it. Scindia was only returning to his original constituency to contest. (PTI) |
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Jain brothers, Jakhar acquitted in Hawala case NEW DELHI, July 30: A special court today acquitted former Lok Sabha Speaker Balram Jakhar and four Jain brothers in the Rs 65 crore Hawala case. In his 93-page order, Special Judge V B Gupta said: "I came to the conclusion that prosecution has failed to prove that Jakhar, during his tenure as a public servant, was in conspiracy with co-accused Jains and received Rs 89,928 from them as illegal gratification." "The mere fact that accused S K Jain was known to Balram Jakhar ... Will not fasten any accused in the present case with criminal liability as alleged by the prosecution. Mere association between certain persons will not amount to any criminal act." The CBI had alleged that Mr Jakhar had obtained favours from Jain brothers for his wife Rameshwari and her friend Kulwant Kaur’s foreign trip in September 1989. The ticket cost of Rs 89,928 was paid by Bhilai Engineering Corporation (BEC) owned by the Jains. (UNI) |
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Law & order first priority: Chautala NARNAUL, July 30: Haryana Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala today said law and order and adequate power and water supply were among the first priorities of his Government. Talking to newspersons here, he said law and order situation would have to be improved to infuse self-confidence among the people in the State. Replying to a question, he said domestic power transformers in Mandiyali area disconnected earlier would be restored. The Chief Minister, who also addressed a gathering at Rest House here, said recent political change in the State was due to wrong decisions of the previous Government and the law and order situation was also deteriorating day by day. He urged the people to cooperate with the administration and give due respect to Government officials to create an atmosphere of mutual understanding and respect. This was necessary for accelerated development in the State, he added. He also urged his party workers to be disciplined soldiers and help the administration in checking anti-social elements. He exhorted them to rise above narrow considerations of caste, colour and religion. Their continued whole-hearted support would play a significant role in ushering a new era of peace and prosperity in the State, he added. |
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PATNA, July 30: The two major political combines—one
led by the ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal and the other by
the Bharatiya Janata Party—in Bihar....
