|
|
SPOTLIGHT From B L
Kak
State TV, Radio should NEW DELHI, Oct 14: Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley......more
BJP will form Govt only MUMBAI, Oct 14: Outgoing Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and....more |
 |
Paswan promises NEW DELHI, Oct 14: Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan today said all villages in the country will be provided with telephones by 2002 and a scheme will be devised in one month to offer internet services...more NHRC help sought for NEW DELHI, Oct 14: The National Human Rights Commission has....more Gandhi’s statue JAIPUR, Oct 14: Rajasthan Governor Anshuman Singh will unveil a.....more History will judge JALANDHAR, Oct 13: Sarv Hind Shiromani Akali Dal (SHSAD)...more Situation tense, KANNUR, Oct 13: An uneasy calm prevailed at....more |
 |
SPOTLIGHT From B L Kak Ms Sonia Gandhi has succeeded in curbing her adversaries within the Congress party, at least for the time. But she has not succeeded in crying a halt to the on-going debate on her plus and minus points. She does not want her critics to write off, merely because the Congress party was rejected at the hustings for a variety of reasons. She wants her friends and foes to reckon the fact that the Congress party was in a state of disintegration when she took over the reins. The lady of 10 Janpath cannot be faulted when she angrily posed in the course of discussion with a group of Congressmen at her residence: Can anyone of you deny the fact that several Congress politicians running for shelter stopped the moment I came out to actively participate in the party affairs ? Can anyone deny the fact that I actually helped unite the Congress when it was in a state of disintegration ? Whatever Ms Sonia Gandhi’s attitude towards her critics or adversaries, there is no doubt that she allowed herself to be governed by her coterie. Each member of the coterie, being aware of her own ambitions, ensured that she did not encourage others to come nearer her. This, coupled with Ms Sonia’s refusal to share unrestrained power, led to a situation where her utility for the party was turned into an exaggerated play of her popularity with the masses. Did she use the post of party president to strengthen the organisation ? Did she act as a moral authority within the party as the 1999 Lok Sabha elections began to be conducted in different phases across the country ? She allowed herself to be drawn into the role of a mass campaigner and potential Prime Minister. This was a major mistake. Hence, all the more reason for her critics to advocate the need for her and her advisors to draw the necessary lesson from the mistakes committed hitherto. Also, all the more reason for others in other parties who have started to unscramble the message sent out by the voter. The Kargil issue, undoubtedly, remain the main election issue in a majority of constituencies. The BJP would have us believe that handling of the Kargil issue by Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee had worked wonders. If it were so, then how does one explain the beating the BJP and its allies received in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Karnataka ? If the argument is shifted in favour of performance with Mr Chandrababu Naidu, Andhra Chief Minister, thrown up as an example, then why was Mr Naidu unable to duplicate his spectacular showing in the Assembly despite the performance, Kargil and Vajpayee factors. Also, if performance was the only yardstick, then the Congress should have romped home in Madhya Pradesh where Chief Minister, Mr Digvijay Singh, is seen as yet another performing and hardworking Chief Minister. The explanation that Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh voted against the videshi Sonia appears a bit too far-fetched as this would imply that Karnataka and Punjab are not ‘patriotic’. The factors that governed victory and feat in each region are distinctly different and there are no simplistic, clear answers. But if there is one abiding pattern in the political convulsions that have rocked the two key States of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, it is the undercurrent of anger that has informed the electoral verdict. Mr Vajpayee’s personal charisma failed to work with the angry electorate in India’s most populous State, Uttar Pradesh, while in Bihar, the once undisputed generalissimo of Patilputra has been consigned to the dustbin. While the UP Chief Minister, Mr Kalyan Singh, definitely played a key role in demolishing the BJP’s hopes in the State, it is clear that a radical realignment of political forces has taken place which will be even more acutely reflected in the polls to the State Assembly which cannot be deferred for very long now. Government sleuths have informed the Prime Minister that Mr Kalyan Singh will not hesitate to try to split the BJP in UP and seek political space adjacent to the Samajwadi Party if the BJP central leadership held him responsible for the stunning verdict. It is an open secret how Mr Kalyan Singh and Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party have a tacit understanding with each other, around which they can write a mutually profitable script. There is no denying that the success of Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav’s opponents is not so much a reflection on their own increased popularity, but is merely a rejection of Mr Laloo Yadav’s politics. The Hindi belt is angry with those who have toyed with its fortunes. A clear warning from the Hindi belt: Today’s winners could easily become tomorrow’s vanquished if they display the same level of arrogance and callousness which the defeated displayed when they called the shots. The strides made by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have been spectacular. The Congress has recovered some ground, but has clearly been unable to cash in on the popular disenchantment with Mr Kalyan Singh’s unpopularity. It is clear that it will take some more time for the Congress to rework its old equations. |
|
State
TV, Radio should not be used for NEW DELHI, Oct 14: Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley might be a surprise inclusion in the Vajpayee Government but the lawyer turned minister minces no words in saying that state owned TV and radio should not be used for propaganda purposes. We are in a world where the state run TV (Doordarshan) and Radio (All India Radio) have to compete with the private TV networks, Jaitley told PTI in an interview. In such a scenario where competition is tough, emphasis has to be on quality and credibility and not propaganda, the Minister of State with Independent Charge of I&B said but declined to comment on the controversial issue of autonomy to Doordarshan and AIR through the Prasar Bharati. When asked about his views on the entry of foreign print media into India, he like a deft lawyer deflected the question saying let me get a feel of the things before making any comment on a specific issue. However, the 47-year old senior advocate, who embarked on his maiden journey as a minister after a stint as party spokesman, was more forthcoming on the way the Doordarshan and AIR should operate. I feel dissemination of information, news and entertainment has to reach out to the largest number, said Jaitley, who has been a member BJP’s national executive, the principal decision making body of the party, since 1991. And as it should reach out to the largest number, the content of the programmes on the state owned TV and Radio should be truthful and absolutely credible, Jaitley said. Asked whether his inclusion in the Council of Ministers was a surprise, Jaitley, who played a significant role as a student leader in the movement against corruption launched by Jayprakash Narayan in 1973, said I myself was surprised but it was a great honour to be told by the Prime Minister to head a Ministry. A St Xavier School product, Jaitley graduated in commerce from Sri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi in 1973 and became the president of Delhi University Student’s Union in 1974. He completed his law from Delhi University in 1977. But while doing his law degree, internal emergency was proclaimed by Indira Gandhi in 1975 and Jaitley was under preventive detention for a period of 19 months. Rising in his career quite fast, Jaitley was appointed as Additional Solicitor General of India in 1990 and had led a team to sweden to explore legal processes to obtain papers relating to the alleged kickbacks paid in the Rs 1437 crore Bofors gun deal of 1986. (PTI) |
|
BJP will form Govt only with Sena: Munde MUMBAI, Oct 14: Outgoing Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Gopianth Munde today said his party would form the next Government in the State only with its ally Shiv Sena but admitted their alliance was short of a simple majority in the Assembly. Munde was reacting to Sena supremo Bal Thackeray’s statement that BJP can form the Government by aligning itself with any other party and Sena would extend outside support to it. BJP is free to play its own politics, forge alliance with any party and make anyone Chief Minister, Thackeray said last night. Munde, however, told reporters, BJP is not holding talks with any other party and is ready to form the Government with Sena. To a query, Munde clarified that he was not nursing the ambition to be the next Chief Minister of the State, which has thrown up a hung Assembly. Asked why the saffron alliance was not staking its claim to form the Government, Munde said, the only hitch is that we are short of a simple majority. He denied BJP had not co-operated with its ally during the polls. Meanwhile, Sena MP Mohan Rawle met BJP president Kushabhau Thakre in New Delhi to discuss the modalities of Government formation. Speaking to PTI over telephone, Rawle said independents and smaller parties would support the Sena-BJP if the latter stakes claim to form the next Government. (PTI) |
|
Paswan promises telephone in all villages by 2002 NEW DELHI, Oct 14: Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan today said all villages in the country will be provided with telephones by 2002 and a scheme will be devised in one month to offer internet services in rural areas. Talking to reporters after assuming office, Paswan said the Government was committed to implement the new telecom policy, 99 with greater focus on tribal areas and North-Eastern states. All rural exchanges would be modernised to improve the quality of telecom services across the country, he said adding, a special quota for tribal areas and North-Eastern states would be among the top priority the Government. He said the officials had been asked to work out a scheme to extend internet facilities to villages and it would be ready in a month’s time. We can expect it to be implemented in less than two months, he added. The Government would also give attention to information technology enabled services such as call centres since these would have a bearing on the economy, he said. On priorities in posts and telegraph sector, he said speed post services would be given greater attention to generate more revenue. Government would also concenrate on opening up more post offices since 1.10 lakh villages did not have a post office yet. He said he would continue in the Telecom Ministry for a full five years when pointed out that during the last few years no minister had completed full term. (PTI) |
|
|
|
History will judge Gen Vaidya’s killers: Tohra JALANDHAR, Oct 13: Sarv Hind Shiromani Akali Dal (SHSAD) chief G S Tohra today said it should be left to history to judge whether killers of General A S Vaidya were martyrs or murderers. You should not even touch such issues. This is a very, very sensitive issue. Only history can judge such issues as to whether they were martyrs or killers, he told reporters here when asked about Akal Takht Jathedar Puran Singh honouring the families of Sukhdev Singh Sukha and Harjinder Singh Jinda, killers of the former Indian Army Chief, and terming the duo as qoumi shaheed (community’s martyrs). Asked about his own absence from the October 9 function at a village in Amritsar where newly-elected Lok Sabha MP Simranjit Singh Mann and Puran Singh heaped praises on Sukha and Jinda, Tohra said, it is not that I did not want to go there. I had other programmes that day. He said Mann wanted to go there and I have no objection. (PTI) |
|
Situation tense, but under control in Kannur KANNUR, Oct 13: An uneasy calm prevailed at Ayithara, the scene of yesterday’s bomb attacks on RSS-BJP workers allegedly by CPI(M) activists, and other areas in Kerala’s Kannur district, even as police maintained a strict vigil to counter further outbreak of violence. Police said the situation in the region continued to remain tense following yesterday’s incidents, in which a BJP worker was killed and two seriously injured, with people preferring to remain indoors, fearing further retaliatory attacks by both groups. Police continued to conduct raids at several sensitive places in the area to unearth explosives, reported to be hidden by hardcore elements. Additional police forces had been drawn from neighbouring districts to strengthen security at Ayithara, the sources said, adding patrol parties had also been pressed into service. As many as 23 CPI(M) workers had so far been taken into custody in connection with the bomb-throwing incidents. Prohibitory orders were in force in the area, the sources added. (PTI) |
|
| home | state | national | business| editorial | advertisement | sports | |
