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Downsizing exercise ITANAGAR, June 30: Even as the deadline for downsizing of ministry approaches, the mandatory exercise as set by the Centre, is yet to begin in . .... .more Liberhan Commission concludes hearing of arguments NEW DELHI, June 30: Over 11 years after it was constituted to probe into the demolition of the disputed structure in Ayodhya, the Liberhan ......more Fraud detected in health dept Hoshiarpur HOSHIARPUR, June 30: A case of fraud for making an embezzlement of lakhs of rupees in Health Department Hoshiarpur has been detected by the. ..more Former RPF official cross examined by Godhra panel AHMEDABAD, June 30: Glaring contradictions pertaining to the burning pattern ...more |
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Haryana Congress demands resignation of Assembly Speaker CHANDIGARH, June 30: The Haryana Congress today demanded the resignation of the State Assembly Speaker, Satbir Singh Kadian on moral ......more Left cautions UPA Govt against loss of support base NEW DELHI, June 30: Seeking a slew of pro-poor and pro-farmer policies in the forthcoming budget, the Left parties and their frontal organisations today ......more Congress ministers in Maharashtra resign MUMBAI, June 30: All Congress ministers in the democratic front coalition ......more ACP Dilip Sawant seeks time to probe police-criminals nexus MUMBAI, June 30: A senior police officer today sought time till July 7 from a special court to consider whether ...more |
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Downsizing exercise yet to begin, tough job ahead for Apang ITANAGAR, June 30: Even as the deadline for downsizing of ministry approaches, the mandatory exercise as set by the Centre, is yet to begin in Arunachal Pradesh where 21 ministers out of 33 in a House of 60 are likely to lose their jobs before July 7. The downsizing of ministry from 33 members to 12 has not only kept Chief Minister Gegong Apang on the tenterhooks, but has become a matter of concern for the opposition and general public as well. Though Mr Apang was confident that there would be no problem in implementing the Constitutional amendment in the State, political pundits here feel that it would be a tough job for the Chief Minister as he has to give equal representation to the 16 districts inhabited by innumerable ethnic groups. The Chief Minister, however, was of the opinion that the pruning exercise would be completed before the deadline and would be done in "due consultation with all friends and colleagues". While stating that the districts and ethnic groups could not be ignored, Mr Apang made it clear that those who are efficient and capable of delivering goods to the people would be considered. Political observers are of the opinion that even if Mr Apang tries to give equal share to all the 16 districts, he would be able to accommodate only 14 representatives including Speaker and Deputy Speaker. Even the leftovers could not be accommodated in state’s PSUs, with only a mouthful of such units in the state. There are apprehensions that the Chief Minister might dissolve the Assembly to avoid any complication, likely to arise from the downsizing exercise. With the Assembly elections likely to be held in September end or early October this year, Mr Apang will surely like to make things smooth for himself. The opposition Congress are of the view that if the Chief Minister dissolves the Assembly, most of his legislators would be aggrieved as it would deprive them from utilising their hiked MLA Local Area Development Fund (LADF), which was increased from 20 lakh annually to 50 lakh during the just concluded budget session of the Assembly. The United Democratic Front (UDF) Government led by Mr Apang is a conglomeration of two political parties and independents. BJP is the major constituent of the coalition with 35 members, while Congress (D) and independents have two members each. However, there are 16 Congress legislators and three unattached members in the House of 60, now reduced to 58 following resignation of two Congress legislators — Talo Mugli and Kabang Borang — from the House. The two leaders subsequently joined the BJP. (UNI) |
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Liberhan Commission concludes hearing of arguments NEW DELHI, June 30: Over 11 years after it was constituted to probe into the demolition of the disputed structure in Ayodhya, the Liberhan Commission today concluded hearing of arguments of all sides and indicated that it will give its report "very soon". The Commission, whose term ends on September 30, fixed July 20 as the last date for making submissions regarding any leftover matters. At the end of the day’s proceedings, Justice Manmohan Singh Liberhan, the Commission Chairman and former Chief Justice of Madras and Andhra Pradesh High Courts, said the report could be expected "very soon". The Commission was notified ten days after the demolition on December 6, 1992 and examined 99 witnesses including the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, BJP leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, Congress leaders late S B Chavan, Arjun Singh, VHP leader Ashok Singhal and renowned journalist mark tully. Though the first hearing was in January 1993, the Commission’s proceedings were stalled for two years due to an interim order passed by the Delhi High Court. However, regular sittings resumed in 1995. The intitial hearings were held in Lucknow, but was later shifted to Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan. Out of the 99 witnesses, 53 were Central Government’s, 14 were Commission witnesses and the rest 32 defence witnesses. The sides, who were heard included BJP, RSS, VHP, officers of Uttar Pradesh Government and the Centre. The Centre’s newly-appointed counsel P P Malhotra will on July 20 file additional written arguments after he was granted permission by the Commission today for doing so. BJP had told the Commission that it was against demolition of the disputed structure at Ayodhya and asserted that neither the party nor its leaders had any role in any conspiracy to destroy it. BJP said the demolition was unfortunate and was uncontrolled and added that the party did not want any harm to be caused to the structure. However, the Uttar Pradesh Government had alleged before the Commission that the then state Chief Minister Kalyan Singh and top leaders of VHP and BJP were party to the conspiracy that led to the demolition of disputed structure, while the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao was indirectly involved in it (conspiracy). But, Kalyan said he was not part of any conspiracy to demolish the structure and instead took cover under a statement made by the then HRD Minister Arjun Singh and told the Commission that Pakistani infiltrators were involved in razing the building to ground. Kalyan also said journalists were beaten up at the time of the demolition and were prevented from taking photographs of the incident, but said no arrests were made as it was very difficult to indentify the attackers in the crowd. The RSS told the Commission that it always favoured amicable settlement to the Ram Janam Bhoomi Babri Masjid dispute as it would infuse "new blood" to help india emerge a strong nation. Referring to the findings of Justice P K Bahri tribunal, which absolved the outfit of being involved in demolition of structure, RSS claimed that being a nationalist and patriotic organisation it always wanted to avoid "confrontation of communities". (PTI) |
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Fraud detected in health dept Hoshiarpur HOSHIARPUR, June 30: A case of fraud for making an embezzlement of lakhs of rupees in Health Department Hoshiarpur has been detected by the additional Director, Internal Audit (revenue) Punjab during annual audit of the department. According to a senior functionary of Director Health and Family Welfare here today, the additional Director, Internal Audit (revenue) Punjab has informed Director Health and Family Welfare Punjab through his letter. Of May 14, 2004, that during audit of G P fund of class I, II and III officers and officials of Health Department Hoshiarpur, it was found that Primary Health Centre had sent schedule to District Health Department, regarding withdrawal of G P fund through different bills of salaries of its officers/officials during two months. Two times recovery had been shown in the accounts of these employees. During scrutiny of these bills it was also noticed that PHC centre Harta Badla had withdrawn double salary of more than Rs 2 lakh in the year 2002-03. To check this embezzlement a special audit party had been sent from June 14 to June 23 to PHC centre Harta Badla. Krishan Dutt, senior Assistant, who was on leave since May 12, 2004, attended the office on 14 and 15th June and got checked some record of the Centre. On account of his regular absence from 16th June onwards, further audit of record could not be done. The official said on the report of the audit party, it was found that double salary of some officers/employyes had been withdrawn. It was found by the audit party that about Rs 1,41,000 had been drawn twice. Besides, bill of about Rs 63,500 had been shown cancelled. But this cancellation entry had not been entered in the office copies of the bills. Its entry had also not been made in the office cash book. He had suggested to take up this issue of the cancellation of this bill with the treasury officer Hoshiarpur and Acountant General Punjab to ascertain the reality. (PTI) |
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Congress ministers in Maharashtra resign MUMBAI, June 30: All Congress ministers in the democratic front coalition Government in Maharashtra submitted their resignations to Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde this morning to enable him to downsize the cabinet. The exercise is being undertaken to meet the July 7 deadline to prune the size of the ministry to 15 per cent of the total strength of the lower House of the State Legislature to comply with the 97th Constitutional amendment. Senior Congress Ministers Govindrao Adik and Satish Chaturvedi confirmed that all 25 Congress ministers, including 12 of cabinet rank, had submitted their resignations to the Chief Minister this morning. State Home Minister R R Patil, who is also the state NCP president, said all the ministers of his party would meet at 1300 hrs before submitting their resignations to Deputy Chief Minister Vijaysinh Mohite Patil. Currently, the total strength of the Council of Ministers in the state is 65 and it has to be brought down to 43. Maharashtra has a 288-member Assembly. There are 27 cabinet and 38 ministers of state in the Sushilkumar Shinde Government. There are 13 NCP cabinet ministers including the Deputy Chief Minister. There are 12 Congress Cabinet Ministers. Besides, one each from Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (b) and independents. Similarly, there are 14 Congress Ministers of State, 14 NCP Ministers of State, one each from JD(S), BBM(B), Gondvana Gantantra Party (GGP) and RPI, six independents. (UNI) |
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ACP Dilip Sawant seeks time to probe police-criminals nexus MUMBAI, June 30: A senior police officer today sought time till July 7 from a special court to consider whether the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act could be invoked against scribe Ketan Tirodkar, Pakistan-based gangsters Chhota Shakeel and Faheem Machmach, sub-Inspector Daya Nayak, Mralini Patil, film director and builder R C Agarwal, for their alleged nexus. Designated Judge A P Bhangale allowed assistant Commissioner of Police Dilip Sawant till July 7 to find out whether there was enough material to book them and if necessary take steps to obtain sanction to prosecute them under MCOCA. On June 7 City Police Commissioner A N Roy had filed a report before the court saying he had ordered ACP Dilip Sawant to follow procedures in law and obtain sanction to probe the role of Ketan, Agarwal, Fahim, Shakeel, Nayak and Patil about their links with the underworld, before taking steps to prosecute them under MCOCA. Hearing a private complaint filed by scribe Ketan Tirodkar, Judge Bhangale had earlier referred the case papers to the Police Chief to consider obtaining sanction from the competent authority under MCOCO to prosecute Nayak and others for suspected links with the underworld. In another development, Tirodkar’s lawyer Amin Solkar filed an application in the Court saying he was withdrawing his appearance from the case. Although he did not assign any reason, he told reporters outside the court that Tirodkar may have achieved his purpose and hence was not responding to his briefs. Reacting to the lawyer’s application withdrawing his appearance from the case, Tirodkar said, "no matter what would happen but I would continue to fight the legal battle and if necessary argue the case myself." Tirodkar had filed a complaint alleging that Nayak had taken Rs two crore from gangster Chhota Shakeel to bribe higher-ups to transfer police officers who were not favourable to the underworld. Asking the court to grant him pardon, Tirodkar said he was part of the conspiracy and had accepted money along with Nayak from gangster Shakeel’s men. He also alleged that film "Kaagar" made by Mralini Patil on life of sub-Inspector Daya Nayak was made at the instance of Shakeel. Nayak, who has gunned down 70 gangsters in encounters, was transferred in December last from Crime Branch to Charkop Police Station in Suburban Kandivali. (PTI) MCD says bye to ‘Daliya’& ‘Khichdi’, introduces new menu NEW DELHI, June 30: Gone are the days when students in MCD schools had no option except to stomach ‘Daliya’ and ‘Khichdi’, they would now be served with a variety of food including ‘Puri-Subjee’, vegetable pulao and paranthaas from the new session. "We have changed the menu considering the fact that not many students had a liking for Khichdi and Daliya. The food, which is to be served from July 1, is prepared considering the likes and dislikes of students," MCD Commissioner, Rakesh Mehta, said. The civic body has prepared the menu for mid-day meals, which would serve about 9,00,000 children in Delhi, in such a way that it provides adequate nutrients and necessary proteins required for the growth of a child, he said. There is a provision of six dishes for different seasons keeping in view the availability of items in that particular season. The menu would now have rajma, chholey, potato, raddish, methi and cauliflower on a rotational basis as it was not possible to provide all the dishes every day, he said. Civic body’s effort comes in the wake of a recent Supreme Court directive asking the State Governments and Union Territories to provide every child with food containing a minimum of 300 calories and 12 grams of proteins per day. According to the directive, the food has to be served to the students for a minimum of 200 days in a year, Mehta said. The modified menu besides providing nutrition to the students would also help reduce the number of drop outs from the schools, MCD, Health Officer, Dr K N Tiwari said. "The menu is prepared in such a way that the students would be provided with supplementry nutritional value that is essential for their growth," Tiwari said. Children generally from lower income groups come to these schools. The new system would provide them with adequate proteins and calories, he said. "It might not help students who are properly fed at their homes but would definitely help a majority of students as they do not get a balanced diet at their home," he said. The civic body has also reduced the number of food vendors from 72 to 30 to ensure that good quality vegetables are being supplied to the schools, Mehta said. "We will monitor the quality of food served in various schools and take actions against those found guilty," he said. The scheme covers 1833 primary schools, 852 attached classes and 33 independent nursery schools in the national capital. (PTI) Pak media pats India, Pakistan for carrying dialogue forward ISLAMABAD, June 30: Terming as a "major development" the decision by India and Pakistan to continue with their comprehensive dialogue on Kashmir without sticking to their rigid stands on the issue, Pakistani media today also said both countries can enter into an elaborate strategy of peace talks under the Shimla agreement. Referring to the mention of Shimla agreement in the joint statement issued after the Foreign Secretary-level talks in New Delhi, ‘The Daily Times’ said "it is true that hawks in both India and Pakistan dislike the Shimla agreement for different reasons but this is the document under which India and Pakistan can enter into an elaborate strategy of peace talks." Commenting editorially, it said "all countries, including the international court of justice, which was unsuccessfully approached by Pakistan in 2000, refer to the Shimla agreement when advising the two counties to engage in talks." Another daily ‘Dawn’ said the Foreign Secretaries discussed the Kashmir issue "comprehensively and after a long hiatus they will once again be negotiating on the question. That in itself is a major development. "Had they stuck rigidly to their guns on Kashmir, the dialogue would have ended in a deadlock, as previous attempts have. Both sides now realise that the Kashmir dispute cannot be allowed to remain a festering wound between them." While the two sides apparently know that they have to go halfway to reach out a settlement on Kashmir issue, "they have to keep a wary eye on the hawks who are forever waiting to capitalise on the situation in the disputed state to embarrass their Governments. But if the negotiators proceed discreetly and keep their dialogue away from the glare of publicity without attempting to play to the gallery, they may still be able to reach a satisfactory solution," `Dawn’ said. "The progress in the dialogue between India and Pakistan announced on Monday will be widely welcomed. The joint statement issued at the conclusion of the talks between the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries in New Delhi has set a positive tone for future exchanges," it said. "One hopes that the two sides will continue to sustain their commitment to peace and their talks on the various contentious issues on the agenda will be carried forward in the same spirit," the paper said. ‘The News’ daily said "it is a matter of satisfaction that India and Pakistan have agreed to negotiate a final settlement of the Kashmir dispute. This was the kind of understanding that was direly needed to not only normalise relations between the two nuclear armed neighbours but also to eliminate the half century dispute of Jammu and Kashmir." "Although it is much too soon to expect an early settlement of the Kashmir dispute, the fact that India has agreed to find a peaceful negotiated final settlement suggests that the new Congress Government is ready to continue the peace process that was agreed to between the Pakistan leadership and former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee," it said. (PTI) President confers Padma awards on Ganguly, 85 others NEW DELHI, June 30: The majestic Durbar hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan today reverberated with loud applause when President A P J Abdul Kalam conferred Padma awards on 86 eminent personalities from various walks of life at an hour-long function. The second-highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan, was given to former Chief Justice of India M N Venkatachaliah, while the other two awardees — poet and novelist Amrita Pritam and eminent astronomer and astrophysicist Prof Jayant Vinshu Narlikar did not turn up. Lyricist and writer Gulzar, Urdu scholar Gopi Chand Naran, noted journalist M V Kamath and music composer T N Seshagopalan and violinist Mrs N Rajam were among the 17 who received Padma Bhushan awards. Mr Yoshiro Mori, who has also been awarded for promoting India-Japan friendship, was absent. India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly and Vice Captain Rahul Dravid, singer A Hariharan, actor Anupam Kher, Tamil filmmaker Bharati Rajaa, Mohiniattam exponent Bharati Shivaji, cartoonist Sudhir Tailang and athelete K M Beenamol were among the 74 Padma Shri awardees, seven of whom did not turn up to receive the honour. The President presented a medal and a certificate to each awardee. Dr Kalam came down the podium at least 14 times whenever the recipients were elderly personalities or had difficulty in walking. The award function was attended, among others, by Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former President K R Narayanan, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, opposition leader in the Lok Sabha L K Advani and former Prime Minister I K Gujral. Following is the list of the awardees who were selected by the former NDA Government on the eve of the Republic Day this year: Padma Vibhushan: Ms. Amrita Pritam, (literature education), Delhi, Dr. Jayant Vishnu Narlikar, (science engineer astronomy), Pune, and Justice (retd.) M.N. Venkatachaliah, (public affairs-law), Bangalore, Karnataka. Padma Bhushan: Ms. Alarmel Valli, (art dance), Chennai, Dr. (Lt.Gen) Bijoy Nandan Shahi, (medicine), Delhi, Dr. (Prof.) Ch. Hanumantha Rao, (literature education), Hyderabad, Chandrashekhar Shankar Dharmadhikari, (public affairs), Mumbai, Prof. Gopi Chand Narang, (literature education), Delhi, Prof. Govindrajan Padmanabhan, (science engineering), Bangalore, Komal Kothari, (art and music), Jodhpur, Rajasthan, Mr Krishna Srinivas, (literature education), Chennai, Madhav Vithal Kamath, (literature education), Mumbai, Madurai T.N. Seshagopalan, (art and carnatic vocal music), Chennai, Dr (Mrs) N. Rajam, (art and violin), Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, Mrs Poornima Arvind Pakvasa, (social work), Gujarat, Sampuran Singh Gulzar, (art and cinema), Mumbai, Prof. Sardara Singh Johl, (science engineering agricultural research), Ludhiana. Soumitra Chatterjee, (art and cinema), Kolkata, T.L. Sankar, (civil service), Hyderabad, T.V. Antony, (civil service), Chennai, Vishnu Prabhakar, (literature), Delhi and Mr Yoshiro Mori, (public affairs), Tokyo. A.K. Palanivel, (art, instrumental music), Tanjore, Tamil Nadu, Prof. Anil K. Gupta, (literature education), Ahmedabad, Ms. Anju Bobby George, (sports, athletics), Kerala, Anupam Kher, (art-cinema), Mumbai, Dr. Arun Trimbak Dabke, (medicine), Raipur, Dr. Ashwin B. Mehta, (medicine-cardiology), Mumbai, Prof. Asifa Zamani, (literature education), Lucknow, Aubakir Dastanuly Nilibayev, (literature education), Almaty, Kazakhstan, Bal Samant, (literature education), Mumbai, Batchu Lutchmiah Srinivisa Murthy, (social work), Bangalore, Pandit Bhajan Sopori, (art-music-instrumental), Delhi. Bharathirajaa, (art-cinema), Chennai, Ms Bharti Shivaji, (art-dance), Delhi, Dr. (smt.) Dalip Kaur Tiwana, (literature education), Patiala, Pt. Damodar Keshav Datar, (art-instrumental music), Mumbai, Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty, (medicine), Bangalore, Dilip Kumar Tirkey, (sports-hockey), Bhubaneswar, Ms. Flora Macdonald, (public affairs), Ottawa, Canada, Dr. Gopal Prasad Sinha, (medicine), Patna, Ms. Gowri Ishwaran, (literature education), Delhi, Ms. Gurmayum Anita Devi, (sports-mountaineering), Imphal, Prof. Hamlet Bareh Nagapkynta, (literature education), Shillong, Hariharan, (art-music), Mumbai, Prof. Heinrich Freiherr Von Stietencron, (literature education), Berlin, Germany, Heisnan Kanhailal, (art-theatre), Imphal, Guru Jayaram Rao, (art, dance), Delhi, Dr. K. Ayyappa Paniker, (literature education), Thiruvananthapuram, Dr. K.N. Shankara, (science engineering satellite technology), Ahmedabad, K.R. Kumaran Nair, (art, dance , Palakkad, Kadari Gopal Nath, (art, music, Mangalore, Ms. Kalayathumkuzhi Mathew Beenamol, (sports, athletics), Idukki, Kanhiya Lal Sethia, (literature education), Kolkata, Kanti Bhai Patel, (art, sculpture), Ahmedabad, Krishn Kanhai, (art, painting), Mathura, Kumarpal Desai, (literature education), Ahmedabad, Dr. Laljit Singh, (science engineering) Hyderabad, Liladhar Jaguri, (literature education), Dehradun, Maguni Charan Das, (art, dance), Puri, Prof. Mamannaman Vijayan, (science engineering), Bangalore, Manoranjan Das, (art, cinema), Cuttack, Meher Banaji, (social work), Mumbai, Morup Namgial, (art, music), Ladakh, Ms N. Neela, (art, instrumental music), Chennai, Nalini Ranjan Mohanty, (science engineering), Bangalore, Nampally Divakar, (science engineering), Hyderabad, Neyyattinkara Vasudevan, (art, music, carnatic), Thiruvananthapuram, P. Parameswaran, (literature education), Thiruvananthapuram, Ms. Premlata Puri, (literature education), Delhi, Prof. Prithvi Nath Kaula, (literature education), Lucknow, Purshottam Das Jalota, (art, vocal music), Mumbai, Ms. Queennie Rynjah, (social work), Shillong, Rahul Dravid, (sports, cricket), Bangalore, Prof. (Dr.) Rajan Saxena, (medicine), Lucknow, Prof. Rajpal Singh Sirohi, (science engineering), Delhi, Ramesh Chandra Shah, (literature education), Bhopal, Sadashiv Nimbalkar, (sports, yoga), Mumbai, Dr. Samuel Paul, (literature education), Bangalore, Satish Kumar Kaura, (science engineering), Delhi, Sharad Moreshwar Hardikar, (medicine), Pune, Sharayu Daftary, (trade industry), Mumbai, Shyam Narain Pandey, (literature education), Kanpur, Dr. Siddhartha Mehta, (medicine, dentistry), Delhi, Sourav Chandidas Ganguly, (sports, cricket), Kolkata, Dr. Subhash Chand Manchanda, (medicine), Noida, Ms. Sudha Raghunathan, (art, carnatic music), Chennai, Sudhir Tailang, (literature education, journalism), Delhi, Prof. Sunita Jain, (literature education), Delhi, Surinder Singh, (art, vocal music), Delhi, Surinder Kumar Sama, (medicine), Delhi, Syed Shah Mohammed Hussaini, (literature education), Gulberga, Ms. Tatyana Yakovlevna Elizarenkova, (literature education), Moscow, Russia, Dr. Tumkur Seetharamaiah Prahlad (science engineering), Bangalore, Ms V. Kunjumani, (art, instrumental music), Chennai, and Visheshwaraiah Prakash, (science engineering), Mysore. (UNI) UP ministers resign en masse to enable CM to downsize ministry LUCKNOW, June 30: Uttar Pradesh Council of Ministers today resigned en masse to give state Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav a "free hand" in downsizing his cabinet to meet the July 7 deadline to prune the size of the ministry in compliance with the 97th Constitutional Amendment. In a cabinet meeting here, the ministers announced this so that the downsizing of ministry is a glitch free exercise in the state. All the ministers were present in the meeting at the State Assembly. Senior Samajwadi Party leader and Rajya Sabha member Janeshwar Mishra was also present. In a similar move, all the seven Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) ministers in the Mulayam cabinet had submitted their resignations to party supremo Ajit Singh on Monday night and yesterday morning. "In the letter, RLD ministers, including three of cabinet rank, had expressed full faith in the leadership and assured of no grievances if removed from ministry," said an RLD leader. The RLD has 13 MLAs in the State Assembly. Meanwhile, a senior SP leader said the Government would accomodate the removed ministers in Government-owned corporations where they would continue to get the status of minister. "Chairpersons’ posts in most corporations are vacant so there will be no problem in accomodating about two dozen ministers in them," the source claimed. Besides, in some corporations, BJP leaders are holding posts at present who might be removed," the leader further added. The UP Government has to downsize the State Ministry to 15 per cent of the total strength of the State Legislature as stipulated by the new law. The RLD ministers who had put down their papers are three cabinet ministers - Anuradha Choudhury, Kokab Hamid and Virendra Singh, while the rest are ministers of state - Babu Lal, Tejpal Singh, G P Pushkar and Swami Omvesh. Ms Aunradha Choudhury had already been elected to the Lok Sabha from Kairana seat but she was yet to resign from State Ministry. RLD sources said while five of these handed over their resignation letters to Ajit Singh last night, the rest did so this morning. The strength of the UP Assembly is 404 (one nominated) and according to the Constitutional Amendment Bill, the ministry will have a maximum strength of 61 only (15 per cent of the total members of the Assembly). However, the actual number of ministers to lose their job would be 24 as six of them have already resigned following their election to the LS and the Rajya Sabha. A senior SP leader said the Government had formulated a strategy to minimise the ministry. "The CM is in constant touch with Mr Ajit Singh to ensure a smooth downsizing," he added. Out of 91 ministers in Mr Yadav’s cabinet, 20 belong to allies, mainly the RLD and other smaller parties and independents, while the remaining 71 are his own party SP. There are 28 cabinet ministers including the CM, 10 Ministers of State with independent charge and 53 Ministers of State in the state coalition. The sources said the CM could ill-afford to displease his allies or SP supporters. In fact, though Mr Yadav had supported the bill, it has not found favour with his party leaders. (UNI) |
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