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Next hearing in defamation CHANDIGARH, May 22: A local court today fixed the next date of hearing on July 24 in the defamation suit filed.....more Haryana
Congress CHANDIGARH, May 22: Barely ten days after the party drubbed ruling INLD in the state, .....more Talks
with Congress BANGALORE, May 22:Karnataka unit JDS president siddaramaiah today described as mere "speculation" ........more Gursharan Kaur NEW DELHI, May 22: Brushing aside the massive security apparatus, Gursharan Kaur, wife of Manmohan ....more |
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CMP rejects
NEW DELHI, May 22: Departing from the outgoing NDA’s prescription on labour reforms, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government has rejected the "hire and fire" policy sought by the industry.....more Manmohan-Musharraf: NEW DELHI, May 22: Call it a quirk of fate or the travails of partition, India’s new head of Government and Pakistan’s .......more Paswan supporters raise NEW DELHI, May 22: Efforts are on to pacify Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan.......more Big cats population BARIPADA, May 22: Population of the majestic big cats shown have showed a rising trend in.......more |
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hearing in defamation case against CHANDIGARH, May 22: A local court today fixed the next date of hearing on July 24 in the defamation suit filed by Shiromani Akali Dal general secretary and MP Sukhbir Singh Badal against Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. Chief Judicial Magistrate C L Mohal accepted Amarinder Singh’s plea seeking exemption from appearance in the court today. Sukhbir was present in the court. Earlier, on April 16 this year Mohal had asked the Chief Minister to appear in the court today in connection with the case. Sukhbir Singh Badal, son of Shiromani Akali Dal president and former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, had accused Amarinder of launching a slanderous advertisement campaign through the media to defame the Akali leader and his family just before the Punjab Assembly elections in February 2002. Sukhbir had charged Amarinder Singh, who was then president of the state Congress, of defaming him and his family by giving advertisement in newspapers, alleging that his father (P S Badal) had bartered Punjab’s river waters to Haryana in lieu of 22 acres of land at Gurgaon. (PTI) |
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Haryana Congress bickerings out in the open CHANDIGARH, May 22: Barely ten days after the party drubbed ruling INLD in the state, internal bickerings in Congress’ Haryana unit have come to the fore with newly elected MP from Rohtak Bhupinder Singh Hooda claiming to be a strong contender for the Chief Minister’s post and the rival faction led by former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal terming it as "kite-flying." Hooda at a press conference here yesterday had made no secret of his ambition to become Haryana’s Chief Minister if Congress returns to power in the next state election, due in February 2005. The rival camp quickly drubbed Hooda’s wish as mere "kite-flying" and said a senior party leader like him should not have gone public with his wish to become the CM. "We have already made it clear if our party comes to power in the next state polls, the Chief Minister will be elected from among the party MLAs. Those who want to sail on two boats should better concentrate on their present assignment and try to fight for a place in the Central ministry, if they are so sincere about taking up Haryana’s cause," Haryana general secretary and Bhajan Lal loyalist mange Ram Gupta told PTI. Hooda, who represented the Kiloi Assembly segment resigned as MLA and leader of opposition after being elected to the Parliament, had received a shot in the arm when senior Congress leader Natwar Singh at an election rally in his favour at Rohtak recently had reportedly projected him as the next Chief Minister. Mange Ram Gupta also did not favour Hooda’s populist announcements like free power to farmers, increasing the retirement age from 58 to 60, doubling of old age pension, cheap electricity for the poor, saying this was not the time to make such promises, especially when when these had not been discussed within the party. Ever since Bhajan Lal took over as state Congress chief about two years back replacing Hooda, the two camps have on most occasions stayed away from the rallies organised by either camp. In the distribution of Lok Sabha tickets for the 10 seats too, the Hooda camp claims that it had managed to prevail upon the party high command on the choice of candidates. (PTI) |
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Talks with Congress inconclusive, says Siddaramaiah BANGALORE, May 22:Karnataka unit JDS president siddaramaiah today described as mere "speculation" that his party has agreed to the Congress led coalition in the state, asserting that "nothing has been decided and talks are inconclusive". Siddaramaiah, talking to reporters on his return from New Delhi, said there was no change in JDS’ stand adopted at the May 16 legislature party meeting to the effect of forming the party led coalition Government with Congress support in the wake of 12th Assembly election giving a fractured verdict. He said, former Prime Minister and JDS chief H D Devegowda met Congress president Sonia Gandhi last night and placed the demand of his party before her. During the course of 30-minute face-to-face meeting, Sonia Gandhi suggested to Gowda that since the Congress is a national party, the JDS accept Maharastra model coalition, implying that the new dispensation should be led by her party, he said. Gowda, who disagreed with Congress president’s proposal brought to her notice that in the backdrop of the electorate rejecting Congress, the party should support JDS led coalition. Gowda and Sonia would be meeting in New Delhi either on May 24 or 25 to discuss the issue, Siddaramaiah said. In a significant development the JDS has convened its legislature party meeting on May 24 to take stock of the situation and seek MLAs opinion on the future plan of action. The Congress has also scheduled its legislature party meeting on the same day. Siddaramaiah remained non-committal on the party changing its earlier stand and seeking BJP support to form the Government. He said he was not aware of any proposal coming from BJP extending support to JDS in the Government formation and none of the saffron party leaders have met him. The JDS has passed a unanimous resolution that it would not support or form a coalition Government with BJP and only seek Congress support. The meeting also elected Siddaramaiah as its legislature party leader on May 16 and declared him as its Chief Ministerial candidate, the next day. Siddaramaiah expressed hope that the Congress would understand the ground realities and support the JDS led coalition Government in Karnataka. "The mandate is very clear, we should lead the Government", Siddaramaiah asserted. He dismissed a question as "hypotheical" on being asked in the event of Congress maintaining an abdurate stand, whether his party would re-consider its decision. Several legislators met Siddaramaiah at his residence and partymen who had gathered in sizeable strength raised slogans in his favour. Gowda is expected to return to the city tonight or by tomorrow. (PTI) |
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Paswan supporters raise hue and cry over portfolio NEW DELHI, May 22: Efforts are on to pacify Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan who is angry over denial of a portfolio of his choice - railways - to him even as his supporters shouted anti-Sonia Gandhi and anti-Laloo Prasad Yadav slogans. Both former Prime Minister V P Singh and senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel also called on Mr Paswan and were prevented from entering his residence for sometime. The supporters threatened to get violent. Shouting slogans that the voice of the Dalits was sought to be stifled, the supporters also threatened that the LJP would withdraw support to the United Progressive Alliance Government if Mr Paswan was denied the Rail portfolio, which is reported to have gone to Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal. Earlier, Mr Paswan accompanied by Mr Singh held discussions at 10, Janpath with Prime Minister-designate Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi in a last ditch effort to secure the Railways portfolio for the LJP leader. Ms Gandhi was being assisted in the discussions by her aides Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ambika Soni. LJP sources confirmed that Mr Paswan has threatened to boycott the swearing-in ceremony of Dr Manmohan Singh and his cabinet colleagues this evening unless he is given the Railways portfolio. (UNI) |
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Big cats population on the rise BARIPADA, May 22: Population of the majestic big cats shown have showed a rising trend in simlipal due to three decades of "protective umbrella" of the project tiger launched in 1973-74. Orissa has 192 Royal Bengal Tigers (male-57, female-75 and cubs-60) and 487 leopards (male-196, female-248 and cubs-43) of which the Simlipal Tiger reserve alone harbours 101 Royal Bengal Tigers and 127 leopards. The six-day long Pugmark based headcounting of the majestic great cat simultaneously conducted in all the tiger habitats in the state from January 5 to January 10 last revealed the numbers. Geographically, the fourth biggest tiger reserve in the country encompassing a total 2750 sq Kms of dense woodlands, Simlipal, is next only to Nagarjunsagar in Andhra Pradesh (3568 sq kms), Manas in Assam (2840 sq kms) and Indravati in Madhya Pradesh (2799 sq kms). The number of Royal Bengal Tigers in Simlipal was estimated at 30 as per the 1975 census, which went up to 101 in the 2004 18th biennial census conducted in the reserve. Conditions conducive to the tiger’s welfare was created by rigourous protective measures taken during the last three decades of project tiger in Simlipal, said Dr Debabrata Swain, Field Director of the Reserve and Conservator of Forests. Dr Swain said the adjoining Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary in Balasore district also has one Royal Bengal Tiger. During the 2002 "tiger and leopard census" too, one adult tiger was sighted in Kuldiha sanctuary, Dr Swain added. He further said the Kuldiha sanctuary, because of its closeness with Simlipal, could be further developed into an ideal tigerland if it was brought under the ambit of the Simlipal Biosphere Reserve(SBR). The Satkoshia-Baisipalli (proposed) tiger reserve, comprising of Satkoshia Wildlife Division and Mahanadi Wildlife Division, has 18 Royal Bengal Tigers and 34 leopards, wildlife sources said. The Sunabeda sanctuary under Bhawanipatna circle has 32 Royal Bengal Tigers and 36 leopards, while the adjoining Khariar division has four tigers and three leopards. This region showed a marked increase in tiger population and has emerged as the second largest habitat of the great cats in the state next only to Simlipal and is ideally suited to enjoy the status of a tiger reserve, the sources further added. (UNI) Man gets lifer for burning to death his wife over dowry NEW DELHI, May 22: A city court has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for burning to death his wife three years ago in North Delhi for not complying with his dowry demands. Additional Sessions Judge Amar Nath also ordered convict Tirath Singh (32) to pay a fine of Rs 3,000. Tirath’s wife Kastoori was admitted in a hospital near Connaught Place on October 22, 1999 with serious burn injuries. Though she said that the injuries were due to a stove explosion while cooking, photographs taken soon after the incident did not reflect her statements. Later her brother told the Sub Divisional Magistrate that she wanted to make a statement again. Since the incident took place after seven years of her marriage to Tirath, the SDM refused to record her statement again. However, he later agreed on the following day and Kasturi told that Tirath, his brother Prahlad and his mother Shorta Bai used to harass her by demanding dowry since the day of her marriage and that a case between herself and Tirath was pending before a local court. They had tied the knot on June 1, 1990 and have three children. Kastoori said she was beaten many times by her husband and in-laws as she refused to oblige his demands for dowry. On the fateful day, Tirath, Prahlad and Shorta poured kerosene on her and set her on fire, Kastoori alleged. She succumbed to injuries on October 26, 1999 and the accused were arrested on November 25, 1999. The case was registered at Sarai Rohilla police station. The court framed charges against them on October 11, 2000. Prosecution examined 24 witnesses. The court acquitted Shorta and Prahlad giving them the benefit of doubt as the charges against them were not proved. "The presence of Shorta and Prahlad at the scene of the incident was doubtful as Kastoori had not mentioned them in her dying declaration. There could be a possibility of Kastoori having been tutored to include them," the court said. (PTI) |
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