VHP says Modi should have been a better BJP president

NEW DELHI, Oct 19: No matter RSS-backed BJP chief Rajnath Singh has set his party on a back-to-Hindutva course, the VHP believes Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is a "more trustworthy" candidate to head the saffron outfit.

Also, VHP leader Vishnu Hari Dalmia, who ruled out support to the BJP in the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, said he believed senior party leader L K Advani had "surrendered" to allies while being in power.

In an interview to Hindi weekly Outlook, Dalmia, who flayed the BJP for what he called inaction over the Ram Temple issue, insisted Advani gave in to allies under no constraints.

"Saying that the Government could do nothing (on the temple issue) because of allies won’t work. The reality is there was no constraint. All wanted to enjoy power," the VHP leader remarked.

Dalmia, who heads the VHP’s Advisory Committee, also said he believed Modi would have been a better candidate than Singh for the post of the BJP president.

"Of course," he remarked in reply to question whether the Gujarat Chief Minister should have been made BJP president. "It would have been better if a `Hinduvadi’ face like Modi, instead of Rajnath Singh, was made BJP president. People would have trusted him more. We too have trusted that face more," Dalmia said.

The VHP leader maintained that the Parishad was not bothered about the BJP’s performance in the upcoming UP elections.

"We will stay away from the BJP. We have already suffered a lot and do not want to lose our credibility more," he said. (PTI)

CBI files chargesheet against Abhishek Verma

NEW DELHI, Oct 19: The CBI today filed a chargesheet against Abishek Verma, the son of a former Congress MP, in the navy war room leak case.

The chargesheet was filed in the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Seema Maini, CBI sources said.

The agency charged Verma with allegedly indulging in a criminal conspiracy to spy and under various sections of the Official Secrets Act.

Verma, who has denied involvement in the case, was arrested on July 21 and is currently in judicial custody. (PTI)

Foundation stone for community hall laid

SRINAGAR, Oct 19: Senior leader of National Conference and former Jammu and Kashmir Minister Mian Altaf Ahmad laid the foundation stone of women’s community hall at Wussan-Kangan on Srinagar-Leh road today.

The hall would be constructed by State Women’s Development Corporation at a cost of Rs 10 lakh. It will be used for self help group activities, said Ahmad. (PTI)

HC directs Govt for adequate arrangement
to treat burn patients

NEW DELHI, Oct 19: The Delhi High Court today directed the center and the Delhi Government to equip four big hospitals in the city including Safdarjung which have burns wards with proper infrastructure to deal with any eventuality during Diwali.

A division bench of Justice M K Sharma and Justice Hema Kohli directed the Centre to make special arrangements in Safdarjung Hospital and Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and Delhi Government to provide adequate equipment to the Guru Teg Bahadur(GTB) and lNJP Hospitals for the treatment of burn patients.

Directing burns ward hods of all these hospitals to make available for 24 hours during this period of Diwali, the court asked all hospital authorities to reserve 20 beds each for next one week to treat the burn patients.

The hospitals should have enough dressing materials, medicine, oxigen and fluid and in case of any eventuality the patients shoud be treated on priority basis, the court said.

It also directed the Commissioner of Police to depute a Sub-Inspector in all Government hospitals to record the statement of the patients and register police case.

The bench passed this order while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by an NGO seeking court’s direction to the Government and hospital authorities to comply with this court’s earlier order for the treatment of those patients who recieve burn injuries in view of Diwali. (PTI)

Prez asks CAG to go for e-auditing

NEW DELHI, Oct 19: President A P J Abdul Kalam today asked the Comptroller and Auditor General to go for online auditing so that there is no time lag between auditing work and completion of the project concerned.

"The process of audit has to become online. For this, it may be advisable, to install e-governance system for project management and monitoring at the commencement of the project itself," he said after laying the foundation stone of the new office of CAG here.

He said the CAG’s new building has to be designed to meet the tasks of e-audit.

Advising CAG to follow a six-pronged strategy or missions, the President asked the official auditor of Government accounts to ensure that project or programme is completed as envisaged.

CAG should also forecast challenges for effective fiscal utilisation and providing useful inputs for maintaining the momentum of the project, he said.

The auditor should also provide dos and don’ts to the executives based on past experience and the practicability of field level implementation, the President said.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram said auditing is not just a fault finding work and asked CAG to take forward performance auditing as people are more interested in outcome of the project concerned and not expenditure incurred on it.

Performance auditing is required to ensure that outlays resulted in necessary outcomes, he said. (PTI)

Posters: Kamal Hassan warns miscreants

CHENNAI, Oct 19: Popular film actor Kamal Haasan has issued a warning to ‘miscreants’ who are responsible for the posters that appeared in some parts of the city comparing him with Prophet Mohamed.

Distancing himself from the posters, Kamal in a statement here, asked those responsible to apologise and give an undertaking that they would not repeat such acts. "That will be the service the miscreants can do to Tamil Nadu, a state known for its communal harmony and religious amity", he said.

"I have always kept away from all religious and communal divides. My fan clubs converted themselves into welfare associations 20 years ago to do social service", he said.

Posters hailing Kamal as ‘Prophet Mohammed of the acting world’ appeared at a few movie theatres in the city. The Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, a Muslim outfit, took up the issue with Kamal’s office. The staff informed Kamal Hassan, who was shooting for a a film in Andhra Pradesh about it and he immediately issued the statement.

The TMMK leaders accepted Kamal’s statement and dropped their plans to stage a protest against the posters. (PTI)

Dreaded criminals- proclaimed
offenders arrested by police

BATHINDA, Oct 19: Police today arrested three dreaded criminals wanted in a number of cases of murders, loot and extortion.

The police managed to arrest three history sheeters Amrish Rana, Gurjant Singh and Satwant Singh while Harjinder Singh Kuldeep Singh managed to escape in the night.

Police also seized one Chinese 30 bore pistol with eight live cartridges and one 315 bore pistol and six live cartridges from Amrish Rana and Gurjant Singh respectively.

Police has registered a case in this connection.

Varinder Kumar, Senior Superintendent of Police, said the five accused were staying at the house of Satwant Singh at village Birtalab and were planning a big loot in the city. When the police got a tip of, it raided the place and arrested the three of the five accused.

Amrish Rana of Nawan Shahar is wanted in as many as 22 cases of murders, extortion and loot besides he had managed to escape from the police custody of Kangra police (Himachal Pradesh) on September 6.

Gurjant Singh of Una district of Himachal Pradesh was also an escapee from the police at Chandigarh bus stand and wanted in a number of cases of murder, loot and extortion.

Harjinder Singh of Garhshanker who was out on bail and had escaped joined their relative Kuldeep Singh of Patiala and finally Satwant Singh of Bathinda.(PTI)

Raj’s exit from Shiv Sena a personal blow: Thackeray

MUMBAI, Oct 19: In an emotional outburst, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has said his nephew Raj Thackeray’s exit from the party was a "huge personal blow" and he was immensely hurt by his protege’s decision to quit.

"The grief at his actions is immense. He cannot be compared to people like Narayan Rane and Chaggan Bhujbal (who rebelled against the Sena). He was our own flesh and blood. Everyday I try to forget what he did, but cannot," Thackeray said in an interview for a special Diwali supplement of Maharashtra Times.

"He was raised here at Matoshree, played with other children. I never expected that he would go so far. I don’t know who misguided him, but they did so to fulfil their own gains," Thackeray said.

Last year, Raj, who many considered a natural successor to Thackeray, announced his decision to quit the Shiv Sena and floated the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).

When asked about Raj’s future in politics, Thackeray said, "he has taken the plunge in a hurry, now he has to decide his future himself."

Thackeray also dwelt on the exit of Bhujbal and Rane, saying Rane left because he was "hungry for power".

"He is an honest and straight-forward man, but he was blinded by his thirst for power. He was misled by the two ladies (Maharashtra Congress chief Prabha Rau and AICC general secretary Margaret Alva)."

Thackeray spoke on the future of the Sena and the ‘Marathi Manus’, saying, "who else but the Shiv Sena can secure the future of Maharashtrian? There should be a feeling that this is my state, my Maharashtra.

"There are bomb blasts...People are dying everywhere, and yet the Deputy Chief Minister and Police Commissioner A N Roy insist that they are prepared," he said.

When asked for a message for the youth, Thackeray said, "the youth of the country should learn to have no expectation from the Government. You have to protect yourself and it is up to them as to how they do it." (PTI)

Defence lawyer threatened by Ravi Pujari gang

MUMBAI, Oct 19: Shahid Azmi, the defence lawyer representing accused in July 11 serial blasts and others held in terrorist cases under special acts, has received a death threat from the Ravi Pujari gang, asking him to give up defending his clients.

Shahid filed a complaint with Kurla Police Station on October 17, saying that a person claiming to be from Ravi Pujari gang, had called him from telephone number 25449658 at 7.14 pm and told him that his movements were being monitored round-the-clock and that he would be killed either at his office, home in Kurla or in his chamber at fort.

Shahid said that the caller also told him that the person hired for the job had already visited his residence.

The lawyer said soon after the call ended, he checked up his residence and found that someone had indeed visited his home asking for him.

Police has so far not provided protection to Shahid but the lawyer said he was expecting police security.

A top police official said "we are looking into the complaint and shall decide on Shahid’s security after probing the matter".

On July 4 last year, gangster Ravi Pujari had attacked defence lawyer Majeed Memon after issuing similar threats to him. Two armed gangsters shot at Memon, when he was leaving for the courts in his car. However, Memon escaped unhurt and police provided him with security later.

The same gangster has now threatened Shahid to give up defending the accused held in cases under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and other special acts. (PTI)

Akali Dal urges EC to notify dates of assembly elections

NEW DELHI, Oct 19: Alleging misuse of public funds and Government machinery, Akali Dal (Badal) today urged the Election Commission to notify the dates of assembly elections in Punjab so that the code of conduct could come into force.

An Akali MP delegation led by senior leader S S Dhindsa met the Election Commission and submitted a memoradum alleging that blatant misuse of public funds was being done by Congress government in Punjab for election campaign.

Full-page advertisements of the various departments of the Punjab government are being published regularly and even their rallies are being advertised. This is clearly a blatant misuse of government money and machinery, Dhindsa told reporters after the meeting.

The Government is able to do this because elections have not been notified, he said.

"The police officers are being posted with motive in Punjab. Such instances are so many when selected officers are being posted who carry their hand-picked juniors along with them and then in return they indulge in helping political party in power during elections," said MP Sukhbir Badal.

Dhindsa said the Election Commission assured them that they would look into their complaints. (PTI)

VP Singh’s Jan Morcha open to alliance with Cong, RLD

NEW DELHI, Oct 19: Opposed to the Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party, the Jan Morcha today said it was holding talks with the Congress and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) for an alliance ahead of the state elections.

"We are in touch with the Congress and the RLD. Except for the SP, the BJP and the BSP, we are open to alliance with all other parties," Jan Morcha leader Raj Babbar said today.

A friend-turned-foe of Yadav, he accused the UP Chief Minister of maladministration, citing what he alleged was mafiadom and crippling poverty in the SP-ruled state.

He told a news conference here that his party delegation led by former Prime Minister V P Singh would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seek a Rs 10,000-crore relief package for the drought-hit Bundelkhand region.

Babbar also announced that his party would set out on the next phase of its state-wide march, called "mukti sangram", from November 9. "Today there is no political power in UP, which is being ruled by mafias and goondas," he said.

In his comments, Singh, who said the Prime Minister should visit the Bundelkhand region, maintained that land acquisition laws should be amended to let farmers decide the price of their land the Government wanted to buy for SEZs.

"The Congress president (Sonia Gandhi) did show sensitivity towards farmers during the Nainital conclave. But this has to be translated into laws to protect farmers’ interests," he remarked.

Also, Singh said he wondered why Yadav, a proponent of Muslim cause, did not implement the minority component in the Mandal report on reservations. (PTI)

Three booked on charges of cheating

MOGA, Oct 19: Police today registereed cases against three journalists, including a lensman, representing two Delhi-based TV channels for allegedly extorting and cheating some meatshop owners by impersonating as Income Tax officials.

Those booked have been identified as Gaurav Moonga, Arun Kalra and cameraman Gurdev Singh, police said.

Police said that on October 17, Moonga visited the meat shop and took shots promising its owner of publicity on television.

However, after two hours, Moonga allegedly telephoned the owners of the shop, saying that they were income tax officials from Delhi and they had found that he was not paying income tax in accordance with his business. He allegedly demanded Rs five lakh from the owner, police said.

According to police, Bhagwant Singh, one of the owners of the shop, met the three accused in a hotel and struck a deal to pay Rs one lakh.

Singh informed the Police about it, but the three could manage to escape, they said. (PTI)