India working at altering NSG guildelines
on Uranium supply: Govt

NEW DELHI, Mar 13: India is working towards altering the exclusive Nuclear Suppliers Group’s guidelines for Uranium supply for the final implementation of the Indo-US Nuclear deal, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.

"No civilian nuclear energy cooperation is possible unless NSG changes its guidelines and the Government is getting the NSG to alter its guidelines," Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s office Prithviraj Chauhan said in reply to a question during Question Hour raised by BJP Leader Sushma Swaraj.

Responding to a question about stopping of Uranium supply by Australia a NSG member, Mr Chauhan said Australia was not supplying Uranium to India.

"In August preliminary discussions were held between the two Prime Ministers on the possible sale of uranium... But at the moment India is not getting Uranium from Australia, therefore the question of stopping its supply does not arise," he told the House.

Seeking a further clarification, Ms Swaraj asked if Australia will stop the supply for civilian nuclear energy in the future if India goes ahead with a nuclear test after signing the Indo-US nuclear deal.

To which, Mr Chauhan repeated his reply on the current status of no supply.

Dissatisfied with the reply, BJP member Arun Shourie pointed out that Australia’s threat on stopping of the supply confirmed to India that the NSG works as a "cartel" against non-member countries.

"Australia, which supplies Uranium to China another NSG member and a recognised nuclear weapon state, works as part of the cartel... The provisions of the Hyde Act in the Indo-US nuclear deal binds us to the fact that if nuclear test are conducted then all supplies for civil nuclear energy will be stopped," he added.

The Minister, then, said the Government was working towards ensuring that the guidelines of the NSG are altered.

"Unless the guidelines are changed and altered we cannot have cooperation on civilian nuclear energy," he added.

India at present is holding discussion with IAEA on India- specific safeguards in the draft agreement of the Indo-US nuclear deal. (UNI)

India, Congo to set up Joint Commission

NEW DELHI, Mar 13: India and the Democratic Republic of Congo have signed an agreement for setting up a Joint Commmission for cooperation in political, conomic, scientific, technical and socio-cultural fields.

The agreement which was signed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Congo’s visiting Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Antipas Mbusa Nyamwisi here yesterday.

Mr Nyamwisi who arrived here on Tuesday on a three-day visit, held talks with the External Affairs Minister and Defence Minister A.K. Antony yesterday

Congo is on of the 14 countries that will attend the India-Africa partnership summit here next month. (UNI)

Sanjay seeks SC permission to go abroad

NEW DELHI, Mar 13: Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt today moved the Supreme Court for permission to go abroad.

Sanjay Dutt, who is on bail in 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case, cannot leave the country withour prior permission of the apex court as per the condition of the bail order.

Sanjay Dutt, who has been awarded six-year imprisionment by Tada court, Mumbai, for possessing illegal arms, has already filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against his conviction and sentence.

The actor said in an application he wants to go to Malaysia and some other countries in order to complete his shooting assignments.

The application filed by him is likely to be mentioned by his counsel before the Supreme Court tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the last working day and the court will reopen after Holi holidays on March 24.

If his application is not heard tomorrow than he will have to wait till March 24. (UNI)

SAD Panthak demands fresh elections,
warns Govt against interference

NEW DELHI, Mar 13: Terming the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee president Paramjit Singh Sarna’s assertion of his term having been extended to two years a "fraud" on the Sikhs, Shiromani Akali Dal Panthak president Manjit Singh today warned the government against any interference in their religious matter.

Addressing the media, Mr Manjit Singh said Mr Sarna’s term had expired last month and this arbitrary act of announcing his term’s extension to another year was unconstitutional.

"If his term has actually been extended, it should have been endorsed in a general house meeting which has not been done."

Going by Mr Sarna’s claim that his term had been extended by the Government, we warn the Delhi government against any such move which would have dire consequences, he said adding that we take it as an interference in our religious affairs.

"We want fresh elections to be held so that those who get the fresh mandate may take steps to improve the lot of the panth and its properties."

Mr Sarna has brought it to such a pass that the gurudwara committee was facing a financial crisis, he added.

"Any amendment needs to be endorsed by the general house and just declaring that his term has been extended through signatures does not work."

Stressing that Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had assured him that there was no such move by the Government to extend the term, Mr Manjit Singh said even if the Government extends the term it would not be applicable on those whose term had expired last month. (UNI)

‘Need for third front will arise only after Lok Sabha polls’

NEW DELHI, Mar 13: The need for a third front, by the anti-Congress and anti-BJP "forces", will only be felt after the Lok Sabha polls, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda said here today.

Gowda led the Third Front, a group of regional parties and non-Congress and non-BJP combine, in 1996 when he became the prime minister following the general elections at that time.

Efforts like the UNPA are a "result of some honest efforts but the real third force will come into being only in the post-poll scenario", he said while disagreeing that a third force was already in place.

"All of them who are fighting the BJP and Congress will be forced to come together after the Lok Sabha elections," the JD(S) supremo said.

He said if elections in Karnataka were not held before May, when the president’s rule in the state comes to an end, then it might be coupled with the Lok Sabha polls.

"The Government is free to remove anomalies in the (voter) lists and it may take some time. I think that if elections are not held now, it will be held along with the Lok Sabha polls," he said.

However, Gowda, who represents the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, declined to reveal his role in the party in the post-poll scenario saying, "after the elections are over if some friends ask for my co-operation, I will have no problem."

The 75-year old veteran socialist claimed his relationship with Congress leadership was "never strained" though he was pained by the fact that none in the Congress camp tried to "acknowledge" his efforts to keep away BJP.

"I have said it many times, the day Kumaraswamy (his son) joined hands with BJP, it was the darkest day of my political career. But even after we left the BJP, none in Congress ever tried to acknowledge my conscious efforts to distance from the saffron party," Gowda said.

Kumaraswamy allied with the BJP "against party’s high command" to form his government in Karnataka unseating the Dharan Singh-led Congress regime which the JD(S) had supported earlier.

"I believe, Kumaraswamy’s action may have tarnished the party’s image but it also saved the party from the evil designs of the BJP and Congress," he said.

"My relationship with Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan has never been strained and we enjoy a relationship of respect," he added.

The JD(S) supremo said the foundations of his party were shaken due to the "evil designs" of the BJP and Congress and his first priority was to revive JD(S) in Karnataka.

"Number decide things. My humble opinion is to strengthen the party in Karnataka first whose base is shaken by the evil designs. It is in the hands of 5.5 crore people of Karnataka that what role JD(S) has to play in the future politics," he said.

When asked if Mayawati was a force in the southern state and whether he would align with her party BSP in the upcoming assembly polls, he said, "she has some base, but I am not of the opinion to go to anyone’s door for support. I have taken a position to confine myself to strengthen my party first."

On many of his state leaders leaving JD(S) to join either Congress or the BJP, he said, "It is good. Now our party is purged of such elements. It will only help us in the elections." (PTI)

Jaiswal criticises UP Govt for referring cases to CBI

LUCKNOW, Mar 13: The Centre today criticised the Uttar Pradesh Government for indiscriminately referring cases to the CBI.

"The State Government should see to it that only those cases were referred to the CBI in which more than one state was involved," Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal told reporters here.

"It must be ascertained whether there really was a solid reason behind handing over the case to the CBI....It should not be used for the purpose of just passing the buck," he said.

Jaiswal’s remarks come a day after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s decision to hand over to the CBI the case of a CD allegedly containing objectionable references to the characters in the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata.

This was the eighth case in which a CBI probe had been recommended by the Mayawati Government.

The Minister, referring to the recommendation of a CBI probe into the police constable recruitment scam by the Mayawati Government, said that the matter did in no way involve other states and as such there was "no rationale behind recommending a CBI probe."

When asked whether a CBI probe would be conducted in the CD case, Jaiswal said that the Centre was yet to receive a formal request. "It will be considered as and when such a request is received," he said.

In reply to another question, he said that there was no interference in the functioning of the CBI. (PTI)

‘BJP preapring for LS, assembly elections in Karna’

BANGALORE, Mar 13: The BJP is preparing for the Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Karnataka and would be happy to face the polls, if held together or separately, party’s senior leader M Venkaiah Naidu said today.

"We will be happy to face the Lok Sabha and Karnataka elections if held together or separately," he declared at a press conference here, obviously in response to the poll preperations by the Congress.

The BJP leader said the main issues the party would focus in the coming elections would be the crisis in the agrarian sector, food shortages, spiralling prices, terrorism and farmers’ suicides, over which the Congress has ‘remained unmoved’ in the last four years in office.

The Congress, he said, was trying to postpone elections in Karnataka fearing defeat. "The party can only postpone its muhurth for defeat and the defeat itself," he quipped.

Naidu said the Congress central leadership is ‘in panic’ because it has lost state after state since the 2004 Lok Sabha polls. "The Congress has lost in 10 of the 11 states where elections were held. It won only in Goa and got power in Manipur through manipulation", he said.

He took a dig at congress leader rahul gandhi’s ongoing Bharat Darshan campaign, which will enter karnataka by this month end, saying ‘nothing will happen’, despite the hype created over it by the party and the media

He alleged that the loan waiver announced by the UPA Government was a big hoax on the people .

Naidu demanded deployment of Central forces in Kerala in the wake of attacks on BJP and RSS activists last week by CPI(M) workers. (PTI)