NEW DELHI, Mar 29:
Rahul Gandhi, who Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said will be “back soon” from his sabbatical, could replace his mother in the top party post as early as May.
The possibility of a meeting in May of the Congress Working Committee as also of the AICC either in Delhi or in party-ruled Himachal Pradesh or Uttarakhand is being talked about for that purpose with senior leaders saying the issue of the Congress chief’s post will gain momentum after the return of Rahul, the party’s vice president.
Amid a raging debate over Rahul’s prolonged absence, Congress on March 26 came out with the schedule for its organisational elections under which the next party chief would be elected by September 30.
Party leaders insist that after his return likely next month from leave, Rahul is expected to take a call on when to assume the party chief’s post. They added that the earlier he does it, the better it will be.
If Rahul decides to become party chief, Sonia will continue as the Chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party and give her focus to parliamentary work.
The schedule for organisational elections was drawn up even as talk is growing within the party that sooner rather than later, Sonia will pass the mantle to Rahul, who was made Congress Vice President in January, 2013.
Gandhi was elevated to that post at a meeting of the Congress Working Committee in Jaipur with the decision having been ratified by AICC the next day.
That same process could be followed if it is decided to make him the party chief and the organisational elections would not come in the way, said some leaders.
There was speculation that Rahul could any moment now be anointed the Congress president, but his departure on leave just ahead of the Budget session had raised questions as to his future plans.
Sonia has created a record of being the longest-serving Congress chief as she completed 17 years at the helm of the country’s oldest political party.
During a visit yesterday to Rahul’s Lok Sabha constituency Amethi, Sonia told the media that the Congress Vice President will be “back soon”.
Sonia had assumed the post of Congress president amid a complete collapse faced by it in 1998 with BJP in the ascendant. She had replaced the late Sitaram Kesri in the seat.
The organisational polls are being held at a time when Congress is looking to recover from its worst debacle in the Lok Sabha elections after being at the top for a decade since coming to power in 2004.
It could manage just 44 seats in the Lok Sabha elections last year.
The schedule for organisational elections, under which the next Congress chief is to be elected by September 30, was released by the AICC last week.
A highlight of the new schedule is that, for the first time, the party polls will be held in two phases. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Mar 29:
A Delhi court has dismissed the bail plea of a suspected Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) operative, who was arrested for allegedly conspiring to kidnap businessmen from various places for raising funds to carry out terror strikes in the national capital.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Reetesh Singh denied bail to Mohd Shahid, arrested in December 2013 from Mewat region in Haryana, observing that the charges were yet to be framed against the accused persons arrested in the case.
“Charges in this matter are yet to be framed. Keeping in view the allegations made against accused Shahid, I am not inclined to grant bail to him at this stage. Hence, the bail application is dismissed,” the judge said.
Special Cell of Delhi Police had named Shahid and Mohd Rashid in a charge sheet last May for alleged offences of criminal conspiracy under the IPC and under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Later on, another suspected LeT operative Abdul Subhan, his nephew Ashabuddin and Pakistani national Arshad Khan were arrested in the case and a supplementary charge sheet was filed against them by the police.
While seeking bail, the counsel representing Shahid argued that there was nothing in the charge sheet which suggested that Shahid had met any of the co-accused.
The police opposed the contentions of the defence counsel saying Shahid’s role was to provide logistics to facilitate the activities of Rashid.
In its charge sheet, police alleged that Subhan was the main conspirator in the case and he had entered into a conspiracy with other co-accused for carrying out terrorist acts in Delhi.
It had said that Subhan was in touch with wanted LeT man Javed Baluchi, who is based in Pakistan.
With the arrest of Rashid and Shahid, police had claimed to have unearthed a terror module of the LeT which was at an “advanced stage” of planning a major strike in Delhi.
Subhan was arrested on July 20 last year while Arshad is lodged in Kolkata Jail in connection with shoe baron Partha Roy Burman kidnapping case of 2001.
Ashabuddin was arrested in the case after he was produced before the court here from Kolkata Jail where he was serving jail term for his role in Burman kidnapping case.
Police had also claimed that Rashid had told the investigators about LeT’s plan to execute a terror strike “on the anniversary of Babri Masjid demolition”. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Mar 29:
The Himalayan shrine of Kedarnath which was marred by devastating deluge in 2013 is stable and its foundation was not damaged, an IIT expert team from Chennai has found.
The experts, who were asked by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to examine the condition of the foundation in wake of the floods have also arrived at the conclusion that there was no major danger to the temple, according to ASI officials.
“The IIT Madras experts visited the temple thrice for the purpose. They have submitted their interim report that the temple is stable and there was no major danger,” an ASI official said.
Also, the team has observed that the foundation of the temple was not damaged, he added.
ASI was handed the responsibility of restoring the temple that was badly affected by the deadly floods and landslides in June of 2013 in Uttarakhand in which over 5,700 people are presumed dead by the State Government.
ASI is engaged in major works including packing stones (matching the original profile and design) and providing wooden flooring within the Mandapa inside the temple, as part of the restoration works.
According to officials, non-destructive testing instruments that do not disturb the structure of the temple were used by IIT experts for assessing the health of the structure, foundation and walls.
Pointing out that a few settlements were noticed in the rocky surface of the structure, an ASI official said, such settlements were formed when the temple was constructed several centuries ago.
“These settlements were not due to the flash floods, but were formed when the temple structure was raised. These settlements usually take place during early period of construction,” the official said.
According to the official website of Sri Badarinath-Sri Kedarnath Temple Committee, the present temple was built in the 8th century A.D. Kedarnath is the highest among the 12 Jyotirlingas.
The ASI official further said that they were expecting the final report from IIT Madras experts shortly. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Mar 29:
The Aam Aadmi Party today removed party’s internal Lokpal Admiral L Ramdas and Prashant Bhushan as the chief of National Disciplinary Committee, a day after the latter and senior leader Yogendra Yadav were expelled from the National Executive (NE).
At an “emergency” NE meeting here, the party removed former navy chief Ramdas from the internal Lokpal and set up a new Lokpal panel, comprising former IPS officers N Dilip Kumar and Rakesh Sinha and educationist S P Verma.
“All these people have given their consent to be part of the party’s Lokpal panel,” party’s national secretary Pankaj Gupta said.
The AAP National Executive, while sacking Bhushan from the disciplinary committee, decided to replace him by a three -member panel headed by Dinesh Waghela. The other members are Arvind Kejriwal loyalist Ashish Khetan and national secretary Pankaj Gupta.
The removal of Ramdas came a day after he was sent an SMS asking him not to attend the National Council meeting to avoid “confrontation”.
Miffed over the snub, he then wrote a letter to the Political Affairs Committee criticising the leadership.
Ramdas said he had come from his village in Maharashtra to attend the meet. However, he said he would not attend the meet to “honour” the party’s request.
The AAP body also announced a committee that will take care of the April 22 agitation against the Land Acquisition Bill, when the party plans to gherao Parliament on the issue. (PTI)