MUMBAI, Jan 27:
Former Union minister Murli Deora and ex-Maharashtra minister Hussain Dalwai today filed their nomination papers for the biennial Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for February 7.
The Congress party, on Sunday, renominated Deora and Dalwai for third and second term respectively.
The two filed their nominations in presence of Chief Minister Prithivraj Chavan and state Congress president Manikrao Thakre among others.
Tomorrow is the last day for filing of nominations.
So far, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, eminent lawyer Majid Memon (both NCP), Rajkumar Dhoot (Shiv Sena) and Sanjay Kakade (Independent) have filed their nomination papers.
The elections are being held for seven seats from Maharashtra and 287 elected members of the Legislative Assembly form the electoral college. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Jan 27:
Finance Minister P Chidambaram today left on a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia for a bilateral trade and investment promotion meeting.
Sources said the Minister will be participating in the 10th Joint Commission Meeting on Technical and Economic Cooperation (JCM) at Riyadh.
The Indian delegation, led by Finance Minister, would also include Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram.
Chidambaram would be back in India on January 29, sources said.
India-Saudi Arabia trade relations have witnessed steady and remarkable growth in the last few years. Saudi Arabia is India’s fourth largest trade partner and the bilateral trade stood at USD 43.19 billion in 2012-13.
Saudi Arabia is also India’s largest supplier of crude oil, accounting for 17 per cent of the country’s requirements, and is one of the major markets in the world for Indian exports.
Saudi Arabia is destination to more than 1.86 per cent of India’s global exports and is also the source of 6.35 per cent of India’s global imports.
India also has a double taxation avoidance treaty with Saudi Arabia.
Several Indian companies have established collaborations with Saudi companies and are working in the Kingdom in the areas of designing, consultancy, financial services and software development.
Saudi Arabia is also emerging as a big investor in India. (PTI)

KOLKATA, Jan 27:
The Narendra Modi wave seems to have reached the Bengal shores, indicated by the more than two-fold increase in the membership of the BJP’s State unit.
A BJP leader in West Bengal claimed that the total membership has increased from three lakh in 2011 to more than seven lakh in 2013.
Two lakh new members have enrolled in the last six months, which party leaders have attributed to Modi’s anointment as the prime ministerial candidate.
The ABVP, youth wing of the BJP, too witnessed a surge in its membership with the enrolment of 45,000 new activists in the last one year, BJP spokesperson and co-in-charge of the party’s Bengal unit Siddhinath Singh told reporters.
He further claimed that the BJP’s minority and women’s wings too witnessed a 50 per cent jump in membership.
Singh said, “Two factors are responsible for the expanding BJP membership in West Bengal: Declaration of Modi as PM candidate by the party and the lack of an opposition worth the name in the state.”
The senior BJP leader noted that such enthusiasm had previously been witnessed on two occasions. First, during the Ram Mandir agitation in the early 90s and during Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s rule at the Centre.
“The charisma of Modi working in the entire country is also having its impact in Bengal and we will prove it during Modi’s rally in Kolkata on February 5,” Singh asserted.
The BJP and the RSS have traditionally never been able to make much of an impact in West Bengal, though the party’s former avatar Jan Sangh was co-founded by the son of the soil, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.
The 27 per cent Muslim community in the State, which wields a considerable influence in at least 140 Assembly constituencies out of 294, plays a key role in the power sweepstake, courted aggresively by all frontline political parties.
With a real Opposition missing in West Bengal after the fall of the mighty Left in 2011, the BJP has been slowly working to make its presence felt, especially in the rural areas of south Bengal taking help of Modi’s rising graph.
This was reflected in the 2012 Lok Sabha by-poll in Jangipur in Murshidabad district where the BJP candidate polled an impressive 85,867 votes, nearly 10 per cent of the total votes cast representing an eight per-cent rise over votes polled in 2009.
While President Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijit won by a paper-thin margin of 2,500 votes in the by-poll, the BJP candidate stood third.
This was significant considering the constant 3-6 per cent votes it had bagged over the last two decades, except in 1991-92 when the vote share of the BJP dramatically rose to nearly 16 per cent riding piggyback on the Ram Mandir issue.
BJP State president Rahul Sinha said, “The vote share of the BJP decreased after it allied with the Trinamool Congress in 1998-99. But after the Left parties suffered a rout in the 2011 Assembly election, voters are looking for a new Opposition which can checkmate the Trinamool Congress.”
The panchayat and the municipal polls in 2013 are also marked by a rise in the BJP’s vote share and narrowing down of the margins of loss of BJP candidates.
A breakthrough was the defeat of Left candidate and Mayor Mamata Jaiswal at the hands of BJP’s Gita Rai in the municipal polls in Howrah.
The popularity of the BJP can also be sensed from near about 425 applicants from various strata of society who have expressed their desire to contest as BJP candidates in 42 Lok Sabha seats in the coming Lok Sabha polls.
BJP’s ideological twin RSS too has been making steady inroads in south and north Bengal with the grievances and alleged minority appeasement policies of the ruling party playing a role.
He cited the instance of grant of allowance to 30,000 imams of the State, which has been termed by the Calcutta High Court as unconstitutional.
The expansion of the RSS was first noticed by a three-day youth workshop of the organisation in the state last year after a gap of 20 years under the leadership of its chief Mohan Bhagwat, followed by an increase in the number of shakas/branches in every part of the State.
An RSS official said, “The RSS has been growing in the last two and a half years. In south Bengal now we have 280 sakhas and in north Bengal we are presently having more than 700 branches.”
The BJP and RSS expansion has been grudgingly admitted by both the ruling Trinamool Congress and Left parties.
CPI leader A B Bardhan said, “Yes, there is a rise of BJP and RSS in West Bengal.” He, however, sought to put the blame for it on the TMC and its “soft” approach towards the saffron party and a “covert” pact with the communal forces.
He dismissed the contention that the BJP was trying to fill the space left vacant by the retreating Left parties.
“We also have reports of increase in the support base of the BJP and RSS in Bengal, but that is not due to absence of a strong opposition,” CPI(M) central committee member Basudeb Achariya said.
He referred to both BJP and TMC’s soft-pedalling each other, asking “can you show a single issue on which the BJP has run a campaign against Trinamool?”
TMC MP Sultan Ahmed, however, claimed, “CPI(M) supporters are switching over to the BJP as their mother party is in a disarray thus explaining the BJP and RSS’ rise.”
State Congress president Pradip Bhattacharya told reporters, “I don’t agree with what BJP is claiming. It will be proved in the coming Lok Sabha election.”  Muslim cleric Maulana Barkati agreed to the contention that lack of a strong opposition in West Bengal is resulting in the rise of the BJP and the RSS.
“The state is ruled by a secular Government and not by atheists like the communists; so the BJP and other parties with religious leanings are having their space. It is a good sign for democracy,” Barkati said. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Jan 27:
The Delhi High Court has issued notices to BJP MP Anurag Thakur, his brother and nine media houses in connection with news reports on the controversy relating to the link between an entrepreneur and Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.
Industrialist V Chandrashekhar, CEO of Delhi-based Tarini Group of companies, having its project in the hill State, has sought restraint on Thakur, his brother and the media houses, from running “slanderous” news against the him and his company linking them with the chief minister.
Chandrashekhar and his companies, which deal in hydro- power sector, sought damages of Rs 3 crore from Thakur, his brother Arun Singh Dhumal, who is also Vice President of State cricket association, for news articles that accused them of making payments.
“Plaint be registered as a Suit. Issue summons in suit and notice of the application to the defendants. Defendant nos. 1 (Anurag) and 2 (Arun) accepts summons in suit and notice of the application through their counsel.
“Written statement/reply be filed by defendant nos. 1 and 2 within three weeks. Rejoinder/ reply be filed within two weeks thereafter. Summons in suit and notice of the application be now issued to defendant nos. 3 to 12 (media groups) … Returnable for 3rd March….,” Justice A K Pathak said in a recent order.
“Pass a decree of permanent injunction in favour of plaintiffs and against the defendants… Restraining them from sending, issuing, publishing, circulating, making per se defamatory…Through either print, electronic or cyber media or through any other media whatsoever regarding plaintiffs …And causing interferences/loss of reputation and corporate goodwill of the plaintiffs,” the petition said.
Besides seeking “unconditional” public apology, the plea has also sought withdrawal of “slanderous/libellous imputations made and available in public domain.”
The plea has also sought “a decree of damages in favour of the plaintiff and against the defendants resulting out of …Defamatory torts to the tune of Rs 3 crore.”
It alleged that Anurag Thakur, son of former CM P K Dhumal and an MP from Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency and his brother “in furtherance of their campaign of spite and malice have gone on to involve senior political leaders into accusing the plaintiffs collectively of charges of graft and bribery and other offences which plaintiff no. 1 never committed.” (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Jan 27:
Expelled AAP MLA Vinod Kumar Binny today called off his dharna against Arvind Kejriwal Government after just four hours but threatened to launch a major stir if his demands, including passage of Janlokpal bill, are not met in 10 days.
A day after he was thrown out of Aam Admi Party, the rebel MLA said he will continue support to the Government on “public-related” issues and was withdrawing his stir for now as Lt Governor Najeeb Jung and Anna Hazare had suggested that “some days” should be given to the AAP government to fulfil promises made by it during the Delhi Assembly election.
“If Kejriwal Government fails to bring Anna’s Janlokpal Bill in the given time, I would begin protest across the country,” Binny told reporters at Jantar Mantar here.
He also demanded immediate setting up of ‘Mahila Surksha Dal’ and 700 litres of free water to residents along with reduction in electricity bills by upto half as Kejriwal promised during election.
“If AAP Government fails to meet these three demands in the next ten days, I will begin country-wide agitation from February 6 next month,” he said.
“I am not withdrawing my support from the AAP-led Government. I am giving support to the Government on the public-related issues,” he added.
The MLA began his protest at Jantar Mantar at noon and called it off nearly four hours later
Asked why he he was withdrawing his dharna on the first day, Binny told reporters that the LG and Hazare had suggested to him that “some days should be given to the AAP-led Government so that he (Kejriwal) could work on public-related issues”.
“Women security is the first priority of mine. Before forming Government, Kejriwal had said that he would form ‘Mahila Suraksha Dal’ to ensure women security in the Delhi, but he is running away from this promise,” Binny alleged.
Earlier, launching a blistering attack on AAP, he accused Kejriwal of acting like a dictator. He met the Delhi Lt Governor to take up issues which have not been addressed by the Kejriwal government and demanded action against controversial Law Minister Somnath Bharti.
Binny also said Kejriwal should have held a referendum before expelling him from the party. He recalled that Kejriwal had organised a referendum across Delhi before forming the Government.
“Kejriwal should have held a referendum to take a decision on me. He should have organised a public meeting in my constituency (Laxmi Nagar) before arriving at any conclusion. After becoming Chief Minister of Delhi, he has become a dictator and is taking all decision on his own,” he said.
The MLA said he would continue to raise public-related issues even if it amounted to indiscipline.
“He (Kejriwal) recently sent a letter …Stating that disciplinary action was being taken against me,” Binny said, adding that if raising public-related issues is violation of discipline, he would continue doing so.
“Instead of taking action against me, Kejriwal should have taken action against Law Minister Somnath Bharti who allegedly assaulted and misbehaved with African women during a midnight raid,” he said.
Binny was expelled from the party last night following a decision by the AAP’s disciplinary committee.
“This disciplinary committee has decided to expel Vinod Kumar Binny and terminate his primary membership from the party, for publicly making false statements against the party and its leadership, thereby bringing disrepute to the party,” the party had said in a statement. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Jan 27:
A Delhi court has dismissed a criminal complaint filed against Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh and others for allegedly kidnapping a key witness of the 2008 cash-for-vote case.
The decision came just two months after the former Samajwadi Party leader was given a clean chit by a court in the cash-for-vote case in which he was accused of “conspiring” and “masterminding” attempts to bribe some MPs ahead of a confidence vote in Lok Sabha on July 22, 2008.
The court dismissed the complaint filed by Hasmat Ali, who is one of the prime witnesses in the cash-for-vote scam case, saying testimony of the complainant was “unbelievable” as it was not corroborated by any independent witnesses.
“In my view the testimony of the complainant, CW1 Hasmat Ali is unbelievable because it is not corroborated by any independent witness…Therefore, his sole testimony is being discredited. In view of the aforesaid, the complaint is dismissed under section 203 of CrPC,” Metropolitan Magistrate Jay Thareja said.
Amar Singh, who was arrayed as one of the accused in the cash-for-vote scam, was on November 22 last discharged by a court here along with L K Advani’s ex-aide Sudheendra Kulkarni and other BJP leaders in the case.
Ali had earlier moved a magisterial court seeking lodging of FIR against Singh, his secretary Tarun and Ramesh claiming that he was kidnapped from Khan Market here on September 25, 2008 when he was to depose before a parliamentary inquiry committee probing the case.
The magistrate had dismissed Ali’s plea after which he had challenged the order before a sessions court. The sessions court had also dismissed his plea in March 2012.
During the adjudication of the complaint case, Ali had alleged before the court that he was abducted by Tarun and Ramesh and Amar Singh had abused and threatened him.
The magistrate, however, dismissed Ali’s contentions while relying on the probe report filed by the police in which it had said that allegations levelled by the complainant were not corroborated by any independent witness. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Jan 27:
The Supreme Court today took suo motu cognisance of a horrific incident of chopping off the right hands of two migrant labourers from Odisha by a contractor from Andhra Pradesh in December last year.
Taking cognisance of a media report on the incident, a bench of Chief Justice P Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi issued notice to Chief Secretaries of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
According to the report, the incident occurred near a jungle in Belpada village in Kalahandi district of Odisha when the two labourers were being taken back to their homes to recover the money paid to them in advance when they were hired.
They were being taken back as they had refused to work in a brick kiln in Raipur district of Chhattisgarh.
On the way back, the contractor and his accomplice got drunk and chopped off the right hands of the two workers, the report said.
The police have launched a manhunt for the contractor and his accomplice.
The two labourers were part of a group of 12 hired for Rs 14,000 each by the contractor to work in a brick kiln in Andhra Pradesh.
However, the contractor tried to forcibly take all of them to Raipur in Chhattisgarh to work in a brick kiln there, to which the labourers refused and 10 of them managed to escape, the report said. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Jan 27:
As the country heads for Lok Sabha elections, the Law Commission will on Saturday hold consultations on electoral reforms to firm up its views on complex issues including ban on opinion polls and fate of candidates who file false affidavits.
The national level consultations with political parties and other stakeholders are being seen as an effort of the Commission to finalise its recommendations on electoral reforms, months after it circulated a consultation paper on the issue.
In its May 2013 consultation paper, the Commission, which gives legal advice to the Government on complex legal issues, wanted to know whether a people’s representative should stand disqualified upon conviction in a case, or framing of charges in a court, or as soon as the investigation officer presents his report.
“The issue of electoral reforms with all its connotations has been receiving attention of the successive Governments…. A divergence of views further underlines the need to engage in identifying the direct and indirect connection between these issues and the constitutional obligations of strengthening democracy and the rule of law,” the law panel had said.
It will also make recommendations on whether to altogether ban publication and broadcast of opinion polls between announcement of election schedule and final phase of polling.
Existing law allows EC to ban them just 48 hours prior to voting.
The Election Commission, the Attorney General, major political parties, except BJP, have supported the move to ban opinion polls.
The Law Commission had also asked whether, in addition to the existing scheme of disqualification, a new statutory provision needs to be inserted for evaluation of fitness of a candidate by an independent body.
It had sought opinion on whether filing of a false affidavit should be a ground for disqualification. “If yes, what mode and mechanism needs to be provided for adjudication on the veracity of the affidavit,” it had asked.
On the issue of state funding of election expenses and regulation of conduct of political parties, the Law Commission had asked whether there should at all be state funding of elections of a candidate or political party. It had said if there was state funding, what should be its criteria and the quantum of funding.
The consultations will help new Law Commission Chairman Justice (retd) A P Shah to finalise the recommendations and present them to the Government.
But it is to be seen whether the Government will be able to act on the recommendations as it would mean amending the Representation of the People Act and taking it to Parliament which will meet between February 5 and February 21.
This would be the last session before general elections due this summer. (PTI)

MUMBAI, Jan 27:
Melody queen Lata Mangeshakar says it is hard to believe that 51 years have passed since she sang ‘Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon’ in front of prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in 1963.
“Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo’ is completing 51 years. I really don’t know how these many years passed away but it still reminds me of the sadness of that time…
“I presented this song on January 27, 1963 in front of Pt Jawaharlal Nehru in the memory of those martyrs. Everybody’s eyes were moist. The poignant song was written by poet Pradeepji and was composed by Ramchandraji. How can we forget our martyrs. I remember them every year and salute them,” Mangeshkar tweeted.
One of the most memorable patriotic numbers, the song was written as a tribute to Indian soldiers who died during the Sino-Indian War in 1962.
Mangeshkar, 84, famously sang the song in the presence of Nehru at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi, just a day after the Republic Day.
The song is said to have moved Nehru to tears as the war had ended just two months ago and its memories were still fresh.
Mangeshkar, 84, is being felicitated by BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi at a function here to commemorate the 51st anniversary of the song.
Modi is the chief guest at the function being organised by Shahid Bharat Samiti and Lodha Foundation.
The organisers said Lata will not sing but she might hum one or two lines when over one lakh people sing it in chorus. (PTI)