Politics

New Delhi, January 10: The BJP’s reluctance to come out in open support of people linked to “Hindu terror” Swami Aseemanand is one example has created unease among some sections of the party, but the dominant view is the focus should not be diverted from the issue of corruption which has helped in keeping the UPA on the backfoot.

Unlike in the past particularly after the arrest of Sadhvi Pragya Thakur in connection with the Malegaon blasts there was no clamour to make a big issue out of the arrests of sadhus and the leakage of investigation details.

Panaji, January 09: Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) international president Ashok Singhal Sunday rubbished reports of Swami Aseemanand naming senior Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh leaders as being involved in terror activities, including the Samjhauta Express blast.

“Aseemanand’s lawyer has clarified that he has given no so-called confessional statement. These shameless media reports are absolutely baseless. They are lies by the media,” Singhal said.

Guwahati, January 09: BJP today declared an all out war against Sonia Gandhi bringing the Congress first family in the line of fire on the Bofors kickbacks issue.

“The Congress, particularly its first family is faced with the power of truth. Truth has the habit of coming up at an inconvenient time. Misusing the CBI to undermine this case, each time and at every level, the party ensured that Ottavio Quattrocchi was enabled to flee the country,” the party said in its political resolution.

Guwahati, January 09: The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) today reiterated its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the 2G Spectrum allocation scam.

”The Congress has been refusing to concede to the demand as they want to kill the 2G scam-news. But the Opposition is committed to keep it alive till justice is done,” Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj (BJP) said here, addressing a massive public rally.

Gandhinagar, January 09:Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi willinaugurate a state-of-the-art mega exhibition tomorrow at MahatmaMandir here showcasing the state’s history, its future, investmentopportunities lying in various sectors.

The mega-exhibition, being held during January 10-18 co-incidingwith the Vibrant Gujarat Investors’ Summit, will be open for peopleduring January 15-18.

Kolkata, January 09:Training their guns on the WestBengal government, two senior central ministers today voiced concern over the “worsening” law and order situation in the state, saying killings have become a “daily phenomenon”.

“Law and order is worsening in West Bengal. Killings have become a daily phenomenon. But who is responsible for such a state of affairs?” Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said when reporters sought his comment on the firingat Lalgarh which claimed seven lives.

Guwahati, January 09:Corruption in the country has reached unprecedented heights due to “misrule and bad economic policies of the UPA government”, BJP president Nitin Gadkari said here today.

“The Congress led UPA government’s misrule and bad economic policy has resulted in large scale corruption, security threat and price rise”, Gadkari told a massive rally at the end of the two-day national executive meet here.

The BJP president alleged that ruling Congress leaders in Assam have shown that they were no less corrupt than their counterparts in New Delhi.

Ramnathi (Goa), January 09: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Sunday appealed for a parliamentary act empowering the construction of a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya and claimed it had received letters of support from 353 non-BJP members of parliament.

The three-day conclave of VHP trustees and members of the governing council has also vowed to create awareness throughout India against what it called “unfair branding” of saints and leaders as “saffron or Hindu terrorists”.

Kolkata, January 09:Two central ministers Sunday expressed concern over the law and order situation in West Bengal, two days after the death of seven people in firing at a village near the Maoist hub of Lalgarh.

Asked for his comments in the aftermath of the killings, which allegedly involved assailants backed by the ruling Left Front major Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told media persons that it was the responsibility of the state government to maintain law and order.

Bangalore, January 08: Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury Saturday said Communications Minister Kapil Sibal appeared to be in a “cover-up” exercise over the 2G spectrum scandal.

Yechury termed as “bizzare” Sibal’s argument that there was zero-loss in 2G spectrum allocation, the row over which resulted in the resignation of A. Raja as communications minister.

Guwahati, January 08: Signalling a new strategy in the fight against Congress, BJP chief Nitin Gadkari today did not make a single direct mention of Sonia Gandhi nor Rahul Gandhi in his written address to the party’s National Executive meet.

The written speech of Gadkari had no reference either to Sonia or Rahul but it did contain veiled digs against both.

In an oblique attack on the Congress President, Gadkari said, “Sermons, declaration of multi-point programmes and empty appeals to political functionaries who are your own appointees will make no impact.”

Gowahati, January 08: Dubbing the second-generation mobile telephony spectrum issue as the mother of all scams, BJP President Nitin Gadkari today warned that the government’s “stubborn and confrontationist” approach to the “legitimate” demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe will cost it dearly.

Mumbai,January 08:Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan
Former Bombay high court Chief Justice JA Patil will head the commission to probe the alleged irregularities in the Adarsh Housing Society scam that has seen the resignation of Ashok Chavan as the chief minister.

The commission will submit its report in three months, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said.

Hyderabad, January 08: Even as the Centre is keen on evolving a consensus on the issue of Telangana, the Srikrishna Committee report is sparking trouble in the region with the pro-Telangana groups taking to streets in almost all the districts of the region.

Osmania University (OU) witnessed police firing and stone-pelting for the second consecutive day. Though the media was barred from covering events at OU, sources in the OU joint action committee (JAC) said that 40 students have been injured in the last two days due to police caning and firing.

New Delhi, January 07: The CPI today castigated the government for its “failure” in controlling the prices of essential commodities, especially food items, saying it was a “cruel joke” that ministers express concern at rising prices but take no action.

“The ministerial committee which is supposed to take action, instead expresses concern at the price rise. This is a cruel joke on the people,” the party’s Central Secretariat said in a statement here.

“Merely expressing ‘concern’ is mocking at the suffering of people,” the CPI said demanding immediate action to check inflation.

Guwahati, January 07: As the UPA government battles a series of scams, the BJP national executive beginning here tomorrow is expected to further sharpen its offensive against the ruling alliance at the Centre on the issue of corruption.

This is the first meeting of the national executive of the party after the 2-G spectrum allocation controversy exploded into a major scam that saw an escalating standoff between the government and the opposition over the issue of JPC probe into it.

New Delhi, January 06: BJP today accused the Congress-led UPA government of acting in an “irresponsible and childish” manner on the Telangana issue and maintained that delay in formation of the state would harm the interest of both Andhra Pradesh and the Telangana region.

“The Congress-led government is acting in an irresponsible and childish manner. The Srikrishna Commission report shows that they deliberately want to delay the issue.

Jammu, January 06: Opposition People’s Democratic Party today accused the Omar government in Jammu and Kashmir of failing to keep its promises and claimed that people were looking at the PDP as an alternative to have their aspirations addressed.

“Omar government has miserably failed to translate its promises into reality, so the people of this state have been looking towards PDP to get their aspirations addressed”, former Chief Minister and PDP Patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed told reporters here after Madan Lal Aggarwal, a prominent businessman of Jammu, joined the party.

Bangalore, January 06: Slogan shouting opposition rooting for Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa’s resignation over land scams Thursday forced Governor H.R. Bhardwaj to give up his speech to the joint sitting of the state legislature.The Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) members were up on their feet as soon as Bhardwaj entered the state assembly hall at noon, urging him not to read the speech which marks the beginning of the year’s legislative business.

Bangalore, January 05: Opposition Congress today said it was contemplating to boycott the Governor’s address to the Joint Session of the Karnataka Legislature tomorrow to register their protest against BJP Government led by B S Yeddyurappa, who is facing allegations of corruption and land scams.

A decision to this effect was adopted at the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting chaired by its leader, Siddaramaiah.

Jaipur, January 05: The Gujjar community in Rajasthan late Wednesday called off their 17-day-old agitation for reservation in government jobs and said they had reached an agreement with the state government.

“We have called off the agitation. We have reached an agreement,” said Roop Singh, spokesperson of the Gujjar Aarakshan Sangarsh Samiti that has been spearheading the agitation for five percent reservation in government jobs since Dec 20.

–Agencies

New Delhi, January 05: BJP on Wednesday said it would raise the pitch against corruption in government in the wake of the ncome Tax Tribunal’s decision on the Bofors case and pass a special resolution on the issue at its executive meeting in Guwahati.

“After the recent revelations by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, the Prime Minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi are answerable to the nation… We are going to intensify our agitation against the government on corruption,” Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley told reporters after a meeting of the BJP Core Group.

Chennai, January 05: Karunanidhi’s elder son and Union Fertilisers & Chemicals Minister MK Alagiri has once again taken up the banner of revolt over the perceived lack of action against A Raja and Tamil Nadu IT Minister, who had termed him as “cut-throat politician” in Radia tapes.

As per media reports Wednesday, Alagiri had a verbal spat with his father recently over “several issues”, following which he threatened to quit as union minister and as a party office bearer.

New Delhi, January 05: Former Congress MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy Wednesday approached the Election Commission with an application for registration of his yet-to-be-launched political party.

Y V Subba Reddy, a close relative of Jagan, filed the application before the Commission today and said the process is expected to take three weeks.

Asked about the name of the party, Subba Reddy refused to divulge it but said it will have the name of late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, the father of Jagan.

Chennai, January 04: AIADMK general secretary J. Jayalalithaa Tuesday came down heavily on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi’s remarks of continuing with freebies for the poor as long as they were there.

In a statement issued here, Jayalalithaa said: “By making this assertion, Karunanidhi was not expressing his concern for the poor in the state. He was only admitting that he does not have any scheme for the eradication of poverty.”