Politics

New Delhi, December 26: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has warned of legal action against the Congress for accusing party leader Ananth Kumar of helping corporate lobbyist Niira Radia fix business deals and threatened libel suit against TV channels that broadcast the allegations.

“The party has advised Ananth Kumar to take action against the maker of allegations and those responsible for the broadcast of those allegations,” BJP leader Arun Jaitley told reporters here.

“Making a libellous statement or repeating it is equally libellous,” Jaitley, also a lawyer, said.

New Delhi, December 26: Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee turned 87 Saturday and top Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders greeted him on the occasion and demanded that the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian honour, be conferred upon the party patriarch.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Vajpayee’s Krishna Menon Marg residence in the national capital with a bouquet to greet him. The prime minister inquired about the health of Vajpayee from his family members.

New Delhi, December 25: Dismissing allegations that he had business relations with controversial corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, BJP chief Nitin Gadkari today claimed that the Congress was behind these as it wants to divert attention from the 2G Spectrum scam.

Gadkari also demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh take moral responsibility for failing to prevent the 2G Spectrum and other scams and resign.

Lucknow, December 25: The 87th birthday of former prime minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) patriarch Atal Bihari Vajpayee was Saturday celebrated by party leaders and activists here.

Mass feasts, recitation of verses from the Ramayana and cultural events were hosted by BJP cadres in Lucknow, which Vajpayee represented for five consecutive terms in the Lok Sabha.

“He is a great leader and will continue to inspire the citizens of the country even if he remains out of active politics,” BJP leader and Lucknow Mayor Dinesh Sharma told reporters here.

New Delhi, December 25: BJP leader L. K. Advani has appealed for justice for seven imprisoned Baha’i leaders in Iran. “

The attitude of a country and a nation towards minority religion is the touchstone of how civilised a country it is….I entreat Iran in the name of Islam to liberate Bahá’ís,” he said, according to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of India

New Delhi, December 25: DMK leader and former communications minister A. Raja reached the CBI headquarters here for the second consecutive day Saturday for further questioning in the 2G spectrum scam.

He reached the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) headquarters at around 10 a.m., CBI sources said.

Raja was quizzed by the CBI for over eight hours Friday in connection with the 2G spectrum scandal, two weeks after it raided his premises in New Delhi and Tamil Nadu.

Islamabad, December 24: Pervez Musharraf has been sent a questionnaire by the interior ministry regarding the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007, when he was the president.

Dawn reported Friday that the questionnaire was sent to Musharraf, who now lives in self-exile in the UAE and London, even as two arrested former police officers told investigators that some intelligence officials were in contact with them on the day Bhutto was killed.

Lucknow, December 23: Taking a serious note of alleged obscenity at a function in the premises of a health department office here, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Thursday suspended seven employees, including three top officers.

“Action was ordered on the basis of a prima facie report submitted by an inquiry committee, which confirmed that departmental officials organised an obscene dance and indulged in drinking (alcohol) during the installation ceremony of newly elected office bearers of the employees’ union on Wednesday night,” a government spokesman told reporters here.

Jammu, December 23: The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) Thursday said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has run out of ideas for solving the Kashmir problem and called for full constitutional integration of the state with the country.

In a resolution on the Jammu and Kashmir situation passed at the party’s national office-bearers meeting here, the party said Article 370, which grants special status to the state, has worked against the interests of the people of the state.

Madurai, December 23: AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi paid homage at the memorial of Dalit leader and Veteran Freedom Fighter P Kakkan and interacted with the Dalits at Thumbaipatti Village, near here, last night.

His visit was kept secret by the security agencies, even as the Congress icon broke through the Special Profection Group (SPG) and local police cordon and walked on the streets in the Dalit-dominated village and interacted with the people, sending his SPG men into a tizzy.

Bangalore, December 23: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and governor HR Bhardwaj on Wednesday intensified attack on each other over alleged corruption and land allotment scandals in Karnataka.

Bhardwaj, who has been demanding ‘true picture’ from chief minister BS Yeddyurappa over his land deals and action against Reddy brothers over their alleged illegal iron ore mining, said on late Wednesday that he had given ‘list of corrupt ministers’ to Yeddyurappa.

Kolkata, December 22: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Wednesday attacked opposition Trinamool Congress saying it was spreading anarchy in educational institutions and hampering industrialisation in the state.

“We all know who all are responsible for spreading anarchy in educational institutions in the state; who is behind the killings of teachers and students in the state; who wants to destroy the education system in the state,” Bhattacharjee said in an obvious reference to the Trinamool.

Chennai, December 22: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today appealed to TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu to give up his fast to press for compensation to rain-hit farmers of Andhra Pradesh.

“Since your services are too valuable for the country in general and for Andhra Pradesh in particular, I appeal to you to give up your fast immediately and work for the welfare of the people,” Karunanidhi said in a message to Naidu.

Naidu has been on fast for the past six days demanding a relief package for farmers affected by the recent rains.

–Agencies

Madurai, December 22: In a candid talk, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi today told state party colleagues that it would take time for Congress to return to power in Tamil Nadu and asked them to build it from grassroot level.

“We are not in power for more than 40 years. Forget what happened in the past. Eventually we will come to power but it will take time. Before that we should strengthen the party at the ward and panchayat levels,” he said during an interaction with Youth Congress workers here.

Jammu, December 21: The Opposition People’s Democratic Party today said successive National Conference governments had bartered away the interests of Jammu and Kashmir for the sake of power.

“Successive NC regimes have brazenly bartered away state’s interests and aspirations of the people for the lust of power,” PDP leaders told a convention of party’s district committee here.

Party General Secretary Thakur Balbir Singh, former ministers Sardar Rangil Singh and Abdul Aziz Zargar and MLC Murtaza Khan addressed the one-day convention.

Chennai, December 21: DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi Tuesday urged party cadres to explain to the people about the misdeeds of AIADMK’s rule under its chief J. Jayalalithaa.

In a letter, Karunanidhi asked party cadres to tell the people about the case of three young girl students who died in a bus near Dharmapuri.

In 2000, AIADMK activists unleashed violence protesting the conviction of Jayalalithaa in a case that led to the burning of a bus in which three girl students were killed.

New Delhi, December 21: Despite the disaster it faced in the Bihar assembly polls, Congress today justified the strategy of going it alone in the key northern state.

“The lessons of Bihar are not essentially disheartening.

The party took a bold and correct decision of reviving the party in a state where it once was a dominant force,” the party said in the latest issue of its mouthpiece ‘Congress Sandesh’.

It said that the clamour for the party tickets and the fight put up in every constituency is a “starting point” for the revival of the Congress in the state.

Mumbai, December 21: The MNS chief Raj Thackeray visited BJP office here and met its state President Sudhir Mungantiwar, raising a few eyebrows.

After inaugurating a party office in LIC building, Raj, the estranged nephew of BJP ally and Sena chief Bal Thackeray, went to the BJP office located nearby, taking everyone by surprise.

Kolkata, December 20: The West Bengal government has urged Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee for clearance of several pending JNNURM projects and permission for taking up survey on railway land for projects for which central aid was sought.

The Centre has allotted Rs 4 crore for survey under the Rajiv Awas Yojana. “If these are not done, the Centre will not release any financial aid,” Urban Development Minister Asok Bhattacharya said in a recent letter to Banerjee.

New Delhi, December 20: The RSS today hit back at Congress General Digvijay Singh’s statement accusing it of links with “Hindu terror” his remarks are “baseless” and were an “attempt to divert” attention from the “misdeeds” of the ruling party.

Alleging that Congress has been making “baseless allegations”, RSS Sarkaryavahak Bhaiyyaji Joshi said whenever the party has found itself to be in a difficult situation, it has tried to make stinging allegations against RSS.

New Delhi, December 20: Asserting that Congress will take corruption head on, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday hailed as inspiring Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s assurance that he will take forward her five-point action plan to battle the menace.

New Delhi, December 20: Congress President Sonia Gandhi today had a piece of advice for those partymen who are yearning for posts remarking that they should learn from those who have been serving the party selflessly without getting anything in return.

Gandhi, who has created a record as party chief for being at the helm since 1998, said, “I am aware that a large number of our colleagues have been rewarded for their work.

“There are some people, who have got a little but perhaps not as much as they wanted.

Bhopal, December 20: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has said that there was a well-knit conspiracy under which religious leaders of the community were being targeted, insulted and linked with terrorism.

“There was a well-knit conspiracy under which Hindu religious leaders were being targeted, insulted and linked with terrorism,” VHP International President Ashok Singhal said at a function here yesterday.

New Delhi, December 19:Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh kept up his relentless attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its sister organizations on the issue of terrorism as he blamed the Rathayatra of L K Advani ahead of the Babri demolition in 1992 as the root of all extremism in India.

“The demolition of Babri Masjid was a blot. The terrorism has its roots in the Rathyatra of Advani which caused the rift between the Muslims and Hindus in India,” he said, delivering his speech at the Congress plenary session at Burari here.

New Delhi, December 19: Congress leader Digvijay Singh today moved an amendment to the political resolution related to disallowing religious fundamentalism to hijack the politics in the country.

However, the 83rd AICC Plenary decided to skip the amendment with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee declaring that he agreed with the spirit of the changes sought by Singh but would request him not to press for it.