Politics

Jalgaon (Maha), October 31: Describing the charges against him as “politically motivated”, senior RSS leader and an accused in the 2007 Ajmer Dargah blast case, Indresh Kumar today denied any involvement in the incident in which three persons were killed and 15 others injured.

“This is a political conspiracy and all these charges are baseless and an attempt to malign me and defame my organisation,” he told reporters at the ongoing RSS National Executive meeting here.

“We believe in the judicial process and Indian constitution. Everything will be clear,” he said.

Bihar, October 31:Campaigning for the ongoing state assembly elections in Bihar, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday alleged that the money sent by the central government to the state is not utililized properly.

Addressing a rally in Munger district,Rahul said that the money sent for the upliftment of Bihar does not reach the villages.

He further appealed the youth to join politics and try to bring development in Bihar.

Mumbai, October 30: Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Saturday met Congress party president Sonia Gandhi and offered to resign in connection with his government’s alleged role in the Adarsh Society housing scam.

Placing the onus of Gandhi to take a final decision on the issue, Chavan told media persons here this afternoon that he had presented all the facts connected to the project to the Congress president after she asked him to give a full explanation.

Chavan also said that he would welcome a probe by the Union Defence Ministry.

Bangalore, October 29: Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa Friday hailed the judicial verdict upholding the disqualification of 11 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators who revolted against him.

“It is a historic decision upholding the values of democracy and a lesson for defectors,” he told reporters after Justice V.G. Sabhahit upheld assembly Speaker K.G. Bopaiah’s decision to disqualify the rebels.

Mumbai, October 29: BJP today said the Adarsh housing society scam has maligned the image of Maharashtra Government and alleged that state ministers were busy in their own development rather than that of the state.

“The incident where a prime defence land was allotted to the society to house politicians, bureaucrats as well as service chiefs showed how the politicians were involved in their own welfare rather than that of the state,” BJP president Nitin Gadkari said here.

Patna, October 29: Campaigning in Bihar Assembly elections reached a new low with former Chief Minister Rabri Devi today calling Nitish Kumar “dishonest and thief”.

“Nitish Kumar beiman aur chor hai, iske raj ko khatma karna hai (Nitish is dishonest and a thief, his government should be thrown out),” Rabri Devi said while castigating Chief Minister Kumar for allegedly forestalling an inquiry into the CAG report that highlighted irregularities in execution of development schemes worth more than Rs 11,400 crore.

Banka (Bihar), October 29: Senior BJP leader L K Advani today questioned the Centre’s “silence” over Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s remark earlier this month that his state had acceded to India and not merged with it.

“Omar’s statement is objectionable and is not in the national interest…it smacks of anti-national activity,” Advani told an election meeting here.

“Congress should clarify its stand instead of maintaining silence over it,” Advani said.

Lucknow, October 29: With her remarks about Narendra Modi creating a stir within the party, senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said on Thursday that “some vested interests” were “planting” stories to drive a wedge between her and the Gujarat Chief Minister.

Sources said Modi had approached BJP chief Nitin Gadkari to complain about Swaraj’s comments, after she was quoted as saying in Bihar that Modi’s magic may not work everywhere.

Patna, October 29: Sushma Swaraj’s comments on Narendra Modi continued to rock the BJP with party president Nitin Gadkari meeting senior leader L K Advani after a miffed Gujarat Chief Minister lodged a strong complaint.

With her statement that suggested that Modi’s magic need not work in Bihar and hence he may not be required to campaign creating flutters in the party, Swaraj sought to reach out to Modi by retracting from her statement and claiming she has been misquoted.

Patna, October 28: With an eye on Muslim voters in the Bihar Assembly polls, RJD-LJP alliance today released its election manifesto in Urdu.

“It is better late than never,” RJD General Secretary Shakeel Ahmed Khan said releasing the manifesto.

“We are the only political group to have catered to the demand of minorities for an Urdu version of the manifesto unlike the NDA and the Congress,” he said.

Describing the alliance as a natural harbinger of aspirations of Muslims in Bihar, he said the NDA government had failed to ensure development and initiate welfare schemes for minorities.

New Delhi, October 28: Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh reaches Hanoi to attend the Indian-ASEAN summit.

Manmohan arrived here on Thursday to attend the last leg of his three-nation Asia tour to attend the India-ASEAN Summit and the East Asia Summit.

He flew into the Vietnamese capital after concluding economic pacts with Japan and Malaysia.

Besides the summits, the highlight of Manmohan Singh’s engagements will be a meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday morning.

Patna, October 28: Congress President Sonia Gandhi today lashed out at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, accusing him of doing “politics of opportunism” by tying up with BJP.

“Nitish Kumar is involved in politics of opportunism by joining hands with communal forces,” she said questioning the chief minister’s secular credentials.

Addressing election rallies, Gandhi said that the Bihar administration had failed on all fronts, including health and education sectors, despite getting crores of rupees from the Centre.

Jammu, October 28: The BJP plans to boycott the three interlocutors appointed by the Central Government to gather views from a cross-section of people and leaders in Jammu and Kashmir on how to resolve the problems besetting the region.

BJP state unit president Shamsher Singh Manhal told media on Wednesday that the Kashmir issue is an internal matter of India, and that there was no need for “alien interlocutors”.

Patna, October 27: Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will visit Bihar tomorrow to address election meetings in Bhagalpur and Begusarai districts.

AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi will visit the state on October 30 during which he will address three election meetings, BPCC spokesman PC Mishra said here today.

–Agencies

New Delhi, October 27: Congress today said that the activities of the RSS needed to be “closely watched and monitored” in the wake of revelations by Rajasthan ATS in the Ajmer blast probe but said it was for the Government to decide on the issue of a ban on the organisation.

“The RSS activities needed to be closely watched and monitored, but it is in the purview of the government as to what sort of action needed to be taken or not taken”, party spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters.

New Delhi, October 27: Congress today said that the activities of the RSS needed to be “closely watched and monitored” in the wake of revelations by Rajasthan ATS in the Ajmer blast probe but said it was for the Government to decide on the issue of a ban on the organisation.

“The RSS activities needed to be closely watched and monitored, but it is in the purview of the government as to what sort of action needed to be taken or not taken”, party spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters.

Srinagar, October 27: Chairmen of both the factions of the Hurriyat Conference (HC) and about six other senior separatist leaders were put under house arrest to foil the ‘United Nations Military Observers (UNMO) office march today.

It was a precautionary measure to prevent any law and order problem, the official sources said, while more than 10 others were taken into preventive custody. The ‘moderate’ HC had called for ‘UNMO office march, which was also supported by the ‘breakaway’ HC and other separatist leaders and organisations.

Bangalore, October 27: Ruling BJP in Karnataka yesterday held a day-long agitation with ‘Donkeys’ against Janata Dal (Secular) Karnataka President and Former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s alleged attempts to destabilise the Yeddyurappa Government.

Strongly protesting the JD(S) holding BJP responsible for ‘Horse Trading’ to purchase opposition MLAs, Minister for Law Suresh Kumar said, ”People have given verdict to the BJP to rule for five years but Kumaraswamy is trying to destabilise the government through undemocratic ways which should be condemned by one and all.

Mumbai, October 26 : Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Tuesday attacked his estranged nephew Raj Thackeray, calling him an “urchin” whose bottoms needed to be spanked, and said that whatever the latter is today is because of his “dynastic” links with the Thackeray family. In a signed statement issued on Tuesday evening, related stories

New Delhi, October 26: RSS today vehemently denied the charges against some of its top functionaries in the Ajmer dargah blast case, saying “tirade by political leaders and investigators indicated that the accusations were politically motivated”.

The statement comes on a day when the Rajasthan ATS claimed that the name and phone number of RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav figures in a diary that belonged to one of the accused Sunil Joshi, which was in their possession.

Jaipur, October 26: The Rajasthan unit of BJP today dubbed Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s remark on the speech of senior RSS leader K C Sudarshan as “an example of despair mentality” and asked him to broaden his knowledge of history.

“Whatever Sudarshan said on the Kashmir issue was based on historical facts, be it about wrong decisions and policies of Congress party or other reasons due to which Kashmir problem has arisen,” BJP state president Arun Chaturvedi said.

Ranchi, October 26: A case of defamation against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for equating RSS with the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), was today transferred to another court.

The complaint lodged by petitioner Ashish Kumar Singh in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Vijay Kumar yesterday, was transfered to Judical Magistrate Amit Shekhar.

Singh, a resident of Ranchi, has demanded action against Gandhi for drawing a comparison between RSS and SIMI during a meeting in Bhopal earlier this month.

Patna, October 26: LJP President Ram Vilas Paswan today slammed his JD(U) counterpart Sharad Yadav for his alleged personal and inflammatory remarks against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and said such objectionable remarks did not behove of a leader like him.

“It does not behove well of the leader of the stature of the JD(U) President to have reportedly made such an objectionable remark,” he told reporters in reply to a question.

Lucknow, October 26: Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav today criticised the Mayawati-led Uttar Pradesh government for the rise in deaths due to dengue in the state and said that the administration has failed to meet the common man’s expectations.

“The hospitals of the state are filled with patients and the doctors are asking them to return. The state government has failed miserably to make adequate arrangements for patients and to check the spread of diseases like dengue, which is killing scores of people across the state,” the SP supremo said here.

Lucknow, October 26: Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav Tuesday accused Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati of implicating party legislator Vijay Misra in the attack on state Minister Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi in Allahabad three months ago and conspiring to get him killed.

“I have reason to believe that the poor MLA has been falsely implicated in the attack on Nandi and now Mayawati is out to get him eliminated,” Mulayam Singh said, reacting to the state government’s decision to announce a cash reward of Rs.250,000 on Misra’s head.