Politics

New Delhi, August 22: Dubbing terrorism as “an undeclared war” on humanity, Law Minister Veerappa Moily today said the Centre was likely to enact a federal law to enable the newly set up National Investigation Agency (NIA) to fight the scourge.

“Looking into the inter-state and international nature of terrorism, the need was felt to create the NIA and it is important to have a federal law, which is quite possible. I have recommended it in the Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) report,” he said inaugurating a conference on ‘The Constitution and Anti-Terror Laws’ here.

New Delhi, August 22: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is not intervening or mediating in the Ambani brothers’ gas dispute, though he believes that the two top industrialists should patch up in national interest, an official in Prime Minister’s Office said.

The official, who did not want to be named, said that the reports in a section of media were not true that Singh has suggested the two brothers to follow a middle-path to resolve their ongoing dispute over natural gas from Krishna-Godavari basin.

Lucknow, August 22: Instructing all the departments to ensure proper implementation of government schemes in the state, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati today said the officials will be accountable if their subordinates fail to execute responsibilities.

“If district level officials are failing to execute their responsibilities with honesty and dedication, accountability of principal secretary or secretary of the department concerned will be fixed and action will be taken against him,” Mayawati said during a high-level review meeting yesterday.

New Delhi, August 22: Firing a fresh salvo at L K Advani, expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh has claimed that the former Home Minister stopped Atal Bihari Vajpayee from taking action against Narendra Modi over the 2002 riots on the ground that it could trigger uproar in the party.

Prime Minister Vajpayee was “disturbed” and wrote down his resignation letter in his Parliamentary office.

“Parliament was in session,” Singh told a private news channel.

New Delhi, August 22: As half of India reels under severe drought, the Centre has embarked on a slew of measures that include the decision to import food items and seeds for fodder, formulation of a scheme for loans to farmers for the shallow tube wells programme and rescheduling of the farm loan. These were the decisions that emerged from the meeting of State Agriculture Ministers held here on Friday to discuss the drought in about 246 out of the 626 districts in the country.

New Delhi, August 22: BJP leader Vasundhara Raje will meet party president Rajnath Singh and senior leader L K Advani today during which her fate as Leader of the Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly will be discussed in the backdrop of the central leadership seeking her resignation.

The former Rajasthan Chief Minister, who reached here last evening, has sought appointments with Singh and Advani, party sources said.

The party high command has sought her resignation in the wake of BJP’s poor performance in Rajasthan in the Lok Sabha elections, but has not set any deadline for her to quit.

New Delhi, August 22: The former Rajasthan Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje, is expected to meet senior leaders L.K. Advani and party president Rajnath Singh on Saturday.

Raje left for New Delhi to meet Top party leaders after a week-long drama, which saw her virtually defying the BJP’s central leadership.

Raje was accompanied with her ‘loyal’ MLAs when she left for national capital.

According to the source, Raje is likely to step down as Opposition Leader in state assembly and will be appointed as party general secretary.

New Delhi, August 22: Breaking his decade-long silence, former India External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh Friday sought to embarrass leader of Opposition L K Advani by saying that he “covered” up for him when he said that the former Home Minister was not not aware that he was going to Kandahar with three terrorists during the 1999 hijack episode.

He also said Advani was aware of the decision to release of the terrorists in exchange for freedom of over 160 hostages kept in the Indian Airlines plane that was hijacked.

Shimla, August 22: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the concluding day of its brainstorming session (chintan baithak) here has defended its action of expelling senior leader Jaswant Singh since the latter had not only praised Jinnah but also defamed Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

New Delhi, August 21: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi took the Metro from Dwarka to downtown Connaught Place to beat the heavy traffic after arriving in Delhi from Raipur Friday night, well informed sources said.

The sources, speaking on condition of strict anonymity, said Gandhi’s vehicle and escort were caught in the huge traffic snarl outside the Delhi airport after the city traffic was thrown completely out of gear by the late evening gale and torrential rains.

Lucknow, August 21: Expressing satisfaction over party’s impressive performance in by polls on four assembly seats, BSP supremo Mayawati today said that results have proved that her party has not lost its ground in the state.

In a statement, Mayawati here said that the results proved that the electorate had full faith in the “sarvjan hitai, sarvjan sukhai” policy of the BSP government and it enjoyed the support of all sections of society.

Srinagar, August 21: RSS today steered clear of Jaswant Singh’s expulsion with its chief Mohan Bhagwat claiming that the Sangh Parivar founthead had no hand in the summary ouster of the party veteran.

“The decision on Jaswant Singh ji is the BJP’s decision.

The Sangh(RSS) has had no link with it and the Sangh is not required to comment ,” Bhagwat told reporters here in the backof speculation that the RSS was behind Jaswant’s dramatic expulsion over the Jinnah controversy.

New Delhi, August 21: State governments had ‘chickened out’ of their responsibilities and were to be blamed for not doing enough to control the spread of the H1N1 virus or improve health infrastructure, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said Friday.

‘Some states are doing good but majority of states have not done well. Instead of me chasing them, they must chase me. Health is a state matter and so each state is duty bound to protect the lives of their people,’ Azad said while addressing a state health ministers’ conference here.

Srinagar, August 21: Rashtriya Sawayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Rao Bhagwat arrived here Friday on a three-day visit to review the functioning the state unit of his organisation.

This is the first time Bhagwat is on an official visit after being named the chief of the RSS this year. The Sangh is the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the country’s main opposition party.

Bhagwat, RSS sources said, will be conducting a post-mortem of the organisational activities in Jammu and Kashmir, where it is in a crisis as some members indulged in power politics.

Chennai, August 21: Taking benefits from the boycott by the main opposition AIADMK, the DMK-led DPA today won all five assembly seats where by-polls were conducted in Tamil Nadu.

The alliance emerged as prominent gainer in the assembly by polls as it won all five seats- DMK-3, Cong-2.

The by elections were held in five assembly constituencies, including Cumbum, Burgur, Ilayankudi, Srivaikuntam and Thondamuthur.

DMK candidates emerged victorious on Cumbum, Burgur and Ilayankudi seats while Party’s principal ally Congress won Srivaikuntam and Thondamuthur assembly seats.

Bangalore, August 21: The bypoll results on Friday will spell many things for both the ruling BJP and Opposition Congress. The JD(S) can however sit pretty whichever way the wind blows, bar the prestige at stake at its bastion in Ramanagaram.

Counting will begin at 8 am and the results are likely to be out by 11 am.
The bypolls in only two constituencies – Govindarajnagar and Channapattanna – can be attributed to BJP’s Operation Lotus. In the other three – Kollegal, Ramanagaram and Chittapur it was a result of its sitting candidates making it to the Lok Sabha in April-May.

Raipur, August 21: No political party can defeat the Congress if it sticks to its ideology of “working for poor people”, party general secretary Rahul Gandhi said here Friday.

“Congress loses elections only when its fails to follow the party’s ideology of working for poor people,” Gandhi said at a press conference at the Chhatisgarh capital, adding: “Congress will try its best to ensure every poor person lives with self respect.”

He said if the party did not deviate from its focus, neither the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nor the Left parties could defeat it.

Shimla, August 21: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday admitted that hate speeches by Varun Gandhi and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s sarcastic remarks on the Congress party during the campaign were among the reasons for its humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha elections.

A senior party leader, who is here for a three-day party meeting to introspect on what ails it, told media: “The speeches of Modi and Varun Gandhi during the elections were among the reasons for the defeat in the elections.” He was referring to the discussions in the closed door meeting.

Chennai, August 21: Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK-Congress combine Friday took early leads in all five constituencies where by-elections had been held Aug 18.

Initial results released by the state election commission showed DMK candidates in the lead at Bargur, Cumbum and Illayangudi, while Congress candidates were in the lead at Tondamuthur and Srivaikundam.

Ahmedabad, August 21: RSS sarsanghachalak Mohan Bhagwat’s advice to the BJP that a younger leadership should take over the reins of the party is likely to
bring Narendra Modi (59), Arun Jaitley (57) and Sushma Swaraj (57) at the forefront for the top job. Of these, Modi may not be prepared to take over yet, but it’s almost certain that he would prefer Jaitley over Swaraj.

Shimla, August 20: Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday said that decision to expel senior leader Jaswant Singh was taken by its parliamentary board as content of his book on Jinnah is against core ideology of the Party.

Speaking to reporters, BJP general secretary Arun Jaitly said, “The issue is not your right to author a book, the issue is the content of the book. No political party gives you the right to write against ideology of the party or to air your views publicly.”

Shimla, August 20: The Bhartiya Janta Party believes that Varun Gandhi’s hate speech against Muslims and Narendra Modi’s PM issues-led the party to humiliating poll debacle in the recently concluded General elections.

On the second day of ‘Chintan Baithak’ in Shimla, the party came out with a report suggesting the Varun issue and demand for projecting Modi as PM were among the key causes for party’s poll rout.

Bal Apte today tabled the poll debacle report in the ‘Chintan Baithak’ (Introspection meeting) and outlined the main reasons for defeat.

Patna, August 20: Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Thursday asked the Bihar government to open “janata hotels” in rural areas to provide cheap food to poor people in view of the drought.
Last week, 26 of the state’s 38 districts were declared drought-hit. Bihar has recorded a 38 percent rainfall deficit so far this monsoon season.

“The government should initiate a move to provide lunch and dinner at Rs.2 for the poor who are likely to be hit hard by the drought,” Lalu Prasad told IANS Thursday.

Ranchi, August 20: Asserting all indications showed a majority for the party in coming assembly elections, several Congress leaders in Jharkhand today suggested the party should field candidates in all the 81 seats.

Asking the party rank and file to continue their contact with people and work towards lessening people’s problem in the wake of the severe drought situation in the state, CWC leader and in-charge Jharkhand Affairs K. Keshav Rao expressed hope that the Congress would get a majority in the polls.

Kolkata, August 20: Rubbishing talk that efforts are on to privatise the Indian Railways, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday said she would be the last person to do so.

“In some quarters there is mischievous talk that we are trying to privatise the railways. I’ll be the last person to privatise the Indian Railways. There will be no privatisation or commercialisation of the railways,” Banerjee said at the 54th Annual Railways National Award Function here.