Politics

New Delhi, July 07: Both Maneka Gandhi and her son, Varun, have made his security an issue, citing the arrest of six sharpshooters of Chhota Shakeel gang. The men, it is claimed, were planning to kill Varun’s lawyer defending him in the hate speech case.

While Maneka shot off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, alleging that Home Minister P. Chidambaram was not taking the “threats” to her son’s life seriously. “The home ministry has taken these threats very casually – it is as if you want Varun Gandhi to be killed,” she said.

New Delhi, July 07: Publicly criticising party colleagues for airing criticism of party ideology and strategy to the media apparently after the Lok Sabha poll defeat, senior BJP leader L K Advani on Monday said the party seemed to have “too many spokespersons”.

The urge (among some party leaders) to see their names in newspapers …to see their face on TV for a few seconds … Sometimes, I feel there are too many spokespersons in our party,” Advani said at a function here to mark the birth anniversary of Jan Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mookherjee.

Bhubaneswar, July 06: Angered over reduced allocation of funds for ongoing projects in the Railway budget, the ruling BJD in Orissa today called a statewide two-hour ‘rail-roko’ tomorrow.

“The rail roko will be held from 10:00 am to noon tomorrow to protest the Railway budget which ignored Orissa’s interests,” BJD general secretary Narendra Swain said.

Stating that Railway minister Mamata Banerjee allocated only Rs 715.22 Crore in the budget against last year’s allocation of Rs 949.34 crore, Swain said this showed the Centre’s “negligence” towards the state.

Patna, July 06: Describing the union budget as “direction less”, actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha today said it has totally ignored Bihar as well as the welfare of the common man.

“Despite Congress professing that it represents the ‘aam admi’, the budget presented by Union Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has totally ignored the welfare of the common man,” Sinha told PTI over phone from UAE.

Gandhinagar, July 06: Accusing the Narendra Modi government of “favouritism” and “corruption”, the Opposition Congress today said there has been financial irregularities and corruption in power purchase from the Adani group.

Referring to a High Court judgement, Leader of Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil said in Assembly that the court also had found that the state government’s intentions were malafide and were meant to favour Adani group.

He said the High Court observed that the government had “favoured Adani Enterprise over other bidders”.

New Delhi, July 06: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today had a spate of meetings with central leaders, including Prime Minister Mamohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram over re-orientation and re-organisation of paramilitary forces in the state. Omar, who is in the national capital, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and later Chidambaram and in both the meetings, National Security Advisor M K Narayanan also participated.

Kolkata, July 06: CPI-Maoist spokesman Gaur Chakraborty, arrested last month under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, was today slapped with another case related to possession of Maoist literature, leaflets and documents.

Chakraborty, arrested on June 23 after the Centre banned the CPI-Maoist group, was charged afresh under section 20 of the Act in the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate S S Ahmed here.

The fresh case was for possession of Maoist literature, leaflets and documents.

Dehradun, July 06: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank today said his government is ready for a CBI probe into the death of an MBA graduate from Ghaziabad in an alleged “fake encounter”.

“I have full faith in the CB-CID. But if the family members of Ranbir want a CBI probe into the matter, we will not shy away from it also,” Nishank said after meeting the father of 22-year-old Ranbir Singh, who was killed in an encounter with police in Dehradun on Friday.

New Delhi, July 06: Arch political rivals, RJD President Lalu Prasad and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today slammed the union budget for “ignoring” the demand for a special package to the state.

“How can the country progress when Bihar is ignored.

There should be attempts to bring backward states like Bihar on a par with other developed states,” Prasad said.

He said a special package for the state to the tune of Rs 1.86 lakh crore was made during the NDA regime and it is still pending.

New Delhi, July 06: The Congress today condemned the killing of an MBA graduate Ranbir Singh at the hands of Uttarakhand police and called for concrete and robust action against those involved in the incident.

“It reflects brutalisation of democracy, something which is and should be an anathema to democracy. We call for an immediate short enquiry and robust action,” party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said.

“A full-fledged comprehensive enquiry is the starting point, bare minimum that has to begin…,” he added.

New Delhi, July 06: Hailing the Union Budget as “development-oriented and pro-poor”, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today said the qunatum jump for urban infrastructure projects and social welfare schemes would take the country forward.

“It reflects commitment of the Union Government to fulfil promises made to the ‘Aam Aadmi’,” she said.

Dikshit said in a statement that the budget would result in inclusive growth as an adequate provision has been made for housing and road sectors.

New Delhi, July 06: Dubbing the general budget as “trepid” and “unimpressive”, the BJP today said Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has “run out of ideas” and shown no boldness in tackling huge fiscal deficit and promoting key areas like infrastructure.

The Left parties too described the budget as “inconsequential”, saying it “fails” to address the economic challenges facing the country.

“I do not see any great message in the budget. It is timid, trepid and unimpressive,” senior BJP leader and former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha said.

Patna, July 06: The Bihar government today said it has not received any tip-off about LeT operative Omar Madni, a resident of the state, from the central intelligence agencies.

“No tip-off was provided by the central intelligence agencies about Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Madni, who was arrested by the Delhi Police recently,” state Home Minister Vijendra Prasad Yadav told the assembly.

Shillong, July 06: BJP’s lone legislator in Meghalaya Assembly today joined the the ruling Congress.

“I, being the only legislator, represent 100 per cent of BJP’s legislature party. The BJP’s legislature party has merged with the Congress,” three-time legislator A L Hek, representing Pynthormukhrah constituency, said.

Hek joined the Congress in the presence of Chief Minister D D Lapang, AICC in-charge of Meghalaya Luizinho Faleiro and other senior Congress leaders.

BJP’s state Minority Morcha president S Ahmed was among 250 supporters who joined the Congress along with Hek.

Chennai, July 06: Dubbing the Union budget as “weak and tentative”, AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa today dismissed it as a “clerical exercise reflecting the continuity of a visionless government”.

“The budget proposals are not having the qualities that will take India out of the current economic morass on to the path of resurgence,” she said.

New Delhi, July 06: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said that he has taken tremendous risk to return to higher growth rates by opting for higher deficit and hoped to achieve nine per cent growth next fiscal.

“I have taken the tremendous risk to create the fiscal space of having higher deficit. I could have gone for the more conservative way of reducing the deficit and spent myself with six or less than that percentage of growth,” he told Lok Sabha television soon after presenting the Union Budget in Parliament.

New Delhi, July 06: Now that the M.S. Liberhan commission has submitted its report on the Ayodhya issue, the Bharatiya Janata Party has developed cold feet. The party has gone on the defensive.

New Delhi, July 06: The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday described the 2009-10 budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee as “routine” while the Communist Party of India (CPI) termed it as “inconsequential” and not addressing the real economic issues.

“It is a routine budget. There is no suggestion to meet the global economic recession,” BJP president Rajnath Singh told reporters.

He, however, welcomed the government’s decision to implement one-rank-one-pension scheme for ex-servicemen and for lifting the fringe benefit tax.

Dehra Dun, July 06: Nearly a week after being sworn-in as the Chief minister, Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank has allocated portfolios among his cabinet colleagues but retained most of the key departments with himself.

Nishank, who allocated the portfolios last night, kept a total of 21 portfolios with himself, including home, personnel, power, PWD, Finance, Civil Aviation, Health, Sports, Information and IT, an official release said here.

New Delhi, July 06: On the eve of the Budget presentation, the BJP on Sunday criticised the Economic Survey as a “huge wishlist” and accused the government of putting the blame for all economic problems in the country on external factors.

“The Economic Survey wants us to believe that the economic woes facing the country today with growth slackening, inflation mounting and burgeoning fiscal deficit are all due to external factors such as capital flows, price volatility and the financial meltdown,” senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said in a statement here on Sunday.

New Delhi, July 06: UP Police has a new job at hand. Guarding statues of Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram and Mayawati herself. This has come after the Supreme Court served the UP chief minister with a notice asking her to justify erecting new statues for Dalit pride with taxpayers money.

In Lucknow, the seat of Dalit power, the men in uniform have a new job. They musr guard and protect the symbols of Dalit empowerment installed all over the state in the form of statues by the Mayawati government.

New Delhi, July 06: But the truth is that Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s announcement on Friday – during the budget presentation – that her ministry would bring out a “white paper on the organisational, operational and financial status (of the railways) based on last five years’ performance,” had the party’s blessings.

Banerjee’s proposal is seen in political circles as a move – both by her and the Congress – to tame Lalu Prasad, her predecessor in the ministry. It also shows the Congress’s determination to avoid any future association with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar.

New Delhi, July 06: No one in the opposition trusts electronic voting machines (EVMs) any more.They have raised doubts about the dependability on EVMs after former Delhi chief secretary Omesh Saigal, an IIT graduate, showed that EVMs can easily be tampered with. BJP leader LK Advani is the latest to join the chorus against EVMs.

New Delhi, July 05: Indications of disciplinary action against its two top leaders emerged on Sunday with the CPI(M) convening an urgent meeting of its Central Committee to discuss the action as well as its implication.The CPI(M) Polit Bureau, which met here for the past two days to find an end to “disunity” among Kerala leaders and organisational problems in the state unit, decided to forward “proposals” to the Central Committee meeting here next weekend.”The Polit Bureau discussed the organisational issues related to the party’s state unit.

New Delhi, July 05: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Varun Gandhi today alleged that members of underworld mobster Chhota Shakeel’s gang were plotting to kill him while his mother and party leader Maneka Gandhi complained to the prime minister that the home ministry was treating the threats to his life casually. A day after six sharpshooters of Chhota Shakeel – one of India’s most wanted gangsters – were arrested from various parts of the capital, Varun Gandhi urged Home Minister P. Chidambaram to take urgent action in the matter.