Month: October 2011

Hyderabad, October 06: Telangana Political Joint Action Committee Chairman Prof M Kodandaram on Wednesday accused Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee of trying to dilute the Telangana agitation.

Prof Kodandaram was reacting to Pranab Mukherjee’s comments wherein he stated that Telangana was a sensitive and complex issue and hence pending since 60 years. He said these comments did not suit his stature. He asked whether the comments made at his personal level or was it Congress party’s stand on Telangana.

Hyderabad, October 06: Nizamabad MP Madhu Yashki on Wednesday stated that there was nothing new in the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s latest statement on Telangana.

Talking to media persons at his residence, Madhu Yashki said that Pranab Mukherjee repeated the same statement once again. “There is nothing to worry on Pranab Mukherjee’s comments and raise hue and cry on the issue,” he stated. However, he said the leaders should not link the Telangana issue with other statehood demands.

Hyderabad, October 06: `To create or not to…’ is the dilemma the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre is presently confronted with.

In a new revelation, it is gradually emerging that the Congress party as an individual entity and the Union Government have parallel opinions on the possible bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

A top Congress leader from the Centre, who hails from the State and enjoys close proximity with the corridors of power, insists that the top brass of the party is, by and large, in favour of the creation of Telangana State.

New Delhi, October 06: Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday stated that he would visit New Delhi once again on October 11 to meet the Congress core committee members – Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony.

Hyderabad, October 06: In a a major setback to the Telangana agitation, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday categorically stated that formation of Telangana issue was complex and it would take more time to resolve it.

“The problem is so complex that it has not been resolved for the last 60 years. Problems arose from the first SRC, and then came the Gentlement’s Agreement, then six-point formula and Mulki Rule and there were other developmental issues,” Pranab told a private news television channel in Kolkotta.

New Delhi, October 06: The world’s cheapest tablet PC, priced at around Rs 1,200, will now be available to students in the country as part of the government’s programme to expand education through information technology.

The tablet PC, named Aakash, will cost the government Rs 2,276. It will be given to students after subsidising the price by up to 50 per cent, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said today while unveiling the device here.

New Delhi, October 05: Wife of arrested IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt, who had given testimony against Narendra Modi in the post-Godhra riots case, has written a second letter to Union home minister P Chidambaram alleging that her husband was being treated like a “terrorist” by the police. She has also accused the

Gujarat government in the letter of using all possible ways to deny bail to her husband. Shweta, wife of Bhatt, had written her first letter to Chidambaram a couple of days ago saying that there was danger to the life of the IPS officer from the “vindictive administration”.

Paris, October 05: Here’s a story you’ve probably never heard, a Muslim Mosque in Paris during World War II helped people of Jewish decent escape from the Nazi’s.

According to the New York Times people were examined on a case by case basis and estimates place the number of people who were rescued at somewhere between a few dozen and 1,700.

Confirming the story is numerous historical accounts of the mosque’s involvement.

Ahmedabad, October 05: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi will begin his day-long fast series from Dwarka on October 16, as announced during his three-day Sadbhavana fast last month, government spokesperson Jaynarayan Vyas said in a statement.

“Seeing the unprecedented support for Sadbhavana fast, the chief minister has decided that a fast should be held in every district of the state,” Vyas said today.

It will start from Dwarka on October 16, Vyas added. A week before the fast, a series of programmes will be organised by the locals to “create a spirit of unity”.

–PTI–

Jeddah, October 05: Over 23,000 Indian Haj pilgrims have arrived in Saudi Arabia for the annual pilgrimage.

According to a release of the Consulate General of India here, a total of 23,078 pilgrims have arrived from India, of them 2,018 are in Makkah and 21,059 pilgrims are in Madina.

So far, 85 flights have come from India.

Meanwhile, two pilgrims have died. One of them had come through the Haj Committee of India and the other through a private tour operator.

The Haj to Makkah, the holiest city for Muslims, is obligatory in Islam at least once in a lifetime.

Hyderabad, October 05: Union minister Jaipal reddy who was till now dumb about the contentious telangana issue has finally spoken.Jaipal said that the congress party(Sonia gandhi)will solve the telangana problem in two months.

”In two months you will see positive news about telangana and i urge everyone to be at peace”said Jaipal adressing the media at his house in hyderabad,He said,in 1960’s the telangana agitation was in the hands of middle class but now the telangana sentiment has reached to grassroots and masses.

New Delhi, October 05: The Bharatiya Janata Party Wednesday announced senior leader L.K. Advani’s rathyatra for “clean politics and good governance” would start Oct 11 and said local party units will contribute to it.

“The rathyatra will be carried out with the participation of the people and with austerity,” BJP General Secretary Ananth Kumar, convenor of the rathyatra, told reporters here.

“There cannot be a comprehensive budget for this yatra. Local units of the party will contribute,” he said.

New Delhi, October 05: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday approved a reconstituted Inter-State Coucil, with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati as members.

The council, which makes recommendations to the centre on subjects concerning some or all states, is headed by Singh, with chief ministers of all states and union territories, and the administrators of union territories with no assemblies as members.

New Delhi, October 05: In a setback to the Gujarat government, a local court today rejected its application against arrested IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt and said it would hear his bail plea. Following this order, hearing on the bail application of Bhatt began and it will continue on October 7. Gujarat government had opposed the hearing on the grounds that Bhatt’s revision remand application was pending.

Session Judge V K Vyas said he was of the opinion that Bhatt’s bail application should be heard, even if the remand application was pending in another court.

New Delhi, October 05: Two Maoist guerrillas, who provided logistical support to new recruits in rebel training camps across India, have been arrested in the capital, police said Wednesday.

The two members of the outlawed People Liberation Army (PLA), identified as Arun, 30, and Dilip, 40, were arrested from south Delhi’s Lodhi Colony Monday night. They were Tuesday presented in a court which sent them to 10 days’ police custody.

Dilip is from Manipur. Arun runs a travel agency in Pune, police said.

United Nations, Oct 5 (IANS) India has abstained from voting on a UN Security Council resolution threatening sanctions against Syria, which was blocked by Russia and China using their veto power.

India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Hardeep Puri, announcing the abstention, said the resolution before the Security Council “does not accommodate our concerns about threat of sanctions.”

Islamabad, October 05: An enquiry commission set up after the death of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan has extensively questioned his three widows and two daughters, it said in a statement Wednesday.

The commission, headed by Justice (retired) Javed Iqbal, was set up to enquire how the then Al Qaeda chief managed to live in the country undetected.

The “exhaustive interview” of Osama’s widows and daughters took place Tuesday, Geo News reported quoting the brief statement. Officials refused to divulge further details.

Washington, Octber 05: The United States has welcomed the strategic partnership agreement between India and Afghanistan, but said it was not looking for any mediatory role for New Delhi in the peace process in Afghanistan.

Washington considered the US-Pakistan-Afghanistan trilateral talks structure of value and favoured its continuance, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters Tuesday when asked if the US saw any role for India in the reconciliation process in Afghanistan.

New Delhi, Octber 05: A 22-year-old thief was killed in a freak accident while trying to flee with money from a donation box at a Durga Puja marquee in north Delhi, police said Wednesday.

The incident was reported around 7 a.m Wednesday when Anil found a deserted Durga Puja marquee in north Delhi’s Rohini area and tried to steal the money by breaking one of the donation boxes made of glass.

New Delhi, October 05: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday approved a reconstituted Inter-State Coucil, with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati as members.

The council, which makes recommendations to the centre on subjects concerning some or all states, is headed by Singh, with chief ministers of all states and union territories, and the administrators of union territories with no assemblies as members.

Hyderabad, Octber 05:TDP Parliamentary Party leader Nama Nageswara Rao has questioned the TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao to explain why he had to make secret meeting during night with Congress leaders at New Delhi and what were the secret agreements he had entered into with the Congress bosses during his trip to the capital.

New Delhi, October 05: Grappling with the Telangana issue, Congress General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday met party chief Sonia Gandhi amid reports that an all-party meeting would be convened to find a way out to the statehood demand.

Azad, in-charge of Andhra Pradesh, met Gandhi at her residence during which he is understood to have briefed her about the situation in Telangana region, where life has been crippled for the past 24 days due to a general strike.

California, October 05: A woman who killed her newlywed husband and chopped and cooked his body parts over in 1991 is seeking release from a California prison.

Omaima Nelson, an Egyptian-born former model and nanny, is set to appear before parole commissioners on Wednesday at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla where she has been serving a life sentence.

Nelson was convicted of murdering her 56-year-old husband William Nelson in a grisly killing that authorities likened to the fictional slayings of Hannibal Lecter.

Hyderabad, October 05: Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan today accepted the resignation tendered by Infrastructure and Investments Minister Komatireddy Venkata Reddy. Mr Reddy, who is actively taking part in the Telangana movement has submitted his resignation letter to Mr Narasimhan on October 1 and marking a copy of it to Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy. The Governor immediately forwarded it to Mr Venkata Reddy. On the recommendation of the Chief Minister, the Governor has accepted the minister s resignation this evening.