Month: November 2011

Hyderabad, November 12: Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar on Saturday accepted the resignations submitted by TDP MLAs Nagam Janardhan Reddy and N Prasanna Kumar Reddy.

Nagam Janardhan Reddy, who was elected from the Nagarkurnool seat in Mahabubnagar district in 2009 elections, was suspended from the Telugu Desam Party. On July 3 he along with three MLAs Jogu Ramamma, Venugopal Chary and Harishwar Reddy resigned to their MLAs’ post demanding separate Telangana state. Later, he floated his own party Telangana Nagara Samithi.

New Delhi, November 12: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said a decision on Telangana will be taken on the basis of a consensus and nothing will be done in a hurry to do something that will create trouble in other region.

“Telangana is a complicated matter. We want consensus where all shades of opinion will feel what is best. We cannot solve Telangana by agreeing to Telangana and there is disturbances and unrest in other parts,” he said.

New Delhi, November 12: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said he would welcome Rahul Gandhi assuming the post of Congress Working President.

“It is a party matter. I cannot talk about the party. If Rahul Gandhi assumes any responsibility, I will welcome it,” Singh said when asked whether Gandhi was going to assume the post of Working President of Congress about which there has been lot of speculation.

He also said that he had requested Rahul Gandhi on a number of occasions to join the Cabinet but he had not accepted it.

—-PTI—-

Jaipur, November 12: Sacked Rajasthan minister Mahipal Maderna was Saturday suspended from the primary membership of the ruling Congress. He lost his job over alleged involvement in the case of missing nurse Bhanwari Devi.

In a press statement, state Congress president Chandrabhan said: ‘Looking at the seriousness of the issue in the context of CD we have suspended Maderna from the primary membership of the party’.

On board Air India One, November 12: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday said a decision on the festering Telangana issue will be taken after evolving a consensus so that it does not create trouble in other regions.

“Telangana is a complicated matter. We want consensus where all shades of opinion will feel what is best,” Manmohan Singh told reporters while returning from a four-day visit to the Maldives.

“We cannot solve Telangana by agreeing to Telangana and there is disturbances and unrest in other parts,” he said.

Hisar, November 12: The cross-country Jan Chetna Yatra of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani entered Haryana from Rajasthan Saturday.

Advani was greeted at Jhumpa village in the HIsar-Bhiwani area of Haryana-Rajasthan border by state BJP leaders and the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) president and recently elected Hisar MP Kuldeep Bishnoi.

The entourage of the BJP leader headed for Hisar town with BJP supporters giving him a good reception at most places.

New Delhi, November 12: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday indicated that the government has not taken any decision on lifting the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from parts of Jammu and Kashmir, saying that the review process was still on.

“The change in the security situation and the political process will have to be objectively reviewed,” the prime minister said, to queries if the contentious legislation will be withdrawn from parts of Jammu and Kashmir as demanded by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

Jodhpur, November 12: The CBI Saturday quizzed sacked Rajasthan minister Mahipal Madernas wife Lila and Congress legislator from Luni constituency Malkhan Singh over their alleged involvement in the case of missing nurse Bhanwari Devi. The former minister stayed away from from the questioning citing ill-health, sources said.

Bhanwari Devi had gone missing from Jodhpur’s Bilara area Sep 1. Maderna was sacked from the cabinet by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot Oct 16 over allegations that he had a role in her disappearance.

Bangalore, November 12: Former Karnataka Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde on Saturday hit out at the state government for transferring Lokayukta official Jeevan Kumar V Gaonkar, alleging that it was an attempt to “sabotage” the probe against former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa and his family.

Government yesterday transferred Gaonkar, who was serving as additional director general of police, Karnataka Lokayukta, and brought Satyanarayana Rao H N, Additional DGP, Crimes & Technical Services, Bangalore, in his place.

Jamshedpur, November 12: Kiran Bedi on Saturday claimed that Team Anna was not against any political party, but wanted the Jan Lokpal Bill passed in the forthcoming Winter Session of parliament.

Without naming the Congress, she said that the party which did not support the Jan Lokpal Bill was defeated in the recently held Hissar by-election.

“We will be forced to launch an agitation if the government fails to keep its word,” the Team Anna member said delivering a lecture at ‘Idea Summit’ organized by XLRI school of Business and Human Resources here.

Ahmedabad, November 12: Janata Party president Subramaniam Swamy on Saturday said he will soon register an FIR with CBI on the issue of black money stashed in foreign countries that would help him obtain letter rogatory from a court and his organisation then can directly approach foreign countries to get details of the hidden funds.

“After studying the laws on how to get details of black money stashed abroad, my organisation Action Committee Against Corruption in India has decided to go to CBI office on November 28 and register an FIR on the issue,” Swamy said.

New Delhi, November 12: With speculation about a move to make Rahul Gandhi the working president of the Congress party, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday said that if he was given any other responsibility, he will welcome it.

‘It’s a question of the party. I have requested him many a time to come to cabinet meetings,’ Manmohan Singh told reporters on board his special aircraft while returning from the SAARC summit held in the Maldives.

He was responding to a question on whether he supported the move by some to make Rahul Gandhi the working president of the Congress party.

New Delhi, November 12: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday said he has accepted his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani’s invitation to visit Pakistan, but stressed that he will go when the two countries can do something ‘solid’ together.

‘Prime Minister Gilani has invited me to visit Pakistan everytime I have met him. The right moment for my going to Pakistan would be when if we could do something solid together,’ Manmohan Singh told reporters mid-aoir while returning from the Maldives after attending the SAARC summit.

Faizabad, November 12: A man hacked his four minor daughters and wife to death in this Uttar Pradesh district Saturday, police said. He has been arrested.

Even as police are yet to ascertain the exact reason behind the killings, preliminary investigations indicate a marital dispute could be the reason.

Deenanath Tiwari, 39, killed his wife Shiakali, 37, and four daughters – aged 4-10 years – with an axe at his house in Poorakalandar town.

New Delhi, November 12: A meeting of the UPA constituents is likely before the winter session of Parliament beginning November 22 which is expected to be a tumultuous affair.

Congress sources said the meeting would provide an occasion for the party leadership to consult the allies on a host of issues, especially the vexed problem of a separate Telangana state.

A meeting of the Congress Working Committee is also expected prior to the winter session.

New Delhi, November 12: BJP on Saturday came out strongly against any government attempt to bail out debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines, saying it is not the private sector which needs to be rescued but the common man who is facing the brunt of price rise and corruption.

“The problem with Kingfisher airline is due to its own mismanagement. There are some airlines which are making profits while some are running losses. But government is not required to bail out the loss making units,” BJP spokesperson and former aviation minister Shahnawaz Hussain told PTI.

Kochi, November 12: The central government would bring in stringent anti-corruption law and electoral laws in which the corrupt and those convicted will not be able to contest elections, Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid said on Saturday.

The legislations would be brought in the coming winter session of Parliament, he said at a function organised by the Congress’ minority cell here.

New Delhi, November 12: On Board Air India One: Asserting that he is not putting “blinding faith” in his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani for pushing bilateral dialogue, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said Pakistan’s armed forces were “on board” on the peace process.

He said India wanted to strengthen the hands of the civilian government in Pakistan and that Gilani, whom he met in Male on Thursday, has “clearly understood” that one more mumbai-like attack will be a big setback in the peace process.

Jaipur, November 12: Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Saturday defended Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for calling his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani “a man of peace”.

“As far as Prime Minister’s statement is concerned, I think that liberal democratic forces in Pakistan have to be strengthened because of influence of the ISI in the army is something which has led to terrorism.”

“I think what the Prime Minister has said is fully justified that liberal democratic forces in India and Pakistan must come together to fight fundamentalist forces in both the countries,” he said.

Tehran, November 12: “No one should allow Israel or anyone else to go to war on account of flagrant deception such as the Mossad has offered,” Richard Silverstein wrote in an article.

He said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) made a mistake by relying on evidence provided by the Israeli spy agency in compiling the report on Iran.

Silverstein said that the UN report claims a number of foreign scientists helped Iran in making nuclear weapons.

Tehran, November 12: A senior official of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps says 27 people have been killed in a blast at an IRGC military base in the western part of the Iranian capital, Tehran.

Sixteen individuals have been injured in the blast and some of them are in critical condition, Lieutenant General Ramezan Sharif said.

Sharif cited the “relocation of ammunition” as the cause of the accident, IRNA reported on Saturday.

Hyderabad, November 12: It’s as if someone has pressed a past-forward button! Edifices that were once relegated to history, languishing in oblivion, have sprung back to life in the city in the past couple of years.

They are now the most sought-after venues for cultural shows, conventions, literary fests and even weddings. While the AP Tourism Department and the erstwhile royalty have breathed life and resuscitated some crumbling heritage structures, performing artistes have once again put them back in the spotlight.

General Secretary of VHP Praveen Togadia remarked against cow slaughter on the occasion of Eid-ul-Adha. He was addressing a press conference in Hyderaba in Jain Bhavan. He strongly pretested against the failure of State Government for not takin gany action on cow slaughter cases. He told the Chief Minister to resign his port if he can’t take any stern action in this regard. Expressing wonder at the number of cows slaughtered on Eid-ul-Adha, he said that the sentiments of the Hindus have been hurt by it. It seems that the Government is ignorant of Abolition of Cow Slaughter Act.

Vienna, November 12: A senior Iranian envoy is discounting the threat of a military attack on his country, saying “nobody would dare” to provoke such a confrontation with Tehran.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh says Iran’s foes “should have learned a lesson” from the way his country fought Saddam Hussein’s army to a standstill after it invaded the Islamic Republic in 1980.

He told reporters Friday that if there is an attack now, Iran would “respond immediately.”

Riyadh, November 12: A Saudi man who happened to be driving near a road accident stopped his car and went straight to a woman who was injured. He put her in his car but instead of driving her to hospital, he took her to his house and raped her.

Passersby who had gathered at the accident site on a key road in the western Red Sea port of Jeddah had helped the man put the injured woman in his car, thinking he would rush her to hospital as she was bleeding.