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Political Notes

	March 28, 2005

Mulayam again talks of Third Front

Samajwadi Party President and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has said that people are waiting the revival of a Third Front in the country. Relaunching the party in Karnataka at a convention in Bangalore, he said the people had lost faith both in the Congress and the BJP. The rally was dominated by the former Karnataka Chief Minister S. Bangarappa who had recently left the BJP to join the Samajwadi Party. Bangarappa said the BJP’s policies are detrimental to the country’s interests. Observers say the large turnout at the Bangalore rally and the fact that a good number of Muslims were present, may be a cause of concern for both the Congress and the Janata Dal Secular who are running a coalition Government in the State.



BJP tells Uma Bharati, no change in Madhya Pradesh

The BJP has warned firebrand leader Uma Bharati and her supporters to behave and not create problems for Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Babu Lal Gaur. At the party’s core committee meeting held in Bhopal on March 20, General Secretary in charge of Madhya Pradesh Arun Jaitley said, the party would not buckle under Uma Bharati’s pressure tactics and her moves against Babu Lal Gaur were bringing the party into disrepute.



RSS : Renewed commitment to ideology

A two-day brain-storming meeting of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has ended in Bhopal with the resolve to remain committed to the basic Hindutva ideology of the outfit. Briefing the Press, RSS spokesman Ram Madhav said the consensus was that the Sangh Parivar and its allied organisations including the BJP, have no reason to be apologetic about their basic ideology. He said the message has also been communicated to the BJP leaders as it was felt that the distancing of the BJP from the RSS ideology was one of the factors that led to the NDA defeat in last year’s parliamentary elections. Among those who attended the brain-storming session were RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan, former BJP president Venkaiah Naidu and former Union Minister Murli Manohar Joshi. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad was also represented at the meeting.



Liberhan Commission gets another three months

The Manmohan Singh government has extended by another three months the term of the Justice Liberhan Commission probing the sequence of events leading to the Babri Masjid demolition. The Commission, whose term was to expire on March, 31, has now been asked to submit its report by June 30, 2005. Set up on December 16, 1992, the Commission held its final sitting last month after the completion of oral evidence by witnesses.



Best Bakery prime witness faces action for perjury

The prosecution in the Best Bakery massacre case has said that it would move for perjury action against prime witness Zaheera Shaikh, who turned hostile during the re-trial. The prosecution claimed that Zaheera had lied during her deposition that continued for nearly 20 days during December last year and January this year. Zaheera Shaikh was declared hostile on December 21 by the prosecution and a day later a TV channel had shown a Gujarat MLA talking about having paid money to her.



Congress : More dissidence in Kerala

The Karunakaran faction in the Congress has stepped up its dissident activities in Kerala.

A minister supporting the veteran leader resigned from the Oommen Chandy government on Tuesday, March 22. Chief Minister Chandy, however, rejected the resignation of Culture Minister Anil Kumar. Political analysts say Anil Kumar’s resignation is the fall out of the squabbles within the Congress Party. The minister did not attend the Legislature Party meeting held on March 21. Simultaneously, the party has issued show cause notice to 13 MLAs supporting the Karunakaran faction for attending a rally in defiance of the directive of the High Command.

There are reports that the party High Command is moving towards tough action to check the Karunakaran faction. Political Secretary to Party President Sonia Gandhi, Ahmed Patel said, ‘ The leadership has taken a very serious note of the rally held by the Karunakaran faction at Kochi as it took place against the wishes of the High Command. So far our approach was to focus on the party unity and then the discipline; but now the time has come to place emphasis on discipline as a way of bringing unity in the state. Everything cannot be tolerated in the name of unity.’ The High Command appears to have made up its mind to strike after the Chief Minister communicated to Sonia Gandhi that in the absence of strong disciplinary action against the rebels, his and the PCC leadership’s authority will be seriously eroded.



Rahul Gandhi’s maiden speech in Parliament

Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s son Rahul Gandhi made his maiden speech in Parliament last week, targeting the Mulayam Singh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh. Speaking during the zero hour on March 21, he asked the Samajwadi Party led government in the state to comply with the Supreme Court order on payment of arrears to sugarcane growers. The cane Commissioner had said that arrears of Rs. 517 crores had not been paid to farmers for the year 2002-2003. Rahul Gandhi said it is the responsibility of the government to ensure early payment of the arrears due to the farmers and to see that Supreme Court directions are complied with.

Sonia Gandhi sat on a back bench while her son was speaking and applauded the speech.



A Chief Secretary worth Rs.100 crore in CBI net

The country’s premier investigating agency, CBI, has a prize catch in its hands - a former Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh who had accumulated assets worth Rs. 100 crores. In surprise raids carried out in three states on the properties owned by Akhand Pratap Singh, the CBI found that he had unaccounted assets of Rs.100 crores. The investigating agency came across 41 properties owned by the former IAS officer and his family. The agency suspects that he has several foreign bank accounts, though they have not found any concrete evidence so far. Akhand Pratap Singh had 13 cars and a number of houses in several states.

Akhand Pratap Singh was closely associated with the present Uttar Pradesh Government led by Samajwadi Party president and Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav. He was handpicked by Mulayam Singh to be the Chief Secretary before he retired.



Services of NIT directors terminated

The Manmohan Singh Government has terminated the services of 11 of the 13 directors of National Institutes of Technology appointed by the previous Vajpayee government. Two others have resigned on their own. The Human Resource Development Ministry said, the action has been taken as the previous government failed to follow norms in their appointments two years ago. The action is seen by observers as the latest in the de-toxification or de-saffronisation drive launched after the UPA government assumed office in May last year. NITs had been carved out of Regional Engineering Colleges across India in a move intended to make the institutions Centres of Excellence.



Government notice to India TV for sting operation

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has issued a show-cause notice to India TV on why action should not be taken against the channel for telecasting the sting operation which caught two Bihar legislators in a compromising position with alleged call girls. India TV Chief Executive Rajat Sharma told newspersons that he has already sent a reply to the show-cause notice. The Ministry said that the footage of the sting operation shown on the channel on February 27 was obscene and likely to corrupt public morality and was not suited for unrestricted public exhibition. The Ministry took recourse to provisions in the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act and Programme Code to send the notice.

The footage telecast by India TV featured former MPs Shishram Singh Ravi, Naval Kishore Rai and Anwar-ul-Haq and a sitting RJD member Ubaidullah. One of the former MPs figuring in the telecast, Ravi has filed a case in a Delhi court demanding a forensic investigation of the tape.

Reports say that India TV may have more tapes in which other prominent personalities and businessmen may be figuring. This is cited by stock market analysts as one of the reasons for crashing stock markets during the last few days. The fear is that the television channel may put on air more tapes in which political personalities and businessmen may be figuring.



Strike: Banking transactions at a standstill

Over 10 lakh banking officers and employees of Public, Private Sector, Co-operative and rural banks abstained from work on Tuesday, March 22 to protest against the proposed merger of Public Sector banks and increase in Foreign Direct Investment in Private Sector banks. The strike was almost total and brought to a virtual standstill banking transactions all over the country. The issue also found echo in the Lok Sabha( Lower House of Parliament) with the Left parties demanding a clear-cut statement from the government on whether it is going ahead with the proposed reforms in the banking sector.



Anil Ambani gets police cover

The younger of the Ambani brothers of the Reliance Group, Anil Ambani, has been provided security in Delhi and Mumbai after receiving death threats. He has been given ‘X’ category security cover in Delhi and ‘Y’ category cover in Mumbai. The Ministry of Home Affairs issued the orders for providing security after Anil Ambani reported that he had received threatening calls on his mobile phone.



Bollywood actor Raza Murad denied visa by Pakistan

Going against the feel good factor in India-Pakistan cultural and cricket diplomacy, the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi has refused a tourist visa to bollywood actor Raza Murad. The visa was rejected on the ground that he may take part in performances as an actor, while in Pakistan. Observers say that it is a lame excuse as Murad had made it clear that he would not be taking part in any performance, while in Pakistan.



Child marriages in India : Supreme Court direction

The Supreme Court has been forced to intervene to stop the social evil of thousands of child marriages being solemnized in the country every year. Even the so-called advanced states like Kerala are not free of the evil practice. Hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by an NGO, the Apex Court directed the Collectors and Superintendents of Police in the district to take immediate steps to prevent the illegal practice. Taking serious view of the callous attitude towards the evil practice, the court said that pending more stringent legislation in respect of child marriages introduced in Parliament, it would be the responsibility of Collectors and SPs to take effective steps to deal with such marriages.