TRS chief refuses to merge with Congress

TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao poses with a bow and arrow gifted to him by partymen at a meeting org-anised in Mahbubnagar on Friday — S. Surender Reddy

The TRS chief, Mr K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who was elected as the party president for the sixth successive term on Friday, categorically declared that his party will never merge with the Congress.

Addressing a well attended TRS delegates meeting in Mahbubnagar for the party’s 10th formation day, Mr Rao wondered, “How can anyone expect the TRS to join the Congress whose state president, Mr D. Srinivas, lost the deposit in the bypolls held recently?”

He said if the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre is not going to concede to the genuine demand of the people for formation of Telangnaa, the people will themselves merge the Congress in the Bay of Bengal.

Referring to some media reports that the TRS will be merged with the Congress after the Centre announces Telangana state, Mr Rao said, “We will not merge with the Congress before or after formation of Telangana. Nowadays the Congress is suffering due to “mergers” mania. We will never do that. It is our responsibility to simultaneously develop the TRS both electorally and organisationally even after a separate state is formed.”

He said the responsibility lies with the TRS to rebuild Telangana and make it a “golden state”. “In such a case how can anyone think about a merger with the Congress?” he said.

Citing a survey conducted by one media group, Mr Rao said if elections are held in Telangana, the TRS will sweep the polls and bag a minimum of 80 seats.

However he did not unveil the future course of Telangana agitation as reported in the media, but announced that a high-level meeting would be convened after May 5 to check out the next course of agitation programme in the region.

Sonia spoke to Pakistan Minister in Urdu Anita Joshua

ISLAMABAD: In India, Congress president Sonia Gandhi's accent always raises eyebrows; particularly among the upwardly mobile urban. But, for Pakistan's Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan, the accent seemed to have been no issue as she insisted on speaking in Urdu when the two met at Mohali on March 30 for the India-Pakistan semi-final cricket match.

Ms. Awan revealed this while fondly narrating the meeting to a group of visiting Indian journalists here over the weekend. As the Minister started speaking to the Congress president in English, Ms. Gandhi stopped her, saying: “We have three things in common: we are both women, we are elected representatives, and we both can speak Urdu.” With that, Ms. Gandhi set the tone of their interaction, leaving the Pakistani Minister with fond memories.

Island refugees vote for the first time

MALDA: Hundreds of men and women in this part of Bengal exercised their franchise for the first time which otherwise ought to have been done some decades back. Not surprisingly, they waited for long with muted anticipation, wore new dhotis and saris, crossed the Ganga in boats, showed their Election Photo Identity Cards ( EPICs) with the jubilation evident on their faces. They are the residents of the Chars of Malda.

For residents of Hamidpur, there was cause enough for celebrations. After all, it took decades before they got the right to vote. By then, many of them had turned 70. Kulesh Mandal, a septuagenarian, regained his right to franchise after a break of 25 years. Thirty-eight-year-old Rahima Biwi was a first timer. Small wonders then that homemakers like Anjali Mandal braved the scorching sun and the long queue to cast their votes. No complaints whatsoever for the long wait either.

The Ganga may be treated with reverence elsewhere but in this part of Malda, she is treated with disdain. Inhabitants of Manikchak, Bangitola and Kaliachak, have seen her gobbling up acres every year, rendering them homeless. Erosion may have given them some respite in the past few years. For the last 20 years, it was a tale of moving further from the riverbank for such people.

"First we made the house at Piyarpur. Within the next two years, we shifted to Khaskol. A few years later, we moved to Jahirtola," said Rajen Mandal. For the past five years, his address is the Char (island) known as Hamidpur. In their bid to move further away from the riverbank, the victims of erosion found them on islands that had surfaced on the Ganga. Land that had once been theirs, was now on the other bank. With no one living on these Chars, villagers began to live there.

But those who managed a hut at Hamidpur, Khatiakhana, Piyarpur and other islands had to pay a heavy price. The administration marked them 'absent' at their original location and their names were deleted from the electoral roll. Thousands like Kedar, Amina, Bifal, Saijuddin, Khidir turned into 'outsiders' in their own country — the largest democracy in the world. Deprived of their basis constitutional right, the islanders soon became a forgotten lot and were even denied basic civic amenities. Busy picking up the pieces of their battered lives, the destitutes were the last ones to think over their rights and duties. Movements on the part of the islanders under the banner of Ganga Bhangan Protirodh Action Committee over the years could hardly yield any result. Md Rabiul, Sanjay Basak and others said: "Without voting right for years, we were treated as second class citizens. Politicians did not care. The civic amenities were conspicuous by their absence."

Things turned full circle when the then DM Sridhar Ghosh visited the island in February 2010. The process of enlisting their names began. At the behest of the Election Commission, on December 4, a team of district administration visited the island to conduct the hearing of 907 applicants. More than 600 people turned up. On January 5, 713 out of 900 odd islanders were included in the revised electoral roll. A hard-earned right for them, voting meant so special to them. They know that with the voting right achieved, other things could just fall in place, in due course of time

CU students molested on Amritsar Mail in UP

KOLKATA/HOWRAH: Barely a week after a woman volleyball player was thrown off a running train near Bareilly, at least four girls from Calcutta University were molested on the Amritsar Mail around midnight on Sunday when the train was passing through Uttar Pradesh. The incident once again raised questions on the security of rail passengers, especially women.

The students lodged a complaint with the Government Railway Police on reaching Howrah on Monday morning. They said they had raised an the alarm when the train reached Patna but nobody came to their assistance. The girls were in a group of 18 students from Ballygunge Science College that had travelled to Varanasi on a study tour on April 9. Their return journey to Kolkata was booked in sleeper class in the S7 coach of Amritsar Mail. The students said about a dozen people without valid tickets boarded the train in Varanasi and occupied their berths.

"Some of these hooligans were drunk and claimed to be students returning from a job interview. When we requested them to vacate our berths, they got violent and started hurling abuses at us. They molesting three girls and injured another. There were some security personnel on board but they were outnumbered by the gang," a student said. Around 12.40 am, when the train reached Patna, the victims pulled the chain and screamed for help. The goons got off but non one came to their aid.

Probe Amar’s CD link, Bhushan petitions SC

Lokpal Bill drafting committee co-chairman Shanti Bhushan on Monday filed a contempt petition against Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh, accusing him of 'fabricating' a CD against him in an 'attempt to derail' the legislation as well as the 2G spectrum case and the 'Amar Singh CD' cases in the nation’s highest court.

In a related development, a lawyer, Manohar Lal Sharma, filed a parallel writ petition in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the Centre’s April 8 notification setting up the 10-member Lokpal Bill drafting committee co-chaired by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and Mr Shanti Bhushan, saying no one who was not a member of Parliament could be involved in legislative business.

While seeking quashing of the government notification, Mr Sharma sought a CBI inquiry into the allegations against Mr Shanti Bhushan in the CD — which his son and fellow drafting committee mem-ber Prashant Bhushan has described as 'fabricated'.

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Mr Sharma also sought a probe into the alleged 'under-valuing' of a property purchased by the Bhushans in Allahabad, resulting in the payment of a lesser amount registration fees to the Uttar Pradesh government.

Mr Shanti Bhushan, in his petition naming Mr Amar Singh as a respondent, said he was approaching the highest court as “a CD purportedly containing a completely fabricated conversation between (SP leader) Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh, which cast aspersions on the judiciary, has been circulated among the media” to derail the bill by “discrediting” members of civil society who were on the panel.Mr Bhushan alleged this had been done with a “malicious intention” to interfere with the administration of justice and was aimed at creating an impression that a particular bench of the Supreme Court, which was seized of the 2G spectrum case and the “Amar Singh CD” case, “can be managed” through his son Prashant Bhushan, and one of the judges of the bench had even been named in the CD.

Binayak Sen gets bail in Supreme Cour

The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to Dr. Binayak Sen, observing that no case of sedition was made out against the rights activist, who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court in Chhattisgarh.

A Bench of Justices H.S. Bedi and C.K. Prasad, after hearing senior counsel Ram Jethmalani for the petitioner and senior counsel U.U. Lalit for the State, granted bail to Dr. Sen.

The Bench said it was not giving reasons for granting bail to Dr. Sen, who would be released subject to the satisfaction of the trial court.

Mr. Justice Prasad told Mr. Lalit: “We are a democratic country. He may be a sympathiser. That does not make him guilty of sedition.” Drawing an analogy, he asked Mr. Lalit: “if Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography is found in somebody's place, is he a Gandhian? No case of sedition is made out on the basis of materials in possession unless you show that he was actively helping or harbouring them [Maoists].”

Dr. Sen sought bail and suspension of the life sentence awarded by the trial court on charges of conspiring to commit sedition and providing assistance to those said to be Naxalites. The High Court had rejected his bail petition during the pendency of the hearing of his appeal against the trial court verdict.

Mr. Lalit opposed the grant of bail, contending that Dr. Sen harboured hardcore Naxalites and arranged safe hideouts for them. He had deep links with co-accused Narayan Sanyal as well as other hardcore Naxalites.

Mr. Justice Bedi told Mr. Lalit: “Your main charge is that Dr. Sen met Sanyal 33 times in jail in 11 months and some materials on Maoist ideology were found in his possession. How can it be said that such possession would attract the charge of sedition?”

Mr. Jethmalani said: “I have never seen such oppression from the State government. This literature, what they call sedition is available in the market. ” Quoting various Supreme Court and other judgments, he argued that mere possession of some materials would not amount to the imperialistic concept of sedition, as the law relating to sedition had undergone a sea change. Not a single material was produced against Dr. Sen to show that he was involved in preaching or propagating Maoist ideology.

However, Mr. Lalit said Dr. Sen was directly involved in the distribution, circulation of seditious materials as well as substantial involvement in seditious activities to spread hatred/disaffection towards the government established by law.

When Justice Bedi wanted to know whether there was any material to show that Dr. Sen was involved in propagation, Mr. Lalit said Dr. Sen visited the jail and exchanged documents with prisoner Guha and others.

Mr. Justice Bedi observed: “Visitors are screened and searched by the jail staff when they go and meet the inmates and such meetings take place in the presence of jailors. The jailors are there to oversee all these things. So the question of passing letters or documents does not arise.”

Hasan Ali net widens to Puducherry LG, Mayawati's principal secretary

NEWDELHI;Investigation in the Hasan Ali case has reached a crucial stage with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) deciding to question Puducherry lieutenant governor Iqbal Singh and UP chief minister Mayawati's principal secretary Vijay Shankar Pandey in the $8 billion money-laundering probe.

While summons were issued to Iqbal Singh on Friday, ED is likely to issue notice to Pandey in the next few days asking him to appear for questioning, sources said.

Faced with Supreme Court's adverse observations on the probe into one of the country's biggest money laundering cases, the ED has brought important functionaries under the scanner. Hassan Ali and his associates, including Kolkata-based businessman Kashinath Tapuriah , both in ED custody, have been slapped with tax evasion penalty of Rs 70,000 crore.

The decision to summon Iqbal Singh and Pandey was taken after a key Hassan Ali aide and a Congress functionary from Bihar, Amlendu Pandey, stated under oath that he had been in regular contact with both Singh and the UP CM's principal secretary.

Mention of the UP CM's office in connection with Hassan Ali also came up in the Supreme Court on Friday when counsel for ED pointed out how the CM's office was taking undue interest in allegedly derailing the money-laundering investigation.

ED informed the court that Jasvir Singh - a co-petitioner with "tainted" former IIT Kharagpur professor S K Dubey seeking inquiry against top agency officials - is a DIG-rank officer attached to the office of the CM's principal secretary.

In an affidavit submitted to the court, ED director Arun Mathur and his senior officials S K Sahni and Prabhakant said they were never present in Kolkata on August 1, 2009 and therefore there was no question of taking any undue favour for their hotel stay from anybody, as alleged by petitioner Jasvir Singh.

Amlendu Pandey was questioned by ED officials in Mumbai on Thursday. The ED is investigating Tapuriah's UP connection. Both Tapuriah and Pandey had allegedly accompanied Hassan Ali to Singapore to open bank accounts.

Pandey's statements were video recorded and taken under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, which is admissible as evidence in court. He was raided by ED sleuths in the last week of March for his association with Ali. Pandey is believed to have helped the Pune-based punter to obtain a passport from Patna under forged documents.

The ED argued that there was an attempt to malign senior officials to derail the ongoing investigation in the Hassan Ali case which has reached a conclusive stage. ED director Mathur, in his affidavit, said his house was never searched by CBI when he was administrator, Daman. His deputy Balesh Kumar affirmed that he was cleared by vigilance/CVC and his name was on the panel before he was selected for special director in ED.

Jagan files nominations, declares Rs 365 crore in assets

• April 15, 2011
• INN
• Kadapa

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elections, Y S Jaganmohan Reddy

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(File photo) Cong MP Y.S.Jagan Mohan Reddy greeting supporters before boarding a train at the Secunderabad railway station - PTI

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YSR Congress Party president Y.S Jaganmohan Reddy on Friday filed his nomination papers for the Kadapa Lok Sabha Constituency with the Returning Officer in Kadapa district.

Mr Jaganmohan Reddy, who is fighting to retain the seat he once held before he resigned from both the Congress and the Lok Sabha, arrived at the Returning Officer’s office in a massive procession which started from YSR Ghat in Idupulapaya. He had earlier paid tributes to his father and former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy before starting to file his nomination papers.

He was accompanied by MLAs Konda Surekha, Karunakakar Reddy and actress-turned-politician Roja.
Mr Jaganmohan Reddy also declared that he holds assets worth Rs 365 crore. Incidentally, in 2009, he had declared his assets as Rs 77.40 crore.

Speaking to media persons, Konda Surekha stated that the people of the constituency would give a fitting reply to both Congress and Telugu Desam Party in the by-elections.

Ms Surekha, one of the staunchest supports of the YSR Congress Party chief, further said that Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and Pradesh Congress Committee president D Srinivas were on tenterhooks due to the fear of losing heavily in the by-elections. “This fear is forcing them to issue diktat after diktat to Congress cadre who support Mr Jaganmohan Reddy. They are threatening these activists of dire consequences if they continue to support him,” she alleged.

Former actress Roja stated that Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy had launched the YSR Congress Party only to effectively implement the schemes launched by his father and former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy. “He is not after any posts,” she stated.

Ms Roja further added that the Chief Minister had rewarded the critics of Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy with posts.

“The Congress knows that it will lose in the elections and is fighting for its survival in Kadapa. It is trying to cling on to the good name of Dr YSR and is claiming rights over the use of the late leader’s photograph for campaigning,” she said.

Meanwhile Mr Jaganmohan Reddy’s mother and former MLA YS Vijayalakshmi would file her nomination papers for the Pulivendula Assembly seat on April 16.