NEW DELHI: The huge garland that Mayawati wore at a public rally caused the disruption of the Lok Sabha on Tuesday even as the estimated value of the currency notes of which it was made varied from Rs 21 lakhs to Rs 15 crore.
The Income Tax department also stepped in and decided to probe the source of the money for the garland of Rs 1,000 notes presented to Uttar Pradesh chief minister at a rally in Lucknow on Monday. The department will probe the funding and ownership of currency notes, sources said.
The Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) supremo came under sharp attack inside and outside Parliament after the "multi crore" currency garland triggered an outrage fuelling demands by Opposition for a central probe into the source of money.
As Mayawati's rally to mark the Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) silver jubilee rocked the Lok Sabha which had to adjourned for the day several hours ahead of schedule, Congress said the Centre should look into the "organised loot" in Uttar Pradesh. The Samajwadi party, which also backed Congress' demand for a central probe, has already demanded a CBI inquiry. BJP also backed the demand for a probe
After the BSP supremo came in the eye of a fresh controversy, Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh wryly said Mayawati is "no more a Dalit ke beti but Daulat ke beti"(no more a daughter of Dalit but a moneyed daughter), referring to the garland of 1,000 rupee currency notes presented to her.
"Mayawati is no longer the woman representing the common man. She is playing in lakhs and crores (of rupees)," he said.
"We appeal to the government to take cognizance of Mayawati's rally and the garland presented to her. It should be inquired into," he added.
BJP's Rajnath Singh said the state machinery has been misused by the ruling BSP for the lavish celebrations and it should be looked into. Going on the defensive, BSP general secretary Naseemuddin Siddiqui rejected speculation that value of the notes in the garland ran into crores of rupees, saying it the money totalled only "Rs 21 lakhs".
"The talk of crores of rupees is not true," he said, adding that the garland was presented by Lucknow district BSP unit by contributing small amounts of money. The garland is in the custody of Mayawati, he said. In the Lok Sabha, the SP and Congress members created ruckus since noon, forcing two adjournments till 2pm. When similar scenes were witnessed again, Deputy Speaker Karia Munda adjourned the House for recess till April 12.
In the din after the Zeor Hour, Congress and SP members were heard saying the garland was estimated to be worth between Rs 10 crore and Rs 15 crore. Coming to the defence of Mayawati, BSP MP Vijay Bahadur Singh said, "If I garland you then what is your mistake in it? People are ready to even sacrifice their lives for Mayawati, so what can we do about this? This is their dedication towards their leader," he said.
Maya plays ‘victim’ to 4 lakh gallery
LUCKNOW: Felicitated by her fawning party workers from different parts of the country, BSP supremo Mayawati, addressing a rally of a staggering four lakh people here on Monday, accused the Congress of using money, media and mafia to create hurdles for her and exhorted partymen to prepare for the battle against the ‘‘anti-poor and anti-Dalit policies of the UPA government’’.
The rally marked the 76th birth anniversary of BSP founder Kanshi Ram as well as 25 years of the party. The fact that much of her tirade was directed against the Congress made it plain that that’s where she expects the most serious threat to BSP from. The crowd was nowhere close to 20 lakh as claimed by party leaders, but Maya looked visibly pleased to see such a large number of her votaries. She did not specify how Congress was using mafia against her but said the UPA government misused the CBI to fabricate cases against her. ‘‘False stories are being planted against me and the BSP,’’ she said.
She spared none. Apart from the Opposition parties, she attacked the media, the Election Commission, the judiciary, the corporate houses as well as Baba Ramdev, saying all of these held caste biases. Every litany invited a huge round of applause from the crowd. Many people heard her speech from loud-speakers imported for the occasion. But, there were tense moments when a swarm of honey bees descended in front of the dais and threatened to move towards Maya. Nervous officers waited with baited breaths and sighed with relief as the bees disappeared after 15-20 minutes.
Maya attacked the Election Commission for accepting the Opposition’s objection on installation of elephant statues in Dalit memorials. ‘‘I am accused of promoting my party’s election symbol, but one must see that the trunk of elephant in statues is pointing upward in ‘welcome gesture’ whereas BSP’s election symbol the trunk of elephant is down,’’ she said.
‘‘By that logic, the election symbol of SP should be seized as my government distributed cycles to girls under a welfare scheme. Similarly, Congress’s ‘hand’ should be banned as people, including politicians, wave hands in greeting,’’ she said.
Maya also appeared unhappy over stay orders on government projects on Dalit icons by the courts on petitions filed by her rivals. ‘‘Fingers will be pointed at the judiciary if the principle of equality is not applied on all political parties,’’ she said.
Maya arrived at Rama Bai Rally Sthal under heavy security. She described Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Dalit homes as drama and added, ‘‘Even the women’s reservation bill is anti-poor as it doesn’t have any provision for Dalit, Muslim, Backward and financially weak upper caste. Congress is giving credit to Sonia Gandhi for women’s reservation but it was Babsaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar who gave equal status to women in the Constitution.’’
Baba Ramdev may launch political party
Yoga guru Baba Ramdev plans to launch his own party though he says he won't fight elections. Baba Ramdev said he wants to 'cleanse' the system. The yoga guru would field candidates in all Lok Sabha constituencies.
Ramdev, who was in Ghaziabad on March 15th to participate in a school function, targeted the UPA government for not keeping the prices of essential commodities in check and alleged: "The intention of the government is very much doubtful towards poors and farmers".
"No doubt Manmohan Singh is a good economist and he understands perfectly the growth rate, but he does not understand the economics of Dal-Roti (cereals and bread)," he told reporters.
He said common men eats bread and not the growth rate, which has no role in the life of those who live below poverty line.
The yoga guru said that he will field candidates in the 2014 general elections but not yet decided on his own candidature. He advocated reforms in the administrative system of the country.
Ramdev has already launched Bharat Swabhiman campaign with an aim to end corrupt practices, bring back the Indian black money and use it for the development of the nation besides changing the system that has been continuing since the British period, among others.
Varun, Smriti named BJP Secys; Raje is new Gen Secy
New Delhi: Three months after he took over reigns of the party, BJP President Nitin Gadkari pn Tuesday brought in a mix of youth, experience and women in his team of office bearers inducting heavyweights like Vasundhara Raje and Ravishankar Prasad and hardliners like Varun Gandhi and Vinay Katiyar.
Among them are Bhagat Singh Koshiyari (Vice President), Murlidhar Rao (Secretary) and Tarun Vijay, who was Editor of RSS mouthpiece "Organiser", as spokesperson.
Prominent Muslim face and three-time MP Shahnawaz Hussain, who was widely tipped to become a General Secretary, has been appointed as Spokesperson while Najma Heptullah has been retained as Vice President.
Raje, former Rajasthan Chief Minister who was unseated as Leader of the Opposition after the Lok Sabha debacle, and Prasad, now the Chief Spokesperson, have been new General Secretaries.
Gandhi, who landed himself in controversy for his hate speeches during the Lok Sabha elections, has now been inducted as one of the 15 Secretaries while Katiyar, a former
General Secretary, has become one of the 11 Vice Presidents.
L K Advani-loyalist Ananth Kumar, Vijay Goyal and Thavarchand Gehlot, have been retained as General Secretaries while former Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda, Dharmendra Pradhan, Narendrasingh Tomar and Jagat Prakash Nadda are the new General Secretaries.
RSS points persons Ram Lal (General Secretary- Organisation), V Satish and Saudan Singh (Joint General Secretaries - Organisation) have been retained.
No scaling down of Afghan operations: Rao
Washington: India, which is engaged in extensive humanitarian and development work in Afghanistan, on Tuesday ruled out scaling down its operations there despite the recent terror attack on its nationals in Kabul and asked the global community to stay the course in the war-torn country.
Terming the February 26 terror strike in Kabul as a "barbaric attack against Indians engaged in humanitarian and development work in Afghanistan", she said it was carried out by those who do not wish any other future for Afghanistan "except one that suits their sinister ambitions."
The attack, which left seven Indians dead, was aimed at forcing New Delhi out of Afghanistan, Rao, who is in the US on a six-day visit, said.
"International community should understand that such attempts, if unchecked, would only embolden the same forces that held sway in Afghanistan in the 1990s and caused the tragedy of 9/11," Rao said.
She also said that there could not be a distinction between a good Taliban and bad Taliban. Rao said there was "no quick solution" to the Af-Pak situation and it is "important for international community, in its own interest, to stay the present course for as long as it was necessary."
The deteriorating situation in Afghanistan remains the foremost security-related challenge, Rao said addressing the prestigious Centre.
The Indian government is in the process of building a well-protected chancery-cum-living quarters in Kabul, which will house over 500 Indians within its safe confines. The construction is on in full swing on a piece of land in Kabul that India had bought in 1963 in the diplomatic area.
Boom-barriers, refurbished walls to withstand impact of a bomb blast and infra-red CCTV cameras among others would also be put into place, while ITBP commandos would provide round-the-clock security to the buildings within the area. About 4,000 Indians are engaged in reconstruction projects in health, power, roads and social sector across Afghanistan.
Business News
'No obstacles seen to Zain-Bharti deal'
Kuwait : Kuwaiti telecom Zain and India's Bharti Airtel have faced no obstacles in due diligence and expect the $9 billion deal to close on time, a Kuwaiti newspaper said on Tuesday.
‘Daily al-Rai’, quoting unnamed sources familiar with the deal, said both firms were keen on closing the sale of Zain's African assets to Bharti on March 25 as scheduled.
"We are progressing with due diligence step by step and there are no obstacles so far. Each of Zain and Bharti are keen to finalize the transaction according to the preset timetable," according to a person quoted by the newspaper.
The paper said due diligence had been done on the majority of Zain's African assets in major countries and only procedural steps, which are unlikely to change the final report, remain.
The newspaper quoted sources as saying Bharti, India's largest telecoms firm, is expected to name the final bank consortium on the deal.
Bharti's exclusive talks with Zain run until March 25, and follow two failed attempts by the Indian firm to tie-up with South Africa's MTN, Africa's biggest telecoms firm.
Bharti is looking at a mix of dollar and rupee funding to finance the Zain deal, sources told Reuters last month.
No plan to take over state banks: SBI
New Delhi : There is no proposal for government-run State Bank of India to take over any other state bank, a minister of state for Finance said on Tuesday.
"... at present there is no proposal before the government for merger of any nationalised bank with the State Bank of India, Namo Narain Meena said in a written reply to a lawmaker's question in parliament.
He said the government would not push for mergers between banks but would support any proposal from the boards of the banks.
State Bank, India's largest lender, has said it plans to absorb its six associate banks but has met with union and political opposition. It is in the process of absorbing unlisted State Bank of Indore.
Sensex closes up 1.35 pct
Mumbai: Indian shares provisionally closed 1.35 percent higher on Tuesday, fuelled by a rally in Reliance Industries, and helped by gains in world equities.
The 30-share BSE index provisionally ended up 231.91 points at 17,396.90, with 23 components gaining.
The 50-share NSE index provisionally closed up 1.4 percent at 5,202.05 points.
Sports News
Tiger Woods to return to golf at the Masters
WASHINGTON (Florida): Tiger Woods will return to competitive golf next month to play in the Augusta Masters, he said in a statement on his website Tuesday.
"The Masters is where I won my first major and I view this tournament with great respect. After a long and necessary time away from the game, I feel like I'm ready to start my season at Augusta," he said on his website.
The world's number one golfer put his game on hold in the wake of a major sex scandal which erupted at the end of last year.
"I have undergone almost two months of inpatient therapy and I am continuing my treatment," Woods added. "Although I'm returning to competition, I still have a lot of work to do in my personal life."
The Masters starts on April 8.
RCB beat Kings XI Punjab by 8 wickets
Bangalore: Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Kings XI Punjab by eight wickets in an Indian Premier League match.
Kings XI Punjab: 203 for 3 in 20 overs (Ravi Bopara 77, Manvinder Bisla 75, Mahela Jayawardene 26 not out; Dale Steyn 1/36).
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 204 for 2 in 18.5 overs
(Jacques Kallis not out 89, Robin Uthappa 51).
Six Indian boxers in C'wealth C'ship finals
New Delhi: Hockey-player-turned-boxer Amandeep Singh (49kg) out-punched Malaysian M Redzuan while Jai Bhagwan (60kg) didn't even step inside the ring to make the finals as a record six Indians assured themselves of at least a silver in the fifth Commonwealth Championships here on Tuesday.
Good news started trickling in early in the day for India when Asian Championship silver medallist Jai got a walkover into the finals after his English opponent Danny Philips was found medically unfit in the weigh-in this morning. Jai will face Bahamian Valention Knowles in the final tomorrow.
The man who did go to the ring did not disappoint the home fans either. Amandeep, a gold medallist from the January South Asian Games in Dhaka, thrashed Malaysian M Redzuan 7-1 in a lopsided bout to enter the final. He will now face Kenya's Peter Mungai, who notched up a 7-0 win over Botswana's Bathusi Mogajane.
With world number one Vijender Singh (75kg), Asian champion Suranjoy Singh (52kg), World Cup bronze medalist Dinesh Kumar (81kg) and Asian bronze medallist Paramjeet Samota already through to the finals, the Indian team is in contention for lifting the team championship as well.
In the only bout to feature a local favourite today, Amandeep fought from long range to get past his opponent, who was aggressive throughout. A few jabs earned Amandeep a crucial 3-0 lead in the opening round and though he couldn't add to the tally in the next three minutes, the Indian ensured that none of his opponent's wild swings could get to him.
"My opponent was slightly slow and that helped my cause," the 23-year-old Punjab boxer said after the bout. In the final three minutes, Amandeep landed a couple of powerful hooks to increase the lead, adding to Redzuan's frustration, who was penalised two points for bending excessively.
"The plan was to take a good lead in the opening round and guard that. We wanted to be safer in the second round because a tall boxer like Amandeep is an easy prey for wild swings by shorter boxers. So he likes to fight from long range," said national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu. "Amandeep is again facing a southpaw in the final tomorrow," he added.
Amandeep, who quit hockey to take up a boxing career a few years ago, beat world junior champion Thokchom Nanao Singh in the trials for the event last month. Amandeep said sparring with Nanao has helped improve his skills.
"Training with Nanao helps because he is also a southpaw," he said.
Looking ahead at tomorrow's final, Sandhu said the performance of his wards has surpassed his expectations "But finals are not going to be a cakewalk. They are tough but hopefully our boys will do well. They are very motivated," he said.
Meanwhile, Englishman Ian Weaver, who beat Commonwealth Games gold medallist Akhil Kumar in the 56kg quarterfinals, eked out another shocker by ousting Olympic bronze medalist Bruno Julie of Malaysia from the event.
Baby-faced Weaver, a 20-year-old participating in his first senior international tournament, defeated Julie 12-3. The swift-moving Englishman scored with his precise jabs and forced Julie, who likes to fight with an open guard, to cover up with his aggressive approach.
No comments:
Post a Comment