Karuna slams BJP, AIADMK over Sethu project

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Sun, 24 February 2013

Timeline Refresh

21:40 Clerics protest demolition of mosques, graveyards

Maulana Wali rehmani and Maulana Kalbe Jawad will hold a press conference in Delhi on Monday to protest the demolition of listed heritage mosques and graveyards in Mehrauli.

The clerics will also demand the filing of a FIR against Union Minister for Urban Development Kamal Nath.

21:17 Karuna slams BJP, AIADMK over Sethu project

Flaying BJP and AIADMK for their stand on the Sethusamudram project, DMK chief M Karunanidhi today said the national party, while in power, had proposed the alignment for the project which involves dredging of the 'Ram Setu' or Adam's Bridge, which it is firmly opposed to now.

Asking the Centre to expedite steps to ensure a favourable verdict on the matter in the Supreme Court, the key UPA ally also said 'some communal forces' had moved the apex court with a view to creating roadblocks.

Suspected militants on Sunday killed a sarpanch in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Further details are awaited.

President Pranab Mukherjee today said 'evil social tendencies' could harm India's culture.

"The values of love, harmony, peace and sacrifice signify the strengths of India's culture," he said while inaugurating the Vedic Cultural Centre of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

Many 'evil social tendencies' seen at present could harm these values which need to be nurtured, the President said, adding that Indian culture has never spread through conquest or deprivation.

21:05 Centre's Lokpal Bill not acceptable: AAP

The Aam Aadmi Party today said that the Lokpal Bill, to be introduced by the Centre in the ongoing budget session, would not be acceptable to them in the present form.

"The Jan Lokpal Bill, which will be introduced by the central government in the Parliament during the budget session, will not be accepted by the party," said AAP national executive member Manish Sisodia.

Fishermen in Sri Lanka would stage a rally to protest against their Indian counterparts allegedly snapping their fishing nets and causing inconvenience to them, Sri Lankan Minister Douglas Devananda today said.

Lankan fisherman have planned to hold a rally soon in this regard, he said on the sidelines of the St Antony's Church festival, which ended today at Katchatheevu, an islet in the Palk Straits ceded to Sri Lanka by India in 1974.

More than 2,500 people, mostly fishermen from this coastal town, participated in the two-day annual festival.

20:29 North reels under rain, snow; 6 die in UP

Rains and thundershowers lashed large swathes of northern plains, where six people lost their lives after being struck by lightning in Uttar Pradesh, while snowfall in higher parts of Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh kept the temperatures below normal.

Delhi witnessed overnight rains and thunderstorm, due to which the temperature dropped by a few notches, meteorological department officials said today.

20:11 CBI gets some files on chopper deal

The CBI has procured some documents from Italian authorities in Milan regarding the controversial AgustaWestland chopper deal.

Andhra Pradesh BJP chief G Kishan Reddy today said he has received a threat letter purportedly written by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, in which the terror outfit claimed responsibility for the Dilsukhnagar bomb blast.

He received the letter, written in Urdu and English, by post on Saturday, he claimed at a press conference. He refused to give a copy of the letter to journalists, saying he has handed it over to the concerned police station.

18:49 Egypt President prepones parliamentary polls

Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi has preponed the first post-constitution parliamentary elections to be held from April, with the dates clashing with the Easter holidays, even as leading opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei called for a boycott of the polls.

Egypt's parliamentary elections, previously scheduled to begin on April 27, have been brought forward to start on April 22, according to a statement issued by the presidency on Saturday amid calls for a boycott.

18:47 Don't attach my name to ULFA: Paresh Barua

Paresh Baruah, leader of the anti-talk faction of the ULFA, today appealed to media organisations not to call the outfit after him.

The anti-talk faction is usually referred to in the media as the Paresh Baruah-led faction after the group led by Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa decided to hold talks with the government.

Paresh Baruah, in a statement, pointed out that in recent times it has been noticed that media personnel usually attach his name to refer to the outfit.

The CBI has registered a case in a Delhi court against Bharti Airtel Ltd, Tata Communication Ltd and Singapore Telecommunications Ltd for allegedly causing a loss of nearly Rs 48 crore to the government since 2004 by illegally providing international long distance services.

All the three telecom companies have been booked on charges of criminal conspiracy and cheating under the Indian Penal Code and also under the Indian Telegraph Act for violating the department of telecommunications' licencing norms.

The CBI has arrested one more police officer in connection with the 2004 alleged fake encounter of Ishrat Jahan and three others, officials of the agency said.

The CBI late last evening arrested Inspector of Special Operation Group Gandhinagar Bharat Patel. He was produced today before the court, along with suspended Deputy Superintendent of Police Tarun Barot, who was also arrested.

In a fascinating discovery, a British academic has stumbled upon a 500-year-old 'most wanted' notice for the arrest of Niccolo Machiavelli, the infamous Italian Renaissance political figure.

Machiavelli is the author of the masterpiece The Prince,a political treatise which argues that the pursuit of power can justify the use of immoral means.

Professor Stephen Milner from Manchester University discovered the historic document by accident while researching town criers and the proclamations they read out in archives in Florence, The Telegraph reported.

16:51 DMK to back Raja's request

DMK will back former telecom minister A Raja if the issue of his request to appear before the Joint Parliamentary Committee as a witness on the 2G case is raised at the UPA Coordination Committee meeting on Tuesday.

"If the Congress raises the issue, asks us, we have to stand by Raja," party spokesman T K Elangovan told PTI when asked whether the issue could be raised by the DMK, a key constituent of the UPA, at the Coordination Committee meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

16:50 RIL gives half of documents sought by CAG

Reliance Industries has provided half of the documents sought by the CAG and promised to give most of the remaining when the auditor returns to audit its spending on the flagging KG-D6 fields.

RIL provided half of the documents to the team of the Comptroller and Auditor General during their three-week stay at the company's office at Mumbai beginning January 9 and wrote to it that the rest, barring a small 10 per cent, would be given when the auditor promised to return on February 11.

Ahead of the launch of the Indo-French satellite 'SARAL' on board ISRO's workhorse rocket PSLV from Sriharikota, ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan today offered worship at the hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara.

Radhakrishnan offered prayers today morning for the successful launch of PSLV-C20 on Monday, temple sources said.

Union Minister Shashi Tharoor today suggested that if the party is voted to power, its president (Sonia Gandhi) or the vice-president (Rahul Gandhi) will be the natural choice for the post.

"Everybody knows who is the president and vice president of our party and if people vote for our party, then naturally one among them would become the prime minister of the country," he said without specifying any name.

He was suggesting that that Congress does not need to name its prime ministerial candidate before the elections.

The defence ministry will consider the reports of its joint secretary and the CBI team, which had gone to Italy to probe charges of kickbacks in the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP chopper dea,l before taking a final decision on scrapping the contract with Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland.

The ministry is also reviewing the reply to its show-cause notice by AgustaWestland, which has denied paying any bribes to bag the contract.

The report filed by Joint Secretary and Acquisition Manager (Air) Arun Kumar Bal and the CBI team and the evidence provided by them would be considered before taking any decision on the deal, sources said.

15:19 Pakistan Taliban renews talks offer

The Pakistani Taliban will directly approach three political leaders, including PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, to become guarantors for the peace talks, as it renewed its offer of dialogue with the government.

The decision that the Taliban should approach Sharif, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Munawar Hassan was taken at a meeting of the Shura of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Jammu-Srinagar National Highway reopened for vehicular traffic today after remaining closed for two days due to continuous snowfall, which also brought in a fresh spell of cold wave conditions across Kashmir valley.

"The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway reopened for vehicular traffic today and vehicles were allowed to come from Jammu towards Srinagar," a spokesman of the traffic department said.

A colonel of the Indian Army has been detained with drugs worth Rs 16 crore at Chandel, Manipur.

The colonel was detained by commandos of the Manipur police on charges of smuggling.

14:40 Sri Lankan government under pressure

No Fire Zone, the documentary depicting the bloody Sri Lankan civil war, is creating immense pressure on the defiant government of the island nation to come clean on the alleged atrocities committed by its security forces during the last days of the war.

Read the full story here

Some publishing houses have taken exception to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi being the chief guest at Romancing Print, an annual event of the print and publishing industry.

Some prominent publishers have chosen to stay away from the event.

Read the full story

As dust settles on the 'Hindu terror' issue, the government has said Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde had not apologised for his controversial remarks but only expressed regret, which was accepted by the BJP.

"Well, it is regret. That is the word that has been used. I cannot change the language once it is used," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said in an interview.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday visited hospitals and met those who were injured in Thursday's Hyderabad blasts.

"I am here to stand in solidarity with the people of the city. We should maintain peace and calm," PM said after visiting the blast sites.

"I am happy that the people of Hyderabad have refused to be provoked by this nefarious incident," said the PM.

13:10 Jayalalithaa turns 65

AIADMK general secretary and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa turned 65 today.

The chief minister, who is nursing the ambition of playing a bigger role at the national level after the next parliamentary elections, had asked her party men to win all 40 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in her recent birthday message.

13:02 Republicans try to understand Indian politics

A correspondent in Delhi reports: Recently, diplomatic circles in Delhi were abuzz about the visit of a delegation of Republican leaders from the United States, including the party's chief whip.

The delegation was on a mission to learn more about Indian politics.

The Republican leaders were also trying to assess whether India is headed for early general elections. However, they failed to answer some tough questions from the BJP about the Indo-US nuclear deal. They also ducked questions about investments in BJP-ruled states.

When the delegation met Uttar Pradesh leaders Mayawati and Mulayam Singh, they sought to know the estimated longevity of a third front government, in case it came to power after the Lok Sabha polls.

Meanwhile, the external affairs ministry kept an eye on the delegation and its 'mission' during its visit.

A correspondent from Delhi reports: A recently superannuated banking secretary is in constant touch with the Samajwadi Party leadership.

According to SP insiders, every Sunday, the IAS officer hands over political notes running into two or three pages to party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Sources claim that the bureaucrat is keen to make an entry in Rajya Sabha as a nominee of the SP.

A correspondent in Delhi reports: BJP chief Rajnath Singh has been quietly drawing up the party's manifesto for the next general election.

Singh wants eight to ten attractive slogans that will highlight the BJP's poll promises on free goodies and developmental issues. Singh doesn't want to stress too much on issues like the Ram temple or Hindutva.

Every Saturday, Singh meets the draftsman of the BJP poll manifesto to get the latest update on the poll slogan.

11:53 How DMK plans to embarrass UPA

A correspondent from Delhi reports: The DMK plans to embarrass the ruling UPA right at a strategic time -- right before the forthcoming UNHRC meet in Geneva in mid-March and the end of the first half of the budget session in Parliament.

DMK plans to host a TESO conference against the Sri Lankan government; party chief Karunanidhi may travel to Delhi to attend the event. Senior DMK leaders like Karuna's daughter Kanimozhi are now busy meeting other leaders like NCP chief Sharad Pawar, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and JD-U chief Sharad Yadav.

DMK has also taken the first step in its preparations for the Lok Sabha polls, with 2G scam accused leader A Raja seeking an appearance before the JPC. These are strategies by the DMK top brass to whip up sentiments among its cadre against the Congress.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister on Sunday visited the sites of the blasts that had claimed 16 lives on Thursday evening in Hyderabad.

Dr Singh will also visit the hospital where the injured are being treated. He will later receive a briefing from the CM on the situation.

Two bombs exploded within a span of minutes in Hyderabad on Thursday evening, killing 16 people and injuring 117.

11:32 Does Malik Ishaqs arrest mean anything?

The founder of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Malik Mohammad Ishaq has been arrested in Pakistan. But does this move indicate a decisive crackdown on terror or is it yet another face-saving exercise by Islamabad?

Read the full story here

11:30 Top Pakistan envoys set to lose their jobs

Some of Pakistan's top ambassadors like Sherry Rehman, Salman Bashir and Masood Khan will lose their high-profile jobs in March after the general elections next month.

Read the full story here

11:27 We need less talk, more action

Indian political leaders can continue condemning terror strikes and blaming each other, but not one of them has a feasible idea about how to prevent the next attack against innocent civilians.

Read the full article here

Scorecard:

James Pattinson to start the proceedings. Kohli to face.

He takes a single off the fourth ball. And Tendulkar gets to bat much to the delight of the crowd.

People had queued up since morning just to watch him score a century.

Peter Siddle shares the new ball. Tendulkar hits a boundary off the last ball.

India 188 for three after 54 overs.

09:39

Scorecard:

09:39 1st Test Live! India look to consolidate on Day III

Scorecard: