The alliance with the BSP gives extra breathing room to the BJP- led national coalition government which faces a censure motion next week over religious riots in Gujarat by giving it more support in Parliament.

"Our leadership, including Kalraj Mishra, has decided that we will have to jointly run the administration of the state. We have to make a formal statement later", Lalji Tandon, senior leader of the BJP's Uttar Pradesh wing, told reporters in New Delhi on Thursday. He gave no further details.

President's rule was imposed in Uttar Pradesh after the BJP was voted out of power in February and no clear winner emerged.

Under a tentative accord outlined earlier, the BJP was to serve as junior partner in the state government, giving the chief minister's post to BSP leader Mayawati.

"We have held discussions amongst us and we shall formally announce everything later in a joint press conference. The final layout will be given later. Our standing together is a hint that we are together," said Mayawati after the meeting.

The BSP champions the cause of the Dalits, who are at the bottom of the social caste heap, while the BJP traditionally draws its support from the middle and upper classes.

As part of the deal--under negotiation for weeks--Mayawati would offer the BJP the backing of her 13 lawmakers in the lower house, shoring up its position at the head of the fractious coalition of 20-odd parties.

The BJP was split over whether to team up with Mayawati after two earlier coalition governments with her party collapsed.

Its decision to try its luck a third time has been seen by analysts as driven by a desire to boost its support at the national level where it is under pressure over the violence in Gujarat where more than 850 people, mostly Muslims, have been killed since February.

Next week, the BJP-led coalition government is expected to face a stormy session in Parliament when the opposition-sponsored censure motion over its handling of the worst religious violence in a decade comes up for a vote.

The government is expected to win in the lower house where it wields a majority but could face a tough fight in the upper house where it is in minority. Defeat on the motion would not force the government's resignation but would be an embarrassment.(ANI)

Petrol bombs, pistols found in Ahmedabad house

Ahmedabad, Apr. 25 (ANI): Police claimed on Thursday that they have recovered explosives from a residential premises near a relief camp for riot victims.

They, along with para-military forces, stumbled on 70 petrol bombs and a number of swords and pistols on Wednesday night in Babubhai Chawl, close to the Dariyakhan Ghummat camp sheltering Muslim who have been the targets of violence for more than a month after the Godhra train massacre on February 27.

S.K.Dev, Assistant Commissioner of Police, said it was a chance discovery, thanks to a combing operation in the area following clashes between Hindu and Muslim mobs in Saraspur locality.

"Between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. in Saraspur, there was a clash between two groups .. .there was stone-throwing...and then there was an (incident of) fire also. After that, police conducted a combing operation in both the localities with the help of Border Security Force platoon and officers. We recovered a lot of petrol bombs and some other weapons. And now the situation is under control," said Dev.

"Fire brigade was also called. About 3-4 houses have been burnt..and offence has been registered," he added.

Meanwhile, indefinite curfew was clamped on Bhavnagar, another city in the state, following communal clashes. (ANI)

Mahavir Jayanti observed with usual fervour Go to top

New Delhi, Apr. 25 (ANI): The Jain community celebrated the 2,601st birth anniversary of Lord Mahavir on Thursday.

In the capital, the faithfuls visited temples and offered prayers to mark "Mahavir Jayanti," as the day is called.

Thousands of devotees participated in a procession that passed through the narrow lanes of the old part of the city. Colourful tableaux depicting his life and teachings were the highlights of the procession.

Born in 599 BC as a prince in Bihar, Mahavir renounced the royal household, gave up worldly possessions and scrupulously avoided harming all creatures, including animals, birds and plants.

Unlike Buddha, Lord Mahavir is not, strictly speaking, regarded as the founder of Jainism. The 24th and last "Tirthankara" of Jain religion, he is more of a reformer and propagator of an existing religious order.

All "Tirthankaras" were born as human beings but they attained enlightenment through meditation and self-realization.

Mahavir preached Jainism walking barefoot across India before he died in 527 BC at the age of 72.

Jainism preaches the three-fold path of right belief, right knowledge and right conduct to attain liberation or "Nirvana" and absolute freedom or "Moksha". Jains believe in the control of senses through meditation and penance.

The Jains believe that Mahavir's teachings of tolerance, non- violence and brotherhood are even more relevant in the violence- ridden world of today than ever before.

The community accounts for a little over five million of India's more than a billion population. (ANI).

Boon and bane for Mamata
by Gautam Ghosh Go to top

Kolkata, Apr 25 (ANI): The BJP's move to bring a motion seeking a debate in the Lok Sabha on "violence against the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the minority community in West Bengal" has come as a boon to beleaguered Trinamul Congress. Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, who has been caught on the wrong foot, by Lok Sabha deputy speaker P.M.Sayeed's decision to allow a debate on the Gujarat situation under Rule 184, intends to make use of the BJP's move to give vent to her fury against the ruling Marxists over their "political terror in Bengal."

The Trinamul Congress leader, who has been trying to bring the disgruntled NDA partners on a common platform over the contentious Gujarat issue, will find it difficult to take a definite stand regarding the motion which virtually echoes her demand, but aims at censuring the Vajpayee government.

Sayeed's ruling has strengthened the CPI(M)'s position on the crucial issue having wide political ramifications. The deputy speaker, who happens to be a Congress member of the Upper House, gave the ruling in the wake of continued communal violence in Gujarat despite the BJP's sustained efforts to have a debate without voting under Rule 193.

The BJP has now sought to turn the tables on the CPI(M) and other left parties by initiating a joint move with Trinamul Congress to discuss Bengal violence in the Lok Sabha, citing the deputy speaker's ruling on the Gujarat issue.

The Gujarat motion has, in fact, been drafted in a manner which may not appear objectionable to most of the NDA partners who take part in their "secular credentials." The Congress and the left parties, which fully back the motion, feel the NDA partners can oppose it only at the risk of losing their Muslim vote-bank.

In fact, the CPI(M) politburo has already made an appeal to the NDA's "secular partners" to support the motion in greater national interest. As a CPI(M)'s central committee member put it, "The voting on the motion will expose the double standards of the BJP's associates who boast of their secular credentials while being hand-in-glove with communal forces."

The ruling Marxists in West Bengal are partcularly elated over the deputy speaker's ruling. State CPI(M) secretary Anil Biswas has hailed the ruling, saying the motion, to be brought under Rule 184, will show "who stands where on the issue of communalism."

It was clearly a dig at the Trinamul Congress supremo who has vowed to defend the Vajpayee government against the opposition's combined attack on the Gujarat issue despite her insistence on Narendra Modi's removal as the state's chief minister.

It is obvious that the Marxists will raise a hue and cry over Trinamul Congress' "secular credentials" once its MPs vote against the motion. CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechuri has already charged Ms Banerjee with siding with the saffron party on the Gujarat issue "simply for getting a Cabinet berth." Sayeed's ruling has understandably put Ms Banerjee in a dilemma on the question of voting as Telugu Desham party may vote against the motion or abstain from voting. The Trinamul Congress leader's commitment to stand by the Vajpayee government, coupled with the CPI(M)'s campaign on her possible re-induction to the NDA Cabinet, has made her position both vulnerable and untenable. Ms Banerjee is also aware of the BJP's intention to rope in rebel MP Ajit Panja's support in case she and other party MPs decide otherwise.

Panja, who has been trying hard to get re-inducted to the Cabinet, is feeling somewhat dejected in the wake of Ms Banerjee's current efforts to mend her strained relationship with the BJP's apex leadership.

The Trinamul Congress supremo, who blew hot and cold over the Gujarat issue and kept the BJP leadership on tenterhooks for quite some time, appears to have relented after receiving definite feelers from the Prime Minister's Office about her possibel return to the Cabinet.

It is precisely for this reason that Ms Banerjee has, of late, taken a strong anti-Congress stand. She not only launched a somewhat uncalled for offensive against the Congress at her mammoth public rally in the city on Saturday for "befriending the Marxists," but even forbade her party functionaries not to share a common platform with state Congress leaders at a meeting organised by the party for Democratic Socialism to condemn Gujarat violence.

According to informed sources, the Telugu Desham party is not quite happy over Ms Banerjee's open assertion that her party will side with the Vajpayee government on the Gujarat issue after demanding Modi's removal and imposition of President's rule in the riot-hit state.

Ms Banerjee is trying hard to make the TDP to toe her party's line, but the TDP is likely to act in a manner which will serve its political interests in Andhra Pradesh.

The CPI(M), however, is sparing no efforts to corner the Trinamul Congress leader over the "sharp U-turn" in her Gujarat stand. The Marxists, who have joined the Congress to "expose differences among the NDA partners on the crucial issue," feel Ms Banerjee will lose politically even if she finds a place in the Vajpayee Cabinet as a price of her support.

As CPI(M) Lok Sabha member Hannan Molla observed,"It will thoroughly expose her as a corrupt associate of the saffron party." It is but natural that Ms Banerjee will try to defend her position by launching a counter-attack against the Marxists by bringing a motion in the Lok Sabha to discuss Bengal violence.(ANI)

Information Technology in Pondicherry villages set to transform the lives of villagersGo to top

April 25, 2002 (Ani) The Swaminathan Research Foundation here at Villianur- 10 km from Pondicherry- launched the Information Village Research Project in 1998.

The community based project is mainly run by village women. The idea behind setting up the centre is to gather information of day to day use like weather-reports, market rates of agro products, etcetra and transmit them to villages through modem attached to Personal Computers.

K J Rajmohan head of IT Centre says information is disseminated through nine information Centres.Rajmohan said, " We have nine Information Centres located in a radius of 25 km. And about two information villages are located in coastal villages and rest of them are located in other areas.

The information of needs of the people are decided by the community. So based on that we started identifying the information needs and the source of information. And after that the source of information is developed and generated here in the hub and transmitted to centers for personal use."

The Hub Centre collects all the information through part time workers and over phone. The project staff feed the available data into computers and send it through Fax modem in wireless system which were later provided to the villagers.

PPP to boycott referendum Go to top

Lahore, Apr 25 (ANI): Pakistan People's Party has said it will boycott the referendum. Earlier it planned to mobilise public opinion for a "no" answer.

The Punjab PPP executive committee and council at a joint meeting on Wednesday unanimously approved the plan. Asked about the PPP participation in the ARD-convened APC scheduled for Friday, party general secretary Rana Aftab Ahmed Khan said the subject didn't concern the provincial chapter of the party. A decision would be taken by Benazir Bhutto and recommendations have been sent to her.

The PPP sources, however, confirmed to The News that the party had already taken a decision to participate in the APC to reject the referendum.

The iron is hot and the military regime had itself provided a chance to the political forces to assemble at one platform against referendum, sources said.

To a question Rana Aftab said the meeting condemned the administration for not letting the transporters to rent out their buses to the PPP for the transportation of party workers to Lahore from different districts to attend the Minar-e-Pakistan public meeting on April 27. He said the transporters had not confirmed the availability of their vehicles to the party as they feared the cancellation of the route permits of their vehicles by the administration.

He also warned district nazims and coordinators not to misuse public funds, otherwise references would be initiated against them. Rana said participants of the joint meeting from all over the province had assured the party leadership of maximum participation of the workers in Minar-e-Pakistan rally on April 27.

He said in spite of enthusiasm of party office-bearers, the PPP was focusing more on mobilising the workers from within Lahore City due to hot weather and the wheat harvesting season. He warned the Punjab administration not to stop party workers from reaching Minar-e-Pakistan as they had been instructed to remove all obstacles from their way.

In response to a query, he said he had issued show cause notice to five nazim and naib nazim of the party who took active part in Musharraf's public meeting. The PPP would take stern action against such people.

He urged the Election Commission to announce the total number of registered votes prior to the referendum so that the people and international community could determine the level of "success" of Musharraf in referendum.(ANI)

Imran motorcade attacked Go to top

Karachi, Apr 25 (ANI): The motorcade of cricketer-turned- politician Imran Khan was attacked by about 20 armed students, when he visited the University of Karachi to deliver a lecture on "Vision of Pakistan".

A Press release issued here on Wednesday by Pakistan Tehrik-e- Insaf (PTI) said that as soon as the car of Imran Khan was attacked hundreds of supporters surrounded him to protect him and raised slogans in his favour. A PTI spokesman said the situation could have become worse had not Imran restrained his followers.

Imran condemned the attack and said that these armed intruders had no interest in education, but were working on anti-Pakistan agenda of destabilisation. Imran said that had he not restrained his supporters, the situation would have gone out of control, leading to serious injuries and even loss of life.(ANI)

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