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Mamata foils saffron gameplan
-by Gautam Ghosh

          Kolkata, May 26: Trinamul Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee's refusal to join the Vajpayee Cabinet in order to scuttle the BJP's move to induct party MP Sudip Bandopadhyay without consulting her has received kudos from other NDA partners which resent the saffron party's growing tendency "to take unilateral decisions, violating the norms of coalition politics." (Contd)

India drops precondition for talks with Pakistan: Report

          London, May 26: India will not demand a complete halt to cross-border infiltration before talks can begin on normalising ties with Pakistan, Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha said in an interview with a British newspaper Monday. The remarks by Sinha represented a shift in policy, said the paper. He described a halt to attacks as a precondition of a "successful outcome" to the talks, but not a requirement before talks can begin. But for the dialogue to succeed it is essential that cross-border terrorism comes to an end, he said.

          If there are elements which are outside their control and which are crossing the LOC despite their best efforts to stop them, then we should cooperate with each other to curb their activities, he said. It would be a simple thing. They get information that such and such a group has escaped their net ... we have channels of communication through which such information can be passed, he added.

India to send envoy to Iraq (Go To Top)

          New Delhi, May 26: India on Monday decided to send its ambassador to Iraq but said it would consult the United Nations before sending Indian troops as a stabilisation force. The decisions were taken at the Cabinet Committee on Security chaired by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, Defence Minister George Fernandes, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh and the three defence chiefs.

           The UN Security Council had last week ended 13-year-old crippling sanctions against Iraq which gave the United States and Britain extraordinary powers to run the country and its lucrative oil industry. The sanctions were imposed shortly after Saddam Hussein's troops invaded Kuwait in August 1990.

Patna varsity strike over teacher's murder (Go To Top)

          Patna, May 26: University teachers in Patna on Monday went on an indefinite strike to protest against the killing of a professor. S Lal, chemistry professor in Patna Science College, was shot point blank in a crowded market on Saturday after he reportedly refused to pay an extortion demand of 500,000 rupees. "Teachers are going to boycott the examinations. All other employees of the university, dean, proctor, controller of examinations, all will boycott work and all activities will be stopped. We have given 72 hours to the government and the police to catch the killers," KK Jha, general secretary of the striking Patna University Teachers' Association, said.

          All college examinations scheduled to begin on Tuesday have been postponed. Private tuition by teachers, though legally barred, flourishes in Patna with tuition fee as high as 5,000 rupees per head for three classes a week. High-income professors and doctors are usually targeted by extortionists. Refusal to pay up sometimes leads to death. Recently there has been a spurt in incidents of kidnapping in the state, notorius for its lawlessness. A famous city neurosurgeon, abducted near his residence last week, was later rescued by the police. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, at the bottom of human development index, figure high on the country's crime graph.

Cricket betting racket in Delhi busted, eight bookies held (Go To Top)

          New Delhi, May 26: Police busted an illegal cricket betting racket in New Delhi with the arrest of eight bookies on Monday. Acting on a tip-off, police raided a residential complex at an upmarket locality on Sunday night. Mukesh Nagpal, alleged to be the king-pin of the racket, and the house owner were arrested while betting on the limited over match between Australia and the West Indies.

           "An interesting thing about this racket is that there were three phones, attached to a recorder which were also connected to mobile phones. When someone would want to place a bet then the punters would record their statements and the deal would later be fed into the laptop. Their new modus operandi was to keep away from frequent cash transactions and take it all at one go after bettings of a few matches are done. Investigations are on. We believe the bettings were worth millions of rupees," R.S Yadav, Deputy Commissioner of Police, said.

          They also arrested six accomplices of Nagpal. During the raid, the police team seized three television sets, one laptop, three personal computers, 17 mobile phones, one printer, 450 betting slips and one recorder conmnected to three telephone lines. Indian bookies hit headlines three years ago when allegations of match-fixing shook the cricket world. Former South African captain Hansie Cronje, who died last year in a plane crash, admitted accepting bribes from bookies to influence matches. Unoffical reports put the betting business during this year's World Cup, held in South Africa, to around 100 billion rupees.

74 killed in Turkey air crash (Go To Top)

          Ankara, May 26: All 74 people, including 62 Spanish troops and 12 crew, were killed when a Ukrainian military plane returning from a mission in Kabul crashed early Monday in Turkey, according to a Turkish news channel report. The plane carrying mostly Spanish peace-keeping forces serving in Afghanistan, crashed while trying to refuel in north-west Turkey, the report said. The Ukrainian-operated plane was flying from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, to Zaragoza, Spain, with a refuelling stop in the Black Sea port of Trabzon. It went down near the mountainous town of Macka, 150 km south of Trabzon. The plane carried 62 passengers _ all Spanish peacekeeping forces _ and 12 crew members, the television said, quoting Turkish officials.

          A witness said the wreckage of the plane was in flames and reported seeing at least two charred bodies. The plane apparently went down on its third attempt to land in thick fog at Trabzon airport, the aviation officials said. The pilot was reportedly not able to see the runway in the first two attempts and the plane disappeared from the radar screens. Turkish military troops and ambulances rushed to the scene to rescue possible survivors, the Anatolia news agency said.

Shutdown in Ranchi as tribals protest teachers' recruitment policy (Go To Top)

          Ranchi, May 26: Shops were closed and streets deserted in Ranchi on Monday as tribal organisations began a 48-hour shutdown in protest against the Jharkhand government's move to allow open recruitment to over 10,000 posts of teachers in state-run schools. The tribals instead want immediate implementation of the controversial Domicile Policy, which makes it mandatory for job- seekers to prove their ancestral roots in the state as far back as 1932. The policy was earlier struck down as "unconstitutional" by Ranchi High Court on an appeal by anti-reservation groups. Chief Minister Arjun Munda told reporters that irrespective of the protests, the entrance examination for the recruitment will be held as per schedule.

          The largely tribal state witnessed largescale protests last year when thousands of striking tribals brought the city to a halt over the Domicile Policy. Had the policy been implemented, almost 40 per cent of the state's approximately 10 million people would have been rendered ineligible for applying for Class III and Class IV jobs in the lower rungs of bureaucracy. The minerally rich new Jharkhand state was carved out of Bihar three years ago.

If BJP wins, Vasundhara will be CM: Naidu (Go To Top)

          Jaipur, May 26: Bharatiya Janata Party is gearing up for crucial Assembly polls. Three states, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and national capital New Delhi are due to go to the polls later this year. All four states are now headed by Congress party. Elections are also due in Mizoram this year. BJP president Venkaiah Naidu said that Rajasthan party chief Vasundhara Raje will head the state government if the party wins. "We are fielding a young, dynamic, dedicated woman leader. Under the leadership of Vasundharaji (Vasundhara Raje), under the guidance of senior leaders, our government will come back in Rajasthan and a new history will be scripted," he told the BJP's national executive meeting here on Sunday.

          Raje (52) served as a junior minister in Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Cabinet till a few months ago when she quit to head the party's state unit. She recently led a political rally, 'Parivartan' (change) across Rajasthan to garner support for her party. Naidu was confident that a victory in the provincial elections will pave the way for the BJP to secure a majority of its own in next year's Parliament elections. "These elections in four states are just the semi-finals. The real battlefield is the general elections in 2004. The BJP should get over 300 seats and in Rajasthan as well we will get all the seats," he said. The BJP, which shot to prominence in the 1980s on the back of a Hindu revivalist programme, hopes to win a majority of seats in the 545- member Parliament. The party's morale was boosted by a landslide victory in Gujarat coming as it did in the aftermath of Hindu-Muslim riots but their mood was sobered by defeat in Himachal Pradesh in February.

South African scales Mt. Everest (Go To Top)

          Johannesburg, May 26: Sibusiso Vilane, a South African, became the first black person to scale Mount Everest early on Monday. SABC radio news reported that Swazi-born Vilane (32) was a member of an international team. The report added that after achieving the rare feat, Vilane said he climbed the mountain "for black people and for Africa". However, it could not be confirmed if he planted a South African flag he carried all the way to the top.

Mamata foils saffron gameplan (Go To Top)

          (Contd) Telugu Desham party supremo and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, Biju Janata Dal chief and Orissa chief minister Navin Patnaik and Rashtriya Lok Dal leader and deposed agriculture minister Ajit Singh have contacted her and appreciated the stand she has taken to uphold and defend her party's honour.

          The Trinamul Congress leader, whose relationship with Deputy PM LK Advani seems to have reached a point of no return, is expected to have an in-depth discussion on the crucial issue with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his return from foreign trip in the first week of June. According to informed sources, a number of important NDA constituents are worried over the BJP apex leaders' tendency to ignore their views and sentiment on important matters. They cite the BJP's refusal to offer the Lok Sabha Speaker's post to Telugu Desham party, support to railway minister Nitish Kumar in his fight against defence minister and NDA convener George Fernandes and unceremonious removal of Ram Vilas Paswan and Ajit Singh from the Cabinet as some of the glaring instances of the "violation of coalition politics norms."

          The Trinamul Congress chairperson and most of her party leaders believe that the Prime Minister was misled on the issue by Advani and BJP president Venkaiah Naidu. They refer to Vajpayee's subsequent observation that he was "given to understand" that Ms Banerjee had no objection to Bandopadhyay's induction. Naidu also could not explain why her prior consent was not sought by the Prime Minister's office before publicly announcing Bandopadhyay's name as a new entrant to the Cabinet. The BJP president kept mum when mediapersons pointed out that the PMO did not forget to consult Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray on the replacement of the heavy industries minister belonging to his party.

          Bandopadhyay's subsequent press statement also makes it clear that he had personally lobbied with Advani and other BJP leaders for getting a berth in the Union Cabinet, keeping the Trinamul Congress chairperson completely in the dark. His contention that the BJP leadership as well as the PMO should have informed the Trinamul Congress leader about their decision to induct him has also vindicated Ms Banerjee's stand challenging the saffron party's "dictatorial attitude." It is felt that Advani tried to force Ms Banerjee to accept Bandopadhyay's induction to the ministry as a "fait accompli" and join the Cabinet without any protest.

          Political observers believe that Bandopadhyay, who is enjoying his present status as a Lok Sabha member courtesy Ms Banerjee, committed the same kind of mistake as had been done by suspended MP Ajit Panja before the Assembly polls. Panja too had challenged Ms Banerjee's authority and took a personal initiative to develop intimacy with the BJP's apex leadership after Trinamul Congress quit the NDA and joined hands with the Congress to put up a united fight against the ruling Marxists in Bengal. The BJP had then reportedly made an abortive move to split the Trinamul Congress parliamentary party with Panja's help. This time Bandopadhyay indirectly helped Advani in his attempt to stall Ms Banerjee's re-entry into the Cabinet and make an abortive bid to split her party.

         The Deputy Prime Minister is also being accused of driving a wedge between Nitish Kumar and Fernandes and undermining the latter's position within the Samata party. He obviously made a similar attempt in regard to Trinamul Congress by playing Bandopadhyay against Ms Banerjee, it is alleged.