24
MP ministers express solidarity with Uma, quit
Bhopal:
A day after Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti
sent her resignation to the BJP president Venkaiah Naidu,
24 ministers in her cabinet followed her suit. Bharti had
sought to resign after a Karnataka court ordered her arrest
in connection with a 10-year-old riot case. State BJP leaders
said 24 out of 35 ministers in her government had also submitted
their resignations to express their solidarity with Bharti,
a Hindu holy woman who wears saffron robes and is known
for her fiery speeches. "This is not a strategy, we are
all with Uma ji, if Uma ji resigns then we will also be
there with her and if she carries out any yatra there also
we will be with her. If there is any agitation to withhold
the dignity of national flag in the state we are with her,"
said Sunil Naik, State public health and education minister.
Meanwhile,
in Banglore, BJP president Venkaiah Naidu denied any crisis
in the party and said the move made by the ruling Congress
will backfire. "There is no crisis at all, there will be
a crisis for the central government they have invited trouble
by taking a principled stand saying that whoever is chargesheeted
will have to resign. If this is the stand they have taken,
now they have to make all the six ministers who are there
in central government resign," Naidu said. The BJP has been
running a campaign seeking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
remove ministers from his cabinet charged with anything
from swindling money to murder. Ashok Singhal, president
of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, accused the ruling UPA of adopting
double standards to stay in power. "If the patriots are
forced to quit, then what about those whom everyone knows
is tainted. Can the government dare to expel them? This
government will fall," Singhal told reporters in Varanasi.
Meanwhile, Bharti said she would take back her resignation
only after the court verdict comes out or the Karnataka
government takes back its case. Bharti has, in fact, also
sent a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi asking
her to drop all tainted ministers from the union cabinet.
The Congress has, however, termed her resignation as a political
stunt.
Hindus
protest lingerie emblazoned with Hindu deities (Go
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Hyderabad:
The Hindu fundamentalists here feel that the pictures
of Hindu deities emblazoned on lingerie was part of an international
conspiracy. The lingerie which inspired various international
designers in Europe and US, had already met with massive
protests from Hindu groups for showing their culture in
a derogatory manner. The undergarments with images of what
looks like Lord Vishnu, Lord Ram and Lord Krishna were originally
designed by Italian designer Robert Cavalli earlier this
year. The lingerie was being sold openly on the streets
in Gujarat, where 1000 people were killed in Hindu-Muslim
riots in 2002. BJP leader G. Krishna Reddy expressed anguish
at the way Hindu sentiments were being hurt. "I want to
ask is there any marketing done by putting such pictures.
If they have to market then they can use other models. This
is a conspiracy to demean the Hindus and insult them. This
is my experience and my allegation that there is an international
consipiracy to insult the Hindu gods," he added. Till now,
toilet seat covers, boxes of tissues, shoes, sandals and
finger puppets have all been tracked down as bearing "offensive"
images, variously of Lord Krishna, Ram, Saraswati and so
on. The campaign is a part of larger "offensive" against
westerners using Hindu gods as fashion statement. Earlier
this year, Britain's increasingly-vocal Hindus protested
against Merchant-Ivory's plans to cast "sex icon" rock star
Tina Turner in the role of Goddess Kali.
Saras
makes inaugural flight (Go
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Bangalore:
A prototype of the country's first indigenously built
civilian aircraft - SARAS - made its inaugural flight here
Sunday. "Saras", a twin turbo prop 14-seater, built by the
National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), had been undergoing
final tests at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited factory.
Powered by Pratt and Whitney engines, Saras is designed
for executive transport, cargo carrying, remote sensing,
Coast Guard and air ambulance usage. Union cabinet minister
Kapil Sibbal said Saras would help the country's aviation
industry grab a pie in the international market. "It will
be used in remote areas alongwith helicopters. And we Indians
will also be able to contribute to the aviation industry
which will do one trillion rupees business in the next 10
years. And, in coming days now people will come to our country
to buy aircraft rather than we going out to buy the aircraft.
And we will do negotiate deals with them for several years,"
Sibal said after flagging off the inaugural flight. Test
pilot Captain K.K. Venugopal said that the prototype made
a text book take off and landing. The 1.5 billion-rupee
project, Saras, named after the Indian crane, began in 1991
but it hit air pockets due to the denial of critical components
following US sanctions imposed after the nuclear tests in
1998. NAL revived the Saras project in 2000 after the government
assured additional capital infusion of 2 billion rupees
into the project. The Indian Air Force has hinted at buying
Saras instead of a foreign-built aircraft. Saras is likely
to be deployed at the training base in Bangalore's Yelahanka
airbase to train rookie pilots, who are now flying Dornier
aircraft.
PM
asks ministers to stop misusing PSUs (Go
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New
Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked his colleagues
to stop treating the PSUs as their "fiefdoms". "We must
correct the perception that Public Sector Undertakings are
profligate and also that administrative ministries tend
to treat them as their fiefdoms," the Prime Minister was
quoted as saying in a letter to his cabinet ministers. Reiterating
that in recent times, reports have revealed that some of
the PSUs have not been functioning professionally, he further
clarified that good governance should always be maintained
for optimum results. "Allegations of extravagance in expenditure
on the part of some of their senior officials had been brought
to the notice of the government, Singh said adding that
the ministers in charge of PSUs were custodians of the resources
of the country and "it is their bounder duty to lead them
by their example of efficiency, rectitude and austerity,"
he added. "While granting full operational autonomy to the
PSUs to enable them to compete and succeed in the global
market, the ministries concerned have a responsibility for
ensuring accountability of PSU executives for their performance
in conformity with established norms of conduct," he added.
Cross
dressing terrorists are the latest security threat (Go
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Washington:
Anti-terrorism authorities in America are asking citizens
to keep a look out for any cross-dressing males, as they
could be a threat to the nation. According to the National
Enquirer, security officials have recently observed a new
trend, that of insurgents from countries like Canada, Mexico
and the Caribbean, who dress up as women to throw off the
police. Intelligence agencies have also found evidence that
the terrorists have a link to terrorist organisations like
Hamas and Al Queda. One such group is based on the East
Coast. Officials are now asking the general public to keep
their eyes and ears open as these terrorists are rumoured
to be scouting malls, New York's Trump Tower, the Sears
Tower in Chicago, and the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.
Federal officers have also started carrying women's clothing
in order to be able to beat the terrorists at their own
game. "Federal officers are now carrying other gender clothes
for a quick change in order to follow suspects who cross-dress
in malls when they are up to no good," the report quoted
an intelligence officer as saying. "We are relying on an
aware public to keep their eyes open and be keenly vigilant
of any suspicious activities in their own locales," another
official added.
Imran
grilled for three hours at US airport: Paper (Go
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Washington:
Celebrated cricketer of yesteryears and a noted Pakistan
politician, Imran Khan was grilled at the Dulles International
Airport for at least three years by immigration and security
authorities here recently. This was the second time the
well-known Pakistani face had to face the embarrassment
when he flew into Washington, the Daily Times reported Sunday.
According to paper, the Tehrik-e-Insaf chief was made to
sit in a secluded area of the Airport on arrival from London.
He was informed that his name was being checked against
certain lists, the report added. Those who had gone to receive
the former cricket star were unable to find out what was
going on. Later, Imran reportedly said that he was fingerprinted
and asked a string of questions. When he questioned as to
why he put through the ordeal he was not given a satisfactory
answer.
Rehmat
Ali's coffin will be brought to Pak, says Shujaat Hussain
(Go
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Islamabad:
The coffin of Chaudhry Rehmat Ali, who evolved the nomenclature
`Pakistan' before partition, will be brought to Pakistan
later this year for a formal burial, the country's Prime
Minister Ch. Shujaat Hussain said Saturday. Ali had died
in February 1951 and was buried in Cambridge. The Daily
Times quoted PML Information Secretary Senator Tariq Azeem
that since Ali had no family, an Egyptian student named
Muhammad Izat Hindiya had arranged for his burial in the
Cambridge City graveyard. According to the paper, Ali had
published the historic pamphlet "Now or Never; Are we to
live or perish forever?". Later, he coined the word 'Pakistan'
for the Muslims who lived in the five northern states of
India - Punjab, North West Frontier (Afghan) Province, Kashmir,
Sindh and Balochistan.
