Patna:
Railway Minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav today
decided to postpone his proposed Patna rally, which was
supposed to be held on the December 23, 2004. The decision
came a day after the Election Commission decided to take
a tough stand on Lalu being caught on camera distributing
Rs 100 notes to people in Bihta village on Saturday. Postponing
his much hyped "Garib Kisan rally', the RJD chief said,
"I have decided to postpone the proposed rally to end the
controversy arising out of the commission's directive against
the RJD and filing of a case against me." He also said that
now he would be holding a rally in each and every village
of Bihar, and then would be celebrating a grand "Vijay Divas"
in Patna on February 28.
Lalu's
announcement coincides with the Election Commission's special
observer's visit to Bihar to report on Lalu's alleged poll
violations. Taking a tough stand on the issue, the Election
Commission had directed the Bihar police to register an
FIR against the railway minister, accusing him of trying
to bribe voters ahead of the Assembly elections. The Deputy
Election Commissioner, AN Jha, informed, "We have registered
an FIR and have also asked the RJD why the symbol should
not be revoked." The Commission has also passed several
strictures on Lalu's mega rally, directing the government
to ensure that no trains or buses were diverted to bring
in supporters and to also ensure that the public machinery
is not used in electioneering. However, for Lalu Yadav,
this is not the first time he has found himself in a tangle
with the Commission. Incidents of booth capturing and violence
in the Lok Sabha elections in Chhapra led to the countermanding
of polls and a re- poll being ordered. During the 1995 Bihar
elections also, Lalu was repeatedly questioned by the then
Chief Election Commissioner T N Seshan.
Opposition
stages walkout over Lalu dole issue (Go
To Top)
by
Pankaj Yadav
New
Delhi: The entire opposition staged a walkout of the
Lok Sabha on Tuesday over a demand that Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan
Singh and his UPA come clear on Railways Minister Lalu Yadav's
move to hand out cash to his supporters in a Bihar village
on Saturday. Addressing the Speaker and later talking to
reporters, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said
that before the Election Commission decides on the matter,
it was the responsibility of the government and the Prime
Minister to take action against such ministers. On Monday,
the Election Commision took suo moto action on the reported
incident of Yadav distributing Rs.100 each to his Rashtriya
Janata Dal (RJD) partymen near Patna on December 18. The
EC lodged a First Information Report(FIR) for an offence
under section 171 B of the Indian Penal Code for bribery
relating to the conduct of elections. The Commission also
issued a showcause notice to the RJD on why the party should
not be de- recognized under the provisions of the Election
Symbols Order, 1968, for violating the Model Code of Conduct,
which came into force on December 17 with the announcement
of the election schedule for Haryana, Jharkhand and Bihar.
Vajpayee also claimed that Lalu was not distributing money
for a nobele cause, but instead was seeking some political
gain ahead of the forthcoming polls in his state. Responding
to Vajpayee's charge in the absence of the Prime Minister,
The Leader of the House and Defence Minister, Dr. Pranab
Mukherjee, said that the matter was before the Election
Commission, which is a constitutional authority, and that
it (the EC) would solely decide on the matter. On hearing
this, the opposition staged a walkout.
One
killed, 3 injured in gun battle (Go
To Top)
Patna:
A 13-year old boy was killed and three others injured
when a criminal opened fire in Khan Mirza locality of Patna
this morning. According to Suresh Chaudhary, Deputy Superintendent
of Police Patna, the incident seems to be as part of a gang
war in the old city area between two rival criminal groups.
Chaudhary said the boy named Raja was caught in a cross-fire
and died on the spot, while the injured have been admitted
in Patna Medical College for treatment.
JK
HC stays orders permitting Anara to move to Delhi (Go
To Top)
Jammu:
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court today stayed a local
court's order allowing former Miss Jammu Anara Gupta to
move to Delhi for filing a complaint with the National Human
Rights Commission (NHRC) and National Commission for Women
(NCW). Court stayed the order while hearing a challenge
petition filed by the crime branch. Chief Judicial Magistrate
Sanjeev Gupta granted her permission to move to Delhi for
filing the complaints on December 17. However, Justice S
K Gupta today stayed the previous orders. The crime branch
claimed that Anara's visit to Delhi would delay the investigations.
Anara Gupta has been arrested for featuring in a pornographic
film.
Seer's
bail hearing on Dec 23 (Go
To Top)
Chennai:
The High Court of Madras today adjourned the Kanchi
seer Jayendra Saraswathi's petition seeking bail in the
Radhakrishnan assault case to December 23. The High Court
directed the prosecution to file its counter-affidavit by
then. The seer had moved the Madras High Court for bail
in the 2002 `Radhakrishnan assault case,' pursuant to a
Supreme Court direction in this regard on Monday (December
20). While the High Court dismissed his second bail application
in the `Sankararaman murder case' on December 8, the Principal
Sessions Court here rejected his bail plea in the assault
case on December 10. Stating that the grounds cited by these
courts for dismissing the pleas were the same, counsel for
the Acharya moved separate bail applications in the Supreme
Court last week. Admitting the bail petition in the murder
case and posting it for hearing on January 6, the apex court
directed counsel to approach the High Court for bail in
the assault case.
In
the present petition, the Acharya's counsel said there was
no more justification in keeping him under incarceration
as all material witnesses had been examined and that the
identification parade was also over. Further, the prosecution
was now disabled from seeking police custody of the Acharya,
the petition said. Referring to prosecution submissions
during arguments on the bail petition in the sessions court,
it said, "the so-called recovery of weapons allegedly used
by the assassins in the incident, which was recovered two
years after the occurrence, is too big a pill to swallow."
Also, "the so-called identification parade wherein the witnesses
are said to have identified the accused was held after two
years of the occurrence, and the parade would have had no
value in the eyes of law as the identity and photographs
of the accused were widely circulated by the media."
Christmas
is coming and bringing brisk business along! (Go
To Top)
Kolkata/
Cochin: With Christmas only four days away, business
seems to be picking up in India's eastern Calcutta city
with shoppers making a beeline for Christmas memorabilia.
Large numbers of people, irrespective of caste or creed,
are seen around spending time looking around, and shopping.
Markets are abuzz with the festival activities and everybody
wants to encash on the season. Shops are flooded with Christmas
items, specially for kids, for whom Christmas, besides holding
prayers, means getting gifts from their favourite Santa
Claus. Papier mache items are in much demand and people
can be seen buying gift items like Santa caps, pencils with
Santa cap for their kids. "Christmas is a seasonal business.
You have business for say two months and then it goes static.
Then you come back for the next year," said Denzon Winsen,
a shopkeeper. People are shopping from cosmetics to perfumes
and colognes, everything under the roof for gifting. "This
is the time we celebrate. We buy decorative items to make
our houses look nice. Things like Christmas tree," said
a woman buyer.
Cochin
has also been painted red aptly for Christmas. What was
once a simple family tradition has become a multi-million
dollar industry with decorations becoming more elaborate
and costlier each year. Fibre Christmas tress are in great
demand due to its low cost. In the past, an average modern
tree was decorated with a combination of store-bought ornaments
and family memorabilia with several strings of lights strewn
over the branches. Fibre optic Christmas Tree is displayed
with ten different lighting effects and twinkle at variable
speeds - without dropping a single needle. It sells in the
range from 400-8000 rupees. "These fibre optic trees attracted
me a lot, they are very beautiful and colourful too, I think
this is the main attractive and speciality item of this
Christmas," said Vinod Kumar, a buyer.
Bazee
CEO granted bail (Go
To Top)
New
Delhi: The Delhi High Court has granted bail to the
Bazee.com CEO, Avnish Bajaj in the MMS scandal. But the
court has asked Bajaj not to move outside India. Vacation
Judge Justice Vikramajit Sen granted bail to the CEO after
hearing his counsel, senior advocates Arun Jaitley and DC
Mathur.
