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Karishma, Mahima to join Cong; Kapil Dev for Outer Delhi? (Go To Top)
by Pankaj Yadav

          New Delhi: Even as the BJP is busy in parading Bollywood stars at 9 Ashoka Road, the Congress is said to be in touch with the tinsel world's charisma - Karishma Kapoor - to join the party. According to party sources, serious efforts are being made and the actress is likely to join the party in a day or two. If senior party leader T. Subbarami Reddy is to be believed, the party has in store a few "surprises" for the media. While introducing Shakti Kapoor to the media from the party's platform on Tuesday, Reddy had said, "don't worry we have in store many a surprise for you. Wait till Friday."

          Meanwhile, speculations are also rife that another Bollywood actress, Mahima Chowdhary, and small screen star Shekhar Suman, who had sometime back attracted BJP's ire for imitating Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, are also likely to be inducted into the party fold. The Congress move to romp in film stars is widely seen as an `inspiration' from its archrival BJP, which has been admitting film stars for the past several weeks and successfully reaping media coverage.

          In another significant behind the door development, senior Congress leaders are said to be busy persuading former cricket captain Kapil Dev to contest from the Outer Delhi constituency. Though Kapil has expressed unwillingness to jump into active politics, the party sees in him a reply to the BJP's strongman Sahib Singh Verma. With Sajjan Kumar still unable to wipe out the stains of the 1984 Sikh riots, it seems the party does not have any other senior leader who can give a tough fight to Verma.

Bangarappa joins BJP (Go To Top)

         New Delhi: Former Karnataka chief minister S. Bangarappa, whom the BJP had once described as the "country's most corrupt chief minister", joined the party on Thursday. And the justification BJP chief Venkaiah Naidu gave was that now he has been "absolved" of the corruption charges levelled against him in 1996. Besides Naidu, senior BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi were also present to welcome Bangarappa to the party. "S Bangarappa has been in active politics for 30 years in Karnataka and for the past six years he has been an MP. We consider him as a powerful force in the state, and he will prove useful in forming the first BJP government in any state in southern India," Naidu said while introducing Bangarappa, once a close confidante of Rajiv Gandhi and Congress strongman in the state, to the media persons at the regular press briefing.

          Later addressing reporters the ex-CM said he joined the BJP because he felt that the present-day Congress was not the same as it used to be during Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi days. "Today, the BJP is front-runner party in the country and I convincingly agree to its both foreign and domestic policies," he added. But, both Naidu and Bangarappa evaded questions if the new leader to the party would contest for a Lok Sabha or an Assembly seat. Karnataka assembly polls will be held alongside the upcoming general elections. According to reliable sources, Bangarappa quit the Congress after he was denied an assembly ticket.

          The investigation agency CBI had in 1996 booked a case against Bangarappa under Prevention of Corruption Act for granting sanction in violation of the Karnataka State Universities Act, 1976, for affiliating the P.C. Dental College to the Bangalore University and regularising the excess admission made by the college in violation of the Act. It was alleged that Bangarappa and others had showed favouritism to the private dental college. But in in June 2003 he was acquitted of the corruption charges.

Sonia says BJP shaken by a woman (Go To Top)

          Mandi (HP): Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday slammed the BJP saying their campaign frenzy showed their nervouness. Gandhi, who is on a roadshow in Himachal Pradesh, personally meeting villagers, especially women, took the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led ruling coalition to task for its controversial 650 million rupee promotion blitz. Gandhi said the frenzied campaign showed the party's weak foundations adding they had been shaken by a woman. "The India Shining campaign is the same old story..they are afraid of a woman," Gandhi said during her rally in Mandi town. Gandhi, riding almost singularly on the charisma of her family name, is trying hard to salvage her party.

Congress Sewa Dal demands seven seats (Go To Top)
by Pankaj Yadav

          New Delhi: Congress youth wing, the Sewa Dal is understood to have demanded tickets from at least seven parliamentary constituencies from different parts of the country even as efforts are being made to shortlist candidates for the upcoming general elections. Reliable sources from the youth wing told ANI that the list of candidates has been forwarded to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the party's senior leadership is looking into it. These seven seats along with the names of prospective candidates, respectively are - Tilak Raj from Dawodh (Madhya Pradesh), Takit Rana from any of the two constituencies in Arunachal Pradesh, Beejal Bhai from Dahod in Gujarat, Vijay Pal from South Mumbai, Badruddin Ahmed from Gunah, and Ganpat Chauhan from Raipur (Chhattisgarh). A senior Congress functionary said Thursday that the party wants to give the youths due representation during the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Goa Assembly passes Bill to ban quack doctors (Go To Top)

         Panaji: Goa has passed a legislation to ban the quacks and non-qualified doctors from conducting medical practice. The recently concluded legislative Assembly session approved the new Bill which makes it compulsory for all practising doctors in the state to obtain a licence from the government. "Medical Practitioner Bill 2004," restricts that all doctors practising in the state should be members of the Indian Medical Association, the controlling body of hospitals and clinics in the country. According to the legislation, a new regulatory board would keep a watch over the health service sector. The state government said the Bill is aimed at weeding out quacks and unqualified doctors from the sector. Professional doctors across the state welcomed the government's decision.

Pak no to Indi's entry to UN Council (Go To Top)

          Islamabad: A belligerent Pakistan government has said that it will always oppose to give India a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. According to the News, Islamabad is believed to have conveyed this view firmly to French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin when he had told the Pakistan government that given the new global realities, Paris would push for New Delhi's inclusion into this exclusive club. "Pakistan's position is based on principles. We want no new centres of power. The UN Security Council has to be more representative and democratic. The UN should create a balance between the Security Council and the General Assembly," Masood Khan, the spokesman of the Pakistan Foreign Office, was quoted, as saying.

Truck strike in Mumbai (Go To Top)

          Mumbai: Truckers in Mumbai began an indefinite strike on Thursday to protest a recent court order to phase out old vehicles. Nearly 270 transporters unions have joined the strike. The Bombay High court had ordered vehicles more than 15 years to stop plying or change over to cleaner fuel, but on Wednesday allowed transporters time till March 31, 2005 to ensure their vehicles are CNG (compressed natural gas) compliant. Truckers say that getting their vehicles CNG compliant was an expensive option, as over 80 percent of their trucks were more than 15 years old. "We are going on an indefinite strike because the court has ordered all the trucks be converted to CNG (compressed natural gas). But 80 percent of our vehicles are older than 15 years. So, this automatically calls for a strike," said B.N. Dhumal, President of All India Motor Transport Congress. More than 23,000 vehicles are yet to get converted to CNG.

No end yet to visa agony (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Scores of cricket fans queued outside the Pakistan High Commission for the second day on Thursday to get visas for the upcoming India-Pakistan series. A day after the chaos over allotment of the visas, the enthusiasts said they were staisfied with the arrangements made for visa seekers. Long queues could be seen outside the High Commission office in New Delhi were some of the cricket fans have been stationed since night. Ravi Janwani, who had come again for the second time, said the authorities had made the process more convenient by opening a separate counter for visa seekers.

           "Yesterday, I was here with my family, today again my wife is here with me, there was chaos, confusion and the establishment had no information on what to tell the visa seekers and when to come. But after the media reports, today, they have opened a separate counter for the cricket lovers specially. The line is moving pretty fast," said Janwani. But the fans will have to revisit the High Commission to collect their visas on March 8. Munawar Sayeed Bhatti, Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner to India, said visas will be issued according to the number of tickets issued to Indian fans. "We are going to give visas on the basis of tickets. If tickets are 8,000 then we will allot them 8,000 visas and if there are 9000 tickets then we will issue visas accordingly. The rest, over and above these 7,000-8,000 people whether it is going to be 20,000-30,000 you can say are aspirants only. We don't want to create any confusion," Bhatti said.

          The tickets for the historic series are also available on-line. Pakistan has announced a liberal visa policy to allow thousands of cricket fans from India to watch the forthcoming cricket series. Pakistan's interior ministry said it has been decided to issue more than 8,000 visas to Indian cricket fans for the five one-day international matches. Tour operators in the country see the upcoming cricket tour as a helping hand to promote Pakistan as a tourism destination combined with pleasure trips. Over 15,000 Indian cricket fans are expected to cross the border to enjoy the high-tension encounters. The Indian team will tour Pakistan from 10th March to 17th April to play five one-day Internationals and three tests, their first test tour to Pakistan in 14 years.

PCB nominates an unknown umpire (Go To Top)

          Karachi: Springing a surprise a week before the landmark Pakistan-India series, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Wednesday nominated Syed Zamir Haider as the TV umpire in three of the five one day international matches. A resident of Lahore, Zamir, 41, is now in his fourth season as a first-class umpire with only 23 matches under his belt. The PCB has asked him to monitor the TV replays during two one- day internationals at Rawalpindi and Lahore and the third Test at Rawalpindi. Zamir, a virtual unknown in cricket circles, is also slated to supervise India's only warm-up tie of the 40-day tour, a one-day fixture at Lahore on March 11, along with Asad Rauf, The News reported. Given the importance of the series, the PCB has abruptly overlooked the credentials of senior and respected umpires like Mian Aslam, Salim Badar and Riazuddin who have represented Pakistan on the ICC panel of umpires.

          Match schedule with postings of umpires: March 11: Warm-up match at Lahore (Umpires: Asad Rauf and Zamir Haider); March 13: First ODI at Karachi (Umpires: Simon Taufel and Nadeem Ghauri; TV umpire: Asad Rauf; Reserve umpire: Afzaal Ahmed); March 16: Second ODI at Rawalpindi (D/N) (Umpires: Simon Taufel and Asad Rauf; TV umpire: Zamir Haider; Reserve umpire: Iqbal Butt); March 19: Third ODI at Peshawar (Umpires: David Shepherd and Nadeem Ghauri; TV umpire: Asad Rauf; Reserve umpire: Iqbal Butt); March 21: Fourth ODI at Lahore (D/N) (Umpires: Simon Taufel and Asad Rauf; TV umpire: Nadeem Ghauri; Reserve umpire: Iftikhar Malik); March 24: Fifth ODI at Lahore (D/N) (Umpires: David Shepherd and Nadeem Ghauri. TV umpire: Zamir Haider; Reserve umpire: M. Nazir Jr); March 28-April 1: First Test at Multan (Umpires: David Shepherd and Simon Taufel. TV umpire: Asad Rauf. Reserve umpire: Salim Badar); April 5-9: Second Test at Lahore (Umpires: Steve Bucknor and Simon Taufel. TV umpire: Nadeem Ghauri. Reserve umpire: M. Nazir Jr); April 13-17: Third Test at Rawalpindi (Umpires: David Shepherd and Rudi Koertzen. TV umpire: Zamir Haider. Reserve umpire: Siddique Khan).

Bomb squads to check all Pak match venues (Go To Top)

          Lahore: Pakistan's bomb disposal squads will check all stadia where cricket matches between Pakistan and India are to be played between March 10 and April 17. According to the News, extra security personnel would also be deployed at these venues, the gates of which, would be closed an hour before the start of play. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting of the PCB on Wednesday. The policemen will also guard the Indian team en route to the stadia. It has also been decided that commandos of the Elite Force would be deployed in good number.

Shepherd, Simon Taufel get the nod for Pak-India series (Go To Top)

          Karachi: Two of the international cricket's most experienced umpires - England's David Shepherd and Australia's Simon Taufel will stand in the One-day International and Test match series between Pakistan and India. While Shepherd, 63, has been nominated to officiate in two limited-over games, he will be one of the gentlemen in white coats in two of the three Test matches also. West Indian Steve Bucknor, 57, who has stood in more Test matches (86 since 1988-89) as umpire than anyone else in cricket history, will join Australia's Simon Taufel in the second Test at Lahore, to be played from April 5 to 9. Taufel will also be in-charge in three one-dayers in addition to the first Test match in Multan from March 28 to April 1. Taufel, 33, has officiated in 11 Test matches and 59 One-day Internationals since 1998-99.

         Shepherd is the oldest man named among the six field umpires named for the series. Since the 1983 World Cup in England, he has stood in 145 One-day Internationals, more than any one else, and in 78 Test matches. The Pakistani umpires on the field panel are Asad Rauf, 47, who has so far officiated in just two One-day Internationals and Nadeem Ghauri, 41, who has a total of 15 limited-over matches to his credit since getting his first appointment in 1999-00. South Africa's Rudi Koertzen, 44, completes the six-man field umpires group. Since 1992-93, he has umpired 46 Test matches and 113 One-day Internationals. Asad Rauf and Lahore's upcoming Zameer Haider will be the two umpires in the limited-over warm-up match, which will serve as the tour opener, and will be played at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium on March 11.

PCB to roll out red carpet for foreign media (Go To Top)

          Islamabad: Pakistan Information Ministry and the country's cricket board - PCB - have decided to roll out the red carpet for foreign journalists covering the upcoming Indo-Pak cricket series beginning March 13. According to a report in the Nation, the decision was taken at a meeting held here on Wednesday at the Information Ministry. Chaired by Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the meeting was attended by various officials of the information ministry and the PCB. The meeting decided that the Board would be in close contact with the information ministry, foreign office and other related departments to solve the visa problems of foreign journalists at the earliest. Around 120 journalists from India and more than 15 from England are expected to cover this historical series, the paper said. The information minister appealed to the concerned authorities to present a positive and encouraging picture of the country before the foreign journalists. PCB Chairman Shahrayar Khan reportedly briefed those present on the occasion about arrangements for journalists at all the stadiums, and also gave details of media centres of all stadiums individually.