Main Page                                                 Archives

 

PM on two-day visit to Karnataka

     Bangalore: The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, is arriving in Bangalore on Friday afternoon on a two-day maiden official visit to the state. He will be accompanied by the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and three Union ministers -- Oscar Fernandes, K H Muniyappa and M V Rajashekaran -- who hail from Karnataka. Dr.Singh is slated to sit through an hour-long audio-visual presentation made by the state government on various infrastructure projects, including the ambitious Bangalore international airport. After arriving at 3.30 pm on Friday, the prime minister, will proceed to the Vidhana Soudha for a meeting with officials, all state ministers and Union ministers Oscar Fernandes, K H Muniyappa and M V Rajashekaran. The Infrastructure Department and Bangalore Mass Rapid Transit Ltd (BMRTL) will give a presentation on the international airport project at Devanahalli and the metro rail for the city, both of which are going to be partially funded by the Centre. The Rural Development Secretary, V P Baligar, will also give a presentation on the rural and social infrastructure requirements in the state.

     Official sources said that these presentations might yield in early sanction of funds from the Centre for major financial support for infrastructure projects. Dr Singh has already indicated that he will not be performing any ground-breaking ceremony at Devanahalli, though he was originally scheduled to do so. He is scheduled to hold meetings with political leaders also. On February 12, Dr Manmohan Singh will leave for Mysore in the forenoon to participate in two functions - one by the Suttur Math and another by Infosys to inaugurate the world's largest corporate training centre set up by the IT giant. After a gap of 25 years, a prime minister will actually sit through a "performance appraisal" review in Karnataka's seat of power Vidhana Soudha on Friday. The last prime minister who took time off for a detailed review in Karnataka was Indira Gandhi, during her visit to the state when Gundu Rao was the chief minister nearly 25 years ago.

Campaigning for civic polls picks up in Kashmir (Go To Top)

     Poonch: Campaigning for the civic polls in Poonch in Kashmir has picked up momentum. Voting in the region would be held on February 17. Separatist politicians and militants opposed to Indian rule in the Himalayan region have called for a boycott of the elections to choose town councils and mayors. Candidates from all the prominent parties of the state are campaigning for the polls, being held for the first time in 27 years. "The development work in this area has been lacking. People believe the BJP will be able to complete the work and we hope to live up to their expectations," said Sunil Gupta, a candidate from the Bharatiya Janata Party. Shian Kochar, a woman candidate from the ruling People's Democratic Party, said: "Women have been living in the background since a long time. We are thankful to the state government to give us the opportunity to contest the elections and come to the forefront in active politics," she said. The municipal poll is being held in Kashmir where more than 45,000 people have died in a 15-year-old revolt against Indian rule.

Govt open to handover Geelani case to CBI: Patil (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil has said that the government is open to handing over the Geelani shootout case to the CBI. "We are not averse to the Geelani probe being handed over to the CBI. We will do whatever the court directs," Patil said. Geelani was shot at outside his lawyer, Nandita Haksar's house on Tuesday evening. He is now out of ICU and according to doctors, he is recovering well. "I don't think he will be able to speak to the police for the next two days," said Geelani's lawyer Nandita Haksar. In the meantime, various protests were organised to condemn the Geelani incident. The Delhi University lecturer's friends, colleagues and students took to the streets shouting anti-police slogans. The pressure now lies on the police to solve the case, as Geelani's supporters are accusing police of masterminding the incident. Police has begun questioning several people, including Geelani's acquaintances and some eyewitnesses. Two days after the Parliament attack, Geelani, who was a teacher of Arabic at the Zakir Hussain College since 1998, was arrested by the Delhi police and was charged as one of the main conspirators of the terrorist attack. He was arrested by the police on the basis of intercepts of a call from his mobile phone to his stepbrother in Srinagar. Later, he was found guilty by a POTA court and was subsequently awarded death sentence. However, the Delhi High Court in 2003 found that the evidence against him was inadmissible in court and acquitted him. Soon after being released, Geelani started a campaign against the human rights violations in Kashmir.