New Delhi, May 20, 2009
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Sonia
Gandhi re-elected as UPA chairperson
New
Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi was on Wednesday re-elected as the
chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), which is all set to form
the next government at the Centre. During a meeting of the UPA, held at Gandhi's
residence 10, Janpath, she was re-nominated the chairperson of the UPA. During
the meeting, the allies have discussed the numbers they have to form the government
and the distribution of portfolios in the new Cabinet. They also stressed on the
need of having a common minimum agenda for the new government. This was the first
meeting of the Congress and its pre-poll allies after the Lok Sabha election results.
Apart from Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, senior Congress
leaders Pranab Mukherjee, P. Chidambaram, A.K. Antony, DMK President and Chief
Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee,
Jammu and Kashmir National Conference leader Dr. Farooq Abdullah, and NCP leaders
Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel were attended the meeting. Dr. Singh, who was elected
leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party will meet President Pratibha Patil
today to stake claim to form the government.
President
invites Manmohan Singh to form Govt Top
New
Delhi: President Pratibha Devisingh Patil invited Manmohan Singh to form the
new Government at the centre after he claimed that he had the support of 322 members
of Parliament. On Wednesday evening, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and United
Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi called on President Pratibha Patil
to stake the claim to form the government. The President handed over to Manmohan
Singh the letter to form the Government. He and the new Council of Ministers will
take oath of office and secrecy on May 22. After meeting the President, Dr. Manmohan
Singh said that apart from its 274 seats, the UPA has the support of Samajwadi
Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Bahujan Samaj Party. The outside support of RJD,
SP and BSP takes the UPA's tally to 322 seats. Earlier, the crucial UPA meet to
decide Cabinet berths concluded at 10 Janpath, the residence of Congress president
Sonia Gandhi. All the key pre-poll partners of the Congress attended the meeting.
National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, DMK
chief M Karunanidhi, NCP president Sharad Pawar and leader Praful Patel were present.
Senior Congress leaders who attended the meeting included, Manmohan Singh, Sonia
Gandhi, Pranab Mukherjee, P. Chindambaram, A.K. Antony and Rahul Gandhi. Sonia
Gandhi was re-elected UPA chairperson during the meeting. Her name was proposed
by Karunanidhi and seconded by Mamata Bannerjee . All eyes are now on the likely
candidates who would head some of the most important ministries in the next Congress-led
UPA government. The Ministry of Human Resource Development, headed by Congress
leader Arjun Singh could throw up a surprise. Pranab Mukherjee has indicated that
he would like to remain as the Finance Minister. Kapil Sibal's name is doing the
rounds as the new Foreign Minister. Rahul Gandhi has stated that he would like
to remain outside the Govenment but speculation is rife that he may agree to join
the Cabinet.
YSR
sworn in as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister for second term Top
Hyderabad:
Dr. Yaduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy, popularly known as YSR, was sworn
in as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister for the second consecutive term at the sprawling
Lal Bahadur Stadium here on Wednesday. Governor ND Tiwari administered the oath
of office and secrecy to Dr. Reddy at a grand ceremony that witnessed a convergence
of a sea of humanity at the stadium. Today's swearing in held significance for
the Congress Party, as in Andhra Pradesh the party has created a record of sorts
by retaining power for a second consecutive term; the first time in three decades
and by also contributing a major chunk of Lok Sabha seats for the United Progressive
Alliance (UPA). Besides securing a comfortable majority with 157 seats in the
294-member State Assembly, the party also went beyond all expectations by winning
33 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats. The Congress had not won a second successive term
since N.T. Rama Rao launched Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in early 1980s. This time
it was not an easy election for YSR as the TDP went all out to return to power,
taking a U-turn to back the demand for a separate Telangana and promising a free
colour television and cash doles of Rs.1,000 to Rs.2,000 per month for every family.
YSR had taken oath as the chief minister on May 14, 2004 at the same venue. Today,
YSR became the only one chief minister to have completed a full term in Andhra
Pradesh.
Chamling
takes oath as Sikkim Chief Minister Top
Gangtok:
A twelve-member new Sikkim Cabinet took oath of office here today. Governor Balmiki
Prasad Singh administered the oath of office and secrecy to Pawan Kumar Chamling
and his Cabinet colleagues at Raj Bhavan. Earlier, Chamling submitted resignation
of his council of ministers to Singh on Tuesday and staked claim to form the next
government. Singh had invited Chamling to form the next government on the basis
of the majority being enjoyed by the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF). On
Monday, party's all 32 MLAs met at Chamling's official residence, Mintokgang,
and unanimously elected the 59 year-old Chamling the SDF Legislative Party leader.
First time MLA Neeru Sewa from West Pendam (SC) seat proposed a resolution for
the election of the SDF President as the legislature party leader. Another MLA,
C B Karki seconded it. All the other legislators supported it. This is Chamling's
fourth successive term as Chief Minister of the state.
Sikhs, Hindus protest outside Pak High
Commission Top
New
Delhi: Scores of Sikhs and Hindus took to streets and staged a protest outside
the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi against the excesses of Taliban in Pakistan
against minorities. Organised jointly by the World Hindu Federation and Sikh organisations,
the protest witnessed the agitated protestors holding placards and shouting slogans
against the Taliban. Protestors said that the Taliban was causing atrocities on
hundreds of Sikh families by imposing Jazia (religious tax) on non-Muslims and
forcing them to abandon their homes and hearth. "Taliban is collecting Jazia money
from Sikh community. Besides, they (Taliban) have forced Sikhs to flee from their
homes and members of the Sikh community residing in Pakistan are also facing lot
of other problems. We have organised this protest to condemn these atrocities,"
said Surendranath, a protestor. The protestors also demanded that the Government
of India should intervene and safeguard the Sikhs' welfare in Pakistan. "Our next
step is to meet the Prime Minister. Once he resumes his office, we will go and
ask him to take some action on this issue," said Surinder Singh, another protestor.
Meanwhile, a delegation of the protestors submitted a memorandum to the Pakistan
High Commissioner. Reportedly, the Taliban had asked 30-35 families of the region
to pay 50 million rupees as Jazia and protection money. Consequently, many tribal
families have started migrating to different parts of Hangu and Kohat out of fear
of the Taliban action. The Taliban outfits had demolished at least 11 houses belonging
to the Sikh community in the Orakzai Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal
Areas (FATA) in Pakistan after they refused to pay Jazia. Jazia is a tax imposed
on non-Muslims for their protection that prevailed during the Mughal era.
Commonwealth
Games Federation satisfied with infrastructure Top
New
Delhi: The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President Suresh Kalmadi has said
that the executive board of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) expressed
satisfaction with the games infrastructure coming up in the city. "As you are
all aware the CGF was here for the whole of last week. We went through a lot of
preparations for them and we have satisfied them and we took them around to show
the entire infrastructure and they liked the games village the best. They said
they have not seen a games village like this anywhere," said Kalmadi. He also
said that there were minor delays in construction of two venues but promised to
have all infrastructure ready six months ahead of the event. Preparations are
in full swing in New Delhi for hosting the 2010 Commonwealth Games at an estimated
cost of 70 billion rupees. Delhi had bagged the contract after beating the Canadian
city Hamilton in the bid for the games. The Games will be staged in India for
the first time and in Asia for the second time. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, held the
Commonwealth Games in 1998. New Delhi hosted the inaugural Asian Games in 1951
and again in 1982.
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