Congress-i

Look within on corruption, Sonia tells Team Anna

2011-11-09T19:54:00.001-08:00

Chamoli (Uttarakhand), Nov 10 : Saying that corruption cannot be erased by "mere talk" or accusing others, Congress president Sonia Gandhi Wednesday hit out at Team Anna for raising "a hue and cry" on the Lokpal bill despite the prime minister's assurances.

She also pointedly reminded them that it was the National Advisory Council headed by her that first started work on a bill to fight graft.

In a speech read out in absentia at a rally, Gandhi also declared that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) were committed to presenting the bill in parliament and implementing it.

Gandhi, who could not attend the erally due to fever, said people should not just point fingers at others on the issue of corruption but "look within". She criticised Team Anna for threatening another agitation on the Lokpal bill.

Gandhi was supposed to address a rally in Gauchar in Chamoli district, her first since returning after a surgery abroad.

"You would know that it was the National Advisory Council (NAC) headed by me which had first started public consultations for a Lokpal. You also know that prime minister has said, our party has repeatedly said that we are in favour of an effective, strong Lokpal bill. The bill will be presented in the parliament and we will implement it. I feel what is the need of making so much hue and cry," Gandhi said in the speech, read out by Defence Minister A.K. Antony.

Hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Team Anna, Gandhi said that corruption cannot be fought by mere talk and by thinking that "our corruption is a pure deed and corruption of the others is corruption".

"There is a lot of talk on corruption these days. There is no doubt that corruption is a big disease and is prevalent in some way at every level. There is need to build atmosphere against it. Corruption cannot be eradicated by mere talk, it cannot be eradicated by only raising fingers at one another. Every one will have to look within," Gandhi said.

"The corruption will not be eradicated if one thinks that our corruption is a pure deed and corruption of the other is corruption. Today a lot of this is happening," Gandhi said in an obvious reference to Team Anna, some of whose members have faced allegations of financial misconduct.

After Gandhi cancelled her programme, Defence Minister A.K. Antony and Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi laid the foundation stone of the 125 km-long Rishikesh-Karanprayag rail project near the Gauchar airstrip

The rally was being seen as the launch of the Congress's campaign for the upcoming state assembly polls.

Gandhi expressed concern over rising prices and said it was increasing the burden on the common man. She said the government should try to take every step that brings relief to the common man.

"This can happen only with the support of both the Central and state governments," Gandhi said.

"I admit that the government also has a lot of difficulties and this problem (price rise) is there in almost all the countries. But when the whole world was passing through economic recession, we remained untouched," she said.

Earlier, Gandhi expressed grief over the loss of lives in Tuesday's stampede at Haridwar.

She said the government had made provisions for 50 percent reservation for women in panchayati raj institutions.

Gandhi said the UPA government was also planning to connect Tanakpur-Bageshwar, Tanakpur-Jaulgivi and Ramnagar-Chaukutiya rail links in the border state to boost employment and tourism.

The Congress president is a star campaigner and the party is banking heavily on her crowd-pulling abilities in the five states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand going to the polls next year.

Rahul Gandhi to visit northeast next week

2011-11-03T04:53:00.001-07:00

Agartala/Imphal: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi will next week visit election bound Manipur as well as Tripura and Nagaland, ruled by non-Congress governments, party leaders said on Thursday.

The three-day visit to the northeast would begin in Nagaland on Nov 8 when he would address several public meetings. He will be in Manipur the next day and Tripura after that. In Nagaland, now ruled by the Naga People's Front (NPF)-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland, he would address two meetings.

A public meeting is scheduled in the Manipur capital Imphal on Nov 9, said Manipur Pradesh Youth Congress president M Prithiviraj. The election for the 60-member Manipur assembly is expected to be held February 2012. Gandhi would also address two meetings in Tripura, ruled by the country's only Left government.

"The visit would encourage party workers and leaders to further intensify their work," Tripura Congress spokesperson Ratan Chakraborty told reporters. With his public meetings in Kumarghat in north Tripura and Udaipur in south Tripura, the party would launch its election campaign for elections expected in February 2013, he said.

"Rahul Gandhi's visit will unite different fraction of party organisation, which needs to be further strengthen to vote out the Left Front," said Tapas Dey, a former legislator and senior party leader. All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary K Jayakumar, who undertook a five-day tour of the state this week, was harassed by a section of party workers, he said.

During his tour, Gandhi will be accompanied by former Goa chief minister Luizinho Faleiro, also a Congress general secretary and party in-charge of Tripura, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Sikkim.

Rural job scheme wage stings Congress

2011-10-19T07:11:00.001-07:00

NEW DELHI: The political advantage enjoyed by Congress for bringing the job scheme is under threat with five of its states underpaying workers, a revelation that has prompted the party leadership against challenging a court order seeking parity between MGNREGA wages and minimum wages in a state.

The Karnataka High Court recently ruled that wages under MGNREGA should at least be equal to the notified farm wages. The ruling would result in additional expenditure of Rs 900 crore per year for UPA, a burden which is nudging the rural development ministry to seek an appeal.

While a judicial challenge runs the risk of painting the Centre as thwarting a better deal for workers, the details about "culprit states" which have pegged job scheme wages lower than farm wages has deepened the fear of backlash in Congress. Five of the six states have Congress in power -- Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Kerala, Goa and Mizoram. The other is BJP-ruled Karnataka.

Congress leadership is wary of its repercussions as it would send a message that Centre was subverting higher wages for poor workers engaged in hard labour. Sources said RD minister Jairam Ramesh is against appealing the court order and is pushing for implementation of the verdict. He has proposed that works under MGNREGA be added to the Minimum Wages Act to ensure wage parity as demanded by the HC.

Sources said example of Congress regimes failing the workers would severely neutralize the advantage the ruling party enjoys among rural poor for promulgating the job scheme. "Congress would be an easy target," a leader said.

The apprehensions of Congress landing on the wrong side of "aam aadmi" come on the back of similar controversy over 'poverty line'. Political rivals and activists pushed Congress on the back foot after Planning Commission told the Supreme Court that an individual spending over Rs 32 daily was above 'poverty line', a stand which triggered a shrill row.

That these fears are not misplaced has been shown by activist Aruna Roy who last week wrote to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to get the HC verdict implemented. The National Advisory Council has also expressed concern over the issue to the ministry.

The HC order came on a petition which challenged the job scheme wages in Karnataka at Rs 82 when farm wages stood at Rs 125 in 2009. The job wages were later revised to Rs 100 but stayed below farm wages of Rs 134.

Why can’t Sonia Gandhi put a stop to sycophancy?

2011-10-14T03:37:00.001-07:00

Akshaya Mishra

The culture of sycophancy and servility has always been part of the Congress DNA. Even senior leaders have to occasionally recite the oath of loyalty to assure the high command that they are still on the leash. They need to acknowledge the omnipotence of the Gandhi family at regular intervals. While no party is immune to the culture of sycophancy — it’s a national trait and is essentially linked to how leaders come up the political ladder — in case of the Congress it is too pronounced.
What was the pressing need for Ram Naresh Yadav to express gratitude to Congress president Sonia Gandhi for his appointment as the governor of Madhya Pradesh?
According to media sources, addressing a meeting in Uttar Pradesh, Yadav showered praise on Sonia Gandhi, saying it would not have been possible for a petty party worker like him to be governor had Sonia Gandhi not advised President Pratibha Devisingh Patil to appoint him to the position.

The culture of sycophancy and servility has always been part of the Congress DNA. B Mathur/Reuters
It’s not clear why the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) should make such a fuss about the statement – Rajeev Yadav, the state general secretary of the rights organisation, plans to meet President Pratibha Patil over the issue – and demand his removal even when the BJP in the state is not interested but the statement serves to highlight the deficiencies in the leadership structure of the Congress.
Put to some malicious interpretation, it means Congress leaders become top functionaries in states only because of the blessings of the high command and not because of their abilities. Also, it could mean that petty party workers can rise up the ladder and finally to important positions only by being in the good books of the high command.
The equation between the top leadership and lower leadership in the Congress remains entirely skewed in favour of the former. That the Congress is a spent force in many of the states and is incapable of finding leaders to revive the party even in its erstwhile strongholds is a direct consequence of this unequal equation. When loyalty is the criteria for personal political growth, there has to be compromises on capability.
How this system of loyalty works? Well, at the lower levels the organisation – it applies to all parties — is made up of several groups. The party worker has to stay loyal to the leader of the dominant group or shift allegiance to him strategically at some stage. His growth in the ranks is dependent on his extent of loyalty to the leader. At a latter and higher stage, the network of loyalties expands. The reward comes in the form of a party seat in elections or some important position in the party. There’s virtually no scope for the independent-minded individual, no matter how talented he is, to grow on his own in isolation in a party set-up.
Thus the leaders are programmed to be loyal – sycophancy is an extension of it — in the grooming stages. It becomes a habit later on. The Congress leaders, at least most in the older generation, fail to get out of that habit. Professing loyalty to the Gandhi family is one important aspect of it.
There’s no denying the centrality of the Gandhi family in Congress’ scheme of things. It serves as a binding force – a rallying point rather – for so many disparate forces in the umbrella organisation with specific ideology. That the party would collapse under the competing ambitions of different senior leaders without that binding force is known. But the public expression of loyalty and servileness among the leaders is confounding.
Down South, leaders of a few parties are known to prostrate at the feet of their supreme leaders to express their absolute submission. In these cases, the leaders are known to encourage the practice. In other parties it works in less visible ways. But nowhere it comes out as clearly as in the Congress – to be fair to it not many in the new generation are into it though.
But why cannot the high command say just stop this nonsense, it is embarrassing? It does not do the public perception of the party any good.

The mystery of Sonia Gandhi’s illness

2011-09-29T01:27:00.000-07:00

By Ramakrishna S R
Why isn't anyone telling us what's wrong with Sonia Gandhi? That's the question an opinion piece in The Hindu is asking after India's most powerful politician returned from a US cancer hospital.
Nirupama Subramaniam writes: "That the Congress should be secretive about Ms Gandhi's health is not surprising. What is surprising, though, is the omertà being observed by the news media, usually described by international writers as feisty and raucous. On this particular issue, reverential is the more fitting description. Barring editorials in the Business Standard and MailToday, no other media organisation has thought it fit to question the secrecy surrounding the health of the government's de facto Number One."
Omerta refers to a 'code of silence', when people in the know conspiratorially refuse to discuss a matter of importance in public.
The Telegraph, UK, quoted sources as saying Sonia had been suffering from cancer for eight months. There is no official word on it yet, and a reclusive Sonia has been busy mediating between Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambaram on the 2G note controversy.
The law frowns on the unauthorised disclosure of medical details, so why should anyone be curious? Nirupama Subramaniam argues citizens should know, since Sonia's health determines the fortunes of the nation. She writes: "True, politicians are entitled to privacy in matters of health. But this right to privacy cannot hold if it impacts on their work. Ms Gandhi has led the Congress for more than a decade; her party's election victories are credited to her leadership. The argument that Ms Gandhi does not hold high office, is not the head of the government, and therefore her illness is not a matter of public importance, hardly holds. Since 2004, she has been seen universally as the main power centre in the UPA. Clearly, several matters of national importance ride on her health, including her ability to lead the party into the next election, and the issue of succession in the Congress leadership, should this become necessary. These are not private matters."
In the absence of an aggressive tabloid culture, details of politicians' illnesses don't quickly make it to the headlines in India. But many celebrities use their situation to draw attention to a disease, and canvass for research. After a horseriding accident that left him confined to a wheelchair, actor Christopher Reeve campaigned on behalf of people with spinal cord injuries.
NewsX reported Sonia has a benign skin cancer, and no dire illness. Squamous skin cancer, a doctor who came on the show said, is common in the West, and is handled easily. Manmohan Singh, Vajpayee and other leaders have also benefited, says The Hindu, from the omerta of the press.
In India, several politicians have thrived even when they were in physical distress. Jayaprakash Narayan inspired the movement against the Emergency from a hospital bed, while M G Ramachandran and M Karunanidhi, both crippled by severe diseases, have ruled Tamil Nadu well into their late years. Rajinikanth recently came back from Singapore, and his problem remains undisclosed to this day, but his fans remain steadfast.
The question of whether it is ethical to publish details of a newsmaker's illnesses remains, but the illness itself is no big deal in India. Politicians have such tenacity that they can swing things in the world out there even when they lie motionless in hospital beds or sit breathless in wheelchairs.
While the media in India may hush up problems afflicting our leaders, The Telegraph, UK, shows no confusion when it comes to medical stories. Late last week, it published this story with a heading guaranteed to startle those used to the feeble medical coverage in the Indian papers: Shoaib Akhtar's genital warts keep him out of Pakistan's World Twenty20 squad.

Rahul to Visit Earthquake-Hit Areas of Sikkim on Sept 21

2011-09-20T21:49:00.001-07:00

New Delhi, Sep 21 : Rahul Gandhi will visit earthquake -affected areas in Sikkim tomorrow and meet victims and their families.

Gandhi was scheduled to visit Meghalaya on September 21 for a public meeting of Youth Congress membership.

But as the tragedy occurred on Sunday evening leading to casualties in Sikkim, the plan was modified.

Gandhi will now visit Gangtok tomorrow morning before attending the scheduled Youth Congress meeting in Meghalaya.

Sources said that the AICC general secretary will visit the state capital at 9 am in the morning and meet the earthquake victims lodged in hospitals and homes.

His Youth Congress membership meeting is scheduled at 11.30 am at Mini Stadium, Ampathi in West Garo Hills District of Meghalaya.

The death toll in Sunday's powerful temblor has shot up to 92, including 53 in the Himalayan state while more than 3,000 people have been rescued in quake-hit areas of Sikkim by defence forces so far.

Bengal Congress leaders meet Rahul, complain about Trinamool

2011-09-13T00:00:00.001-07:00

Kolkata/ New Delhi: A group of 25 Congress leaders from West Bengal Monday called on party general secretary Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi and complained to him that the Trinamool Congress was trying to "finish off" the party in the state.

The leaders included ten district presidents and several MLAs, who apprised Gandhi about the political situation in the state where the Congress runs a coalition government with Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool. The two parties had forged an alliance in the April-May assembly polls to bring to an end the 34-year uninterrupted reign of the Communist-led Left Front.
A Congress leader in the delegation that met Gandhi at 10, Janpath, in New Delhi alleged that Mamata Banerjee was trying to reduce the Congress to insignificance in the state.
"She is trying to make the Congress' position as weak as it is in states like Bihar and Tamil Nadu. Her target is less the CPI-M (Communist Party of India-Marxist) and more Congress as she wants to fully capture the anti-Left Front space," said the leader.

He said while the party ministers are not being given due importance, the Trinamool was offering inducements to lure away Congressmen in strongholds like Murshidabad and northern Bengal.
Among the leaders who were part of the delegation were Devi Ghosal, Shankar Malakar, Manoj Pandey and Ajoy Ghosh, Swapan Dubey, lawmakers Nepal Mahato, Asit Mal and Rabindranth Bhattacharya.
They also pleaded that Congress be allowed to go it alone in the state panchayat (rural bodies) election in 2013.
Gandhi did not make any comment, but gave the delegation a patient hearing, a party leader said.
Source: IANS

Sonia Gandhi recuperating from mystery illness; visitors banned

2011-09-12T23:56:00.001-07:00

Amid intense speculation about Sonia Gandhi's health, the Congress party says its president is recuperating after a surgery in the US but no visitors are allowed to meet her.

Many Congress functionaries are reluctant to discuss Gandhi's health condition. Most of those who are ready to discuss the subject request that they should not be identified by name or designation.
Gandhi, 64, returned to India early Sep 8 after spending about five weeks in the US, where she reportedly underwent a successful surgery at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Newly appointed Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi told IANS: "Sonia Gandhi is back and in good health. I cannot say anything more on this matter."

Another Congress leader said details about Gandhi may be provided by chief spokesperson Janardhan Dwivedi, who declined to speak on the subject.
A senior Congress leader who did not want to be identified said Gandhi was recuperating at her 10 Janpath residence here.
"As doctors have advised her complete rest, she is not meeting party colleagues," he said.
However, she was abreast of the political developments and reads newspapers without fail, the source added.
Her own family members are in constant touch with her, according to informed sources.

Aruna Roy, a member of the National Advisory Council (NAC) headed by Gandhi, told IANS that she had no first hand knowledge of the Congress president's condition.
"I only know what all others know through media reports. There has been no communication from the NAC Secretariat on her illness," she said.
Yet another party leader told IANS: "I hear she is improving and will be resuming duties after a month. Visitors are not permitted now. Otherwise, party leaders will flock to 10 Janpath."
This leader added that he and his colleagues were aware that there were rumours that Gandhi's condition was serious.
"I know that our rivals, both from the Left and the Right, are spreading these rumours," he added.
A senior intelligence official told IANS that the Gandhi family was very quiet about her condition.
Officially, neither the Gandhi family nor the Congress party has said what is her ailment and what was she treated for -- and where.
"The family is maintaining strict privacy about Sonia's illness," the official said. "Most Congress leaders did not even know about her leaving for the US till it was announced by the party spokesperson."
Gandhi, often seen as the key force behind Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has not attended any known event since her return to India.
Her last public engagement before her departure to the US was a visit to Bangladesh.
Gandhi has pursued a punishing schedule since leading the party back to power in 2004 and again five years later.
According to media reports, she was last treated for mild asthma for six days in 2008.
Source: IANS

Rahul back from US, Sonia to return soon

2011-09-04T23:53:00.001-07:00

New Delhi: Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, who had gone to the US to bring back his mother Sonia, has returned to the national capital. Rahul had gone to the US some days back amid clear indications from the party that the Congress president was recovering well post surgery and was expected to be back in the national capital by the first week of September.
Highly placed party sources confirmed the return of the AICC general secretary. They said that Sonia Gandhi has not yet returned, but indicated that she could be back shortly.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who was staying with her mother, was also back some ten days back in an indication that the Congress President was recovering well.

The 64-year-old Congress President had undergone a surgery for an undisclosed ailment in a US hospital on August 4.
Sonia Gandhi had constituted a four-member team of Rahul Gandhi, AK Antony, Ahmed Patel and Janardhan Dwivedi to look after party affairs in her absence.

Rahul proposed NREGS for Afghanistan, Assam model for Palestine: WikiLeaks

2011-09-03T21:36:00.001-07:00

From his opinion that NREGS could be a model for development in Afghanistan to the view that the Naxal problem is due to a “political disconnect” and how Assam can be a model for reconciliation in Palestine, leaked US diplomatic cables provide rare insight into the foreign policy and developmental interests of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

While his views on right wing extremism and rejuvenating politics in India were brought out in earlier cables, the latest batch of leaked diplomatic correspondence documents his interest in foreign affairs and keenness to share the Indian model of development with the world.

In a rare one-on-one meeting with then US Ambassador Timothy Roemer in November 2009, Rahul concurred that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama should discuss Afghanistan and Pakistan and strategic bilateral relations.

Touching on NREGS, he told Roemer that while it has been an overall success, the scheme had been implemented unevenly. Taking pride in the social sector scheme, Rahul told the envoy that India had lessons to offer to other countries on development, specifically naming Afghanistan.

“Gandhi noted that he was drafting a letter to Secretary (Hillary) Clinton offering views on developments in Afghanistan. He said he would focus on India’s own development experience with programs like NREGS,” the cable stated.

Rahul also shared his opinion on the Naxal challenge and admitted that the government’s development efforts were facing implementation problems. “Turning to the threat of Naxalite violence, Gandhi said that the underlying cause of the violence was a ‘political disconnect’ between the poor and land owners,” said the cable, adding that Rahul admitted to implementation problems in schemes like NREGS in affected areas.

In another meeting with senior US Congressman Joseph Crowley in February 2006, Rahul shared his views on the Palestine problem and the US invasion of Iraq. On Palestine, Rahul told Crowley that the India strategy in battling insurgent groups in Assam could serve as an example for a resolution.

“The Indian strategy, he pointed out, was to allow the insurgent group to form the Assam government. This ‘defanged and discredited’ the insurgency, as the insurgents proved unable to govern and lost popular support,” the cable quoted Rahul as saying. “He (Rahul) envisaged that a similar outcome was possible in the occupied territories,” it added.

On Israel, Rahul chose to keep his thoughts to himself but termed suggestions for formal recognition of Israel by Bangladesh as “interesting ideas” but “volatile issues” for the Indian government.

On Iraq, he told Crowley that he had done a lot of reading and was of the opinion that if the US leaves the country, it would be seen as being driven out of the country. “Asking Congressman Crowley if an American pullout was feasible, Gandhi opined that even if the US declares victory and goes home, it will be similar to what happened in Lebanon. The Israelis tried the same tactic and Hezbollah declared to the world that it had driven Israel out. Gandhi predicted that US opponents in Iraq would likely do the same thing,” said the cable.

Rahul also said that by becoming involved in Iraq, the US had “taken on a complex Iraqi problem of deep ethnic and religious divisions and simply turned it into an American problem.”

Rahul Gandhi as Congress working chief?

2011-09-01T05:58:00.001-07:00

Party is abuzz with the idea that Sonia Gandhi may delegate most powers to her son, Rahul Gandhi, when she returns from US after her surgery.

AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi may be appointed as party's working president.

New Delhi: Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is expected here in a day or two after a month-long stay in the US while recuperating from an undisclosed surgery. In absence of an her leadership during the Anna Hazare storm, the party is eagerly awaiting her to rescue them from the quagmire.

While none in the party is willing to second guess whether Sonia will be able to take charge just after her return, there is a lurking fear that she may need more time to be back in form. Party circles are abuzz with speculation that she will delegate most of her powers to son and AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi and that the heir apparent may soon be appointed the party's working president.

Notwithstanding the series of crises that rocked the party recently, not a single high-level meeting was held to discuss the drift in her absence. On his return from the US, Rahul stepped in and forced the government to drop its hardline approach while dealing with Anna and Co.

During the negotiations with Team Anna, many Congress leaders, especially the younger lot, did not know what was happening and who to contact for correct information till Rahul came into the picture.

Even before Sonia underwent surgery, leaders such as Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh had reignited the 'Rahul as PM' chorus. Party insiders are of the view that time has now come for Rahul to share the burden of his mother and boost the sinking morale of the party cadre.

On if Rahul should take over as the Congress working president, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Lok Sabha MP Jagadambika Pal said, "He is our future leader. He will take over at the right time." In Sonia's absence, a four- member committee comprising Rahul, defence minister A. K. Antony, Sonia's political secretary Ahmed Patel and AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi was set up to run the day-to-day affairs of the party.

However, the panel reportedly did not have any structured meeting. With Rahul flying in and out of Delhi to be by Sonia's side in the US, the panel did not play a pro-active role during the Anna crisis and subsequently goofed up in arresting him and sending him to Tihar jail only to be released after a public hue and cry.
Source: www.indiatoday.in

Sonia Gandhi in elite power list

2011-08-24T22:31:00.001-07:00

Washington: Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi and Indra Nooyi, Indian-American CEO of PepsiCo, figure among the top ten in the Forbes list of the world's most powerful women headed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Besides Sonia Gandhi, 64, in the seventh place and Nooyi, 55, in the fourth place, two other Indians made it to the list, which is dominated by politicians, businesswomen and leaders in media and entertainment. While ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar, 49, was placed 43rd, Biocon Founder Chair, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, 58, finished at 99.
In naming Merkel the world's most powerful woman, the US business magazine called her the 'undisputed' leader of the European Union and head of its only 'real global economy'.
Merkel, 57, who has topped the list of the world's 100 most powerful women in all but one of the years since she became chancellor in November 2005, beat US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and, in third place, Dilma Rousseff, who became Brazil's first woman president this year.

After Rousseff was Nooyi, Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg; philanthropist Melinda Gates, Sonia Gandhi, US First Lady Michelle Obama, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, and Kraft Foods CEO Irene Rosenfeld.
Our list reflects the diverse and dynamic paths to power for women today, whether leading a nation or setting the agenda on critical issues of our time, said Moira Forbes, president & publisher of ForbesWoman.
The list was heavily tilted toward Americans, 65 of the 100 places. Australia, China, India and Britain each had three. Lady Gaga, at age 25, is the youngest powerful woman on the list. She was in 11th place and the highest ranked entertainer on the list.
The oldest lady on the list was another perennial, Britain's 85-year-old Queen Elizabeth, who was ranked 49th. The eclectic list includes 20 CEO's, eight heads of state and 22 single ladies. The average age was 54. Some of the best known women include Oprah Winfrey (14), Beyonce Knowles (18), Angelina Jolie (29), Ellen DeGeneres (55) and Harry Potter author JK Rowling (61).
Source: IANS

Missing you Sonia, says Anna-hit Congress

2011-08-22T21:18:00.000-07:00

New Delhi: With the UPA government looking increasingly helpless in the face of the avalanche of anti-corruption protests led by Anna Hazare, the ruling Congress is sorely missing its president Sonia Gandhi and feels she could have made a difference in handling the crisis.

"Of course, the party is missing Sonia Gandhi," senior Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi told IANS when asked whether the party was missing the leadership skills of Gandhi, who is abroad recuperating from an illness, at the peak of the popular anti-corruption movement led by Hazare.
"Whatever has happened has happened. Now, the situation should be handled more carefully," Dwivedi said when asked whether Gandhi could have made a difference amid the widespread perception that the agitation was handled in a ham-handed manner by the government.
Dwivedi is among the group of four party members that include Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, Ahmed Patil, political secretary to the Congress chief, and Defence Minister A.K. Antony mandated by Gandhi to run day-to-day affairs of the party during her absence.
Dwivedi, some party insiders said, was voicing a sense of drift that has set in the party since Gandhi left for the US nearly three weeks ago for medical treatment.

"The party has been missing her leadership. Not only the party, the entire nation is missing her," a senior Congress leader, who did not wish to be named, told IANS.
Sources said the doctors will decide early next month whether she can return to India, but she is not expected to resume active public life for quite some time.
During her absence, the party has been hit by one crisis after another, starting with the tabling of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on suspected irregularities in the Commonwealth Games in the parliament.
The report gave another knock to the image of the government that was already on the defensive over charges of corruption in the allocation of 2G spectrum.

But the lack of leadership became more visible when the government decided to detain Hazare Aug 16 morning, leading to escalating protests and projecting him as an anti-corruption icon.
Hazare was arrested, sent to Tihar Jail and subsequently released on the night of Aug 16. The decision to release Hazare, say party insiders, was decided after Rahul Gandhi intervened and also persuaded the government to refrain from making personalised attacks against Hazare and his associates.
On the 67th birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party leaders admitted that they were badly missing Sonia Gandhi in the thick of this crisis forced by one of the biggest civil society protests in recent years. "All of us are missing her. We pray to god that she recovers soon and guide us once again," Manmohan Singh said at the Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavna Award function Aug 20.

Rahul is not a parrot: Renuka

2011-08-20T00:12:00.001-07:00

New Delhi: The Congress Thursday hit out at those questioning party general secretary Rahul Gandhi's silence on the Anna Hazare issue, saying he was not a "parrot".

"Rahul will speak when he will feel like it. He is not a parrot," Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury told reporters.
Responding to a query whether the party finds itself in a difficult situation on the Hazare issue, particularly in the absence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who is recuperating after surgery in a US hospital, Chowdhury said: "We miss her terribly."
"We wish her a speedy recovery and comes back soon. Till then we are trying to do our best."
On whether the government appeared to lack a strategy on the Hazare issue even after Sonia Gandhi had constituted a four-member group to look after party affairs, Chowdhury said: "The four-member team is for the party. Should we handle even the government?"

Find out source of Hazare's funds, Congress to government

2011-08-17T20:57:00.001-07:00

New Delhi:

File photo - Anna Hazare during fast-to-death protest against corruption in New Delhi - Agencies
The Congress on Wednesday asked the government to probe the source of funds of social activist Anna Hazare's massive anti-corruption crusade and also wondered why the US suddenly chose to remark on the movement.
"It needs to be considered whether there is any power which is supporting this movement which wants to destabilize not only the government but the country. We need to take the US statements (on the protest) seriously," Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi told reporters.
"The US never supported any movement in India since its independence. For the first time, the US said that Anna Hazare's movement should be allowed and there should be no obstruction to it. What was the need for the US to give this statement," he asked.
He said India would exercise 'appropriate democratic restraint' in dealing with the peaceful protest.

Congress core group meets on Anna

2011-08-16T22:10:00.001-07:00

New Delhi: With Anna Hazare refusing to leave Tihar Jail, the core group of the Congress party met Wednesday morning to chart out the next course of action.The core group meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is being attended by senior party leaders like Pranab Mukherjee, AK Antony, P Chidambaram and Ahmed Patel.Importantly, party general secretary Rahul Gandhi, as per reports, met the Prime Minister prior to the meeting of the Core Group.Rahul is a member of the ‘group of four’ who are overseeing party work in the absence of Sonia Gandhi.Clearly, options before the party and the government are limited given the unrelenting stand taken by Anna and the thousands who are supporting his cause.Rahul had met the Prime Minister, yesterday evening too, and discussed the Anna tangle.As per reports, there is a feeling among party leaders that any furthering hardening of stance may lead the situation getting out of control.74-year-old Anna Hazare and his activists galvanised support from various parts of India with opposition parties rallying behind him in unison.The social activist and some of his supporters were arrested, yesterday, for breach of peace ahead of a planned fast to press for a strong anti-graft Lokpal Bill. However, the police decided to set him free at around 9 pm but the veteran Gandhian refused to leave the Tihar Jail until he is given permission to hold a fast at JP Park in the capital.

Lapang’s unity meeting show cracks in Cong

2011-07-12T00:48:00.001-07:00

SHILLONG, July 12 – Cornered by Sonia Gandhi’s directive, some rebel Congress legislators fell in line and today reluctantly sang the unity tune. Others, however, want nothing short of leadership change.

Former Chief Minister DD Lapang, who unsuccessfully tried to unseat Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, said: “everyone in the Congress party must work like a united and disciplined family.”

However, the patch-up would not come without a price. “The group of Lapang” wants Sangma to re-instate the four Cabinet Ministers who were axed by the Chief Minister for revolting against him.

Of the four Cabinet Ministers who were shown the doors, two – Prestone Tyngsong and Augustine D Marak – held a meeting with Lapang at his residence this evening.

They formed a committee and passed a resolution titled “proceeding of the meeting of the Congress MLA’s who are in the group of Dr DD Lapang…”

The committee passed a resolution recognising Sangma’s leadership, however, demanded re-induction of the four axed Ministers. But, Frankenstein W Momin and Founder Strong Cajee, the other axed Ministers, did not turn up.

Asked what if Sangma does not accede to their demand, Lapang went back to his pet statement: “We will cross the bridge when it comes.”

Momin, meanwhile, refused to accept Lapang’s patch-up formula. “I am not going to accept a ministerial berth under (Mukul) Sangma. The leadership issue is alive,” Momin stated.

Piqued at Lapang for not taking everyone into confidence before heading to New Delhi with the olive branch, Momin said, Lapang has betrayed their cause.

“He (Lapang) is doing everything for self-interest. I don’t agree with him,” Momin said.

Lapang, on the other hand, claimed, he received an urgent call to attend the meeting with Sonia and so he did not get time to inform his colleagues.

Lapang parried questions when asked about Sangma’s leadership and said when the party high command said there would be “no change of leadership” than “what can be done?”

On one of the key demands of the rebels, holding of the legislature party meeting, Lapang said, it’s the prerogative of the Chief Minister and it may be held when “Sangma’s group consolidates their position.”

More and more Indians want Rahul as PM

2011-06-19T00:32:00.001-07:00

New Delhi, June 19 : As many as 46 percent of people believe that Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi will make a better prime minister than incumbent Manmohan Singh, according to a national survey.

According to a 'Mood of the Nation' poll conducted by the news website LensOnNews.com, nearly two-thirds (61 percent) of voters want a change of government in New Delhi.

Only half that number (34 percent) still back the Manmohan Singh-led government to continue in office, it said.

'Rahul Gandhi is clearly preferred over Manmohan Singh for the position of prime minister,' it said.

'As many as 46 percent believe that Rahul Gandhi would make a better prime minister while only 34 percent think Manmohan Singh should continue.'

The LensPoll was carried out among a representative sample of about 3,800 voters across India, in 40 Lok Sabha constituencies in 14 states.

The poll was conducted between June 12 and 16. The findings carry a margin of error of four percent.

The survey, however, said that between Rahul Gandhi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Narendra Modi, 53 percent opted for the chief minister of Gujarat.

The survey said that disenchantment against the Congress-led central government was significantly higher in urban areas, among the college educated and upper castes.

'It is ironical that these are the very same sections that rooted heavily for the Congress in 2009. Under the present regime, the Congress seems to have lost the goodwill of the informed public.'

The choice of Rahul Gandhi as prime minister received a much higher rating among Muslims, women, farmers and labourers -- precisely the sections the Congress banks on heavily for votes.

Gandhi, who turned 41 Sunday, was elected to the Lok Sabha from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh in 2009. A section of Congress leaders too has stepped up calls that he should become prime minister.

Cable cars may ease traffic

2011-05-25T22:45:00.003-07:00

Shillong, May 26 : The Meghalaya government plans to introduce metro cable cars as an alternate public transport, to ease traffic congestion in the city.

Leading Edge Adventurers and Airparks Private Limited made a presentation in this regard before chief minister Mukul Sangma today. “Considering the problem of traffic congestion in the city and in the outskirts, we suggest the government explores alternative means of transport like metro cable system,” said Satish Pathania, managing director, Leading Edge Adventurers and Airparks Private Limited, Delhi.

Pathania said the company had successfully installed metro cable car systems in Venezuela and elsewhere.

The company has already signed a memorandum of understanding with the Nagaland government last year to start cable cars in Kohima for 9.8km at the cost of around Rs 388 crore.

Pathania said the cable cars, which run on electricity, would be eco-friendly. Moreover, it will also attract tourists. The chief minister after the presentation said congestion in Shillong, Jowai and Tura could be reduced if the state adopts this alternate means of public transport.

“We don’t want the people who visit the state to get discouraged by the perennial traffic congestion in parts of the city and its outskirts,” Sangma said.

“We will examine the option put forward by Leading Edge Adventurers and if we are satisfied we will ask them to submit a feasibility study before finalising the project,” Sangma said.

The chief minister said the project would be executed on a private-public partnership with the co-ordination of the transport department. The chief minister also said he had already ordered an inquiry into the incident of traffic congestion along NH 40 in the first week of May. Chief secretary W.M.S. Pariat had been asked to assign the inquiry to a principal secretary.

Foreign delegation: Ambassador of Czech Republic Miloslav Stasek and ambassador of Republic of Bulgaria Borislav Kostov, called on the chief minister to assist in tapping potential in agriculture and education sectors in Meghalaya. Sangma said the delegation, which also includes Israel, wants to associate with other northeastern states to provide expertise in certain fields including agriculture.

Cyclone aid

Sangma today promised aid to the cyclone-affected villages of West Garo Hills.

Two major cyclones over the past few days have wreaked havoc, damaging houses, crops and orchards. The people of Dalu and Selsella are the worst affected. The cyclone also disrupted power supply.

“I had a discussion with the deputy commissioner of West Garo Hills. Preliminary steps have already been taken to provide relief to the affected families,” Sangma said.

Sonia to decide Mukul’s fate

2011-05-25T22:45:00.001-07:00

Shillong, May 26 : AICC president Sonia Gandhi will have the last word on the leadership tussle in Meghalaya which has derailed governance for over two months now.

From her 10 Janpath residence, Sonia Gandhi is expected to come out with an official statement within this week, which will put to rest the leadership row within the Congress Legislature Party here.

“I have had a word with Dhaniram Shandil, AICC secretary in-charge of Meghalaya. According to him, an official statement would be issued this week by the party high command on the leadership issue,” Union minister of state for water resources and minority affairs, Vincent H. Pala, told reporters here today.

The statement from the Shillong Lok Sabha MP assumes significance in the wake of the government machinery getting derailed because of the dissension within the Congress.

For nearly two months now, Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma has not been able to convene a cabinet meeting.

Some of Sangma’s cabinet colleagues have been camping in New Delhi along with other dissident legislators to seek his removal from the chief minister’s office.

Others, who are backing the chief minister, have been staying in the national capital to ensure that the Congress high command does not replace him with any other leader.

Since March, around 18 Congress legislators have been asking for Sangma’s removal and are demanding to replace him with former chief minister and veteran leader D.D. Lapang.

The division was not only confined to the legislature wing of the Congress. Even PCC chief Friday Lyngdoh and working president Deborah C. Marak had a spat during a recent news conference when they uttered contradictory statements on Sangma’s fate.

Lyngdoh had said Sangma would stay on as the chief minister. However, Marak differed when she said a CLP meeting would decide the matter. Marak later had to retract saying Lyngdoh’s statement “reflected the official position” of the Meghalaya PCC.

The state Congress has also convened a meeting of its executive committee on June 1 here to discuss the “problems” within the party. The current leadership imbroglio is also expected to figure at the meeting.

Pala said he along with other MPs had approached Prime Minister Manmohan Singh thrice to highlight the problem of downsizing of ministries.

Meghalaya can have only 12 ministers, which is inclusive of the chief minister, in the cabinet ever since downsizing of ministries became mandatory in June 2004.

According to Pala, the mandatory downsizing of ministries was responsible for the several political upheavals in the state. “We need to have at least 18 or 20 ministers. That way, we can stem instability to a great extent,” he said.

The Union minister of state also favoured Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi’s demand to increase the number of ministerial berths.

Youth Cong's good show in assembly elections

2011-05-16T02:38:00.001-07:00

Aurangzeb Naqshbandi

New Delhi, May 16 : It was almost a clean sweep for Rahul Gandhi's Youth Congress in Assam in the just-concluded assembly elections with five out of its six candidates winning with a comfortable margin. The winners included state Youth Congress president Pijus Hazarika who defeated sitting All India United Democratic F
ront (AIUDF) legislator Guneswar Das from Raha and his predecessor Rekibuddin Ahmed who defeated former Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) minister Kamala Kalita from Chaygaon.

The performance was also better in West Bengal where four out of the seven Youth Congress and National Students Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Congress party, candidates emerged victorious.

The Youth Congress also managed to wrest two seats - Katulpur and Para - from the Left Front held continuously for about 34 years since 1977. Its candidates fought a tough battle in Kerala and won six seats.

Most of the seats given to the Youth Congress were traditional bastions of the Left Democratic Front (LDF). Four of its candidates contested against veteran LDF ministers.

But Tamil Nadu presented a different scenario as the 'Amma wave' that brought the ADMK to power also resulted in the defeat of all the ten candidates belonging to these frontal organisations of the Congress.

On its part, the parent party - Congress - disagreed with contentions that Gandhi's team failed to perform in the assembly polls.

"Any election needs to be analysed in wider perspective. It is not correct to give any such hasty analysis of elections," party spokesman Manish Tewari said.

Cong relieved over Kerala; emphatic on Assam, WB

2011-05-14T07:08:00.005-07:00

Sahim Salim in New Delhi

Most senior leaders were not present at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi on the day of the outcome of poll results in five states. The leaders present at the headquarters stayed glued to television sets throughout the day, analysing results.

As definite trends emerged of a Congress lead in certain states, bouquets of flowers were seen distributed within the office.

When rediff.com went to meet All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge for Kerala , Madhusudan Mistry, he was following the developments of the poll results in Kerala on TV. He switched between Malayalam channels, even though he does not understand the language.

"I just read the numbers," he said.

Though the majority is minimal, Mistry said that a 'majority is a majority.'

"It is a pre-poll alliance and the United Democratic Front will form government. In this case, there at least is a majority. There have been minority governments as well," Mistry said.

When asked whether he expected such a close call, Mistry said, "Frankly speaking, no. We were expecting more than 80 seats at least."

When asked what he thought was the reason for such a close fight, Mistry said, "We will have to analyse the behaviour of the constituencies to understand that. It is too early to say anything. I had expected the UDF to win without much of a problem. We will definitely study what happened, both at the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee level and the district levels."

Most of the leaders arriving at the Congress headquarters seemed confident of forming the government in Kerala.

"We are not much bothered as we are confident of people voting for the alliance," a leader, who did not wish to be named, said outside the headquarters.

Before the results had come out, Congress leader Ved Prakash had told rediff.com, "We are confident of forming government in all five states. For the third consecutive time, Tarun Gogoi will come into power. People in Assam want stability."

When asked if the 2G scandal had any effect on the people's confidence in the alliance in Tamil Nadu, Prakash had said, "Yes, the 2G scandal has clearly affected the DMK. It remains to be seen what the final outcome will be. In Kerala, it is neck to neck and the Congress alliance has the edge."

Talking about Mamta Bannerjee's landslide victory in West Bengal , Congress MP RC Khuntia said that he congratulated her with all his heart.

Allaying fears that the Trinamool Congress would ignore the Congress once they come into power, Khuntia said, "See, there are no two opinions about who is going to be the CM in Bengal. Congress's main aim was to end the CPI-M rule, which has not contributed towards any development in the state in the past 34 years. We are happy at being a part of the alliance."

Rahul pledges support to farmers in Greater Noida

2011-05-11T09:13:00.000-07:00

AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi during his dharna in support of farmers at Bhatta Parsaul in Greater Noida on Wednesday.

Greater Noida, May 11, 2011 : Taking on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday joined the land war in Greater Noida, pledging full support to farmers fighting against acquisition and promising not to desert them till their demands are met.

Sneaking into Batta Parsaul village, the epicentre of the agitation in Western Uttar Pradesh, in the wee hours riding pillion on a motorcycle, he sat with the agitating farmers throughout the day in scorching heat to empathise with their cause.

“I feel ashamed to call myself Indian after seeing what has happened here. The (State) government here has unleashed atrocities on its own people,” the Congress general secretary told the farmers.
Even as he sat on a dharna, a war of words erupted, with BJP terming it as a “drama” and wanting to know why the UPA government was still not acting on his earlier promise of bringing Land Acquisition Bill in Parliament.

The Congress, on its part, said it was keen to get on early passage of the bill in Parliament.
Mr. Gandhi, who sat with the farmers for over 12 hours, said he associated with them as they were demanding their “right” and there was “nothing wrong” in it.

“I want to tell you that I am with you till your demands are met. Till your work is not done, the Congress party will not desert you,” he said to a thunderous applause from the gathering which shouted slogans hailing him.

He said an official had told him that the agitation was like “naxalism” but he had found that the farmers were peacefully making their demands.

Mr. Gandhi demanded a judicial inquiry into the exchange of fire on Saturday last between farmers and police in which two farmers and two policemen were killed.

Earlier, after reaching the village at 4 am along with party colleague Digvijay Singh, he heard the farmers and had tea with them. He also visited various hamlets.

SDM Vishal Singh met Mr. Gandhi and asked him to end the dharna in view of the potential security risk to him in the area. Vishal Singh also expressed inability to provide security as he had come without intimation.

But the young Congress leader told the official that unless their demands are met he will not leave the village.

The demands also included release of detained farmers.

Digvijay Singh said till a judicial inquiry submitted a report no action should be taken against the farmers in respect of FIRs lodged against them. He also demanded that all arrested farmers be released and that there should not be any forcible land acquisition.

Meghalaya Congress president meets Sonia

2011-05-10T07:01:00.001-07:00

Shillong, May 10 (PTI) Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee president Friday Lyngdoh today met AICC President Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi and apprised her of the rumblings in the party in the state.

Lyngdoh handed over to Gandhi the replies to showcause notices served on five dissident Congress MLAs who want chief minister Mukut Mithi to go and had abstained from a review meeting of the UPA's flagship programmes in the state held under the chairmanship of two AICC observers Dhaniram Shandil and Sanjay Bapna last month, party sources said. Lyngdoh also submitted his comments on the showcause replies and a 'confidential report' on the political situation in the state, they said.

The five Congress MLAs, who were slapped with the show-cause notices, are detractors of Chief Minister Mukul Sangma and camping in New Delhi to pressurize the AICC for a change in leadership.

They were asked the reasons for their absence in the review meetings held last month at Williamnagar and Tura in Garo hills. Lyngdoh had earlier said their action was against the party's interest and it was tantamount to showing disregard for the AICC leaders.

After meeting Gandhi, Lyngdoh also had a meeting with the rebel Congress MLAs camping in New Delhi this noon. There has been no official word from Congress on the developments so far.

Cong suspends Suresh Kalmadi over CWG scam

2011-04-25T10:13:00.001-07:00

New Delhi: The Congress on Monday suspended former CWG Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi following his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the Commonwealth Games Time Scoring Equipment scam.
Two other senior officials of the Organising Committee - Surjeet Lal and ASV Prasad - have also been arrested in the Time Scoring scam.
The CBI has also summoned India representatives of Swiss Omega Gem International on Tuesday. They are also likely to be arrested.

The CBI claimed that the contract was given by wrongfully restricting and eliminating competition from other suppliers in pre-mediated manner.
Sources said that the CBI has also got crucial leads in the Time Scoring Equipment scam against Kalmadi. According to sources, the CBI has got the video recordings of an Organising Committee meet in New Delhi where Kalamdi and his associate, VK Verma, announced the awarding of Time Scoring Equipment contract to a Swiss company.
Although the Congress had already distanced itself from Kalmadi but the party didn't suspend him as a member of the party till the arrest was made.
Kalmadi, who is an MP from Pune in Maharshstra, could also be sacked as Indian Olympic Association President.
Sports Minister Ajay Maken said that his ministry would write to the IOA asking them to remove Kalmadi and elect a new President as it is embarrassing for the country that the IOA chief has been arrested.
Earlier, Kalmadi was sacked on January 24, 2011 as Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Chairman following allegations of his involvement in Commonwealth Games corruption cases.
Till now seven people including Kalmadi have been arrested in connection with the Commonwealth Games scam. The others who have been arrested include Verma, Lalit Bhanot, Sanjay Mohindroo, M Jayachandran, TS Darbai and Kalmadi's personal assistant Shekhar Deorukhkar.

Cong grabs Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation

2011-04-22T01:34:00.000-07:00

This was Gandhinagar civic body’s first poll; BJP gets 15 seats, Congress gets 18; G’nagar became a municipal corporation in March 2010 on a high court directive

Ahmedabad: In a setback to chief minister Narendra Modi, the Congress gave itself a major boost by wining the first-ever elections to Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation on Thursday. The victory for the Congress came on the eve of the 180th birth anniversary of BJP-controlled Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC).
The ruling BJP in the state looked all set to capture the civic body in the state capital, but a dramatic turn of events saw the opposition party winning the polls. In the end, the Congress won 18 seats, while the saffron party won the remaining 15 seats in the 33-seat newly formed civic body. With this win, the Congress gets to rule two corporations -- Gandhinagr and Junagadh. The other six -- Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar -- are with the BJP.
The counting of votes began at 9:00 am at Government Secondary School in Sector 16 of Gandhinagar amid tight security to decide the fate of the 11 candidates who had contested in the elections to 33 seats of 11 wards.
The BJP established an early lead by surging ahead in most of the seats. Within some time, the BJP had won four seats, with the Congress bagging a single seat. The BJP continued to lead, but the Congress stayed in the contest. The BJP tally rose to 15 -- just two seats away from the majority -- while the Congress was stuck in single digits.
However, in a dramatic turn of events, the Congress came back strongly to take its tally to 15. The poll outcome could have gone either side as both parties were tied with 15 seats each, and only the results of ward no. 4 remaining.

Much to the disbelief of the BJP, and to the elation of the Congress, the Grand Old Party won all three seats of ward no 4 to win the GMC elections. The BJP workers were left dejected by the shocking turnaround and the loss, while Congress workers organised a march to celebrate the victory. According to State Election Commission, the Congress won all three seats in ward nos 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8.
It also two seats in ward no 7 and one seat in ward no 9. The BJP panels swept ward nos 1, 5, 10 and 11. The party also won one seat in ward no 7 and two seats in ward no 9. The Nationalist Congress Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, MahaGujarat Janata Party and the independents failed to win any seat.
Gandhinagar Congress president Vikramsinh Khachr lost in the polls, while BJP rebel Pravin Patel, who contested under the Congress banner after being denied a ticket by BJP, won. Ashwin Vyas, a reporter with a Saurashtra daily, also won. Elated by the result, former deputy CM and Congress leader Narhari Amin said that people had voted against the BJP and Narendra Modi.
GPCC president Arjun Modhwadia said: "The BJP had put cabinet ministers, builders and businessmen in booths to monitor and manage voting. But they were scared to begin with. This is Congress's first political victory against the BJP but third victory on principles and issues like jantri revision."
Gujarat BJP spokesperson IK Jadeja said that BJP would play the role of a constructive opposition in Gandhinagar and contribute to the capital's development. Elections to Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation were held on April 19.

I am working to improve a rotten system: Rahul Gandhi

2011-04-19T01:21:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: The very day Anna Hazare broke his fast, Rahul Gandhi wrote that though he was concerned about corruption ``like most right thinking Indian people'', he was working quietly on that problem as he had ``absolutely no interest'' in becoming a hero.

The provocation was a sharply-worded letter he had received the same day, April 9, from former Supreme Court judge V R Krishna Iyer asking, "Why should the Hazare phenomenon occur at all? Only because so many evils and no action from Delhi!."

In his response to Iyer, Rahul said: "Like most right thinking Indian people I feel exactly the way you do. I spend a lot of my waking hours thinking and working to improve what I see as a rotten system. The difference is that I cannot get away simply with writing letters and complaining as you can. I am faced with the reality of changing things which requires much more than the periodic release of emotion.''

If Rahul took such pains to convey his commitment to combating corruption, it is because Iyer had accused him of indifference as well as presumptuousness: ``If you are sensitive about the people's needs and aspirations, you must attack the big corrupt persons in power. Why are you silent? You are a young man and can rise to be a great nationalist, (but) not by ambitiously aspiring to be Prime Minister because you are of the Nehru family. That would be anti-democratic and oligarchic.''

The Gandhi scion also reacted sarcastically to the left-leaning jurist's suggestion that he could become a hero if he took up the challenge of turning India into ``an egalitarian society, a Gandhian India, a Nehruvian India, NOT nuclear India. Please be great so that the people may have a better tomorrow.''

Rahul's response: ``As far as becoming a hero is concerned, unfortunately that is of absolutely no interest to me. I work because I believe in working to improve a system that is rotten and not to be glorified.''

But he accepted 95-year-old Iyer's counsel that he must read Jawaharlal Nehru's autobiography to understand socialism and patriotism. ``Thank you for your very impassioned and well meaning advice. I appreciate it. I have read JN's autobiography. I will do so again as you suggest.''

In this exchange on corruption and related issues, Rahul was however silent on Iyer's criticism of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Iyer had written, ``Your Prime Minister has become known for inaction. He does not touch the former CJI K G Balakrishnan or any other corrupt VIP. When public power is vested in anyone for the purpose of giving clean governance to the country, to be silent and inactive is breach of trust.''

It seems significant that while conveying his shared concerns, Rahul did not clarify whether his agreement with Iyer extended to his criticism of the Prime Minister as well.

Justice Iyer apologises for attack on Rahul Gandhi

2011-04-18T06:50:00.000-07:00

Former Supreme Court judge Justice V R Krishna Iyer, who had launched a scathing attack on Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, on Monday sent an apology letter to him.
"Forgive me if I have been bitter in my letter to you. I am too old (97) and critical of parties like Communist Party of India Marxist and the Congress for governmental delinquencies," Iyer wrote.
Iyer's comments came in the wake of a letter written by Gandhi to the former judge, in response to his first letter, urging the Congress leader to take steps to tackle corruption.

Iyer had criticised Rahul Gandhi, saying the Gandhi scion lacked ideology and that he was not a socialist by conviction.
He further said that people flock to his rallies just to see him and not to listen to his speeches.
"He has nothing new to say to this country. He is not a socialist by conviction. He has no ideology at all. When he goes to the villages, people come to see him out of curiosity," Iyer added.
Image: Rahul Gandhi at an election rally in West Bengal

Responding to Iyer's letter, Gandhi had said, "Like most right thinking Indian people, I feel exactly the same way as you do. I spend a lot of my waking hours thinking and working to improve what I see as a rotten system."
"The difference is that I cannot get away simply with writing letters and complaining as you can. I am faced with the reality of changing things which requires much more than periodic release of emotion," he added.
Justice Iyer was a Supreme Court judge between 1973 and 1980.
In 1989, in cooperation with like-minded social activists, he had founded a forum named Independent Initiative to monitor polls, a task that was appreciated by several countries around the world.
Image: Former Supreme Court judge V R Krishna Iyer

'Cong willing for post-poll alliance in Assam'

2011-04-12T00:32:00.001-07:00

Guwahati: The ruling Congress in Assam on Monday said that it is open to a post-poll alliance with any like minded party and the next chief minister will be decided by the party high command.

"Congress has no pre-poll alliance and we fought alone for all the 126 assembly constituencies. But we are open to post-poll alliance with any like minded party," Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president, Bhubaneswar Kalita told reporters in Guwahati on Monday.

Kalita refused to name any particular party but said "if Congress wins the poll, alliance with like minded parties is possible."

Replying to a question about his reported differences with Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi as he was projected in a section of the local media as the next chief minister, Kalita denied any rift between them.

"Gogoi is still the chief minister and who will be the next chief minister will be decided by the high command. There is no difference between Rajib Bhavan (party headquarter) and Dispur (secretariat)," he said.

Thanking the people who came in large numbers to vote, Kalita said the high turnout and huge attendance to party rallies during the campaigning indicated that Congress would come to power for the third consecutive term.

"Rallies in remote and even hilly areas have been largely attended which shows the popularity of Congress and the policies of the government," he said.

The huge participation of women and youths in the election process and during voting is a positive sign and proved that the democratic process is becoming stronger, he said.

Mahesh Bhatt campaigns for Congress in Assam

2011-04-03T10:07:00.001-07:00

Guwahati, Apr 3 (PTI) Noted film director Mahesh Bhatt today jumped into the Assam poll campaign and appealed to the minorities to put their weight behind the Congress.

"Because of its history and its human resources the Congress has the depth and base to solve the problems of the minorities problems of the 21st century suited to a particular state," asserted Bhatt talking to the media here.
On allegations about the Congress using the minority community as a vote bank, he said, "Congress president Sonia Gandhi has fought for the welfare of the minorities. When Sonia is in the helm of affairs of the Congress, she will do something for the minorities."
"I support the core idea of Congress and not what it has failed to keep. The UPA government constituted the Sachar Committee and is stepping up community welfare measures," Bhatt added.
Reminded that he had earlier campaigned in Assam for the NCP and AUDF but now for the Congress, Bhatt said, "I have decided to put my weight behind a political party whose core idea to keep the nation going is something I support. I endorse the ideology".

Assam Polls: Will Congress get a second chance?

2011-04-01T21:52:00.000-07:00

By Sujit Chakraborty

Guwahati: With the first phase of assembly elections in Assam slated for April 4, and the second phase on April 11, it appears that the ruling Congress is all set to stage a comeback under the leadership of Tarun Kumar Gogoi.

A fragmented opposition, major developmental activities including launching of many pro-poor welfare schemes and the restoration of peace and communal harmony by bringing almost all the underground groups into the mainstream for dialogue are some of the main highlights of it campaign. Which is why, the mandate is likely to go in favour of the ruling government.

The division of United Liberated Front of Asom and the return of majority ULFA leaders led by its chairman Arabindo Rajkhowa, has given a major boost to the peace campaign and a great relief to the people at large who are now confident that a breakthrough on Assam's three decades old insurgency problem is achievable.

Prashanta Baruah, executive editor of The Assam Tribune, told rediff.com, "The restoration of peace has certainly made a positive impact on the people of Assam, particularly to those who have lost their kith and kin in the last decades due to violence and killing unleashed by ULFA."

"This apart, the ruling government has earned goodwill of the people for its pro-people policies and programmes. In fact, the Congress was in a better position before the announcement of the list of its candidates. Factional bickering has now surfaced in many constituencies which may mar its prospects in certain assembly segments. But overall the Congress still has an edge over its opponents," he said.

ULFA hardliners led by Paresh Baruah has given a 12-hour Assam bandh call on Saturday to protest against the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's visit to the state. The PM is scheduled to address a few election rallies during his whirlwind Assam tour. The people of Assam have apparently disapproved this bandh call, as the Baruah faction of ULFA is working overtime to create hurdle to the process of peace talks.

Noted Assamese writer Nirupama Buragohain said, "What sovereignty is the Baruah faction talking about? Assam has always been a part and parcel of India and we will remain with India."

Randhir, a businessman, expressed the hope that if this government returns to power, Assam will probably witness a lasting solution to its insurgency problem. "The extortion drive by insurgent outfits have been reduced drastically and it is a good sign," he said.

But it is not a cakewalk for the ruling Congress in all the 126 assembly constituencies in the state. Besides simmering discontent over the selection of candidates, the party is also facing a tough challenge in at least 10 constituencies from the Asom United Democratic Front.

Similarly, the Bodoland People's Front which was a coalition partner in the outgoing assembly is also contesting in all the 10 assembly seats fallen within the Bodoland territory. Significantly, the Congress has also put up candidates in all the seats describing the decision as a 'friendly contest.'

Then, there are two formidable opposition parties, the regional Asom Gana Parishad and the national opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party who are relentlessly campaigning on the corruption in the state and at the Centre, easy entry and settlement of foreign nationals (read Bangladeshi) in Assam during the Congress regime and the lack of overall development leading to the hardship of common people.

But despite the opposition's attempt to campaign on corruption, influx of foreigners and lack of development in the state, local issues are dominating the electioneering. Now it remains to be seen how the electorate express their mind on the day of reckoning.

No compromise on Assam security: Sonia

2011-04-01T21:48:00.000-07:00

Congress President Sonia Gandhi waves at an election campaign rally in Golaghat on Friday ahead of assembly polls in Assam.
Karimganj (Assam), Apr 2 : Rubbishes charge that her party encourages influx of foreigners
The Congress will not compromise on the security and integrity of Assam and the country, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi asserted on Friday and rubbished the accusation that her party encouraged influx of foreigners.
“The Congress has often been accused of encouraging influx, but this is not the truth. The Congress has never compromised on the security of Assam and the country and will never do so in the future,” she said referring to influx of foreigners from neighbouring Bangladesh.
“It is the Congress government in Assam that took up the issue of updating the National Register of Citizens with March 21, 1971 as the cut-off date,” she told an election rally at Neelam Bazaar in Karimganj district bordering Bangladesh.
Attacks AGP, BJP
Hitting out at the AGP and the BJP, the Congress president said: “You have already seen what the AGP in the State and the NDA at the Centre have done. The State was in an all-round mess 10 years ago when the AGP was in power with even government employees not getting their salaries and people not being able to go out of their homes due to the poor law and order. The situation was very bad. But now there is a sea change.”
“You have given them [the AGP and the BJP] a strong reply in the last 10 years and the Tarun Gogoi-led government has laid the foundation for development here. Now we have to build on that foundation,” she said.
Citing WikiLeaks disclosures, she accused the BJP of indulging in “opportunistic politics” and asked how people could believe that party.
Right to Education
Ms. Gandhi asserted that the UPA government had laid special emphasis on education by implementing the Right to Education Act whereby each child below 14 years would be provided free and compulsory education, while mid-day meal schemes were introduced in government schools. The State government had already given computers to children who secured the first division in the matriculation examination and cycles to girl students of Class VIII.
It was proposed to set up the Barak Valley Engineering College and a polytechnic institute in Karimganj.
Minorities
Ms. Gandhi reached out to the minorities saying that it was during the UPA-I government that a separate Ministry for Minorities was set up to for the first time to ensure their development.
A food security scheme had also been implemented.
The UPA government had sanctioned a broad gauge railway line from Silchar to Guwahati and double-laning of national highways.
Health insurance
Addressing another rally in the tea tribe-dominated Khumtai constituency, Ms. Gandhi said national health insurance being provided to the below poverty line people was extended to tea garden workers. A special tea garden package had been given to Assam for reopening of sick gardens, she said.

Sonia slams rivals for 'remembering' Assam only for polls

2011-04-01T08:02:00.000-07:00

Guwahati, Apr 1 : Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday slammed rival political parties, alleging that they awake to Assam's problems and needs only during election time.

Claiming that the Congress reversed Assam’s fortunes for the better during its past 10 year rule in the state, Gandhi said Congress was the only party that could ensure sustained development.

“Assam had voted for Congress 10 years ago when the law and order situation were at its worst. But the situation has reversed today. I request the people of Assam to continue giving the Congress the privilege of serving them,” Gandhi said, addressing an election rally at Karimganj.

Reiterating the Congress’ commitment to development of the state, she said special thrust was being laid on education for the growth of the people.

The Congress chief promised of an engineering college and a polytechnic institute in Karimganj if the party retains power.

She also mentioned about the Right to Education Act, mid-day meal scheme and special scholarships for meritous students of poorer section of society as other Central government initiatives in its focus on education.

Promising of boosting the communication system in the state, Gandhi said the Congress was pursuing the matters of railway gauge conversion and four-laning of national highway on a priority basis.

Emphasizing the need for the special schemes for the sections of people left out from mainstream development, Gandhi pointed to several such schemes being implemented for minority welfare and women empowerment, among others.

In an apparent reference to BJP leader Arun Jaitley’s ‘opportunistic Hindutva’ remarks as revealed in WikiLeaks cable, Gandhi said, “As evident from the WikiLeaks cable, this people are merely looking for opportunities for their own ends. The general public can never put their trust on such people.”

“The people here are very intelligent. They will not fall into the trap of these leaders who remember Assam only during elections,” she added.

Gandhi also addressed rallies at Khumtai and Bokajan, which go to the polls in the first phase on April 4, along with north Karimganj.

The Congress chief is expected to return to the state for campaigning for the second phase, slated on April 11.

Rahul Gandhi to accompany PM in his Mohali venture

2011-03-29T23:34:00.001-07:00

Sheela Bhatt

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has invited Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi to join him to watch the much awaited World Cup semi final between India and Pakistan, and also to join in a special dinner organised in honour of visiting Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday night.

In few hours from now, PM Singh and Rahul Gandhi would fly together to Mohali to cheer up the Indian team.

This shows that the Gandhis and Congress party is giving a thumbs-up to PM Singh's 'cricket diplomacy' and his endeavour to stabilise relationship with Pakistan.

Rahul Gandhi, a known fitness freak, had suffered a sprain in his right leg during his vacation in Karnataka . The plaster has been removed recently, but his leg is not fully healed.

Rahul keeps track of cricket but he is more into scuba-diving and shooting. However, his friends vouch that he is, like his father Rajiv Gandhi , a sports-minded person and an athlete.

So far, he has kept himself away from actively getting involved with sports associations which have become powerful bodies and hyper battleground for politics.

During the Commonwealth Games , he was seen in wrestling, hockey and few other competitions. He has also visited few matches of the Indian Premier League last season. Rahul Gandhi had seen the first one-day international match between India-Pakistan in Karachi on March 13, 2004.

Today, watch out for the high-level political play when Rahul Gandhi accompanies PM Singh in cricket and diplomacy in Mohali.

Cong leader's son got Rs 4.5 cr bribe from Balwa?

2011-03-26T08:35:00.000-07:00

Mumbai: Dynamix Realty, a subsidiary of D B Realty, which has come under the probe agencies' scanner in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, had deposited Rs 4.5 crore in the bank account of the son of Congress MLA Kripashankar Singh, facing a court case for allegedly amassing huge illegal wealth.

According to bank documents annexed to a PIL filed in Bombay High Court against the MLA, the statement of Samata Sahakari Bank account in the names of his son Narendra Mohan Singh and daughter-in-law Ankita, showed four deposits made by Dynamix Reality, totalling Rs 4.5 crore during 2008-2009.
The first deposit of Rs 50 lakh was made on August 23, 2008, in the joint bank account of Narendra and Ankita. The second entry of Rs 2 crore was made on January 1, 2009 in Narendra's account, while the third and the fourth deposits of Rs one crore each (also in account of Narendra) were made on February 10 and 27, 2009 respectively.
A statement by the depositor, meanwhile, said, "Dynamix Realty had given a loan to Mr Narendra Mohan Singh which has been repaid to the company on March 12, 2010".
The Bombay High Court had on March 3 come down heavily on state Anti-corruption Bureau, Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate for not sharing information among themselves and asked the agencies to probe the source of transactions reflected in the bank accounts of Kripashankar Singh and his relatives.
The court noted "When the petition contains serious allegations about inaction on the part of respondents in not taking any action against Kripashankar and his kins and the specific details of bank accounts provided by petitioner, we find it difficult to accept that enquiries cannot be completed in the matter in spite of passage of nine months".
The court said, "For instance, in para 9, petitioner has given specific details of bank accounts and mentioned that there were several deposits amounting to Rs 3.3 crores and more than Rs 30 crores were also deposited in the concerned bank accounts. The total turnover in the said account over a period of two years was about Rs 60 crores. The bank statements are not disputed by Singh and others".
The PIL, filed by Sanjay Tiwari, a social worker, has also alleged that Kripashankar, a former state minister and currently the Mumbai Pradesh Congress Chief was close to former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, allegedly involved in a multi-crore hawala scam. It also alleged that a lot of transactions took place between the two. ED, however, has said it had not found any links between Koda and Singh.
Meanwhile, reacting to the allegations Singh said his son had business transactions with (Vinod) Goenka, (chairman of DB Realty) but denied any wrongdoing.
"He (Singh's son) recieved the amount in cheque and paid (back) in cheque. There is nothing objectionable in the transaction," the Congress leader told PTI.
"An amount of Rs three crore was received from Dynamix Realty through two cheques and was meant for business purpose as recorded in books of accounts and my IT returns," Singh's son Narendra Mohan Singh said.
"As the business transactions did not materialise the amount was refunded in March last year. The refund reflected in books of accounts," Narendra said in a statement.
DB Realty's Managing Director Shahid Balwa is under the lens of investigative agencies for his alleged role in the 2G spectrum allocation scam and resigned from the board of directors of the company after his arrest.

Cong paid MPs to vote for N-deal: WikiLeaks

2011-03-16T21:40:00.000-07:00

New Delhi: The WikiLeaks India cables have produced some more explosive details. The latest one is on the controversial voting on the 2008 Indo-US civil nuclear deal.
WikiLeaks says five days before the first United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of Manmohan Singh faced a crucial vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha on the deal, Congress leader Satish Sharma's aide Nachiketa Kapur showed a US Embassy employee two chests containing cash.
The aide said that he was part of a bigger fund of Rs 50 to 60 crore that the Congress had assembled to purchase the support of MPs for the nuclear deal.
He also claimed that four MPs belonging to Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal had already been paid Rs 10 crore each, to ensure they voted the right way in the Lok Sabha.
The WikiLeaks cable accessed by 'The Hindu' was sent to the US State Department on July 17, 2008. In the cable, US Charge d'Affaires Steven White described Satish Sharma as "a close associate of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi considered to be a very close family friend of Sonia Gandhi."
Satish Sharma, while interacting with a US diplomat reportedly told him that he and the others in the party were working hard to ensure the UPA government won the vote of confidence on July 22.
Apparently, Nachiketa Kapur mentioned to a US Embassy aide that money was not an issue at all, but the crucial thing was to ensure that the MPs voted the right way.
However, Ajit Singh who didn't vote for the UPA during the trust vote has slammed the expose.
"I have three and not four MPs so the facts in WikiLeaks are wrong. I had decided a long time back to go along with the Left, and not to vote for the UPA. So the question of negotiating with money doesn't arise. There was no question of influence on me to change my stand," said Singh.
There is embarrassment in store for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) too. Satish Sharma also said that he was exploring the possibility of trying to get former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's son-in-law Ranjan Bhattacharya to speak to BJP representatives to try to and divide the BJP ranks.
Three MPs - Ashok Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Singh Bhagora - belonging to the BJP had on July 22, 2008 stunned the nation by brandishing wads of cash in the Lok Sabha shortly before the Manmohan Singh government was to face the trust vote.
The trio had accused former Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi's Political Secretary Ahmad Patel of offering them bribes to abstain during the trust vote.
The Manmohan Singh government won the vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha with 275 MPs voting in favour of the UPA and 256 against it.

Congress bets on experience for Assam polls

2011-03-14T22:19:00.001-07:00

Guwahati, March 15 : The Congress party, which is fighting the 2011 assembly polls alone in the state amidst anti-incumbency factor, has reposed faith on experienced warriors as the party has given tickets to most of its sitting MLAs.

In the just finalised candidate list for 118 constituencies, 50 out of 54 sitting MLAs have been re-nominated by the party.

Chief minister Tarun Gogoi has been re-nominated from Titabar constituency, whereas Congress heavyweight and incumbent health minister Himanata Biswa Sarma will contest the Jalukbari constituency. Son of former chief minister Hiteswar Saikia, Debabrata Saikia, has been fielded from Nazira and wife of former Union minister Santosh Kumar Deb has been replaced by her daughter, Sushmita Deb, in Silchar constituency.

Owing to internal infighting, candidates for 8 constituencies – Guwahati (West), Tezpur, Haflong, Goalpara (West), Sarbhog, Tinkhong, Gohpur and Jamunamukh – have not yet been finalised. In the 118 candidates’ list, the party has given tickets to 19 women candidates and 20 youth.

With pre-poll alliance with coalition partner Bodoland Peoples’ Front (BPF) having failed, Congress will be going out all alone in the polls. The party has finalised to contest all the 12 seats in Bodoland Territorial Administered Districts (BTAD) against BPF and the latter will also follow suit by contesting few seats outside its turf, including in Guwahati. In the last assembly election in 2006, BPF had won 11 out of 12 seats in BTAD.

Assam goes for polls on April 4 and April 11.

Cong seeks more than 100 seats in West Bengal

2011-03-11T00:11:00.001-08:00

Kolkata: In the run-up to the Assembly elections in West Bengal, the Congress has decided to ask its state ally Trinamool for 100 to 120 seats of the total 294 seats.

However, sources say that Trinamool Congress chief Mamta Banerjee is ready to give not more than 60 seats.

The state congress leaders will meet congress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi to defend their demand for at least one third of the total 294 seats on Thursday. They claim that on the basis of its performance in the Bengal panchayat polls, they are justified to ask for that many seats.

In the 2009 Lok Sabha election, Trinamool had won 19 seats and Congress six. The party had also registered impressive gains in the statewide civic polls.

However, West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Manas Bhuniya demanded that Trinamool should concede at least 98 seats to Congress based on a 1:2 alliance formula, which was adopted during the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

The seat-sharing for the 2009 poll was clinched on Mamata Banerjee's terms when Trinamool Congress contested 27 seats and Congress 14 while Trinamool's another ally Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) fought in one.

Congress screening panel for Assam meets

2011-03-10T22:50:00.001-08:00

New Delhi, March 11 (IANS) The Congress Thursday held a meeting of its screening panel for Assam to decide party candidates for the forthcoming assembly polls in the state.
Party sources said that the meeting was attended by Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who heads the screening panel, along with party general secretaries Digvijay Singh and Oscar Fernades.

They said state Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and Congress unit president Bhubaneswar Kalita also attended the meeting along with some party MPs. The sources said that screening committee members heard views of MPs about the seats in their segments.

The screening committee will consider recommendations sent by the state unit and send names approved by it to the party's central election committee (CEC) which will make the final selection.

The sources said that CEC is expected to meet March 12.

The two-phased poll in Assam is scheduled April 4 and 11.

Assam Congress list by March 13

2011-03-10T04:33:00.001-08:00

Guwahati: The list of Congress candidates for the ensuing assembly polls in Assam is expected to be declared by March 13, AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh said on Wednesday.

He made it clear that those who have been convicted in criminal cases will not be given ticket.

"The two-day screening committee meeting will be held in New Delhi from Thursday and the list can be expected by March 13," Singh told reporters here after attending the election committee meeting at party headquarters, Rajiv Bhavan.

Singh, who is in-charge of the party in the state, attended the election committee meeting to shortlist names of candidates.

Denying any kind of dissidence in the party over ticket distribution, the Congress leader said those who are convicted in criminal cases will not be selected.

"Filing of charge sheet cannot be the basis for denying tickets. Conviction in criminal case will be the criteria", he said.

Congress may ask Mamata to withdraw from Assam

2011-03-10T04:30:00.000-08:00

New Delhi: The Congress leadership could tell Mamata Banerjee that her party should not put up candidates in Assam where the Congress is making a bid for coming back to power for the third time.

After making the DMK blink in Tamil Nadu, the Congress had signalled that Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress in poll-bound West Bengal was a different cup of tea altogether.

"Coalition is about compulsions... about the ability of both sides to accommodate each other... You have to be cognisant of the fact that you have to be flexible to get the alliance to work," was the refrain of party spokesman Manish Tewari at the AICC briefing prior to Trinamool’s offer of 58 seats.

Tewari's response came to a host of questions including whether the Congress would "follow the Tamil Nadu model" in West Bengal during seat sharing with Trinamool Congress, the major party in that state.

Responding to a query about replicating the Tamil Nadu model, the Congress spokesman recited Ghalib's couplet suggesting that if wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.

His response was significant as came at a time when a section of the state leaders were advocating the need for "friendly fights" in some constituencies taking the plea that Trinamool was giving less winnable seats to the Congress.

Steering clear of questions about 'friendly fights,' Tewari said that it is the desire of every political party to expand its base. "It is not proper to say anything at this moment when the situation has not crystallized."

Reports said that after tasting blood in Tamil Nadu, the Congress wanted to contest 100 of the 294 Assembly seats in West Bengal. But the Trinamool Congress may be willing to part with a mere 58, if there is an electoral pact between the two parties.

The Congress is expected to begin formal seat-sharing talks with the Trinamool led by the Railway Minister within a week. Elections in West Bengal will take place from April 18 to May 10 in six phases.

Congress sources said state leaders had suggested that the party should seek around 100 seats so that it does not end up becoming an 'also ran' in West Bengal.

Several District Congress Presidents had told the AICC that if Mamata's party refused to give one-third seats, then the party should explore the option of going it alone.

Party MP Deepa Dasmunsi was in the forefront of the demand to extract a better deal from Mamata.

A section of the Congress is saying that this is the best chance to make it big in West Bengal amid political forecasts that the Left Front, which has ruled the state since 1977, could be on its way out.

Cong election plan hits tribal hurdle in Assam

2011-03-06T02:18:00.000-08:00

GUWAHATI: Over 20 lakh tribal voters in Assam are likely to go against the ruling Congress in the April 4 and 11 elections. On Saturday, the All Assam Tribal Sangha appealed to the tribal voters to unite and uproot the Congress government "for robbing the tribals of their rights in the state".

Accusing the state government of neglecting the tribals' demand for reservation in government jobs, the Sangha threatened to oppose all Congress candidates fighting the coming elections.

"Though the chief minister has pledged us to have job reservation for us in the government sector in November 2010, he has betrayed us by appointing 15,643 contractual teachers in January without any reservation for the ST category candidates," said Aditya Khaglari, general secretary of the Sangha. It may be mentioned that the tribal organization has filed a writ petition in the Gauhati High Court. Following this, the court put a stay on the appointment of all contractual teachers.

Congress leader Arjun Singh passes away

2011-03-04T06:36:00.001-08:00

New Delhi: Veteran Congress leader and former Union Minister Arjun Singh, who had served in various capacities including as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, died today. He was 81.

Admitted to the AIIMS some days ago with chest pain and neuro problems, Singh complained of breathing problem around 1730 hours. He suffered a heart attack and breathed his last around 1815 hours, sources said.

A loyalist of the Gandhi family, Singh was Vice President of the Congress under Rajiv Gandhi in the eighties and was also Governor of Punjab at the height of militancy and was instrumental in the Rajiv-Longowal accord.

Incidentally, Singh was today dropped from the party's highest policy making body Congress Working Committeee today and was made a Permanent Invitee.

Singh leaves wife Saroj Devi, two sons--Ajay Singh, an MLA in Madhya Pradesh and Abhimanyu--and daughter Veena.

Daunting task ahead for Congress

2011-03-02T00:56:00.001-08:00

Smita Gupta

Sonia asks her Tamil Nadu party colleagues to demand more seats

Party centres its campaign around development issue in Kerala

New Delhi: The ruling Congress, which heads the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre, is hoping that the Assembly elections in West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry – dates for which were announced here on Tuesday – will provide it with the opportunity to get on firmer political ground nationally.

In West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, it is driving a hard bargain with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (DMK) respectively, even though it is the junior partner in both States: its goal is to work towards regaining lost ground in regions from which it had all but disappeared.

In these two States, the Congress wants to establish the idea of power-sharing before the elections with its poll partners – in Tamil Nadu, it has even suggested a coordination committee and a common minimum programme, party sources stressed. In Tamil Nadu, where the Congress wants 75 to 80 seats, the DMK's first offer has been 53, but after a meeting between the State's Congress leaders and national president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday, the latter has asked her party colleagues to keep up the pressure for a larger chunk of seats.

Bright prospect

The Congress is expecting to wrest West Bengal and Kerala from the Left Front, in partnership with the TMC in the first, and at the head of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in the latter. In West Bengal, the signs have been there for a while, starting with the opposition to the Left Front's attempts to acquire land in Singur and Nandigram for industry taking on a life of its own. Since then, the Left Front has been in steady decline, electorally, whether in local polls or in last year's Lok Sabha elections. The TMC-Congress combine is hoping to end 34 years of Left rule.

In Kerala, the case is different: traditionally, the UDF and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) have been alternating, and the Congress hopes it will be able to oust the LDF which is in power. The Congress is centering its campaign around the development issue, stressing the fact that even though it has not been in power in the State for the last five years, it has given major Centrally sponsored development projects to all of Kerala's districts.

In Assam and Puducherry, where the Congress is in power, the going will be tougher. But party sources say they stand a good chance of retaining power. In Assam, the Tarun Gogoi government is relying on the fact that the Opposition remains divided: the Asom Gana Parishad appears to have struck an alliance with the Muslim-dominated Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF), which precludes its tying up with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). If the Opposition remains divided, the Congress, which is making development a major poll plank, could stage a return.

Indeed, the Congress is going all out in Assam: not only did Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visit the State recently, on Monday, for instance, Mr. Gogoi promised the Barak Valley a Rs.1000-crore package if the Congress wins all 15 segments of Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi.

Clearly, if the Congress can do well in these Assembly elections – where its principal opponent at the Centre, the BJP, has little stake – it will give it the boost the corruption-ravaged party badly needs to sustain itself till 2014.

Fake Twitter, Facebook accounts of Sonia, PM flood cyber space

2011-02-19T22:08:00.001-08:00

New Delhi, Feb 20 (PTI) "JPC might include ISRO and Adarsh scams. Congress has nothing to hide because what''s hidden will never be found."
This is what a tweet by "Sonia Gandhi" says. But hold your breath, this is fake.

There are several such postings one can find from sham accounts of politicians and top celebrities on popular social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
And it seems these sites have emerged as a nuisance for some top leaders, especially the Congress president and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
There are a number of accounts in both Twitter and Facebook in the name of Sonia and the prime minister whose tweets -- from their fake accounts -- are based on alleged corruptions in 2G Spectrum allocation, S-band deal, Commonwealth Games and Adarsh Society.
A posting on one of Sonia''s fake Twitter accounts says, "After careful evaluation of outcome, Congress high council has agreed for JPC. We have nothing to hide."
"JPC might include ISRO and Adarsh scams. Congress has nothing to hide because what''s hidden will never be found," says another tweet.
Another tweet from her says, "Most countries make people poor through taxes. We make people like (Suresh) Kalmadi rich. That''s what makes us so wonderful."
Similarly, a tweet from an account named after Prime Minister Singh says, "Madam ji, left can never be right ji.
Purulia can never be rae barreily ji."
Rahul Gandhi is no exception. The Congress general secretary seems to have several Twitter accounts, which have his picture and tweets about his past programmes and visits.
One of the accounts has a link to a blog named ''Action For Tribal Movement Association'' that highlights issues related to tribal population in India.
Most surprisingly, there is also twitter accounts in the name of Mahatma Gandhi and late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her father Jawaharlal Nehru.
The case with Facebook, which claims to have more than 500 million users around the world, is even worse.
The site has a dozen of accounts in the name of Sonia, Rahul, Prime Minister Singh and other top politicians and celebrities.

Row over Congress MP's alleged slur against Ramdev

2011-02-19T07:53:00.001-08:00

Itanagar, Feb 19 (PTI) Yoga guru Ramdev today alleged that he was called a 'bloody Indian' by a Congress MP from Arunchal Pradesh in public view during a yoga camp in the state, a charge denied by the lawmaker even as the incident drew condemnation from the BJP.

"He is calling me bloody Indian.... In India I am being called a bloody Indian... this has happened for the first time," Ramdev said pointing to Congress Ninong Ering, who was standing near the dais where the yoga guru was sitting during the camp at Pasighat in East Siang, about 280 kms from here.

However, the MP denied saying anything against Ramdev and claimed that he had only objected after the yoga guru levelled allegations of corruption against the Nehru-Gandhi family and the central government.

"This is very unfortunate. I never said anything against him...

Black money charge: Advani regrets hurting Sonia

2011-02-17T23:44:00.000-08:00

New Delhi: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader LK Advani has written a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi regretting his allegations that she and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi held accounts in foreign banks. Advani wrote back to Sonia after she sent a letter to the BJP leader denying the allegations.

In the letter Advani said that it would have been better if she (Sonia) had clarified on the black money issue earlier. Then the BJP task force would not have made the allegations, he wrote in the letter. Advani also regretted any hurt caused to Sonia.

A BJP task force letter written by Advani at the BJP's national executive at Guwahati had alleged that Sonia and her husband Rajiv Gandhi held foreign bank accounts.

In response, Sonia wrote a letter denying that she or any one from her family had any such accounts.

The BJP has been demanding that the names of those with money stashed abroad be made public.

However, Congress sources told CNN-IBN that Advani has not apologised to Sonia.

Cong MP says SC judge received payoffs

2011-02-16T23:04:00.001-08:00

Chennai/Thiruvananthapuram: The allegation by Congress MP from Kerala, K Sudhakaran, that a former Supreme Court judge received payoffs in a case involving liquor licences, is snowballing into a major controversy.

Ex-SC judge SR Pandian, who retired 17 years ago, denies the bribe charge

The judge has come out to deny the charges and a bar owner has not only accused Sudhakaran of brokering the payoff deal, he has also named Union Minister Vayalar Ravi as one of the recipients of the alleged kickbacks.
Justice S R Pandian, former acting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court who retired from the apex court 17 years ago, called the charges "baseless and mischievous" but admitted that he did know a person who is alleged to be his middleman.
Sudhakaran had alleged that a Supreme Court judge accepted Rs 36 lakh as a bribe in 1994 -- in two instalments of Rs 21 lakh and Rs 15 lakh -- to lift a Kerala High Court ban on 21 liquor bar licences in the state, but refused to name the judge.

Cong MP K Sudhakaran had alleged that a SC judge accepted Rs 36 lakh as a bribe in 1994

Although the MP claimed he would name the judge only in court, a hotelier from his constituency of Kannur, Jose Illikkal, went ahead and alleged that Pandian was the judge and claimed that he (the judge) operated through a middleman named Dharma Prakash.
Calling this "uncharitable" allegation "totally baseless, false and very mischievous," the retired judge told The Indian Express from his Chennai residence: "Now that the court is seized with the matter, I will wait for more information. Then I will decide what course of action is to be taken against them...I have to take action (against those who raised the charges). What kind of a person have I become in public perception? Only God will understand my agony."
"Was I the single judge in the case or was it a Division Bench hearing it? Every time, I have passed orders only on the basis of the merit of the case," he said.
He said he had not even seen Sudhakaran -- the MP claimed he was present when money changed hands -- but admitted he did know Dharma Prakash.
"His was the only hotel in Anna Nagar (where the judge resides) which I used to visit occasionally," said Pandian.

A Kerala hotelier now claims union minister Vayalar Ravi got a bribe too

Illikkal has claimed that Sudhakaran was not a mere spectator but a "real facilitator" in the deal between the bar licensees and the judge. A former partner of Geetha Bar Hotel in Kannur, Illikkal told reporters today that Sudhakaran facilitated the transfer of the payoff to the judge. Illikkal said Geetha was one of the 21 bars which got the licence from the then Congress government.
Illikkal claimed Sudhakaran got his friend Dharma Prakash -- a businessman from Chennai -- to act as the intermediary and pay Rs 26 lakh to the Supreme Court judge in two instalments of Rs 21 lakh and Rs 5 lakh. This is Rs 10 lakh lower than the Rs 36 lakh figure mentioned by the MP.
Illikkal also claimed that Vayalar Ravi, then Congress chief in Kerala and now a Union Cabinet minister, had been given Rs 10 lakh; then Chief Minister K Karunakaran Rs 10 lakh and Excise Minister Raghuchandra Bal Rs 10 lakh for securing the bar licence.
The money for Karunakaran was paid through his daughter Padmaja Venugopal, now a party leader, he alleged. CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said a case should be registered against Ravi, Padmaja and Bal based on Illikal's statements.
Opposition leader Oommen Chandy said it was not proper on the part of Vijayan to demand a probe against Ravi and other leaders based on allegations of a bar owner. When contacted, Ravi declined to comment.
Source: Indian Express

Cong sacks Rajasthan minister for comments against President

2011-02-10T00:13:00.000-08:00

Rajasthan Minister Ameen Khan, who has created a controversy by his remarks that Pratibha Patil was "rewarded" with the post of President for her loyalty to the Gandhi family, has been asked to resign.

Sources said Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot asked Khan, Minister of State for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, to put in his papers in the wake of the personal remarks made by him against the President, which he has since denied.
They said Gehlot, who is in Delhi, discussed the issue with Congress President Sonia Gandhi's Political Secretary Ahmed Patel and Union Minister Mukul Wasnik, in-charge of party affairs in Rajasthan.
The chief minister is also understood to have talked to the President and expressed regrets over the remarks made by Khan.
Addressing Congress workers in Pali district yesterday, Khan had reportedly said that Patil did not ask for any position but was made the President due to her loyalty to the Gandhi family and cited instances of her association with Indira Gandhi.

A section of the local media quoted Khan as having told party workers that Patil was so dedicated that "she used to make tea and cook food at Indira Gandhi's residence". Due to her honesty, devotion and loyalty, she is now the President, Khan said. Khan, however, has denied having said so.
The minister clarified: "I just gave an example of loyalty and did not intend to make any comment on the President. I said that she was a committed and simple worker. After observing resentment among party workers over not getting organisational posts, I said party workers should be loyal to their leader as well as the party," Khan said.
"She (Patil) was loyal to the Gandhi-Nehru family and the Congress party and served with dedication and commitment even in the days when Indira Gandhi was not in power," he said.
On his return to Jaipur from Delhi, Gehlot sought an explanation from Khan for his remark and then met Governor Shivraj Patil.
It is learnt Sonia Gandhi had taken strong exception to Amin Khan's comments that amounted to lowering the dignity of the office of the President.
Sonia is learnt to have instructed Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who met senior party leaders in New Delhi on Wednesday, to remove the minister.
Source: Indian Express

Chiranjeevi's PRP merges with Congress in Andhra Pradesh

2011-02-06T05:24:00.001-08:00

New Delhi: After much speculation and a meeting with AICC President Sonia Gandhi in the capital, Praja Rajyam Party chief Chiranjeevi announced that his party will indeed join with the Congress in Andhra Pradesh.

Congress spokesperson Veerappa Moily said the alliance will strengthen the party's influence in state in the face of opposition from dissident Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Chiranjeevi, however, said that no PRP member will join Cabinet in the AP government.
Earlier today, Praja Rajyam chief Chiranjeevi met AICC President Sonia Gandhi and held discussions on strengthening the relationship between the two parties in Andhra Pradesh. Coming in the backdrop of the agitation for a Telangana state and churnings in state Congress , the meeting is expected to discuss proposals like PRP members being inducted into Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy Government among others.
"I am here to meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. I am here at her invitation. We will hold discussions on various issues," he told reporters on his arrival here from Hyderabad.

Political analysts believe that Congress is roping in Chiranjeevi to counter the threat posed by its former MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy's yet-to-be launched party. They also feel that PRP's 18 MLAs can save the Congress government by shoring up the legislative arithmetic if there is a threat to it.
Chiranjeevi also said there is no going back on his party's stand of supporting a united Andhra Pradesh.
"Do you know what the Congress' stand is"? he shot back when a reporter asked about his party's stand on the contentious issue.
The meeting comes after Defence Minister A K Antony had met Chiranjeevi in Hyderabad recently and invited him for talks with Gandhi.
Source: India Syndicate/Agencies

Cong starts poll campaign with youth

2011-01-18T01:40:00.001-08:00

GUWAHATI: The ruling Congress seems to have kickstarted its election campaign from the Vishal Yuva Samaroh organized by Assam Pradesh Youth Congress on the Assam Engineering Institute's playground here on Monday.

Attended by chief minister Tarun Gogoi, APCC president Bhubaneshwar Kalita, health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and other ministers, the Samaroh was organized to unite and promote the youth power of Congress before the elections. The Congress even hinted to give a major share of seats to youths in the coming assembly elections.

"It's very obvious that the youngsters play an important role in shaping a society towards development with innovative and forward-looking philosophies. Even Congress is focusing on their importance in the present scenario of politics in the country. This time, there will be many new faces in the poll arena," said the chief minister.

Assam Pradesh Youth Congress spokesperson Sahidul Islam added that the youth wing is going to get 40 per cent seats in the coming elections. "We will ask 35 seats for us as part of reservation in the polls. We hope to get the numbers as the chief minister has promised us to do so," said Islam.

On the other hand, health minister and state government spokesperson Himanta Biswa Sarma accused the opposition parties of misguiding the people by bringing false allegations against him on assets. He appealed to youths of the state to vote for Congress and make this government win for the third time. APCC president Bhubaneshwar Kalita claimed that Congress would once again come to power. However, he insisted all the parties to come for an open discussion on corruption.

Apart from the Congress leaders, more than 5,000 office-bearers from various districts of Assam took part in the Samaroh.

Terrorism of all types threat to India: Rahul

2010-12-17T01:15:00.001-08:00

New Delhi, Dec 17 (PTI) Coming under attack after his reported statement that "radicalised Hindu groups" posed a bigger threat than outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Rahul Gandhi today diluted his comments saying that terrorism and communalism of all types are a threat to India.

"Rahul Gandhi's view is that terrorism and communalism of all types are a threat to India.We need to remain vigilant against acts of terrorism of all kinds no matter who commits them," AICC General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi said in a release issued on his behalf.

The statement came hours after Congress grappled with the issue of the WikiLeaks cable which claimed that Rahul Gandhi had told US Ambassador Timothy Roemer that growth of "radicalised Hindu groups" which create religious tensions in India could pose a bigger threat to the country than activities of groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Congress will fight against corruption: Digvijay

2010-12-13T22:03:00.000-08:00

Guwahati: Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Monday said that his party will fight against corruption and warned the party workers that infighting will not be tolerated.

"The party will fight against corruption and will not tolerate any kind infighting among partymen," Singh, who is election-in charge of Assam, said while addressing workers at the party office here.

Ahead of next year's Assembly polls in the state, Singh cautioned partymen not to "fight among each other".
"I am confident that if we unitedly fight the election the Congress will win," he said.
Singh also urged partymen to make public their properties, saying transparency has to be maintained.
"I was chief minister of Mandhya Pradesh for 10 years and regularly submitted details of movable and immovable assets," he said.

Singh, who came here on Monday, also held a meeting with Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to discuss the strategies for the election.

Sonia Gandhi turns 65

2010-12-09T01:36:00.000-08:00

Gandhi had declared that she would not celebrate her birthday as she does not want outstation party members to come down to Delhi especially for her birthday.

But to make the day special for Gandhi, several party leaders visited Gandhi’s residence 10 Janpath, New Delhi and greeted her on the big day.

Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Virbhadra Singh, C P Joshi and Pradesh Congress Committee chiefs and AICC office bearers were among those who personally extended birthday greetings to her.

Massive security was in place outside her 10 Janpath residence. The main entrance of her residence, which faces Akbar Road, was blocked and visitors including senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee had to walk to greet her.

Among the first callers were DMK leaders including T R Baalu and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi.

"We came here only to greet her," Kanimozhi told reporters even as DMK leaders dismissed any political motive to the visit in the wake of the controversy over the 2G spectrum allocation scam and the upcoming assembly polls in Tamil Nadu.

Partymen from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu also joined in the celebrations. They took out processions beating drums in excitement at the residence of Gandhi.

Party workers from all over the country wearing colorful t-shirts and carrying posters of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, gathered at the Congress headquarter in New Delhi.

Action against corrupt only on evidence: Congress

2010-12-07T22:26:00.001-08:00

Guwahati, Dec 8 (IANS) Congress leader Digvijay Singh Monday said ministers and party leaders involved in corruption will not be spared, but action will be taken only if there was prima facie evidence.

'We are committed to fighting corruption at all levels. If ministers or others are found involved, then action would be initiated immediately,' he told journalists from Assam in New Delhi.

'But let me tell you that action would be taken only if there is prima facie evidence and not just on allegations.'

Digvijay Singh, who was recently made the Congress in-charge of Assam, Monday met state party chief Bhubaneswar Kalita to discuss strategies for next year's assembly elections.

The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister is arriving Assam on a two-day visit.

'This time we would have the screening committee (for choosing candidates) meetings in Guwahati so that people don't have to come to Delhi,' he said.

Cong says party 'epitome of morality'

2010-11-21T01:11:00.000-08:00

New Delhi: Welcoming Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement promising action against anybody for any "wrong thing" done in the 2G spectrum allocation, Congress on Saturday claimed a high moral ground reminding that it was the UPA government which had ordered a CBI inquiry into the issue.

The party also attacked BJP over the issue of corruption daring it to take action against Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddurappa over the allegations of irregularities in allotment of land to his kin in Karnataka.
"BJP is a devotee of corruption while Congress is an epitome of morality and stands for value-based politics. Therefore, if anything emerges in the public space, which even remotely impinges on political probity, then Congress party and UPA have always acted," party spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters here.
He said the Prime Minister today reiterated "firm commitment" that "whoever is found guilty will not be spared". Tewari said it needs to recalled that it was UPA government led by Manmohan Singh which had ordered a "suo motu CBI probe" into the matter.

Breaking his silence amidst the logjam in Parliament, the Prime Minister today promised action against anybody for any "wrong thing" done in the 2G spectrum allocation.
"There should be no doubt in anybody's mind that if any wrong thing has been done by anybody, he or she will be brought to book," Singh said in his first comments on the 2G spectrum issue that has paralysed Parliament for the last two weeks.
The Congress spokesperson also dared the BJP to "take action against Yedduruppa", whom he termed as "the greatest land-grabber in the history of Karnataka". Tewari said BJP should introspect instead of "preaching morality" to everybody.
Source: Agencies

Violence will not solve any problem: Sonia Gandhi

2010-11-13T01:18:00.001-08:00

Imphal, Nov 13 : Expressing concern over the problems faced by the people in Manipur because of the menace of militancy in the region, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday said any problem could be solved only through dialogue and not violence.

Sonia Gandhi said it was now time to work together for peace and development and every section of society must get the benefits of various developmental programmes being implemented with the help of the Centre.

"Education should reach all sections of people, particularly youth and with an intention of improving education, the Centre had converted the former J N Hospital into Jawahal Lal National Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal and asked the youths to utilise these facilities to become best doctors," she added, while addressing a public meeting at the historic Kangla fort here today.

Sonia Gandhi earlier inaugurated the Khuga dam in Churachandpur district, which has been built at a cost of Rs crore. She also inaugurated the three newly constructed market complexes in Imphal.

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson laid the foundation of Indira Gandhi Tribal National University at Makhan in Senapati District during her visit to the State.

Congress axes Chavan and Kalmadi over corruption allegations

2010-11-09T07:35:00.000-08:00

Cracking the whip, Congress on Tuesday sacked Ashok Chavan as Maharashtra Chief Minister and Suresh Kalmadi as secretary of the Congress Parliamentary Party in the wake of embarrassing housing and CWG scams allegedly involving them.

The move by the Congress High Command to cut any further loss of face came just hours before the start of what is expected to be a stormy winter session of Parliament.

Congress General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi announced that Chavan has been asked by party chief Sonia Gandhi to step down.

"Pending enquiry, his (Chavan's) offer of resignation has been accepted. He has been asked to tender his resignation to Governor (K Sankaranarayanan)," he said in a brief statement.

The Maharashtra Congress Legislative Party will meet at 10 P.M in Mumbai to take a decision on Chavan's successor.

Senior Ministers Pranab Mukherjee and A K Antony will attend the meeting as central observers.

Among the front-runners for the CM's post are Union minister Prithviraj Chavan, Maharashtra Agriculture minister Balasaheb Thorat and Union minister Mukul Wasnik.

In Mumbai, Chavan pleading innocence, said he will come clean on the Adarsh scam.

"Acceptance of my resignation by Congress does not prove my guilt in the Adarsh Housing Society scam," Chavan told reporters after tendering his resignation to Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan.

"I resigned because of the Congress party's moral stand on such issues. I resigned on my own. My resignation has been accepted pending enquiry. The government is not involved in the scam," the outgoing chief minister said.

51-year-old Chavan, who became the first casualty of the housing scam in which politicians and ex-Army officials are allegedly involved, said that it was not a political set back for him.

"I am 100 per cent sure, I will come out clean on this. There are ups and downs in political life. I will continue to work as party worker," he said.

In New Delhi, Dwivedi also announced that the resignation of Kalmadi, who is in the eye of a storm following allegations of corruption in the Commonwealth Games, as Secretary of the Congress Parliamentary Party has been accepted with immediate effect.

Earlier, Kalmadi, who was blamed for the messy preparations for the October Games, was asked to resign.

He is a Lok Sabha member from Pune.

A decision on Chavan's resignation in the wake of revelations that three of his relatives owned flats in the Adarsh Housing Society was pending for the last 10 days in view of the high-profile visit of US President Barack Obama to Mumbai.

The party did not want any political disturbance in the state during his visit.

Chavan had on 30th October offered to resign during a meeting with Gandhi after it emerged that his mother-in-law and two other relatives owned flats in the housing society, which was originally meant for Kargil war heroes and widows.

Gandhi decided to remove Chavan even before Finance Minister Mukherjee and Antony, who had been asked to probe the housing scam, could submit their report.

Despite getting the axe, Chavan, who completed one year in office last Sunday, asserted he still enjoyed the confidence of the Congress President.

"She twice gave me the opportunity to become Chief Minister. I still enjoy the confidence of my leader Soniaji. I am grateful for whatever she has done for me," he said.

Speaking to reporters, Mukherjee indicated that Chavan's resignation was accepted on the basis of perception.

"I am not going to make a value judgement. It was not a regular inquiry commission. Nothing like that. We went on certain aspects. Political decisions are taken many times on perception and based on certain facts," he said.

When his comments were sought, Rahul Gandhi said the next Maharashtra Chief Minister should be a "clean" person who can "deliver".

"One who is capable and who can deliver," the Congress leader told reporters when asked how does he expect the next Maharashtra Chief Minister to be.

Shortly after Dwivedi's announcements, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that the government was willing to discuss all issues with the opposition parties and hoped that the Winter Session of Parliament will be peaceful and productive.

"Greetings to you all. We are looking forward to the session and we hope that this session will be peaceful and productive," he told reporters in Parliament House on Tuesday.

BJP-led NDA had declared that it would not allow Parliament to function till "strong action" is taken in the Adarsh Housing scam.

Kalmadi has been under pressure from opposition parties to resign as Chairman of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee after the corruption allegations erupted, but he had persistently refused to step down.

Soon after the completion of the Games last month, Congress had left Kalmadi to fend for himself declining to give a clean chit to him or others associated with organisation of the Commonwealth Games.

The party decision on the two leaders comes a week after the AICC session in New Delhi.

Congress apparently did not want any further embarrassment with Opposition parties giving notice that they would rake up all issues relating to scams in Parliament. (ST-09/11)

Sonia accepts Chavan's resignation

Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan Tuesday became the first political casualty of the Adarsh Housing Society scam in Mumbai with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi accepting him to resign.

"Pending enquiry, his (Chavan's) offer of resignation has been accepted. He has been asked to tender his resignation to Governor (KSankaranarayanan)," Congress general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi said in a brief statement.

The Congress decision came hours before the winter session of Parliament was set to commence in which the opposition had threatened to vociferously raise the issue.

51-year-old Chavan had on 30th October offered to resign during a meeting with Gandhi after it emerged that three of his relatives were members of the housing society in upmarket Colaba.

Gandhi decided to remove Chavan even before Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony could submit a report on the housing scam.

She had asked the two senior leaders to submit their report immediately after the scam before out.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony to travel to Mumbai tuesday as central observers in the wake of direction to Ashok Chavan to resign as Chief Minister.

The direction to Chavan went minutes after US President Barack Obama left India after concluding a 3-day visit. It was Chavan, who had received Obama when he landed in Mumbai on Saturday.

Sonia ‘pride of world’, Rahul "next PM"

2010-11-02T22:55:00.000-07:00

New Delhi: Ever since his appointment as Congress general secretary three years back, Rahul Gandhi has been quite vocal about the need to do away with the culture of nomination and sycophancy in the party. But no lessons seem to have been learnt, as senior party leaders competed with each other while singing the praises of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul at the AICC meeting.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son and party General Secretary Rahul Gandhi during the Meeting of AICC Members at Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Sonia was seen shaking her head in dismay as senior party leader Girija Vyas hailed her as the "pride of India, pride of the world and pride of womanhood". Vyas also quoted Rahul's remarks that whenever he meets a countryman, he sees only "Indian-ness".
Kerala PCC chief Ramesh Chennithala declared Rahul as the next premier even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh watched the proceedings silently. "(In 2014) the government will be formed for the third time under Congress leadership, and it has to be formed under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi," he said.

"Rahulji is such a person who spends nights in jhuggis and does manual labour by lifting buckets (with other labourers at a site in Rajasthan). This could be done only by the son of Rajiv and Sonia," said Delhi PCC chief JP Agrawal.
Even Meenakshi Natarajan, who has been witness to Rahul's refrain about his dislike for sycophancy, emphasised Sonia's "tyag aur balidaan".

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh greets Congress President Sonia Gandhi as she arrives at the Meeting of AICC Members at Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi on Tuesday.

The PM was more dignified in his appreciation. Saying that the Congress would play a key role in tackling Naxalism and terrorism, Singh said "it is our good fortune that to do all this we have the leadership of Soniaji".
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee also made a discreet reference to Sonia's "sacrifice", saying she had demonstrated the "highest quality of sacrifice by not occupying the highest ofice". He also mentioned how the "dynamic leadership of Rahul Gandhi" would bring "a new era of inclusive participation".
A delegate from Punjab said that only the Nehru-Gandhi family could protect the country.
The only exception to the rule was former Orissa chief minister Hemanand Biswal, who confined his speech to voicing the cause of tribals and demanding that a tribal regiment be set up to bring the youth into the mainstream.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi at the Meeting of AICC Members at Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Earlier in the meeting, the 1,200-odd newly-elected AICC members authorised Sonia to nominate the CWC members. As per the party's constitution, 12 members are "elected", while 11 are nominated by the Congress president, who, along with the PM, is an ex-officio member of the CWC.
As the proceedings began, general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said: "I would like to give a hint to you. Many PCCs have proposed to authorise the Congress president to nominate CWC members. An organisation is not run by competition, but by coordination".
All the AICC members were quick to take the hint, and raised their hands to authorise Sonia. But Rahul was not seen during this process of nomination.
In her concluding remarks, Sonia said that selecting CWC members is "not as easy as it looks" as there are always some people who get left out and complain. "Now that you have reposed faith in me, you should be ready to incur some loss. By the way, if one keeps patience in the Congress, sooner or later one's number comes," she said.
Source: The Indian Express

Sonia backs Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

2010-11-02T21:26:00.001-07:00

NEW DELHI: Sonia Gandhi has once again demonstrated her preference for left-of-centre economic policy and sought emphasis on programmes designed for rural India. At the same time, she took care not to disturb the economic paradigm pursued by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh .

In her address to the All-India Congress session, convened to complete the formalities of her re-election as party president, Ms Gandhi’s speech emphasised on the need to focus policies on ‘suffering India’. “The upward climb of the stock market and large quantum of private investment will not provide any indicator to the problems faced by our countrymen in their lives,” she said and added that tackling issues such an inflation were critical.

Although she acknowledged efforts of her government to contain price rise, Ms Gandhi said a lot more needed to be done. She also said state governments have as much responsibility in bringing down price rise as the Centre. Ms Gandhi stressed on the need for more rural-oriented schemes and said programmes such as employment guarantee schemes were showing impressive results.

She also used the occasion for stepping up her party’s attempts to regain the tribal votebank that once formed the core of its support base. The environment ministry had scrapped a mining contract awarded to Vedanta in Orissa’s Niyamgiri Hills following protests from tribals. “The concern for environment has become germane to our existence... drawing inspiration from Indira Gandhi, we have to protect our unique biodiversity,” she said.

Ms Gandhi said there was need to strike a fine balance between economic growth and the need to protect our national heritage. “A new mines and minerals act is being finalised which will secure for local people and communities a direct stake in projects in their area. A law is also on the anvil to improve the terms of resettlement and rehabilitation where they are unavoidable,” Ms Gandhi said.

On land acquisition for industry, Ms Gandhi said a new amended law will ensure that farmers get comprehensive and timely compensation for land acquired for large projects. The government is in the process of building a consensus within the ruling alliance on the matter.

Ms Gandhi indicated her party would not come in the way of the broader policies pursued by PM Ms Gandhi, who praised Mr Singh’s handling of the economy, said the policies of the government were able to generate resources necessary for developmental programmes. “Without high growth rate, MGNREGA and other big programmes would not have been possible. Nor could the loan waiver scheme for small and marginal farmers have been implemented.”

Hectic lobbying for Assam PCC chief

2010-10-18T01:01:00.000-07:00

MANOJ ANAND

Guwahati, Oct 18 : As suspense continues to prevail over the nomination of Assam Congress president, hectic lobbying has started between two camps of Assam Congress, one led by chief minister Tarun Gogoi and the other by PCC chief Bhuwneswar Kalita.
In what has also exposed the division between the party and the government in the state, chief minister Tarun Gogoi is camping in New Delhi lobbying with AICC for the nomination of Dr Bhumidhar Barman while incumbent PCC chief Kalita himself is a candidate and pressing for his third term.
Mr Kalita is at the receiving end as the Gogoi camp has been accusing him for not holding elections and authorising the party high command Sonia Gandhi to nominate the president.
If insiders are to be believed the Gogoi camp was also upset because its strategy to defeat incumbent PCC chief Bhuwneswar Kalita in election failed and detractors in the party succeeded in outsmarting them by authorising the party high command to nominate the president in which Mr Bhuwneswar Kalita is said to have a slight edge over his rivals.
This was quite visible when the chief minister went on saying that he favoured an election. “I was elected PCC chief through election. If the president is not elected through an election, the party will be finished,” he asserted at a press conference recently.
The nomination of PCC chief has become more significant as Assam is scheduled to go for general elections in six months.
The division in the party also came into focus when Union minister for mines Bijoy Krishna Handique reportedly called on Ms Gandhi on Tuesday and proposed the name of Dr Barman.
besides explaining the advantages of nominating him before the elections.
If it was not enough, the Gogoi camp is said to have motivated Muslim ministers and MLAs of the state to lodge their protest against Mr Kalita with the AICC. The Kalita camp is obviously not a sitting duck. Though, they are sounding confident to retain Mr Bhuwneswar Kalita for the third term, they are highlighting the failure of the Gogoi government, which could not get majority in its second term in 2006 elections, but retained all those ministers who were responsible for the debacle of the party.

Gandhi family's date with the Games

2010-10-11T02:45:00.001-07:00

Sonia Gandhi, accompanied by her son Rahul Gandhi and her grandchildren, had a ball of a time watching India perform at the Commonwealth Games. Sonia and Rahul were witness to India's win over Pakistan in the do-or-die hockey match that saw them through the semis where they will meet England. Also, the Gandhis saw wrestler Sushil Kumar in action. We bring you images from Major Dhyanchand National Hockey Stadium and I G Stadium in New Delhi of the Gandhi family's day out.

Sonia Gandhi puts up her hands in joy after wrestler Sushil Kumar wins mens 66kg category freestyle wrestling event of Commonwealth Games in New Delhi on Sunday.

Congress removes Abhishek Manu Singhvi

2010-10-06T06:03:00.000-07:00

Congress Party on Wednesday sacked Abhishek Manu Singhvi as its spokesperson.

Kerala Congress was upset over Singhvi representing lottery baron in High Court. Kerala Congress had approached the party high command in this regard.

The congress Party has been opposing the lottery companies in the state.

But the party found it difficult to corner the ruling Left Democratic Front in Kerala over the issue as Abhishek Manu Singhvi became representation of lottery prometers in the Kearal high Court.

Singhvi’s involvement into the matter had brought storm in the state unit. However, Congress Spokesperson on Tuesday said, “Singhvi has withdrawn his name from the case.”

He had said that the party High Command was taking action against Singhvi in this regard.

Meanwhile, unwanted controversy has cost Singhvi his post in the party. Kerala Congress unit had launched a campaign against promoters of lotteries from outside the state.

Congress 'steals' BJP online ID

2010-10-04T02:53:00.000-07:00

New Delhi: Accusing the Congress of "petty, pickpocket-like theft" of its online identity, BJP has slapped a legal notice on the ruling party, which hit back saying the saffron party was trying to politicise what can be a "technological problem".

BJP claimed Congress has surreptitiously created a portal with a similar domain name to divert users to the AICC website. BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters on Sunday that the legal notice was served on the Congress on September 27, but there had been no official response.
She said a website www.Bjp.com had come to its notice recently and when the site was opened, it diverted the user to the AICC website automatically.
When contacted, Congress spokesperson Shakil Ahmed said,"I dont know the exact facts about the website. But if it is true, there could be some technological problems. It is unfortunate that BJP is trying to politicise a technological problem."
Sitharaman said,"BJP sent a legal notice to the Congress on a matter of petty theft...A theft so low...Of its political rivals identity. A pickpocket-like theft. But the ruling party has not yet responded to it officially."
Political parties, when they registered as websites, do so in the .Org format as they are not commercial institutions.
"Political parties do not register under .Com because commercial establishments usually have .Com websites. But some time back bjp.Com has been created by some...We do not know who," she said.

Since the website was "masked" and linked itself to the Congress website, it was important for the BJP to know who was behind it and hence the legal notice to the ruling party, she added.
Sitharaman said the bjp.Com website's owner details were provided as Bharat Journals and Publications and some telephone numbers in the US had been provided. When contacted, the US phones were connected to answering machines, with nobody responding to the calls.
"The Bharatiya Janata Party is popularly called and is known as BJP the world over. "It is a very funny and an odd thing. If Bharat Journals and Publications was to run the bjp.Com website they should do it openly and in a transparent way. Why are they then linking the website to the Congress website? It is clearly an attempt to thieve BJPs identity," she added.
A lot of people the world over tried to reach BJP through its website and "this is an attempt to divert that traffic towards the Congress party. It is a clear pickpocket...A very low, petty attempt by the ruling party to take away the benefits of our identity," the BJP spokesperson said.
Source: PTI

Education, infrastructure as important as Ayodhya verdict: Rahul Gandhi

2010-09-23T21:50:00.001-07:00

Silchar (Assam), Sep.24 (ANI): In a reference to the expected court verdict on the Babri Masjid title case in Ayodhya, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that the issue has its relevance in certain parts of Indian society, but added that there were other issues of fundamental importance as well.

He said that in a democracy there are people for whom such decisions are important. But, in a democracy, unfortunately, one has to listen to people's views and that separates us from a dictatorship.

Interacting with students at the Assam Central University at Silchar today, Gandhi said: "You know, there are people in this country for whom those kind of decisions are important. They have a perspective and a view on that. My personal view is that there are many many fundamental things that are much more important like infrastructure, the kind of education we provide our youngsters, like the type of technology they use. Many, many things are important. But in a democracy, unfortunately, you have to listen to people's views. And if people feel that is the big issue, that's what happens. That's the difference between us and a dictatorship. And I very much value the idea that we are a democracy." (ANI)

Rahul visits Assam on Thursday

2010-09-22T04:02:00.000-07:00

AICC General Secretary, Rahul Gandhi will pay a one-day visit to Assam on Thursday to interact with the students of the IIT in Guwahati and Assam Central University at Silchar.

Gandhi would arrive at 10.30 am at Silchar and fly by a chopper to the university campus, NSUI sources said. He would interact for about an hour with 250 students of the university and 12 other local colleges before flying to Guwahati, the sources said.
From the airport in Guwahati, he would go by helicopter to the IIT in northern part of the capital at around 2.30 pm.

He would be taken by road to the airport for the flight back to Delhi, the sources said.

Organisers NSUI so far has no information about Rahul Gandhi meeting the Press or media be allowed to cover the interactive sessions at both the elite educational institutions.

The NSG has already arrived at both the venues besides state civil and police officials to ensure security arrangements for Gandhi, official sources said.

NSUI President Hiddi Eden would accompany Rahul.

Cong has no convictions: PM’s adviser

2010-09-21T01:56:00.000-07:00

New Delhi: During a discussion at a book-release function in Delhi's Nehru Memorial Museum and Library on Monday, Harish Khare, the Prime Minister's media adviser, articulated an unprecedented critique of the Congress.

The Congress, Khare said, is "by nature, chaal, charitra, essentially a status-quoist party. It does not believe in any conviction. (Its) only conviction is to win elections. That is its only conviction".
This is the first time that Khare, a former journalist, has publicly criticised the party that leads the government that employs him.

Khare was speaking as the discussant after AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh released JNU professor Sudha Pai's book, Developmental State and the Dalit Question in Madhya Pradesh: Congress Response. Digvijaya said that as chief minister of Madhya Pradesh for 10 years, he had followed the "politics of conviction", as opposed to the "politics of consensus".
Khare said that the argument for social change has to be made "in a larger frame of political respectability. Not (in the context of a) politics which rewards cynicism, family nepotism, bogus factionalism, groupism in the party, yet expects the larger body of citizens to make sacrifices". You will end up with "cronyism, crony capitalism, defeated initiatives", he said.

Khare began his intervention quoting Harold Lasswell's definition of politics as 'who gets what, when and how', and added, "at whose expense".
Attempt at social transformation will come to naught, he said, without a political strategy in place to deal with the inevitable conflict and resistance it provokes. And the attempt is doomed to fail, argued Khare, because "you can't change the Congress", still the country's largest party, to which "all good things and bad things in the country can be traced".

Only "enlightened leadership" from above is not enough, said Khare, in the absence of the creation of a "commensurate political constituency for change". He gave three examples of such a failure of Congress governments of the past: Indira Gandhi in 1971, Madhavsinh Solanki despite his astute 'KHAM' strategy in Gujarat in the 1980s, and Digvijaya Singh in Madhya Pradesh in 2003.
Digvijaya's initiatives on land redistribution to Dalits and Scheduled Tribes did not succeed in MP, said Khare, "because the party was not with him" -- it only "tolerated his politics of conviction" and therefore "he did not have the political space."
The Madhya Pradesh Congress, Khare said, is "a far cry from good politics", and his "supposed mentor Arjun Singh", who "was fighting the prime minister" at the time, was making "conflicting demands" on him (Digvijaya).

This is why the Bhopal Declaration which was part of a politics that "set the cat among the pigeons" was soon reduced to a "personal initiative of a leader" which had "very little traction in Madhya Pradesh. No local linkages, no local support structure". To implement it, Digvijaya Singh had to "bypass the party and rely on the bureaucracy", Khare said.
Digvijaya's experience in MP, Khare said, has "lessons for all of us": "Unless a political leadership is willing to totally overhaul existing administrative structures, no meaningful social transformation is possible," he said.
For Khare, the Congress's failure is also embedded in its larger framework of social alliances. The rhetoric in 1969-71, for instance, when the Congress was also "tinkering with legislation" in the face of "opposition from big business, party bosses" was followed by the inability to live up to the "architecture of expectations" it had aroused after it won the elections. Because "you (the Congress) had not chosen your allies... Then the urge for political consolidation and consensus. You try to have every camel in your tent and it becomes messy inside the tent -- a dilemma that the Congress has not sorted out".

Responding to the discussion later, Digvijaya Singh admitted, "I did not involve the party in land reform." He had seen Congress workers in such a situation earlier "go into collection mode", he said, "collecting money in exchange of (land) pattas".
Digvijaya said he disagreed with Khare's description of the Congress party as obstinately "status-quoist". But he admitted that "unfortunately, the party has not been able to keep pace with changes happening in the cow belt".
Source: Indian Express

Poor should get benefits of land acquisition: Rahul

2010-09-16T02:29:00.001-07:00

Kolkata, Sep 16 (IANS) Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Thursday said the benefits of land acquisition should go to the poor, adding that the differences with the Trinamool Congress on a proposed legislation was only on how much land the government should acquire.
'I have soft corner for all the Indians. But there are some Indians who don't share the same benefits as other Indians do. Among them you can include tribals, Dalits and poor people of India,' Gandhi said at a media conference here.
'I favour all those who don't get the benefits. What we want is that the benefits of land acquisition should also go to the poor,' he asserted on the concluding day of his three-day trip to West Bengal to revive the party ahead of next year's assembly polls.
He favoured the Haryana model of land acquisition. 'Haryana has a policy, which is quite a powerful policy, where all the people share the benefits.'
Gandhi had earlier met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over demands of farmers from Uttar Pradesh concerning acquisition of their land by the Mayawati government for an expressway and townships along it.
'We can't allow the transfer of land from poor to rich, without the benefits also going to the poor,' he said.
'You need to acquire land for development work such as roads, infrastructure and development but we should be fair to the poor. Then the poor people will respond to it as in Haryana,' he added.
Referring to the land acquisition amendment bill which has been held up following resistance from Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, Gandhi said the differences were not related to the entire legislation.
'It is not true that she is opposing all the sections of the land acquisition bill. The difference is limited to only one point, that is how much land the government will acquire,' he said.
'Will that be 70 percent, 80 percent or 90 percent - that is where the difference is. Otherwise the general view is the same,' he added.
Referring to his support to tribals protesting against the acquisition of land for aluminium mining in Niyamgiri of Orissa, Gandhi said: 'What was happening was illegal. Corporate bigwigs had taken land from the tribals forcibly, without even bothering to ask them. Signatures of the panchayats were needed, but that too was not taken.'
'It was illegal, wrong and criminal,' he added.
Gandhi also lashed out at the Mayawati government for taking land from farmers at cheap rates. 'Land was being taken at Rs.400 per metre and was being sold to rich people at Rs.1000 a metre,' he said.

Sonia concerned over high dropout rate in village schools

2010-09-08T01:42:00.000-07:00

National Advisory Council Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday voiced concern over the high dropout rate and the absence of teachers from schools in villages.

Sonia noted that "one fourth of the teachers" in the village schools remain absent and said the dropout rate, particularly amongst the minority and poor were high.

Speaking at a function after inaugurating 31 Navodaya Vidyalayas in various parts of the country, Gandhi said, "Everyone has a right to education and it was not limited to a few".

She said the Right to Education Bill would address all issues pertaining to education in the country.

"The UPA government under Manmohan Singh is giving scholarships...Awareness about these has to be spread," she said, hoping that the Right to Education Bill will be able to achieve this.

In her speech, Gandhi, who is also the Chairperson of the UPA, recalled that the concept of Navodaya Vidyalays was introduced by the late Rajiv Gandhi.

"I can say that the students studying here are on the right track. Rajiv Gandhi was concerned about the poor, backward and their children. He felt that the country would not progress till their upliftment," she said in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Gandhi said that due to the former Prime Minister's vision, 600 Navodaya schools have been set up and more than two lakh students study in them.

"They get good education and it also helps development of their personality," she said, adding that the education provided in these schools is on par with the best schools.

She, however, said that the resolve should be to work in a better way and also for a better educational system.

"Children should be given such education which helps them keep pace with the modern changes and developments," she said, wondering why other government schools cannot be on par with these (Navodayas) schools.

At present, there are over 550 such schools in rural areas across the country providing free education.
Speaking on the occasion, Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said that it was the dream of dream of Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to educate children from backward areas of the countries.
UPA government aims to provide Navodaya Vidyalayas to all the districts of the country, Sibal added.

Sonia set for successive fourth term as Congress president

2010-09-03T21:44:00.000-07:00

New Delhi (IANS) - Sonia Gandhi, already the longest serving incumbent, was Thursday set for a successive fourth term as Congress president with 55 valid sets of nomination papers filed in her favour by party leaders. No other candidate is in the fray.

Gandhi, 63, assumed office as party president in 1998.

Chairperson of the party's Central Election Authority (CEA) Oscar Fernandes said that 56 sets of papers were filed for Gandhi's election, of which one from Chandigarh was found invalid as it had signatures of nine Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates instead of the mandatory 10.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed the first set of papers, which also had the signatures of union ministers and Congress general secretaries. The second set was signed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and the third by party treasurer Motilal Vora, along with party general secretary Rahul Gandhi and other office-bearers.

Rahul Gandhi broke off his three-day trip in his Amethi constituency to take part in his mother's nomination-filing process.

Nominations were also filed by various states, with Uttar Pradesh leading with four sets.

Chief ministers of Congress-ruled states and several union ministers were among those who visited Gandhi's 10 Janpath residence to get her assent on the nomination papers.

The others included Rural Development Minister C.P. Joshi, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Minister of State for Telecommunications Sachin Pilot and Minister of State for External Affairs
Preneet Kaur.

The chief ministers of Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra, Manipur and Rajasthan came along with leaders of their states to support Gandhi's candidature.

Former union minister Arjun Singh and former Kerala chief minister K. Karunakaran also appended their signatures to the papers submitted at the party headquarters here for Gandhi's re-election.

The formal declaration of Gandhi's re-election will be made Friday.

Fernandes rejected the Bharatiya Janata Party's suggestion that Sonia Gandhi should not contest again as she had completed more than two terms in office and the Congress constitution does not recommend more than two successive terms to state Congress chiefs.

"The clause of two terms is not applicable to the Congress president. It is the decision of the Congress workers. If the BJP wants to dictate what our constitution should be, may be there will be others who will say what the BJP constitution should be," he said.

Party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said it was for the party to decide who its president should be and for how long. "We do not discuss about other parties. Why four times? She could be party president 40 times if the party wants. This is democracy. Nehurji was prime minister for 17 years while Indira Gandhi was prime minister for almost 15 years. Some people could not complete their terms in office," he said.

Fernandes said that with the deceleration of the election results, the working committee will get dissolved. "The party will have a steering committee till the plenary session, where one of the items will be election of the working committee," he said.

CEA officials said that after the declaration of the result Friday, Gandhi will be president-elect till the party's plenary, the dates of which are yet to be decided.

Waiting for Rahul?

2010-09-03T21:43:00.001-07:00

By Kuldip Nayar

Dongria Kondh tribals walk in front of Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi, center wearing white, in the Niyamgiri Hills near Lanjigarh, in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, Thursday, Aug. 26, 2010. - Photo by AP.

Some 80,000 farmers protested near Parliament House in New Delhi last week against the paltry compensation paid by the government for the land it took over in “public interest”. An 1847 act empowers the state to acquire land in dire eventuality.
The UP government has taken over hundreds of acres to build an express Yamuna corridor for industry. True, the state is paying more or less the market price, as enjoined by a Supreme Court ruling. But the farmers’ contention is that the land is their only asset and if taken away, they are left with only cash which does not provide a living.

Is invoking ‘public interest’ for industrialists justified? Essentially, it raises the old question: how far can land or natural resources be appropriated in the name of development?

A similar situation forced the government to dilute the scheme of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ). Large tracts were acquired “in public interest” and passed on to big industrial or business houses which would put up a factory on a small tract of land and use the rest, hundreds of acres, to establish hotel and entertainment facilities. There was so much protest that the government had to leave it to the buyer and seller to decide. Now that there is pressure on the UP government — one farmer is on a fast unto death — it can consider applying the same formula.

Therefore, the amendment to the Land Acquisition Act was a foregone conclusion. Unfortunately, politics has devalued such an altruistic step. Rising star Rahul Gandhi announced his opposition to the act while addressing the farmers’ rally. The government has promised to follow his advice.

This is not the first time that the government has allowed him to take the credit. Only a few days ago he succeeded in having a project wound up in Orissa where the tribals were up in arms over the installation of a factory next to a mine-mound they worshipped. The centre is probably right in rejecting the project on environmental grounds. But must it seem to be done at the behest of Rahul Gandhi? Politics is very much there because the tribals, once the vote bank of the ruling Congress party, have left it. His address to them in Orissa that he was their “sepoy at Delhi” is sheer propaganda for the Congress which has appointed him the secretary general. It is conceded that development may need to step on the toes of environment or natural resources. But such decisions are rarely explained to the public in detail. There are many instances where a party in power for sheer graft has tilted a particular decision. So long as there is no transparency, government action would be seen with suspicion.

At least the farmers in Punjab have a grievance. On reports of rotting food grains, the Supreme Court appointed commissioners to ascertain the fact. They have reported that as much as 50,000 metric tonnes (MT) of grain have already gone bad. They dubbed the negligence by officials as genocidal and recommended that responsibility and accountability be fixed at the highest level.

They also warned that this is just a third of the wheat lying in the open since 2008-09 in Punjab, and the entire lot could have become unfit for consumption as the Food Corporation of India norms allow grain to be exposed to nature for only a year. In Haryana too, 31.574 MT of grain have been lying in the open since 2008-09.

The rice grown in Punjab last year has not yet been picked up; godowns are packed to capacity. The new crop is still to arrive. Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, ordered by the Supreme Court to distribute for free the rice which is lying in the open, dilly-dallied before the court snubbed him. Pawar’s heart is more in cricket than in his ministry — a sensitive person would have resigned long ago.

The mishandling of food grain is only one example. The shame of the Commonwealth Games is another. The government doesn’t seem to be doing anything competently, reflecting some kind of panic in the ruling party. Elections are three and a half years away. No doubt, the party has lost some ground because of its ridiculous stand on the nuclear energy bill.

Yet no viable opposition is emerging. The communists, reduced from 60 to 16 in the Lok Sabha, look like losing even their citadel, West Bengal, in the state election next year. The Bharatiya Janata Party is not gaining either. It will soon be in the midst of the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi controversy — the court judgment is due this month.

In fact, this is an ideal time for the Congress to rise above politics and take decisions that have long been pending. For example, the draconian laws which have shrunk space for democracy need to be withdrawn, particularly the Armed Forces Act which gives security forces the right to kill without accountability.

The 10-year-old agitation in Manipur would end if the 52-year-old act was withdrawn. Even otherwise, the democratic face of the polity has become deformed by giving the armed forces the power to kill on suspicion. The very name of the act evokes anger in Kashmir and in the north-east.

Still, the government continues to make mistakes. It has decided to enumerate castes for the census which started in the beginning of the year. The Manmohan Singh government has undone the work of decades that Jawaharlal Nehru and his successors had put in to efface the curse of caste from Indian body politic. Caste was the British government’s innovation to create dissensions in the country.

One would have expected Prime Minister Singh or the powerful Congress president Sonia Gandhi to take control of the situation. But it is Rahul Gandhi coming to the people’s rescue. Rahul Gandhi is being projected by the ruling Congress as the next prime minister. How will the country run till then?

The writer is a senior journalist based in Delhi.

Is Rahul ready?

2010-09-01T22:14:00.000-07:00

Samar Halarnkar

So, what do we know about Rahul Gandhi? We know he's 40, the same age his father Rajiv was when he became Prime Minister of India. We know he's an alumni of Modern School, New Delhi; Doon School, Dehradun; Rollins College (B.A.), Florida; and Trinity College (M.Phil in
development studies), Cambridge (in Britain). We know he was an average student.

We know he went by a name he will never use again, Raul Vinci, when he worked three years at a global management company in Cambridge (in America).

We know that since he became an MP six years ago, he has moved slowly, gradually easing into being general secretary of India's grand old party.

We know he is “as his dogged reorganisation of the Congress grassroots shows” imbued with decidedly unIndian political traits of setting goals and attention to detail and execution.

We know he's rather personable and routinely winds up atop those tiresome lists of ‘men you would like to date', though we don't know whether, as the rumours go, he really has a six-pack.

All this is pretty common knowledge, but it isn't enough if this young man stakes his claim to take charge of our collective destinies on a day that may rapidly be approaching. Much as I abhor dynastic politics, large swathes of India embrace it, as our past and present indicate. The latest poll on the issue, conducted by India Today last month, showed that 29 per cent of India wants Rahul to be our next prime minister (at second place, 11 per cent, the incapacitated Atal Bihari
Vajpayee).

Polls and the people they poll are notoriously fickle, but they are indicators of the moment. The mood of the moment is Rahul.

So, what else should you know about him?

You should know he listens a lot. Though no one whom he's brainstormed with is willing to be identified, I gather that his political interests centre on tribal affairs, panchayati raj (local self-governance) and their links to the growing Maoist insurgency. Earlier this year, he quietly slipped into the Indian Rural Management Institute (IRMA), Anand, Gujarat, and spent a day listening to presentations on panchayati raj and the insurgency.

You should know that he wins over people quickly. One expert I spoke to recently was leery of the Gandhi family's dynastic politics, explaining how it clashed with the local self-governance ideals Rahul and his mother Sonia were trying to promote. As I was talking to him in Delhi, a call came from 12 Tughlak Lane. Would the professor please spend an hour with Rahul later that day? The chat went on for nearly three hours and after it the professor said: "Well, I must tell you, he seems really sincere and knows a great deal about the subject." He would rather I not mention the subject.

You should know that Rahul is not the politically naïve Gandhi he's often made out to be. There was no greater evidence than his I-am-your-soldier-in-Delhi speech to the tribals of Orissa's Niyamgiri Hills, two days after confidant and Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh denied a mining lease on tribal land and struck down the expansion of Vedanta Resources' aluminium refinery. Though it's a good thing for India's long-abused tribals, forests and the laws that govern them, there is a political design to Ramesh's environmental crackdown. To determine if Rahul's politics are not self-serving, we must now see if this crackdown widens into Congress-ruled states.

You should know that Rahul stays away from anything that might mar his widening appeal. This is why he flew to Leh during the devastating mudslide, but stayed away from the troubled Valley to its south. In these days of Kashmiri trauma and anger, a Rahul visit to a couple of Srinagar hospitals, some time with families of dead teenagers would have had an impact. Before the current intifada, two young Kashmiri men came to Delhi in response to his call for a few good men. It's another matter that the two men were picked up by the police for being Kashmiri, and are probably throwing stones now.

So, after a prime minister who shepherded an era of — and talked about little other than — economic growth (now at 8.8 per cent), we may get a leader who may focus on those left behind. In a selfish nation devoid of empathy for its poor and damned, this is welcome. But India is equally a young, entrepreneurial country with superpower dreams. It also requires clear political signposts, to roads allowed or forbidden, hammered into the ground by the man who would be king. Rahul and his mother's pro-poor proclivities are causing contradictions in the government because what they are thinking is not being articulated.

Rahul's carefully crafted air of inaccessibility could backfire. This is not the India of Indira, or Rajiv. There are still a few million who cannot identify their prime minister "even, incredibly, their own states" and so might vote in any Gandhi. But this is a nation whose politics are increasingly determined by a revolution of relentlessly rising expectations. These expectations require quick, clear, articulate expressions of governance, which the government isn't presently delivering. Rahul's silence makes it worse. One 60-plus Congress minister said to me: "Brother, why you, many of us do not know what he thinks about many things."For a nation sworn to a democratic destiny, that isn't good enough.

Congress redefines colour of terrorism: Black, not Saffron

2010-08-27T23:27:00.000-07:00

New Delhi: In an apparent balancing act, the Congress today appeared to distance itself from the "saffron terrorism" remarks of Home Minister P Chidambaram, saying terror has no colour. With BJP and Shiv Sena seeking to rake up a controversy over the minister's remarks in a conference of DGPs on Wednesday, Congress General Secretary and media department chief Janardan Dwivedi told reporters the controversy has erupted because of a word.

"As far as saffron or bhagwa or kesariya (other words for saffron) it was not an issue. The issue was terrorism. Terrorism does not have colour. Terrorism has only one colour and it is black." "Whether you call it saffron, green, white or red, can you associate terrorism with one colour?" he asked.
Dwivedi said: "Terrorism is terrorism and it should be opposed in whatever form it comes. The saffron colour has been part of our ancient tradition and is associated with our freedom struggle. No particular section of society has sole right on it." Probably worried that Hindutva outfits could exploit the words "saffron terror", he said no section could appropriate the saffron colour.
Earlier, despite being isolated in the Rajya Sabha on the 'saffron terror' issue, the BJP continued to target Home Minister P Chidambaram for his remarks and asked him not to link religion with terrorism.
BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy told reporters outside Parliament that terror should not be linked with any religion and that it was most unfortunate that the Home Minister of the country kept making such statements. He said the Home Minister was generalising the issue of terror to brand a community.

BJP today found itself isolated in the Upper House in its protest against Chidambaram's statement on rise in 'saffron terrorism', with Left and other opposition parties joining hands with Congress to target the main opposition.
When the House re-assembled at Zero Hour after two adjournments on the same issue, Brinda Karat (CPI-M) contested Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley's remark that he represents a large section of the House in speaking against
Chidambaram's views about saffron terror. "He is certainly not (representing the whole House)," she said in the Rajya Sabha adding that Jaitley could have spoken on behalf of his party. Karat told reporters outside the House that this was not a question of semantics.

The issue was about groups claiming to be functioning in the name of Hindutva or using the word Hindu or Hindutva in describing themselves were accused of committing acts of terror, including bomb blasts at masjids, she said. "When the Leader of the Opposition (in Rajya Sabha) makes a statement, surely the nation can expect that he should condemn those acts and say he condemn those operating in the name of Hindutva as they have nothing to do about that religion.
"Instead of saying that to defend it and making it a matter of semantics is not a symbol of nationalism," the Left leader added. LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan asked the government to take strict action against groups involved in terror activities and said the RSS was the fountainhead of such outfits. He also criticised the security agencies for rushing to implicate youths from the Muslim community whenever a terror attack took place and asked them show restraint.
Source: The Indian Express

Eco sensitive: Jairam has come at the right time for Congress

2010-08-27T23:06:00.001-07:00

People are sipping tea and munching delicious little biscuits just before a talk on wildlife conservation begins in a not so-swank seminar hall in Delhi. Animated discussions between people gathered in small sets of familiarity create a beehive buzz in the atmosphere. In one group of six, a question is thrown up for friendly sparring.

"So, is Jairam really that good, eh? What do you say? Don't you think he has made a difference?" It's more a statement, but the person - a conservationist used to the power corridors of Delhi - posits it like a question. "He has turned the ministry around. " "It's not just him;environmental consciousness has risen in India."

"It's really not just him. Sonia Gandhi is backing these ideas. He alone couldn't have taken on these big guns. The party has to back him. Do you think Manmohan is with him or against him?" "But you need a solid person there to get it done, you know. He has made enemies out of so many of his colleagues."

"The good thing is he takes advice from experts." "But will he do something lasting, you think? What if he gets promoted in a cabinet reshuffle, then are we back to the good old days?" "Nahin yaar, things can't be the same anymore. Environment is on the political agenda now." The conversation, as all conversations over a quick cup of tea go, has quickly sorted issues and slotted people, leaving little room for the grey, before the buzz tapers off and people are ushered in for the talk.

Environment is on the political agenda now. The phrase is stuck in my head. I put a disclaimer in my mind though: environmentalists come in varied hues. Most of those in conversation are familiar props of the Delhi durbar.

Is environment as a concern embedded in the political agenda of UPA 2 or has environment become a legitimate tool in the hands of the political class to play its daily games? Then again, whose environmental concerns are we talking about?

Jairam Ramesh, the Union environment and forests minister, has become the iconic face of the debates that rage in seminar halls and drawing rooms of the rich and powerful. Till he took over independent charge of the ministry (some would like to add: reluctantly), Paryavaran Bhawan was not part of those high profile 'sarkari' buildings that exude an aura of power and influence belying their decrepit appearance. A couple of days after Jairam shut down bauxite mining in Niyamgiri for Vedanta's aluminium refinery, a clerk at the complex that houses the ministry exclaimed, "Jab se yeh aaye hain, TV camera wale to regular ho gaye hain (Since he has become minister, electronic media correspondents come here regularly ). " He couldn't have put it better.

But in a self-infatuated circle of media hogs, politicians and bureaucrats, migratory swarms of TV crews and hurried journalists present only a partial picture. The real story of the rising clout of the colour green lies elsewhere in the Union government.

Consider these developments. The Planning Commission is beginning work on the 12th Five Year Plan and environment and equitable sharing of natural resources are now prominent concerns. A committee under the panel is envisaging a climate-friendly economic growth model for the country and yet another set of people is thinking hard about forestry reforms.

The power ministry has officials to deal with climate change on a daily basis. They are busy wondering how they can keep coal plants running and yet promote renewable energy. There is an autonomous body of the ministry whose full-time job is to reduce energy consumption of industries. Another set within the ministry is debating how to carry on with large hydropower projects in the wake of environmental protests.

In the agricultural ministry, plans for climate-resilient cropping cycles are being worked out. In the Panchayati Raj ministry, officials are busy working out how to give village councils more power over water resources and forests. In the urban development ministry, questions crop up on how to convince, cajole and coerce municipalities to shift to systems that consume less energy. The new and renewable energy ministry is inching towards putting on ground solar power plants.

Finance ministry mandarins discuss green finance and their all powerful minister, Pranab Mukherjee, flies out to lecture global powers on India's rightful demand for atmospheric space, and then comes back to sort out environment versus dams debates. The tribal affairs ministry is dealing with the implementation of a law that hands back forests to the people who traditionally lived in these green patches. The home ministry, which would normally deal only with 'hard issues', is holding meetings to step up reforms in forestry as a key step towards reducing alienation in tribal belts. The PMO is holding meetings to figure out how to get auto manufacturers to sell more fuel efficient cars. It's actually discussing everything - from climate change negotiations in far away countries to prices of forest products.

The external affairs ministry is engaging with concerns of water and climate across borders. The rural development ministry's MNREGA programme is pushing for afforestation and development of water bodies. The mines ministry is working out a formula to share profits from natural resources with people who reside in mining belts. Even the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General is drawing up plans to monitor and audit green activities. The biotechnology department of the science and technology ministry is pushing a bill to regulate (some say promote ) the kind of Genetically Modified (GM) crops that can be grown in the country without impacting environment.

And this is just a small slice of the pie. It leaves no doubt that environmental concerns have been mainstreamed in the decision-making apparatus of the Union government. So, if everyone is busy making their turf a tad more 'environment friendly', why has Jairam become the green icon of UPA?

At a time of such frenzy on the green agenda, Jairam sits atop the ministry that automatically becomes central to all these discussions. But more than that, he sits atop a system created during the License Raj era that continues to wield immense power even though other regulatory arms of the central government have turned into 'facilitating arms' of development. UPA 2 has given him the license to wield government power like it hasn't been used since the reforms process began in 1991.

Look at the potential power at the disposal of the environment ministry. It can declare an area an eco-sensitive zone and lock any change in land use patterns for an entire city. Almost every development project has to seek its approval - from setting up power plants to airports, from widening of roads to mining, from setting up a mall in the city to turning a hill into a ski resort, from setting up a primary school and drawing water pipelines across forests to laying fibre optic lines and oil pipelines under lands. Jairam's ministry and its loosely controlled arms - the state pollution control boards and the state forest departments - are expected to monitor all these projects to ensure they are not falling foul of green laws such as the Environment Protection Act, the Wildlife Conservation Act, the Forest Conservation Act, the Forest Rights Act, the Air and Water Act and a host of rules and guidelines that make them operational.

But the ministry's operations are not as draconian as the potential power it holds. Almost 95 per cent of the projects that come before it do get cleared and the rate of approval hasn't changed much even after Jairam occupied the hot seat. For instance, a slew of wildlife patches have been partially diverted for projects and the number in Jairam's 15-month tenure is more than in the past decade. There is minimal staff on the ground to really monitor whether the projects are following the preconditions with which the green clearances came. And there is enough corruption and collusion at the field level to allow projects to skirt rules. Hundreds of mines in Orissa continue to operate illegally even today and the environment ministry is fully aware of this.

Jairam has done what politicians do best. He has picked up high-profile cases and turned them into exemplary icons of 'green interventions'. A Navi Mumbai airport in Maharashtra, a Vedanta in Orissa, a Jindal power plant in Chhatisgarh, three big dams out of hundreds in Uttarakhand, one GM food crop (yes, just one out of a dozen), a garden in Mayawati's Uttar Pradesh - these are some of the prominent cases in which Ramesh has intervened to make a point.

So, is environmental consciousness really growing in India? The answer depends on who the question is put to. Ask environmentalists and most will gloat about the rise of environmentalism in India, peppering their talk with the above-mentioned examples. The media, too, is running wild with them. Sit with politicians (oh those cynics!) and they have a different take. They will give detailed theories on the competing interests in which each project is mired, how one group within a political set or the business world gains and another doesn't when a project is approved or scrapped, how political rivalries can be played on these green strings.

Sit with lawyers and they tell you stories about business groups using environment laws to block projects of rivals. Sit with activists and they whisper about their increasing engagement with different political parties and individuals to get tribals and poor farmers their rights. Or they will talk about their hunt for sympathetic leaders who also gain from espousing the cause of environmental justice. Sip tea with wildlife-wallahs and one of them might reveal how he wielded influence 'at the top' to stop some project or start another or even get one for himself. Yet another might tell you how he managed to influence Jairam to alter rules on a subject he or she espouses most passionately.

Hundreds are filing petitions in courts across the country on the environment ministry's decisions. The Supreme Court itself has dealt with thousands in the past decade. It has two separate benches that deal with green cases on a weekly basis. It has several committees to deal with green concerns - urban and rural. In each of the big three political groupings - the Left, Congress and the BJP - there are leaders who are trying to make environment their niche in the hope that it will give them an image makeover that perhaps appeals to young urban Indians and the media today.

Perhaps this is the true mark of the mainstreaming of a subject in India, when it becomes the idiom of competing elements and groups in a democracy as they lobby for their respective interests. As rapid economic growth tightens the resource crunch in India, environment is no longer about protecting wildlife or merely keeping forests intact. The era of Indira Gandhi is over, when a few members of the elite Delhi durbar would decide to pickle-preserve a patch of wildlife for its sheer beauty, whatever the cost, usually at the expense of the poorest.

Environment, as the middle class knows it now, is the green fig leaf for a grimy and dirty (and increasingly violent and ugly) battle over who owns the resources - the mineral wealth, the water bodies, the forest produce, road space in the metros. It's about the battles being fought on city streets between car owners and bus commuters. It's about the villager petitioning the Supreme Court with the help of some activists to stop the mining mafia from turning his hearth black with soot. It's about the tribal, armed with bows, arrows, sticks and stones, blocking a project developer from entering his land. It's about left-wing insurgency turning these stories of conflict into gun battles and the poor into cadre. It's about business lobbies celebrating when a rival's project gets stuck in these skirmishes.

These battles are not new. They have been fought for decades, but in a less organised fashion. The longest running people's fight against a dam - Koel-karo in what's now Jharkhand - bears witness. It started in 1974 and continues even today. But as India's rapidly growing economy plunders natural resources, the intensity and volume of these battles are soaring.

The Congress realises, perhaps more than its government does at the moment, that these scuffles and struggles can leave scars that the accumulation of wealth or its trickledown effect won't heal. The clashes between Jairam and his cabinet colleagues are really the argument between those who stand for quick growth and those who advocate a more balanced approach. And if Jairam is winning most of these arguments, it is easy to guess where the Congress leadership stands.

Jairam wakes up early in the morning every day and works closely with his trusted young adjutants, Varad Pandey and Muhammad Khan, to discuss ideas and ferret out cases that can be developed into political symbols for what seems to be turning into a big Congress agenda. Pandey is an ideas and operations manager of sorts and Khan a lawyer by training. The rest of the bureaucracy in the ministry deals with the daily grind and provides fodder for team Jairam's interventions.

The ministry has changed character completely from the days when it was in the hands of the DMK. A Raja, the controversial telecom minister, spent a long tenure as environment minister in UPA 1 giving clearances to all kinds of projects. When the DMK decided it didn't want the ministry any more, Manmohan Singh took charge. The PM's office ran it from a distance with unfettered growth being the over-arching mantra.

Jairam has altered its desultory functioning with his hyperbole and hyperactive interventions. He has also managed to build a squeaky clean image for himself, which allows him to take the moral high ground on contentious issues. Having realised the potential power of his seat and sensing that the political winds are favourable today, Jairam is arming himself with an overload of green data as he promises to bring in some high profile institutional changes, like changing the clearance giving and monitoring mechanism, operationalising green benches, separating the ministry into two departments of forestry and environment, and bringing in a change in regulations that govern 7, 500 kilometres of India's shoreline.

The ministry itself is besieged. Unlike in most other places where only the powerful find access, here, NGOs, civil society groups and activists do get heard at times. But Jairam plays a deft game with all, aligning himself with some and blocking some. He even plays one against the other if need be and does not hesitate to cater to the whims of the well-heeled and the well-connected, when required, if only to prevent them from becoming a nuisance.

One of the six at the wildlife lecture perhaps posed the million dollar question when he asked, "But will he do something lasting, you think? What if he gets promoted in the cabinet reshuffle, then are we back to the good old days?" In other words, can Jairam institutionalise environmental concerns in the system? Or rather, can Congress do it through him? Only the end of his tenure will yield the answers.

nitin. sethi@timesgroup.com

Those guilty of corruption in Games not to be spared: Sonia

2010-08-19T06:05:00.001-07:00

With allegations of corruption plaguing the Commonwealth Games, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday said those found guilty will be punished after the event.
Terming the Commonwealth Games as a matter of national pride, she said the Games were not related to any political party or individual.

"It was a matter of national pride and efforts should be made to hold them successfully."

At the same time, she said that those found guilty of corruption in works related to the Games should be punished after the event.

Addressing the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) in New Delhi, Gandhi referred to the Group of Ministers set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to look into the preparations for the Games.

Gandhi also expressed concern over the situation in the Kashmir Valley and said efforts should be made to reach out to the people of the region. She backed the Prime Minister's initiative in this regard.

On the issue of Naxalism, Gandhi underscored the need for taking tribal development seriously.

She also stressed on the need to check illegal mining.

Gandhi condoled the loss of lives and devastation caused by the flash floods in Leh region of Jammu and Kashmir.

On the upcoming elections in Bihar, Gandhi asked partymen to work towards strengthening the organisation in the state.

Cong drafting White Paper on NC Hills scam

2010-08-11T22:40:00.001-07:00

NEW DELHI, Aug 12 – Apprehending that it may come under attack of the BJP over the Rs 1000 crore financial scam of North Cachar Hills (Dima Hasao) District, possibly next week, the Congress Party has drafted a white paper on the issue to respond to the Opposition charges.

Sources said that the BJP through its leader, Sushma Swaraj is likely to raise the issue in the Lok Sabha next week to embarrass the ruling Congress Party. A number of State ministers, besides several bureaucrats are allegedly under the CBI and National investigation Agency (NIA) scanner.

A senior Lok Sabha MP of Assam told this Correspondent that they are ready with their response and the BJP’s charges will not go unchallenged. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi was consulted in Mumbai and help of officials of the State Government sought in preparing the White Paper. The Congress is reading some of its best speakers to take on the Opposition.

Several of the State MPs including chief whip of the Congress Party Paban Singh Ghatowar besides other Members of the Congress Party’s have been briefed on the issue to counter the Opposition charges. The Congress Party MP Lalitmohan Suklabaidya has been given charges of drafting the paper, which is being circulated among the Party MPs, sources said.

It has been learnt that the White Paper draws heavily from the State Governments’ responses in the State Assembly and the Chief Minister’s statements. That the Congress itself took the initiative in ordering an audit by the CAG and subsequent handing over of the case to NIA and CBI would be high-lighted.

However, a division within the Opposition ranks is likely to be exploited by the ruling Congress Party. That the AGP, which has been most vocal, is not in tune with the BJP and other opposition parties have come as a relief to the Congress benches, the MP said.

Though the issue has been raised by AGP’s two MPs Biren Baishya and Kumar Deepak Das in Rajya Sabha, it has not rattled the ruling Congress.

A BJP MP said the AGP leadership appeared to have blundered, when it failed to solicit support of the BJP and other Opposition Parties. AGP has one MP in Lok Sabha and two in Rajya Sabha and expectedly had little visible impact in the House, when Kumar Deepak Das raised the issue during Zero Hour last week. Bhubaneswar Kalita blunted the charges, when he managed to have certain portion of Das’s speech particularly those naming individuals, expunged. At the end, Baishya was the lonely MP in the House, who associated with the issue.

Desperate not to be seen in company of BJP, the AGP delegation including its president, Chandra Mohan Patowary and Prafulla Kumar Mahanta during their tour of the capital, last month, to seek Central intervention, curiously enough declined to meet the BJP Central leaders to work out a floor coordination arrangement on two vital issues including the N C Hills scam and mega dam issue.

Sources said the AGP leaders contacted Bijoya Chakravarty for arranging an appointment with Opposition leader Susham Swaraj. It was fixed but Patowary reportedly declined it at the last moment. When asked, the Guwahati MP admitted having arranged an appointment. “It was deeply embarrassing for me when they cancelled it at the last minute,” she said.

Former Congress MP served show-cause for anti-party activities

2010-07-30T01:12:00.003-07:00

Shillong, Jul 30 (PTI) Former Congress MP O L Nongtdu was today served a show-cause notice by the state party unit's disciplinary wing for alleged anti-party activities.The disciplinary action wing of the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) headed by P W Muktieh took cognisance of media reports which quoted Nongtdu as saying that the recent election to the post of MPCC president was "manipulated".

"There was lot of ill-feeling on the day of filing the nomination. I was asked to go for consensus," Nongtdu was quoted as saying by a section of the media.The disciplinary committee, in the show-cause, asked Nongtdu to clarify if the statements that appeared in the media were true and why he did not give in any clarification if they were false.

Nongtdu, a former Rajya Sabha MP and also a former MPCC president, has been asked to reply within August 12.

Friday Lyngdoh was on July 21 re-elected unopposed as the president of MPCC.In 2008, the octogenarian Lyngdoh was appointed MPCC president by AICC president Sonia Gandhi after replacing Nongtdu in a bid to strengthen the party.

Congress accuses Tripura LF of manipulation and misrule

2010-06-30T00:46:00.001-07:00

Agartala, Jun 30 : The opposition Congress has flayed the ruling Left Front in Tripura and accused it of indulging in misrule, corruption and administrative failure.

Talking to mediapersons here today leader of the opposition Ratan Lal Nath said the ministers had been misleading the House with incorrect facts, distorting the Cabinet decisions and the Speaker and Deputy Speaker were also not playing a neutral role and were sometimes running the House violating the norms and rules.

Referring to yesterday's session Mr Nath said Transport Minister Manik Dey ignored Chief Minister Manik Sarkar's public statement in 2005 that the state government would convert the vehicles to Compressed Natural Gas within six months in phased manner, but even after five years no single government car had been converted as on date. Now the transport minister was making statements in the House that the government had not made any such commitment.

He pointed out that Gauhati High Court had asked the state government to withdraw 15-year-old vehicles in phased manner three months ago, but Mr Dey instead said the Court had asked them to think on the issue, not to implement, which amounted to a criminal contempt of court. Similarly, Industry Minister Jitendra Choudhury, in a reply, said Tripura had not yet set up the State Skill Development Mission (SSDM) for unemployed youths but in the Governor's speech early this year it was mentioned, ''The government is imparting skill development training to the youths through SSDM.'' On the latest death of 28 tribals in remote Kangrai hamlet under North Tripura along Tripura-Mizoram border following sudden spread of acute respiratory infection (ARI), the opposition leader alleged that Health Minster Tapan Chakraborty suppressed facts. Quoting the report of the District Magistrate he stated that the deaths occurred due to malnutrition and water contamination, but the minister misquoted the report and said 24 people had died.

''When we sought permission to move privilege motion against Mr Chakraborty, Deputy Speaker Bhanu Lal Saha did not allow us and instead compelled us to walk out of the House and Chief Minister Manik Sarkar also did not make any statement on the development,'' Mr Nath said.

Mr Chakraborty, who is also the Minister of School Education, misinterpreted the Cabinet decision and did not spell out anything about malpractices and irregularities in the secondary board examinations, Mr Nath alleged.

Govt trying to scuttle scam probe: AGP

2010-06-26T03:54:00.001-07:00

GUWAHATI, June 26 – The main opposition the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) on Friday alleged that the Tarun Gogoi led Congress government was trying to put the lid on the multi crore NC Hills scam and demanded the inquiry into the fund misappropriation by the CBI as recommended in the NIA report.

Addressing media persons here, the spokesperson of the AGP Atul Bora alleged that after the recovery of the huge sum from the residence of a relative of RH Khan, the prime accused in the NC Hills scam, the Chief Minister and his colleagues were making every effort to divert the issue of NC Hills scam by digging up old concluded issues.

Bora referring to the NIA report said that it had suggested an inclusive investigation into the NC Hills scam and pointed out that the CBI which is probing into the case would be hamstrung if the government hands only selected cases and departments for investigation.

“The government is trying to limit the scope of the CBI” said Bora further alleging that the Congress government has started resorting to blackmailing the opposition by raising issues considered concluded.

“As the main opposition, the AGP will continue to be the watch dog and criticize the government whenever there is a lapse. But the Congress government has divulged its fascist character by blackmailing the opposition,” said Bora.

Bora informed that the party has decided to garner public opinion on the NC Hills scam at the national level and to launch a State wide movement demanding a thorough and impartial inquiry into the NC Hills scam. On June 28, the party will stage dharna in all the districts.

On the other hand, the party has demanded of the Chief Minister to declare the assets of the Ministers as promised by him. The party has also demanded of the Chief Minister and his spokesperson to announce the name of the two Ministers who had met RH Khan three days back when he was brought before the medical board.

Taking into task the Health Minister for his announcement that he would go for self immolation if allegation against him of receiving a luxury car from RH Khan is proved, the party said that the Health Minister’s unhealthy remark was reflective of mental imbalance and an offence under the law.

Meanwhile the Asom Juba Parishad in a statement said that the politics of the Congress flourishes on blackmailing and vengeance.

Cong in Manipur celebrates victory

2010-06-26T03:52:00.001-07:00

Manipur Congress party including the Chief Minister and MPCC Chief celebrated party victory in the recently concluded Manipur (Hill areas) District Council election, here on Friday.

The Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) felicitated Congress candidates, who won the district council elections held in two phases on May 26 and June 2 last. Congress won 106 seats in the 144 seats across the six ADCs.

O Ibobi Singh speaking on the occasion said that the holding of election to the hill district councils despite boycott by some social organisation was not targeted to any particular organisation or tribe.

Government was determined to conduct election as it has been long enough suppressing the democratic rights of the hill people. It is the bounden duty of a government to try its best to deliver equal rights to all section of people, Ibobi said. He further said that for marching ahead Manipur towards development, a balance development of both hills and valley “is a must”. When only the valley or hill developed, the state cannot be called a developed state.

Considering all round development in the state and with the determination that grass root level governance is needed for the same, Secular Progressive Front (SPF) government was compelled to go ahead with the district council elections.
Ibobi also observed that development in hill areas have been paralyzed for a long time due to non-existence of grass root level body to look after the development works in the region and hoped that once the district councils are constituted, the passage of development in hill areas will be sped up.
Saying that the district council Act has not targeted to a particular tribe or community, the Chief Minister asserted that any section or provision which is considered hurting the interest of the tribal people can be amended.
President MPCC, Gaikhangam who is among the 20 MLAs from hill districts hinted of some vested interest persons or group behind the boycott of the elections.

He said that district councils were in defunct state for the last more than 20 year when the demand for sixth schedule in the state hill areas comes up. Government had to defer the election to the council for such a long time as there could not bring a consensus on the demand of the sixth scheduled of Indian constitution.

Congress to use Microsoft tech to reach masses

2010-06-18T22:15:00.000-07:00

BANGALORE: Congress is keen to deploy Microsoft display technologies that enable projection into any surface including walls to interact with rural masses from its headquarters in Delhi, a top official of the software giant's Indian entity said today.

"...the Congress party is imagining how to use these kinds of displays with rural, semi-literate or illiterate environment", Microsoft Corporation (India) Chairman Ravi Venkatesan said at the sixth India innovation summit, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here.

Explaining that the company's display technologies enable projection into any surface including walls, tabletops and windows, he said Microsoft had already come out with a proof-of-concept with regard to this technologies.

He said one of the "most interesting and practical conversation" he had around display technologies is with the Congress party.

"They (Congress party) are very interested in grass-roots engagements to get illiterate and semi-literate villagers to interact with party headquaters", he said.

"...big revolution that's imminent is around large screens", he said, noting its potential application in transforming distance education.

Venkatesan said with such a technology (which does not need servers but requires cameras), "any surface can be made into a display....you can project on to a wall...use the wall itself...table tops..", adding, he expects display technology to be "ubiquitous" in the next five years.

He also said any Indian firm aspiring to become a Microsoft or a Google need have tremendous patience to undergo a long cycle of innovation.

Venkatesan pointed out that Microsoft started making money on its gaming business after ten years, while Google also took many years before it made money by "marrying" the search engine with online advertising.

"Do we have the patience to this kind of long cycle of innovation? If not, we better develop them", he said, adding, the tendency in India largely is to make "quick-buck".

Venkatesan said may be there are very few companies in India that have the "appetite" to take such kinds of risk (long cycle of innovation), and "that's the problem".

Tripura Congress protests China’s plans of dam over Brahmaputra

2010-06-15T06:22:00.000-07:00

Agartala, June 15 (IANS) China’s reported plans of construction of a dam over the Brahmaputra river and diverting water to its arid regions were Tuesday strongly opposed by Congress legislators in the Tripura assembly.
“Building of dam over the Brahmaputra river and diversion of water will not only adversely hit northeast India but also create drought in the region,” senior Congress legislator Sudip Roy Barman told the assembly, whose three-week-long budget session is underway.

He said: “China’s move could even lead to environmental problems and affect the surface water table in the northeastern states of India.”

The Congress legislator blamed the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) for remaining silent over “China’s aggression towards northeast India”.

“Satellite imageries have shown China’s dam construction activities,” Roy Barman told the house during a debate on the budget presented by Tripura Finance Minister Badal Chaudhury in the house last week.

CPI-M lawmakers Basudeb Majumder, Sudhan Das and Shankar Prasad Datta protested Roy Barman’s allegation.

They said they protested China’s many anti-India stands and asked why the government of India was silent if China constructed the dam over the Brahmaputra river.

An uproarious scene in the house was witnessed with treasury and opposition legislators engaging in a war of words.

Roy Barman cited media reports that said Beijing was planning a $167 million hydropower plant in Zangmu, 140 km southeast of Tibet’s capital Lhasa, besides diverting water to its dry northwest and northeast provinces which include the Gobi desert.

The 2,906-km-long Brahmaputra is one of Asia’s largest rivers that flows the first stretch of 1,625 km in China’s Tibet region, the next 918 km in India and the remaining 363 km through Bangladesh, before converging into the Bay of Bengal.

According to media reports, China was planning to divert 200 billion cubic metres of water to feed the Yellow River in an attempt at easing acute water shortage in Shaanxi, Hebei, Beijing and Tianjin.

The Brahmaputra is the lifeline for a vast majority of the people in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Bangladesh. Most of them depend on the river to irrigate their fields, fishing and transportation of goods.

Earlier, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh governments also protested China’s reported move to construct a dam over the Brahmaputra and sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s intervention in the matter.

With Gandhi as guide, Gates goes to a Dalit village

2010-05-12T08:06:00.001-07:00

Kande Rao ka Purwa (Uttar Pradesh), May 11 (IANS) After showing Bill Gates a glimpse of the development he had initiated in the social and the health sectors in the Amethi and Rae Bareli constituencies represented by him and his mother and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi took the Microsoft chief to experience life in a Dalit village in Pratapgarh district Tuesday evening.
It was here that Gates opened up to a closer interaction with the locals - men, women and children - making inquiries about their personal lives, their livelihood, education and the general quality of life in this village.

Dodging the media, Rahul and Gates drove off to this village, some 25 km away from the Munshiganj guest house where they were spending the night.

They chose to halt at the Dalit dominated Chamrahi locality of the village where they squatted on a charpoy and entered into a free-wheeling interaction with the villagers, for whom it seemed like a treat with Rahul acting as interpreter between them and Gates.

“We have never had the opportunity to see and talk to Rahul Gandhi one-to-one manner. It was great,” said 55-year-old Siya Ram, a local farmer.

Adding to their delight was Gates’ introduction as the “world’s wealthiest man”, who gave a new dimension to computers.

Excited with the brief interaction that she had with Gates, 14-year-old Asha told this scribe: “I could have never imagined myself face to face with such a personality.”

What had clearly impressed her most was the concern that Gates showed on learning that she had dropped out of school in class VIII as her family did not have enough money to support her studies.

Forty-year-old Rama Devi felt proud giving an account of how as a part of a women self-help group she had succeeded in motivating a number of women in her neighbourhood to create a decent kitty out of small savings.

“The Gora sahib (referring to Gates) listened to me with rapt attention as Rahul bhaiyya went about explaining things to him after asking me different questions,” she said.

AS word spread about the arrival of Rahul Gandhi with a foreigner VVIP, men, women and children made a beeline for the corner where Rahul and Gates were chatting away with the locals.

After spending about 45 minutes in Chamrahi, the two returned to the guest house and then again ventured out to yet another village to interact with more people.

Bill Gates to visit Amethi with Rahul Gandhi

2010-05-11T08:28:00.001-07:00

Lucknow, May 11: Amethi will play host to Microsoft chief Bill Gates on Tuesday, May 11, as Gates is scheduled to join Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on a visit to his parliamentary constituency, Amethi, in Uttar Pradesh.

According to party sources said that visit was kept as a closely guarded secret until late Monday, May 10, evening.

Even top state Congress leaders were kept in the dark about the visit as Gandhi wanted the matter to be quiet affair.

It has been said that the Gandhi is planning to take Gates to the same village which has been earlier visted by the former with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband. Gandhi and Miliband had spent the night in the hut of a Dalit family.

As per inputs the Congress leader is believed to have arranged an interaction between Gates and women self-help groups, which was formed by him formed.

After taking a flight from New Delhi to Fursatganj, the Congress leader along with Gates is expected drive down to Amethi around 10 am.

Congress-ruled states demand more funds for Right to Education

2010-04-28T01:23:00.001-07:00

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh and Bihar may have taken the lead in demanding more central funds for implementing the Right To Education Act, but Congress-ruled states are also joining the race now.

Several Congress-ruled states, including Delhi and Rajasthan, have demanded 90 to 100% funding from the Centre towards the implementation of the new law, said a committee set up by HRD Ministry to suggest ways for revamping the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan scheme in the light of the new Act.

The implementation of the Act would require Rs 1.71 lakh crore in the next five years. The committee's report, which has given the comments of the states on funding pattern, said majority of them have expressed inability to bear the additional funds required to implement the Act.

These states are currently giving 45% share for the SSA scheme which would be the main vehicle for implementation of the RTE Act.

The report quoted Delhi education secretary Rakesh Mohan as saying that the existing fund sharing pattern under SSA needs to be changed to 90-10 between the Centre and the state. The financial liability on account of RTE Act will be high and additional burden should be borne by central government, the report said.

The panel, headed by former education secretary Anil Bordia, submitted its report to the HRD Ministry last week.

Umesh Kumar, Commissioner of Rajasthan Council of Elementary Education, has said that additional funds for RTE will be required from the Centre.

Andhra Pradesh has said that all the additional cost should be borne by the Centre. Similarly Congress-ruled Manipur and Meghalaya, where Congress-led government is in power, have said the additional liability on account of RTE Act should not be passed on to the states.

The other major states which have expressed inability to fund the new law include Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Kerala.

Uttar Pradesh and Bihar would require the major share of the estimated Rs 1.71 lakh crore for implementation of the Act. While 24% of this fund would be required for Uttar Pradesh, Bihar will need 17% followed by West Bengal (8%), Rajasthan (7% and Jharkhand (6%).

Congress attacks Modi government

2010-04-27T00:40:00.000-07:00

Senior Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil Monday criticised the Gujarat government for its failure to harness the waters of the river Narmada to tackle the water scarcity facing the state.

Gohil, Leader of Opposition, said the state was reeling under acute water scarcity while the irony of the situation was that huge amount of the Narmada river water was flowing into the sea due to the 'inability of the government to harness it'.

'This is because in the last seven years the government completed work on just 18,803 km of canals as against the stipulated 90,389 km. No permission was required from anyone, then what stopped the government from doing it. Instead of wasting crores on frivolous celebrations, the money should be utilized to complete the canals. This would be the best celebrations,' he said.

Gohil also demanded that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Narendra Modi government apologise to the family of a Dalit farmer who died fasting outside a government office pleading for the return of his land allotted by the government but usurped by some people.

'He and his family sat on fast but nothing happened though the poor man gave up his life. The government should get the family the land and tender an apology for the incident.'

Gohil said that the Swarnim Gujarat Gaurav Yatra being taken out by the Congress in various parts of the state to highlight the plight of the people and the problems that remain unaddressed by the government, was receiving very good response.

Congress finalises list of ministers for Meghalaya

2010-04-23T11:41:00.001-07:00

SHILLONG - The Congress has finalised its list of ministers to be sworn in Saturday as ministers in the new Meghalaya government headed by Chief Minister Mukul M. Sangma.

“The party high command has approved the list and the remaining eight ministers will be inducted Saturday morning,” Sangma told IANS from New Delhi, where he has camped since Wednesday.

The list, he said, was approved after several rounds of deliberations with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and senior party leaders.

“Before putting her seal on the list, Sonia Gandhi asked me to ensure stability of the government,” Sangma said.

Sangma, who took oath as chief minister Tuesday, is heading the five-party Congress-United Democratic Party (UDP) coalition government.

Along with him, A.T. Mondal (Independent), J.A. Lyngdoh and Bindo Mathew Lanong of the UDP were also sworn in. Lanong was sworn in as deputychief minister. The three were members of the Lapang ministry as well.

The remaining eight ministers in the 12-member size cabinet would be mainly from the Congress, Sangma said.

In the 60-member legislature, the Congress has 28 legislators and has the support of 10 UDP members, five independents and one KHNAM legislator. The main opposition, the Nationalist CongressParty (NCP), has 15 members.

According to party sources, the chief minister had to accommodate five rebel Congress legislators — Rowell Lyngdoh, H.D.R. Lyngdoh, Frankenstein W. Momin, Augustine D. Marak and first timer Founder Strong Cajee.

Rowell, a former home minister, is also tipped to be the deputy chief minister.

The five were brought in at the expense of the two independent members — Limison D. Sangma and Ismail R. Marak — as well as lone KHNAM legislator Paul Lyngdoh, who was instrumental in toppling the NCP-ledgovernment and bringing the Congress to power last year.

Senior Congress legislator and former public works department minister Martin M. Danggo has been left out after the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report revealed financial irregularities committed by him while he was the assembly speaker.

However, his former cabinet colleagues in the D.D. Lapang cabinet, R.C. Laloo, Prestone Tynsong and Ampareen Lyngdoh — the lone woman legislator — are also in the list, the sources said.

The Lapang government collapsed after 14 Congress legislators asked him to sack Marak, Limison and Lyngdoh from the cabinet and induct Congress members in their place. When Lapang failed to do so, the rebels pressed for his removal.

Congress Seeks New Norms on Cabinet Size in Northeast States

2010-04-22T00:59:00.000-07:00

Shillong, Apr 22 : The Congress Tuesday said a new yardstick has to be evolved for fixing the size of the council of ministers in northeast states to prevent political instability.

“A new yardstick must be evolved for the northeast in order to ensure stable governments in this region,” Congress Working Committee member Oscar Fernandez said.

His statement is significant in the wake of the change of guard in Meghalaya which has seen four chief ministers in two years.

“We have seen a lot of instability in Meghalaya and in other parts of the northeast, but at the end we have to respond to the voice of the majority,” Fernandez said, when asked on the demand made by some northeast chief ministers to make changes in the 91st amendment to the Constitution.

The amendment limits the size of the council of ministers in states to no more than 15 percent of the number of seats in the legislature.

Outgoing Chief Minister D.D. Lapang claimed that pruning of the cabinet has affected the smooth functioning of the government.

“In a small state like Meghalaya, with 60 legislators, downsizing of the cabinet has become very difficult to accommodate the aspirations of various coalition partners, resulting in instability,” he said.

Lapang said during his meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, he touched upon the issue of amending the Constitution (91st Amendment) Act, 2003.

Under the act, the size of the council of ministers in a state cannot exceed 15 percent of the number of seats in legislature. An exception was made for Goa, Sikkim, Mizoram – which have 40-member legislatures – where a maximum of 12 ministers were allowed in cabinet.

Political instability is not new to Meghalaya – the state has already seen three governments since the March 2008 election.

Lapang quit as chief minister Monday after he failed to meet the demands of rebel Congress legislators to drop Independent legislators and the lone Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement member from the 12-member cabinet.

The rebels also sought induction of senior Congress legislators in their place. When Lapang failed to do so, the rebels pressed for his removal.

Mukul M. Sangma who replaces Lapang, is Meghalaya’s 21st chief minister in 39 years and the fourth in a little over two years.

There have been just two occasions when a chief minister has completed the full five-year term since Meghalaya attained statehood in 1972.

In the present 60-member legislature, the Congress has 28 legislators and enjoys the support of nine United Democratic Party (UDP) members. The NCP, the main opposition, has 15 legislators.

Sonia summons Lapang; Sangma is successor?

2010-04-16T11:53:00.001-07:00

The Congress leadership Friday summoned Chief Minister D.D. Lapang to New Delhi to end a leadership row in Meghalaya as the party rebels projected Mukul M. Sangma as his successor.
"I have been asked to come to Delhi to discuss the political crisis in the state," Lapang told IANS before taking a flight to the national capital.
On Tuesday, Lapang had returned to the state from the capital after failing to get a word from Congress president Sonia Gandhi on the month-old political crisis.
Gandhi, however, met Meghalaya Congress president Friday Lyngdoh and suggested that a Congress Legislature Party meeting be convened to end the deadlock.
At least 16 of the party's 28 legislators in the 60-member assembly have demanded Lapang's removal on charges that the state has not made any progress under his leadership.
The rebels, who had earlier projected assembly Speaker Charles Pyngrope as Lapang's replacement, are now focussing on senior Congress legislator and Deputy Chief Minister Mukul Sangma.
Sangma, who is scheduled to leave for New Delhi Saturday, said: "I am ready to take over as the CLP (Congress Legislature Party) but it is the perogative of the CLP members."
An aide to Sangma claimed that he enjoyed the support of at least 20 rebels.
"This stalemate should be resolved in the best interest of the state. I have spoken to the chief minister and the Congress leadership to sort out the political stalemate," Sangma told IANS.
On April 5, the Congress rebels faxed a letter to Gandhi, reiterating their demand for Lapang's removal.
Lapang had earlier said he would step down only if it was proved that he had lost the support of a majority of the legislators.
"I am a disciplined Congressman and I will be guided by the decision of the party high command," he said.
Political instability appears to have become a permanent feature in Meghalaya, which has seen three governments since the March 2008 election.
Meghalaya has seen nine governments with varied combinations, resulting in eight chief ministers, between 1998 and 2009. Since Meghalaya attained statehood in 1972, only two chief ministers have completed their five-year terms.

Parents in Delhi will settle family feud: Lapang

2010-04-14T22:51:00.000-07:00

Shillong, Apr 15 : Amid political uncertainty in Meghalaya, triggered by a group of dissident Congress legislators’ demand for Chief Minister D D Lapang’s ouster, the CM on Wednesday met Governor R S Mooshahary.

Lapang, however, refused to divulge details of the 20-minute meeting, saying it was “a secret”. Asked whether Meghalaya would see a leadership change, Lapang said, “Congress president Sonia Gandhi will decide it.”

The CM claimed there was no dissidence in the party. “We are one family. It is a family feud and our parents in Delhi will solve it,” he said.

The Congress leadership, which is reportedly in favour of Lapang continuing as CM, has given him more time to garner support of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), sources said, adding Deputy CM Mukul Sangma and Speaker Charles Pyngrope could replace Lapang, “if he fails to muster majority in the CLP”.

Fourteen of the 28 Congress MLAs in the 60-member Assembly had on April 7 faxed a letter to Sonia Gandhi, seeking Lapang’s ouster as he had “lost support of the majority of the CLP members”.

The rebel MLAs are reportedly disgruntled with Lapang for not making them ministers.

Rahul woos dalits, kicks of '12 campaign

2010-04-14T21:29:00.000-07:00

AMBEDKARNAGAR: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who has been aggressively wooing dalits, made the extraordinary gesture of using a single garland to cover two portraits — of Mahatma Gandhi and B R Ambedkar — the two leaders who were ideologically opposed to each other, particularly on caste. The Amethi MP, who has visited numerous dalit bastis across the country until now, chose Ambedkar Jayanti in Ambedkarnagar for the gesture, which is being read as competitive votebank politics.

Rahul, who was earlier denied the opportunity to garland Ambedkar's statue at the collectorate, paid rich tributes to Ambedkar, saying it was Congress who made Ambedkar the chairman of the Constituent assembly and the law minister in recognition of his work for marginalized sections of society. For the crowds, Rahul's garlanding Bapu and Babasaheb also signified that the Congress scion aspired to take forward the legacy of both. He then flagged off the Chetna Yatra from Ambedkarnagar — a small town about 50 km from Faizabad — on Wednesday.

The launch of the Chetna Yatra coincides with Congress's 125th year celebrations and is also seen as a kick-off for Rahul's campaign for the UP elections in 2012. Amid thunderous applause, Rahul said he saw no future for politics based on the caste and communities; instead, he said politics will revolve around youth and their aspirations.

"The Congress government at the Centre has started the world's biggest employment scheme under NREGA which will benefit dalits and the poor. But in UP, it has not reached the targeted beneficiaries," he said, and asked,
"If the state government's claims about providing employment to the poor is true, why are people from UP migrating for work to other states?"

The crowd, which waited patiently under a blazing sun for hours for Rahul's arrival, broke barriers and climbed up poles and tree-tops. There was a fracas when two youngsters climbed up chairs and waved black flags shouting "Rahul murdabad". A near stampede followed with a mob of Rahul's supporters thrashing them black and blue.

Overlooking the commotion, Rahul continued his spiel slamming the state government for misgovernance. "We send thousands of crores for development but the money does not reach the poor. Similarly, we launched the right to education but state government says it has no money," Rahul said.

Tharoor faces perception test

2010-04-14T08:40:00.001-07:00

RASHEED KIDWAI

Sonia Gandhi and Natwar Singh

April 14 : Shashi Tharoor could be facing what some Congress leaders furtively refer to as the “Natwar Singh-Volcker report test”.

The junior foreign minister’s political future depends on Sonia Gandhi’s “perception” of whether the shareholding pattern in the Kochi IPL has brought disrepute to the party.

Insiders said that like Natwar in December 2005, Tharoor was under watch.

Until December 6, 2005, Natwar had a formidable presence in the Union cabinet. He seldom missed the opportunity to remind Manmohan Singh how close he was to Indira Gandhi, Rajiv and Sonia.

As a former UN official, Tharoor will need no introduction to the report of Paul Volcker, which made public a list of corporations and politicians across the world who had benefited from an elaborate scam devised by the Saddam Hussein regime to make money for itself from the global body’s oil-for-food programme.

The Volcker Committee — set up by the UN to inquire into the oil-for-food programme — named Natwar, his son Jagat and some other Indian companies as beneficiaries of the scam.

For a few days, Natwar was a picture of confidence till Sonia discovered that the name of India’s grand old party had indeed been misused. Natwar tried meeting her but the doors of 10 Janpath were firmly shut to him.

Natwar’s friends, such as Arjun Singh and Sheila Dikshit, did little to plead his case. Natwar cried foul, got expelled and tried his luck in the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party. But the career diplomat could not find his feet in Indian politics again.

Over the years, several others too have failed the leadership’s “perception” test. After the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, the then Maharashtra chief minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, initially saw nothing wrong in taking film director Ram Gopal Varma to the ravaged Taj Hotel. He kept giving sound bites till AICC observers landed in Mumbai to elect a new leader of the Congress legislative party.

Within the Congress, V. George, Ahmad Patel, Mukul Wasnik, Rajiv Shukla and dozens of others have tripped but recovered to stay on.

The latest to burn his fingers by flaunting the Nehru-Gandhi name is Anish Gandhi, who was appointed adviser to Meghalaya chief minister D.D. Lapang last August.

Realising that his claims of proximity to Rahul Gandhi were becoming too frequent, the Amethi MP’s office stepped in and Anish had to quit last week, sources close to Team Rahul said.

They confirmed that Rahul’s office had brought the “misuse” of his name to the notice of the Meghalaya government and asked it to intervene.

According to an order issued on April 3, 2010, by the Meghalaya chief minister’s secretariat, Anish’s resignation has been accepted. “You are accordingly relieved of all the duties and responsibilities of the assignment with immediate effect,” the letter addressed to Anish said.

However, for the record, Lapang said Anish’s resignation had been accepted as he wanted to take care of his parents in Canada.

Anish, 34, an electronics and telecom engineer, had apparently claimed proximity to the Amethi MP to get the adviser’s post — equivalent to that of a secretary in the government.

He had been an adviser to the National Institute of Rural Development and also to ministries such as panchayati raj and sport and youth affairs. He was drawing just Re 1 as salary.

Congress to sort out leadership tussle in Meghalaya

2010-04-04T04:00:00.001-07:00

Meghalaya Chief Minister D.D. Lapang Thursday said here the Congress high command will decide on the demand in the state to oust him and seek changes in the cabinet. The rebels said in New Delhi the party central leadership has assured them that the issue would be looked into.

'It is up to the Congress high command to decide on change of leadership, but as a disciplined Congressman I will abide by the decision of the majority,' Lapang told reporters here.

He added: 'I am sure the high command is the best judge to decide on their demands.'

At least 16 rebel Congress legislators have demanded Lapang's removal on charges that the state has not made any progress under his leadership.

On Wednesday night, the rebel legislators, who have been camping at New Delhi, met Ahmed Patel, the political secretary of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and reiterated their demand to remove Lapang from the post of chief minister.

'Patel has assured us that our demand will be sorted out in a week's time after Easter,' a rebel Congress member said.

An angry Congress minister in the Lapang cabinet told IANS: 'Sometimes they are demanding for removal of independent legislators - Ismail R. Marak, Limison Sangma, Khun Hynniewtrep and National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) leader Paul Lyngdoh from the cabinet, and now they are after the chief minister's post.'

The rebels, who had earlier met Sonia Gandhi, also want the removal of three Congress ministers - Prestone Tynsong, Martin M. Danggo and Ampareen Lyngdoh. Ampareen Lyngdoh is the lone woman members in the 60-member house.

Lapang, who has been in and out of power, said the demand for frequent change of leadership is nothing new in Meghalaya.

'It has happened in the past. J.D. Rymbai was chosen as my successor and I returned again as chief minister on the directive of the high command,' he said.

State Governor R.S. Mooshahary said that he is closely watching the political situation in the state.

'I am keeping an eye on the political development and monitoring the situation,' he said.

Political instability appears to have become a permanent feature in Meghalaya, which has seen three governments since the March 2008 election.

Lapang was sworn in chief minister of a Congress-led coalition government in March 2008. He resigned 10 days later just before a trust vote.

In the present legislature, the Congress has 28 members and the party enjoys the support of 10 UDP members. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the main opposition, has 15 members.

Meghalaya has seen nine governments with varied combinations, resulting in eight chief ministers, between 1998 and 2009. Since Meghalaya attained statehood in 1972, only two chief ministers have completed their five-year term.

Congress in Meghalaya will not split, says CM Lapang

2010-04-01T07:29:00.000-07:00

Shillong, Apr 1 (PTI) While relying on AICC discretion in handling growing dissidence within the party, Meghalaya Chief Minister D D Lapang today said the Congress in the state is not heading for a split.

"The party would not suffer a split for the sake of a chair," Lapang said.

His statement came amidst growing dissidence from at least 16 legislators seeking his removal as well as accommodation in the ministry.

"A leader should not react to such dissidence. No one is indispensable. The AICC is the best judge," he said.

Asked if the AICC should encourage such dissidence by conceding to their demands, Lapang said, "It's a valid opinion, but the AICC knows what is best... Any member is free to express their grievances.

Congress wins both Rajya Sabha seats from Assam

2010-03-29T07:33:00.001-07:00

Guwahati, March 29 – In a major setback for the united opposition in Assam, the Congress Friday won both the Rajya Sabha seats after 11 opposition legislators, including three independents, voted for the ruling party’s second preference candidate.

The Congress fielded two candidates – Silvious Condpan being the second preference candidate while Nazneen Farooq was the first choice. Both won the seats as results were announced late Friday.

The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), the Bharatiya Janata Party, and the Asom United Democratic Front (AUDF) had fielded just one candidate – Jayanta Baruah, owner of the mass circulated Asomiya Pratidin newspaper.

Voting for the two Rajya Sabha polls in Assam began in the morning amid charges and counter charges of horse trading.

The opposition camp got a setback with at least 11 legislators – two from the AUDF, four from the BJP, one each from the Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC) and AGP and three independents – voting against its common candidate.

‘The opposition candidate got 40 votes, while the Congress first preference candidate polled 43 votes and the second preference candidate received 42 votes. Social Welfare Minister Akon Bora’s vote was cancelled on technical grounds,’ an assembly official said.

There are 126 members in the Assam assembly.

‘It is a historic win for the Congress as we did not have the required numbers for the second seat but still won. I am thankful to all the Congress legislators as well as opposition MLAs who helped us in creating history. That shows the tremendous support base of the Congress,’ said Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi immediately after the ruling Congress won both the seats.

Meanwhile, the Opposition has termed the defeat as a slur on democracy.

‘The Congress indulged in horse trading and purchased our MLAs by giving money. The victory for the Congress is nothing but murder of democracy,’ AGP president Chandra Mohan Patowary said.

Meanwhile, the BJP Friday suspended four of their legislators – Rumi Nath, Abhijit Hazarika, Kartic Sen, and Shiv S. Mallah – on charges of anti-party activities.

Congress protests tribals’ victimisation in Gujarat

2010-03-25T11:47:00.001-07:00

Gandhinagar, March 25 (IANS) The opposition Congress staged a walk-out from the Gujarat assembly Thursday, protesting remarks from the treasury benches that many of the tribals were Maoists.
The walk-out came at the end of a daylong debate on the budgetary demands for the forest and tribal welfare department when Forest Minister Mangubhai Patel was giving his reply.
Sparks flew when Congress member Bachubhai Kishori insisted on an assurance from the minister that tribal leaders will not be indiscriminately branded as Naxalites (Maoists) and jailed, and another minister was heard saying that the Congress members were trying to protect anti-social elements.
Angry opposition members were immediately on their feet seeking an explanation from the government. As no explanation was forthcoming, the Congress members resorted to sloganeering and disrupted the proceedings of the house.
Yet failing to get a response from the treasury benches, the Congress members staged a walk-out in protest.
Later in a statement, Leader of Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil said the government was resorting to indiscriminate arrest of tribal leaders who were raising issues of governance or the lack of it.
'People who have been working amongst the tribals for decades are now being victimized, in the name of curbing Naxalite (Maoist) activities in the state.'
He alleged that the government was clamping down on tribal leaders who are working to get them legal rights over the forest lands under the central government act.
'They are being arrested by the police on the pretext that they were Naxalites (Maoists). This must be stopped immediately,' he demanded.

Revolt in Meghalaya Congress contained temporarily

2010-03-18T07:08:00.001-07:00

Shillong, Mar 18 : With the intervention of the AICC, the revolt in Meghalaya Congress has been temporarily brought under control as the legislators brace for a six-day assembly session from tomorrow.

"The AICC has asked the Congress legislators to remain united and further discussions would take place after the assembly session," a close aide of Chief Minister D D Lapang said after the latter met Congress president Sonia Gandhi's Political Secretary Ahmed Patel and AICC secretary in-charge of Meghalaya Luizinho Falerio in New Delhi last night.

Lapang held talks with the AICC top brass after nine rebel Congress MLAs demanded that three Independent legislators and the lone MLA from Khyun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) be dropped and senior Congress MLAs accommodated in the Congress-led government.

Mayawati is not a Dalit daughter, but the daughter of wealth: Congress

2010-03-16T03:35:00.000-07:00

Lucknow, Mar 16 : Congress leader Digvijay Singh has accused Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati of misusing public money, and said she is not the daughter of a Dalit, but the daughter of wealth.

The giant garland, used to honour Mayawati during the Bahujan Samaj Party's silver jubilee celebrations on Monday led to a new controversy, as it was alleged to have been made of Rs.1,000 Indian currency notes.

Congress leaders have questioned the source from where the money had come.

Further criticizing Mayawati, Singh said she should be charged and investigated for money laundering.

The Samajwadi Party and the Congress both have demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the matter.

Congress leader Akhilesh Pratap Singh said, " Mayawati loves money. Therefore she only wants people to give her money."

"It's a scandalous show of money power," said Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari, adding that it is the same Chief Minister, who had earlier said the State Government did not have appropriate funds to compensate the Pratapgarh stampede victims.

The multi-crore garland was just a small part of the extravagant Rs 200 crore celebrations that marked the BSP's 25th anniversary, and its founder Kanshi Ram's birthday, with a massive rally in Lucknow. (

She’s the man

2010-03-10T01:23:00.000-08:00

Sonia Gandhi continues to remain the silent energy behind historic changes in our laws, including Tuesday’s Rajya Sabha vote for the Women’s Bill.

By Aakar Patel

In her silent way, Sonia Gandhi is changing India. The impact of her social legislation against poverty (NREGS), against corruption (Right to Information Act), and now against inequality (Women’s Bill) is epic. The impact might not be clear to us immediately, but that is because we are in the middle of her programme of change.These laws reveal the scale of her ambition, and what she thinks her job as Congress president is. They also show she's not cynical, which is strange because she has lived in an Indian political house since the age of 24. She is convinced that big change can come to India democratically and through Parliament.

She has picked that as her cause and these laws will be her legacy. That sets her apart from our other leaders, whose great acts have come not in Parliament but on the battlefield, like Advani and his Rath Yatra or Vajpayee and his atom bomb.

Her husband led Congress in the Lok Sabha with 404 seats. He was flamboyant, but it’s difficult for us to remember the things Rajiv Gandhi actually achieved. Sonia has half that number in MPs but she is armed with the sort of clarity about her agenda that no leader since Nehru has had.

With limited space to manoeuvre in Parliament, she has already delivered laws of the sort of quality and direct effectiveness that no government in India ever has. To know what else she is up to, have a look at the National Advisory Council (http://nac.nic.in/concept.htm) and the issues it has been working on since Manmohan Singh took office.

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi speaks to media after the bill cleared the first hurdle on Tuesday

From urban renewal to protecting the jungle land of tribals and from digitising rural records to building village roads, what she’s urging government to take up is quite remarkable. And it is consistent. She has trusted the intellect of Manmohan to deliver on the economy, on foreign relations and on figuring out how to govern this unruly nation. Her interests lie in social causes, in the classical manner of the Congress.

This government has four years to go and it will be revealing to see what else she is able to push through.

We want a Bharat Ratna for Sachin (and he says he’s quite open to accepting it) for being superb at whacking balls about with his bat.

But the really bold strokes are being played by a 64-year-old widow whose passport now says she is Indian.

Congress distances from Meghalaya minister's remarks

2010-03-10T01:15:00.001-08:00

The Congress leadership has directed its Meghalaya unit to distance itself from state Deputy Chief Minister Bindo M. Lanong over his alleged defamatory remarks for calling a group of women 'venomous vipers'.

'The AICC (All India Congress Committee) has expressed concern over the statement and asked party leaders to distance themselves from the deputy chief minister over his remarks,' Meghalaya congress chief Friday Lyngdoh told reporters.

'We are not responsible for any statement made by a non-Congress party member. The Congress party stands for women's cause and holds women in high esteem,' he added.

Lanong, a senior member of United Democratic Party, an ally of the ruling Congress-led Meghalaya United Alliance coalition government, called a group of women 'venomous vipers'.

'I did not say anything wrong. I stick to my statement. Women are not oppressed in Meghalaya,' Lanong told IANS over phone from New Delhi.

'I am not going to apologise for my comment when I have not done anything wrong. Instead, they should (women organisations) apologise to me,' he added.

Lanong reacted to an article written by Patricia Mukhim, a local editor of an English daily The Shillong Times, who rubbished his claim that women are not oppressed in Meghalaya because of its matrilineal society.

On Monday members of several women's organisations wore black badges and organised a signature campaign against Lanong. The women's groups are demanding a public apology for the defamatory statement, but Lanong has refused.

The UDP which is supporting the Congress coalition government has refused to comment officially on the matter.

'I would not like to make any comment now, but definitely the party would discuss the issue on March 16 at its central executive council meeting,' J.D. Rymbai, UDP Parliamentary Party leader said.

Friday Lyngdoh, however, said: 'If he was a Congress member we would have taken disciplinary action, since he is not we cannot dictate terms.'

Lanong's cabinet colleague M. Ampareen Lyngdoh, the lone woman legislator, demanded that he tender an apology for his 'defamatory' remarks.

'I feel very saddened by my colleague's statement and its advisable to apologise and the minister should refrain from making such statements,' M. Ampareen Lyngdoh, an education minister in the coalition government, said.

Joining the condemnation, opposition leader from the NCP Conrad Sangma said it is unfortunate that a senior legislator like Lanong passed such a comment against women.

'He should have refrained from making such statements,' Sangma said.

Protesting women decided to submit an 'eye-opening' memorandum to the government on women's oppression in the state on March 11.

'We would submit a memorandum to the government and provide data and facts on women's oppression in Meghalaya, so that it could be an eye opener,' Agnes Kharshiing, a women's rights activists, said.