Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been named the ‘CNN-IBN Politician of the Year-2008′.According to a release by the channel, Nitish Kumar faced strong competition from his Delhi counterpart Sheila Dikshit, but eventually won the award “for turning around one of the most under-developed states in India and showing that ultimately, every adversity crumbles in the face of vision, belief and resolve”.

The winners in other categories include Olympic shooting champion Abhinav Bindra for sports and Aamir Khan for entertainment.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief G. Madhavan Nair and the team behind India’s moon mission Chandrayaan have won awards in the public service category, while Aditya Puri of HDFC Bank topped in the business category.

The ‘Global Indian’ of the year went to A.R. Rahman “for his music in ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and compositions for hits like ‘Ghajini’, ‘Jodhaa Akbar’ and ‘Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na’”.

New Delhi, Jan 31 : Infiltration of Bangladeshi nationals has become a major issue than insurgency in Assam and the north-east.

This was stated by the BJP's national president Mr. Rajnath Singh while addressing a press conference at Guwahati this evening.

He said infiltrators have affected the socio-economic fabric of the region.

Mr. Singh said Centre should take a holistic approach in this regard and take up the issue with the new elected Government of Bangladesh for detection and deportation of the infiltrators.

Jalandhar , Jan 31 : Punjab Congress Chief Mahinder Singh Kay Pee today said that the party was open for pre-poll alliances with secular parties in the state.

" Talks for alliance in Punjab for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections are already on with several political parties including Lok Bhalai Party, Bahujan Samaj Morcha and United Communist Party of India", Kay Pee told reporters here.

Expressing his personal preference for tie-ups with like-minded parties in the state, the PPCC chief, however, said that the final decision regarding state level alliances will be taken by the party high command.

Imphal, January 30 : The question of whether the BJP will field its candidate in the Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency for the forthcoming Lok Sabha election due to be held sometime in April/May this year will be decided during the three-day long National executive meeting of the party scheduled to begin from February 6 at Nagpur.

As for the seat of the Inner Manipur Parliamentary Constituency, the party had already announced the name of former Chief Minister Wahengbam Nipamacha as its candidate.

State unit BJP president Dr Haobam Borbabu informed that to take a final decision on whether BJP should field its candidate for the Outer Manipur Parliamentary seat or not, the matter would be taken up for discussion at the National executive meeting of the party to be held at Nagpur.

As there is already an official candidate of the party for the Inner seat, the Nagpur meeting would also discuss when should the election campaign be started, Dr Borbabu added.

Meanwhile, MPP is also likely to take a final decision and announce the name of its official candidate for the Inner seat after discussing the matter at the Working Committee of the party scheduled to be held on January 31.The party is however, not likely to contest for the seat of the Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency.

However, Dr Borbabu has observed that in the spirit of NDA partners if MPP supports the BJP candidate for the Inner and the BJP reciprocates the same to MPP if its contest for the Outer seat, then the defeat of Congress candidates in both the seats would be a certainty.

But in case, both BJP and MPP are going to contest their candidates against each other, then it would be to the favour of the Congress.

As there is no such thing called 'uncompromising stance' in politics, BJP has not yet taken any definite decision on fielding its candidate for the Outer seat.

So ahead of he National executive meeting, BJP would like to know whether MPP would contest for the Outer seat or not.

Because BJP would be bound to abide by the party decision after the said National meeting, Dr Borbabu said.

New Delhi: Keeping its option for a post-poll alliance open and evidently countering the pressure from its allies Samajwadi Party and the Nationalist Congress Party, the Congress today ruled out any “national alliance” preferring to go with “state-specific” alliances in the forthcoming Lok Sabha election.

“Alliance is basically a game of numbers. It depends on who gets how many seats. This will be clear only after the elections...Hypothetically speaking, if the Congress gets an absolute majority, the situation will be different,” AICC General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi said after a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) here today.

“We do not have an alliance at the national level. We have alliance partners and seat adjustments at the state level,” he said. Rahul Gandhi reportedly said at the CWC meeting that there should be different yardsticks for alliances in different states depending on the strength of the Congress in these states.

This comes barely a week after the NCP, which has been in favour of the UPA contesting together in the election, demanded a meeting of the UPA coordination committee to discuss seat-sharing arrangements. NCP general secretary D P Tripathi had said — after his party’s working committee meeting last week — that since UPA partners were together in the government, an attempt should be made to contest the election together.

But the Congress argues that with the UPA ceasing to exist with the end of this government, it opens the door for it to hunt for new regional allies depending on the post-poll scenario. The decision not to have any national alliance also gives the Congress some leverage in dealing with allies like the NCP, which staked claim on 45 seats spread over different states, and the SP, which wants an alliance with the Congress in several states. Also, the NCP’s talk of reaching out to the Left and floating Sharad Pawar’s name as a possible Prime Ministerial candidate have been heard loud and clear in the Congress.

Dwivedi denied that the UPA was disintegrating. “Of course, there is UPA. But UPA does not fight elections. It is the political parties in UPA which contest elections,” he said adding that seat sharing will differ from state to state. “The state leadership will keep in view the local situation and the state level party and take a decision with the support of the AICC,” he said adding, “The Congress will seek votes on its own, except where it is in alliance”.

Guwahati, Jan 29 : The Assam’s main Opposition party Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) will meet the BJP central leadership in New Delhi on late Wednesday night to finalize the seat sharing arrangement for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls in Assam.

A senior AGP leader on Wednesday said that although both the parties have decided to give a tough fight to Congress in the forthcoming polls, the seat sharing arrangements between the parties are yet to be finalized. The AGP-BJP alliance would contest in all the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam in the forthcoming polls.

AGP sources informed that while the BJP is likely to field its candidate in Nagaon, Mangaldoi, Jorhat, Dhubri and Diphu Lok Sabha constituencies, the AGP is likely to contest in Barpeta, Kokrajhar, Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur and Kaliabor parliamentary constituencies in the polls. However, the tonight’s meeting is likely to discuss over the prestigious Guwahati Lok Sabha seat. The arrangements between both the parties are hanging due to the Guwahati seat.

The AGP wants the BJP to vacate the prestigious seat on the ground that the party has four sitting MLAs in legislative assemblies under the Guwahati Lok Sabha seat.

The BJP, on the other hand wants to field their candidate in the Guwahati LS seat on the ground that the party won the seat in 1999 when there are ten AGP sitting MLAs in legislative assembly constituencies under the Guwahati Lok Sabha seat.

“An AGP delegation under the leadership of party president Chandra Mohan Patowari had already gone to the union capital to meet the BJP leadership and we hope the meeting would hammer out a decision on the Guwahati seat,” said a senior leader.

NEW DELHI: Spilling the beans on the tentative Lok Sabha poll schedule being worked upon by the Election Commission, Election Commissioner SY Quraishi said on Tuesday that the elections would be held between April 8 and May 15.

“We, in the Election Commission, have not yet discussed the final dates, but it will be held between April 8 and May 15,” Mr Quraishi was quoted as saying after delivering a lecture on ‘J&K elections 2008’ at the India House in London. The Indian High Commission to UK, Shiv Shanker Mukherjee, was present on the occasion.

Interestingly, the EC is not really known to let out poll dates beforehand lest it should give the government in power the unfair advantage of timing pre-poll sops just ahead of the announcement so as to beat the model code of conduct. Even ruling parties are sometimes caught unawares by the announcement of a poll: A typical case was the last Assembly poll in Himachal Pradesh, which the EC announced three months in advance, even as the then chief minister VB Singh went about his foreign tour and kept the pre-poll sops waiting until his return.

The commission, obviously not prepared for Mr Quraishi’s candidates regarding the EC’s planned poll time-table, was quick to clarify that nothing official had been announced just yet. An EC spokesperson said the full commission was yet to meet for finalising the poll dates and an authentic schedule would be available only after the three members had considered all factors influencing the poll timeline.

But going by the tentative dates spelt out by Mr Quraishi, it seems that the election commissioner may have spoken out of turn rather than coming up with an inaccurate poll schedule. A start on April 8 and culmination of the multi-phased polls on May 15 appears a very credible option, as March is ruled out due to examinations, which mostly end in the first week of April, the onset of monsoon in Kerala, Goa and the North-East and the summer heat would make June inconducive for polling. Given that the polls to Lok Sabha and Assemblies in the past were staggered over weeks, the 37-day schedule quoted by Mr Quraishi for simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and Assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Sikkim looks probable. The 2004 general election was spread over 3 weeks, starting on April 20 and ending with the fourth phase of polling on May 10.

During the lecture on Tuesday evening, Mr Quraishi dwelt upon the problems faced by EC in holding the polls in J&K.

He noted that the 61.5% turnout despite adverse weather conditions had only justified the commission’s decision to go ahead with the poll despite reservations expressed by major regional players like PDP.

“The Election Commission of India has the highest credibility,” he asserted, citing the example of fair and transparent polls in J&K. The general election in India is the largest electoral exercise in the world involving 671 million voters.

Noting that India is the only country in the world to introduce electronic voting machines on such a large-scale, the election commissioner said the system has ensured “secrecy of vote is not compromised.”

”Our experience is that while the party in power is almost invariably unhappy with us, opposition parties love us. But once the Opposition party becomes the ruling party the roles get reversed,” he said but added that both the ruling and opposition parties “realise, especially when they are no longer in power, how much they stand to benefit from EC’s interventions.”

Rae Bareli (UP), Jan 28 : Prices of petroleum products are likely to be reduced soon, a step that will help bring down inflation rate further, Congress President Sonia Gandhi said today.

"The prices of petroleum products have decreased recently and I expect that soon they will dip further," she said.

With international crude prices continuing to drop, there is speculation that government may slash petrol prices by Rs 5 per litre. Gandhi said that despite a steep hike in the prices of international crude oil,"the Government kept it under control in the country by extending subsidy of Rs one lakh crore".

"I can say without hesitation that no Government has been able to achieve what the UPA regime has done in the last five years on all fronts," Gandhi said at the foundation laying ceremony of rail coach factory here.

" When the world was reeling under recession, India was bound to be affected. But the UPA government has been very alert," she said, adding that there has been no reduction in bank loans to small industries, agriculture, rural development and infrastructure sectors.

Thanking Railway Minister Lalu Prasad for setting up the rail coach factory, Gandhi hoped that in the next rail budget, Prasad would bring more good news for the region.

Kohima, Jan 27 : The Congress today urged people to reaffirm to work for peace and unity in the state. Addressing the annual session of the Tragopan Club at Viswema today, MLA KV Pusa, president of the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee urged the Naga people to rededicate themselves to work for lasting peace and unity in Nagaland.

Without unity among the Naga people, he said, peace and progress would continue to remain elusive in the state. The Congress leader appealed to the people to remain united to usher in peace and subsequently all-round development. Pusa said peace and unity have become the most desired aspirations of the Naga people.

Only through unity Nagas can progress ahead in all spheres, he said adding that the Nagas cannot afford to remain disunited. The NPCC president also said ‘strength’ comes only through unity and for this all must exert effort. He urged the Naga youth especially to work towards this goal. Over six hundred Tragopan Club members attended the session. Members of the club performed folk songs. Also, elders and the youth engaged in a tug-of-war. The session was held at John High School ground at Viswema village some 15 km from Kohima. Meanwhile, Zale Neikha has been instated as the new president of the club for the tenure 2009-2011.

HALFLONG, Jan 26 : The ASDC party, currently  the ruling party in the NC Hills Autonomous Council, declared that it has a thumping majority with 19-members in the 28-members of NC Hills Autonomous Council despite the fact that some of its MACs were lured and misguided by a section of Congress (I) leaders of NC Hills, stated a press release.

However, of the eight MACs who reportedly joined the Congress (I) party (as published in news papers and TV news), four members, Donphainon Thaosen, Kur Rongpi, Moril Massaa and Igaineing Daime immediately resigned from Congress (I) and joined the ASDC party after realising the fact that the Congress (I) party in the hill district like NC Hills has nothing worth to offer for the development and peace in the district. The above mentioned four members rectified their thought and action and reaffirmed their faith and loyalty to the ASDC party.

Besides, in a major boost to the Autonomous State movement in the hill districts of Asom, Congress leaders like MAC Lungngama Nampui representing Kharthong constituency and Retd IAS V Changsang MAC representing Diger constituency elected from Congress (I) party resigned from Congress (I) and joined the ASDC party with full support of the Party’s principle and ideology.

They were unanimously of the view that only ASDC party can provide the much needed peace and development in the trouble-torn district and the people of NC Hills have lost faith in the Congress (I) party and its leadership.

The ASDC NC Hills District Committee condemned the conspiracy to destabilise the NC Hills Autonomous Council by a section of Congress (I) leaders. It is really unfortunate that the power crazy Congress (I) leaders failed to respect the people’s mandate and involved in such undemocratic acts. This only proves their Visionless character and low-character politics.

ASDC party gives a clarion call to all concerned to respect the people’s verdict given in favour of the ASDC party and to desist itself from trying to destabilise the NCHAC.

Rather, they should extend their full Cooperation and support to carry forward the process of peace and development in the district with full support and cooperation of the State Government. This was stated in a press release.

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has filed a complaint with the Election Commissioner of India, alleging that Delhi’s electoral roll has more than 11 lakh fake voters. The party also claims that the number of voters in the Capital has increased by over 7 lakh in just the past one year.

A team led by the party’s Delhi unit president, Om Prakash Kohli, met election commissioner Naveen Chawla with the complaint on Friday.

“The information technology cell of our party studied the electoral roll closely and we found that 11,24,781 duplicate voters have been added in the list,” Kohli told the media later. “In addition, there are nearly 15 lakh names in voter’s list with only minor differences.”

The BJP also presented a CD containing the list of duplicate names to election commissioner Chawla.

Emphasising that as many as 7 lakh voters were added to the list in one year running up to last November’s Assembly elections, Kohli said the difference in the share of votes between the Congress and the BJP was just 3 per cent. “What is the credibility of an election fought on the basis of an electoral roll that has gross irregularities?” Kohli asked.

The BJP is also discussing the possibility of moving the court on the issue.

Delhi’s electoral rolls are at present undergoing revision. As per the schedule for revision, the draft photo electoral rolls of all 70 Assembly constituencies were published on January 12. The Election Commission had provided a window period till January 27 for Delhi citizens to get their names included, corrected or deleted.

The final roll will be published on February 10 based on the updated information. Kohli criticised this, too. “The Election Office has not distributed voter’s identity cards to all,” he said. “In such situation, making January 27 the last date for inclusion and correction of names is a very short time; it should be extended.”

The BJP has also sought a ban on ration cards being used as an identity proof while voting. Interestingly, senior BJP leader and former Chandni Chowk MP Vijay Goel had last year led a campaign to get ration cards included as one of the identity proofs for voters.

The BJP delegation also demanded that the Election Commission should form a joint team of its booth-level officers and booth-level agents of political parties to sort out the issue.

NEW DELHI, Jan 24 – Netaji Subash Chandra Bose would be horrified at how the Congress has colluded, purely for votebank considerations, in the demographic invasion from Bangladesh into Assam and other parts of the country, BJP leader and Opposition Leader, L.K.Advani said today. Not one to let go of an opportunity, Advani, who was addressing a function organised to commermorate the 112th birth anniversary of the Netaji Subash Bose, singled out the Congress for attack, linking the party’s stand on illegal migrants to national security.

“Lack of good governance has a direct bearing on threats to our national security,” Advani said.

“For example, people like Netaji Bose would be horrified at the manner in which the Congress rule has bequeathed knotty problems to future generations, problems like the border disputes with Pakistan and China that have become knottier with the passage of time,” he said.

The same votebank considerations have guided the Congress approach to cross-border terrorism, sponsored from Pakistan. Its opposition to POTA in 2002, its scrapping of POTA in 2004 and its refusal to implement the Supreme Court’s judgement on Afzal Guru, who has been convicted for his role in the terrorist attack on Indian Parliament – all these show the warped thinking of the Congress leadership on the issue of terrorism.

As a party that has ruled India for the longest period since Independence, the Congress must bear the greatest responsibility for the problems that are plaguing our country today, Advani said.

Meanwhile, Parliamentarians on Friday paid floral tributes to Bose in Parliament House.

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, Advani and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, V Narayansamy among others paid tributes. A booklet containing a profile of Netaji was brought out on the occasion and presented to the dignitaries.

Imphal, January 24 : Although MPP and BJP State unit contested the Moirang Assembly by-election together, MPP has resolved to field its own candidate in the Lok Sabha election.

Addressing a meeting of MPP district and constituency level functionaries including MLAs at its office today, MPP president Dr L Chandramani said that there is no question of MPP going together with the political partner it sought as a partner for the LS polls as the other party too has decided to field its own candidate.

In response to the written appeal from BJP State unit to support its candidate in order to defeat Congress in the Lok Sabha election by working together with the NDA, the MPP has conveyed its resolution adopted earlier to put up its own candidate.

As such there is no common route on which the MPP and BJP State unit can go together, said Dr Chandramani.

After the State election committee recommended former Chief Minister Wahengbam Nipamacha as BJP candidate for Lok Sabha elections, the party's Central election committee has officially declared Nipamacha as their candidate.

On the other hand, MPP is preparing to put up former Union Minister Th Chaoba as their candidate.

The MPP president said that its candidate can certainly win the Lok Sabha election notwithstanding the fact the Congress party is in power provided MPP workers and sympathisers work whole heartedly to ensure the victory of the MPP candidate.

Claiming that the party has the capability to win the Lok Sabha election in all aspects, Chandramani asserted that MPP sympathisers and supporters need not harbour any reservation.

Announcing that MPP would launch constituency level political conference for the forthcoming elections from February 1, the MPP president invited written proposals from district level and constituency level workers on who should be the MPP candidate.

He further predicted that Manipur will have an MPP led Government in 2012 .

MLA Dr I Ibohalbi speculated that the Congress party may tie up with Left parties for the Lok Sabha elections as it has no other option.

Claiming that results of the Lok Sabha elections in Manipur would largely depend on the election strategies of MPP and CPI, Ibohalbi asserted that MPP will certainly emerge victorious if MPP workers work sincerely instead of sitting on the fence.

Even though the meeting unanimously resolved to field MPP candidate in the Inner Manipur Parliamentary Constituency, it is most likely that the party may not put up its candidate in the Outer Parliamentary Constituency.

The same week that Barak Obama, the son of a white mother and a black father is about to make history as the free world’s leader, India’s Samajwadi party is fielding Bollywood hunk Sanjay Dutt, the son of a Hindu father and a Hindu-Muslim mother, as a candidate for the Lucknow constituency. On the surface, there is hardly anything common between Obama and Dutt. Deep down however, there are a lot more similarities that seem to make them the dream candidates.

Age:
Both Obama and Dutt are about the same in age, with Dutt only 2 years and 5 days older, both of them born under the leo sign.

Mixed heritage:
Obama is the son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas. Obama’s father was born in the then British territory of Kenya, which today is the independent Kenya. Sanjay Dutt’s father Sunit Dutt was a Hindu born in the then British Indian territory of Jhelum in Punjab, which today is Pakistani territory. Dutt’s mother, famed Bollywood actress Nargis was herself of mixed heritage - a daughter of a Hindu father from Rawalpindi and a Muslim mother from Allahabad.

Obama’s mixed heritage is a perfect godsend for America, for he’s perceived to be a half-white and a half-black individual. Dutt’s mixed heritage may be a perfect godsend for India, for he may be perceived as the right person for the times, a symbol of Hindu-Muslim bridge.

Mother’s influence:
Both Obama and Dutt were strongly influenced by their mothers. Obama’s mother Ann Dunham and Dutt’s mother Nargis were both active social workers - Ann Dunham was a USAID and Ford Foundation consultant and Nargis was a Spastics Society patron and activist Both Obama and Dutt lost their mothers to cancer. Obama lost his to uterine cancer when she was 52 years of age. Dutt lost his to pancreatic cancer when she was 51 years old.

Bad company:
Obama’s associations with Reverend Wright and 1960s bomber activist William Ayers, almost cost him his presidency. Dutt’s associations with Kadawala and Hingora did cost him his freedom for 18 months in Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail.

Illegal drugs in early life:
Obama has admitted using illegal drugs in his youth. Dutt, too, has been known to have used illegal drugs in his youth and was rescued from that addiction after months of treatment in the United States.


Location:
Obama’s home state of Illinois puts him in a unique position along with another former president who was also a uniter who worked hard to bridge the racial and regional divides - President Lincoln. Sanjay Dutt’s hometown is Mumbai, the place of 26/11 carnage and the place where terrorism has been rearing it head up for many years.

Charisma and popularity:
Much of Obama’s appeal is his personal charisma and his unique appeal across the board. Sanjay Dutt is an actor with charisma, appeal and name recognition across the board. Where Obama shot to fame with a message of hope and change, Dutt shot to a newfound fame a few years ago with his film’s message of Gandhigiri and nonviolence and bridging divides.

During the first week of February, the newly sworn-in President Obama will be shaking hands with Sanjay Dutt, the newly chosen United Nations goodwill ambassador against malnutrition. That evening, there’s a good chance Obama will be passing of some his good luck to Sanjay Dutt.

Advani, 81, said: ‘The question you have asked, I think the important part of it is that you need to understand the global situation; and who can think of a modern India. These are the two essential attributes you rightly think are necessary to lead the country. I can humbly claim that it is possible for me to do so.’

Leading industrialists Anil Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal had Jan 14 publicly praised the BJP’s Narendra Modi and said he had the mettle to be the prime minister. They were attending an investors’ summit in Gujarat’s commercial capital Ahmedabad.

During the chat session, Advani told another questioner that he was in good health because he is a small eater.
He said: ‘I believe that a person’s mental and psychological health has a lot to do with his/her physical health. I am a small eater, some friends attribute my physical health to this fact.’

‘Jokingly a doctor who met me a couple of months back said to me that he had a thesis in respect of food. When god creates man, he lays down the total amount of food he will consume in his lifetime, it depends entirely on him whether he takes 50 years to consume it or 70 years,’ Advani said.

Advani said the aam-aadmi experienced the worst kind of price-rise in his life in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) rule.

‘If I am not mistaken, the main Congress slogan for the last 2004 election was aam-aadmi. Has the Congress forgotten that it was immediately after their success that the aam-aadmi experienced the worst kind of price-rise in his life. Prices of all essential commodities rose sky-high. And in the worsening economic situation it is only joblessness that seems to have given some relief to the aam-aadmi from mehengai,’ the BJP leader said.

Recalling the days he was deputy prime minister in Vajpayee’s government, Advani said: ‘The first task before an NDA government, if it is voted to power, would be to dispel the gloom and re-create the general climate of optimism and hope that obtained in the six years of Vajpayee’s rule.’

He said: ‘Presently, one of our groups is working on what precise steps need to be taken in the first 100 days to bring about this transformation.’

‘The world had come to respect India (during the Vajpayee rule) and the general talk began that India would become a great power by the middle of the 21st century. Unfortunately, after the change in government in 2004, the mood has been becoming more and more desperate and these days as 2009 began, there have been more and more magazines with captions like 2008 has been the worst year in Independent India,’ Advani said.

Giving a fillip to speculation that he may be joining the Congress party, former Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin Thursday met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and other top leaders of the ruling party.

The meeting with Congress leaders including the party’s central leader and state incharge M. Veerappa Moily took place within a few days of his meeting senior party leaders in Delhi and speculation that he is joining the Congress and would be contesting the Lok Sabha elections.

Azharuddin drove to the Lakeview Guest House and met the chief minister, Moily and state Congress president D. Srinivas. Congress sources said the meeting lasted for an hour.

Moily was holding talks with ticket aspirants for the upcoming polls to the state legislative council when the former cricketer arrived to meet him and other leaders.

Azharuddin refused to speak to media persons but Congress sources said he would soon be joining the party and contest Lok Sabha elections.

The sources indicated that Azharuddin might be fielded from Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency.

They dismissed speculation that the former captain would be fielded from the Hyderabad constituency, which is a stronghold of Muslim political party Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), an ally of the Congress. They pointed out that MIM president and sitting MP from Hyderabad Asaduddin Owaisi is also one of Azharuddin’s close friends.

Speculation of Azharuddin joining the Congress started a couple of days ago when he reportedly met some central leaders of the party in New Delhi. Azhar had denied the media reports but did not rule out taking a plunge into politics.

Rajasekhara Reddy had expressed confidence that Azharuddin would join the Congress because he is a close friend of a senior state Congress leader, Kiran Kumar Reddy.

Azharuddin’s sudden interest in politics has baffled people here as he was keeping a low profile ever since he was banned from playing cricket for his alleged involvement in match fixing almost a decade ago.

He had also cut down on his public appearances after he divorced his first wife Naureen and married an actress, Sangeeta Bijlani.

Dimapur, Jan 22 : The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) has pointed out to the Thirteenth Finance Commission that Nagaland State was considered  a special category State which was withdrawn after 1989 and that in view of the unique socio-political situation of the State, the pre-1989 funding pattern should be restored.

In a memorandum to the chairman of the visiting Thirteenth Finance Commission, the NPCC also put forward the argument that the finance of the State is purely dependent upon the Central Government as the internal revenue of the State is negligible. As such, there should be a review of the distribution of the net proceeds of taxes between the Union and the State of Nagaland and a liberal sharing of taxes in favour of the latter.

The Congress memo also mentioned that State of Nagaland ‘is a hilly State with difficult terrain’. On this, the memo requested  that ‘while formulating policies and release of funds for development in the State, the same yardstick should not be applied with plain sector of the country’.

Seeks special grant for inter-district ring road
The State of Nagaland is a land-locked State without any railway connectivity save Dimapur town. The road connectivity is therefore vital for development of the State.

The Commission may kindly consider for granting sufficient funds as a one time special grant for construction of Ring Road connecting all the 11 District Headquarters with four-lane provision”, the Congress also stated.

It was also felt that the Commission may kindly consider for increased amount of grant for rural local bodies so as to facilitate growth of economic activities in rural areas.

The State Congress also kept up its pressure on the NPF led DAN government by arguing to the visiting Finance Commission that Nagaland was facing rampant corruption and lack of transparency in the decision making process while allotting developmental works.

“The State Government should be directed to tackle corruption at a war footing, to maintain transparency and fairness in its decision making process and quality control while executing developmental works”, the NPCC stated in its memo signed by Zachilhu Vadeo Vice President (Admn.)

GUWAHATI, Jan 22 – Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) today opposed any move to issue photo-identity cards to the citizens without completing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) updating process.

The AGP executive committee in its meeting held at the Ambari headquarters of the party, observed that the bids to issue photo-identity cards to the citizens without completing the NRC updating process was contrary to a verdict of the Supreme Court.

It alleged that the Congress has been keeping the issue of foreign nationals alive for sake of keeping its (Congress) vote bank intact.

Resenting the recent comment of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi that there are more foreign nationals in other parts of the country compared to Assam, the AGP executive committee said in a resolution that future of Assam was not safe in the hands of such a Chief Minister who wants to belittle the State’s foreigners’ issue.

It described the failure of both the State and Central Governments to complete the NRC updating process within 2008 as per their assurances, as a deceit on the people and made an appeal to the people to register their protest against the lethargy of the Governments in this connection.

The AGP executive committee in a resolution, demanded firm steps from the Central Government to seal the Indo-Bangla border in eastern and North East part of the country in line with the steps taken to seal the western border of the country with Pakistan.

Criticising the silence of the State Government on the issue of determining the state’s borders with its neighbouring states, the meeting called for firm steps to ensure the security of the life and property of the people living in the border areas.

Describing the delay in solving the insurgency problem as a product of the lack of political will of the Tarun Gogoi led Government, the meeting , which was also attended by former Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and several other former Ministers, called for steps to resolve the issue through negotiations with the militant groups instead of effecting splits within these organizations.

The party demanded steps to redress the grievances of the six ethnic groups, which have been demanding ST status.

It resented the local tax imposed on the petroleum products by the State Government, which has added to the burdens of the people.

It also ridiculed the decision of the Congress to make development a plank in the next Lok Sabha elections. The meeting formed four committees to look into the Lok Sabha elections preparations including one to prepare a charge sheet against the Congress Government.

NEW DELHI, Jan. 22 : CPI leaders today met the President, Mrs Pratibha Patil, to seek a high-level judicial probe into the killing of 17 innocent tribals by Salwa Judum volunteers in a “fake encounter” in Dantewada in Chhatisgarh on 8 January.

The CPI national secretary, Mr D Raja, and member of the national executive, Mr C R Bakshi, handed over a memorandum to the President. Demanding dismantling of Salwa Judum, the CPI leaders said there were frequent fake encounters in the name of killing Naxalites.

 In the Dantewada incident, independent journalists from Bhadrachalam in Andhra Pradesh visited the site and filed several reports confirming the fake encounter.

The CPI memorandum said the spot was visited by the CPI district secretary, Mr Manish Kunjam, president of the All India Adivasi Mahasabha, and he too came to the conclusion that the killings were a fake encounter by the police.

New Delhi, Jan 21: Will former Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin join Congress party and contest the Lok Sabha elections from Hyderabad?

The question is doing the rounds at the AICC headquarters here with the party getting"feelers"from the wristy Hyderabad and India batsman for joining the party.

AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh said Azhar"is most welcome in the party."Singh, however, sidestepped queries whether he would contest the coming elections from Hyderabad.

When contacted, AICC in-charge of Andhra Pradesh M Veerappa Moily said that so far the batsman had not met him.

"A third person had approached us and said Azharuddin wanted to join Congress.

"He has not met me so far.It is up to him to take a decision," Moily said. PTI AMI SPG

The 7th Annual Conference of State Minorities Commission began today with a call to discourage the cult of hatred and communal polarisation in the country so as to ensure proceed towards the pious mission of inclusive economic growth.

Addressing the delegates the Chairperson of National Minority Commission Mr. Mohammad Shafi Qureshi said this is an important occasion for interaction and exchange of views between the Central Commission and the State Minorities Commissions to look into the various issues and problems confronted by the minority communities.

He said despite the existence of various schemes being operated by the Central Government as well as the State Governments aimed at improvement of socio-economic betterment of minorities, the outcome these programmes does not seem to be very encouraging.

The States like Uttar Pradesh Pradesh, West Bengal Assam and Bihar which have sizable minority population must remove their bottlenecks being experienced in implementation of their own schemes for the minorities as well as the Central Schemes especially the Prime Ministers’ 15 point Programme. He said there is need for greater coordination among various organs responsible for successful implementation and monitoring of these schemes right from the Districts to blocks, villages and Taluka levels.

Emphasising on the urgent need to disseminate information about various welfare and development schemes and plans of the Government among the minorities Mr. Qureshi said the NCM and the State Minority Commission need to monitor on regular basis the allocation of funds for minority welfare programmes by the respective State Governments and their pattern of expenditure.

He said the flow of credit facilities to minorities by the banking and financial institutions need to be improved so that the objectives of their economic empowerment can be achieved and the socio-economic growth can be accelerated. He said in order to have adequate representation of minorities in the Government jobs the NCM and the State Minority Commissions must ensure that in all selection committees constituted in the Government and the Public Sector undertakings, a member from the minority community must be invariably included. The major concerns of the Commission which are pending with the Government are grant of constitution al status to the National Commission for Minorities and a bill on prohibition of communal violence in the country, Shri Qureshi added.

The Vice President of India Mr. M. Hamid Ansari in his inaugural Address said ours is a land whose diversity includes religious minorities. Every sixth Indian is in this category. In absolute terms, it amounts to almost 200 million people. He said that in law, they are beneficiary of all rights; in fact, deprivation exists and has been acknowledged. This has impacted on the overall progress of the country. The Vice President said that there are three broad and inter-related dimensions to consider while discussing the question of minorities – Identity, Security and Equity. The policies and programmes initiated in the wake of the Sachar Report are indicative of the corrective action under way. The key to success lies in close monitoring of the implementation at ground level.

The Vice President expressed his concern that the rights of minorities have acquired renewed salience in the last two decades. The ‘Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities’ adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 1992 noted that minorities ‘contribute to the political and social stability of States in which they live’ and that promotion of minority rights would contribute to the strengthening of friendship and cooperation among peoples and States.

Union Human Resource Minister Shri Arjun Singh in his address said that a strong nation cannot be built unless all segments of our society are treated at par and conditions created enabling all citizens of India to have access to education at all levels. The Bill to provide compulsory free education up to 14 years of age is an important step in this direction and the access to school education will not remain a problem for any community now. He said many path breaking steps to address Issues of Access, Equity and Inclusion in the National system of education in respect of minorities and permanent mechanisms have been put in place for the protection of educational rights of minorities during the last five years. The National Monitoring Committee for Minorities’ Education (NMCME) was revived in 2004 which had been defunct since 1990s. A Standing Committee of the NMCME has also been constituted to attend to issues relating to the education of minorities on an ongoing basis.

The National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions was set up as our commitment to the National Common Minimum Programme of UPA. This is the first time that a specific Commission has been established by the Central Government for protecting and safeguarding the right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice. Madrassa Education has received a special attention in the HRD Ministry and recently the recommendations of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Council of Board of School Education in India (COBSE) regarding equivalence of Madrassa qualification have been given approval which will make madrassa students eligible for the jobs under Government of India. Setting up of the Central Madrassa Board is under consideration.

Shri Oscar Farnandes, the Union Labour and Employment Minister while addressing the conference emphasized on the need to increase the earning capacities of youths especially from the minority community and said said proper education and ensured employment to our youths can prevail peace and harmony in our country . He said technical education being under his charge 50,000 technical schools will be opened in the country during the next 10-12 years for such children who can not go for higher education. He said 400 are to upgraded and of these 60-70 are in the areas of minority concentration.

The one day conference discussed the various issues and problems confronted by the minority communities in the country and to deliberate on the modus operandi to address these issues and make appropriate recommendations for taking follow up actions by concerned government departments in the Central and state Governments. A draft model act for the effective working of State Minorities Commissions was also circulated amond the delegates for their suggestions. Representatives from the HRD Ministry, the Minority Affairs Ministry, the Planning Commission and Indira Gandhi Open University also attended the Conference.

LUCKNOW: BJP vice-president and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Kalyan Singh on Tuesday announced that he has resigned from all party

“I was being humiliated by the party. I have faxed my resignation to L K Advani and he must have received it by now,” Kalyan Singh said in a press conference.

He said he has never compromised with his dignity and will not do so in future as well. “I was feeling suffocated in the party,” Kalyam Singh said.

He said he will not form a new party and will not accept any other party’s membership.

“I am not resigning from active politics,” Kalyan Singh said.

He clarified that he never asked for party ticket for his son or some of his supporters.

Kalyan Singh said, “No one consulted me while preparing a poll candidates’ list for 80 constituencies. I just wanted Bulandshehr seat but they offered me ticket from Etah, which I have returned to party president Rajnath Singh.”

His decision to quit the party has come barely as day after Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh’s statement that Kalyan Singh’s son was welcome to fight Lok Sabha polls on SP ticket.

According to PTI, Kalyan Singh was once the Hindutva face of BJP and was the chief minister when the Babri Masjid was demolished in 1992.

He has been miffed with the party for nominating Ashok Pradhan, sitting MP from Bulandshahr seat. He has accused Pradhan of sabotaging his son Rajveer Singh's chances in the assembly elections two years ago from Diboi seat in Aligarh district.

BJP rejects allegations

BJP has however rejected Kalyan Singh’s allegations by stating that he has sided with the opponents.

“Kalyan Singh has joined hands with those who are our ideological opponents,” party leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy said in a press conference.

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Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday released a list of 18 candidates for the Lok Sabha election, bringing the total number of nominees finalised by its central election committee to 37. The next list is expected by this month end.

The Monday’s list includes six candidates from Kerala, four from Jharkhand, three from Himachal Pradesh, two from Tripura and one each from Manipur, Chandigarh and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

Senior party leader and former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha will contest from his old constituency Hazaribagh in Jharkhand. At present, he is a member of the Rajya Sabha, having lost the 2004 election when the BJP won only one seat from Jharkhand – Kodarma by Babulal Marandi.

The other three candidates from Jharkhand are: Pashupatinath Singh (Dhanbad), Ramtahal Choudhary (Ranchi) and Karia Munda from the reserved tribal seat of Khunti.

Mr. Pashupatinath Singh was the party’s State unit president. Following the declaration of his candidature, he resigned from that position and party president Rajnath Singh replaced him with Raghuvir Das.
The six Kerala candidates are: K. Surendran from Kasaragod, K.P. Sreeshan from Vadakara; V. Muraleedharan (Kozhikode), K. Janachandran Master (Ponnani) C.K. Padmanabhan (Palakkad) and A.N. Radhakrishnan from Ernakulam.

For the Chandigarh seat, the nominee will be veteran Satya Pal Jain. The Inner Manipur seat will be contested by the former Chief Minister, Nipamacha Singh. Natubhai Gomanbhai Patel is the BJP candidate from Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

Days after Jharkhand Governor’s recommendation of President’s rule in the state, the Union Cabinet on Monday approved the impositions of President’s rule in the wake of deepening political crisis in the state. Also the Jharkhand Assembly will be allegedly kept in suspended animation.

In an unscheduled brief meeting of the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this morning, it was decided to impose Article 356 in the state to end the political impasse occurred after Chief Minister Shibu Soren resigned on January 12 following his failure to win a by-election.


Winning of a by-election within six months of taking over the power of the state was essential for the outgoing chief minister as he was appointed to the post of CM on August 27 last year, and not elected.

The Governor Syed Sibtey Razi on Friday had sent a detailed report, citing political instability in the state, to the Union government recommending President's rule in Jharkhand and putting the Assembly in suspended animation.

Such situation arose as the coalition government led by ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) could not reach a consensus on the name of a new chief minister after the JMM president Shibu Soren failed to enter the State Assembly
by losing the by-polls from Tamar assembly constituency. He stepped down from the post on January 12 following his defeat to a political novice Gopal Krishan Patar alias Raja Peter of the Jharkhand Party on January 9, 2009.

The JMM chief had nominated his close associate Champai Soren, three-time MLA from Seraikela, as his successor which was disapproved by the coalition partners Congress, RJD, and some other Independent MLAs, not willing to accept Champai’s candidacy at any cost. While Shibu Soren rejected the RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s attempts to field former chief minister Madhu Koda for the post. Thus deadlock continued and none of the political organizations showed interest in forming an alternate government in the state.

The main Opposition BJP had also met the Governor and demanded fresh elections, making the task of the Congress at the Centre easier. In the 81-member assembly, the JMM is the single largest party has strength of 17, while its alliance partners Congress and RJD have 9 and 7 MLAs respectively.

CHENNAI: VCK will not have any truck with Congress from now on, according to an announcement by VCK chief Thirumavalavan on Sunday. Thirumavalavan had been on a fast since January 15, demanding that the Central Government take efforts to stop the war in Sri Lanka. Breaking the fast, he said the Congress 
government at the Centre was ensuring the destruction of Tamils in Sri Lanka by providing arms and personnel to the Sri Lankan government, “We have waited enough for Pranab Mukerjee to go to Sri Lanka. Congress has no respect for the feelings of the 6.5 crore Tamils. Whatever the situation is, we will have no relationship with the Congress ever.”With this announcement, he effectively eliminated the presence of VCK from any alliance in which Congress is a part. It is unclear how it will affect VCK’s relationship with PMK, as Thirumavalavan and PMK chief Dr Ramadoss are known to be close. Thirumavalavan promptly apologised for making the announcement in the presence of Ramadoss, saying that he had not taken into consideration the political compulsions of the PMK chief. Explaining the decision to his party cadre, he said, “Let’s eliminate Congress from Tamil Nadu. The only thing that will get the Congress to listen is elections. Now they have seats in the assembly disproportionate to their strength. VCK is 10 times stronger than Congress. Only dalits and tribals vote for the Congress. Let us make sure they do not win any elections.”Although the Congress was the chief target of his attack he also spoke against the AIADMK, calling both parties anti-Tamil, “Leaders from all parties met me or sent their messages expressing support over the last 4 days. Only the Congress and AIADMK have not come. I ask all political parties to ostracise the Congress and AIADMK, and break all ties with these parties.”“Jayalalithaa has insulted my real feelings for Eelam Tamils by calling this protest a drama conducted by the CM.”“I ask the communist parties and MDMK, who really care about Tamils to snap their ties with the AIADMK. We should all get together and protest,” he said.

Tarun Gogoi and Veerappa Moily in front of Rajiv Bhawan on Sunday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Besides Gogoi, the executive meeting was attended by PCC president Bhubaneswar Kalita and AICC general secretary in-charge of Assam, Veerappa Moily, among others

Padma Hazarika. A file picture

NEW DELHI: India Inc may have projected Manmohan Singh as number one prime minister but Congress on Sunday remained tight-lipped on whether he would contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

"These opinion polls are by the press, for the press and of the press. First you create an issue, then you ask question on the issue," party spokesman Abhisek Manu Singhvi said.

"These decisions are made after comprehensive sound thinking by political parties and not as reaction to opinion polls," he said.

Singvi said this when asked whether Singh, who has been named number one by the India Inc in an opinion poll, would contest the Lok Sabha elections.

Singh is a member of the Rajya Sabha from Assam and is an AICC member from Assam and Punjab.

The Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee had sometime back appealed to him to contest the Lok Sabha election from Amritsar constituency.

L K Advani came second in the poll and Rahul Gandhi third.

Imphal, Jan 18 : Close on the heels of the BJP recommending former Chief Minister Wahengbam Nipamacha as its candidate for the inner seat of Manipur Parliamentary Constituency in the upcoming Lok Sabha election, the Core Committee of the MPP, which is the highest decision making body of the party has also announced its decision of fielding candidates in both seats of the State, thus throwing away the efforts being made to form a formidable NDA alliance of the BJP, MPP and other regional parties to take on the Congress party.

A meeting of the Core Committee of MPP today decided to field its candidates in both the seats.

But no definite decision as to who would be fielded as the party nominees has not yet been taken during the meeting.

Nonetheless, party spokesperson MLA RK Anand has informed that the names of the candidates would be announced in time.

The meeting of the Core Committee presided over by party president Dr L Chandramani discussed various issues including prevailing political situation in the State and recent recommendation of the BJP in contrary to the efforts being made for an alliance between the two parties.

According to information received by the press, even if the MPP has not yet finalised its candidates for the Lok Sabha election, name of former Union Minister Th Chaoba is likely to be recommended for the Inner seat.

GUWAHATI, Jan 18 With the Lok Sabha polls round the corner, the ruling Congress has gone into the election mode and started reviewing the progress of the development schemes announced in the last election manifesto of the party, while, the Chief Minister has already announced new schemes for the employees of the State Government.

Official sources revealed that as a part of the exercise, two senior Ministers, Dr Bhumidhar Barman and Bharat Chandra Narah recently held a meeting with the senior officers of different Government departments to review the progress of implementation of the promises given in the election manifesto of the Congress. Interestingly, the reviewing of the progress of works revealed that many of the promises made in the manifesto remained unfulfilled.

Sources said that the Congress promised to solve the problem of militancy through dialogues and the Ministers reviewed the progress of the efforts to bring the ultras to the negotiation table. The Government is yet make much headway in the efforts to bring the United Liberation Front of Asom(ULFA) to the negotiation table, while, talks with the militant groups, which already signed cease-fire agreement with the Government are also not progressing satisfactorily.

The departments concerned did not have enough information on sealing of the international border with Bangladesh and it was evident during the course of the discussions. As on date, the Government does not have clear cut information on the progress of construction of border roads and fencing because central government agencies are also engaged in the work and the border pillars are also reportedly found missing in some places and those are yet to be replaced.

The State Government has not been able to make any headway in solving the inter-state boundary disputes. Though meetings at different levels are being held with Meghalaya, the disputes are yet to be resolved and according to records available with the Government, fresh encroachments are still on.

The manifesto review meeting also brought out some startling failures of the Government in dealing with the problem of floods and erosion. The efforts to protect Majuli river island is not making much headway while, the delay on the part of the Government in releasing funds also seriously affected flood protection works. Sources said that the Government failed to release funds for protection of Matmora and it would be very difficult to complete the work before the ensuing monsoon season.

Interestingly, despite taking up various schemes for rural development, the number of people living below the poverty line has not decreased since 2001, which raised doubts on the success of the schemes. Moreover, the Planning Commission figures of the people living below the poverty line in the state did not tally with the figures of the State Government and a fresh survey of BPL families in the state is likely soon.

The Congress is also likely to review the progress of work of other departments soon in phased manner in the run up to the polls in an effort to woo the voters in the ensuing Parliamentary elections.

Guwahati, Jan 18 : The Opposition Asom Gana Parishad on Wednesday removed one of its general secretaries, who is an MLA, for his alleged links with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence.

This came to light when Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said during a debate in the Assam Assembly that AGP general secretary Nurul Hussain had met some jailed ISI undertrials with the court’s permission.

Mr Hussain admitted he had gone to meet the undertrials, who were from his constituency.

The AGP served a showcause notice to Mr Hussain, fearing the issue might snowball into a major controversy before the Lok Sabha poll as the party had taken a pro-BJP line and was already in the final stage of seat-sharing discussions.

“The party decided on Mr Hussain’s removal after it was not satisfied with his clarification,” said AGP spokesman Apurba Bhattacharya. He was removed as general secretary as well as from the party’s steering and executive committees.

The Congress minister told reporters: “The AGP should stop criticising us that the Congress is weak with the ISI as their own general secretary had met them inside the jail.”

The AGP had criticised the Congress and charged it with being soft towards ISI undertrials, saying that they managed to get bail as the Assam police had failed to file proper chargesheets.

The AGP has also formed a three-member committee, comprising Dr Kamala Kalita, Pabindra Deka and Sahidul Alam Choudhury, to further investigate the MLA’s alleged ISI connections and to submit a report on this to party president Chandra Mohan Patowary. Dr Kalita is the committee’s convenor.

New Delhi: Notwithstanding the declaration by some top industrialists that Narendra Modi is prime minister material, the Gujarat chief minister is not India Inc's chosen one for the top job. They repose faith in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

According to a poll of senior business executives across the country by Hindustan Times-Cfore, Modi comes fourth in their list of preferences. He loses out to even young Congress MP Rahul Gandhi.

Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani comes a close second to Manmohan Singh in the poll, while Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary, is third.

The poll was held through Thursday and Friday - after two top industrialists backed Modi as prime ministerial candidate during the Vibrant Gujarat Investor's meet in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

The HT-Cfore poll that covered 226 senior executives across Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad found that a majority of business leaders preferred to trade enthusiasm for experience, especially in times of crisis.

India's 76-year-old prime minister, Manmohan Singh, won 25 percent votes, while 81-year-old BJP stalwart Advani got 23 percent votes.

Modi, 58, bagged 12 percent votes, while Rahul Gandhi, who is 20 years his junior at 38, was the choice of 14 percent of the business executives surveyed.

"Industry looks for values, leadership qualities and the ability to guide the country through the tough times that we are experiencing now," said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of the Confederation of Indian Industry.

When it comes to the prime minister's job, Banerjee said: "We look for the same attributes as every citizen does."

Industrialists Anil Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal had, while heaping praise on Modi, said Wednesday that he had the qualities to be prime minister.

The BJP went out of its way to downplay the statements, reasserting that Advani was the party's and the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) prime ministerial candidate.

On Saturday, Modi put all speculation to rest, saying that he wasn't in the race. "After the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP will come to power and L.K. Advani will be the prime minister," Modi said at a meeting in Halol, Gujarat.

The deepening political crisis and uncertainties in the Jharkhand state following the resignation of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha president Shibu Soren as chief minister after his defeat in a by-poll eventually led the Governor Syed Sibtey Razi on Friday to recommend imposition of President’s rule in the state.

Syed Sibtey Razi sent a report to the Centre on Friday recommending the imposition of Article 356 in the state on the ground of political instability.

He also recommended the Assembly be kept under suspended animation, sources said.

Earlier on Friday, the Congress party gave a signal for the imposition of President’s rule in the state, saying the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) was not making any serious efforts to resolve the crisis. The Union Cabinet is likely to take up the issue here on Saturday.

The President’s rule had become inevitable as the two chief constituents — the JMM and the RJD — in the state government could not reach on any common decision over the name of the chief ministerial candidate. The other alliance partner, Congress had declined to meditate, putting the responsibility on the JMM to resolve the crisis.

Shibu Soren had nominated his close associate Champai Soren, MLA from Seraikela, as his successor which was outrightly rejected by the RJD, not willing to accept Champai’s candidacy at any cost.

On the contrary, the JMM chief rejected RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s attempts to field former chief minister Madhu Koda for the post.

In the 81-member assembly, the JMM has strength of 17, while its alliance partners Congress and RJD have 9 and 7 MLAs respectively.

The constitutional crisis occurred after JMM chief Shibu Soren, who was reappointed as Chief Minister of Jharkhand on August 27 last year, faced substantial defeat in the by-election to the Tamar assembly constituency to political novice Gopal Krishan Patar alias Raja Peter of the Jharkhand Party on January 9, 2009. Consequently, he had to resign from his post.

Now amid the NDA and oppositions’ demand of fresh election, the Centre has only three options: either fresh election (which is a distant possibility), or a consensus chief minister, or the President’s rule.

New Delhi, Jan 17 : India today asserted that perpetrators of terrorism in this country must be handed over to face "Indian justice" and clarified that there is "no dilution" of that stand.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee also asked Pakistan to undertake a "full investigation" into Mumbai attacks in a "sincere", "transparent" and "verifiable" manner to unveil the "full conspiracy" into the terror strikes.

"There is no question of dilution of our demand of extradition (of those responsible for terror acts in India)," Mukherjee told reporters while clarifying on the media reports quoting him in a TV interview.

"We have never given up the demand that perpetrators of the terror acts should be handed over to India.

There is no question of that we have given up that demand or we have climbed down," he said.

"The fact that dastardly terror crimes have been committed in India, therefore the perpetrators must face Indian justice.

This is not an either or situation as these things are not mutually exclusive," he said.

Mukherjee issued the "clarification" on a TV interview in which he had said that India will have no objection if those behind terror acts here are put to "fair trial" in Pakistan itself, a remark which amounted to softening of New Delhi's position on the issue of extradition.

Mukherjee was responding when asked to clarify on his statement to a TV channel that the attackers of Mumbai may be tried in Pakistan if it was not possible for Pakistan to hand them over to India for some reason.

Making it clear that Islamabad should have no legal issues in handing over those behind terrorism in India, Mukherjee today cited for the first time the 1972 Extradition Act of Pakistan which provides for transfer of persons suspected of committing crimes in countries with which Pakistan has no Extradition Treaty.

The treaty, the External Affairs Minister said, "specifically provides for extradition even when there is no bilateral Extradition Treaty".

He cited the 1972 Extradition Act of Pakistan to nail Islamabad's argument that it cannot hand over any person as it has no Extradition Treaty with India.

The section 4(1) of the 1972 Extradition Act of Pakistan clearly says that if a person, "accused or convicted of offences at places within, or within the jurisdiction of, a foreign State, are or are suspected to be in Pakistan should be returned to the State, notwithstanding that there is no extradition treaty with that State".

Mukherjee said the SAARC Convention on Terrorism also has the same intent and such provisions are there in other international instruments.

Pointing out that major terrorist acts have been committed in India, he said "these were planned and launched from Pakistan.

Only full investigations, which are transparent and verifiable, in Pakistan can unveil the full conspiracy." He said India has requested Pakistan to take "sincere and effective steps" in that direction.

"It is Pakistan's responsibility that individuals based in Pakistan do not commit criminal acts in other countries and then have effective immunity simply because they are Pakistani nationals," Mukherjee said.