NEWS IN BRIEF – FEB 12, 2013
1. Prosecutor was helping key accused in 2G case, says CBI, Talk
Between Unitech MD, Counsel ‘Taped’: New Delhi: In a stunning twist
to the 2G case, an audio tape of a CBI senior public prosecutor
purportedly advising a key accused on how to counter the prosecution’s
charge has emerged, breathing fresh life into the mega scam and bringing
fresh trouble for the government. [TOI p1]
2. Heat on Malik for sharing stage with Lashkar chief : New Delhi : A day
after Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik
shared the dais with 26/11 Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed in
Islamabad to protest Parliament attack conspirator Afzal Guru’s execution,
the clamour for action against Malik increased.[HT p1]
3. It’s judicial murder: Geelani : New Delhi : “It’s a judicial murder,” said
Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on the hanging of
Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. In his first interview on phone from
his Delhi residence where he has been placed under house arrest since
Afzal’s hanging, Geelani told HT that the execution was a “political
decision carried out keeping in mind the majority sentiment”.[HT p8]
4. Don’t agonize over my death, Guru wrote in last letter: New Delhi:
The morning that Afzal Guru was to be executed, he wrote a letter to his
wife, Tabassum. Written in Urdu, he handed it over to jail officials before
he was marched out for his execution. [TOI p12]
5. ‘Secrecy necessary or state can’t execute’ : New Delhi : Addressing
the media in New Delhi on Monday, home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde
waved a photocopy of the Speed Post receipt as proof that Tihar jail
authorities did in fact intimate Afzal Guru’s family about his execution.[HT
p8]
6. Not Allowing Guru to Meet Family Wrong: Diggy, Congress gen secy
says there should be a common approach to all terror cases: NEW
DELHI : Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh has said it was unfair
if Parliament attack mastermind Afzal Guru was denied an opportunity to
meet his family members before he was hanged. “According to
procedures, the convict’s last wish has to be granted. If it has not been
done, it is unfair,” Singh said. [ET p2]
7. No poll considerations in Guru’s hanging: Cong : New Delhi: The
Congress on Monday said it was preposterous to call Afzal Guru’s
hanging as timed to help the ruling party in elections, dismissing the
allegations that have accompanied the execution of the Parliament attack
case convict. [TOI p13]
8. Didn’t want Rajoana repeat: Shinde, ‘Rushed Afzal Guru Execution
To Prevent Him From Approaching Court’: New Delhi: Home minister
Sushilkumar Shinde on Monday admitted that the government had rushed
through Afzal Guru’s hanging within six days of his mercy plea being
rejected by the president as it did not want the case to meet the same fate
as that of the killers of former PM Rajiv Gandhi and former Punjab CM
Beant Singh. [TOI p13]
9. Old Aadhaar applicants may have to reapply : New Delhi: Applied for
an Aadhaar card before April 1, 2012, but haven’t got it yet? You may
have to apply all over again. A lot of data related to applicants who
enrolled for the Aadhaar unique identification number in the first phase
has apparently been either lost or rendered unusable due to “encrypting
errors”. [TOI p1]
10. Many enrolled in 2011 but no Aadhaar card yet : New Delhi : The
government now says it has no readily available data on how many people
had enrolled for the card before April 1, 2012. “UIDAI has clarified that
applicants will have to re-enroll under three conditions. [TOI p7]
11. J&K CM provoking situation in Valley: BJP: New Delhi: BJP on
Monday lashed out at Jammu & Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah and charged
him with “provoking” the situation in he Kashmir Valley and condemned
his interview for having a “sympathetic chord” for Afzal Guru, who was
hanged on Saturday for his role in the Parliament attack case. [TOI p13]
12. Before 2014 elections, PC’S focus to be on aam admi : New Delhi :
Finance minister P Chidambaram will try to strike a balance between fiscal
management and populism in his budget, to be unveiled in Parliament
later this month. In the last budget before the general elections slated for
2014, the finance minister is expected to dole out new social welfare
measures even though the ministries are not expected to get any
substantial increase in the funds meant for major flagship schemes.[HT
p11]
13. No confusion, stand on PM already public: Nitish: Patna: There is no
confusion in JD(U) over the projection of NDA’s prime ministerial
candidate and the party has already made its stand public, Bihar chief
minister Nitish Kumar said on Monday. He said the confusion was being
created by the media. Without taking the name of BJP’s front-runner for
the post — Gujarat CM Narendra Modi — Nitish uttered ‘no confusion’ at
least thrice while talking to media at his 1, Anne Marg residence. [TOI
p11]
14. Nitish wants PM name before LS polls : Patna : Cloud of uncertainty
over the choice of NDA Prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok
Sabha elections was party cleared on Monday when Bihar Chief Minister
Nitish Kumar joined the chorus of JD(U) president Sharad Yadav and
other senior party leaders by sharing their view that the name of the
nominee should be declared before the election.[Pioneer Daily p7]
15. Let the next generation of leaders take charge : Sandhya Jain : VHP
leader Praveen Togadia’s tasteless response to Majlis-e-Ittehadul
Muslimeen legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi was not so much a warning in
case the latter instigated communal mischief as an open indictment of his
bête noire Narendra Modi for alleged complicity in the Gujarat riots of
2002.[Pioneer Daily p8]
16. Will back Modi for PM’s post: Akalis : Chandigarh: Shiromani Akali Dal
general secretary Prem Singh Chandumajra on Monday said the
Congress took “remedial action” to hang Afzal Guru after becoming fearful
of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s increasing popularity as a
national leader. [TOI p11]
17. ‘Red Modi’ is right for Tripura’s Left : Dhanpur (Tripura) : His
detractors call Manik Sarkar the ‘red Modi’. The comparison, many in the
Tripura chief minister’s assembly constituency feel, is unfair. Bordering
Bangladesh, Dhanpur is one of few constituencies in Tripura with a mixed
population of Bengali Hindus, Bengali Muslims and tribals. The hub of this
seat is Dhanpur village, 80km south of state capital Agartala.[HT p11]
18. BJP dares Congress, CPM in their stronghold Tripura : Kumarghat :
It may not be eyeing a big victory in country’s third smallest State with a
population of just over 36 lakh, but the BJP leadership roared in the
Congress- CPI(M) bastion on Monday, challenging the two parties to test
their performance on yardstick set by NDA Governments in other
States.[Pioneer Daily p6]
19. BJP ground work for Raje’s yatra on : Jaipur : Senior BJP leaders are
engaged in getting feed-back from the ground level before finalising the
route of proposed yatra by newly appointed party president Vasundhara
Raje. The yatra would start some time in April, soon after the end of
Budget Session of the Assembly.[Pioneer Daily p6]
20. Religious conversions disturbing : ex-CEC : Chennai : Religious
conversions by certain evangelical groups has become a cause of
concern and it is time a mission was launched to create an awareness
about the significance of one’s religion, according to N Gopalaswami,
former Chief Election Commissioner of India.[Pioneer Daily p6]
21. JPC to question CBI director on taped talks: New Delhi: Central
Bureau of Investigation director Ranjit Sinha will be questioned by
members of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on telecom on Tuesday
with regard to allegations that the agency’s prosecutor in the 2G scam
was in unauthorized contact with an accused. [TOI p14]
22. ‘Defreeze 11 a/cs of Ramdev trusts’: New Delhi: In a relief to yoga guru
Ramdev, the Delhi high court on Monday ordered defreezing of 11 bank
accounts of Patanjali Yogpeeth Nyas, sealed by the income tax
department after the trust allegedly failed to pay the first installment of Rs
75 lakh of the total tax of Rs 34.68 crore. [TOI p15]
23. Ex-RSS man detained, 11 arrested in Bhojshala row: Indore/Mhow:
Former RSS pracharak Nawal Kishore Sharma was taken into custody
and 11 others arrested as a preventive measure by the Dhar district police
on Monday on charges of spreading communal tension and disharmony
over the Bhojshala issue. [TOI p11]
24. Green Nod is New Licence Raj, says BJP: NEW DELHI : BJP has said
‘roadblocks’ in environment clearance for projects was a new form of
license raj under the Congress-led UPA regime. “Today when there is a
slowdown, the government should be proactive in sanctioning projects.
[ET p2]
25. Rape convict places Kurien at the scene, time of ‘crime’ :
Thiruvananthapuram : In the most damaging testimony against P J
Kurien so far, the lone convict in the Suryanelli gangrape case has said
that he had taken the senior Congress leader to the guesthouse in Kumali
on the day the victim says she was sexually assaulted by him there.[IE
p1]
26. Work in an unbiased manner, Munda tells babus : Jamshedpur :
Former Chief Minister Arjun Munda on Monday had a word of advice for
the bureaucrats under President’s rule in the State. [Pioneer Daily p1]
27. Himachal Cong expels 24 party rebels for six years : Shimla : With
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi at the top, Pradesh Congress
Committee (PCC) has started its Operation Clean and expelled 24 party
rebels who contested Assembly election against the official nominee an
act considered as gross indiscipline by the party.[Pioneer Daily p4]
28. Capt: Bypoll result will silence ‘arrogant’ Sukhbir, Majithia : Moga
:Punjab Pradesh Congress
Committee (PPCC) president Capt Amarinder
Singh today claimed that the Moga residents will give a befitting reply to
the “arrogant” duo of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal and his brotherin-
law Bikram Majithia.[The Tribune p4]
29. Allahabad Jn stampede toll rises to 36: Allahabad: The Allahabad
railway junction seldom sees more than 15,000 passengers on any given
day. But on Sunday, when over 3.25 crore people thronged Kumbh for a
shahi snan on mauni amavasya, 1.5 lakh people were waiting for trains in
the same station a little after 6 in the evening, and the railways had no
contingency plan in place. In the stampede that followed, 36 people have
died so far, 50 others are seriously injured. [TOI p1]
30. Azam Khan quits as Kumbh in-charge : Rampur : Uttar Pradesh
cabinet minister Azam Khan on Monday resigned as the Kumbh mela incharge.
“Though the incident took place outside the Kumbh Mela
premises, I take moral responsibility.[HT p1]
31. Cop hand in Jaitley case?, Probe On Into Unauthorized Demand For
MP’s Call Record: New Delhi: The timely detection of a plot to obtain call
details of senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley has averted a political storm, but,
sources say, a scandal on the scale of the Amar Singh phone tapping
case in 2005 can still arise if investigation reveals the involvement of
police personnel in the conspiracy. [TOI p5]
32. Tytler’s move unsettles seniors, hailed by youngsters : Bhubaneswar
: AICC general secretary Jagdish Tytler is out to create confusion in the
State Congress before he is changed as the Odisha in-charge by the party
high command, said a senior party man here.[Pioneer Daily p4]
33. Guv not on same page on Bihar vice-chancellors : PATNA: Bihar chief
minister Nitish Kumar said his regime had practically ‘no say’ in the
appointment of eight vice chancellors by Bihar governor-cum-chancellor
last Saturday. [HT p8]
34. HC isues notice to Haryana Speaker, 5 MLAs and poll panel :
Chandigarh : The Punjab and Haryana high court has taken up Haryana
Janhit Congress (HJC) supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi’a petition challenging
the validity of Haryana assembly speaker’s order. [HT p8]
35. UP farmer seeks President’s consent to commit suicide, Four-Acre
Plot Was Allegedly Auctioned By Government; He Has Already Lost
His Son, Daughter And Daughter-In-Law: Yahiapur (Shamli): In what
bears an uncanny resemblance to the movie‘Peepli Live’, an Uttar
Pradesh farmer has submitted an affidavit before the President of India
seeking permission to commit suicide. The farmer’s only property — a 4-
acre plot — was allegedly auctioned away by the government when he
took loan to install a tubewell in his farm. [TOI p7]
36. Tripura’s king out to ‘reclaim’ his people, Debbarma Leads Tribal
Resurgence, Needles Both Congress And Left Front: Agartala:
Sebastian Bach, the Canadian heavy metal singer and Skid Row rocker,
came for his birthday last year. Axl Rose, the Guns N’ Roses front man, is
also a friend. Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma, the 186th king of
Tripura, lives in a palace with 118 rooms and 107 dogs, and he now says
he wants to reclaim his people. [TOI p15]
