Military coup will never happen in India: AK Antony

Kochi: A military coup is not even a distant possibility in India, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said here Sunday.

Antony said this while interacting with the media after giving away awards for Indian Coast Guard personnel.
"A military coup in our country is not even a remote possibility and there is no reason to fear about it," Antony said responding to a question on the statement of a former director general of military operations that the army in 2012 advanced towards the capital.

Antony also said that the defence forces acted responsibly and functioned on the directives of a democratically-elected government.

Other parties are like visitors in UP during elections: Akhilesh Yadav

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said on Sunday that other parties were like visitors in the state during elections and would not be seen after the polls were over.

Talking exclusively to Zee Media, UP CM also hit out at the BJP for trying to vitiate the communal harmony in the state.

“Communal harmony has to be maintained. People who are trying to spoil the atmosphere in the state must be stopped,” he said, adding, “The Samajwadi Party has worked continuously to maintain law and order in the state.”

Taking on the BJP he said, “BJP has always tried to vitiated the atmosphere in UP. Our party has taken on the BJP many times in the past.”

He also said that there was no difference between the Congress and the BJP as far as their economic policies were concerned.

On the BSP, Akhilesh said that the SP had removed Mayawati's party in last Assembly polls and had returned people's money to them.

Talking on challenges he said, “In UP too there are a lot of young people. Our aim to give employment to them.”

The UP CM was of the view that every party wanted to bag as many seats as they could in the General Elections and that the people of India were open to the idea of a Third Front.

Digvijay says VHP's conversion remark meant to cause rift, political gain

New Delhi: Vishwa Hindu Parishad convenor Ashok Singhal's statement about conversions has not gone down too well with the Congress, with its party leaders saying that it was devised to cause strife for political gain.

Talking to reporters on Sunday, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh said, "Whatever Ashok Singhal says is scripted to cause rift for political gain.”

And demanded that the BJP express their view on his statement.

Digvijay was reacting to the VHP leader's statement where he said it had become "imperative" for each Hindu couple to have five children each.

Stirring a hornet's nest on Saturday, Singhal said that unless conversions were stopped immediately, the day would not be far off when Hindus would be reduced to a minority in this country.

Italian Marines case: Centre to make its stand clear before SC

New Delhi: The Centre will on Monday make its stand clear before the Supreme Court on disputes arising out of the issue of invoking anti-piracy law against two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen off Kerala coast in 2012.

A bench headed by Justice B S Chauhanhad on Feb 18 asked the government to respond by today.

Attorney General G E Vahanvati is likely to appraise the court with the Law Ministry's opinion on the matter.
During the last hearing, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Italian government and the marines, submitted that the Centre has not been able to move in the case despite the apex court's order and pleaded that his client be allowed to go back to their country till Centre takes a decision.

The bench said that it will take up the case on February 24 and will then hear the submission.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by Italian government challenging invoking of anti-terrorism law SUA, saying it is against the order of the apex court which allowed proceedings only under the Maritime Zone Act, IPC, CrPC and UNCLOS.

The joint petition, filed by Italian Ambassador Daniele Mancini along with Italian marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, also sought direction to the Centre and NIA to expedite the proceedings in the case or discharge the marines.

The petition said invoking the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against safety of Maritime Navigation And Fixed Platforms on Continental Shelf Act (SUA)) "would tantamount to the Republic of Italy being termed a terrorist state and acts of its organs, which were in repression of piracy, as being deemed as acts of terrorism, which is wholly untenable and unacceptable in the facts and circumstances of this case and in keeping with the comity of nations and international cooperation".

The case pertains to the killing of two Indian fishermen allegedly by Latorre and Girone on board 'Enrica Lexie' off Kerala coast on 15 February, 2012.

The two officers contended that they had apprehended a piracy attack. The marines were arrested on 19 February, 2012.

Dense fog delays several flights at Delhi airport

New Delhi: Flight schedules were thrown off gear in the national capital early on Monday as dense fog engulfed the city.

As per reports, at least 24 domestic flights were delayed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport as visibility on the runway reduced considerably. Traffic was also slow in areas surrounding the airport.

The disruptions followed two weeks of clear mornings.

The city had experienced clear and pleasant Sunday with the maximum temperature settling at 22 degrees Celsius, three notches above the season's average.

Rajiv Gandhi assassination case: SC to hear Centre's plea to stop release of four convicts on Feb 27

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Delhi: The Central government on Monday moved the Supreme Court in a bid to stop the release of seven convicts involved in the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear the petition and has fixed the next date of hearing on February 27.The apex court had last week stayed the decision of the Tamil Nadu government to release the three convicts in the case after Centre's plea last week and asked it to maintain status quo.

However, the Centre wants stay on the release of the four remaining convicts as well, as per news reports.

The decision to release the seven convicts was taken by the Tamil Nadu government soon after the Supreme Court commuted the death sentences of three to life imprisonment on the ground of delay in deciding mercy petition.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had even given a deadline of three days to the Centre to respond to the decision else she would go ahead and free the prisoners.

The move on the part of TN government is being seen as politically motivated as the Lok Sabha elections are fast approaching.

Out of the seven convicts, three are Indians while the rest are from Sri Lanka. They have been in prison since Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in a rally near Chennai in 1991.

Gujarat snooping case: SC to hear suspended IAS officer Pradeep Sharma's plea

New Delhi: In what may cast a shadow on BJP's prime ministerial Narendra Modi's run for the top post, the Supreme Court will on Monday hear the plea of suspended IAS officer Pradeep Sharma on the contentious audio tapes aired by news portals Cobrapost and Gulail featuring alleged illegal surveillance of a woman allegedly ordered by the Gujarat government.

Sharma, who is also a staunch critic of the Narendra Modi government, had urged the apex court to urgently hear his plea. According to reports, the bench comprising Chief Justice P Sathasivam, Justice Ranjana P Desai and Justice Ranjan Gogoi will hear his plea today.

Seeking the court?'s immediate intervention, Sharma?'s counsel Prashant Bhushan had told the bench that after some tapes have come to light, it is important for the court to list this matter urgently.

Bhushan also told reporters later that he will ask for an independent probe by the CBI or a special investigation team into the snooping controversy because it directly has a bearing on Sharma's case.

“A probe will establish that the state government had taken vindictive action against Sharma because he was aware of the woman and the snooping incident,” he said.?

He said ?frivolous? cases were slapped on Sharma after he came to know about the woman and her association with the state government. In his plea, Sharma had contended, “?We have always maintained that the state police was biased and hence the investigation needs to be transferred to an independent agency. An in-depth inquiry into the audio tapes will corroborate our stand.”

The two portals have claimed that the surveillance was conducted by the Gujarat ATS in 2009 on the instructions of Amit Shah,a close aide of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi,who was then minister of state for home. The tapes were reportedly submitted by suspended IPS officer GL Singhal.

TRS-Congress alliance talks gather steam as KCR meets Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Days after Parliament cleared the formation of a separate Telangana state, the party that fought for the cause has begun intense negotiations with the Congress for an alliance ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief K Chandrasekhar Rao today met Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi as per reports, but no details of the meeting were available as yet. Today's meeting followed KCR's talks with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party general secretary Digvijay Singh.

While the TRS is not seeking an immediate merger with the Congress – which was expected to happen post the Centre's push on Telangana – the party has indicated that it is open to the idea of giving the national party a major share of 17 Lok Sabha seats in the new state if the latter backs its leader KCR for chief minister's post.

The indications to this effect have been given by KCR himself.

The proposed deal may benefit Congress after all, but it will go against the scheme of things of the national party.

The deal will help the Congress wrest a lion's share of 17 LS seats in Telangana and support it nationally, but may undermine its original plan to become a dominant force in the new state.

Experts have based the Congress' renewed push on Telangana on the realisation that the popularity of YSR Congress led by Jagan Reddy has exceeded that of the Congress and that the national party's fortunes lie only in Telangana.

Gas pricing issue: Arvind Kejriwal writes to Rahul Gandhi

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal shot off a letter to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi asking him to clear his stand on the gas pricing issue involving Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani.

The letter, written by the former Delhi chief minister on Saturday, asks four questions from the Gandhi scion including on the nature of relationship between the Congress party and the Reliance chairman.

Kejriwal questioned Rahul over the gas pricing issue and asked him if he approves the government paying 8 dollars per unit to Ambani for procuring gas.
With barely few months left for the Lok Sabha polls, he also asked Rahul to reveal information regarding the source of funding to the party.

Raking up the issue of tainted ministers, Kejriwal asked another question on whether corrupt ministers will be given tickets by the party to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The letter was written a day after Kejriwal shot off a letter to Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi asking him to break his silence on the gas pricing issue.

While addressing a press conference last week, Kejriwal had accused the Congress government of giving undue favours to Reliance Industries and increasing the price of the gas.

IPL spot-fixing: SC dismisses PIL against Shinde

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Monday dismissed a PIL seeking a CBI probe into alleged interference by union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde in the Delhi Police investigation into alleged IPL spot-fixing.

An apex court bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam said that it could not hear serious allegations just on media reports.

The court told petitioner Shiv Kumar Tripathi that if he had appropriate evidence he should move the appropriate forum.

Tripathi's plea is based on BJP leader and former home secretary RK Singh's claim of Shinde's interference in the probe.

Alliance with BJP has been finalised, says LJP's Surajbhan Singh

New Delhi: A senior leader from Ramvilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party on Sunday said that his party has decided to go with BJP in the next Lok Sabha polls.

After a meeting of LJP leaders at Paswan's residence here, former MP and party leader Surajbhan Singh told reporters,"Alliance between LJP and BJP has been finalised."

However, LJP secretary general Abdul Khalik told PTI that no final decision has been taken, and only parliamentary board of LJP can decide it.

When asked how can the LJP chief, who was the first to quit NDA in 2002 protesting against Gujarat riots, could align with BJP whose prime ministerial candidate is Narendra Modi, Surajbhan Singh said, "When the court has given a clean chit to Modi, who are we to say anything."

He said that a formal announcement about the alliance will be made "very soon" in which it would be made clear which party will contest how many seats in Bihar.

He also said that Paswan will soon meet BJP chief Rajnath Singh over the issue.

However, other senior party leaders chose to remain ambivalent on the issue, saying no such decision has been taken as yet and the party is still to decide on the alliance issue.

"With regard to the alliance issue, no final decision has been taken only the parliamentary board of LJP can decide it. The board will meet in a couple of days," Khalik told.

He however parried a question as to whether the LJP has had any talks for alliance with BJP.

"Our talks with Congress and RJD are going on," was his brief refrain to the question.

Another party leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that with the delay in finalising an alliance between Congress, RJD and LJP, there is pressure from the party workers to chalk out a different path and take a decision which suits the party.

Sources said that some BJP leaders from Bihar had recently met Paswan.

There are forty Lok Sabha seats in Bihar. Earlier, Paswan had given indication of aligning with JD(U) by praising Nitish Kumar.

Paswan's party had been an alliance partner of NDA government but the LJP chief was the first to quit the BJP-led alliance in 2002 post-Godhra riots when Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

After LJP quitting NDA, six other parties had also quit the alliance in quick succession and NDA had virtually disintegrated paving the way for Congress-led UPA to come to power in 2004.

Paswan had joined the UPA alliance in 2004 and became a cabinet minister. His party had then got only four seats. RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav was Railway Minister in UPA-I. After a bitter rivalry for some time in UPA I, the two had inched closer by the end of 2008.

In 2009 Lok Sabha polls while RJD and LJP fought together but Congress walked out of the alliance.

In 2004, when Congress, RJD and LJP had contested together in Bihar they had won 29 of the forty seats with RJD winning 22, LJP 4 and Congress 3.

In 2009, when they fought minus Congress LJP failed to open its account and Paswan himself lost from home turf Hajipur, RJD won only four seats and Congress 2.

This time both Paswan and Prasad showed inclination to ally with Congress, While Prasad met Congress President Sonia Gandhi as well as Rahul Gandhi, Paswan had also held consultation with the Congress Chief on the issue.

There where, however some hitches on the number of seats each party will contest.