Soren told to prove majority by Sept 1

RANCHI: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren has been invited by Governor Syed Sibte Razi to form the government and told to prove his majority by September 1. Earlier, Soren met Governor Razi and presented a letter of support from 42 legislators.
The move came after outgoing chief minister Madhu Koda finally softened his stance and expressed support for him.

When Soren went to meet the governor, he was accompanied by Koda, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, central minister and Congress MP Subodh Kant Sahay and Independent, or unattached, legislators.

His letter named nine legislators of the Congress, seven of Lalu Prasad's RJD and eight Independents, apart from JMM's 17 legislators.

Koda, who was forced to step down Saturday to make way for Soren, took a U-turn and extended his support to the JMM chief after a meeting with him and Lalu Prasad in the afternoon.

"I have extended support to Shibu Soren. No one is above the UPA (United Progressive Alliance)," Koda had said.

Asked about joining the next government, he said: "I have not decided about it."

The Koda government was reduced to a minority in the state legislature after the JMM withdrew support to it on August 17. Koda stepped down following advice from the central UPA leadership.

While the Congress and the RJD announced their support to Soren, he managed to win over eight Independents, including Koda, one after the other.

On Monday, Stephen Marandi, deputy chief minister in the Koda government, also announced his support to Soren.

JMM supporters celebrated after Guruji, as they call Soren, met the governor. They distributed sweets and burst fire crackers.

Soren, who was chief minister of the state for 10 days in March 2005, had long dreamt of returning to the post. He got an opportunity when his party supported the Manmohan Singh government in the crucial trust vote of July 22.

Source : Times Of India

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Sharif pulls out of Pakistan coalition

ISLAMABAD: Nawaz Sharif's PML-N has pulled out of Pakistan's ruling coalition and has decided to sit in the Opposition, said Dawn Channel. This was decided in a meeting of top leaders of former premier Nawaz Sharif-led PML-N. ( Watch )

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has decided on former chief justice Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui as its presidential candidate.

The meeting of the PML-N's central working committee, chaired by Sharif, was held in the wake of comments by top party leaders accusing the Pakistan People's Party of not honouring commitments to reinstate judges sacked during last year's emergency by former President Pervez Musharraf.

"There is no need (for the PML-N) to be part of the coalition government if one party is taking decisions unilaterally," PML-N spokesman Siddique-ul-Farooq said.

The PML-N had on Sunday boycotted a meeting of a committee that was to draft a parliamentary resolution for restoring the deposed judges after PPP co-chairman refused to commit himself to Sharif's deadline for completing the process by today. Zardari has said that the judges will be reinstated but that he could not set a timeframe for this.

The PML-N has been angered by Zardari's comments that the PPP's agreements and declarations with the party on restoring the judges could be "altered or modified" to suit the evolving political scenario. Senior PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal pointed out that the latest pact between the two parties was signed by Zardari and Sharif before the holy Quran.

The PML-N has also been irked by the PPP's move to nominate Zardari as its candidate for next month's presidential polls without the scrapping of the President's controversial powers to dissolve parliament and dismiss the prime minister.

Source : Times Of India

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Zardari to be PPP's Prez candidate, coalition crisis deepens

ISLAMABAD: Heeding his party's wishes, PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday decided to contest the Sept 6 Presidential election, but the ruling coalition appeared to be heading for a deeper crisis over the issue of reinstatement of judges sacked by former President Pervez Musharraf.

"Mr Asif Zardari has accepted to contest the election for the office of president of Pakistan after the party unanimously drafted him to do so," PPP deputy secretary general Raza Rabbani told reporters.

Pakistan's ruling PPP leaders had overwhelmingly backed Zardari for the post of President on Friday.

However, the crisis in the government triggered by the second largest partner of the coalition PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif threatening to pull out over the judges issue, appeared to have deepened with Sharif cutting short the deadline from Wednesday.

At a press conference in Lahore, he demanded that the PPP should say by Saturday night whether the government would reinstate the sacked judges by Monday. Sharif also did not commit his party's support to Zardari's candidature for the Presidential post.

Asked about the PML-N's insistence on the restoration of the judges, Rabbani evaded a direct reply and said it was difficult to set deadlines for such a matter.

Rabbani described the restoration of the deposed judges as a "sensitive legal issue" and pointed out that the PPP would "fulfil all its promises" and find solutions to the problem.

He said the "judges will be restored" but added a timeframe would be announced at a later date.


Source : Times Of India

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Support after restoration of judges by Monday: Sharif

LAHORE: Taking a tough stand, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif on Saturday cut short by two days the Wednesday deadline for restoration of the deposed judges and linked the issue to his party's support to PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari's candidature in presidential polls in Pakistan.

"It will take Parliament 10 minutes to pass a resolution for reinstatement of deposed judges after which an Executive Order should be issued by the Prime Minister in the evening," the former prime minister told reporters here after a meeting with PPP leaders at his residence.

Sharif advanced to Monday the deadline set for Wednesday by him for restoration of the judges sacked during last year's emergency rule by former President Pervez Musharraf, who resigned from the post early this week.

All the deposed judges should now be reinstated by Monday in view of the announcement of the presidential election on September six, he said.

Sharif conditioned his party's support to candidature of Zardari for the Presidential polls with the repeal of the 17th amendment empowering a President to dissolve Parliament and dismiss an elected Premier as well as with the restoration of deposed judges.

"We have asked PPP to inform us by Saturday night whether the judges will be reinstated by Monday," Sharif was quoted as saying by ARY One channel, adding that his party would announce its strategy after PPP response.

His remarks came after a three-member PPP delegation led by senior leader Raza Rabbani met Sharif at his at his Raiwind farm house residence here and sought his support for Zardari's candidature for the post of President.


Source : Times Of India

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Northeast must 'agitate' with Centre for development: Aiyar

NEW DELHI: Noting that India's 'Look East' policy was yet to reap benefits for the country's northeastern region, Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar has said these states must "agitate" with the Centre to seek development.

Aiyar, the minister for Development of the North Eastern Region (DONER), said efforts were on to make the region a gateway to the prosperous South East Asian nations.

"Now we are focusing on linking the region to South East Asia on the basic assumption that South East Asia begins in North East India," he said.

There is an urgent need to link the markets of the eight northeastern states with the emerging economies of the South East Asian countries, he said.

"That's why I have been urging northeastern states to agitate much more with the Central government to argue their case before us, to factor in the importance of developing NE and determine what our strategy should be for development of the region," Aiyar said.

Contending that the Look East Policy had so far primarily benefited the southern and western India, he said the impact of the policy on Northeast has been negligible.

Aiyar, who took over charge of the ministry in 2006, said the economy of the region may look up as private sector has also evinced interest in investing in the region.

The North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd has received investment proposals amounting to Rs 14,000 crore from the private sector, half of them in the last one year.

The DONER Ministry has organised a North East Business summit on September 15-16 to attract investment from the ASEAN and other neighbouring countries to the North East.

Source : Times Of India

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Chiranjeevi hosts tea party for filmstars

HYDERABAD: Actor Chiranjeevi, who has stepped into politics, hosted a tea party for the film fraternity at the Rama Naidu studios at Jubilee Hills on Saturday.

Amongst those who were present were actors Nagarjuna, Venkatesh, Tarun, producer D Rama Naidu, Tammareddy Bharadwaja and others.

Interestingly, actor Mohan Babu who is known to have a running a feud with Chiranjeevi also came for the tea party. "He invited me with love and I came," Mohan Babu said.

Nandamuri Balakrishna and NTR Jr from the Nandamuri clan were conspicuous by their absence. Recently, TDP president Chandrababu Naidu has pulled in NTR family members into the active politics to try out their charisma against the Chiranjeevi factor.

Addressing the film fraternity, actor Chiranjeevi said that even in his political life, he will see to it that the film fraternity gets its due respect. He also explained why he was getting into politics.

Source : Times Of India

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Land-for-job: NDA team meets PM, demands Lalu's ouster

NEW DELHI: Keeping up the pressure on railway minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasad, a delegation of Opposition NDA on Saturday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and demanded that he be sacked from the Cabinet in the wake of the alleged "land-for-jobs" scam that came to light after an expose telecast by a private TV channel.

Taking a dig at Prasad, who has been credited for his "management skills" for turning around the Indian Railways into a profit-making enterprise, BJP leader Muqhtar Abbas Naqvi said that the scam has exposed that the "management guru has turned into a corruption guru".

The NDA leaders claimed to have documentary evidence showing that people who got jobs in the railways had transferred their land to close family members of Prasad. They also accused the railway minister of giving jobs to those who had deposed in his favour earlier in the fodder scam.

Armed with documentary evidence like registration certificates of land that has reportedly been transferred to the names of Lalu Prasad's family members, the NDA members demanded an inquiry into the scam.

The delegation, comprising BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, JD(U) president Sharad Yadav and his colleagues Rajiv Ranjan Singh and Shivanand Tiwari, said they submitted "proof" relating to the scam to the PM.

The PM, according to Naqvi and Yadav, assured the delegation that he would "look into" the matter. The leaders claimed that the documents proved the involvement of Prasad, Union ministers Prem Chand Gupta, Kanti Singh and Raghunath Jha in the scam. Hitting out at the UPA government over the issue, Naqvi said, "First we had the cash-for-vote scam and now land-for-job. These incidents signify the height of corruption."

"The Prime Minister should not maintain silence on the issue as this sends a wrong message that he is also hand-in-glove," he said, in an attempt to rope in Manmohan Singh into the issue.

Source : Times Of India

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Soren set to become Jharkhand CM

NEW DELHI: Shibu Soren is tantalizingly close to realising his aspiration to be the chief minister of Jharkhand — a state he helped form — with the UPA leadership successfully persuading incumbent Madhu Koda to step down for 'Guruji'.

Koda is expected to announce his resignation on Saturday. The agreement with Koda capped hectic parleys among UPA partners to facilitate Soren's ascension.

A power-sharing arrangement has been worked out which centres on maintaining the status quo with the significant exception of change at the helm.

All members of the Koda ministry — the two deputy chief ministers and the seven Independents who play 'kingmaker' — are proposed to be retained while the outgoing CM may be given charge of the UPA steering committee.

The committee will not be mere cosmetic as RJD, which was loath to support Soren and came around only at the instance of the Congress leadership, expects it to protect its interests in the state.

While Soren's decision to pull out of the coalition government had looked as ill-timed bravado, he managed to pull it off with the help of the Congress leadership which needs his five votes in the Lok Sabha and is keen to repeat the alliance with the JMM and RJD which helped it sweep all but one of the 14 seats Jharkhand has in the Lower House.

Stephen Marandi, who was till recently a Soren loyalist, remains a holdout, but the UPA managers are confident of bringing him around.

Fears of early assembly polls — a certain prospect if Soren is not made the chief minister — may prove the calculation right. The Koda government failed to perform and those associated with it are likely to pay a heavy price at the hustings. Jharkhand watchers don't expect the change to ring in anything different, but are apprehensive that the arrival of a new chief minister and the proximity of polls may lead to a fresh scramble for mining leases in the resource-rich state.


Source : Times Of India

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BJP calls Cong, SP, BSP 'cheerleaders of terror'

NEW DELHI: Opposition BJP on Friday lashed out at Congress, SP and BSP for sympathizing with Ahmedabad blast accused and SIMI activist Abu Bashar and accused them of playing the "minority appeasement" card, following the visit of MPs from the three parties to Bashar's village in Uttar Pradesh, from where he was picked up by Gujarat police.

BJP called the three parties "cheerleaders of terrorism" for coming out in support of the SIMI activist arrested in connection with Ahmedabad serial blasts. "The BJP's charge that the UPA and its allies are soft on terror now witnesses conclusive evidence with the visit of MPs Ram Naresh Yadav (Congress), Akbar Ahmad Dumpy (BSP) and Abu Azmi (SP) to the Azamgarh village of Mufti Abu Bashar, the terrorist responsible for blasts in Ahmedabad," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy told reporters here.

The party was also critical of Syed Ahmad Bukhari, Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, for accompanying the MPs on their visit. "Congress, BSP and SP have become cheerleaders of terror organizations, groups and individuals who are mercilessly targeting and killing innocents," Rudy said. "Is this overt, disgusting, display of support to elements of terror an attempt to influence the judicial process?" he asked.


Source : Times Of India

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Polls in mind, Cong & SP form panel

NEW DELHI: Samajwadi Party and Congress have set up a coordination panel aimed at providing a mechanism to regulate relations and sort out issues with both parties viewing each other as allies who will face the next general elections as part of the same political formation.

The coordination panel will have Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee and defence minister A K Antony while the SP will be represented by its chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and his associate and party general secretary Amar Singh. The panel is expected to meet when necessary.

To start with, the two parties will have to tackle the seat-sharing in Uttar Pradesh where Congress will have to leave a lion's share to the SP. But besides the numerical split, identifying constituencies will be a task as both eye favourite boroughs. With the two now committed to taking on BSP chief Mayawati and BJP, the newly aligned partners have to settle their claims.

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi and Amar Singh are scheduled to meet on Monday to discuss seat-sharing in UP. The two are also likely to discuss a pre-poll alliance that the new-found allies are keen to forge to counter Mayawati's threat.

There are policy issues regarding the government that may need to be sorted out as well. The SP has a definite laundry list that it will expect the government to respond to. The Samajwadis have not been shy of pointing out that they "need power" to oppose a rampaging Mayawati in UP besides also dealing with investigations launched by the courts against the SP leaders.

Source : Times Of India

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