Kejriwal likely to undertake roadshow in Uttar Pradesh in March

NEW DELHI: After launching Aam Aadmi Party's national campaign from Haryana on Sunday, Arvind Kejriwal may undertake roadshow in Uttar Pradesh from next month.

The party wants to organise roadshow at a big level, similar to the rally it had recently organised in Rohtak.

The roadshow may start from Delhi or the border of Noida and Ghaziabad, on March 1 and end in Kanpur on March 2. However, the details are yet to be finalised by the party.

Sources said that the party was contemplating the move with an aim of garnering public support in Uttar Pradesh, where it has high electoral hope.

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Government proposing to raise workdays under MNREGA to 150 days

NEW DELHI: With the Lok Sabha elections round the corner, the government is planning to raise the workdays under its ambitious rural employment guarantee programme MNREGA from 100 to 150 days per year.

A proposal in this regard will be considered by the Union Cabinet on Friday, sources said here today.

The populist measure is clearly aimed at wooing the rural voters which comprises about 60 per cent of the country's population.

Under the MNREGA programme, one member of each rural family is entitled to 100 days of work per year with remuneration of Rs 100 plus amount linked to Consumer Price Index (CPI).

The flagship programme has generated 23,040 lakh persondays of work in 2012-13.

Initially, the remuneration was Rs 100 and it was linked to inflation about two years back after demands that it should be enhanced keeping in view the price rise.

The MNREGA programme was unveiled just before the last Lok Sabha elections, which benefitted Congress electorally.

In the recent years, there have been demands that payments under MNGREGA should be at par with the wages paid under the Minimum Wages Act, which vary from state to state.

The government had made it clear that this could not be done as it would require amendments to the MNREGA Act. However, it linked the remunerations to inflation.

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CBI may quiz Ram Vilas Paswan; his party LJP mulls parting ways with UPA

NEW DELHI: CBI may question former Union steel minister Ram Vilas Paswan in connection with alleged illegalities in the Bokaro steel plant recruitment process in which relatives of some high-profile personalities are under the scanner of the agency.

Paswan, who is negotiating seating arrangements in Bihar for the coming general election, has come under the lens following recovery of some documents which, agency sources claimed, indicate that his staff may have been actively involved in extending favours to some candidates.

"Such actions cannot be taken at the level of lower rung staff without the approval of the minister concerned. We may question him (Paswan) in this connection. A final decision when the questioning would take place may be taken as the probe progresses," a senior CBI official said.

The sources said documents submitted by some successful candidates have Paswan's seals, his official address 12, Janpath and supporting letters from his staff recommending their names for the position in the Bokaro steel plant.

Paswan was Union minister for chemicals, fertilizers and steel during the UPA government between May 2004 and May 2009 and these allegedly fraudulent appointments were made during his tenure.

In January, CBI had registered two separate cases related to alleged irregularities in the appointments in the middle and junior management level in the public sector undertaking in 2008 in which a former executive director of the plant and other former senior officers have also been named as accused.

They said the agency has named junior managers SM Razi, Rajkumar Jatia and Yogesh Chandra Patnaik. They are relatives of a former governor, a former central minister, who is now a Rajya Sabha candidate, and a former high court judge respectively as accused in the FIRs.

It is alleged that these candidates were among those favoured in the appointment process.

LJP hints it has no problem in allying with Modi

Upset with the delay in firming up seat-sharing arrangement with Congress and RJD, LJP on Tuesday dropped enough hints of moving away from them while making it clear that it has no hesitation in working with Narendra Modi despite the taint of 2002 riots.

Chirag Paswan, son of LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan, said the party's Parliamentary Board will meet soon to decide the future strategy but refused to clearly spell out whether the party would be having an alliance with BJP.

Sources said Chirag, who heads LJP's parliamentary board, and his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras are in talks with BJP for a possible alliance.

BJP MP Shahnawaj Hussain had called on LJP chief a few days back while senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad had visited Paswan on January 14 on the day of Makar Sankranti.

Chirag said there is "distress" in LJP over the way the seat-sharing issue has been dragging with Congress and RJD.

Asked about Modi and whether LJP would have no problem with him in view of cases against him in connection with 2002 riots, he said, "If the court has given its verdict and they say he (Modi) is clean, then I do not think it is an issue to talk about now."

Sources in LJP said a decision on the alliance will be finalized in a day or two.

In the wake of such moves seen as bargaining tactics by Paswan, Prasad appealed to him not to join hands with "communal forces" and remain with him to "save the nation".

LJP sources said that the party, which was a part of NDA before parting way after the 2002 Gujarat riots, is unhappy over the dilly dallying by Congress and RJD over seat-sharing and is considering other options.

At the same time, the sources said, the alliance with Congress and RJD stands as of now.

Though a number of leaders in LJP are favouring an alliance with BJP, sources close to Paswan said that the leader has not yet taken the final call on dumping UPA.

His anger is more with RJD, whose leaders are not ready to accommodate LJP's demand for at least nine seats.

LJP also fears that RJD could field dummy candidates in some seats spared for it as was done last time.

BJP president Rajnath Singh, however, was evasive on the issue, saying he was "not aware of what kind of talks" are taking place with LJP.

Asked if there would be any decision soon, he said, "if some announcement has to be made, you will be told."

BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said a number of parties are reaching out to BJP as it is surging and Congress is losing. "But unless something concrete happens, we will not like to share anything," he said.

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Narendra Modi most targeted politician of independent India: Rajnath Singh

NEW DELHI: Narendra Modi is the most targeted politician in independent India, BJP President Rajnath Singh contended today as he slammed criticism against the Gujarat chief minister over the 2002 riots.

Singh said Modi could not be accused of directing killings during the 2002 riots and allegations in this regard would have caused him immense "mental trauma".

Releasing a book on Modi here, he said that "in independent India if there is one politician most targeted, his name is Narendra Modi. All kinds of allegations have been levelled against him."

Referring to some of the charges levelled against Modi, he said, "It was alleged that he (Modi) said fire as many bullets for 24 hours, kill as many as you can ... I have been a CM and can say with confidence that no CM ever wants that an anarchy-like situation develop on his watch."

Singh has served as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. "How much mental trauma and pressure he would have faced, you can imagine," he said at the function which was attended by foreign diplomats among others.

While seeking to defend Modi on the issue of riots, the BJP chief said thousands of riots have happened in India and mentioned communal violence that occurred in Gujarat before 2002 and Assam during the rule of Congress.

Showering praise on the Gujarat chief minister, he said that when he announced Modi's name as the party's prime ministerial candidate, he was merely making an announcement of a consensus already reached within the party.

Modi had shown "excellence in organisation, administration and socio-economic measures and such a man cannot be an ordinary talent," he said.

"His critics say all the development is no wonder for somebody ruling a relatively small state for the last 10-12 years. I ask them what happened to West Bengal where the Left ruled for close to 35 years. What about Bihar where Lalu ruled for 15 years," he said.

Singh said UPA government had declared Gujarat as the best state in the implementation of its 20-point programme and a Congress research team from the US, which he noted had denied him a visa, has also praised his performance.

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Govt reviews operational readiness along China, Pakistan borders

NEW DELHI: Defence minister AK Antony on Tuesday reviewed the operational military readiness on the western and eastern fronts, with the infrastructure build-up along the 3,488km line of actual control with China progressing at a snail's pace.

The meeting was attended national security advisor Shivshankar Menon, the three service chiefs — General Bikram Singh, Admiral DK Joshi and Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha — and defence secretary RK Mathur.

Sources said the "periodic security meeting", held a day after the 6th annual defence dialogue with China, reviewed the construction of road, rail and air links along the "northern borders". It came in the backdrop of the parliamentary standing committee on defence slamming the government for lagging far behind China in all areas of border connectivity.

From "nil achievement" on the 14 strategic railway lines to the completion of only 18 of the 73 all-weather roads identified for construction along the LAC, the committee had held, "It's shocking to note only one road out of the 27 ITBP roads is complete, and as many as 11 roads are behind schedule and not even detailed project reports have been finalized."

Rubbishing MoD claims that infrastructure development was being implemented in consonance with threat perceptions, the report said, "The committee is baffled to learn that an issue so serious as providing border connectivity through rail in the northeast region and other strategic places is taking the rounds of bureaucratic tables."

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Ananth Kumar slaps legal notice to Kejriwal

BANGALORE: Slapping a legal notice on Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for including him in the list of "most corrupt", BJP leader Ananth Kumar on Saturday asked him to withdraw the charge or apologize within three days.

Kumar is the second BJP leader to issue legal notice to the AAP leader after former party president Nitin Gadkari.

The notice served through Kumar's lawyer has asked Kejriwal to withdraw his statements within three days, failing which legal action will taken against him.

"I will initiate appropriate civil proceedings against Kejriwal for compensation and appropriate criminal proceedings against him for libel and slander," he told reporters at crowd sourcing programme conducted by BJP here.

Kumar said he has given three days to Kejriwal to withdraw his allegations and apologize for the "immense loss, harm and injury caused to him due to the slanderous attack on him."

Kejriwal yesterday had called Kumar as "corrupt" and included his name in the list of "Most Corrupt" and said his party would field candidates against him.

He said the allegations levelled by Kejriwal are "motivated, baseless and malicious and their publication is clearly defamatory" and he had failed to provide any shred of evidence to support his allegations.

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Target Sonia and her advisers, middleman in VVIP chopper deal told AgustaWestland

NEW DELHI: One of the three alleged middlemen in the VVIP helicopter kickbacks scandal had reportedly advised top AgustaWestland officials to "target" UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and people close to her in order to bag the 556 million Euro contract.

During the ongoing corruption trial in an Italian court, the prosecutors have now presented a note written in March 2008 by middleman Christian Michel to Peter Hulett, the then India head of AgustaWestland, the UK-based subsidiary of Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica.

Michel, as per the note reproduced in an Italian newspaper, told Hulett that the British high commissioner in India "should target Mrs Gandhi and her closest advisers" to clinch the contract for the 12 AW-101 helicopters.

"As Mrs Gandhi is the driving force behind the VIP, she will not fly any more in the Mi-8 (the Russian-origin helicopters the President, PM and other VVIPs currently use)," says the note. It identifies her "key advisers" as "Manmohan Singh, Ahmed Patel, Pranab Mukherjee, M Veerappa Moily, Oscar Fernandes, M K Narayanan and Vinay Singh".

There is no evidence till now that this proposed plan of action was actually executed, nor can Italian media reports be independently verified. But the Indian defence ministry on January 1 did scrap the VVIP helicopter contract, inked with AgustaWestland in February 2010, on the ground of violation of the pre-contract integrity pact and use of unfair practices in the deal.

MoD had earlier frozen all further payments to AgustaWestland despite having inducted only three of the 12 AW-101 helicopters, with around 45% of the total contract value already been paid.

Michel's note is among the incriminating documents seized from the office of Switzerland-based middleman Guido Ralph Haschke, who is now facing trial in the Italian court along with former top executives of Finmeccanica.

As per Italian prosecutors, Haschke, his partner Carlos Gerosa and Michel were allegedly paid kickbacks totalling 51 million Euros to swing the deal. The Italian prosecutors also confronted Haschke with a photograph of Sonia Gandhi and Ahmed Patel in court but the accused said he could only recognise Gandhi in the picture.

Another document in the possession of Italian prosecutors is a "draft budget" dictated in 2008 by Michel, known for his connections and access to politicians in India, which has veiled references to proposed kickbacks to Indian politicians, bureaucrats and IAF officers, as reported earlier.

Under the heading "POL" (politicians) in this document, 3 million Euros have been earmarked for a person identified as "AP", while 15/16 million Euros have been shown against "FAM" (family). The document also lists what seem like key posts in the defence ministry by references like "DS", "JS AIR", "AFA", "DG Acquisitions" as well as "CVC (chief vigilance commissioner)" and "auditor general" under the head "BUR" (bureaucrats), with 8.5 million Euros being budgeted for them.

In the case registered by CBI here in March, former IAF chief Air Chief Marshal (retd) S P Tyagi is the only government functionary among the 15 accused named. Haschke has allegedly said there was a plan to give 7% commission to three cousins of the former IAF chief, Dosca, Julie and Sandeep Tyagi, who also figure among the accused in the CBI case.

"Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa managed to send 5.6 million Euros through Mohali-based IDS Infotech and Chandigarh-based Aeromatrix Info Solutions Private Ltd to India and kept the remaining amount of about 24.30 million Euros received from AgustaWestland with themselves in the account of IDS Tunisia," says the CBI FIR.

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EC releases draft guidelines on poll manifestos

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission has released draft guidelines on poll manifestos, giving the green signal to promises of welfare measures but requiring the political parties to explain their rationale and proposed funding mechanism.

The norms also make it imperative for the political parties to keep the manifesto promises in line with the ideals and principles enshrined in the Constitution and follow the other provisions of model code of conduct in "letter and spirit".

The draft guidelines were circulated to all recognized national and state political parties on Friday, and their comments sought by February 7. An all-party meeting convened by EC on February 4 is also expected to deliberate the norms. Once the parties' views are in, the guidelines will be finalised and incorporated in the model code of conduct. Thus, they will apply to all future polls, starting with the upcoming general election.

Though the EC had drawn up the manifesto guidelines in August 2013 itself, as reported then by TOI, it has finalized and released the draft only now, just ahead of announcement of the general election. It be recalled that EC had convened an all-party meeting on August 12, 2013, to discuss the July 2013 apex court order directing the Commission to frame guidelines to regulate contents of manifestos, particularly poll promises, with a view to restricting "poll freebies". Most political parties opposed a blanket ban on poll promises with financial implications, stating it was their right and duty towards voters to make such promises in manifestos.

While the Commission appreciated the parties' view, it said it could not ignore the undesirable impact of some "freebies" on the level playing field. An EC functionary told TOI that "a poll promise with financial implications that seeks to rehabilitate the disadvantaged sections is a freebie in line with Directive Principles of State Policy and cannot be objected to". "However, political parties should avoid making those promises which are likely to vitiate the purity of the election process or exert undue influence on the voters in exercising their franchise," EC clarified in its draft norms.

The proposed guidelines on party manifestos, thus, seek to ensure that while welfare measures aimed at the deserving are not held back, the non-deserving should not be included as beneficiaries just for the sake of votes.

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AAP bats for a separate Telengana state

NEW DELHI: Batting for a seperate Telangana state, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday said it was in favour of formation of smaller states.

"We, in principle, stand in favour of Telangana. We are in favour of smaller states," senior party leader Yogendra Yadav told reporters.

He, however, added that when a decision over Telangana is taken rights of people of Seemandhra must be taken into consideration and the unique character of Hyderabad must also be respected.

"But in order to form Telangana the unique order of Hyderbabad must be recognised.

"The legal and constitutional rights of Seemandhra must be respected and issues like river-water sharing should be worked out with satisfaction," Yadav added.

The AAP party is yet to make inroads in both the Telangana and Seemandhra regions of the state.

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Applications invited for Rajiv Gandhi Manav Seva award and National award for child welfare

BANGALORE: Applications have been invited from eligible candidates for conferring Rajiv Gandhi Manav seva award and National award for child welfare .

The last date for submission of applications for these two awards is March 15,2014.

The Rajiv Gandhi Manav Seva award , instituted by the Union government and comprising Rs one lakh in cash and a citation for each individual , will be given to three individuals who have made outstanding contribution towards service of children for over ten years, in relation to child development, child protection and child welfare.

The award will be presented on the birth day of late Rajiv Gandhi(August 20), the former Prime Minister of India.

The national award for child welfare will be given to three individuals and five institutions who have worked for welfare of chidlren. The award carries Rs three lakhs and a citation to each institution and Rs one lakh and citation to each individual.

A committee constituted by the Karnataka government will select and recommend names to the Union government for conferring these awards. Prescribed applications can be obtained from the office of Deputy Director, Department of Women & Child Welfare Development in the respective districts.

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