Karnataka governor HR Bhardwaj denies reports about quitting office

BANGALORE: Karnataka governor HR Bhardwaj on Tuesday denied reports that he has reached out to the Congress high command expressing his desire to vacate the Raj Bhavan in the wake of NDA all set to form the government at the Centre.

"Governors are constitutional authorities and we don't bow to any political parties, at least I don't. I have maintained long distance from them ... So, where is the question of I approaching New Delhi. So, I expect the President to take a decision," he told reporters here.

Speaking on the sidelines of Bangalore University's 49th annual convocation here, he said he was appointed by the President as governor for five years and his term would expire on June 29 this year. "A governor cannot leave the state unless the Rashtrapati (President) appoints another governor."

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Congress extends support to JD(U) govt under new CM in Bihar

PATNA: Congress in Bihar on Tuesday decided to continue with "unconditional" support to JD(U) government in Bihar and handed over its letter of support to governor DY Patil.

As directed by the All India Congress Committee (AICC), a Congress delegation led by state president Ashok Choudhary met the governor and submitted the letter.

"We have handed over letter of support to the JD(U) government," Choudhary told PTI.

With the support of the four-member Congress, the numbers for the new JD(U) government has increased to 124 in the assembly whose effective strength at present is 239.

Asked about the chances of Congress joining the new ministry to be led by Jitan Ram Manjhi, he said there was no instruction from the Congress leadership.

State Congress vice-president and media in charge Prem Chand Mishra said Congress support to a secular government in Bihar was "unconditional."

Congress legislature party leader Sadanand Singh said, "We are continuing our support to JD(U) after it severed ties with BJP."

Congress has four members in the assembly at present and three members including PCC chief Ashok Choudhary in the Legislature Council.

With Nitish Kumar turning down the plea to withdraw his resignation as chief minister and choosing Manjhi as his successor on Tuesday, a JD(U) delegation had handed over a letter of support of 117 JD(U) MLAs, 2 Independents and 1 CPI to the governor while staking claim to form the government.

Congress had bailed out JD(U) ministry in Bihar after Nitish Kumar had broken up with BJP in June last year.

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Tamil Nadu starts work on increasing Mullaperiyar dam level to 142 feet

THENI (Tamil Nadu): Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday began work on increasing the Mullaiperiyar dam level to 142 feet as per the orders of the Supreme Court, with a 12-member team taking up shutter renovation work.

In the first step, efforts would be taken to operate the shutters manually as well as power motors. The work would take one week for completion official sources said, adding, already work was on to mark the maximum dam level of 142 feet.

The Supreme Court had on May 7 struck down a law promulgated by Kerala Government declaring Mullaperiyar dam as endangered and restrained it from obstructing Tamil Nadu government to raise the water level.

The apex court had held that the dam was safe and allowed the Tamil Nadu Government to raise the water-level to 142 feet and ultimately to 152 feet after completion of strengthening measures on the dam.

Tamil Nadu and Kerala have for long been at loggerheads over the dam safety issue. While Tamil Nadu contended that the dam was safe and its water-level had to be raised, Kerala had maintained that the structure was weak and needed to be replaced.

The dam is situated in Thekkady District in Kerala and is owned and operated by the Tamil Nadu.

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Jitan Ram Manjhi, a mahadalit, becomes Bihar's new chief minister

PATNA: Once a clerk in Posts and Telegraph department, Jitan Ram Manjhi, a 'mahadalit' who was picked by Nitish Kumar to lead Bihar, is an old hand in the state's politics with stints as minister in Congress, RJD and JD(U) governments since 1980.

Mr Manjhi, a six-time MLA who was elected from Makhdumpur reserved constituency in Jehanabad district, was minister for SC & ST Welfare in the outgoing Nitish Kumar government.

Known for maintaining low profile, Mr. Manjhi had been instrumental in Mr. Kumar's reaching out to 'mahadalits'.

Mr Kumar had created this subsection within Dalits sans the Paswan caste to tap the support from this numerically strong section. Mr. Manjhi's own caste 'Mushar' was recently designated as 'mahadalit' by the state government.

Mr Manjhi is credited with popularising radio among the 'mahadalits' so that they could be made aware of government programmes for weaker sections.

Born on October 6, 1944 at Mahkar village in Gaya district, Mr Manjhi's father Ramjit Ram was an agricultural labourer. Mr Manjhi himself was put to work in the fields by landlords during his childhood days.

But as a child he had a passion for education. With encouragement provided by his father and a tutor hired for a rich landlord children, Mr Manjhi completed studies till class 7 without attending school.

He then took admission in a High School and went on to graduate in History from Gaya College in 1967. During his student days he was active CPI member.

Mr Manjhi took up the job of clerk with Posts and Telegraph department in 1968 but quit it in 1980 to join Congress.

That year he won on Congress ticket from Fatehpur (Reserved) Assembly constituency and became a deputy minister of welfare in 1983 in the government of Chandra Shekhar Singh.

He was also member of Congress government of Bindeswari Dubey.

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Shinzo Abe calls Narendra Modi, invites him to Japan

NEW DELHI: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called Narendra Modi and invited him to Japan to continue the annual bilateral summit meetings.

In reply, Modi said he has "a wonderful experience of working with you, and I would like to cooperate with you to take India-Japan ties to newer heights from now on".

"I appreciate your inviting me to visit Japan. I look forward to meeting you," Modi said.

In their telephone talk on Monday, Abe congratulated Modi on the "historic victory" of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the general elections.

He said Japan and India share fundamental values and strategic interests as the two biggest democratic countries in Asia "and I believe Japan-India relationship is blessed with the largest potential for development of any bilateral relationship anywhere in the world", according to a statement from the Japanese embassy.

He expressed his wish to work closely with Modi "towards further development of the 'Japan-India Strategic and Global Partnership'" and invited him to Japan to continue the annual summit meetings.

Modi thanked him for the congratulatory statement, and remarked that "Japan has made a significant contribution to the development of India".

"I would like to express my deep gratitude to the Japanese people and the Japanese government," Modi said.

"Japan and India are traditionally tied with common cultural values, and we are recently promoting our mutual strategic partnership. India is facing various problems domestically and internationally, but I will work to squarely address these problems since we are given a clear mandate by the people of India," the statement quoted him as saying.

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Broadcasters' body turns down Jindal plea against Zee

NEW DELHI: The News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) has declined industrialist Naveen Jindal's plea for restricting Zee TV from airing news reports against him and his company.

In an order, the NBSA — an independent body set up by the News Broadcasters Association — said it would not entertain the complaint as the matter was already pending before Delhi High Court.

On March 18, Jindal had filed a complaint with Election Commission against Zee News, Zee Business and Zee News (UP) channels with regard to the content of certain news broadcasts of March 7, 10 and 16 and sought its intervention to restrict airing of allegedly misleading news items against him and his company.

EC had forwarded the complaint to the News Broadcasters Association so that NBSA could consider the same and take appropriate action.

Responding to a notice, Zee Media Corporation Ltd informed NBSA that Jindal had filed a suit before Delhi high court on the same issue and that the court had declined to grant the temporary injunction as sought by the industrialist.

Citing a provision in its regulation, NBSA in the order said it would not be able to entertain the complaint as the suit is already pending before Delhi high court.

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Sonia, Rahul offer to resign from Congress posts after defeat, party refuses

NEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia and vice-president Rahul Gandhi offered to resign from their party posts following its drubbing in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha election. However, party members have refused to accept their resignation.

Former Punjab CM and senior Congress leader Amrinder Singh said, "Sonia and Rahul offered to resign, but the Congress Working Committee rejected it."

Earlier on Monday, Ahmed Patel, Sonia's Gandhi's political secretary said "all, including myself, are responsible for the party's loss."

"How can you blame any individual for this result? It is the collective responsibility of both the party and the government. All, including myself, are responsible for the party's loss," Patel has said in the wake of resentment in the party at the way Rahul ran the election campaign.

Sonia and Rahul appeared before the media on Friday and took personal responsibility for the drubbing that left the party with just 44 seats in a House of 543, a huge climbdown from 206 seats it had in the outgoing 15th Lok Sabha.

Meanwhile, party leader Manish Tewari said the resignation of the party leadership in the wake of the poll debacle is not the way forward.

(With inputs from PTI)

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Broadcasters' body turns down Naveen Jindal's plea against Zee

NEW DELHI: The News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) has declined industrialist Naveen Jindal's plea for restricting Zee TV from airing news reports against him and his company.

In an order, the NBSA — an independent body set up by the News Broadcasters Association — said it would not entertain the complaint as the matter was already pending before Delhi High Court.

On March 18, Jindal had filed a complaint with Election Commission against Zee News, Zee Business and Zee News (UP) channels with regard to the content of certain news broadcasts of March 7, 10 and 16 and sought its intervention to restrict airing of allegedly misleading news items against him and his company.

EC had forwarded the complaint to the News Broadcasters Association so that NBSA could consider the same and take appropriate action.

Responding to a notice, Zee Media Corporation Ltd informed NBSA that Jindal had filed a suit before Delhi high court on the same issue and that the court had declined to grant the temporary injunction as sought by the industrialist.

Citing a provision in its regulation, NBSA in the order said it would not be able to entertain the complaint as the suit is already pending before Delhi high court.

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Australian woman on voyage around the world reach Tamil Nadu coast; police question her after false alarm

CHENNAI: Police questioned a 30-year-old woman, hailing from Australia, after she entered villages near the Pulicat Lake on the Tamil Nadu and Andhra coast.

The woman, Sandra Helen Robson, who started her voyage in Germany in 2011, met the fishermen of Andikuppam Sembasi Kuppam. Fishermen suspected her and informed police. Police teams from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh rushed to the place and questioned the woman.

The woman was allowed to continue her travel after she produced her documents for entering the Indian territory.

It may be recalled that a man from Bangladesh was arrested recently when he entered the Ennore Port near Chennai without valid visa.

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Income Tax case against Jayalalithaa: Chennai court adjourns proceedings to June 3

CHENNAI: The court of additional chief metropolitan magistrate, economic offences, in Chennai on Monday adjourned the income tax case against Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa and her aide Sasikala Natarajan to June 3 for fixing a date for their appearance.

On April 28, the court adjourned the matter to May 19 for fixing a date for appearance of the accused for questioning and answering the charges. It asked for submission of the Supreme Court's clarification petition which had granted an extension period of three months starting from June 6 to complete the proceedings.

When the case came up for hearing on Monday (May 19), B Kumar, counsel for the Jayalalithaa, requested the court to adjourn the matter as his mother had expired. "Because of death of my mother, I am not in a position to appear before the court till June 1," he said.

The counsel filed a copy of the Supreme Court order extending the time limit for disposing the case for another three months from June 6.

Additional chief metropolitan magistrate (economic offences) R Dakshinamurthy adjourned the case to June 3.

The income tax department had filed a criminal case against erstwhile Sasi Enterprises and its partners -- Jayalalithaa and Sasikala -- for their failure to file returns for two consecutive years (1991-92 and 1992-93). The Income Tax department alleged that they had committed offences punishable under provision of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

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