HYDERABAD: Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) legislator Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday lambasted the ruling Telugu Desam in Andhra Pradesh for its ``lackadaisical'' approach towards redressing the problems faced by the minorities in the state. Owaisi alleged that the much-awaited bill, proposing to confer statutory status to the state minority commission, could not be passed in the state Assembly which concluded recently.

Manipur crisis

NEW DELHI: Manipur Chief Minister Reishang Keishing, who has sought resignation of State Assembly Speaker W Nipamacha Singh, on Tuesday demanded his summary expulsion from the Congress. Keishing, who left for Imphal after camping here to meet top Congress leaders in the wake of a revolt against him led by the speaker, charged Nipamacha Singh with playing the `communal card of dividing people from Manipur valley and the hills.''

SP's appeal

LUCKNOW: THE constituents of the United Front Should oppose the Bhartiya Janata Party posture instead of the Congress, General Secretary of Samajwadi Party Kapildev Singh suggested here on Tuesday. He said all the parties like Telugu Desam, DMK, CPI and CPM were speaking an anti-Congress language while the secular principles of the country demanded that they join hands against the BJP.

TDP warns BJP

HYDERABAD: The Telugu Desam Party, a key constituent of United Front, on Tuesday lambasted BJP for trying to ``engineer defections under the guise of re-alignment of political forces'' and asserted that UF would get `comfortable majority' in the event of mid-term elections. It said, ``BJP's attempts to repeat UP at the Centre will boomerang and people will teach a fitting lesson to them.''

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.