Jaya flexes muscle again
In a move that would embarrass the BJP and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha has demanded the resignation of those Union Ministers who have been charge-sheeted or have FIRs filed against them, failing which the PM should remove them from their posts. The demand is bound to create ripples in the BJP-led alliance.
CBI links Quattrocchi to Gandhi
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has opposed Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi's anticipatory bail application in the Delhi high court and said that Quattrocchi had received at least US $7.3mn as commission for pushing through the Rs 1,437 crore Bofors guns deal in 1985. The CBI, in its affidavit, has directly linked Quattrocchi to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi submitting that the two were on intimate terms.
CBI to file status report in Kesri assets case
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has said in the Delhi high court that it would file a comprehensive status report on probe into allegations that former Congress president Sitaram Kesri has amassed disproportionate assets to his income and bribed MLAs to get elected to Rajya Sabha in 1988 and 1994. The case would come up for hearing on May 21.
FM's hard-sell on BJP in US
India's new Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha has pledged that the Bharatiya Janata Party government would go ahead "full throttle" with economic reforms despite alarmist reports about the so-called swadeshi hand in the party. In the first foray by a BJP minister to foreign shores, Sinha told a highly sceptical audience of American and NRI investors that they had little to fear from the BJP.
Sanctions against Iraq may go
The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency has said that recent inspections had found no evidence of any clandestine nuclear activity by Iraq. The IAEA in a statement released said the Iraqi authorities had provided full details of its secret nuclear weapons plan, which now will boost Iraq's campaign to shut down the United Nations investigations into four categories of its banned weapons of mass destruction.
Truth prevails as Botha deal falls through
Talks on a deal to prevent former South African president P W Botha from standing trial broke down yesterday, meaning the court case would proceed. Botha, 82, faces charges of contempt for ignoring a subpoena issued by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which is investigating apartheid-era crimes. If convicted, he could receive up to two years in jail and an unspecified fine.
