Focus now on Swamy's funds
On March 23, even before the confidence vote, Union urban development minister Ram Jethmalani had written a letter to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee denying that he had committed FERA violations -- involving a receipt of $200,000 -- as alleged by Subramanian Swamy. This is the charge that Jayalalitha raised last week when she demanded that the Minister be dropped.
No compromise on sovereignty: ULFA
The outlawed United Liberation front of Asom (ULFA) has rejected Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's proposal for amending the Constitution in order to solve the insurgency problem of Assam. ULFA's commander-in-Chief Paresh Barua has categorically said that the outfit had never sought any solution calling for amendment of the Constitution, and that sovereignty was the only solution for the problems of Assam.
Buta's kin jumps ship, leaves fishing trawlers sinking
Five years after he sunk his hooks into the fish trawling trade off Goa's coast, former Union Minister for Communications Buta Singh's son Arvinder has jumped ship, leaving a widening wake of debts in his wake. Arvinder's Delhi-based Sarab Consulate Marine Products Pvt Ltd has also left three trawlers anchored in the Murmagao Port Trust harbour, piling up dues even as every attempt by the MMPT to trace the businessman has failed.
Sena will bury riots report, fears Bhujbal
Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council Chhagan Bhujbal has expressed apprehensions that the government may reject the findings of the Srikrishna Commission which probed the 1992-93 riots in Mumbai. The reservations follow the second continuous day the State Council witnessed filibustering and pandemonium over the government's failure to table the report.
Mamata to contest panchayat polls alone
`Miffed and agitated' over what she termed as "slander campaign by the State Bharatiya Janata Party leaders," Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee directed partymen to go it alone in the coming panchayat elections on May 28. "We prefer to fight it alone and test our strength to tolerating regular doses of insults and humiliation," she said.
Saxena gets fresh term as J&K Governor
Five more Governors, including senior BJP leader Sunder Singh Bhandari for Bihar and Girish Chandra Saxena for a new term in the sensitive border state of Jammu and Kashmir, were appointed yesterday. A Rasthrapati Bhavan communique said Bihar Governor A R Kidwai will be shifted as Governor of West Bengal while senior Akali Dal leader Darbara Singh will be the new Rajasthan Governor.
