Main Page                                                 Archive

Rahul targets Mulayam in his maiden remarks in LS

     New Delhi: Congress MP from Amethi and Nehru-Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi today made his maiden comments in the Lok Sabha. In his first and much awaited active participation in the House, Rahul targeted the Mulayam Singh government in Uttar Pradesh. The young MP took up the cause of the UP sugarcane farmers. He demanded that the Mulayam Singh government pay arrears of over Rs 500 crore to the farmers. Raising the issue during the zero hour, he asked the state government to comply with the Supreme Court direction on payment of arrears of sugarcane growers in the state. He further said that the state authorities had told the Apex Court that private sugar mill owners did not owe anything to cane growers. As against this, he further said, the Cane Commissioner of the state had told a TV channel that arrears to the tune of Rs 517 crore in 2002-03 have not been paid to poor farmers. Rahul wanted the state government to comply with the direction of the Apex Court on the payment of arrears. Later, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee complimented Ragul for his first remarks in the House.

Musharraf's son extends invitation to Rahul (Go To Top)

    New Delhi: Bilal Musharraf, son of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, has invited Rahul Gandhi, the son of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, to visit Pakistan after they met here at the weekend. According to The News, the meeting reportedly took place in a congenial atmosphere between the two was arranged by Foreign Minister Natwar Singh and lasted about 45 minutes.

CBI raids former UP chief secretary's house (Go To Top)

     Lucknow: Residences of former UP Chief Secretary Akhand Pratap Singh were raided on Monday by sleuths of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with several cases of corruption and a disproportionate assets case. Raids were still being conducted at seven residences of Singh and his relatives throughout the country including one at New Delhi and at a farm house in Nainital. A 40-member investigation team raided two of the residences of the former senior official in Lucknow. The raid began at 5.30 a.m. this morning. CBI sources here did not disclose the details of the raid, but said they had orders from New Delhi to do so. Singh resigned as Chief Secretary in October 2003 after a PIL was filed against an extension given to him by the Mulayam Singh Yadav government. The former chief secretary had also lodged a writ against Sharat Pradhan, a journalist, who had filed the PIL on the illegal extension given to him. In its direction on the PIL, the Supreme court had asked the State Government not to give the extension, as it violated the norms. Pradhan later wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to investigate into the corrupt practises indulged by the former chief secretary during his tenure.

---