New Delhi, May 21, 2009
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Talks fail: DMK to give
outside support to UPA
New
Delhi: The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) today announced that it would now
give outside support to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government after
talks failed on the issue of ministerial berths in the Cabinet. "Congress' proposal
is not acceptable to us. There was no formula on establishment of government in
2004. The DMK has decided to offer support to the Congress from outside," senior
DMK leader TR. Balu told reporters here. According to sources, Congress' refusal
to hand over the crucial Telecom and infrastructure related portfolios to the
DMK was the stumbling block. Earlier, stuck by 'berth' pangs, the Congress was
grappling with other allies like the Trinamool Congress (TC) who were doing hard
negotiations to get plum portfolios as Manmohan Singh gets ready to be sworn in
on Friday for a second consecutive term as Prime Minister. On a day of conflicting
reports, the DMK with 18 MPs, the third largest constituent in the UPA coalition,
was said to be demanding three Cabinet portfolios, two Ministers of State with
independent charge and two at the Ministers of State level. DMK chief Karunanidhi's
son MK Azhagiri, his grand nephew Dayanidhi Maran and TR Baalu are among the Cabinet
probables from the party while his daughter Kanimozhi is among the likely candidates
for the MOS slot. Reports said the Congress was keen to give two Cabinet berths,
four MOS slots including two with independent charge. Mediators were trying to
work out the final modalities of an agreement.
Five
Infosys employees killed in Belgaum bus accident Top
Bangalore:
Five employees of the Infosys were killed and eight others injured when their
bus overturned in Belgaum District of Karnataka on Tuesday. The incident occurred
when the driver of the bus in which they were travelling lost control while negotiating
a sharp curve. According to police, the deceased were on their way to Pune after
finishing training. The bus was carrying a total of 43 passengers. All the injured
were admitted to the KLE hospital in Belgaum. The deceased have been identified
as Tushar Aggarwal, Agnivesh (Bihar), Ankita (Delhi), Rakshit Malhotra, (Noida).
The fifth person is yet to be identified.
Sixteen
policemen killed in Naxal attack in Maharashtra Top
Nagpur:
Sixteen policemen were killed in a naxal attack at Tawitola area of Gadchiroli
District in Maharashtra on Thursday. The attack took place when a police party
was on a routine patrolling. According to police, Inspector Avinash Iyer and Sub
Inspector Shantaram Ghorpade along with five to six women constables were killed
in the attack.
Somnath
Chatterjee hospitalized Top
New
Delhi: Following a chest congestion, outgoing Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee
was admitted to the Army's research and referral hospital here on Thursday. His
condition is said to be stable and he has been advised complete bed rest for a
few days. According to sources, Chatterjee was brought to the hospital at around
3 pm and is undergoing treatment under a chest physician.
Children 'being kidnapped from Sri Lanka
refugee camps' Top
Colombo:
Children are reportedly being abducted from refugee camps in Sri Lanka, apparently
with the tacit approval of the Rajapaksa government, human rights groups have
claimed. The Telegraph quoted The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
as saying that it had received verified reports of child abductions from camps
in the main resettlement area of Vavuniya, often by paramilitary Tamil groups.
Children as young as 12 are among those taken, the coalition said, suggesting
that paramilitaries - who had allied with the military in the fight against the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) - are being used to identify and weed
out former Tiger child soldiers. The paramilitary groups have been allowed "unhindered"
access to the camps that are tightly guarded by government troops, it said. The
Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers is an umbrella group of global organizations
that includes Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. "The motive is slightly
unclear," said Charu Lata Hogg, a spokeswoman for the groups. The military declared
its final victory over the LTTE on Monday, ending a decades-old conflict that
has claimed up to 100,000 lives.
Shibu
Soren's eldest son passes away Top
Bokaro:
Durga Soren, the eldest son of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren
passed away here on Thursday. According to family sources, Durga died due to kidney
failure. The 39-year-old former JMM MLA is survived by wife and three daughters.
Durga was immediately rushed to the Bokara General Hospital after he complained
of uneasiness. Doctors at the hospital declared him brought dead. Durga had contested
from Godda Lok Sabha seat in the recently concluded elections.
Sehwag, Gambhir shine in Delhi Daredevils
victory over Mumbai Indians Top
Centurion:
Delhi Daredevils skipper Verender Sehwag and opener Gautam Gambhir led their
team to a thumping victory over Mumbai Indians on Thursday. Delhi Daredevils won
the toss and elected to field first. Mumbai made a shaky start, losing three quick
wickets -- Sanath Jayasuriya (0), J. P. Duminy (9) and Mohammad Ashraful (2) --
as they stuttered to 31 for 3 in the first six overs. Tendulkar played a captain's
knock and scored 46 off 41 deliveries with eight fours. But best knock of the
inning was played by Ajinkya Rahane who scored 56 off 41 deliveries with five
fours and two sixes. Mumbai Indians scored 165 for the loss of eight wickets in
20 overs. Chasing a victory target of 166, Delhi Daredevils got to a cracking
start when its openers Gambhir and David Warner scored 36 runs in just 3.3 overs.
The partnership broke when Warner mistimed a Dhawal Kulkarni delivery to Mohammad
Asharful's hand. After Warner's departure, Gambhir and Sehwag took their team
to a score of 104. Gambhir scored 47 of 38 deliveries with seven fours. Sehwag
played a cracking knock after a long time and hit five fours and two sixes in
his 27 balls- 50 runs knock. For Mumbai Indians, Harbhajan Singh took four wickets.
No accord on
Cabinet formation; President-PM meet cancelled Top
New
Delhi: A meeting that was scheduled for Thursday morning between President
Pratibha Devisingh Patil and the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, has been
cancelled owing to the continuing deadlock in talks between the United Progressive
Alliance (UPA) allies and the Congress over allocation of key ministries. A television
channel report said that President Patil and Prime Minister Singh were to discuss
details of the swearing-in ceremony at 10.30 am at Rashtrapati Bhawan. The Prime
Minister was expected to submit his list of ministers to be sworn in with him
tomorrow (May 22). Dr Singh along with the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi staked
claim to form the new government on Wednesday after submitting letters of support
from 322 members.
It's
Congress’ prerogative to allocate portfolios: Mamata Top
New
Delhi: Trinamool Congress (TC) chief Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that
it was the Congress’ prerogative to allocate portfolios. “Let the Congress decide
who gets what? We have not made any specific demand. Won’t mind if I don’t get
a Cabinet berth,” Banerjee said after attending the meeting of the pre-poll allies
of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) here. Mamata, who was unanimously elected
leader of the TC parliamentary party on Monday, has already stated that her party
would not bargain for portfolios.
Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Praful Patel said the seat-sharing
deal has not been cracked as yet. Patel further said that one more round of negotiation
is left. Meanwhile, after a third round of negotiations between the Congress and
the DMK, the latter has come up with a demand of three Cabinet berths, two Minister
of State with Independent Charge berths and two Minister of State. The Congress,
on the other hand, is willing to give six berths, including two Cabinet berths,
three Minister of State berths and one Minister of State with Independent Charge
berth. Earlier, both had arrived at a formula that could end the deadlock over
who from the DMK would make it to the Union Cabinet. The Congress negotiation
team comprises Pranab Mukherjee, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ahmed Patel, while the DMK
team includes M. Karunanidhi, TR Balu and others.
Naveen
Patnaik sworn in as Orissa Chief Minister Top
Bhubaneshwar:
Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Naveen Patnaik was sworn in as Chief Minister
of Orissa on Thursday for the third consecutive term. State Governor M C Bhandare
administered the oath of office and secrecy to Patnaik at Raj Bhavan. In the recently
held State and Lok Sabha elections, the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD registered a thumping
victory. In the State Assembly elections, it won 103 of the 147 seats. However,
in the Lok Sabha elections, which the BJD contested without its former alliance
partner BJP for over a decade, the party won 14 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the
state.
Indian
envoys meet Sri Lankan President Top
Colombo:
India’s National Security Advisor MK Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar
Menon on Thursday met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and sought a political
solution to the Tamil question. Narayanan and Menon, who met Rajapaksa at a closed
door breakfast meeting at his Temple Trees residence here, offered India’s help
in the reconstruction effort following elimination of the LTTE. According to officials,
both sides have discussed post-conflict reconstruction in Sri Lanka following
the defeat of the LTTE. There is also a demand for the death certificate of Prabhakaran,
which may be used as part of the investigation into Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination
case. The war between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan Government lasted for over three
decades and claimed over a lakh lives. It ended with the death of LTTE supremo
V. Prabhakaran in a firefight in northern Sri Lanka three days ago. India has
prepared a Rs. 500 crore rehabilitation package for the displaced people in Sri
Lanka. The Prime Minister has already announced a Rs. 100-crore relief package
for Lankan Tamils in addition to the Rs. 25 crore aid given by Tamil Nadu government.
India has been asking Sri Lanka to take political steps to ensure “effective devolution
of power” so that Tamils in the island nation could live with dignity. Ahead of
their visit, Narayanan met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and briefed
him about the developments in Sri Lanka. Narayanan said that India’s primary concern
is to ensure that Sri Lankan Tamil civilians are taken care of.
LTTE cadres were unaware of plan to assassinate
Rajiv: Col `Karuna' Top
Colombo:
The former commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam's eastern forces,
Colonel `Karuna'' has said that he has no doubt about the fact that LTTE supremo
V Prabhakaran has been killed and added that he would like to apologise personally
to the Gandhi family for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
In an interview to a television channel, Colonel `Karuna' said: "I have been with
him (Prabhakaran) for so many years so there was no doubt. I checked the body...
That was definitely Prabhakaran, there is no doubt about that. Now they have found
Prabhakaran's family's bodies as well. I feel very sorry for them because they
had nothing to do with this. He could have sent them away to India or somewhere.
His decision to stay back was fine because he was the leader of the LTTE." He
rubbished news that the pictures shown on television screens were computer graphics
or plastic surgery. "I want to go to India and would like to meet Rahul Gandhi
or Priyanka Gandhi. I would like to have a talk with Sonia Gandhi. I would also
like to talk to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister. I want to explain to them our past
experiences and future plans," he said. As far as Rajiv Gandhi's assassination
was concerned, he said Prabhakaran took that decision without consulting anybody.
"We did not know about it. Now, the LTTE is finished, so the matter is closed.
We could not do anything those days. That is why I changed and broke away from
the LTTE. Now I would like to do a lot of things through political channels,"
Colonel `Karuna' said.
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