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JULY 5
Jaya blows cold, BJP gets a breather
Though the AIADMK has been forced to eat humble pie, the last word might not have been said in what has now turned out to be a war-of -nerves between Jayalalitha and the BJP leadership.
MPCC chief Deshmukh goes for Pradhan's defeat, showcause issued to 12 Maharashtra MLAs
In a major crackdown on dissidents following the defeat of its official nominee in the recent Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra, the Congress leadership has accepted the resignation of Pradesh Congress Committee president Ranjit Deshmukh, a close associate of Sharad Pawar. The party also suspended a legislator, Nagpur's Satish Chaturvedi, from its primary membership.
Parliament okays hefty pay hike for judges
High court and Supreme Court judges will draw the revised pay with effect from January 1, 1996.
Indo-Pak exchange fire again; 17 killed in Kashmir
Three Pakistani infiltrators and eight foreign militants among the dead.
Pak fire in Kashmir has lessened: army chief
"It is not as much as it was a couple of days back," Chief of Army Staff General V P Malik said in New Delhi.
THE NUCLEAR CRISIS
Vajpayee steps up diplomatic offensive
Former prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral will meet United
Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan in New York on July 8 to
explain India's security concerns and South Asia's security scenario. Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Jaswant Singh will hold a second round of talks with US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbot in Frankfurt next week.
Pakistan to keep option open on test ban treaty
Asked whether there was any departure from Pakistan's earlier
position of linking its signing of CTBT and NPT to that of India's,
foreign ministry spokesman Tariq Altaf said, ''There cannot be any linkages in a watertight
sense.''
Jiang calls on India, Pak to sign NPT
The Chinese president urged both countries to refrain from future nuclear tests.
Defence ministry denies reports of Chinese skipping border meet
A ministry statement described such reports as ''factually incorrect and misleading'', and said the flag meeting, hosted by the Chinese, was held at Spanggur in Ladakh at the convenience of both sides on June 29 in a cordial and friendly atmosphere.
India and US should clear the air through talks, says Abid Hussain
The primary reason for an estrangement of relations between
the two countries is due to a lack of awareness of each
other's security perceptions, the former diplomat said
in Pune on Friday.
CIA plans ways to avoid being caught off-guard again
As part of the solution, the agency plans to get outside teams to challenge its assumptions.
THE REDIFF SPECIAL
Face to face with terror
Social activist Sanjay Ghose was abducted by ULFA cadres. A month later, the organisation confessed that Ghose had died a couple of days after being kidnapped. Days before his abduction, he was writing a piece in which he recounted the struggle of his colleagues on a remote river island in Assam.
THE REDIFF COLUMNISTS
Why Amma Didn't Do It
'Two women, both middle-aged, one trim, the other, er, matronly -- well, they
saved the country from another change of government last week. Under discussion are -- yep, you are right! -- Congress president Sonia
Gandhi and AIADMK matriarch Jayalalitha Jayaram'. Capital Buzz. Political gossip from the Delhi Durbar.
Lord of the class
'I vividly remember one of the monitors of my class. She was Lily Peters, not very intelligent, not very attractive. But there was some mysterious quality in her which drew the other girls to her like a magnet. Lily Peters, even before becoming the monitor, reigned over the class like a queen,' says V Gangadhar.
Assam: More areas sink as the Brahmaputra rises
Maharashtra: No-confidence motion likely against Sena-BJP government
Tamil Nadu: New cop-led wing to check video threat to film industry
TODAY'S WEATHER
Monsoon claims two more in Karnataka
Rain related incidents have taken 13 lives in Udupi district alone.
JULY 4
All-party meet to debate Mulayam's 'no' to women's quota Bill
The government will not accept 'any dilution' to the proposed Bill, providing reservation for women in Parliament and state legislatures. 'If the suggestions are to strengthen the Bill, we will consider them,' said Parliamentary Affairs
Minister Madan Lal Khurana.
Centre sets up panel on state loan waiver
The commission will be headed by Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhaironsingh Shekhawat.
RS members plead for electoral reforms
Rajya Sabha members stressed the dire need for electoral reforms to
do away with the growing role of muscle and money power in
elections.
Warrant issued against Suresh Prabhu in bank fraud case
Non-bailable warrant issued against the Union environment and forests minister after a cheque worth Rs 200,000 from his company bounces.
Moopanar rules out supporting Congress if it took AIADMK support
Considering that the Congress is secular, the TMC would extend support to it for the formation of an alternative government, the party president said.
Fragile tie-ups inject uncertainty into TN politics
Both the MDMK and the PMK have sworn by the AIADMK-led combine, but their public pronouncements not to align with the Congress are likely to make Jayalalitha review her attitude towards the BJP.
Maharashtra crisis threatens Sonia's hold
over Congress
The Congress president's handling of l'affaire Ram Pradhan -- letting go of the big fish and focusing on legislators -- could embolden those chafing under her peculiar style of leadership.
BJP government poses no
threat to nation or religion, says Farooq
''Dr Farooq Abdullah will not become Hindu merely because the
BJP government is in power in Delhi,'' the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said.
AP women declare war on Naxals
The menfolk in Andhra Pradesh may well shiver at the mention of the dreaded Naxalite outfit, the People's War Group, but the weaker sex is made of stronger stuff. The tribals of Peddamallapuram in East Godavari took the lead, banning PWG militants from entering their turf -- and when a couple of PWG activists defied the ban, going so far as to give chase, capture them, tie them to trees and thrash them within an inch of their lives.
Kavi Pradeep wins Dadasaheb Phalke award
''I am very happy. Let me recover from the shock first,'' said the
poet and lyricist who penned Aye mere watan ke logon.
Rasheeda leaves for Maldives
The Maldivian national, absolved by the Supreme Court of any guilt in the sensational ISRO spy scandal case, left Thiruvananthapuram for her home country on Friday after a 43-month-long ordeal.
THE NUCLEAR CRISIS
Letter bomb: Yeltsin offers arms for CTBT
President Boris Yeltsin has written another letter to Prime Minister A B Vajpayee. He insists that continued military co-operation between the two countries would be possible only if India signs the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. "India is sure to resist the Russian offer. But we will be badly hit if Russia asks India to repay the (Rs 281 billion) loans in one go," an official said.
Experts pick holes in runaway Pak scientist's claims
Michael Krepon, of the Henry L Stimsom Center in Washington, was
particularly sceptical of Iftikhar Chaudhry Khan's report that at a meeting on April 25, Gen Jehangir Karamat, Pakistan's chief of army
staff, gave the go-ahead for a nuclear attack on New Delhi, after
hearing intelligence reports indicating that an Indian attack on
Pakistan's nuclear sites might be imminent.
Krepon dismissed the account, and described Karamat as a
''most level-headed, cautious, buttoned-down individual".
Japan does not recognise India, Pak as N-weapon states
''The Indian government has not asked for that kind of a recognition and we do not recognise them as nuclear states,'' Japanese Ambassador Hiroshi Hirabayashi said.
THE REDIFF COLUMNISTS
The Unbearable Unimportance of Being India
'Will not a temple now harm India's
global image, its quest for superpower status? If the BJP is really keen to
make India a great power, it must be firm with the
VHP, fight for economic reforms, be tactful
in its diplomatic negotiations. Some of these moves might
not go down well with its allies and friends, and might turn out to be politically expensive,' says Amberish K Diwanji.
The middle-aged woman in no hurry!
'Sonia Gandhi doesn't trust Sharad Pawar and doesn't like Jayalalitha. Pawar woos the AIADMK chief but fears Sonia Gandhi is out to get him. Jayalalitha doesn't approve of Dr Manmohan Singh and is openly contemptuous of Sonia Gandhi. Even assuming that the Vajpayee ministry falls, this is not the foundation for a stable government. Which is why the energetic Subramanian Swamy is trying to manoeuvre Chandra Shekhar back to Race Course road,' says T V R Shenoy.
Andhra Pradesh: 3 ISI men arrested in Hyderabad
Maharashtra: Differences crop up between Naik's outfit and Congress
Maharashtra: Jain muni murder case transferred to CID
Rajasthan: Former maharaja demands Maru Pradesh state
TODAY'S WEATHER
Wet spell to continue in Kerala, Konkan...
Heavy rains will also occur at a few places in
Goa, Gangetic West Bengal, Orissa, South Rajasthan,
West Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, coastal Andhra Pradesh and coastal
Karnataka in the next 48 hours.
JULY 3
BJP to face stormy session
While the Opposition parties led by the Congress chalked out their
strategy on Thursday to grill the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government for its failures on all fronts, the signals from the coalition's biggest ally -- the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham - have been confusing. The BJP leadership is still apprehensive that Jayalalitha might rattle the government during the Budget session, which begins on Friday, by pulling out the two AIADMK ministers from the coalition.
Jaya, Sonia talk may have affected AIADMK's plans
If sources are to be believed, Jayalalitha had talked to the Congress president during mid-week, if only to confirm for herself, the reported feelers that the party was sending in, for the formation of an alternative government at the Centre. What she heard from the other end did not encourage her into taking a bold step, it is learnt.
Jaya's MPs will boycott Parliament
Indications are that the AIADMK parliamentary group is likely to meet in Madras either on Friday or on Saturday, to take stock of the evolving political situation, and help party chief Jayalalitha take a decision on the future of their ties with the Vajpayee government.
Congress not to move no-confidence motion
Senior Congress leader Sharad Pawar has said his
party is not in a hurry to capture power or topple
the Vajpayee government but would go all out to
expose its anti-people policies.
Sangma says threat to BJP comes from within, not AIADMK
The Congress Working Committee member feels Advani is the real the power-centre, not Vajpayee. Advani, apparently, is being 'activated by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh'.
Govt will not fall unless Congress pulls the rug: Chidambaram
Industry Minister Sikander Bakht said things are not really unstable even as former prime minister I K Gujral urged the Congress to form a government.
Chief whip apologises for remarks against Mata Amritanandamayi
The Opposition had instantly reacted against T K Hamza's speech. State BJP president C K Padmanabhan termed it as an aggression against Hindu leaders and their devotees. ''Never before had spiritual persons been insulted in such a manner in the legislature," he added.
Sheila Kaul summoned in accommodation scam
The case relates to out-of-turn allotment of government accommodation, shops and stalls.
Sikkim to be inducted into NEC
Union Home Minister Advani informed Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling that the Centre has in principle decided to induct the state into the North Eastern Council.
THE NUCLEAR CRISIS
Fugitive Pak scientist lays bare plans to nuke Indian sites
Dr Iftikhar Chaudhry Khan, who fled to the United States to seek political asylum, has said that Pakistan has deployed nuclear weapons along its border with India and its warheads are ready. He said the plan also included attack on Indian nuclear sites,
using Pakistan's intermediate range missiles.
Another $ 300 m WB loan
The aid will benefit women and child development projects in Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
THE REDIFF COLUMNISTS
The Great Indian Soap Opera
'Could the Congress split? Well, it has split so many times that... But Sharad Pawar's joining the BJP or the Yadavs does seem farfetched. The Great Maratha Milquetoast, with his umpteen comebacks, can't be such a dork. Or so one thinks,' says Varsha Bhosle.
New Delhi:Delhi gets 'A-1' terminal, more dream ventures planned
•
Starry days for Vajpayee, gloomy ones for Swamy
On a rainy day in Delhi last week, 60 scholars, all stargazers of one sort or other, gathered around a crystal ball to look into Vajpayee's future. After much squinting and staring and hmm-ing and hah-ing, the group arrived at a unanimous conclusion...
TODAY'S WEATHER
Monsoon death toll in Kerala reaches 42
Rain related incidents claim three more lives
as the Southwest monsoon rages in the state.
JULY 2
Pant may head NSC
The prime minister's first choice is said to be Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Jaswant Singh. But as Singh is likely to be inducted as the external affairs minister, A B Vajpayee is keen on elevating the former defence minister.
Pak guns finally fall silent along LoC
In the last week, seven people, including three army
personnel, were killed, 23 others injured and over two dozen houses,
a police station and two vehicles damaged
in firing in Jammu and Kashmir's Gurez, Karnah,
Keran, Uri, Kargil and Kamalkote sectors.
Shelling is part of our life, say Kargil residents
"We want the government to provide us with fortified bunkers -- not homes. After all, bunkers are far safer for us, and it is high time the government started thinking of providing us what we want, instead of dumping house-building materials on us," says Ghulam Mohammad, headman of Kargil.
Work on controversial Ayodhya temple slows down
Even ten years won't be enough to complete work, say workers, who have reduced in number due to the low pay.
JD to support a Congress Govt
Former Union minister and senior Janata Dal leader S R Bommai today said his party would support the Congress in forming a government at the Centre provided the President invites it after the fall of the Vajpayee government.
Bad communication sealed Kandla's fate
The Ahmedabad IMD telegram warning of the cyclone came in six days late; also, the KPT, usually responsible for the evacuation of people, passed the buck to the Gandhidham police. As we said, bad communication.
J&K finances in a mess
The state coffers are empty. The Farooq Abdullah government is not in a position to foot the salary bill of employees. The Centre has agreed to reimburse security-related expenditure. But redemption seems far...
Speaker, judge exchange notices in Assam
The accusation against the session judge was that the latter had failed to inform the speaker before issuing orders to arrest a Congress MLA. The judge found it not obligatory as the arrest was in connection with a criminal case.
After 8 years in Indian prison, 84-year-old Pakistani returns home
Following the intervention of the National Human
Rights Commission, Sazwara Khan, imprisoned in
India since June 1990, has been repatriated to
his homeland.
New minister sought for traditional systems of medicine, PM may comply
Assuring better budgetary support, Vajpayee has said good health of people is a pre-requisite for the nation's well-being.
THE NUCLEAR CRISIS
Alleged scientist says he'll spill the beans on Pak N-programme
Iftikhar Chaudhry Khan says he fears the next Indo-Pak war could be an atomic one.
Pakistan to delink its N-policy from India's
Pakistan's foreign secretary has told the BBC that a decision on signing CTBT is likely.
'Third party solutions are undesirable in principle and impossible in practice'
Former prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral takes strong exception to the joint statement of United States President
Bill Clinton and Chinese leader Jiang
Zemin on the South Asian security
scenario.
THE REDIFF COLUMNISTS
The Forbidden Fruit
'Containing a nuclear India has become the common cause of China and America. Asia will not benefit from a Cold War between Beijing and Washington, but it also cannot afford to let China have a free run of the region. A weaponised India could restore the equilibrium in Asia, though it will be hard to build a consensus for the idea,' says Venu Menon.
On The Outside, Looking Inside: What's There To See?
'Why do I travel? Oddly enough, the more I do it, the more unsure I find I am of an answer. Of course, there are the easy answers: to see new places, new cultures, different people, unusual animals and scenery. But somehow, it's not enough of a reason any more,' says Dilip D'Souza.
Orissa: Patnaik revokes suspension of 5 BJD MLAs
TODAY'S WEATHER
More rains expected in Kerala
Heavy rains are also likely in Andaman
and Nicobar Islands, Orissa, west Madhya
Pradesh, south Gujarat, Konkan, Goa, coastal
Andhra Pradesh and coastal Karnataka during the next
48 hours.
JULY 1
Jaya cuts off contact
Faced with an unsympathetic BJP and a hard-to-get Congress party, AIADMK chief Jayalalitha has become incommunicado. Neither those who claim to be close to her, nor her MPs, or the local BJP leadership in Madras, know what's going on in her mind.
Indrajit Gupta non-committal on supporting Congress
''Why should I say (anything on the issue) at this stage? I don't want to jump miles ahead. Besides, they (Congress) are not insisting and I don't see any chance of their forming the government,'' the former home minister said.
No one can impose conditions on us, says Sangma
Regarding the possibility of coalition partners imposing
strict conditions on the Congress during government formation, the former Lok Sabha speaker said there was no scope
for conditions. The Congress was not willing to topple the
government, he said, it was the other way round. The smaller
partners wanted the Congress to lead the next government,
and so they could not afford to slap any conditions.
New government too will be unstable, says Karunanidhi
The Tamil Nadu chief minister on Tuesday
said any alternate government formed at the Centre, in the event of
the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government falling, will not be able to
guarantee stability.
Sangh Parivar does not rule out mid-term elections
A high-level meeting, held at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh's Delhi headquarters
in Jhanewalan on June 27 and 28, discussed the possibility of
a mid-term poll and, according to sources, issued
a circular asking the cadre to ready for elections
by October.
IAF to get desi AJTs
The advanced jet trainers for the Indian Air Force will be made
indigenously, the defence ministry has stated. The decision has been
taken after discussions with various vendors including the
British Aerospace, Dassault Aviation Company and a Russian company.
Fake currency a non-military threat, feels ministry of defence
India has recognised pumping in of fake currency as one of the main non-military challenges to national security and as a threat to the national economy, according to the latest annual report of the MoD.
Four new states on the anvil
Process begins to grant full statehood to Delhi and to carve out the new states of Uttarakhand, Vananchal and Chattisgarh.
Punish Pawar, he's anti-Congress: Tirpude
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sharad Pawar's criticism of the showcause notice to Congress MP Prafulla Patel was an act of indiscipline and a challenge to party president Sonia Gandhi's leadership, believes former Maharashtra deputy chief minister N K Tirpude.
Exiled Tibetans applaud Clinton's call for dialogue
Tibetan government-in-exile also praises Chinese President Jiang Zemin for publicly recognising that Tibet is an issue that needed resolution.
Nepalese MP from India shot dead
Mirza Dilshad Beg, a wanted man in India, was gunned down by unidentified assailants near his home on Monday.
THE NUCLEAR CRISIS
Secretary-level talks may resume after PMs' colombo meet
"The high-pitch rhetoric between India and Pakistan after the nuclear tests has come down considerably. We now hope that the secretary-level talks will actually take off after the Vajpayee-Sharief meeting at the SAARC summit," a senior MEA official said.
"What the SAARC summit in Male did for New Delhi and Islamabad last year, Colombo may do this year."
Resolve Kashmir or risk war, Pak tells UN
Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub has urged the United Nations to move quickly to mediate the Kashmir problem or risk a fourth war between the world's newest nuclear powers of Pakistan and India.
US senators return empty-handed from subcontinent
After two days of meeting Indian and Pakistani leaders,
senators Sam Brownback and Charles Rob -- both members of the US senate foreign relations
committee -- said it's clear that the two countries are far apart
on the most volatile issue of Kashmir.
Pak foreign secretary meets Talbott, urges US to play a leading role
An American official said the meeting was very
constructive and the process of high-level discussion with India and
Pakistan, which began with the visit of Planning Commission
deputy chairman Jaswant Singh on June 12, would continue.
Sharief goes to Gulf again...
Diplomatic sources said the Pakistan premier, who met Kuwait Prime
Minister Sheikh Saad Al Abdullah Al Sabah, is likely to seek help from
the Gulf states to tide over the crisis arising out of sanctions in Pak.
Pakistan started preparing for N-tests six days after Pokhran II
Pakistan waited six days after India
conducted its five underground nuclear tests last month before
beginning preparations for its own tests.
THE REDIFF COLUMNISTS
The goongi gudiya all over again...
'Sonia's hesitancy, her willing to strike but afraid to wound attitude, has more to do with inner-party politics than any larger cause like not soiling her hands. Specifically, the cold war between her and the most powerful satrap in her party, Sharad Pawar, is what is holding her back from openly announcing her willingness to unseat the Vajpayee government,' says Saisuresh
Sivaswamy.
THE REDIFF SPECIAL
When death came calling -- at 195 kmph!
Syed Firdaus Ashraf returns from cyclone-hit Kandla. With the tale of how nature's unpredictable fury, coupled with official incompetence, can reduce a booming port city into a ghost town. Of how the hum of industry can be replaced, in a trice, by the sobs of survivors.
Kerala: Politicians bids farewell to historic legislative council
New Delhi: Mange Ram Garg elected BJP unit chief
TODAY'S WEATHER
Heavy showers continue in Kerala, Konkan, Goa...
Heavy rainfall is also likely to occur at a few places in coastal Karnataka and at isolated places in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, Orissa, Gujarat and Lakshadweep during the next 48 hours.
JUNE 30
Sonia prepares action plan to unseat Vajpayee
Congress sources said Sonia has made up her mind to form a Congress-led, non-BJP government. "But she is yet
to finalise the timing of the coup," one Congress leader said.
He said the party strategy is to "embarrass the BJP government to the hilt during the remaining budget session of
Parliament." On Monday, Sonia met senior leaders like K Karunakaran, K Vijayabhaskara Reddy, Dr
Manmohan Singh and Pranab Mukherjee who apprised her as to how the party should handle the oust-Vajpayee
plan during the budget session.
BJP rules out any kind of war with Pakistan
Reacting to reports that Pakistani
scientists had disclosed Islamabad's designs to strike Indian targets, party vice president K L Sharma said,
''There is no apprehension about any nuclear or conventional war
between India and Pakistan. We know each other well.''
Left parties to stage dharna outside Parliament
The left parties have decided to stage a dharna on July 3 outside Parliament, when it reconvenes, against price rise and privatisation.
Congress leaders meet PM to raise Kashmir situation
Rajesh Pilot, who was part of the delegation, said they
expressed concern over the increase in infiltration of
foreign trained militants in the valley and the selective killing
resorted to by them in the Jammu region to communalise the issue.
The state and the central governments have failed to provide a
healing touch to the people of the valley who bore the brunt of
militancy for over one decade, the Congressmen told Vajpayee.
Foreign secretary in Bangladesh to discuss bilateral issues
"The visit is to carry on and renew our friendly contacts with Bangladesh," the foreign secretary told the media on landing at the Dhaka airport on Sunday.
Raghunath, who was earlier high commissioner to Bangladesh, said his visit will give an opportunity to review and update the relationship between the two countries. The Indo-Bangladesh agenda is topped by a dispute over sharing of the Ganges river water.
Bangladeshi ex-PM to be tried for corruption and abuse of power
A criminal court in Dhaka has ordered former
prime minister and opposition chief Khaleda Zia to stand trial on
charges of corruption and abuse of power, court officials said on
Monday.
Blood feud between MQM factions claims more lives in Karachi
The police discovered seven bodies in different
parts of Karachi on Monday, some of them bearing marks of
torture, and all of them riddled with bullet holes. Only one body has been identified, but police officials say
the condition of the other bodies indicate that their deaths were
likely linked to the ongoing feud between rival factions of the
militant ethnic group, the Mohajir Quami Movement.
THE NUCLEAR CRISIS
No question of converting LOC into border, says India
The statement sets to rest speculation about a change of stand following a statement Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Jaswant Singh reportedly made to a television network.
Gohar Ayub has urged the United Nations to move quickly to mediate the Kashmir problem or risk a fourth war between the world's newest nuclear powers of Pakistan and India.
India explain N-rationale to Morocco, cements ties
External Affairs Minister Vasundhara Raje, now in Rabat, said Moroccan leaders expressed understanding of the Indian position and felt India had the right to take steps based on its perceptions about its security.
THE REDIFF COLUMNISTS
Re-engineering Pokhran II
'India and Pakistan must quickly start a dialogue between themselves. After all, neither
of them can actually afford to attack each other. So why not get real and
put this down on paper so that both nations can now move ahead without fear
or a nagging sense of threat?' asks Pritish Nandy.
THE REDIFF SPECIAL
Of Demands and Dismissals
'If the Bihar BJP follows in the footsteps of local Congress leaders before them, maybe they are helping their leadership divert national attention from Tamil Nadu and Jayalalitha that Pokhran-II has failed to do in fuller measure. Maybe, they are also helping their leadership to keep Jayalalitha's hopes on the dismissal of the Karunanidhi government alive -- even if for a short time, till the Vajpayee government gets the Union Budget passed,' says N Sathiya Moorthy.
THE REDIFF INTERVIEW
'Warning signals about killer cyclones are conveyed through telegram, not e-mail, not fax, not even telex'
"Of course, the state government is responsible. Who has the control of law? Who has the control over revenue? You see, port trust is a small organisation. We are not like some centrally administered territory. We are not Delhi or Chandigarh. It is being misquoted and misrepresented. They have all the powers. We are a port authority carrying out commercial functions. Our role and powers are limited. So evacuation is naturally the role of district and state authorities." Chairman of the Kandla Port Trust, A N M Kishore, under fire following the mammoth destruction in his area of operation during the recent storm, defends himself.
Orissa:
Orissa: Crisis, as Naveen Patnaik suspends 5 BJD MLAs for anti-party activities.
Kerala: Nayanar ready for talks with Karunanidhi over dam
TODAY'S WEATHER
Monsoon reaches Saurashtra, Kutch
Rainfall ranging between 25 mm and
200 mm were recorded in the regions during the past 24 hours.
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