News and Events across India and related to India, January 2010

[Pintu]

Unrelenting Pakistan lobs six rockets into Indian territory - Politics/Nation-News-The Economic Times

Unrelenting Pakistan lobs six rockets into Indian territory
9 Jan 2010, 1520 hrs IST, ANI

ATTARI: In a repeat of lobbing rockets incident in Punjab's border villages recently, at least six rockets were lobbed from Pakistani side in the fields near the villages around Attari sector, close to India-Pakistan border on Saturday.

Two of the rockets landed in Border Security Force post (Khangarh), about two kilometers from the international Indo-Pak border.

Meanwhile, in retaliation, Border Security Force also opened fire with machine gun and mortar fire towards Pakistan and also registered its protest over the rocket shelling incident with Pakistani rangers during the Flag meeting.

"At night around 12.00 to 12.15 from Pakistan side around 5-6 rockets were fired. Out of which two fell near the BOP (Border Out Post). And sounds of two-three more explosions were heard. The rockets, which fell near BOP, did not explode and there have been no reports of damage to any human life or property," said Himmat Singh, the Inspector General (Frontier), Border Security Force, Punjab.

"At night itself we convened a flag meeting of commandant level with Pakistan Rangers in which we strongly protested against the incident. We have urged that they should strongly stop such attacks from their area. They raised objection that our force targeted their BOP and fired bomb on it, after this we have given them strict warnings that if such an incident is repeated then strong action will be taken by the Border Security Force," Singh further informed.

According to available information, two rockets landed at the Khangarh post of the BSF at 12.10 am but failed to blast.

Local villagers, however, said that they heard about six blasts in the border areas. Due to dense fog, Border guards are confronted with difficulty to carry out the search operation.

No casualty has so far been reported till now.

Notably last year (on July 5 and December 9), Pakistan had lobbed at least nine rockets towards India which were found in this side of villages namely Dhandae, Bherwal and Konake.

Indian authorities at that time also lodged their protest with Pakistan and told the Pakistani authorities to take adequate steps so that such incidents don't happen in future.

Pakistani authorities, however, denied their hand into the rocket attacks.

On an average, each village along the border holds an estimated 300 acres area of land beyond fencing. And, they have always cultivated their farmlands under the protection of the Border Security Forces (BSF) Jawans since 1990s.

The rocket shelling incidents have made villagers worried for life.

There have been several incidents of shelling or firing from Pakistan side of the India-Pakistan border in Attari sector of Punjab, including the latest witnessed on Friday night.

The latest incident has caused a sense of fear and panic among villagers. A lot of farmers, who own land beyond border fencing, are reluctant to visit their fields without security personnel.

 

[Pintu]

Voting rights to NRIs by 2014, says PM- Politics/Nation-News-The Economic Times

Voting rights to NRIs by 2014, says PM
9 Jan 2010, 0421 hrs IST, ET Bureau

NEW DELHI: With the government planning to introduce a bill in the next session of Parliament to give voting rights to NRIs, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed the hope that NRIs will be able to cast their votes in the 2014 general elections.

Reaching out to the Indian diaspora at the 8th edition of “Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas”, the prime minister said he recognised the desire of NRIs to exercise their franchise in India and hoped that NRIs would be able to vote by the next general elections in 2014.

“I recognise the legitimate desire of Indians living abroad to exercise their franchise and to have a say in who governs India. We are working on this issue and I sincerely hope that they will get a chance to vote by the time of the next regular general elections,’’ he said inaugurating the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.

Elaborating on the government’s plans, minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi said that the government is planning to introduce a bill in connection with NRI voting rights in the next session of Parliament.

Voting rights have been a long-standing demands of NRIs especially those living in the Gulf countries. But the matter has been pending with the government for quite some time. The Cabinet cleared amendments to the Representation of People’s Act bill to give NRIs an electoral voice as early as 2006. The step was taken after Mr Singh said at the 2006 ‘Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas’ that the government is actively considering voting rights for NRIs living in the Gulf.

In the same year the amendment bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha which referred it to a parliamentary standing on Personnel, Public Grievances Law and Justice. The report was subsequently given to the law ministry for examination. And for the last three years, the amendment bill has been stuck with the law minister. However, Mr Ravi after the prime minister’s announcement assured that the bill would be introduced in Parliament.

The bill seeks to give voting rights to Indian citizens living abroad due to employment, education or other purposes. The proposal allows Indian citizens living abroad to get their names registered in the electoral roll of the concerned constituency of their place of ordinary residence in India and cast their vote in the elections to the Lok Sabha and state legislatures if they are present in their constituencies at the time of the elections, Mr Ravi had told Parliament in a written reply.

Under the current law, an NRI is struck off the voters’ list if he stays outside the country for more than six months. Mr Ravi also highlighted that Persons of Indian Origin were different from NRIs.

But the prime minister’s reference to the issue and the 2014 general elections has renewed hope among NRIs who are keen on exercising their electoral rights. There are around 50 lakh NRIs with Kerala alone having over 21 lakh NRIs. But the proposal to give them voting rights has political implications as well as implementation difficulties. And the government has its work cut out if it wants to give NRIs voting rights in time for the next elections.

 

[Pintu]

http://www.ptinews.com/news/461012_Nitish-worried-over-Rahul-s-visit--Sharma

Nitish worried over Rahul's visit: Sharma

STAFF WRITER 22:47 HRS IST

Patna, Jan 9 (PTI) Congress today deplored the statement of the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar that the proposed visit of Rahul Gandhi was aimed at strengthening his party at the cost of the state's interest and said it only showed his worry over JD(U)'s political future.

"Such statement of Kumar only reflects his anxiety over re-emergence of Congress in Bihar through the campaign of the AICC General Secretary," its state unit chief Anil Kumar Sharma told reporters here.

Such fear was also seen in other political camps, he said.

"In fact, the news of Rahulji's next-week visit has disturbed the sleep of the leaders of all other political parties," he said.

Expressing doubts over the state's reported high growth rate, Sharma said it required an examination as the Central Statistical Organisation report showing 11.03 per cent growth was based on the data provided by the state government.

 

[Pintu]

http://www.ptinews.com/news/460178_JJ-hospital-doctors-protest-attack-on-colleague

JJ hospital doctors protest attack on colleague

STAFF WRITER 12:44 HRS IST

Mumbai, Jan 9 (PTI) Resident doctors and nursing staff of government-run JJ hospital today held protests outside the Dean's office here following an alleged assault on a colleague by relatives of a patient who died during treatment.

The incident took place last night when a patient, Sayed, who was being treated at the hospital died following which his relatives allegedly manhandled Dr Prashant Bhand, accusing him of negligence.

They subsequently ransacked a hospital ward, police said.

Demanding "basic security and complete protection", protesting doctors said that JJ being a model hospital, attending to large number of emergency cases on a daily basis, needs to be shielded from such kind of attacks.

Representatives from the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) are meeting the Dean to discuss the security issues following which further course of action will be decided, they said.

 

[Ray]

The Pioneer > Online Edition : >> Destroyer of West Bengal

On Jyoti Basu and his 'contribution'.

 

[Pintu]

Children throng Nehru Planetarium for glimpse of eclipse - Delhi - City - The Times of India

Children throng Nehru Planetarium for glimpse of eclipse
TNN, 16 January 2010, 05:33am IST

NEW DELHI: The longest annular solar eclipse that occurred after 106 years had the children in the city really excited. No wonder then that school teams and families visited Nehru Planetarium to see the moon shadowing the sun. Others watched it live on TV or simply enjoyed the breathtaking view of the Bailey's Beads on webcast from Varkala in Kerala.

Tanvi Chopra, a student of class VI from Salwan Public School, was elated to see the eclipse for the first time. "We had only seen the diagrams of a solar eclipse in our textbooks. But seeing it with the special goggles was a different experience altogether. The whole process became more clear,'' she said. The Amateur Astronomers Association (AAA) in the city and S.P.A.C.E, an organization promoting education in astronomy, had set up telescopes to organize public watching of the eclipse at the planetarium.

Some children even stayed back to see the entire process starting 11.15am till 3pm. Twelve-year-old Ananya Sharma, an enthusiast who had come to the planetarium as part of AAA, said, "Though we could see only 53% eclipse in the city, it was still amazing. If you see the sunlight falling on the ground during an eclipse, it appears in a semi-circle. An eclipse as long as this one is not going to come for another one thousand years.'' Children clicked away zealously to capture the perfect view. Mayank from Salwan Public School said, "Most of us had brought our cameras along. I must have taken around 100 shots before I could get the perfect shot of the moon cutting the sun. Now I can show the eclipse to my family back home.''

Some parents were also as excited as their children. They had brought the children to the planetarium after school for a day out. And they were prepared for the big celestial event equipped with devices like cardboard boxes and special glasses. Said Razia Ejaz from R K Puram, "I make sure to witness every solar eclipse. It's such a beautiful sight to watch the eclipse after taking all precautions. It's not harmful at all. I was expecting my daughter when I came to see the last solar eclipse and she turned out absolutely fine.''

 

[Pintu]

http://www.ptinews.com/news/471472_Salman-Khan-causes-stampede-in-Hyderabad

Salman Khan causes stampede in Hyderabad

STAFF WRITER 18:28 HRS IST

Hyderabad, Jan 16 (PTI) Bollywood superstar Salman Khan's presence at a theatre here caused a mad rush as hundreds of fans thronged the venue to catch a glimpse of the actor.

The press conference for the actor's upcoming film 'Veer' at Prasad's IMAX theatre went smoothly but commotion ensued as soon as the crowds outside came to know about Khan's presence.

Being Saturday a large number of people were present at the theatre and after seeing the OB vans of different TV channels parked outside they came to know that Salman was in town.

The crowd waited outside the venue of the press conference on the second floor of the theatre and tried to rush towards the actors when Salman Khan came out and waved to his fans.

Screaming fans jostled to have a glimpse of the actors and went out of control.

 

[Pintu]

3 dead, 14 injured in train collision in UP

3 dead, 14 injured in train collision in UP

Lucknow, Jan 16, DHNS

Foggy weather conditions caused yet another accident within a fortnight in Uttar Pradesh when the Kanpur-bound Kalindi Express train rammed into a stationary Shram Shakti Express on Saturday morning near Tundla railway station, about 25 km from Agra.

Three people have died and 14 others have been injured in the accident on the busy Kanpur-Delhi route.

The mishap occurred when the driver of the Kalindi Express reportedly could not see the signal and his train collided with the Shram Shakti Express, according to railway officials at Tundla.

A coach and the guard’s cabin were reported to have been damaged.
The dead include two women and a child. The condition of three among the injured was critical.

Probe ordered

An investigation has been ordered to ascertain the cause that led to the mishap, a railway official said.

There was dense fog when the accident occurred and it could be the reason behind the collision.

Meanwhile, the railways has announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs 5 lakh each to the next of the kin of the deceased, Rs 1 lakh to the seriously injured and Rs 10,000 to those who sustained minor injuries.

Subsequently, the movement of trains on the Howrah-Delhi section was also disrupted, the officials said. Senior officials had reached the site and efforts were on to clear the tracks.

This is the second mishap involving trains within a fortnight. On January 2, ten people were killed and scores others injured when two train collided in UP.

 

[Pintu]

The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Frontpage | Krishna project for passport in 3 days

Krishna project for passport in 3 days

K.P. NAYAR

Mumbai, Jan. 13: External affairs minister S.M. Krishna is doing to the Indian passports establishment what he did to Bangalore as Karnataka chief minister. Come February 1 and those seeking the coveted travel document will get his passport within three days after receiving police verification.

If you apply for a tatkal or expedited passport, the applicant can ask for one in the morning and walk away with the document at the end of the same day.

Not everywhere in the country though. Only in Bangalore, which is Krishna's political hometown and in Chandigarh, which has adopted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as its “citizen” — although no one is sure what place Singh considers as his hometown.

Passport offices Bangalore and Chandigarh will first showcase the revolutionary changes that Krishna is working on for changing beyond recognition one of the most reviled branches of the ministry of external affairs (MEA), the huge network of offices that issue passports and offer related services to the public.

Once the teething troubles in passport offices in Bangalore and Chandigarh are rectified during this pilot phase of the new system, the wholly modern network and systems will be introduced in passport offices all over the country.

Krishna envisages the dreaded “police verification” for passport applicants to be completed in a matter of days under the reforms he is introducing.

According to a recent report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, police verification reports were not received in the ideal 30-day time for this work by passport offices in 75 per cent of passport applications across India, leading to enormous inconvenience for those seeking the travel document.

Krishna hopes to rectify this by linking passport offices digitally with nodal points in the police system in every district in India.

At present, requests for police verification are sent by ordinary snail mail from passport offices to police stations under whose jurisdiction applicants reside.

Many of these requests get lost in the system leaving applicants in the lurch for as long as six months after they have applied for a travel document.

But even after the verification is completed, it takes 30 to 45 days for passports to be actually issued by the MEA system. The reforms to be implemented from next month will cut this waiting time to a mere three days.

Similarly, it now takes two to three hours for an applicant simply to submit an application in many of the overcrowded passport offices in much of India.

With Krishna’s reforms, this cumbersome waiting time will be reduced to a mere 45 minutes: that too in conditions which MEA officials hope will be “decent and comfortable”.

These sweeping reforms envisage data entry, scanning of documents, capturing photographs and signatures digitally, instead of the present practice of doing everything on paper.

In fact, passport offices in Bangalore and Chandigarh -- and eventually everywhere else in India -- will be paper-free.

An applicant will, of course, fill in a passport form, but at the first counter in Krishna-style passport offices, that passport form will be scanned and put into the MEA system after verification of documents.

At the next counter, the applicant’s picture and signature will be digitally captured and added to his electronic application. Fee collection and other procedures will be similarly speeded up.

Once the process of submitting an application is completed, ideally in 45 minutes, the passport office will inform the police with the press of a button about the applicant and seek a verification report expeditiously.

Krishna summed up his motto for the revamped passport offices thus: “To deliver passport-related services to citizens in a timely, transparent, more accessible, reliable manner and in a comfortable environment through streamlined processes and committed, trained and motivated workforce”.

The changes are reminiscent of what Krishna did to Bangalore as Karnataka chief minister, leading his enemies to criticise him as chief minister for Bangalore. But Krishna is unfazed and says passport reform are urgently needed.

With the changes, the Calcutta Regional Passport Office will be expanded with the addition of a new office in Behrampore. The minister hopes the addition will considerably relieve pressure on the existing set-up in Calcutta.

 

[Pintu]

Narayanan to be new Bengal governor- Politics/Nation-News-The Economic Times

Narayanan to be new Bengal governor
17 Jan 2010, 0215 hrs IST, ET Bureau

NEW DELHI: As expected, National Security Adviser MK Narayanan has been appointed the governor of West Bengal, while former Union home minister Shivraj Patil will occupy the Raj Bhavan in Punjab.

Others who figure in the latest gubernatorial shake-up are Chattisgarh governor and also acting Andhra Pradesh governor ESL Narasimhan, who has now been confirmed as the full-time governor of Andhra Pradesh. Former defence secretary Shekhar Dutt will take his place in Chattisgarh.

Mr Dutt, following his superannuation in 2007, also served as deputy NSA. His experience in security matters will come in handy in Left-wing extremism-hit Chattisgarh, especially since it is now in the midst of a massive inter-state joint operation to push back Maoists and bring in development in the affected districts.

Senior Congress leader Mohsina Kidwai will be the new governor of Jharkhand as incumbent K Sankaranarayanan has been appointed the governor of Maharashtra. Himachal Pradesh Governor Prabha Rau is being moved to Rajasthan. The resulting vacancy in the Shimla Raj Bhavan will be filled by senior Congress leader from Gujarat and former Union minister Urmilaben Patil.

Mr Narayanan, who is close to both the Prime Minister and the Gandhi family, takes charge in Kolkata at a time when the security forces are engaged in an operation against Maoists in Lalgarh and political tension between Trinamool and Left is running high. He will also be in the saddle during the crucial 2011 assembly polls in the state.

The easing out of Mr Narayanan from the PMO has created a vacancy in the crucial post of the national security adviser (NSA), which may now be filled by either of the two former foreign secretaries, Shivshankar Menon and Shyam Saran.

Mr Patil, a senior Congress leader and Gandhi family loyalist who has been cooling his feels following his unceremonious exit from home ministry following the 26/11 strikes, has been sent to the Opposition-ruled Punjab in the wake of several corruption charges being brought by the Badal regime against senior Congress leaders of the state.

The takeover of NSA’s job by a foreign policy expert is set to redefine the role of the country’s top security officer. It may take away the focus from internal security matters — as was the case under Mr Narayanan, a former IB chief — which may now be solely and exclusively dealt by the Union home ministry.

 

[Ray]

One should not speak ill of the dead, however the sad state of West Bengal is his legacy.

To be fair to him, he carried out the agrarian reforms that helped many a share cropper.

However, he produced the goon squads called cadres which were extra constitutional authorities and beyond law. A recent case in point is the manner in which the land was 'acquired' in Singur, not that Mamta Bannerjee is some angel. She is an equal nuisance. These good squads called cadres ran amok and ordered the normal citizenry around!

He ensured that industries vanished from Bengal so that all became poor being unemployed. He brought in a new word in the English language - gherao.

He politicised the police wherein the Indian law was not applicable but the dictates of the Communist Marxists. A case in point was the burning of 18 Ananda Margis on street lamp posts on Bijon Setu and no action in law was taken.

The govt machinery was brought to anarchy since the heads were not the real source of decisions - each department was controlled by the Coordinating Committee, which overruled the authority.

He ensured that English was abolished in WB so that none could get an All India job and hence remained poor and dissatisfied - the source of power for Communists!

Read this:

Destroyer of West Bengal
Kanchan Gupta

Had it been Jyoti Banerjee lying unattended in a filthy general ward of SSKM Hospital in Kolkata and not Jyoti Basu in the state-of-the-art ICCU of AMRI Hospital, among the swankiest and most expensive super-speciality healthcare facilities in West Bengal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would not have bothered to arrange for a video-conference for top doctors at AIIMS to compare notes with those attending on the former Chief Minister of West Bengal.

Jyoti Banerjee, like most of us, spent his working life paying taxes to the Government. Jyoti Basu spent the better part of his life living off tax-payers’ money — the conscience of the veteran Marxist was never pricked by the fact that he appropriated for himself a lifestyle shunned by his comrades and denied to the people of a State whose fate he presided over for a quarter century. Kalachand Roy laid what we know today as Odisha to waste in the 16th century; Jyoti Basu was the 20th century’s Kala Pahad who led West Bengal from despair to darkness, literally and metaphorically.

Uncharitable as it may sound, but there really is no reason to nurse fond memories of Jyoti Basu. In fact, there are no fond memories to recall of those days when hopelessness permeated the present and the future appeared bleak. Entire generations of educated middle-class Bengalis were forced to seek refuge in other States or migrate to America as Jyoti Basu worked overtime to first destroy West Bengal’s economy, chase out Bengali talent and then hand over a disinherited State to Burrabazar traders and wholesale merchants who overnight became ‘industrialists’ with a passion for asset-stripping and investing their ‘profits’ elsewhere. A State that was earlier referred to as ‘Sheffield of the East’ was rendered by Jyoti Basu into a vast stretch of wasteland; the Oxford English Dictionary would have been poorer by a word had he not made ‘gherao’ into an officially-sanctioned instrument of coercion; ‘load-shedding’ would have never entered into our popular lexicon had he not made it a part of daily life in West Bengal though he ensured Hindustan Park, where he stayed, was spared power cuts. It would have been churlish to grudge him the good life had he not exerted to deny it to others, except of course his son Chandan Basu who was last in the news for cheating on taxes that should have been paid on his imported fancy car.

Let it be said, and said bluntly, that Jyoti Basu’s record in office, first as Deputy Chief Minister in two successive United Front Governments beginning 1967 (for all practical purposes he was the de facto Chief Minister with a hapless Ajoy Mukherjee reduced to indulging in Gandhigiri to make his presence felt) and later as Chief Minister for nearly 25 years at the head of the Left Front Government which has been in power for 32 years now, the “longest elected Communist Government” as party commissars untiringly point out to the naïve and the novitiate, is a terrible tale of calculated destruction of West Bengal in the name of ideology. It’s easy to criticise the CPI(M) for politicising the police force and converting it into a goons brigade, but it was Jyoti Basu who initiated the process. It was he who instructed them, as Deputy Chief Minister during the disastrous UF regime, to play the role of foot soldiers of the CPI(M), first by not acting against party cadre on the rampage, and then by playing an unabashedly partisan role in industrial and agrarian disputes.

The fulsome praise that is heaped on Jyoti Basu today — he is variously described by party loyalists and those enamoured of bhadralok Marxists as a ‘humane administrator’ and ‘farsighted leader’ — is entirely misleading if not undeserving. Within the first seven months of the United Front coming to power, 43,947 workers were laid off and thousands more rendered jobless as factories were shut down following gheraos and strikes instigated and endorsed by him. The flight of capital in those initial days of emergent Marxist power amounted to Rs 2,500 million. In 1967, there were 438 ‘industrial disputes’ involving 165,000 workers and resulting in the loss of five million man hours. By 1969, there were 710 ‘industrial disputes’ involving 645,000 workers and a loss of 8.5 million man hours. That was a taste of things to come in the following decades. By the time Jyoti Basu demitted office, West Bengal had nothing to boast of except closed mills and shuttered factories; every institution and agency of the State had been subverted under his tutelage; and, the civil administration had been converted into an extension counter of the CPI(M) with babus happy to be used as doormats.

After every outrage, every criminal misdeed committed by Marxist goons or the police while he was Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu would crudely respond with a brusque “Emon to hoyei thaakey” (or, as Donald Rumsfeld would famously say, “Stuff happens!”). He did not brook any criticism of the Marich Jhapi massacre by his police in 1979 when refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan were shot dead in cold blood. Till date, nobody knows for sure how many died in that slaughter for Jyoti Basu never allowed an independent inquiry. Neither did the man whose heart bled so profusely for the lost souls of Nandigram hesitate to justify the butchery of April 30, 1982 when 16 monks and a nun of the Ananda Marg order were set ablaze in south Kolkata by a mob of Marxist thugs. The man who led that murderous lot was known for his proximity to Jyoti Basu, a fact that the CPI(M) would now hasten to deny. Nor did Jyoti Basu wince when the police shot dead 13 Congress activists a short distance from Writers’ Building on July 21, 1993; he later justified the police action, saying it was necessary to enforce the writ of the state. Yet, he wouldn’t allow the police to act every time Muslims ran riot, most infamously after Mohammedan Sporting Club lost a football match.

Did Jyoti Basu, who never smiled in public lest he was accused of displaying human emotions, ever spare a thought for those who suffered terribly during his rule? Was he sensitive to the plight of those who were robbed of their lives, limbs and dignity by the lumpen proletariat which kept him in power? Did his heart cry out when women health workers were gang-raped and then two of them murdered by his party cadre on May 17, 1990 at Bantala on the eastern margins of Kolkata? Or when office-bearers of the Kolkata Police Association, set up under his patronage, raped Nehar Banu, a poor pavement dweller, at Phulbagan police station in 1992? “Emon to hoyei thaakey,” the revered Marxist would say, and then go on to slyly insinuate that the victims deserved what they got.

As a Bengali, I grieve for the wasted decades but for which West Bengal, with its huge pool of talent, could have led India from the front. I feel nothing for Jyoti Basu.

JB

When one dies, it is common practice to praise a person. Indians are good at it. Good PC is what we are good at.

His son is a top capitalist and JB owned tea estates in Jalpaiguri.

Compared to this man JB, Buddhadev is a far better bet for Bengal!

However, one should pragmatically analyse.

If an era has come to an end, so be it. Bengal will once again find its place in India!

 

[Pintu]

http://www.ptinews.com/news/475602_Rahul-non-committal-on-Amar-s-entry-into-Congress

Rahul non-committal on Amar's entry into Congress

STAFF WRITER 18:14 HRS IST

Bhopal, Jan 19 (PTI) AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi was today non-commital on Amar Singh's possible entry into the Congress despite his statements favouring its leadership.

Responding to queries, Rahul said he did not know whether or not Singh would be taken into the party.

But in a lighter vein, he said, "since Singh was above 35, he could not join Youth Congress".

Amar Singh's resignation from all SP posts was recently accepted by party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The sulking SP leader had recalled in an interview that he had started in Congress and "my DNA is not anti-Congress" and that he admired Rahul Gandhi.

He had also praised Congress president Sonia Gandhi for her "benevolent" attitude towards the late Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar during his last critical years of ailment.

 

[Pintu]

http://www.ptinews.com/news/476556_120-Symbiosis-students-ill-after-eating-hostel-food

120 Symbiosis students ill after eating hostel food

STAFF WRITER 11:53 HRS IST

Pune, Jan 20 (PTI) About 60 students of the Symbiosis Management Institute near here were hospitalised today with symptoms of food poisoning.

The students, who had eaten at the hostel mess last night, took ill this morning and were rushed to two hospitals in the vicinity where they were being treated, Rajeev Yerawadekar, Dean, Symbiosis Institute of Health Sciences, said.

"None of the admitted students is in a serious condition", he said, adding the cause of food poisoning was being investigated by officials.