Meira creates history, becomes first woman LS Speaker

NEW DELHI: Congress candidate Meira Kumar was elected Speaker of the 15 th Lok Sabha unanimously on Wednesday.

As soon as the Lok Sabha session began, Sonia, according to the agenda, proposed Kumar as the Speaker of the new House. Her name was seconded by Leader of Opposition L K Advani and other political leaders. Both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Advani then accompanied her to the Speaker's chair completing the formality.

With every side deciding to endorse her candidature, her election to the top post was a unanimous affair.

Altogether 13 sets of nominations were submitted on Tuesday by Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee to Lok Sabha secretary general P D T Achary. Among those who backed her bid for the constitutional post were UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition L K Advani, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Mukherjee led a group of UPA leaders to the secretary general's office in a formal show of solidarity behind Kumar. Among them were Pawar, Farooq Abdullah, Lalu Prasad and E Ahmed.

While Sonia's proposal was seconded by Mukherjee, that of Advani was done by his party colleague Sushma Swaraj.

Kumar, who was part of the delegation visiting the secretary general, later termed her ascent to the Speaker's chair as a historic moment. "It is both historic and overwhelming," she told reporters. A five-time MP, she resigned as minister for water resources after Congress backed her for Speaker.

Not originally her party's choice, Kumar found strong support from the Congress leadership on two counts - a woman, she carries a rich dalit legacy.

Precisely for this reason, the BJP was reluctant to oppose her. For its part, the Opposition party moved a notch up in the game of identity politics by proposing a tribal - Karia Munda - for the deputy Speaker's post.

After Congress scored on the empowerment quotient naming Dalit woman leader Meira Kumar as UPA's nominee for the Speaker's post, BJP played the tribal card by selecting its veteran MP from Jharkhand Karia Munda as its candidate for deputy Speaker.

BJP's central parliamentary board took the decision at a meeting after the government's proposal that the deputy Speaker's post be offered to the main Opposition.

Seventy two-year-old Munda was a minister in the Morarji Desai government and later in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee ministry. When asked whether Munda's candidature was aimed at winning tribal support for the party, BJP leader Jaitley said, "It is true that Munda belongs to the ST community, but along with that he has vast legislative experience and this decision was made considering his seniority."

This news published by www.zeenews.com

India likely to resume talks with Pakistan

NEW DELHI: Pakistan may be thumbing its nose at India by releasing wanted terrorists like Hafeez Saeed, but New Delhi is veering around to the

view that talks with Islamabad that were suspended after the 26/11 Mumbai attack should be resumed as engagement, however frustrating, would be better than benign neglect of the source of its terror problem.

Some version of a dialogue with Pakistan is expected to start soon, possibly before the visit of US secretary of state Hillary Clinton to India which is likely in the first week of July. India knows that powers like the US would try to nudge India to the negotiating table, and it would be better not to be seen as having been pressured into the talks.

New Delhi recognises that the post-Mumbai diplomatic trail is fast turning cold, and it would like to retain the initiative by starting talks. The new external affairs minister, S M Krishna, is said to have quoted JFK to his officers: "Never negotiate out of fear, but never fear to negotiate."

Taking the cue from the boss, the foreign office is trying to find a way to break the ice. There are two main reasons why India would like to begin talks. First, it might get the Pakistanis to at least attempt to stop the next big- ticket terrorist attack against India. Sources said Pakistan is likely to sponsor another big attack in J&K to push India to come to the table. This is nothing short of blackmail, but India doesn't want to be in a position where it might seem to be succumbing to such blackmail.

Second, Indian officials are clear that the US, waiting for the elections to be over, will soon raise the talks issue with India. This could come as soon as Hillary Clinton's visit to India in July. The government here is keen to pre-empt such pressure tactics.

Prime minister Manmohan Singh might have an occasion to break the ice if he decides to go for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Moscow later this month. If Singh attends the SCO, he would have a chance to meet his Pakistan counterpart and could seize the opportunity.

At the same time, it becomes glaringly clear that India's high-voltage diplomatic push post-26/11 has not really succeeded in getting Pakistan to act on anything - either on the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks or on dismantling the terror infrastructure in Pakistan.

This news published by www.timesofindia.com

Indian Elections Enter Final Stretch

NEW DELHI: Polls opened Thursday in the penultimate round of India's marathon general election, with the two main parties going head to head in a series of key races that could swing the final outcome.

Voting began at 7:00am (0130 GMT) across seven states and the capital New Delhi, with most polling stations scheduled to close at 5:00pm.

Thursday's fourth round sees a straight battle between the ruling Congress party and its main rival, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), in Delhi and the neighbouring states of Rajasthan and Haryana.

A significant swing in any of these races could have a major impact, with many observers predicting that just a handful of seats could separate the two parties once all the votes are counted.

The five-stage election staggered for reasons of logistics and security began on April 16 and ends on May 13, with the final results expected three days later.

This news published by www.24hrsalert.blogspot.com

Moderate Polling in 3rd phase Lok Sabha Elections

New Delhi: Polling in the third phase of elections to Lok Sabha began on a moderate note on Thursday during which the fate of prominent leaders such as Sonia Gandhi, L K Advani and H D Deve Gowda will be decided.

Voting began this morning in 107 constituencies spread across nine states and two union territories in the third round of the five-phased elections and would end at 1700 hrs.

A total of 1,567 candidates, including 101 women, are fighting for 107 seats in this phase. Polling is also underway for the 32-member Sikkim legislative Assembly.

Over 14.4 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise across 1.65 lakh booths, where ballots would be cast electronically.

While Congress president Sonia Gandhi is seeking re-election from Rae Bareli, one of the traditional constituencies of the Nehru-Gandhi family, Advani, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, is bidding to hold on to the Gandhinagar seat as he has done in every election since 1991.

Prominent candidates in the fray in the third phase include former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, JD-U chief Sharad Yadav, Congress' Milind Deora, Priya Dutt and Jyotiraditya Scindia and former Karnataka chief minister S Bangarappa.

Tight security arrangements have been put in place to thwart any untoward incident.

Polling for 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat will be completed at one go. Besides Gujarat, polling will be held in 16 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 15 in Uttar Pradesh, 14 in West Bengal, 11 each in Bihar and Karnataka, 10 in Maharashtra and one each in Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

UP Chief Minister Mayawati was among the early voters who cast their ballots in the third phase of polls.

Accompanied by senior BSP leader Satish Chandra Mishra and party candidate from Lucknow Akhilesh Das Gupta, Mayawati cast her vote at Lucknow's Montessori College.

Sikkim has 32 assembly seats, of which one is reserved for the Sangha monks, who number 3,058.

The results will be out on May 16. The five-round general elections began on April 16 and so far elections have been completed to 265 Lok Sabha seats of the 545-member lower house of Parliament.

Elections are held to only 543 seats, as two members are nominated from the Anglo-Indian community.

This news published by www.zeenews.com

Modi’s Role in Post Godhra Riot, SC Order to Investigate

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the role of 64 people, including that of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the post-Godhra riots cases.

The apex court order was passed in response to a petition filed by Congress parliamentarian Ehsaan Jaffery.

The court asked the SIT to submit the report within three months.

The order came over two months after Gujarat High Court judge A. S. Dave declined to hear a SIT petition that challenged the anticipatory bail granted to State Minister Maya Kodnani and the former VHP leader Jaydeep Patel in connection with the Godhra case.

“Not before me. The case will now be transferred to the court of another judge and the date of hearing would be decided later,” Justice Dave said without giving any reason.

The SIT had moved the Gujarat High Court and challenged the anticipatory bail granted by a lower court to Kodnani and Patel, in the post-Godhra and Naroda Gram riot cases.

The Supreme Court had constituted a five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to re-investigate the post-Godhra communal riots.

The SIT is reinvestigating into nine post- Godhra riot cases and was expected to submit its report to Supreme Court by February 15.

Several prominent leaders like, Maya Kodnani of BJP and Jaydeep Patel of Vishwa Hindu Parishad are at the center of investigation, following many witnesses naming them in their statements in the Naroda Gam riot case.

The SIT had filed a 300-page supplementary chargesheet against 24 people in the Naroda Gam case in which 11 people, belonging to the minority community, were killed by a mob during the riots.

The accused include Fula Vyas of VHP, local BJP leader Jitendra Patel and ex-BJP municipal councillor Ashok Patel.

The SIT has also filed a second charge sheet in Naroda Patiya case against 15 accused, where over 80 people were killed during the Godhra riots.

The third chargesheet in the Gulburg society case, named some VHP and BJP leaders in the list of absconders among the 14 accused, where 38 people were killed.

The five-member SIT team is headed by R. Raghavan, and includes former Deputy General of Police C.D. Satpathy and three Indian Police officers — Geetha Johri, Shivanand Jha and Ashish Bhatia.

Each chapter in the report is being carefully drafted and separate reports are being prepared for each of the nine cases.

This news published by www.nhatky.in

Sonia Gandhi to File Nomination From Raebareli

Lucknow: Congress President Sonia Gandhi will file her nomination from Raebareli constituency on Monday.

During the nomination, the Raebareli MP will be accompanied by son and MP from Amethi Rahul Gandhi and former MP Captain Satish Sharma, party spokesman Akhilesh Pratap Singh said.

He said Sonia, who launched the party’s election campaign today by addressing three rallies in eastern Uttar Pradesh, will file her nomination at around 11 am.

Her son and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, 38, who is seeking re-election from Amethi, filed his nomination papers for the Lok Sabha seat on Saturday afternoon.