Amendments will take away GUJCOC's 'teeth and nails': Modi

Striking an aggressive posture, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi rejected the amendments suggested by the Centre to GUJCOC, saying it would amount to taking away the "teeth and nails" of the legislation.

"The amendments suggested by the Centre amount to taking away the teeth and nails of the Gujarat Control of Organised Crime Act (GUJCOC)," he told reporters on the sidelines of the BJP National Executive meeting in New Delhi.

Modi said if necessary, the Gujarat government would take the GUCOC Bill back to state assembly.

He said Bill was passed by the assembly on the basis of guidelines from the Center to combat organized crime.

The Union Cabinet yesterday returned the controversial GUJCOC Bill passed by the Gujarat Assembly to the state, saying that without three key amendments it could not be sent for Presidential assent.

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Advani and wife have assets worth Rs. 3.55 cr.

Lal Krishna Advani, Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate, on Wednesday filed his nomination papers for the Gandhinagar constituency. He declared assets worth about Rs. 3.55 crore in fixed deposits, jewellery and landed property in his and wife Kamla Advani’s name.

Mr. Advani declared that he and his wife did not own any car, had no criminal case pending against him except the one in connection with the Babri mosque demolition, and had no dues or liabilities to banks or any government institutions. The 81-year old Mr Advani said his wife was his only dependent.

The break-up given in the affidavit is: Mr Advani holds fixed deposits of Rs. 66 lakh in State Bank and Central Bank and about Rs. 1.55 lakh in savings in two bank accounts; his wife has a fixed deposit of Rs. 14 lakh in Central Bank, Rs. 22 lakh with M/S Mukund Limited and Rs. 56,575 in a savings account with Central Bank.

The two together hold jewellery that weigh about 115 tolas (1341.67 grams) and have an approximate value of Rs. 16 lakh. Of this, 10 per cent (about Rs. 1.60 lakh) is owned by him and Rs. 14.40 lakh by his wife. He holds no bonds, debentures or shares in companies, but his wife owns 500 shares in Daurala Organics Limited, having an approximate market value of Rs. 5,000. As of now, he has in cash about Rs. 20,000 and his wife Rs. 5,000.

Mr. Advani and his wife hold no agricultural or non-agricultural land, but he owns a plot here, valued at about Rs. 50 lakh, and two flats, each valued at Rs. 92.5 lakh in Heritage City, Gurgaon. The plot was in Sector 2-D, measuring 330 square metres with a construction area of 233.68 square metres. Each of the Gurgaon flats measures 1,849 square feet plus 230 square feet of balcony.

Paswan releases lists for Bihar, Jharkhand

LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan on Tuesday released names of candidates for Bihar and Jharkhand for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. They include
wives of two don-turned politicians, a don, a filmmaker besides he himself and his brother.

Under a seat pact with RJD, LJP is contesting 12 out of 40 LS seats in Bihar while in Jharkhand five.

The LJP Bihar list includes filmmaker Prakash Jha from Pashchimi Champaran and Katihar Medical College founder Ashfaque Karim from Katihar. The party has fielded two women: Veena Singh, wife of don-turned-MP Surajbhan Singh who could not get permission from court to contest in view of his conviction in a case, from Nalanda and Ranjita Ranjan MP from Supaul. Ranjan is wife of controversial RJD MP Pappu Yadav. The two Muslims fielded by the party are Karim and Zakir Anwar (Araria).

Tainted MLA Ram Kishore Singh alias Rama Singh will contest from Ara and JD(U) deserter Satish Kumar from Nalanda. Paswan himself will contest from his old constituency Hajipur and his brother Ramchandra Paswan from Samastipur.

Paswan also announced three candidates for Jharkhand: Salahuddin Ansari (Godda), Nityanand Mahto (Hazaribagh) and Birendra Pradhan (Dhanbad). LJP will contest five seats there and names of the two remaining candidates will be announced later.

Paswan also said that LJP and RJD have cemented their relations in course of seat-sharing talks and the alliance between the two parties will continue even in the next assembly elections in Bihar in 2010.

He blamed Congress for the collapse of the alliance in Bihar and Jharkhand even as he hoped unity in the post-poll situation.

"Fact is that neither Congress nor RJD/LJP can form government on their own. The UPA government will be formed with the support of all the allies," he said. "But Congress alone does not mean UPA. In Bihar, main constituents of UPA are RJD and LJP and not Congress," he added.

BJP coins new slogan to counter Congress' Jai Ho

Political parties are gearing up with Lok Sabha elections and looking for new and innovative slogans to woo voters.

Congress has already bagged rights to Slumdog Millionaire's Oscar-winning song Jai Ho.

Now the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), too, decided on its war cry for the General Election.

After intense deliberation, the party has decided on Kushal Neta, Nirnayak Sarkaar (Able leader, decisive government).

The decision came after a meeting of senior BJP leaders on Friday night.

The party believes its best hope is to project prime ministerial candidate LK Advani as a decisive leader and through the slogan, it will be able to project its good governance track record.

As opposed to the Congress, the party claims Advani is the only power centre in the BJP.

Advani has featured prominently in the party's campaign even going so far as to pump some iron before the cameras, and have his own blog.

BJP-Shiv Sena Hand Shake after months of uncertainty

In Maharashtra the BJP and Shiv Sena have finally decided to shake hands after a month of uncertainty. Both the parties have agreed to continue with the existing seat-sharing formula, which gives the BJP 26 seats and the Sena 22 seats.

Earlier, there were differences over the four seats of Mumbai South, Kalyan, Jalgaon, and Yavatmal-Washim. These were sorted out after a meeting between senior Sena leader Manohar Joshi and BJP General Secretary Gopinath Munde on Thursday.

The Shiv Sena will now contest from Mumbai South and Yavatmal-Washim while the BJP will contest Jalgaon and Kalyan. A formal announcement is expected in the next few days.

Support to Pawar's PM candidature divides Sena-BJP

Meanwhile, the reported remarks of Shiv Sena leaders over support to Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar for Prime Ministership is acting as a pinprick for more than two decade

alliance between the BJP and Sena even as the two parties were on the verge of firming up the seat-sharing formula.

The growing proximity between Sena and NCP is not palatable to the BJP.

Sena MP and senior leader Sanjay Raut told newsmen on Thursday, "Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray has time and again said that a Marathi person should be the Prime Minister of the country at least once. This doesn't mean we support Pawar. He belongs to the UPA whereas we belong to the NDA. But when our leaders said we will think on the possibility of supporting Pawar in case such a situation arises, they were right."

In reply to this, BJP leader Nitin Gadkari said, "If Shiv Sena is in favour of supporting Mr Pawar for Prime Ministership, it should clear its stand. Otherwise the alliance will be in trouble."

Sources in both the parties indicated that the seat sharing formula had been ironed out with the BJP contesting for 26 seats, while Sena would put up candidates in the remaining 22 constituencies.

It's advantage BJP in Madhya Pradesh

The ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh has a big edge over its arch rival Congress in the state in the ensuing general elections, if the records of the last Parliamentary polls in the State are any indication.

In the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP romped home by winning 24 seats out of 29 seats in the State with 48.13 per cent votes while its main rival the Congress secured only five seats with 34.07 per cent votes.

The BJP has a big edge over its main rival in the State as a huge difference of 14.06 per cent votes was registered between them in the last Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP got a total of 88,84,913 votes in the state while the Congress secured 62,19,013 votes in last Lok Sabha polls.

Barring these two parties, no other party in the State won a parliament seat last time round.

Though the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party managed to secure 8,76,871 votes (4.75 per cent) in last parliamentary polls in the State, it failed to register a win.

Similarly, the Samajwadi Party (SP) got 5,90,090 votes (3.20 per cent) while a regional tribal political outfit - Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) pocketed 5,63,676 votes (3.05 per cent) in 2004 Lok Sabha polls.

Our foreign policy will have muscle: L. K. Advani

The National Democratic Alliance, if elected to power, would pursue a “muscular foreign policy” that would preserve the country’s autonomy and secure its interests in the neighbourhood, Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani said here on Monday.

Mr. Advani was summing up the party’s view after a meeting with experts on foreign policy issues at his residence.

Later, the former External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, who was present at the meeting, told journalists: “India cannot depend on the United States to protect its national interests. We have to do it ourselves.”

A “muscular” foreign policy did not necessarily mean that India would be prepared to go to war to protect her interests. However, countries in the neighbourhood should know “they cannot take India for granted,” he said.

Asked about Operation Parakram, under which troops were mobilised on the border with Pakistan after the terrorist attack on Parliament, Mr. Sinha said he did not agree with his colleague Jaswant Singh, who had said that he would not defend that move. “I was a member of the Cabinet Committee on Security Affairs at the time. We took that decision to mobilise troops, and I will defend it.”

Mr. Sinha added that the January 6, 2004, joint statement with Pakistan, in which Pakistan for the first time said it would not allow territory under its control to be used for launching terrorist attacks on India was a product of Operation Parakram. “Let me say, without Operation Parakram we would not have been able to get the January 6, 2004 statement.”

Those involved in the exercise at Mr. Advani’s residence described the United Progressive Alliance government’s foreign policy as a total failure.

The relationship with Iran was jeopardised as a result of pressure from the U.S.; Russia had been neglected; the countries in the neighbourhood were no longer listening to India; India continued to turn a blind eye to illegal immigration from Bangladesh; the UPA failed to engage African and Latin American countries; and India’s support of the candidature of Shashi Tharoor for the post of United Nations Secretary-General was a disaster, the BJP said.

Asked to reiterate his party’s stand on the nuclear deal with the U.S., Mr. Sinha said: “We would like to re-negotiate it.”

Among those present at the interaction were the former Ambassador to Sri Lanka, N.N. Jha; the former Foreign Secretary, Shashank; the former Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Vijay Kapoor, and party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad.