gaddam@remus.rutgers.edu (Surekha Reddy Gaddam) (06/20/91)
From: ramani@shakti.ernet.in < Dr.S.Ramanii @ NCST Bombay >
Date: Wed, 19 Jun 91 07:05:42 +0530
Apparently-To: gaddam@remus.rutgers.edu
Approved: gaddam@remus.rutgers.edu <Surekha Reddy Gaddam>
Murugan's 'thanksgiving'--tonsure at Tirupati
=============================================
Madras, June 19 Murugan, an accused in the Rajiv
Gandhi assassination case, had tonsured his head at tirupati,
offering his hair to lord venkateswara, which seemed to be an
act of 'thanksgiving' for the successful bomb blast operation,
the investigators said.
The investigators told here that Murugan, alias Das,
a sri lankan Tamil militant and a member of the LTTE group,
had made a second trip to tirupati in Andhra Pradesh after the
assassination, unmindful of the risk involved.
It was during this visit that Murugan had offered his
hair to Lord Balaji, the investigators said, adding that it
was perhaps Murugan's 'thanksgiving' for the success of the
assassination plan.
Bangalore, June 19 the recent lok Sabha elections
proved a waterloo for the Karnataka unit of the Janata Dal,
which was formally launched in the state as a national party
in 1988.
The Janata Dal (JD) had contested 20 seats on its own
out of state's 28 Lok Sabha seats. It had allotted six seats
to its alliance partner, the SJP, and one each to the CPI(M)
and the CPI.
Not (not) only did the JD fail to secure even a single
seat for itself, its alliance partner SJP lost five of the six
seats alloted to it. The SJP won the hassan seat, contested by
Mr h d devegowda. The CPI and cpi(M) also lost in the
election.
The bjP which contested all 28 seats, wrested four
seats from the Congress-iin the latter's traditional
stronghold.
CongI Rao
=========
New Delhi, June 19 : the Congress-ipresident, Mr P.V
Narasimha Rao, today said both the secret ballot and method
of consensus were followed in electing the leader on the
Congress party in parliament in the past and said either of
these could be adopted even now.
It was, however, for the newly constituted cpp-ito
decide which method to follow, Mr Rao said in reply to
questons at an impromptu press press conference at his
residence.
The Congress-iparliamentary board is megting here
tonight to decide the date and time of the parliamentary
party, he said.
According to present indications, the cpp-iwill in all
probability be meeting tomorrow to elect its leader.
Mr.Rao parried questions on the the demand of about 40
party m.Ps saying that the cpp-ishould opt for democrataic
process for election of the leader.''I have no knowledge of
the m.Ps statement containing the demand- but anybody can talk
of secret ballot',he added.
NewDelhi ======== Rajiv shoes
new Delhi, June 19 it was a touching moment when
Mrs Sonia Gandhi last night received the lotto brand shoes of
her husband, Mr Rajiv Gandhi, who was assassinated on may 21
at sriperumbuddur near Madras.
The shoes were handed over to Mrs Sonia Gandhi by the
former union Minister of state for home, Mr p chidambram,
after the chief judicial Magistrate of Chengalpattu agreed to
the request of Mrs Gandhi for possession of the shoes on
+sentimental grounds+.
It was due to the red and white wneakers, the body of Mr
Rajiv Gandhi could be identified among the heaps of bodies
after the explosion.
Madras
======
Rajiv-arrest
Madras jun 19 : the CBI has arrested two more persons
in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, including a sri lankan
Tamil and staunch LTTE supporter, further establishing the sri
lankan angle to the killing.
A CBI spokesman told PTI that the total number of
arrests in the case had gone up to six with the arrest of
robert payas, a sri lankan Tamil and an LTTE supporter here
last night, and g perarivalan today.
Madras
======
The CBI said sivarasan and payas had obtained driving
licences from the rto in the first quarter of 1991, giving
their address as though they were Indian nationals.
The alleged woman assassin, Dhanu, and another suspected
accomplice, subha, had also stayed in the houwe of payas and
it was the place of activity for the ultimate design in
Madras, the CBI had learnt from reliable sources.
The CBI said perarivalan had purchased a motor-cycle
recently with finance made available by sivarasan.
They used this motor-cycle to move around Madras for
execution of 'their cause', the CBI added.
Perarivalan had also purchased certain materials and
supplied them to the conspirators, the CBI said.
Calcutta, June 19 :: gastro-enteritis, which broke
out in virulent form in West Bengal's dinajpur district has
taken a toll of 59 lives in the last three months, according
to state's health department sources here.
The disease, which spread over 204 villages covering six
blocks in the district, however, is now (now) under control
and no (no) fatality was reported since June 13. Altogether
1646 persons were afflicted by the disease during the period
the sources added.
Two assistant directors of health along with a special
team of doctors from the tropical hospital had already been
sent to the affected area.
New Delhi:
========
New Delhi, June 19: the Maharashtra Chief Minister,
Mr Sharad Pawar, whose supporters are pressing for a secret
ballot in choosing the leader of the Congress parliamentary
party (cpp-i), today had an half an hour meeting with the
Congress-ipresident, Mr P V Narasimah Rao here.
Mr Rao described the meeting to newsmen as +very good+
saying that +we are members of the same family and we meet.+
When asked to comment on his assessment of the
situation, Mr Pawar categorically stated that + each and every
Cong-I M.P's opinion will be ascertained at the meeting of the
cpp-i as to who would lead it.
New Delhi, June 19 with three days to go for
the Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Punjab the election
commission today said the troubled state will go to the polls
as scheduled on June 22.
The chief election commissioner, Mr T N Seshan, told
newsmen that he had not (not) received any word from either
the government or the president suggesting that the polls in
the state be deferred.
+ I have received nothing from anybody regarding a
change in the poll schedule and therefore there will be no
(no) change in the announced date of election+, Mr Seshan said
adding that all election arrangements had been completed in
the state.
To a question whether the commission had made an
assessment of the law and order situation in the state in the
wake of renewed violence by militants, Mr Seshan said law and
order could not (not) be assessed by the commission.
Newdel
======
Asked about the commission's views on Whether free and
fair poll was possible in the state, Mr sewhan said ''the
election commission has no (no) new views on the subject
whether free and fair poll is possible or not not''.
Mr Seshan made it clear that the commission had not
(not) come to any Conclusion to the contrary.
The cec said the commission had nothing new to report
and nothing new to say regarding elections in Punjab.
New Delhi, June 19: The tenth Lok Sabha will be constituted
by midnight tomorrow with the issuance of the +due constitution
notification+ by the election commission.
The chief election commissioner, Mr T N Seshan told
newsmen here that he would meet the president, Mr r venkataraman anytime
tomorrow and present to him the list of candidates elected to the lower
house.
Madras
======
poll-candidate
AIADMK candidate polls highest number of votes
Madras, jun 19 dr (Mrs) k s soundaram, the AIADMK
candidate elected to the Lok Sabha from tiruchengode
gonstituency in Tamil Nadu, polled 5,21,580 votes, claimed to
be the highest in the country.
Dr Soundaram, a 43-year-old Tamil lecturer at the
konguNadu arts and science college, erode in periyar district,
defeated her nearest DMK rival, dr k p ramalingam, (a former
AIADMK mla) by a huge margin of 3,14,481 votes.
The number of votes she polled as well as her victory
margin are the highest as far aw Tamil Nadu is concerned.
Mr n murugesan, also of the AIADMK, who won from the
karur constituency in tiruchirappalli district, received the
second largest ^umber of votes (4l75,571), with a victory
margin of 2,69,969 over the DMK candidate.
Newdel
======
poll notification two
Mr Seshan said that the commission would make all
effort+ to include as many constituencies as possible in the
notification.
The total number of Lok Sabha constituencies which went
to polls are 511 as elections in eight constituencies were
countermanded due to death of candidates and polls in five
others were countermanded by the commission because of
boothcapturing and violence.
The Lok Sabha seats of sasaram, bikramganj and
aurangabad in Biharand davanagere in Karnataka where the
commission had declared the announcement of results by the
returning officers a +nullity+ and the constituencies of
munger and beguserai (bihar) where an inquiry was pending
might not not be included in the notification.
Mr Swamy said he was happy to announce that he has left
a clean slate for his successor with a trade surplus. He said
the crisis on the economic front was more on the capital
account side which the finance ministry has to correct.
He said the country would have to go in for a IMF loan
as a short term corrective measure and as medium and long term
effort agriculture, computer software and textile exports
should be stepped up as it had the potential to earn rs 800o
crore of additional foreign exchange.
The country should concentrate on exporting processed
food to europe, textiles to western countries and computer
software, particularly to south east asian countries and korea
which are importing them at much higher costs.
He said if the present government had not not resigned
in march it could have got substantial export orders upto rs
7,000 crores in the reconstruction of kuwait. He said the tcil
has got upto 15 million dollars worth of orders from kuwait.
End of article