Andhranews

Paris, Sept. 5: The signing of a crucial Indo-French agreement on transfer of technology for production of French cruise missiles by India was put off due to last-minute hitches, official sources said here on Tuesday. The deal, which also would have facilitated the transfer of critical technology for sub-systems needed for India’s indigenous missile programme, was to have been the high point of defence minister Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to France.

Although Mr Mukherjee had said late Monday night that the “deal is still on track” and that details are “close to being firmed up”, sources said on Tuesday that certain glitches had resulted in the signing of the pact being put off. There were no details available about what these problems where, and French officials too were tightlipped about why the deal was stalled. The sources said the deal would be signed later.

The proposed agreement envisaged the transfer of technology from European missile consortium MBDA to India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). It was to have been signed in the presence of Mr Mukherjee and French defence minister Michele Aliotte-Marie.

Doing some plain speaking at the delegation-level talks on Monday, Mr Mukherjee told the French defence top brass that they should declare their policy on transfer of critical technologies, and ensure that the strategic partnership between India and France was reflected in Paris’ arms sales policies for China and Pakistan. Besides cruise missile technology, India is seeking from France the supply of ring laser gyros, a key component holding up progress of the nuclear-capable Agni missile programme as well as other indigenous missiles.

India has a joint venture with Russia for making the supersonic BrahMos cruise missiles with a range of about 300 km. But with progress apparently stalled on the prestigious Agni-3 ballistic missile, India is keen to develop an alternative delivery system — a cruise missile with a range of 1,200 to 1,500 km.

The proposed agreement with France was not only for technology transfer as it envisaged joint research and development of missiles, Mr Mukherjee said. In addition to missile technology, India is looking to France for knowhow for other futuristic weapon platforms with applications in space and surveillance, he said.

Elaborating on India’s wishlist, Mr Mukherjee said it included the supply of spares and technical knowhow as well as arrangements with French equipment manufacturers for setting up production facilities for spares and weapon sub-systems. Before the start of bilateral talks on Monday, the minister told the French candidly that they had failed to supply some critical sub-systems to the Indian Air Force.

Patna, Sept. 5: The Arjun Munda-led NDA government in Jharkhand lost its wafer-thin majority when four ministers resigned late Tuesday afternoon, claiming that they had lost faith in the chief minister. The Raj Bhavan in Ranchi confirmed that governor Syed Sibtey Razi had received the resignations of all four ministers. While mines minister Madhu Koda, forest minister Harinarayan Rai and rural development minister Enos Ekka faxed their resignations to the governor from New Delhi, water resources minister Kamlesh Singh announced in Ranchi that he was quitting.

“When the chief minister has no faith in us then why should we remain ministers in his Cabinet? Even we have no faith in him. It’s better to step down,” said Mr Kamlesh Singh. Mr Singh had got particularly angry after the Jharkhand police had briefly detained him, allegedly on the orders of the chief minister, near Jamshedpur steel city on Monday night while he was on his way to Kolkata to catch a flight to New Delhi to join his three other colleagues in meetings with the UPA leadership over an alternative government in Jharkhand. He was kept in a government rest house at Chandil.

Enos Ekka and Kamlesh Singh belong to the Jharkhand Party and the Nationalist Congress Party respectively, while Madhu Kora and Harinarayn Rai are Independent MLAs. The state assembly also has to decide on Enos Ekka’s membership following a petition filed by Jharkhand Party president N.E. Horo after the former decided to join the NDA despite theparty’s decision to back the UPA in the intense efforts to form a government in Jharkhand last year.

According to reports all these four MLAs, who resigned as ministers on Tuesday, will join the UPA to topple the Arjun Munda government, which now has the support of only 39 MLAs, three short of a majority in the 82-member Assembly. The UPA has also already said that it would provide an alternative government in Jharkhand. The UPA can do that with the support of these four MLAs. Chief minister Arjun Munda continued to claim, however, that there was no threat to his government and that, given a chance, he would prove his majority in the House.

Enos Ekka, Madhu Kora and Harinarayan Rai, who were having regular meetings with the UPA leaders in New Delhi for the past few days, will reach Ranchi late Tuesday evening and meet governor Syed Sibtey Razi to submit their resignations to him officially.

They will also demand that the governor ask the chief minister to step down. Mr Arjun Munda, who is also in New Delhi, is also arriving on Tuesday evening. Meanwhile, after getting a whiff of what was going to happen, the NDA’s crisis manager met in Ranchi on Tuesday afternoon and chalked out its future strategy.

A section of senior BJP leaders are in consultation with some disgruntled RJD MLAs in order to get back their magic figures. In the meantime, Madhu Kora, who spearheaded the revolt against the chief minister, is being tipped as the frontrunner for the next chief minister. However, it is not yet clear whether the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Congress and the RJD would join an alternative government or would support it from outside.

New Delhi, Sept. 5: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf will breathe new life into the peace process in Havana next week, with back channels active to work out a common meeting ground to give new impetus to the talks. For this a reiteration, in different words, of the January 6, 2004 joint statement in which Pakistan had agreed not to allow its territory to be used by terrorists will be necessary to break the creeping ice and give Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the necessary space to continue with the peace process.

In Pakistan the peace constituency has grown to engulf all those who were once regarded as “hawks” but are now strongly promoting the revival of the peace process. The Pakistan government, currently on the backfoot over Baluchistan, is looking for a reprieve and there are no two views in Islamabad that the revival of the stalled process will be a major step in this direction. However, this has not stopped the Pakistan government from trying to build up a campaign against India for its alleged involvement in Baluchistan, although till date neither the media nor the political opposition has picked this up in any significant manner.

Significantly, much is still being made by the government in Islamabad of the “great chemistry” between Dr Singh and Gen. Musharraf, which is now expected to work sufficientlywell to kickstart the peace process. There is a certain nervousness among the power elite in Islamabad, who believe that India had lost interest in the peace process and are still unsure whether the Havana meeting will at all take place, and even if it did whether it would yield positive dividends.

The strong campaign by the Pakistan government against India for falsely accusing it of the Mumbai blasts has so far not been replaced by talk of the bilateral meeting in Havana. As a minister in the government said: “There is no reason to raise expectations, let us see what happens.”

Gen. Musharraf has finally agreed, according to media reports in Pakistan, to negotiate a settlement with the Baluchistan groups. As yet sketchy reports suggest that the government, at a meeting presided over by the general, decided to open political negotiations, a retraction from the earlier stand that there was no question of a dialogue with the Baloch groups.

This could take the edge off the strong criticism against Gen. Musharraf and the Army for the moment, with the peace process helping to reestablish him in what had started appearing as a diminishing constituency. Dr Singh has taken care to keep the peace process “on” despite the strong reaction within India after the Mumbai blasts.

Terrorism will remain a primary concern at the Havana meeting for India, with both outgoing foreign secretary Shyam Saran and his designated successor Shiv Shankar Menon accompanying the Prime Minister to assist him in the talks. The current effort is directed at bringing the peace process back on track, paving the way for bilateral visits and further political interaction.

The foreign secretaries have met in Dhaka since the Mumbai terror blasts, but a formal review of the last round of the composite dialogue at the official and ministerial level had been shelved. This is expected to be revived, along with the visit by Dr Singh to Pakistan which had been called off after both sides failed to resolve the complex Siachen issue.

Kashmir remains an issue, but it is not being raised stridently at the moment by Pakistan. Gen. Musharraf has been too caught up in the Baluchistan crisis to come out with new solutions, and at present the intention in Islamabad appears to centre around getting the peace process off the ground. Critics of the government like former ISI chief Lt. Gen. Assad Durrani are equating the situation in Kashmir and Baluchistan. “You keep the stick in Kashmir, we do it in Baluchistan,” Gen. Durrani told this correspondent in Islamabad two days ago.

He was of the view that the solution to Kashmir would come “gradually”, and that both governments could move ahead in resolving this and other issues without necessarily waiting for trust and confidence to grow. “I don’t believe there will be trust for a long time but we are both confident of tackling our problems without this,” he said.

Chennai, Sept 5: Senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily, who is the chairman of the Oversight Committee for implementation of 27 per cent reservation in elite central institutions, has appealed to the PMK founder Dr S. Ramadoss to desist from rushing to the media to voice differences over the reservation issue as that could hurt unity within the UPA ruling at the Centre.

“You can always discuss issues before going to the Press. The Congress party has no intention to create any situation of conflict or confrontation,” Mr Moily said in a letter to the PMK chief a couple of days ago. The Congress senior also pointed out that the Congress and PMK were partners in the DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance which won the Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu and the UPA that won the Lok Sabha polls at the Centre.

“We have won because of the unity of our minds. We should repeat such success stories in the ensuing elections to the local bodies. We must strengthen the unity among the UPA partners,” Mr Moily told the PMK leader.

He said he failed to understand why Dr Ramadoss directed his party cadres to stage black flag demonstrations against him on the reservation issue—the PMK wants the 27 per cent quota to be implemented in one go while Mr Moily and several others in the Congress party have advocated phased implementation. “I think your apprehension is misplaced. You are a party to the decision of the UPA (on the reservation issue) and your son Dr Anbumani Ramadoss is in the UPA government,” he pointed out.

“It is appropriate that you put more pressure on the UPA coordination committee and the government instead of indicting me in the manner done in your statement (to the media),” the Congress leader told Dr Ramadoss, recalling the many ‘bold’ initiatives he had launched during his tenure as the Karnataka chief minister to help the cause of the Dalits, OBCs and minorities.

Mr Moily pointed out that the decision to implement the 27 per cent reservation in Central elite institutions was taken by the UPA coordination committee, in which the PMK was included and his own Oversight Committee “has no agenda of its own.” He was not trying to plead that the PMK should give up its protest demos against him but was only “bringing these to your notice so that you understand the ground realities.”

Besides, said Mr Moily, he was in charge of Congress affairs in Tamil Nadu and as such had the responsibility “to sustain the unity and solidarity of both the DPA and the UPA.” On his part, he had advised the Congress workers not to get upset over his statements and was writing the letter “so that mistrust among our friendly parties is not kindled,” Mr Moily said.

Chennai, Sept. 5: The hoax caller who telephoned the police control room here saying there was a bomb threat to President Abdul Kalam’s plane here late Monday night had used a mobile phone without a SIM card to avoid detection, the police said. “Two teams are working on this. We have no clue so far. We are trying to locate the service provider. It is a difficult task since only three digits have appeared on the caller ID dial (at the police control room),” state director general of police D. Mukherjee told this newspaper.

He said the police control room had received an anonymous call around 10.30 p.m. (sources said the call came at 2238 hours) to say that a bomb had been placed on the plane carrying the state governor. Since governor S S Barnala had no travel plans, the police quickly concluded that the caller had meant the plane on which President Kalam was to travel. Dr Kalam was by then already at the Chennai airport talking to his friends and relatives who had come to see him before he flew back to Delhi at the end of his two-day visit to the city.

City police commissioner Ms Latika Saran said the caller ID “showed an incomplete number”. The police have sought BSNL help to trace the caller, which could be difficult and complicated, she said.

Sources said the policeman who received the call at the control room found that the caller ID screen showed only the numbers 800 and immediately alerted his superiors about his very brief conversation with the anonymous caller, who had disconnected after merely saying a bomb had been planted on the plane flying the ‘governor’.

Initially, the police thought that the number from where the call had originated was computer-generated but a further probe revealed that it was a mobile phone without the SIM card. The caller had used the method to avoid detection, since all mobile phones have a facility to make free calls to the police (100) and some other emergency services without using the SIM card.

Sources said the caller could still be traced as his International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number, unique to every handset, would have been registered with the local mobile service provider and this could provide the necessary lead to nab the prankster who had delayed President Kalam’s return to the Capital by a couple of hours.

Dr Kalam had sent away Governor Barnala and state ministers Arcot Veerasamy and K. Ponmudy, who had come to see him off, telling them he would be delayed as he had invited some friends and relatives to meet him at the airport before emplaning. There were 52 visitors lined up to meet him at the VVIP lounge of the airport and the police had initially estimated that he would be able to leave at around 11.15 p.m. “But then the anonymous call came and things went for a toss,” said a senior official.

Police teams, including bomb-detection squads and sniffer dogs, were rushed to the airport for a thorough search inside the special IAF aircraft which was to fly the President back to Delhi.

All the luggage on board, including the small belongings of the President, were offloaded for a check. Top security officials tried to convince Dr Kalam that he could either return to the city to rest at the Raj Bhavan and take off for Delhi in the morning or fly by another plane that could be brought from the Capital. “The President turned down both options and insisted on flying on the same aircraft immediately after the check. He was convinced it was a hoax call,” said the officer.

Obviously, the President was keen on not allowing an impression that his schedule could be derailed by a hoax terror threat, as that would encourage such pranksters, said another airport official. Finally, the Presidential aircraft took off for Delhi at 0200 hours.

Hyderabad, Sept. 5: Government agencies under the Congress regime are looking the other way as close aides of former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu are trying to grab prime property worth about Rs 100 crore in the city. The property is a sick unit, Penguin Textiles, located on 40 acres at Uppal Industrial Area. The people who, according to a First Information Report with the Uppal police, "trespassed" into the factory and have it in their possession include former TD Rajya Sabha member P. Prabhakar Reddy (of Viceroy Hotel at Tank Bund), S.N. Daga, who once had a stake in Mr Naidu's family business concern Heritage Foods, and Mr Gautham Chand Jain besides Kolkata-based industrialist Ghanshyam Sarda.

Government agencies in a series of instances have kept mum, investigations by this newspaper have revealed. l Six persons including Mr Reddy, Mr Daga and Mr Jain allegedly trespassed into the factory in 2000, when the Naidu government was in power, and the Chettairs promptly complained to the police. The police, however, registered the case (469/2005) only in May 2005, after the Congress came into power. There has been no movement on it since.

* The AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation gave an undertaking to the AP High Court (WA 252 of 2000) but has been delaying registration of the land to the original promoters of Penguin Textiles, the Chettiar family based in Chennai.

* The AP Central Power Discom Corporation Limited resumed power supply on a representation made by Mr Jain. Discom ignored representations of the Chettiars who said Mr Jain was not "authorised" to run the company's affairs. The company has subsequently defaulted power bills of about Rs 1 crore.

On January 31, 1999, Mr Reddy and his associates entered into agreements with the Chettiars. Both parties agreed that 98.47 per cent shareholding of the Chettiar family would be transferred to the former for Rs 12 crore. Rs 50 lakh was to be paid while signing the MoU and a cheque of Rs 1.5 crore would be deposited with a "third party."

The agreement stated that the deal was subject to approval of the Appellate Authority for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction and the balance would be paid after approval. "With Mr Reddy and his associates failing to pay Rs 1.5 crore as per the agreement we withdrew authorisation given to one Mr Ghanshyam Sarda, who is also signatory to the MoU, on August 12, 1999," said Mr Chettiar.

The AAIFR in Appeal No 145/99, turned down the proposed change in management and asked the Chettiars to submit revival proposals. It directed the Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction to take into consideration only the original promoters' proposals.

In May 2000, Mr Reddy and his associates forcibly entered the factory premises and the Chettiars moved the police. It took five years for the police to register a case, in May 2005. Uppal inspector A. Muthyam Reddy told this correspondent on Monday that the case was still under investigation.

Since it was a dispute over ownership, the role of police would be minimal. "According to the accused they were given authorisation to run the company but the complainant says the authorisation was withdrawn," he said, adding that there was no need to arrest the accused since it is more of a civil dispute. Why did AP Central Discom reconnect power? Superintending engineer Raghuma Reddy said that Mr Jain had secured orders from the AP High Court following which Discom resumed power supply.

Congress to go all out against TRS

Hyderabad, Sept. 5: The Congress on Tuesday decided to launch an all-out offensive against Telangana Rashtra Samiti by holding district-level meetings in the backward Telangana region. The Congress has also decided that only party leaders from Telangana will speak on the issue and counter the political onslaught launched by the TRS after it withdrew from the UPA government at the Centre. The APCC has convened a meeting of DCC presidents and other important functionaries of the party from the Telangana region to chalk out a political strategy ahead of the Telangana meeting planned by the TRS at Siddipet on September 8. APCC chief K. Keshava Rao presided over the meeting at Gandhi Bhavan. According to sources, Congress leaders complained about the continued criticism of AICC president Sonia Gandhi and Chief Minister Y.S. Raja-sekhar Reddy by the TRS.

Naidu in Delhi for talks

Hyderabad, Sept. 5: Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu left for New Delhi on a two-day visit to renew efforts for formation of a third front with like-minded parties. Mr Naidu plans to call on Samajwadi party leader Mulayam Singh, CPM leader Prakash Karat, CPI A.B. Bardhan and other political leaders. “He will meet political leaders available in Delhi. As of now a meeting with Mr Mulayam Singh has been fixed,” a close aide of Mr Naidu told this correspondent from New Delhi. According to another TD leader, Mr Naidu will use the opportunity to renew ties. The renewed vigour, party circles say, was the outcome of fairly good show by Telugu Desam in the just concluded panchayat elections. “When everyone thought the party will be wiped out, the people have bestowed some confidence in Telugu Desam,” a senior party leader said. Before leaving for Delhi, Mr Naidu felicitated a group of teachers on the occasion of Teachers Day.

Security checks for Ganesh procession

Hyderabad, Sept. 5: Elaborate arrangements have been made for the smooth conduct of Ganesh idol immersion on Wednesday, the final day of the ongoing Ganesh festival. The centralised procession will start from Balapur at 7 am and is expected to reach Charminar by 12 noon. Over 22,000 police personnel have been deployed to provide security. City Police Commissioner A. K. Mohanty said there was no need for panic on the basis of the reports on efforts made by anti-social elements to create disturbances during immersion process. The city police is expecting 6,000 idols to be immersed in Hussainsagar lake on the final day of the festival. However, Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi office bearers said that over 20,000 idols would be immersed. As many as 19 cranes have been positioned on upper Tank Bund for the purpose and another 9 cranes have been fixed on the NTR Marg side of the lake. A special crane has also been positioned on NTR Marg for the 40-feet tall Khairatabad Ganesh. Already 3,000 Ganesh idols have been immersed as part of the festival, as per records available with city police. Police sources said that they wanted the immersion process to be over before dawn on Thursday. “Last year, the idol immersion continued till next day forenoon. It will not be allowed this year,” an official involved in security arrangements said.

RTC unions want Setwin buses off Hyderabad roads

Hyderabad, Sept. 5: Even as the State RTC is considering the possibility of challenging the government permission to Setwin for plying buses on 75 routes in State Transport Authority Tribunal, its unions have launched an agitation on Tuesday. The National Mazdoor Union (NMU) and Staff and Workers Federation (SWF) organised separate agitations in front of State Transport Authority in Khairatabad and Bus Bhavan at RTC crossroads. “We are seeking legal advice after obtaining which we will proceed,” said B.R. Anand, the RTC Executive Director (Operations). The RTC unions are worried over the prospects of losing profits with the introduction of Setwin buses. RTC was expecting to register Rs 100 crore profit in the current year. But now, they are afraid that this estimate will have to be revised. The unions are demanding immediate withdrawal of the permission to Setwin buses and G.O.No.94. which allowed plying of the private buses in 104 routes in the State. They have asked the State Transport Authority to stop the survey of ‘proven uneconomic routes’. The RTC unions fear that the survey will lead to privatisation of some more routes. “The decision of the government is contrary to the promises which Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy made to RTC,” pointed out M. Nageswara Rao, the working president of the NMU. Meanwhile, the minister for transport, Kanna Laxmi Narayana said that Setwin buses will not be a competition to RTC. According to him, the old Setwin buses were withdrawn in 2004 as they did not comply with pollution standards. “Now that the government has got report by officials’ committee it allowed 75 buses to the old beneficiaries of Setwin and 25 buses to new groups of unemployed youth,” he added. “We allowed the plying of Setwin buses only on old routes. The decision will not affect the RTC, ” the minister clarified.