Andhranews

London, Oct. 6: Jack Straw, leader of the House of Commons, found himself in the eye of a storm on Friday for suggesting to Muslim women that they lift their veils during consultations at his constituency office. Mr Straw said that for the past year he had been asking women who visited his constituency office to remove their veils so that he could see them face-to-face. Mr Straw said he always made sure that he was accompanied by a female member of staff and so far no constituent had refused to lift her veil.

A prominent Muslim scholar described his comments as �untimely� and giving out �a mixed message�. The Muslim Council of Britain�s Sheikh Ibrahim Nogra said, �On the one hand he says this is a free country. On the other, he is denying that free choice to a woman who chooses to wear the veil. Does Mr Straw mean that people should give up certain cultural and religious customs and practices simply because a vast majority of the country do not share them?

That is calling for assimilation. That is saying that one culture or one way of life is superior to another. If we are truly multicultural, we have to accept that there will be women who want to dress in this way.�
Sheikh Ibrahim, who trained as an imam, said, �I have a beard and I wear a traditional long shirt. Sometimes I wear a turban and a hat. Am I going to be his next subject of concern?� He said he welcomed a debate but Muslims �would want ownership of the outcome of the debate�.

Reefat Drabu, chairman of the social and family affairs committee of the Muslim Council of Great Britain, said, �If Mr Straw thinks this is going to break down barriers, it isn�t. If anything, it is going to alienate Muslim women and be a catalyst for more of them to wear the veil and prove a point.�

Mr Straw, a former foreign secretary, who has sought strong links with Muslims, said, �The Muslim Council of Great Britain has made clear that this is an issue that theologically the Islamic community is divided on. Most of my Muslim constituents don�t mind if I ask them to lift their veils.�

Hyderabad, Oct. 6: IMG Academies LLP of Florida has clarified that IMG Bharata is not its subsidiary and has denied any role in the land scam involving the Indian firm. IMG Bharata had claimed to be a subsidiary of IMG Academies, Florida, when it was allotted 850 acres in Hyderabad by the previous Telugu Desam government to establish world-class sporting facilities.

The land allocation was cancelled by the Congress government, which also ordered a CBI probe into the issue. In an email to this correspondent, Ted Meekma, senior vice-president of IMG Worldwide Inc. and director of IMG Academies LLP, Florida, explained his company�s relations with IMG Bharata and IMG Academies East, both set up by Andrew Krieger.

�IMG Academies East and IMG Academies Bharata are not subsidiaries of IMG Worldwide Inc. or IMG Academies LLP,� he said. �The US Company is neither an investor nor an owner of either of the two entities.�� However, Mr Meekma expressed his company�s willingness to take over the project and complete it. �I would think that this type of potential investment within your community would be embraced and appreciated,� he wrote.

Sports minister M. Satyanarayana Rao said that since a CBI inquiry was on, the government would consider the US Company�s offer only after the completion of the probe Mr Krieger, along with Billy Rao, had been maintaining that their company was a unit of the Florida-based sporting giant. The TD government had signed a MoU with them on the basis of these claims.

The Congress government, on the other hand, has been describing Mr Krieger as a �money swindler� and Mr Billy Rao as an �academic cheat.�� Since the Congress government believed that the two promoters of IMG Bharata were shady, it cancelled the land allocation and ordered a CBI probe. Government chief whip N. Kiran Kumar Reddy had even described IMG Bharata as a benami firm of TD chief N. Chandrababu Naidu.

Mr Meekma, however, said in his message that though the Florida Company did not own IMG Bharata, it had an �affiliation� with Mr Krieger. �IMG Academies LLP, a division of IMG Worldwide, Inc., has been under contract for licensing and consulting with Mr Krieger�s IMG Academies East for over three years,� he said.

�Our contract calls for us to license our brands, systems and techniques, and consult on the design, staffing, programming and operations of the multi-sport training/educational complex to be built in Hyderabad�� he added. Mr Meekma and IMGA LLP co-director Greg Breunich had visited Hyderabad when the MoU was signed. Mr Chandrababu Naidu attended the programme and had also addressed a joint press conference.

New Delhi, Oct. 6: The BJP dashed Mr Varun Gandhi�s hopes of getting elected to Parliament through the byelection in Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh when it decided to give the ticket to State minister and local Rampal Singh. In the process, the party also overlooked the claim of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan�s wife Sadhna Singh for the seat.

But, when deciding on another parliamentary constituency, the BJP had no problem fielding an �outsider�, former Union minister Shahnawaz Hussain, from Bihar�s Bhagalpur Lok Sabha constituency where there are a significant number of Muslim voters.

The decisions were taken at a meeting of the party central election committee that was attended, among others, by former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and party leaders L.K. Advani and Rajnath Singh on Friday. Vidisha is a saffron stronghold which had once elected Mr Vajpayee.� Mr Varun Gandhi, the 27-year-old son of party MP Maneka Gandhi, was believed to have the backing of Mr Vajpayee and Mr Advani, but faced strong resentment in the state party unit, a strong reason why the central leadership decided against fielding him.

Mr Chauhan, who had won the seat which he resigned after becoming chief minister in November 2005, tried to get his wife a ticket, but this, too, did not find favour with the party bosses. The BJP election committee named journalist Pranav Kumar Verma, son of former MP R.L.P. Verma, as its candidate for the Koderma Lok Sabha seat in Jharkhand. Koderma was vacated by former chief minister Babulal Marandi after he quit the BJP.

It also decided to field Mr Kapoor Chand from Bada Malhera Assembly constituency in MP (from where rebel leader Uma Bharti had resigned) and Mr Sahdev Khake from Talsara Assembly seat in Orissa.
Party sources said the possible challenge from Ms Uma Bharti prompted the BJP to deny tickets to Mr Varun Gandhi and the chief minister�s wife.

Putting Mr Varun Gandhi in the fray would provide Ms Bharti an easy opportunity to target the BJP, they said, and added that the chief minister�s wife was not given a ticket� because they feared Ms Bharti would label the party as one that promotes family rule. Mr Chauhan and his colleagues in Madhya Pradesh had been lobbying hard against Mr Varun Gandhi over the past week as they see the Vidisha contest as a prestige issue for the BJP and its government in the state, where Bharatiya Janshakti leader Uma Bharti is a force to reckon with.

Earlier this week, Mr Chauhan met former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and BJP leaders Rajnath Singh and L.K. Advani, who wanted Mr Varun Gandhi to be given a chance to enter the Lok Sabha through Vidisha, and conveyed to them his doubts about the 27-year-old�s chances of success from there.

New Delhi, Oct. 6: The Congress will be projecting Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi as its chief ministerial candidate in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls after realising that he alone can rejuvenate the party in the State. The Congress has been out of power in UP for over a decade.

Congress insiders feel Mr Rahul Gandhi will be the best face to attract people in the State because voters are fed up with the �caste and communal� politics of the regional parties (Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party) and the BJP.

The son of the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is being projected at a time when the Congress is going back to its basics, re-enacting the historic Dandi March and identifying itself with Satyagraha and the Garibi Hatao slogan. With this, the party is suggesting that its new generation does not believe in caste and communal politics, party insiders said.

Mr Rahul Gandhi showed his leadership capabilities perhaps for the first time after his election to the Lok Sabha when he managed the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha byelection campaign of his mother, Congress
president Sonia Gandhi, a few months ago. The Congress president won the bypoll by a record margin.

While Mrs Gandhi had herself acknowledged his efforts behind her victory, the CWC also took note of it. After that, Mr Rahul Gandhi started accompanying Mrs Gandhi to public meetings in UP. At the Congress chief ministers� conclave at Nainital last month, Mrs Gandhi told reporters that her son Rahul would be active in the UP Assembly polls.

AICC officials privately conceded that Mr Rahul Gandhi�s interest in Uttar Pradesh has already made the state unit active. This is reflected in the composition of the PCC executive in which a large number of new faces figured for the first time. If Congress insiders are to be believed, Mr Rahul Gandhi, has started meeting party workers from UP at his 12, Tughlaq Lane residence in New Delhi.

The Congress wants new faces to attract floating voters and make a dent in the vote bank politics dominating UP since 1990. That is perhaps why a section of the party has been opposing a pre-poll alliance with non-Samajwadi Party parties and the BJP. Mr Rahul Gandhi has been associating himself with developmental issues in UP and had shared a dais with chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav in New Delhi.

Meanwhile, Mrs Sonia Gandhi has been managing the UP organisation through eight zonal in-charges since March this year. All eight are part of Mr Rahul Gandhi�s team. The Congress rank and file have been pleading for the last few months that Mrs Sonia Gandhi must give her son some role. The AICC plenary in Hyderabad in January this year was dominated by the demand to nominate Mr Rahul Gandhi to the CWC.

Buxar, Oct. 6: Buxar Central Jail is ready to supply its famed �Manila� rope for the hanging of Mohammed Afzal Guru, facing execution for his role in the 2001 Parliament attack, if his clemency petition is dismissed. The jail has expertise in making the wax-coated Manila rope, which it sells at Rs 180 a kg and which can easily withstand the tension caused by the fall of a person weighing up to 80 kg, jail superintendent I.H. Ansari told PTI on Friday.

�We are ready with the supplies if Tihar jail authorities place an order, which they have not so far,� Mr Ansari said. Stating that a lot of care goes into making the rope to ensure that a hanging goes smoothly, Mr Ansari said the jail produced several kinds of ropes, including those used with handcuffs and for pitching tents. Clothes and durries are also woven by its inmates. The last time a Manila rope was sent from Buxar jail was for the 2004 hanging of Dhananjay Chatterjee at Alipore Jail following his conviction in a rape-cum-murder case.

The jail, probably the only one in the country making Manila rope, supplies several types of ropes to different jails. The demand for Manila rope, however, has diminished as there are few executions these days, Mr Ansari said.

RTA to get tough with owners

Hyderabad, Oct. 6: The Traffic Police and Road Transport Authority have decided to penalise vehicle owners who fail to inform RTA on the change of vehicle ownership. Failure to update ownership details has landed the traffic police in a tricky situation. The challans they are serving are ending up with the former owners of vehicles while the unregistered violator gets away. Additional Commissioner of Police (traffic) A.K. Khan said, �We serve aro-und 50,000 notices an year. When our personnel turn up at the address, most of them claim that the vehicle is not in their possession. But since the records show that they are the owners, we have decided to serve notice to them.� Also, �an increase in fine amount for this violation is being contemplated.� The tax is also paid by the vehicle owner as life tax as a result the owner will not come back to the authorities. A traffic cop who was serving the notices, said �We have been facing this problem in a majority of the cases while serving notices. Some of them have sold the vehicles five to 10 years ago but are yet to transfer the ownership officially.� Worse, �most of the sellers do not even have the address of the buyer.� There are at least 16 lakh two-wheelers in the city, where reselling is rampant. Mahbubnagar district superintendent of police K. Srinivas Reddy said, �Terrorists may use the vehicles for planting bombs, there have been such instances. The owner of the vehicle used in the blast has sold it long back but the ownership lies with him.� Even the robbers and chain snatchers resort to the crimes on the vehicle and it is difficult to find the owner with the details available with RTA database. Police say the issue has a crime and national security angle too. Joint Transport Commissioner (planning) C.L.N. Gandhi says, �As per rules once a two-wheeler is registered it is valid for 15 years. Then, it should be renewed every five years. However, when the ownership of the vehicle is changed during resale the seller must inform RTA and the buyers has to register it. If they violate this they will be fined.�

MCH wakes up to mosquito bite, forms teams

Hyderabad, Oct. 6: The Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) will take up a door-to-door health awareness campaign from Saturday to deal with dengue and chikungunya fevers efficiently in the city. Nearly 900 medical and health employees will be formed into groups to tackle the mosquito menace. They will also educate people about the vector-borne and waterborne diseases like dengue, chikungunya and viral fevers. With reports of viral fevers on the rise in recent times, MCH Commissioner Sanjay Jaju on Friday held an emergency meeting with senior medical officers and commissioners of 12 municipalities. He asked them to take utmost care should any case of dengue fever be reported in the city and surrounding areas. Officials reportedly explained in the meeting that no suspected dengue cases were reported in the current season. MCH and nearby municipalities will collect the information from private hospitals also. �There is no need to panic. But everybody has to be alert,��said Mr Sanjay Jaju. The task force on dengue fevers, headed by P.K. Agarwal, principal secretary of health, on Saturday will review the situation in the State. Minister for medical and health K. Rosaiah is scheduled to hold a high-level meeting in Hyderabad on Sunday. The government is also contemplating help from the private hospitals and non-governmental organisations in preventing dengue fevers.

SCR to celebrate �Ruby Jubilee�

Hyderabad, Oct. 6: To commemorate the completion of 40 glorious years of service to the nation, the South Central Railway will celebrate its �Ruby Jubilee� from October 8 to 18. Among the several programmes that have been lined up for the occasion, the �Heritage Steam Train Run� from Secunderabad to Falaknuma on October 14 will be the chief attraction. Union Railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav will flag off the train at 5 pm. Other prominent programmes include musical nite, ghazal, inauguration of rail heritage museum, kavi sammelan, golf tournament, rail mela, release of new SCR logo, release of handbook on 40 glorious years of SCR, a vintage car rally and Nitin Mukesh nite.

Defence experts to test Maoist rockets

Hyderabad, Oct. 6: Police is seeking help from the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) experts to test the efficacy of the rockets seized from Maoist dumps in Mahbubnagar. This is the first time the help of defence scientists is being sought to test Maoist weaponry. Police is afraid that if the crude weapons are tested locally they might explode or misfire. �DRDL will conduct a simulator test or live test in protected environment to analyse the efficiency and reach of the rockets,� said a police source. The move comes after a high-level meeting called by Union home secretary V.K. Duggal to discuss the seizure of the huge cache of arms from Maoist dumps.

HR lessons for RAF personnel

Hyderabad, Oct. 6: The Rapid Action Force, which is celebrating its Raising Day on Saturday, is taking steps to sensitise its personnel on human rights. RAF personnel are often in the thick of riot situations and its top brass feel that the human rights angle is pertinent while dealing with the public on such occasions. To ensure this, RPF- Hyderabad battalion will be conducting a series of classes on human rights for personnel ranging from constable to commandant in November. The first series of classes were held earlier. The commandant of the Hyderabad battalion, Dr Subash Damle, will be taking part in the 14th Raising Day celebrations being held at Navi Mumbai. �Learning about human rights will make our personnel cautious in critical situations,� said Dr Damle. �They will not exceed their limits.� The blue-uniformed personnel of the commando wing of the CRPF are usually called in to control riots and to break up violent mobs. They also assist in disaster relief. For instance, after a train fell off a bridge last year in Valigonda killing 120 people, RPF personnel were on the spot within 30 minutes. RPF Constable Santosh Kumar still shudders when he talks about the train mishap. �I have never witnessed such a horrible scenario,� he said. �We worked round the clock to help the injured.� Similarly, the RPF was called in when some youth turned violent near Charminar in July this year. At present, there are 1,200 personnel in the Hyderabad battalion. They were selected from the CRPF to serve in the commando wing for three years.

TRS, CPM find common cause

Hyderabad, Oct. 6: Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti have joined hands to oppose the controversial Polavaram Dam issue. The two parties do not share the separate Telangana sentiment but have decided to share common cause on this issue. The Khammam District CPM took the initiative by announcing its readiness to work with TRS for the cause of displaced people. This initiative took political circles by surprise, as the two parties are known arch-rivals on the separate Telangana issue. It is learnt that the local leadership of CPM and TRS are chalking out an agitation programme to press the State government on the Polavaram dam project. The CPM leaders are responding cautiously and clarifying that the CPM and TRS joint agitation would be limited to the Polavaram issue. �We have already announced that the CPM is ready to work with any political party to safeguard the interests of the innocent tribals, who are facing serious displacement due to the Polavaram project. We had extended invitation to TRS also in this regard,� said CPM national council member and MLA Tammineni Veerabhadram. Apart from political action, the CPM wants to wage a legal battle on behalf of the affected tribals. Meanwhile, C. Umesh Rao, nephew of TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao, resigned from the party on Friday. Speaking to newsmen at Gambhiraopet, Mr Umesh said Mr Rao had miserably failed in lobbying for Telangana as well as developing his constituency in the last two-and-a-half years. �He (Mr Rao) had lost the moral right to contest from Karimnagar constituency again,� he said.

Telangana campaign begins to ring

Hyderabad, Oct. 6: Telangana Rashtra Samiti, which has launched its election campaign for the bypoll to the Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat, is using technology to reach the maximum of number of voters. The party has picked compact discs (CDs) and SMS (short message service) as the best tools to convey the Telangana message effectively to people. Campaign strategy was finalised at a meeting attended by party president K. Chandrasekhar Rao and other senior leaders on Thursday. Preparations are on to distribute thousands of CDs in the Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency during the electioneering. The CDs will contain public meetings addressed by Mr KCR and national leaders of other political parties who support the cause of Telangana. �This will expose the traitors of Telangana,� said an organiser.

Management quota hiked

Hyderabad, Oct. 6: The State government on Friday agreed to increase the management quota in unaided, non-minority B.Ed colleges to 20 per cent. This is in tune with the government policy to create five per cent seats under the national integration category. These seats will be filled by managements, while the remaining 80 per cent will be filled by the convener. The government already implemented the quota in engineering, MBA and MCA courses. A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting held by AP State Council of Higher Education chairman K.C. Reddy with managements of private unaided, non-minority B.Ed colleges. The managements, in turn, agreed to implement the rule of reservation in the 80 per cent convener quota. There were also indications that the government would effect a marginal increase in the fee from Rs 12,500 to Rs 15,000. This is against the demand of the private college managements to enhance the fee to Rs 30,000. The managements also urged the government to change the ratio of seats under different categories Congress feels Left gets softer New Delhi, Oct. 6: The Left is no longer perceived by the Congress party as a threat to the UPA coalition as the relations between the two have improved dramatically after the Kerala and West Bengal elections. Congress party managers are particularly happy that the comrades are now amenable to reasoning, and are more than prepared to accept the government�s arguments on even controversial issues. Congress insiders point out, �Our defeat in the two states has ensured our stability at the Centre for the rest of the term.�� These leaders claim that the Left opposition to the UPA government policies earlier was to consolidate their political constituency in West Bengal and Kerala, and now that the elections were over the threat had passed. The sources said that there was no major difference on issues, and while outside the Left leaders opposed the government �inside they support government policy and position. In fact little is said at the meetings and more outside.� The Congress leaders are of the view that the little opposition from the Left parties now is because they want to occupy the Opposition space. �We understand their compulsions because they do not want to give up this space to the BJP,� the sources said. Sena gives up Chimur claim Mumbai, Oct. 6: Alliance partners Shiv Sena and BJP, whose bickering over contesting Chimur Assembly seat in Maharashtra threatened to break ties between them, on Friday reached a truce, with the Sena ceding ground to its ally. The Sena will get Kalyan-Dombivili Assembly seat on the outskirts of Mumbai in lieu of Chimur, BJP leader Gopinath Munde told reporters after a meeting Sena supremo Bal Thackeray and his son and executive president Uddhav Thackeray at the Thackeray residence in suburban Bandra on Friday afternoon. The Shiv Sena and the BJP, alliance partners for 22 years, have been at loggerheads over Chimur Assembly seat bypoll to which has been necessitated after the resignation of Vijay Wadettiwar who quit the seat and the Shiv Sena to join the Congress recently. The Sena, which was the first to blink in the stalemate, tried hard to convey that it has got a good deal. �This is not our defeat. We have been given an important seat in lieu of Chimur. There is no scope for any differences now,� Uddhav said. Asked about the absence of Maharashtra BJP president Nitin Gadkari at the meeting, Mr Munde said, �He has an important function at his sugar factory... I have taken both Mr Gadkari and (party president) Rajnath Singh into confidence and was authorised to speak to the Thackerays by the party leadership.� Mr Gadkari has been under fire from the Sena for the past two days, with the party mouthpiece Saamna dubbing him as �nemesis� of the alliance. Mr Munde said it was obvious for the Sena to stake its claim for Chimur seat, but �it would have been far better if the controversy had not arisen at all.� Yechury targets UPA on its policies New Delhi, Oct. 6: CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury said that his party has decided to take on the Congress-led UPA coalition through protests for demanding a shift in its economic policies after the Centre rejected its alternative resource mobilisation plan. The CPI(M), which is a key outside supporter of the Congress-led UPA government, also stood by its opposition to financial sector reforms, including any move towards full capital account convertability and increase in FDI cap in insurance and the amendements to Pension and Banking Regulation Bills. Mr Yechury said in an editorial in the latest issue of party organ, People�s Democracy, �The Left parties will continue to mount pressure both within Parliament and outside through mass mobilisations, so that the promises made in the CMP are implemented. Through strong public pressure, this UPA government must be made to shift the direction of the economic policies towards fulfilling the CMP promises.� Venod quits over pay-off accusations Chandigarh, Oct. 6: Haryana power minister Venod Sharma on Friday tendered his resignation amidst rising controversy over allegations that his family had paid off witnesses in the seven-year-old Jessica Lall murder case in which his older son, Manu Sharma, is the main accused. Mr Sharma faxed his letter of resignation to Congress president Sonia Gandhi early on Friday morning amidst rumours that Mrs Gandhi had personally ordered him to step down. However, Mr Sharma told this newspaper that the decision to quit was his own and not in any manner forced by the party high command. He felt the party was needlessly being dragged into the controversy surrounding his family. �I have decided to quit to avoid any further embarrassment to the party and its leadership. The Opposition was raising demands for my removal and was bad-mouthing the Congress on an issue with which the party has no concern,� he said. He insisted he was under no pressure or direction from Mrs Gandhi to resign. The minister had nonetheless come under great pressure to relinquish his ministerial position in Haryana following a recent newspaper and television expose alleging that his family had bribed one of the three key witnesses in the Jessica Lall murder case to get him to change his deposition at the trial. Mr Sharma, having already refuted the implicit bribing of witnesses portrayed in the TV report, had subsequently served notice to both, the Tehelka weekly and Star TV. Mr Sharma�s small but loyal group of supporters within his party insist that his resignation this morning was forced by an influential Congress lobby which has been targeting chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. � Teacher cuts kid�s hair Lucknow, Oct. 6: The principal of a private school near Kanpur cut off the hair of a Class III student just because she turned up for classes without plaiting her hair. Rinki Yadav, a Class III student in the Bhagwan Das Shiksha Niketan, on Thursday reached her school and was attending the assembly when one of the teachers called her. �The teacher scolded. They also slapped me and then called principal Saloni Khanna who cut off my hair and handed me the locks of hair,� she said. Her parents and locals ransacked the school. Later a FIR was lodged with Kotwali police. 2 ISI men held with defence papers New Delhi, Oct. 6: With the arrest of one Pakistani and one Bangladeshi, the special cell of the Delhi police claimed to have arrested two agents of Pakistan�s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) in the capital with sensitive defence documents in their possession. Mohammed Muzaffar Khan and Ali Rehman Jalal, both in their early thirties, were arrested on Thursday evening from Madanpur Khadar area where they were staying for the past nine months. �While Khan belongs to Karachi, Jalal is a Bangladeshi national. Both are undergoing interrogation,� deputy commissioner of police (special cell) Alok Kumar, said. One envelope containing sensitive classified documents related to Indian military mechanism marked restricted and one pencil sketch concerning sensitive installations of Delhi Cantonment area have been seized from their possession. �We had received a definite tip-off that Ali Rehman Jalal will come near a bridge in Madanpur Khadar area following which a trap was laid and he was arrested. Later, Muzaffar Khan was arrested. Shakeel aides give up in court Hyderabad, Oct. 6: Two engineering students, who are associates of suspected terror activist Shakeel, surrendered at the Metropolitan Criminal Court, Nampally, on Friday. They are accused in a plot to kill BJP leaders in the city.� The accused were identified as Abrar, 20, of Saidabad, studying third year engineering at Shadnagar Engineering College, and Shaifuqe Ur Rehman of Malakpet, doing his third year engineering at Anwar Ul Uloom Engineering College. Shakeel was arrested last month. All the accused were activists of the Darsgah Jihad O Shahadat, police said. The case is being investigated by Special Investigation Team of city police headed by inspector of police Mohammed Jameeluddin.� Two others accused in the case are� absconding. They have been identified as Mohtsim Billa, brother of Mujaheed Saleem. (Saleem was killed by police in� Gujarat) and Fayaq of Tolichowki. They were booked for criminal conspiracy. �Though they are not identified with a specific module, e have seized seditious CDs of Jaish-e- Mohammed chief Moulana Masood Azhar. The plot is that of ISI which was planning to create communal disturbances in the city by killing second rung leaders of BJP,� They were targeting BJP leader Sampath Kumar Yadav hailing from Madannapet. Shakeel also said to have confessed that he was also planning to attack Dept Mayor Subashchanderji. The accused were remanded to judical custody. Police have decided to file a petition in the court to seek the custody of the accused. � � 3 Memon men guilty Mumbai, Oct. 6: The Tada court on Friday held Shaikh Ali Shaikh Umar, Mohammed Shahid Nizamuddin Qureshi and Parvez Qureshi guilty in the 1993 serial bomb blasts case. While Nizamuddin Qureshi and Shaikh Umar are lodged in judicial custody in Mumbai, Parvez Qureshi is out on bail. While announcing his verdict, Judge P. Kode said that apart from participating in landing operations of arms and explosives, Parvez Qureshi is also charged with obtaining weapons training in Pakistan, attending conspiracy meetings at residences of co-accused in Dubai and filling RDX in vehicles which were then planted. Strong push for Telugu New Delhi, Oct. 6: Andhra Pradesh Official Languages Commission chairman A.B.K. Prasad has shot off a missive to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pressing for the claim of Telugu being recognised as a Classical Language. A strong case is being made out that Kannada cannot get Classical Language, ahead of Telugu, as Telugu has epigraphical, numismatical, historical and literary evidence that it is older than Kannada and dates back to Bhattiprolu inscriptions of 203 BC. Telugu, hailed as the Italian of the East, is 3,000 years old and is the second largest spoken language, next only to Hindi, in the country. Mr Prasad is very keen that Telugu should get Classical Language status before November 1, which marks the golden jubilee of Andhra Pradesh formation. �Telugu should have been the first language to be accorded Classical Language status, as it eminently meets all the criteria,� Mr Prasad said.