After 17 years, Liberhan Babri report with Centre

The report on the December 6, 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya was submitted by retired judge M.S. Liberhan to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on Tuesday. It took the commission of inquiry headed by Justice Liberhan 17 years and 48 extensions to arrive at this point.

The government says it is prepared for a full debate on the report in the Budget Session of Parliament, which begins on July 2. It will table the report, along with the action taken report, within the session, which ends on August 7.

The BJP, meanwhile, appears to have already gone on the defensive. Government and Congress sources said the BJP would be completely isolated on this issue, adding that no party in the NDA, barring the Shiv Sena, would support it.

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Exit polls shake up Naidu

Exit polls conducted by different television channels in the five phase Lok Sabha elections, which ended Wednesday, predicted a fractured mandate, but most gave the Congress-led UPA a slight edge over the BJP-led NDA, with the Third Front and others lagging far behind.

However, most exit polls have a reputation for going wrong. In 2004, they gave victory — wrongly, as it turned out — to the NDA. Counting of votes will begin on Saturday morning.

With exit polls predicting that the Congress was ahead, the Telugu Desam president, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, on Wednesday advised party leaders and workers not to be disheartened by reports that the TD would lose.

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Telangana state in 100 days: Advani

The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Mr L.K. Advani, promised to declare statehood for Telangana within 100 days if the NDA returned to power at the Centre.

Addressing a public meeting organised as part of the Vijay Sankalp Yatra at Parade Grounds here on Thursday, Mr Advani said BJP was known for its credibility and would fulfil the dreams of the Telangana people.

“As Union home minister, I signed on the files to create Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttaranchal. I assure all Telangana people that the creation of separate state is possible only with the NDA,” he said.

Mr Advani said the separate state would have been a realty if the TD had supported the proposal during the NDA regime. He said the Praja Rajyam should also support Telangana state, but remained silent over a tie-up with the party.

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275 Prime Minister Nukes them all

The two-week long political stalemate ended on Tuesday after a resounding victory for the Manmohan Singh government in the crucial trust vote in the Lok Sabha, which saw a realignment of political parties, heated debates and allegations of money power. In the end, the government won by a comfortable margin.

The victory, which put the Prime Minister firmly in the saddle, will not merely push the country towards the nuclear club, but also enable the government to move ahead with economic reforms.

In his moment of glory, the Prime Minister targeted the Left. “They wanted me to behave like a slave,” his reply to the Lok Sabha debate read.

Though the stalemate began from July 9 after the Left withdrew support to the government, the process of instability had started much earlier, after the government made it clear that it was not backing off from the nuclear deal with the United States.

At the end of the day on Tuesday, the UPA raced ahead in the numbers game. Those in favour of the motion stood at 275, and those opposed it numbered 256. The government won by 19 votes. Altogether 10 members were either absent or abstained from voting.

There were also indications that, in a major blow to the saffron camp, at least nine NDA MPs defied the whip to vote for the motion.

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Of dinners to win trust

The UPA and NDA both tried to test their strength before the July 22 trust vote in the Lok Sabha through dinner diplomacy on Sunday evening.

Prime Minister Mr Manmohan Singh hosted a dinner for government supporters at the Ashok Hotel while the BJP’s Mr L.K.Advani hosted his event at the Parliament Annexe.

The cuisine at both the feasts was of course completely desi.

Mr Advani’s dinner was served by the catering service of the Indian Railways. Leaders of the third front — including BSP’s Mayawati, TDP’s N.Chandrababu Naidu, CPI(M) boss Prakash Karat — thrashed out strategy over lunch.

The head count at the UPA feast looked virtually complete. The expected abstention was of Mr Kuldeep Bishnoi, a rebel Congressman.

Saffron camp watchers were surprised by the conspicuous absence of four NDA MPs — two from JD(U), one from Shiv Sena and one from the BJP itself.

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Sonia hits out at NDA

The Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, in an unusually combative mood, attacked the Atal Behari Vajpayee government here on Sunday for neglecting farmers during its tenure.

"What did the NDA do for farmers? They are shedding crocodile tears now. If the farmers' plight has worsened, the NDA is the root cause. While a lot still needs to be done for farmers, whatever has been done for them is thanks only to the Congress, the UPA and the Prime Minister," she said while addressing the mammoth farmers' rally at the historic Ramlila Grounds.

Speaking at the one-lakh strong rally held to celebrate the waiver of farmers' loans announced in the Union Budget recently, Mrs Gandhi profusely thanked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the measure. "A farmer produces not merely for himself but for the nation. The loan waiver is a way to pay a debt of gratitude to the farmer," she said.

This is not the only initiative for the farmer, she said. During its four years in office at the Centre, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government had taken several initiatives such as increasing the minimum support price, increased credit flows for farmers, and a special package had been announced by the Prime Minister for 31 suicide prone districts spread over four states.



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