UPA govt.should come down: Uma Bharati

BHARATIYA JANSHAKTI Party chief Uma Bharati on Friday late evening (July 18), said that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has failed to take the people of India into confidence over the nuclear deal issue, for which his government should come down (topple) as soon as possible.

Bharati was down in Goa on Friday evening for just one hour, and then proceeded toward Hubli-Karnataka, by roadways to meet her Guru on the occasion of ’Gurupornima’.

She spoke to media after getting down at Margao Konkan Railway station, around 11pm. She left Margao exactly after one hour, after having spent ten minutes in the constituency of chief minister Digambar Kamat.

She lambasted the United Progressive Alliance ( UPA) government over failure of many issues pertaining to country. She even termed Manmohan’s government a ’failure’.

She stressed that the UPA government is a total failure and should come down immediately, and the election should be held without wasting any more time.

When asked why the UPA government is a failure, she said that the nuclear deal documents should have been put on Parliament table, also general public and media should have been taken into confidence. But this government did not do so.

Rumours are making the rounds that she may again join Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). When asked her about this she denied the possibility and said that she believe only in facts and not on rumours.

She also said that her party will fight election in five states viz Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and others. source: http://www.merinews.com

Samajwadi MP says 7 will vote against UPA

Samajwadi MP says 7 will vote against UPA
A Ganesh Nadar

July 09, 2008 19:38 IST
Munawwar Hasan, the Samajwadi Party member of Parliament from Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh is among those from his party who refuse to toe the party line on backing the United Progressive Alliance government on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Hasan is clear that he will vote against the government, and refuses to change his view even at the cost of losing his party membership.

He has chosen to oppose the party line and vote against the Government, and says he is not going to change his view even at the cost of loosing his party membership.

He told rediff.com, "I am opposing the nuclear deal with the Americans. America is against the interests of Muslims. Muslims hate Americans. If this deal goes through, then Americans will make a lot of money.

"They will use the money to make bombs and then bomb Muslims with it. We are not going to let that happen. We are against the Americans. We are not interested in the power part of the deal, we are opposing the fact that it's a deal with the United States."

Hasan is also very clear where his interests lie. "We are on the same side as UP Chief Minister Mayawati. We support her on this. Apart from this, I do not have any other problem or differences with the Samajwadi party or its chief Mulayam Singh Yadav."

Hasan said apart from him and Jai Prakash, MP from Mohanlalganj, there are five other MPs who will vote against the government. But, "I will not tell you their names now, you will know when the confidence vote is taken," he said. source: http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/jul/09ndeal16.htm

Assam ranks as ‘most corrupt’ State

NEW DELHI, June 29 – Assam has earned the dubious distinction of being the most corrupt State in the country, on the basis of corruption in 11 vital services. Corruption level was alarming in four other States, as well. The latest India Corruption Study 2007 conducted jointly by Transparency International and Centre for Media Study and released by Vice President Hamid Ansari on Saturday is embarrassing news for Assam, where corruption level was described as ‘alarming’. The four States, which follow Assam include Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The grouping of States on corruption reflects position of States in the context of eleven services. The eleven services included ‘basic services’ like PDS, hospital service, school education, electricity and water supply services and ‘need -based services’, like land records, registration, housing service, forest, NREGS, banking service and police service (traffic and crime)). The study does not include operational irregularities in the system and even corruption that does not involve citizens directly.The study covered all 31 States and Union Territories and is focused on the poorest and rural areas. It included below the poverty line people (BPL) in both rural areas and urban slums.The level of corruption in all the 11services studied in Assam and Madhya Pradesh was alarming. In Delhi and West Bengal, for example, corruption level was moderate in most services surveyed. Among smaller States of the north-east, like Nagaland and Goa, corruption level was alarming, whereas in Meghalaya and Sikkim, it was very high. In Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur the level was high, while in Tripura and Mizoram it was found to be moderate. The total bribe amount involved in a year in BPL households availing the eleven services is estimated at Rs 8,830 crore. Based on the incidence of bribe paid by sample BPL households, an estimate is made for the total amount paid as bribe by BPL households in the country during the last one-year in the eleven services. School education (up to class XII and government schools) among the 11 services studied stands last in the ranking meaning the level of corruption is the lowest among all. While police service stood number one. The land records and registration and house and plot, which are specially tailored for BPL households, stand at two and three respectively in the rank. The level and extent of corruption in police service was high in all States, as if it is universal – but the ranks of other services show variations across the States. Given the nature of need-based services, which are monopolistic or involve asset creation or volume, these services ranked high on corruption as compared to basic services.Releasing the report, the Vice president said the report brings to light the negative impact of competitive politics on targeted schemes aimed at the poor. It has reported instances of BPL, SC/ST and other vulnerable households of being told by political activists of a linkage between benefits and electoral preferences. “This, to the extent it is true, amounts to political corruption in its damaging form since it undermines the very institutions of democracy at all levels. A national consensus at its avoidance is thus imperative,” he opined.

source: assam tribune

Mayawati withdraws support to UPA government

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati has withdrawn her party's support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre.

The BSP has 17 members in the Lok Sabha, which has an effective strength of 543. The UPA currently has the support of 220 members. The Left parties, which have 59 lawmakers as a block, extend outside support to the government.

Mayawati has accused the UPA of neglecting Uttar Pradesh and meting out step-motherly treatment to her party and the UP government.

The BSP supremo sent a letter, stating her withdrawal of support, to President Pratibha Patil and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Mayawati added that she will not enter into any electoral alliance with either the Congress or the Bharatiya Janata Party.Mayawati displayed copies of the letter she had written to President Patil, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and Vice President Mohammad Ansari and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.She charged both Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress of misusing the Central Bureau of Investigation and attempting to implicate her in the Taj Corridor case. She accused the Congress of only making false promises. The Uttar Pradesh chief minister said Bundelkhand and Poorvanchal regions had witnessed unprecedented drought, but the Union government did not do anything besides making false promises. "I personally met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and asked him to give an economic package of Rs 88,000 crore and he promised to do something about it. Till date, nothing had been done," she said. PTI adds:

Similarly, she dismissed another question that whether she took this decision because of the reported warming up of ties between SP and Congress, she said both were down and out in Uttar Pradesh.

Mayawati said she had given an open warning to the UPA in January this year that BSP would withdraw support if the Congress-led coalition 'did not mend its ways' and change its step-motherly attitude towards the state government.

The chief minister said though she had expected that the Congress would stop attacking her and her party for its own political interest, there was no change in the party's attitude.

She said that when the Congress-led coalition replaced NDA, headed by BJP, at the Centre, she had expected that the government would ensure that she gets justice in the Taj Corridor and other related issues.

"But unfortunately Congress proved worse than BJP as instead of ensuring justice, Congress has kept the matter hanging during the last four years for its own political interest," she said.

Mayawati alleged that when her party refused to enter into an electoral alliance with the BJP at the Centre prior to the previous Lok Sabha elections, the saffron party 'falsely implicated' her in the Taj Corridor case to exert pressure.

She also accused the previous NDA government of misusing the CBI and filing a disproportionate assets case against her to tarnish her and her party's image. Source: http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/jun/21maya.htm