The Daily Indian

Sharp divisions emerged among the opponents of the women’s reservation bill with Bihar Chief Nitish Kumar supporting the measure pitting himself against his party President Sharad Yadav who is opposed to it.

“When I was a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee, I had given a dissent note (more than a decade ago). Now the time has come to give women reservation in Parliament and State Assemblies. I will talk to Sharadji and appeal to him to ensure passage of the bill,” Kumar told reporters in Patna.

However, JD-U President Sharad Yadav, a strong opponent of the Bill ever since its introduction in 1997, said his party’s opposition to the measure in its present form would continue.

The Constitution amendment bill seeking to provide reservation for women in Lok Sabha and Assemblies is slated to come up for consideration on Monday in Rajya Sabha, where the JD-U has seven MPs. The party also has 20 MPs in the Lok Sabha.

Exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen on Tuesday said the appearance of an article in a Karnataka newspaper purportedly written by her, which triggered violent protests in Shimoga and Hassan towns, is a “deliberate attempt to malign” her and “misuse” her writings to create disturbance in the society.

Nasreen said in a statement that she never penned any article for a newspaper in Karnataka.

“The incident that occurred in Karnataka on Monday shocked me. I learned that it was provoked by an article written by me that appeared in a Karnataka newspaper. But I have never written any article for any Karnataka newspaper in my life,” she said.

Nasreen said, “The appearance of the article is atrocious. In any of my writings I have never mentioned that Prophet Muhammad was against burkha. Therefore this is a distorted story.”

The author said, “I suspect that it is a deliberate attempt to malign me and to misuse my writings to create disturbance in the society. I wish peace will prevail.”

The violence in Shimoga, the home town of Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, left two persons dead, one of them in police firing on Sunday. Nasreen, staying in an undisclosed destination due to security reasons since her return to India last month, had her visa extended recently by six months till August this year.

Replying to a question, she said she would not like to say anything other than the statement issued by her.

Five people are feared dead in a major fire that broke out on Tuesday at the Carlton Towers, which houses many commercial offices and establishments, on Old Airport Road at Domlur here.

Eight fire tenders have been rushed to the spot, fire brigade sources said. The fire broke out at 4.30 pm, they said.

Eyewitnesses said that the rescuers were bringing down people using fire hoses down the sides. The fire department has not been able to assess how serious the fire is.

People broke open glass panes with bare hands and any other material they could lay hands on to let out the smoke. Dozens of office-goers were seen coughing as they were caught in the smoke.

Hundreds of people gathered on the busy street hindering the free movement of fire brigade vehicles and fire personnel. Police said a few people jumped out of the building and suffered minor injuries.

A large number of people are stuck in the building. A user trapped in the building tweets (username: Kiran Jonnalagadda) about the latest happening:

“Carlton Towers is burning and six of us are trapped inside. The fire’s above but there’s smoke everywhere. Saw people jump to their death.”

“Don’t call me folks, you can’t help. Will keep posting.”

“Our rescue ladder. It’ll only reach the fourth floor. We’re on the fifth.”

“Massive crowd outside. This must have choked traffic for kilometers around.”

Many users write in about the massive crowd near the place, which is causing traffic blockage. Tweetizens are also posting latest pictures of the happenings in the building.

The Twitteratti doing their bit by telling people the actual on-goings to avoid false rumours.

People are also warning the others to not to come on that road to avoid the chaos; one user enquires, “We are 20 minutes from Carlton Towers Bangalore. Which is on fire. Hope Things are not as bad as it seems to me”

Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren today appealed to the Maoists to free the abducted Block Development Officer Prashan Kumar Layek and offered to open dialogue with them.

“I appeal to the naxalites to free the official, so that the officials can work for the state’s development in a fear-free environment. Abduction of innocent officer is not a solution to any problem,” Soren said in a signed statement circulated to the media
Assuring that the government would take corrective measures if there was any violation of “human values” at any level, Soren said in the statement that when he took over as Chief Minister he had appealed to the Maoists to join the mainstream.

“Now also we are ready for the talks,” he said in the statement. Soren had yesterday assured the wife of the BDO that the government was making efforts for her husband’s safe return.

Meanwhile, police are continuing searches to locate the BDO, who was kidnapped on Saturday from Dalbhumgarh in East Singhbhum district by four armed naxalites.

At least eight people have been killed and 40 others wounded in a bomb attack on a restaurant in India’s western city of Pune, officials say.

The explosion tore through the German Bakery, which is popular with tourists, in Koregaon Park.

Maharashtra state officials said the blast was caused by a bomb.

The nationalities of the dead are not known. At least four foreigners are among the injured, Maharashtra’s home affairs minister said.

The explosion at the restaurant, on North Main Road, happened at about 1900 (1330 GMT), when it was packed with diners.

“We heard a big noise and we all rushed out. The impact was so much that there were tiny body parts everywhere,” Vinod Dhale, who works at the restaurant, told.

Anti-terror squad officers have gone to the scene.

“There has been a bomb blast,” senior police official Rajendra Sonawane said.

“There was an abandoned bag which seems to have contained some IED [improvised explosive device].”

Initial reports suggested a gas cylinder had exploded.

The German Bakery is near the Osho Ashram, a mystic centre popular with visitors to Pune.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his Jharkhand counterpart Sibu Soren today failed to turn up for a key meeting here of chief ministers of four Naxal- affected states to fine tune the proposed offensives against Maoists.

The meeting, convened by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, to help states to coordinate their campaign against Naxals, began an hour behind schedule as Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik arrived late.

Soren, who did not attend due to illness, sent his two deputy chief ministers Raghubar Das and Sudesh Mahto, while Bihar government was represented by its home secretary Amir Subhani and DGP Anand Shankar.

Reports said Nitish Kumar kept away apparently after a request from Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee that the Chief Minister should not be seen in the company of her arch rival West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

The meeting reviewed at length the strategy adopted to deal with Maoists and coordination among neighbouring states as the Naxals often fled from one state to another after indulging in violence.

The discussions focussed on the offensives to be launched at the inter-state junctions of West Bengal-Jharkhand and Bihar-Jharkhand as these areas were considered hotbed of left wing extremists, official sources said.

Developmental issues were also discussed at the meeting attended by CRPF chief Bikram Srivastav, Additional Secretary (Home) DRS Chowdhury, Additional Director (IB) P Mahendra, Joint Secretary (Home) Kashmir Singh and Security Advisor Brig DS Dadwal.

Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, who has issued a diktat to his partymen to greet Rahul Gandhi with black flags for his “Mumbai for all Indians” remark, today attacked Marathi ministers at the Centre for “not protesting Rahul’s anti-Mumbai statement.”

“Sharad Pawar, Vilasrao Deshmukh, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Prithviraj Chavan, Murli Deora and Praful Patel cannot show the self-respect shown by late C D Deshmukh. Not a single Marathi minister at the Centre opposed the humiliation of Marathi people,” he said in an editorial in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.

On the contrary, “Congressmen are ready to even take up a broom and clean the road where Rahul would be travelling (during his Mumbai visit),” Thackeray said.

Comparing Union Minister Prithviraj Chavan with his namesake in history, Thackeray said, “that Prithviraj Chauhan was patriotic and fought against foreign invaders. This Prithviraj Chavan bows before foreigners.”

“The history of Rahul’s ancestors is that of being anti-Maharashtra. Motilal Nehru used to get angry by the mere mention of the word Maharashtra,” he alleged.

“Is it a crime to say Mumbai belongs to Maharashtra and Marathi people?” the Sena chief asked. “Shah Rukh Khan rolls out the carpet for Pakistan players and shamelessly asks what crime has he committed,” Thackeray said.

Thackeray described Rahul as “the Italian prince” and asked people to show him black flags in Mumbai.

The Congress leader will visit the city today and interact with students and slum youths.

Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray today termed as “Goebbels’ propaganda” the raking up the issue of Pakistan cricketer Javed Miandad’s visit to his residence here five years ago, saying an anti-Mumbai virus has spread but it would have no impact on his party.

“The Pakistan cricketer’s visit to my house is being capitalised for political gains. I would like to state that it won’t have any impact on Shiv Sena and Shiv Sainiks,” Thackeray said in an article in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.

“There has been a spurt of anti-Mumbai and anti-Maharashtra virus. It is not surprising because some people have been hurt that Maharashtra got Mumbai,” Thackeray said.

He said raising the issue of Miandad’s visit to his house was part of a “Goebbels propaganda” by a section of media and recalled that cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar took the initiative in arranging the meeting with Miandad.

“The meeting was to request that Pakistan players be allowed to play in India. I rejected that request,” the Shiv Sena supremo said.

Meanwhile, NCP MLA and former minister Nawab Malik has said the 2004 visit by Miandad to Thackeray’s residence in suburban Bandra shows that “Thackeray has no right to call actor Shah Rukh Khan anti-national. .

Hitting back at Shiv Sena for its remarks against Rahul Gandhi, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh today dubbed the Thackerays as “paper tigers”.

“They (Thackerays) are paper tigers. There is no need to pay much attention to them,” he said after the Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray stepped up attack on Gandhi on the “Mumbai for all Indians” remark and raked up the issue of Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin.

Singh said the Thackerays wanted to hog the headlines by taking to violence in front of media for the sake of publicity. “We know how courageous they are,” he said.

Thackeray said in an editorial in Shiv Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamna’, “The ‘Prince of Congress’ is totally frustrated and it is in this frustration he has insulted Marathi people and Maharashtra”.

The Sena leader said Mumbai was not a “dharamshala” (guest house) of the country that “anyone comes to Mumbai, spits here and leaves.” Thackeray’’s attack came in the wake of Rahul commenting that the NSG men who vanquished terrorists during 26/11 were from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is all set to showcase Mahatma Gandhi as a son of the soil to attract tourists to his state with special package tours covering all the places related to the father of the nation.

Modi plans to market the peace icon to the world in his bid to make Gujarat “the world’s leading tourist destination”.

“We have Gandhi, what else do we need to attract tourists,” said Modi after paying homage to the Mahatma at his birthplace on his 62nd death anniversary.

The ‘Vibrant Gujarat’ tourism initiative, the brainchild of Modi, will bring together all the places related to the Mahatma’s life and special events to celebrate his philosophy and legacy.

“Gandhi’s entire philosophy took root in Gujarat.

First of all he was born here and some of the most important events of his life took place here. Ideally the Indian government should have taken a step to introduce Gandhi to the world, but it is we in Gujarat who are doing it,” Tourism Minister Jay Narayan Vyas told PTI.

The state plans to attract international and domestic tourists by providing them a slice of Gandhi’s life.

“Gandhi was born in Porbandar, studied in Rajkot, led the freedom struggle from his ashram on the banks of Sabarmati and the Dandi march was a turning point in India’s history. We will provide a tour that covers all these places,” said Vyas.