Andhra Pradesh and Telangana fights continue on electricity generation for water sharing

Hyderabad: The on-going tussle between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh over utilising the available water from Srisailam Dam for generation of power by the former continued on Tuesday, with the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) secretary’s latest missive to Telangana government not giving any specific directions.

On the complaint by the AP government against Telangana on drawing waters from Srisailam dam for hydel power generation, KRMB member secretary R.K. Gupta on Tuesday evening faxed a special message to Telangana principal secretary of irrigation, asking only to adhere to the operation manuals of water releases from the dam without any specific directions on hydel power generation.

“In view of impending water requirements in the coming months for drinking and irrigation needs it is therefore directed that releases for power generation should match the irrigation and drinking water needs and any situation to reach at a reservoir level which result in severe drinking and irrigation water crisis may be avoided,” stated the letter.

Mr Gupta’s letter also reminded that “during the July 10 meeting it was emphasised that existing government orde-rs such as GO 69 and GO 107 have to be honoured”. However, the fact remains that Srisailam MDDL (Minimum Draw Down Level) was fixed at 834 ft in the GO issued by previous government headed by N. Chandrababu Naidu, which was subsequently modified to 854 ft by the Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy government.

Both the GOs contradicting each other on the MDDL level. MDDL means, Water should not be drawn below the level for any use, but time and again several governments have depleted the Sri-sailam dam level below 834 ft and even further below to go up to 770 ft in order to empty the available water in Srisailam dam to downstream Nagarjunasagar dam for protection of crops under it. Water cannot be drawn for Pothireddypadu Head Regulator, which in turn supplies to various projects in Rayalaseema if the water level at Sri-sailam goes below 854 ft.

On Tuesday, the water level touched 858.8 ft and Telangana government continued hydel power generation through its Left Bank Power House (900 MW). “We have received the letter from KRMB member secretary, but it is highly ambiguous and inconsistent, we are not going to stop power generation from Srisailam dam, we are going to reply to the letter tomorrow, we will explain all the technical issues, the two GOs mentioned (GO 69 and 107) are contradicting each other; anyway we will explain our position,” said a senior official from Telangana.

Another problem lies unsolved between the two state governments on the releases of water from NS dam. Since construction of Pulichin-tala dam, the terminal reservoir, was completed recently, it cannot withhold water of 20 TMC ft in the first year. With the present 10.5 TMC capacity of water, already seven villages in Nalgonda district are getting submerged.

Meanwhile, over 6,000 (about five TMC ft) cusecs of Krishna waters is flowing into the sea from Prakasam Barrage at Vijayawada due to heavy releases from Nagarjunasagar dam for generation of power by Telangana government. AP major irrigation minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, who visited the Prakasam barrage on Tuesday evening, blamed the Telangana government for misusing the waters of Krishna river without concerning the future irrigation and drinking water requirements in both the states.

He has also said the AP government had made a proposal to supply 300 MW of power from its sources to Telangana to meet their immediate requirements in lieu of stoppage of hydel power generation from both Nagarjunasagar and Srisailam dams.

owever, when contacted Telangana Genco chairman-cum-managing-director Devulapally Prabhakara Rao told this newspaper that AP was only making public statements on supply of 300 MW of power to Telangana but without officially communicating the same.

Telangana govt. serving and retired empl-oyees will get new, premium health cards for free as a Diwali gift.

Hyderabad:  The Telangana government serving and retired empl-oyees will get new, premium health cards for free as a Diwali gift.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao will formally launch the new health cards on Wedn-esday. The health cards are going to cover over three lakh serving, and 2.5 lakh retired employees.

Meanwhile, on the request of TNGOs, the Telangana government has removed the cap of Rs 2 lakh on treatment and also monthly contribution from employees for the new health card.

The government will bear the entire premium, which will cost the exchequer about Rs 240 crore annually.

Mr Rao held a meeting with Telangana employees’ JAC president Deviprasad, MLA Vittal, leaders Srinivas Goud and Mamatha and others on the issue and approved the same.

He also promised a new Pay Revision Commission (PRC) soon.

Deputy Chief Minister Dr T. Rajaiah, Chief Secretary Dr Rajiv Sharma and other senior government officials were present.

“The Chief Minister will formally launch the issue of new health cards from Wednesday. We are grateful to the CM for accepting our request which will go a long way in improving government-employee relationship,” Mr Devi Prasad said.

Mr Rao, it is learnt, urged government employees to put their heart and soul for the development of Telangana, ensure effective implementation of welfare schemes, plug seepages in revenue collection and ensure targeted collection of taxes.

He will convene a meeting of the employees’ union soon on the PRC issue, whether to have a zonal system or not, type of zonal system, cadre system etc. He has asked employees’ leaders to submit detailed proposals on the issue to him at the earliest for taking necessary action.

The employees’ leaders were later felicitated by the employees’ JAC.

BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis is likely to take over as CM of Maharashtra, irrespective of whether Shiv Sena comes on board.

NEW DELHI: BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis is likely to take over as chief minister of Maharashtra on Monday, that is, immediately after Diwali, irrespective of whether Shiv Sena comes on board.

Sources said the central BJP leadership has decided to go ahead with government formation in the state without waiting for Sena to offer support because of the yawning gap between their estimate of the conditions on which Uddhav Thackeray may agree to support a BJP-led government, and what they could offer.

BJP feels that although it is short of the majority mark of 145 (with allies, it has 123 now), the deficit cannot be an impediment because the 41-member-strong NCP, after having extended unconditional support, is unlikely to oppose the trust vote. BJP has also reached out to Independents and smaller parties and reckons that 15 MLAs might agree to support a BJP government.

As per Rule 198 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Lok Sabha, which applies also to states, a government which clears the numbers test can be made to take another one only after a gap of six months.

BJP strategists feel this window will be big enough for it to find the missing numbers.

The presence of NDA appointee C Vidyasagar Rao in Raj Bhavan can only be a help, feel BJP tacticians.

Sources said BJP, at least at this point in time, is in no mood to offer Sena the deputy chief ministership, the post of Speaker or any of the eight “heavyweight” portfolios and recognizes that its offer might fall way short of expectations.

BJP sources said the party would like to keep eight portfolios — home, finance, revenue, urban development, agriculture, irrigation, public health and public works — which will be crucial for its ambition to provide “good governance” but which have for decades been seen as “money-spinners”.

Although there have been no formal power-sharing negotiations between the two sides, sources in BJP spoke of a stalemate in terms of attitude. They said Sena, which relished playing ‘Big Brother’ for 25 years, has not yet reconciled to the new reality where it cannot hope to have the upper hand any more.

BJP itself, which smarted under the humiliation of having been reduced to an adjunct to Matoshree, is now unsentimental about leveraging its superior numbers and just-acquired status as the dominant political formation in Maharashtra.

3 year-old girl student was allegedly sexually abused inside a private school in Bangalore

Bangalore: In the third such incident in the past four months, a three-year-old girl student was allegedly sexually abused inside a private school in Bangalore on Tuesday, police said.

“A three-year-old girl studying in nursery class was allegedly sexually abused here,” Joint Commissioner (Crime) Hemant Nimbalkar told a news agency late Tuesday night.

On Wednesday morning, the principal of the school told reporters that after checking all the CCTV recordings, it has been ensured that no outsider entered into the school. Assuring that all records have been provided to police for investigation, the principal added that the school authorities will make all efforts to nab the perpetrator of the crime.

Meanwhile, a criminal case has been registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2012 and IPC Section 376 (rape) on a complaint from the father of the child, he said.

This is the third incident of a minor girl student being allegedly sexually assaulted on school campus in the city. According to the complaint, the girl was crying when her mother picked her from the school in Jalahalli and was not behaving normal and had symptoms of fever.

While the girl initially told her mother that someone beat her up, she later said she was sexually abused, he said.

City Police Commissioner MN Reddy visited the school and ordered ACP (Malleshwaram) Sarah Fatima to investigate the matter, he said.

An eight year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by her 63-year-old teacher inside her school premises over a period of time, with the offence coming to fore in early August, barely a month after the “gang-rape” of a six-year-old girl at Vibgyor High School in the city evoked public outrage.

The Vibgyor school incident saw public erupt in anger on the streets leading to police issuing stringent guidelines to schools to ensure safety of children and the government amending the Goondas Act to bring sexual offences under its ambit.

Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief Dr Tahirul Qadri announced to temporarily suspend the sit-in keeping in view the sanctity of Muharram.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri on Tuesday announced to temporarily suspend the sit-in keeping in view the sanctity of Muharram.

The decision was reached after the PAT chief held a meeting with his ally parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League, Sunni Ittehad Council and Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen.

Addressing the participants of sit-in, the Sufi cleric said that revolution was a journey and it came in phases. He said the PAT workers achieved first phase by “breaking the siege”.

“We have reached next phase so now participants of sit-in at federal capital should pack up their luggage and go home. Now two-day sit-ins will be held in all major cities,” he announced.

Qadri said decision to temporarily suspend the sit-in was taken in the wake of the holy month and future strategy and outline of further program was to resume the protest after Muharram.

He said that revolution was like water, which continuously flowed under the earth. “Neither the government nor we backtracked from our stands,” Qadri said.

Rebuffing the news about a deal with the government to end the sit-in, the PAT chief said it was baseless and nothing more. “No deal so far took place as it cannot be done,” Qadri said. “We will not backtrack from our stand and will not sell the blood of 14 martyrs and 90 injured of the revolution.

The government could not prove money laundering against me.”Qadri said, “Our workers had faced state violence. Criminal cases were registered against them and they faced the miseries. I congratulate the participants of revolution sit-in for braving bullets and prisons.”

About getting funds from foreign agencies, the Sufi scholar said that he should be hanged if the allegations were proved. He accused that various clerics and politicians of the country were getting foreign funds.

Qadri claimed that he had asked former dictator General (r) Ziaul Haq to take measures to stop politicians and clerics from getting foreign funds. Defending his decision to suspend the sit-in, the PAT chief said, “If anybody thinks that we are done with our revolutionary movement, they are seriously mistaken. This revolution is not just a campaign, it’s the unstoppable tide of truth that would sweep away all the centres of lie.”

Qadri announced that he would expand his protests to every “nook and corner of the country”. Qadri said, “The regime of suppression is near its horrible end. People hate the rulers to the core and want them thrown out of power. That is going to happen very soon.” The PAT head reiterated that the blood of the victims would not go in vain.

“An eye for an eye. Death sentence be awarded to the culprits who spilled innocent blood and these criminals be sent to gallows. We will not spare them until they meet their final end,” he concluded. He said that PAT has reservations over members, comprising Joint Investigation Team (JIT) of the government, from day one, which have not been removed so far.

He said that transparent investigation of Model Town tragedy could not be carried out under the Punjab government and suggested Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to step down from his position until the completion of investigation.  Qadri condemned the government for putting curbs on media. He said the PML-N has a history of exhibiting intolerance to media freedom.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Marziyeh Afkham denies demanding for partial removal of sanctions in specific areas

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham rejected a Reuters report about Iranian officials demand for partial removal of sanctions only in specific areas, Iran’s Fars news agency reported.

Afkham called the report “completely untrue,” saying such kind of news are published to disturb the present atmosphere of negotiations during the time left to reach an agreement.

The Reuters reported on Oct. 21 that Iran has offered the P5+1 group a new compromise proposal in nuclear talks, but Western negotiators say it includes no viable concessions.

In the negotiations with six major powers, the Iranians say they are no longer demanding a total end to economic sanctions in return for curbing their nuclear program and would accept initially lifting just the latest, most damaging, sanctions, according to the Reuters.

“Under their most recent offer, Iranian officials have told Reuters that Iran’s leadership would be satisfied with removing crippling U.S. and European Union energy and banking sanctions imposed in 2012,” the report said.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokeswoman emphasized that “none of the speculations made by some foreign media which are usually driven by special political intentions is true.”

Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) held their latest round of talks in Vienna in mid-October to work out a final agreement aimed at ending the long-standing dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Last November, Iran and the P5+1 clinched an interim nuclear accord, which took effect on Jan. 20 and expired six months later. However, the two sides agreed to extend their talks until Nov. 24 as they remained divided on a number of key issues.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araqchi said on Oct. 20 that the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 countries have differences in all the topics regarding the nuclear negotiations.

WICB seek talks with BCCI

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) will ask for a meeting with their Indian counterparts as they seek to find a way out of the crisis caused by the abandonment of their tour.

Hours after India’s powerful board (BCCI) announced they would take legal action against the WICB and were suspending all planned tours of the Caribbean – moves that could have a devastating financial impact on the West Indies, officials gathered at a beach-side hotel to deal with the fallout.

The return home of the team after the fourth of five one-day internationals and before three scheduled Tests, left India facing losses, according to local media reports, of around $65 million. After a seven-hour meeting, the WICB issued a statement that was clearly designed to appeal to the BCCI and which did not include any sanctions against players who had quit the tour.

“The West Indies Cricket Board regrets, and is deeply embarrassed, by the premature and unfortunate end to the recent tour of India,” the statement read.

“The WICB once again expresses to the BCCI and all stakeholders – especially the cricket-loving public of the West Indies and India – sorrow for the events leading up to this development.

“The WICB believes a way can be found to repair the damage that has been caused and to ensure similar events do not recur, with the focus being on the betterment of West Indies and world cricket,” the statement added.

As well as requesting a meeting with the BCCI, the West Indies board said they had set up a task force to examine the cause of the tour’s collapse.

The WICB also vowed to “assure Cricket South Africa that it will use its best endeavours to ensure a successful tour of South Africa as scheduled”.

The first of three Tests against South Africa is due to start on December 17.

LUCRATIVE DEALS

India were due to tour the Caribbean in 2016 and if that tour is lost, the WICB will miss out on lucrative television and sponsorship deals.

The cause of the conflict was a new ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ and collective agreement between the WICB and their union, the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), regarding payment for the cricketers which the leading Test players said was signed in September without their consent.

The players said the deal would result in a significant loss of earnings while the WICB argue the new arrangement allows for more cricketers across the Caribbean to be given central contracts.

Grenada’s Prime Minister Keith Mitchell on Tuesday publicly offered his services as a mediator and said the crisis was bad for the entire Caribbean.

“It is a bit frightening for the region, not just for sport, but for our people, our economies on the whole,” he added.

The situation has caused dismay in a region where, despite disappointing performances, there remains a great passion for cricket and pride in West Indies’s past achievements.

There appears little sympathy for any of the disputing parties but former pace bowler Michael Holding put the blame at the feet of the WICB.

“The problem with West Indies is that the WICB always pushes things to the brink and waits till the last moment,” said Holding, now a television commentator.

Salman Khan, Nominated by PM Narendra Modi in his SWACHH BHARAT Campaign

Bollywood actor Salman Khan, who was nominated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Swachh Bharatcampaign, began his contribution to the nationwide cleanliness drive in Karjat, Maharashtra.

Salman and his team swept the streets clean with brooms and even painted a house.

The Kick star, who figured among nine people nominated by the Prime Minister, thanked Mr Modi on Twitter

Salman also took the chain forward by nominating his Facebook and Twitter followers along with nine other prominent personalities, including actors Rajinikanth and Aamir Khan and Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

The other eight Indians nominated by PM Modi are Kamal Haasan, Priyanka Chopra, the entire team of the TV show Tarak Mehta Ka Olatah Chasma, Mridula Sinha, Shashi Tharoor, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Ambani and Baba Ramdev.

Worth every penny you spend on it, but there is competition now

During a recent trip to New York, I missed an opportunity to visit the Apple store in Manhattan. Anyway, the trip would have been pointless, I was told. Hundreds of people were queuing up well past midnight at the 24-hour store to try the new iPhone and eventually take one of them home. I was lucky, for days after returning I was holding a iPhone 6 review unit in my hand. But does the newest edition of the Jesus Phone justify queuing up into unearthly hours and forgoing your monthly pay packet to bring one home? I decided to investigate.

Specs: 4.7-inch LED backlit IPS screen (1334x750p, 326pp1) | A8 chip with 68-bit + M8 motion coprocessor with 1GB RAM | 16/64/128 GB internal storage | 8MP rear, 1.2MP front camera | iOS 8

Price: Rs 53,500 onwards

Design

This is well and truly among the slimmest phones I have used, and I have not used the Gionee S5.5 which claims to be the thinnest one. It is also the lightest. I could almost visualise someone bending the phone by sitting on it. The device is so light and slim, you will not realise that you have it in your jeans back pocket. Despite this thin frame, not for one second does the phone make you think it is flimsy. You just need to look at the perforated speaker holes at the bottom of the metallic body to see that the phone has been built with the precision of a jet engine. Despite the smooth curved edges, the phone sticks to Apple’s familiar design language in more ways than one. For me the only hitch in the design is the rear camera lens which protrudes out of the thin frame and might need to be protected.

Display The Retina HD display is definitely among the best you will see in a phone these days, despite the ne Quad HD phones coming into the picture. It is stunningly crisp and clear with Apple loading the phone with wallpapers that drive home the point every minute you use the phone. The screen works well even in bright sunlight and this comes to your help while using the camera outdoors.

Performance The new iPhone 6 has an A8 processor that is much faster than the one on its predecessors. Apps launch really fast and you can switch between them seamlessly. But what really show the power of the processor

is the camera, for you don’t even realise that the phone has a shot a picture and readied itself for the next. It is that fast. The phone did, however, heat up slightly when you browse for long durations, especially using the Facebook app. On the other hand, I have never been able to upload something on to Facebook so fast. A bunch of six photos shot with the phone, went up without so much as a pause.

Software Frankly, I was not all that amazed by the new iOS 8 launch. I was expecting Apple to do much more, especially with customisation. So, I was pleasantly surprised that during setup, the iPhone 6 asked me how I wanted my icons — small, or large. It seems Apple is slowly learning from Android, as far as giving customers more options are concerned. The first place you will notice a change, is the notification centre which has much more actionables than before. The pull up control panel too lets you do much more, like access AirDrop. In messages, you can now add photos and audio clips, though you will need to send it to someone using iOS 8 too. The native health app now calculates your daily activity and much more, but for the much more you will need to feed in a lot of data. Siri works smoothly and understood my Indian accent with a high level of accuracy though it could not pull up much local information.

Camera For me, this is among the top features in the camera. Yes, the iPhone camera has always been a class apart, but not you can do much more like adjust the exposure as you shoot.

The new slow-motion and timelapse video options are easy to use but give professional quality video in the end. You can keep clicking photos without any lag as the phone processes the pictures really fast.

Rupee up 14 paise against the US dollar

MUMBAI: The rupee was trading strong by 9 paise at 61.22 against the dollar at 10.28 a.m. local time.

Maintaining its rising trend for the fourth straight day, the rupee strengthened by another 14 paise to 61.17 against the US dollar in early trade today on sustained foreign capital inflows amid the government announcing key reforms in the oil and gas sector.

In a much-awaited reform, the government recently announced two important fuel reforms to deregulate diesel prices and a hike in natural gas prices.

Increased selling of dollar by banks and exporters amid soaring equity markets on sustained buying by foreign investors also supported the rupee, dealers said.

Besides, the dollar’s weakness against other currencies overseas also supported the rupee, they added.

The rupee surged by 5 paise to close at over one-week high of 61.31 against the dollar in yesterday’s trade on sustained selling of the greenback by banks and exporters in view of strong equity market and capital inflows.

Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex surged 212.76 points or 0.80 per cent to trade at 26,788.41 in early trade.

India stepped up its efforts to prevent an outbreak of deadly Ebola virus

conducting mock drills at its airports and installing surveillance systems.

Global health authorities are struggling to contain the world’s worst Ebola epidemic since the disease was identified in 1976. The virus has killed more than 4,500 people across the three most-affected countries, Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

All international airports and sea ports in India will soon be equipped with thermal scanners – similar to Nigeria, which has been declared Ebola-free – and other detection equipment, the Health Ministry said in a statement.

“We have removed all stops to constantly upgrade equipment and retrain staff,” Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said. “There is need for constant maintenance, frequent calibration.”

While more than 22,000 passengers have been screened, India has so far not reported any cases of Ebola. The WHO, that has warned of 5,000-10,000 new cases globally every week by December, is supporting India’s preparations.

Peter Piot, a former WHO official who co-discovered the virus, has expressed concerns about the disease spreading to India. There are nearly 45,000 Indian nationals living in west Africa.

Like the west African countries hit, many experts say India is not adequately prepared to handle any spread of the highly infectious haemorrhagic fever. While government health services remain overburdened, many in rural areas struggle to get access to even basic health services.

Defecating and urinating in the open is common, while hygiene standards remain low, especially in smaller towns and villages in a country of 1.2 billion people.

The government has also launched a 24-hour helpline to offer assistance on Ebola and has selected about 10 laboratories that will handle testing if a case is reported.

Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao refuses to give appointment to staff

Hyderabad: A day after Telangana employees criticised Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for failing to fulfil the poll promises of implementing the latest PRC recommendations and issuing health cards, it was the turn of Mr Rao to hit back.

Employees received a jolt when Mr Rao refused an appointment to meet him to discuss the employee issues. Employee leaders waited at the Secretariat for over two hours and left empty handed.

The Chief Minister was supposed to meet them at the Secretariat after concluding Budget review meetings at the National Academy of Construction, Gach-ibowli. However, he did not turn up.

Mr Rao drove straight to his camp office at Begumpet. Employees tried to meet him there, but the security staff refused to allow them inside as there was no appointment. They told the employees that Mr Rao will come to the Secretariat in the evening, which did not happen either.

Employee leaders in large numbers came to the Secretariat to meet Mr Rao. Embarrassed with the CM not turning up, they immediately held a press conference stating that Mr Rao was busy and he had assured to convene a meeting with employees in a day or two when employee leaders  V. Srinivas Goud and C. Vittal met him.

They said that Mr Rao has responded positively to their demands and  promised to resolve all their issues at the earliest.

Sources said what upset Mr Rao was that the employee associations adopted a resolution demanding a Cabinet berth for Telangana employees leader and MLA V. Srinivas Goud to take care of issues concerning employees at the government level.

Factory owner booked for culpable homicide, 17 Death: Andhra Pradesh firecracker blast

Hyderabad: East Godavari police on Tuesday booked a case of culpable homicide under the Explosive Substances Act not amounting to murder against the Manikanta fire works owner and is likely to arrest him.

According to East Godavari Superintendent of Police M Ravi Prakash, the case was booked with U Kothapalli police station under section 9 B of Explosive Substance Act. The section states that manufacturers, when violate the conditions of a license granted under the rules, are punishable with an imprisonment that may extend up to three years of fine of Rs 5000 or both. Police also booked a case under 286 (negligent conduct with respect to explosive substances) and section 337 and 338 IPC (rash and negligent act leading to injuries).

U Kothapalli Sub Inspector of Police, N Kondaiah said, “The owner of Manikanta fire workers, Koppisetty Apparao, suffered burn injuries in the leg. He is in the hospital and is normal. He is yet to be arrested. When we recorded his statement he didn’t know how the fire broke out and everything happened in a fraction of second. Even other injured victims were also not able to tell how the mishap took place,” Kondaiah said. “In the month of  June 2014 Fire and Emergency Services Department of AP has renewed his license. This premises is running with license for the past 20 years.

However the license has to be renewed by both fire department and Revenue authorities. While fire department renewed it the Revenue Divisional Officer is yet to renew it. The renewal application is pending with RDO due to the elections and post bifurcation issues it was not taken up. So we can’t call it as unlicensed premises as it has fire services NOC.”

However, officials said that they were going through the rulebook to check whether premises can be run only with Fire department nod while pending renewal application with Revenue department.

Meanwhile Additional DG Law and Order R P Thakur said,”Out of two missing women one body was traced and another succumbed to injuries at hospital. So the toll rose to 17 that include 14 women and three men.

Former RSS member Manohar Lal Khattar appointed as Haryana’s new Chief Minister.

chandigarh: After much deliberation, former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh member Manohar Lal Khattar was on Tuesday elected as Haryana’s new Chief Minister.

Having got a majority on its own for the first time in Haryana, the BJP legislative party meeting concluded here after electing Khattar as legislature party leader.

Khattar is the first non-Jat Chief Minister of Haryana in 18 years. The 60-year-old Khattar, a new face in electoral politics, was fielded from Karnal Assembly seat from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched his poll campaign in the state and he has emerged as the frontrunner. A first-time MLA, Khattar has no administrative experience, but he is stated to have been a good RSS organiser for the past 40 years. He won Karnal seat by 63,736 votes.

Khattar, a Punjabi by origin, is stated to be close to Prime Minister Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. meeting was attended by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu and party vice president Dinesh Sharma, appointed observers by the BJP’s Parliamentary Board for deciding the name of Haryana Chief Minister.

All newly-elected 47 BJP legislators, the central observers and other senior Haryana BJP leaders attended the meeting.

Opinion of all the legislators was taken before finalising Khattar for the top job.

Since its creation, the state has been mostly ruled by members of pre-dominant Jat community including Bansi Lal (four times), Devi Lal (twice) and his son Om Parkash Chautala (five times), Hukam Singh (once) and Bhupinder Singh Hooda (twice).

Non-Jat Chief Ministers include Bhagwat Dayal Sharma (once), Rao Birendar Singh (once), Banarsi Dass Gupta (twice) and Bhajan Lal (thrice).

In Haryana, the BJP won a majority for the first time on its own, wresting 47 of the 90 seats.

Sharad Pawar: Congress wanted to back a Sena government

MUMBAI: NCP president Sharad Pawar created a flutter on Monday and further muddied the waters by saying that Congress had knocked on the doors of the NCP proposing support for a Shiv Sena-led government in Maharashtra.

“Indeed, there was a proposal for the formation of a Shiv Sena-led government, with outside support of Congress and NCP. A senior Congress leader had drafted the proposal. But past experience shows that a government formed on the basis of outside support does not last long,” Pawar told a meeting of newly elected NCP legislators. His nephew Ajit Pawar too confirmed Pawar Sr’s statement, saying a state-level Congress leader had called him seeking support for the formation of a Shiv Sena-led government.

NCP’s decision to extend unconditional support to BJP assumes significant political importance as the move has drastically reduced the bargaining power of the Shiv Sena. “All along, Shiv Sena was assuming that it will emerge as the king-maker. However, after NCP extended support to BJP, Shiv Sena lost its bargaining power. Under such circumstances, either Shiv Sena will have to surrender to the BJP or sit in the opposition,” a senior BJP leader said.At the meeting Sharad Pawar strongly defended his party’s decision to extend unconditional support to a BJP government. His reasoning was as follows. BJP has emerged as the single largest party in the state.

However, it is unable to form a government on its own owing to the lack of a clear majority. This left the door open for two options. Either Shiv Sena should support BJP or Congress and NCP should support Shiv Sena in government formation. However, the total strength of Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena adds up to just 146 leading to doubts about the viability of such a government.

Secondly, there was no movement on the Congress front for the formation of the government. Plus, whenever such minority governments were formed, they did not last long. “We took stock of the political situation. In the larger interests of the state, we decided to extend support from outside to the proposed BJP government. Despite such a situation, there will be no compromise on the secular policies of the NCP,” Pawar Sr said.

The leader further added that so far the party leadership had not taken a decision on NCP’s support. “I think the decision on whether to accept NCP’s support or not will be taken at the level of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said.

At the same meeting, Ajit Pawar was unanimously elected as the leader of the NCP legislature party.

BJP plans to form govt alone in Maharashtra

Two days after emerging as the largest party in the Maharashtra assembly elections, the BJP, it appears, is in no hurry to strike a deal with the Shiv Sena to form government in the state with media channels reporting that the Amit Shah-led party could instead seek support from smaller parties.

The latest reports coming in say that the BJP is in no mood for negotiations with the Shiv Sena, and will now move to form the government on its own.

“As of now, with support of smaller parties and independent MLAs, we have in all 135 MLAs,” BJP MP Kirit Somaiya

a key BJP leader in the state said: Talks have been happening with Sena since yesterday (Sunday). Sena wants cabinet berths to be divided on a 1:1 ratio, which is unacceptable to us. We have almost double the number of seats and a strong government at the Centre. We are willing to decide on the basis of 2:1 ratio, but some Sena leaders have told us that is not acceptable to them.

The Shiv Sena, though, is looking to replicate the 1995 form of government wherein they had allotted key portfolios to the BJP as well as deputy CM post even though they (BJP) were the smaller party. But the BJP counters the 1995 argument saying during that election they were in an alliance but this time they fought against each other.

While the Shiv Sena has been tight-lipped about their demands from the BJP,

that they want at least 21 berths, while the BJP is willing to offer them only 14, with 10 key portfolios and no deputy CM post.

There also exists a section in the Sena that is against the party forming government with the BJP, saying it could negatively affect the party’s future prospects.

“We have just conducted a campaign where we have attacked the BJP,” said a Shiv Sena member. “Now shaking hands with them would finish off our party, as we would have no credibility left. We should sit in the opposition. Let the BJP take the support of the NCP in forming the government and justify it to the people,” a party leader told.

The BJP though, is unlikely to decide on its alliance before Diwali. Central party observers – Rajnath Singh and JP Nadda who were supposed to visit the state today have postponed their visit to after Diwali. The party legislators, though, could go ahead and meet the Governor staking claim to form government and could seek time to prove their majority in the Assembly, something that is permitted under the Constitution.

With the NCP offering its unconditional ‘outside support’ to the BJP, the Shiv Sena, which was in alliance with the BJP for 25 years, hit out at the NCP saying it was ‘opportunist’ and further warning the BJP against going ahead and forming a minority government.

“The people have not only ensured the defeat of the Congress-NCP but have rubbed their faces in dirt. But the NCP is attempting to getting into the same photograph with the BJP. Maybe they will feature in the photo but what about the fact that you are unrecognisable because of the mud on your faces?” the editorial asked.

While on Monday the bone of contention was the deputy CM post, it has now shifted to cabinet berths with the Sena demanding that their legislators get equal number of ministers as the BJP including key ministries such as home, finance and irrigation.

Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi in Iraqi central shrine city of Najaf for crisis talks on ISIS

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi arrived in Tehran late Monday on his first visit to Iran since taking office after the crisis triggered by the advance of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants.

Iraqi state television said Abadi, whose country remains beset by ISIS, arrived shortly before midnight for talks with Iranian officials including President Hassan Rowhani about the ongoing battle, which has drawn in U.S. and other international air strikes.

ISIS fighters hold towns just a few miles (kilometers) from the Iranian border, and the Islamic republic has been reported by senior Kurdish officials to have deployed troops inside Iraq.

Abadi’s visit is all the more important given his surprise elevation to the premiership after the removal in August of Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister whom Iran had resolutely backed since 2006 until this summer’s cataclysmic events.

Maliki’s armed forces failed in the face of a lightning surge by IS fighters into Iraq from Syria, eventually resulting in him stepping down from the top job after Iran publicly endorsed Abadi’s candidature as premier.

No schedule has been released but Abadi’s trip is expected to last one day only. Iran has supported the Baghdad government throughout the crisis and was the first country to send arms to Kurds fighting ISIS militants in northern Iraq.

Major General Qassem Suleimani, the chief of Iran’s elite Quds Force, has been spotted in Iraq, where it is believed he played a key role in coordinating military operations.

As Shiite neighbors, Iran and Iraq have been close since the removal of Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein in the US-led invasion of 2003.

Speaking earlier in the city of Najaf after a rare meeting with the most revered figure among Iraqi Shiites, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Abadi ruled out any foreign ground intervention to assist government forces in retaking territory lost to jihadists and urged Sunnis to give up such hopes.

“No ground forces from any superpower, international coalition or regional power will fight here,” Abadi told reporters, reiterating previous remarks on the issue.

“This is my decision, it is the decision of the Iraqi government.”

Some officials and Sunni tribal leaders in areas most affected by the unrest have argued the world should step up its involvement from air strikes to a ground intervention against ISIS.

Iraqi state television said it was the first time in four years that Sistani had met a high-ranking Iraqi government official.

Abadi’s talks in Iran on Iraq’s war against ISIS come with the situation in the balance. Since June, the militants have seized control of swathes of Iraq and brought it to the brink of collapse.

West unmoved, Iran offers “compromises” in nuclear talks: Exclusive

Iran is pushing what it portrays as a new compromise proposal in nuclear talks, but Western negotiators say it offers no viable concessions, underscoring how far apart the two sides are as they enter crunch time before a Nov. 24 deadline.

In the negotiations with six major powers, the Iranians say they are no longer demanding a total end to economic sanctions in return for curbing their nuclear program and would accept initially lifting just the latest, most damaging, sanctions.

Western officials dismiss the proposal as nothing new and say the Iranians have always known that the sanctions could only end gradually – with each measure being suspended and later terminated only after Iranian compliance had been proven.

The officials say that in talks in Vienna they too have offered what they call compromises over demands that Iran limit its nuclear program, but they have been rejected by Tehran.

“The bottom line is that they do not appear willing to limit their enrichment program to a level we would find acceptable,” a European diplomat said. “We may have no choice but to extend the talks past November … It’s either that or let the talks collapse.”

Under their most recent offer, Iranian officials have told  that Iran’s leadership would be satisfied with removing crippling U.S. and European Union energy and banking sanctions imposed in 2012.

They described this as a major stepdown from Iran’s consistent calls for the removal of all sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic because of its refusal to heed U.N. Security Council demands that it halt uranium enrichment work.

Tehran calls the sanctions unfair and illegal.

COMPROMISE OR NO COMPROMISE?

The proposal by Iranian negotiators in talks with the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China has the backing of the Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iranian officials say.

“For the other party involved, it might be only a political issue, but for Iran what is in danger is the existence of the establishment if the economic hardship continues,” a senior Iranian official said.

Building on a U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution passed in 2010, the United States and EU in 2012 imposed major sanctions against Iranian oil and gas companies and strengthened restrictions on the country’s central bank.

Under the U.S. National Defense Authorization Act Section 1245, Washington also forced Iran’s major oil customers to greatly reduce their purchases of Iranian oil or face having their banks cut off from the U.S. financial system.

The result has been a sharp drop in Iranian oil revenues, soaring inflation and unemployment and a weak Iranian currency.

“Iran wants to return to the situation before these sanctions were imposed,” the Iranian official said. “If agreed, it will help in reaching a compromise by the Nov. 24 deadline.”

U.S. officials have made clear they would make swift moves to suspend sanctions if a proper deal with Iran is secured and Tehran complies with it.

“If we get a comprehensive agreement and if Iran complies … Iran will begin to end its isolation from the world community, because the sanctions in the first instance will be suspended and ultimately lifted,” a senior U.S. official said last month. “It will take some time, but they will be lifted.”

REDUCING THE CENTRIFUGES

A series of meetings in Vienna last week between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton failed to break the impasse. Tehran and Washington said they made some progress but much work remained. It is unclear when the next round of talks will start.

One sticking point is the number of centrifuges Iran would be allowed to keep under a deal.

Iranian officials say they would be willing to live with fewer centrifuges provided they were more advanced machines that enrich more uranium at a faster pace. Their goal is to ensure that the volume of uranium they enrich is not reduced as a result of any long-term accord with the six powers.

Western officials say this is not a real compromise.

The United States, France, Britain and Germany would like the number of centrifuges Iran maintains to be in the low thousands, while Tehran wants to keep tens of thousands in operation. It now has about 19,000 installed, of which about 10,000 are spinning to refine uranium.