Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Sushma to expand BJP support base


NEW DELHI, Jan. 20: While the recent changes in the BJP leadership are making headlines, the newly elected leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj is endeavoring to expand the party’s support base utilizing the Parliament as a platform. It is understood that during the ensuing session of the Parliament, right from the Budget session, the party would be highlighting issues prevalent in the constituencies from where the BJP has no MP.

According to the plan chalked out by Swaraj, wither senior BJP leaders would visit these areas or call leaders from these regions to New Delhi to obtain a first-hand account of the most serious problems faced by the people in these constituencies. In a conversation with newsmen, Swaraj said, “Senior BJP leaders would then constantly raise these issues in Parliament. We have to prove to the people that our party is the only and the best alternative to the Congress. This is the biggest challenge before our party.”

Speaking in support of her program, Sushma Swaraj, who recently assumed to position vacated by veteran BJP leader and one-time Prime Ministerial aspirant L K Advani, is of the opinion that the organizational and parliamentary wings of the party will not be able to achieve the task by acting separately. She, however, opposed the allegation that the BJP’s leadership was competing with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in asking its leaders to visit the last man in the queue and have direct contacts with the masses.

Swaraj claimed that the BJP leaders were younger compared to those in the Congress. Rahul is talking about changeover in the youth brigade of the Congress; but the BJP has promoted young leaders in the main setup of the organization since long.

She asserted, “No matter how much you work in the organization, it has to be a joint responsibility of both the wings of party to expand the BJP’s support base. The organization will have to become active and progressive. Our new president Nitin Gadkari has stepped into national politics without biases and prejudices. I am confident he would establish himself to deliver good for the party.”

Report says FBI acted illegally in phone searches


WASHINGTON, Jan. 20: In a startling revelation, The Washington Post has reported that the FBI has collected over 2,000 records on the US telephone calls by bringing into play terrorism emergencies that actually did not exist or by influencing phone companies to provide them. The newspaper reported that later, the FBI officials issued approvals to rationalize their actions in collecting the phone records between 2002 and 2006.

A FBI spokesperson Michael Kortan told a news agency that this practice ended in 2006 and henceforth they were never involved acquiring the content of telephone conversations. In addition, measures were initiated to make certain that similar situations do not take place in the future. The Washington Post reported that the FBI officials issued approvals subsequently to substantiate their actions in collecting the phone records between 2002 and 2006.

The newspaper has claimed that it had obtained emails that demonstrated the manner in which counter-terrorism officials did not follow procedures intended to protect civil liberties.

Meanwhile, the FBI officials corroborated a Justice Department inspector general’s report due this month and are expected to conclude that the FBI regularly violated the law with its emergency requests. The newspaper further said that in an interview with The Washington Post, the FBI general counsel Valerie Caproni said the FBI technically infringed the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. She is reported to have said, "We should have stopped those requests from being made that way."

Caproni said FBI Director Robert Mueller did not know about the problems until the inspector general's investigation that commenced in mid-2006. In fact, she confessed in the interview that none of the FBI employee used informal methods to acquire telephone records for reasons other than a legitimate investigative interest.

Telengana JAC coerces MLAs to resign











HYDERABAD, Jan. 20: In a significant move, the all-party Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) struggling for the creation of a separate Telangana state has decided to coerce the MLAs from the region to quit their posts in dissence against the Centre’s alleged dilly-dallying attitude on their separate statehood demand.

The JAC leaders have decided to compel the MLAs to resign in the wake of the pressure from the students of Osmania University here, the nerve centre of the Telangana agitation, as well as in the aftermath of an alleged suicide by a student in support of the separate state demand.

According to JAC convenor C Kodandaram, the people of the region are committing suicide in protest against the government’s dithering attitude as the Centre vacillates to come out with a clear-cut statement in support of Telangana. That is how they are expressing their anger, he said. He further told newsmen, “We are of the opinion that the only way to stop all this is an announcement of a time frame for the formation of Telangana state. Thus, we feel the public representatives should quit their posts to demonstrate their protest against the Centre’s attitude on the issue.”

Meanwhile, the JAC is contemplating to convene a meeting of the public representatives from the region on Wednesday or Thursday to press for their resignation. In addition, the JAC also decided to support the 24-hour Telangana bandh called by the students today.