New Delhi:  As the NDA slammed the government for the appointment of Suresh Kalmadi as the head of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, we revisited an RTI application which revealed how in a 2008 meeting, BJP leader VK Malhotra "applauded" Mr Kalmadi for the "excellent services rendered by him." Mr Malhotra also proposed Mr Kalmadi's re-election as Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President. 

As the Chairman of the Organising Committee, Mr Kalmadi led a team of men whose biggest trademark became bare-faced corruption. He was arrested in April. So whoever picked him chose unwisely. (Read: Who made Kalmadi chairman? Many denials, mystery deepens)

A report by the government's auditor blames the Prime Minister's Office for Mr Kalmadi's elevation to head of the committee that stole crores from the country. 

"In our opinion, the decision of the PMO for appointing Suresh Kalmadi as Chairman of the OC facilitated the conversion of the originally envisaged government-owned OC into a body effectively outside the government control," writes the Comptroller and Auditor General. The report will be presented soon in Parliament.

But the Prime Minister's Office blames Atal Behari Vajpayee's government which was in power when India bid for the Games in 2003 - a claim repeated in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday by Sports Minister Ajay Maken. The BJP has, however, denied this.

But documents obtained through Right To Information (RTI) by activist Subhash Agarwal show that ironically, it was senior BJP leader VK Malhotra who had proposed the re-election of Suresh Kalmadi as the president of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) in 2008.

According to the minutes of that 2008 meeting to elect the IOA chief, "While applauding the excellent services rendered by Mr Suresh Kalmadi as the President of the IOA and Chairman, Organising Committee Commonwealth Games Delhi 2010, Mr Malhotra proposed the re-election of Suresh Kalmadi as President of Indian Olympic Association." 

Mr Kalmadi was elected unanimously. In return, he proposed the name of VK Malhotra for the post of senior Vice-President. 

After the CBI arrested Kalmadi on charges of corruption in April this year, Mr Malhotra was appointed as the acting President of the IOA.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/bjp-leader-vk-malhotra-proposed-kalmadis-name-for-olympic-association-president-123893&cp

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Parliament to finally do business, debate inflation today

Even as Parliament was stalled on Tuesday over inflation and land acquisition, the government and the opposition agreed to have a debate on inflation in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. This seems to have paved the way for Parliament to function normally, unless there are further adjournments.

On Tuesday, BJP members led by M Venkaiah Naidu called for suspension of Question Hour in Rajya Sabha to discuss price rise. In the Lok Sabha, SP members trooped into the well seeking dismissal of the Uttar Pradesh for committing atrocities against farmers. BSP members carried placards, blaming the centre for the poor conditions of the farmers. They demanded immediate passage of the land acquisition bill.
The disagreement between the government and the NDA was on whether the inflation debate in the Lok Sabha should be under Rule 184 that entails voting or Rule 193, which does not entail a vote, as the government wanted.
Parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal met leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and worked out the compromise. Both sides agreed to the debate under Rule 184, with a notice that does not indict the government over price rise.
The notice will now say the burden of price rise on the common man is continuing, and that the House expresses deep concern and calls upon the government to take immediate steps to check inflation.
Apart from BJP's Yashwant Sinha and JD(U)'s Sharad Yadav, Congressman KS Rao has moved a resolution on price rise.
Bansal said, "There was a feeling from both sides that Parliament should function. That helped us arrive at a common ground."
The Congress and the BJP also arrived at an informal arrangement that the resolution on corruption will not directly try to indict the PM or any UPA minister.
The Rajya Sabha will take up a short discussion on internal security with reference to the recent terror attacks in Mumbai under rule176 (without voting).

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Gowda or Shettar? Decision on next Karnataka Chief Minister likely today

Bangalore:  BS Yeddyurappa vows he shall be back soon. But that's for later. Karnataka needs a Chief Minister immediately and the BJP is expected to decide today on who that person shall be. By vote. The two men said to be forerunners for the post: Mr Yeddyurappa's man Sadanand Gowda and Jagadish Shettar, who belongs to the rival camp of Ananth Kumar. 
 
Mr Yeddyurappa had quit as Karnataka Chief Minister reluctantly on Sunday, days after the Santosh Hegde report on illegal mining severely indicted him and his family. His resignation was accompanied by the usual political drama - clinging to the chair till he could, then picking a propitious time to resign and finally, a massive show of strength as he walked to the Raj Bhawan flanked by 70 MLAs. In all that, Mr Yeddyurappa also made clear that while he was acceding to party wishes that he quit, only a person of his choice should be his successor. 
 
But three days later, as the BJP heads into a meeting on Wednesday to pick the new CM, there is clearly a battle ahead. The two rival BJP groups are huddled in two different luxury hotels of Bangalore and each insists that their man will be the next CM. Mr Yeddyurappa's group claims to have the support of about 70 MLAs and are quite sanguine that Sadanand Gowda will be picked. 
 
Not so fast, says the Ananth Kumar camp. The BJP General Secretary has had a troubled relationship with Yeddyurappa, who is said to have shot down the proposal that Ananth Kumar take over as Chief Minister. Now this camp wants to ensure that one of them makes it to the chair. "Central leaders have taken the opinion of both sides. First we thought of myself, Eshwarappa and Jagadish Shettar. After that we sat and talked - along with Ananth Kumar - and we believe it will be Jagadish Shettar, said R Ashok, the Karnataka Home Minister.

 
But, as the home minister says, "ultimately it is the MLAs who will decide."
 
Caste equations, which matter much, too are at the heart of this fight for the top position. Mr Yeddyurappa belongs to the powerful and dominant Lingayat community. The Ananth Kumar camp wants Jagadish Shettar, also a Lingayat, to be CM to neutralise Mr Yeddyurappa's indubitable influence. On the other side, the Yeddyurappa camp is pushing for Sadanand Gowda, who is a Vokkaliga, another dominant community. Gowda in the saddle would also mean that Mr Yeddyurappa would remain the Lingayat strongman. 
 
Who is Sadanand Gowda?
 
Sadanand Gowda, 58, is an MP from Udupi Chikmagalur. He has been BJP state president and a non-controversial one - a considerable feat in a unit that has several power centres. Gowda has also been an MLA and deputy leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly. The Vokkaliga leader has a law degree and was a sportsman in college. 
 
The affable Gowda lists chatting with family and friends among his interests. He has one son - and has so far had no allegations against him of corruption or nepotism. Issues that led to Mr Yeddyurappa's ouster. 
 

Who is Jagadigh Shettar?
 
Jagadish Shettar is 55 and comes from north Karnataka. He too trained as a lawyer and has been politically active ever since he was a student. He was and active part of both the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishat, the BJP's student wind, and the RSS.
 
Mr Shettar has been leader of the opposition in the state Assembly and he too has been president of the state unit of the BJP. Shettar was also the BJP's first Speaker in the Karnataka Assembly.
 
This Lingayat leader has had a rocky relationship at times with Mr Yeddyurappa, who picked him as Revenue Minister only after some pressure. He was most recently Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj. Mr Shettar has two sons. 

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Norway killings: Suspect hints he did not act alone

OSLO: The 32-year-old man accused of Norway's worst massacre since World War II now says that two cells of extremists collaborated with him, a court here said Monday, ordering him to be held in complete isolation to prevent him from interfering in police investigations into potential accomplices. The defendant had previously said he had acted alone.

The defendant, Anders Behring Breivik, appeared at a closed arraignment hearing here as Norwegians paused in grief and self-examination for a minute's silence to mark the deaths of at least 93 people in last Friday's attacks.

While acknowledging that he carried out the attacks, Breivik "has not pleaded guilty," JudgeKim Heger told a televised news conference, in remarks translated by an official of the court.

The judge said Breivik had been charged under criminal law with "acts of terrorism," including an attempt to "disturb or destroy the functions of society, such as the government" and to spread "serious fear" among the population.

Breivik was ordered to be held for the next eight weeks, the first four in solitary confinement. He told police what there were "two further cells in our organization," reporters were told.

Breivik is the only person accused so far in the twin attacks last Friday when a huge bomb in central Oslo killed seven people and was followed soon afterwards by a shooting rampage against a camp run by the ruling Labor Party on the nearby island of Utoya.

In testimony, Heger said, Breivik had said he "believes that he needed to carry out these acts to save Norway" and western Europe from "cultural Marxism and Muslim domination."

The court appearance was Breivik's first since he was captured last Friday. Through his lawyer, he had indicated that he wanted to use the hearing as a platform and had wished to appear wearing some kind of uniform. But the court rejected those requests. The judge said Breivik had wished to "give a sharp signal" and inflict "the worst possible loss" on the Labor Party, accusing it of failing to prevent a "mass importing of Muslims" into Norway.

Shortly before Breivik's arrival, the court said in a statement, "Based on information in the case, the court finds that today's detention hearing should be held behind closed doors."

"It is clear that there is concrete information that a public hearing with the suspect present could quickly lead to an extraordinary and very difficult situation in terms of the investigation and security," the court said.

Minutes earlier, as noon approached, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg stood before crowds of people and urged them "to remember the victims. I hereby declare one minute's silence across our country."

All that could be heard in some places was the cry of gulls as trams stopped, cars pulled over and Norwegians bowed their heads, standing to attention with their hands clasped in prayer. Even after the formal 60 seconds, many seemed reluctant to move on, locked in private thoughts.

Rescue workers in red suits and fluorescent jackets stood in silence on a lakeshore near Utoya island outside Oslo where at least 86 of the dead perished on Friday in a rampage of gunfire that lasted at least 90 minutes. Earlier the same day, a huge bomb explosion had rocked government offices in central Oslo, killing seven people.

Breivik admits to the shootings and the bombing, his lawyer, Geir Lippestad, has told Norwegian news media, but he rejects "criminal responsibility." Lippestad said that Breivik insists that he acted alone, and alone wrote a mammoth manifesto - rambling from a hostile historical look at Islam to recipes (and price lists) for bomb manufacture to his family's pressure on him to date.

"He has said that he believed the actions were atrocious, but that in his head they were necessary," the lawyer said. "He wanted a change in society and, from his perspective, he needed to force through a revolution. He wished to attack society and the structure of society."


The minute's silence in central Oslo and elsewhere came after a morning when people gathered quietly, some in tears, to contemplate the spreading blanket of bouquets in front of the Oslo Cathedral.

In the same place on Sunday, the royal family and average citizens alike, some traveling long distances, came to a memorial service for the dead in the cathedral. Long lines of people of all ages and colors waited patiently and quietly, some of them crying, to lay flowers or light candles. Someone propped up a radio on a post so those waiting could listen to the service inside.

Unexpectedly on Monday, the hunt for evidence also spread to southern France, where, The Associated Press reported, French gendarmes searched the house of his father, Jens Breivik, who was said earlier to have lost contact with his son many years ago. It was not clear what the officers were looking for or what they had found.

The Norwegian police and security services meanwhile faced numerous questions about their slow response to the reports of shooting on Utoya, where the country's governing Labor Party was holding its annual political summer camp, considered Norway's nursery school for future leaders. The police took an hour to arrive on the island after the first reports, and officials said that it was hard to find boats and that their helicopters were only capable of surveillance, not of shooting down the killer.

Some speculated that Breivik had wanted an open court proceeding on Monday in order to further publicize his anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim ideas, which center around the conservation of cultural and Christian values in the face of what he sees as a continuing effort by Islam to conquer Europe since the Ottomans were stopped at the gates of Vienna in 1683. His manifesto, called "2083 - A European Declaration of Independence," seemed intended to reflect the 400th anniversary of the siege.

Breivik was said by analysts to have been an occasional commenter on a blog, Gates of Vienna, which is topped by these words: "At the siege of Vienna in 1683 Islam seemed poised to overrun Christian Europe. We are in a new phase of a very old war."

According to the police, when he surrendered, Breivik was carrying an automatic rifle and a pistol and he still retained "a considerable amount of ammunition." Doctors have said that he was apparently using dumdum bullets, expanding rounds designed to inflict the deadliest wounds possible victims.

With no death penalty and the longest prison term possible in Norway set at 21 years, some Norwegians wondered how best to punish Breivik.

Hedda Felin, a political scientist and human resources manager, said that giving Breivik an open platform "was more of a reward than a punishment." He said in his manifesto that he considered killing Norway's top journalists at their yearly meeting, she said, for not listening to him and his arguments.

"He wants an open trial to be listened to, so journalists will now write about his ideas," Ms. Felin said. "A real punishment would be not to write about him at all."

There were church services all over Norway on Sunday. At the Oslo Cathedral, King Harald V andQueen Sonja of Norway, who joined Monday's minute of silence, were both in tears on Sunday, and they were hardly alone. Prime Minister Stoltenberg, who knew many of the dead, said, "We are crying with you, we feel for you." The brief period since the killings "feels like an eternity - hours and days and nights filled with shock and angst and weeping," he said.

"Each and every one of those who has left us is a tragedy," Stoltenberg added. "Together, it is a national tragedy." 

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Gadkari to take final call on Yeddyurappa's fate

NEW DELHI: BJP president Nitin Gadkari on Monday said Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa has asked him to take a final call on his fate on the Lokayukta report and insisted that a decision would be taken based on the seriousness of the charges made in the "official document".

"I have talked to the Karnataka chief minister. He has asked me to take a decision as party president on the issue and I will follow it. I have never taken a political decision based on perceptions. So, as soon as we get a copy of the Lokayukta report, and based on the charges made in it, the party will take appropriate action," Gadkari told reporters.

When pressed further for his opinion on the reported charges made by Lokayukta Santosh Hegde on illegal mining, he said, "Till the official copy of the report is not available the party will not take any decision."

Gadkari rebuffed his senior colleague and BJP vice-president Shanta Kumar for making controversial remarks against Yeddyurappa.

"I feel party issues should be discussed in the party forum. These should not be discussed through the media," he said.

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'Chidambaram's comment will give leverage to Pak'

New Delhi: In a strong reaction to Home Minister P Chidambaram's comments on right wing terror, BJP on Monday said by blaming these groups for bomb attacks he was giving leverage to Pakistan to harden its position on not taking action against perpetrators of 26/11 attacks.

"I am sure the suave lawyer that Chidambaram is, he could have invented some better logic to defend himself when his neck-deep involvement in the whole 2G scandal, that led to the loss of lakhs of crores of rupees of tax-payers money, is increasingly becoming evident day by day," BJP Chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told PTI.

Chidambaram had earlier alleged that BJP was attacking some ministers, including him, since the UPA-II had quickened the investigations into rightwing terror cases.

"I think they know that there is no connection to the so-called scam in 2G. I think they (BJP) are targeting selected Ministers for other reasons in this case.

"What I suspect is that we have quickened the investigations into a number of bomb blast cases where right-wing fundamentalist organisations are involved. We have quickened....we have persuaded the court to hear two Ayodhya cases on a more or less day-to-day basis," he said.

BJP refused to buy this argument and attacked Chidambaram yet again on Monday in the 2G scam, with party president Nitin Gadkari demanding that he and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should resign forthwith.

"The statement of Chidambaram confirms that his government is soft on terror from across the border and their patrons who are a threat to India and the so-called saffron terror is more dangerous as per his estimate," Prasad said.

Chidambaram maintained that he could think of no other reason why BJP had stepped up its attack against him.

"I think the reason is that they think this government is seriously pursuing the bomb blast cases where right wing fundamentalist elements are involved. Clearly many of those right wing fundamentalist elements are linked to the RSS," he said.

The BJP felt his stand would only give leverage to Pakistan not to act on terror charges.

"By saying so, he is only giving leverage to Pakistan to further harden its position and take no action on 26/11 terrorist attack perpetrators," Prasad said.

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