> Apparently, the compulsion of fending for Ms Gandhi-led NAC has forced Union Finance Minister P Chidambram to raise this year's allocation for the PMO by Rs 2.67 crore over the last fiscal's actual expenditure of Rs 11.72 crore.
But remember Media / Intellectual will remind everybody how MMS refuse to use 8 BMWs..
I wonder if Spineless Singh refused BMW because Madam would not be able to utilise BMW . And by accepting BMW Singh saab would be offending Madam .. believe me its quite possible., after all I saw some 60+ old MAN ? touching feet of Rahul Baba ....
Wonder how Sikh Community percieves him now ?
In Punjabi there is crude saying which somewhat amounts to "doesn't matter how big your balls are, they are still below your dick".
Goes very well with Congress-ies and MMS ( no matter how qualified and clean you are still you gotta lick. )
Remember breast beating by Sibals and Renukas who wanted Sonia as PM :-(
<!--QuoteBegin-Bhootnath+Jul 9 2004, 07:41 AM-->QUOTE(Bhootnath @ Jul 9 2004, 07:41 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--> Remember breast beating by Sibals and Renukas who wanted Sonia as PMÂ :-( <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
So did Gangacharan Rajput finally shoot himself or still walking around the Parliament with a pistol stuck to his head? <!--emo&:lol:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='laugh.gif' /><!--endemo-->
HT
Wow! The extra-constitutional power will share Budget.
- Vir Bharati, New Delhi, India (July 9, 2004)
Well, HT printed this feedback on net but 90% edited- my new avatar <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
In Punjabi there is crude saying which somewhat amounts to "doesn't matter how big your balls are, they are still below your dick".
Goes very well with Congress-ies and MMS ( no matter how qualified and clean you are still you gotta lick. )
Remember breast beating by Sibals and Renukas who wanted Sonia as PM :-(
Bhootnath,
Judging from current History if he does good , all credit wil be taken and if he dont, tha blame will put on "everyone/others".
The Curse of Congress on Country Continue. One day we might be free from Sycophant Congress Mentality and earn our rightful place. Btw did u read the artical in newsweek about MMS by Farid Zakaria, he is still hoping ... that MMS will take charge soon..
Agree with u that Punjabi language has special knack of saying the truth in colourful way . ;-)
<b>Extra consitutional power announce Rs 1-crore package for fire victims</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->UPA chairperson and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Sunday announced a Rs one crore special package for the victims on behalf of the Centre for relief and rehabilitation.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Neither PM nor Education Minister but ECP is announcing, how low UPA can go
New Delhi: The BJP questioned the locus standi of Congress president Sonia Gandhi in announcing <b>a relief package of Rs one crore for families of the Kumbakonam fire tragedy victims and said it reflected her "dictatorial" attitude</b>.
"While the whole country is grief stricken over the death of such a large number of children in the fire tragedy and expression of sympathy is fully justified, the announcement of assistance from the Prime Minister's Relief Fund by the president of any party is unprecedented," BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman V K Malhotra told reporters in New Delhi on Monday.
"The attempts to draw political mileage out of the tragedy is highly improper. She has no locus standi to make such announcements. The blurring of the line between the ruling party and the Government reflects dictatorial attitude," he said.
The BJP Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha also <b>questioned the basis on which Gandhi announced a special package of Rs 25 lakhs from the National Children's Fund for replacement of thatched roofs with concrete in school kitchens</b>.
A user "chola_king" posted this on Sulekha. The link however doesnt have that article. Interesting read however.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Do You Know Your Sonia?
By Dr. Subramanian Swamy
August 15, 2004
Patriotic Indians should thank the President of India for having the courage by citing a legal hitch to dissuade Ms. Sonia Gandhi from staking her claim to form the government in May this year. She therefore did not as expected on May 17th become the Prime Minister of 1 billion plus people of India. It can now be said that the nation has been saved from a monumental, devastating, and permanent injury to Indiaâs national interest and patriotic psyche of Indians. And therefore every effort that can be made in a democracy should be made to ensure that Ms. Sonia Gandhi is permanently out of reckoning for any public office. For those who instinctively understand that, this Note is to explain the factual basis for this conclusion, and suggest what patriotic Indians can do now .
My opposition to Ms. Sonia Gandhi is not merely because she is Italian---born. In other democratic countries, including in Italy, such an issue [of foreign-born aspiring to be head of government]would not even arise at all because the issue has already been settled by law, that a person cannot hold the highest public office unless he or she is native born.
In India there is no such law, but the President according to my knowledge, correctly acted on a proviso to Section 5 of the Indian Citizenship Act[1955] which empowers the Union Home Ministry to lay down conditions that apply to Indian citizenship acquired by foreigners by registration, which conditions would be based on the principle of reciprocity, viz., in Ms Gandhiâs case such of those conditions that apply to Indians on becoming citizens of Italy would apply to her.
The President reportedly told her that if she insisted on being invited to form the government, he would want first to clarify, on a reference to the Supreme Court, whether in view of this proviso her appointment as PM could be successfully challenged in the court. It is fair to assume that this report of the Presidentâs decision, is correct since the President had before him my petition dated May 15, 2004 making just that point--- that Ms. Gandhiâs citizenship is conditional, and in particular she cannot be the PM legally. The President had also given me an appointment at 12.45 PM on May 17, 2004 to explain my submissions in person, which I did. I also told him that I would challenge such a constitutional appointment in the Supreme Court just as I had in 2001 when the Tamil Nadu Governor illegally swore in Ms Jayalalitha as Chief Minister.
In that case, the Supreme Court had after hearing me and many other constitutional luminaries, upheld my contention that mere majority in the House is insufficient for being sworn in to a constitutional office. There must be no disqualification as well. Ms. Jayalalitha had therefore to step down because she was disqualified by a conviction handed by a trial court in the TANSI corruption case filed by me as private complaint [she subsequently was acquitted by the Madras High Court, and hence became eligible the next year].
I also cited to the President a 1962 Allahabad High Court case, which held that this proviso in the Citizenship Act was binding and lawful.
The nation in the Sonia matter has thus got an unexpected but temporary reprieve, a reprieve received not only because her citizenship of India by registration is not equal to one by birth even by Indian law, but also a reprieve more because of what national security risk was averted. To comprehend that risk, we must first understand who Sonia Gandhi really is and what danger she, her family and her friends in Italy hold for Indiaâs national security. Even for an Indian born citizen, we find it difficult to know a personâs true background, but for an Italian born it is extremely hard because of the remote access for most people to Italy in language and familiarity. This note is about that danger that Sonia represents to the nation, which the people need to know.
II
Ms. Sonia Gandhiâs background as is publicized by her and her Congress Party today, is based on three lies to hide the ugly reality of her life.
First, her real name is Antonia not Sonia. The Italian Ambassador in New Delhi revealed this in a letter dated April 27, 1983 to the Union Home Ministry which letter has not been made public. Antonia is Soniaâs real name in her birth certificate. Sonia is the name given to her subsequently by her father, Stefano Maino [now deceased] following his return from Russia where he had been a prisoner of war. Stefano had joined the Nazi army as a volunteer. Sonia is a Russian not Italian name. While spending two years in a Russian jail, Soniaâs father had become quite pro-Soviet; especially after the liberating US army in Italy had confiscated all fascistsâ properties including his.
Second, she was not born in Orbassano as she claims in her bio data submitted to Parliament on becoming MP, but in Luciana as stated in her birth certificate. She perhaps would like to hide the place of her birth because of her fatherâs connection with the Nazis and Mussoliniâs Fascists, and her familyâs continuing connections with the Nazi-Fascists underground that is still surviving since 1945 in Italy. Luciana is where Nazi-Fascist network is headquartered, and is on the Italian-Swiss border. There can be no other explanation for this otherwise meaningless lie.
Third, Sonia Gandhi has not studied beyond High School. She has falsely claimed in her affidavit filed as a contesting candidate before the Rae Bareli Returning Officer in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, that she qualified and got a diploma in English from the prestigious University of Cambridge, UK.
The truth is that Ms. Gandhi has never studied in any college anywhere. She did go to a Catholic nun run seminary-school called Maria Ausiliatrice in Giaveno [15 kms from adopted home town of Orbassabo]. Poverty those days forced young Italian girls to go to such missionaries and then in their teens go to UK to get jobs as cleaning maids, waitresses and au pair. The Mainos were poor those days. Her father was a mason and mother a share cropper.
Sonia thus went to the town of Cambridge and first learnt some English in a teaching shop called Lennox School [which has since 1970 been wound up]. That is all her âeducationâ is---learnt enough English language to get domestic help jobs. But in Indian society education is highly valued. Thus, to fool the Indian public, Sonia Gandhi willfully fibbed about her qualifications in Parliamentary records [which is a Breach of Ethics Rules] and in a sworn affidavit [which is criminal offence under IPC, severe enough to disqualify her from being MP]. In popular parlance, this is called 420 or 10 ânumberiâ [not to be confused with 10 Janpath].
These three lies indicate that Ms. Sonia Gandhi has something to hide, or has a hidden agenda for India. We need to find out more about her.
III
Ms. Sonia Gandhi upon learning enough English became a waitress in Varsity Restaurant in Cambridge town. She first met Rajiv when he came to the restaurant in 1965. Rajiv was a student in the University, but could not cope with the academic rigour for long. So he had to depart in 1966 for London where he was briefly in Imperial College of Engineering as a student. Sonia too moved to London, and according my information, got a job with an outfit run by Salman Thassir, a debonair Pakistani based in Lahore, and who has a export-import company headquartered in Dubai but who spends most of his time in London. This fits the profile of an ISI functionary.
Obviously, Sonia made enough money in this job to loan Rajiv funds in London, who was obviously living beyond his allowances [Indira herself expressed anguish to me on this score in late 1965 when she invited me to a private tea at the Guest House in Brandeis University]. Rajivâs letters to Sanjay, who was also in London then, clearly indicate that he was in financial debt to Sonia because he requested Sanjay who obviously had more access to money, to pay off the debt.
However, Rajiv was not the only friend Sonia was seeing those days. Madhavrao Scindia and a German by name Stiegler are worth mentioning as other good friends of Sonia. Madhavraoâs friendship continued even after Soniaâs marriage to Rajiv. Scindia in 1982 was involved in a traffic accident near IIT, Delhi main gate while driving a car at 2 AM. Sonia was the only other passenger. Both were badly injured. A student of IIT who was burning midnight oil was out for a cup of coffee. He picked them up from the car, hailed an auto rickshaw and sent an injured Sonia to Mrs Indira Gandhiâs house since she insisted in not going to a hospital. Madhavrao had broken a leg and in too much pain to make any demand. He was taken to hospital by the Delhi Police who had arrived a little after Sonia had left the scene. In later years, Madhavrao had become privately critical of Sonia, and told some close friends about his apprehensions about Sonia. It is a pity that he died in mysterious circumstances in an aircrash.
The circumstance under which Rajiv hastily married Sonia in a Church in Orbassano is controversial but that was his personal matter that has no public significance. But what is of public significance is that Indira Gandhi who was initially dead set against the marriage for reasons known to her, relented to hold a registry marriage with Hindu ceremonial trappings in New Delhi only after the pro-Soviet T.N. Kaul prevailed upon her to accept the marriage in âthe larger interest of cementing Indo-Soviet Friendshipâ. Kaul would not have intervened unless the Soviet Union had asked him to.
IV
Such has been the extensive patronage from the beginning extended to Sonia Gandhi from the Soviets. When a Prime Minister of Indiaâs son dates a girl in London, the KGB which valued Indo-Soviet relations, obviously would investigate her and find out that she was the daughter of Stefano, their old reliable Italian contact. Thus, Sonia with Rajiv meant deeper access to the household of the Indian Prime Minister. Hence cementing the Rajiv-Sonia relations was in the Soviet national interest and they went to work on it. And they did through their then existing moles in the Indira Gandhi camp.
After her marriage to Rajiv, the Soviet connection with the Mainos was fortified and nurtured by generous financial help through commissions and kickbacks on every IndoÂSoviet trade deal and defence purchases. According to the respected Swiss magazine, Schweitzer Illustrate [November 1991 issue], Rajiv Gandhi had about $ 2 billion in numbered Swiss bank accountsÂwhich Sonia inherited upon his assassination. Dr. Yevgenia Albats, Ph.D [Harvard], is a noted Russian scholar and journalist, and was a member of the KGB Commission set up by President Yeltsin in August 1991. She was privy to the Soviet intelligence files that documented these deals and KGB facilitation of the same. In her bookÂThe State Within a StateÂThe KGB in Soviet Union, she even gives the file numbers of such intelligence files, which can now be accessed by any Indian government through a formal request to the Kremlin.
The Russsian Government in 1992 was confronted by the Albatsâ disclosure; they confirmed it through their official spokesperson to the press [which was published in Hindu in 1992], defending such financial payments as necessary in âSoviet ideological interestâ.
When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, things changed for Ms. Sonia Gandhi. Her patrons evaporated. The rump that became Russia was in a financial mess and disorder. So Ms. Sonia Gandhi became a supporter of another communist country to the annoyance of the Russians.
The national security ramification of this âannoyanceâ is now significant: The President of Russia today is Putin, a former dyed-in-the-wool KGB officer. Upon Dr. Manmohan Singhâs government taking office, Russia called back itâs career diplomat Ambassador in New Delhi and immediately posted as the new Ambassador a person who was the KGB station chief in New Delhi during the 1970s. In view of Dr. Albats confirmed revelation, it stands to reason that the new Ambassador would have known first hand about Soniaâs connections with the KGB. He may have in fact been her âcontrollerâ. The new Indian government which is defacto Soniaâs, cannot afford to annoy him or even disregard Russian demands coming from him? They will obviously placate him so as not to risk exposure. Is this not a major national security risk and a delicate matter for the nation?
Of course, all Indians would like good normal and healthy relations with Russia. Who can forget their assistance to us in times of need? Todayâs Russia is the residual legatee of that Soviet Union which helped India. But just because of that, should we tolerate those in our government set up having clandestine links with a foreign spy agency? In the United States, the government did not tolerate an American spying for Israel even though the two countries are as close as any two countries can be. National security and friendship are as different as chalk and cheese.
In December 2001, I had filed a Writ Petition in the Delhi High Court with the photocopies of the KGB documents, and sought a CBI investigation, which the Vajpayee Government was refusing. Earlier, Minister of State for CBI, Vasundara Raje [now Rajasthan CM], on my letter dated March 3, 2001, had ordered the CBI to investigate. But after Sonia Gandhi and her party stalled the proceedings of Parliament on this issue, the then Prime Minister Vajpayee cancelled Vasundaraâs direction to the CBI.
The Delhi High Court issued a direction to the CBI to ascertain from Russia the truth of my charges. The CBI procrastinated for three years, and finally told the Court without an FIR registered the Russians will not entertain any such query. But who stopped the CBI from registering an FIR? The next hearing of the case is on September 8th.
V
After Sonia married Rajiv, she went about minting money with scant regard for Indian laws and treasures. Within a few years the Mainos went from utter poverty to billionaires. There was no area that was left out for the rip-off. On November 19, 1974, as fresh entrant to Parliament, I asked the then Prime Minister Ms. Indira Gandhi on the floor of the House if her daughter-in-law, Sonia Gandhi was acting as an insurance agent of a public sector insurance company [Oriental Fire & Insurance], giving the Prime Ministerâs official residence as her business address, and using undue influence to insure all the officers of the PMO while remaining an Italian citizen [thus violating FERA]? There was uproar in Parliament, but Mrs. Indira Gandhi had no alternative but to cut her losses. She made a rare admission that it was so, and that it was by mistake, but that Sonia had resigned from her insurance agent status [after my question]. But Sonia was incorrigible. Her contempt for Indian law continued to manifest.
The Justice A.C. Gupta Commission set up by the Janata Party government in 1977 came out with a voluminous report on the Maruti Company then owned by the Gandhi family, and has listed eight violations of FERA, Companies Act, and Foreigners Registration Act by Sonia Gandhi. She was never prosecuted, but can be still prosecuted because under Indian law, economic crimes not subject to the statute of limitation.
In January 1980, Indira Gandhi returned as Prime Minister. The first thing Sonia did was to enroll herself as a voter. This was a gross violation of the law, enough to cause cancellation of her visa [since she was admittedly an Italian citizen then]. There was some hullabaloo in the press about it, so the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer got her name deleted in 1982. But in January 1983, she again enrolled herself as a voter! Such is her revealed disdain for Indian laws and that is her mindset even today.
VI
The bottom line observed in Soniaâs mindset is that she can always run back to Italy if she becomes vulnerable at anytime. In Peru, President Fujimori who all along claimed to be âborn Peruvianâ, faced with a corruption charge fled to Japan with his loot and reclaimed his Japanese citizenship.
In 1977, when the Janata Party defeated the Congress at the polls, and formed the government, Sonia with her two children, abandoned Indira Gandhi and ran to the Italian Embassy in New Delhi and hid there. Rajiv Gandhi was a government servant then [as an Indian Airlines pilot], but he too tagged along and hid in that foreign embassy ! Such was her baneful influence on him. Rajiv did snap out Soniaâs influence after 1989, but alas he was assassinated before he could rectify it. Those close to Rajiv knew that he was planning set things right about Sonia after the 1991 elections. She did too know of it because he had told her. Ever wonder why Soniaâs closest advisers are those whom Rajiv literally hated? Ambika Soni is one such name. Ever wonder why she asked the President of India to set aside, on a mercy petition, the Supreme Court judgment directing that Rajiv Gandhiâs LTTE killers be hanged to death, when she was not similarly moved for Satwant Singh who killed Indira Gandhi or recently for Dhanajoy Chattopadhyaya? The explanation for this special consideration for the LTTE lies in what Rajiv had told her in 1990.
Those who have no love for India will not hesitate to plunder her treasures. Mohammed Ghori, Nadir Shah, and the British scum in the East India Company made no secret of it. But Sonia Gandhi has been more discreet, but as greedy, in her looting of Indian treasures. When Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were Prime Ministers, not a day passed when the PMâs security did not go to the New Delhi, or Chennai international airport to send crates and crates unchecked by customs to Rome. Air India and Alitalia were the carriers. Mr. Arjun Singh first as CM, later as Union Minister in charge of Culture was her hatchet man. Indian temple sculpture of gods and goddesses, antiques, pichwai paintings, shatoosh shawls, coins, and you name it, were transported to Italy to be first displayed in two shops owned by her sister [i.e., Anuskha alias Alessandra]. These shops located in blue-collar areas of Rivolta [shop name: Etnica] and Orbassano [shop name: Ganpati] did little business because which blue collar Italian wants Indian antiques? The shops were to make false bills, and thereafter these treasures were taken to London for auction by Sothebyâs and Christies. Some of this ill-gotten money from auction went into Rahul Gandhiâs National Westminister Bank and Hongkong & Shanghai Bank, London accounts, but most of it found itâs way into the Gandhi family account in the Bank of America in Cayman Islands. Rahulâs expenses and tuition fees for the one-year he was at Harvard, was paid from the Cayman Island account. What kind of people are these Gandhi-Mainos that bite the very hand of Bharat Mata that fed them and gave them a good life? How can the nation trust such greedy thieves?
Since I failed to persuade the Vajpayee government to defend Indiaâs treasures from plunder by the Mainos, I approached the Delhi High Court in a PIL. The first Bench of the court issued notice to the Government, but since the Indian government dragged itâs feet, the Court directed the CBI to seek Interpolâs and Italian governmentâs help. The Italian government justifiably asked for a Letter Rogatory for which a FIR is a pre-requisite. But the Interpol did oblige and submitted two voluminous reports, which the Court directed the CBI to hand over to me. But CBI has refused, and has claimed privilege! The CBI has also been caught lying in court by telling the judges that Alessandra Maino is a name of a man, and Via Bellini 14, Orbassano is a name of a village [not the street address of the Mainoâs residence]. Although the CBI counsel had to apologise to the court stating he made a mistake, he has been promoted to Additional Solicitor General by the new government! The Vajpayee-Sonia mutual assistance pact is in full view. The case now comes up on September 8th.
But the most sinister aspect of Sonia Gandhiâs character is her connection with terrorists. I am still working on it, but she has had long connection with the Habash group of Palestinian, and has funded Palestinian families that lost their kith and kin in a suicide bombing or hijacking episode. This, Rajiv Gandhi himself told me and was confirmed to me [the funding] by Yassir Arafat when I met him in Tunis on October 17, 1990 at the request of Rajiv Gandhi. Rajiv Gandhi and I were good friends from 1978, but became very close buddies after V.P. Singh had betrayed him in 1987. We met practically every day, mostly in the early hours from 1AM to 4AM. It was at my suggestion that he made Chandrashekhar the PM. And contrary to public impression, he was not mainly responsible for the fall of Chandrashekar government in which I was a Minister.
Besides the Palestinian extremists, the Maino family have had extensive business dealings with Saddam Hussein, and surprisingly with the LTTE [âthe Tamil Tigersâ] since 1984. Soniaâs mother Paola Predebon Maino, and businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi were the main contacts with the Tigers. The mother used the LTTE for money laundering and Quattrocchi for selling weapons to earn commissions. Soniaâs conduit to the LTTE has been and is through Arjun Singh who uses Bangalore as the nodal point for contact.
There is a string of circumstantial evidence pointing to the prima facie possibility that the Maino family may have contracted the LTTE to kill Rajiv Gandhi. The family may have assured the LTTE that nothing would happen to them because they would ensure it is blamed on the Sikhs or the evidence so much fudged that no court would convict them. But D.R. Karthikeyan of the CBI who led the SIT investigation got the support of Narasimha Rao and cracked the case, and got the LTTE convicted in the trial court, and which conviction was upheld in the Supreme Court.
Although on the involvement of Congress Party in the assassination, DRK soft peddled on a number of leads perhaps because he did not want political controversy to put roadblocks on his investigation as a whole. The Justice J. S. Verma Commission, which was set up as the last official act of the Chandrashekhar government before demitting office on June 21, 1991, did find that the Congress leaders had disrupted the security arrangements for the Sriperumbudur meeting. The Commission wanted further probe into it but the Rao government rejected that demand. In the meantime under Soniaâs pressure, the Jain Commission was set up by the Rao government, which tried to muddy the waters and thus exonerate the LTTE. But the trial court judgment convicting the LTTE came earlier, and that sinister effort too failed.
Nowadays, Sonia is quite unabashed in having political alliance with those who praise Rajiv Gandhiâs killers. No Indian widow would ever do that. My investigations into Soniaâs involvement in Rajivâs assassination is therefore still on. I am also author of a best seller titled Assassination Of Rajiv GandhiÂUnasked Questions and Unanswered Queries [published by Konark in 2000] in which I have given some indications.
Is it not significant that the political career of Sonia Gandhi advances concomitantly with a series of assassinations and apparently accidental deaths? How did Sanjayâs plane nosedive to a crash and yet the fuselage not explode? There was no fuel! Why was there no inquiry conducted? Is it not a fact that Indira Gandhi died because of loss of blood from the wounds and not directly due to a bullet impacting her head or heart? Then is it not strange that Sonia had insisted that the bleeding Indira be driven to Lohia Hospital -- in the opposite direction to AIIMS, which had a contingency protocol set up for precisely such an event? And after reaching Lohia Hospital, did not Sonia change her mind and demand that they all drive to AIIMS thus losing 24 valuable minutes.
The same kind of mystery surrounds the sudden deaths of Soniaâs other political roadblocks such as Rajesh Pilot, Jitendra Prasad, and Madhavrao Scindia. Such things happened in the dark ages in Italy. Should we allow it India like dumb cattle?
What Can We Do?
We have to ensure that the Maino clan does not stay in power. Dr. Manmohan Singh may be PM, which is a small relief, but he is not a fighter. The real power in government today is wielded by the Maino mafia gang. Can they be dethroned?
In Indian democracy, only a shocking scandal can unseat a government other than by losing majority. Todayâs priority is not for toppling the Congress government as such since Manmohan Singh is a decent and scholarly person, but in driving the Maino clan out of India. It will however not be long before Sonia will give Manmohan Singh marching orders, and he will march out meekly. We should not expect him to resist.
With Soniaâs defacto government in place, it is also unrealistic to expect that I can get an early victory in the courts on the KGB and antique smuggling cases. The most potent weapon therefore to dislodge the Maino clan [including Rahul and Priyanka] is by exposing their Italian citizenship. In 1992, Sonia revived her citizenship of Italy under Article 17 of the Italian Citizenship Law [Act 91 of 1992]. Rahul and Priyanka were born Italian citizens because Sonia was Italian when she gave birth to them [Italian law based on jure sanguinis]. Hence, they continue be Italians since they never renounced it. Both have been traveling abroad on Italian passports. They may now acquire Venezuela passports since Rahulâs girl friend Veronica is a Venezuelan. That means one more foreign bahu for us tolerant Indians. The Maino-Gandhis are certainly getting globalized. So what can patriotic Indians do?
There is an urgent need to document these facts on notarized paper, for which we need a network in London, Milan, Hongkong and Venezuela. Those persuaded by my above stated facts and arguments may join in and help set up this network.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Congress clique whispers against PM
- By Seema Mustafa and Venkatesh Kesari
New Delhi, Aug. 26: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is under considerable pressure from within his own Congress Party, which has systematically refused to give him a special status within the organisation.<b> Instead, he is the target of a whisper campaign with senior leaders insisting in off-the-record briefings that Congress president Sonia Gandhi is the undisputed leader of the party and "no one should forget it."</b>
Senior Congress leaders make no secret of the fact that the Prime Minister is in place only because of Mrs Sonia Gandhi. "She is our leader and the only one capable of leading the party into the elections, she can get the votes," is the Congress view that has been aired repeatedly by leaders close to the party president. <b>Dr Manmohan Singh, while Prime Minister, is "just another leader" in the party, with the AICC having anointed Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi as the second in command after his mother. </b>Old Congress leaders expressed concern about the manner in which the Prime Minister was sidelined at the AICC. Slogans for Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi rent the air, while Dr Manmohan Singh received only passing mention in the speeches that focused on the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. <b>He himself spoke at length but as a senior MP pointed out, "many workers walked out while he was speaking and no one tried to stop them." Mrs Sonia Gandhi made the necessary references to the Prime Minister of India who was, however, made aware by the party that he was in office because of Mrs Sonia Gandhi and not because of support within the Congress organisation.
Senior Congress ministers in the government had initially refused to consult Dr Manmohan Singh, sending their senior officials to the PMO instead, but this problem has been settled to some extent by regular Cabinet and sub-cabinet committee meetings. </b>The Prime Minister has acquired a say in government functioning and, for instance, has refused to clear the replacement of BJP nominees in bodies like the NHRC, Minorities and Womenâs Commissions. He has also been taking keen interest in transfers and postings of senior bureaucrats and has a good say in the functioning of the economic ministries and the Planning Commission. <b>At the same time, apart from financial matters, he has not been given a single political issue to handle, with foreign policy, saffronisation of education, Pota and the Northeast remaining strictly within the jurisdiction of the relevant ministries.</b>
While some Congress leaders have no hesitation in questioning the Prime Ministerâs standing within the party, others point to a "good understanding" between him and Mrs Sonia Gandhi.<b> "She looks after the political matters and he after the government matters," is the argument, although there is no explanation from any quarter as to how this works out in actual practice. The ministers continue to report to Mrs Sonia Gandhi, keeping her informed of major decisions. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also briefs her regularly every week officially, and "every day" informally. "She is our leader, he is her representative," was probably the most eloquent summing up of the Gandhi-Singh relationship by a Congress leader who is not a MP.</b> Senior ministers call regularly not just on the party president but also on her political secretary Ahmed Patel.
The Prime Minister, according to party leaders, has no say, or at least no more say than any other senior leader in party affairs. <b>Mr Rahul Gandhi is the second leader, with Dr Manmohan Singh now functioning as a Prime Minister who is in power so long as he enjoys the confidence of Mrs Sonia Gandhi. He has accepted this role, according to insiders, as he knows that he "owes his position to her."</b> The Congress, under its astute managers, has not rallied around the Prime Minister to build him up within the organisation. In the current standoff between him and the NDA, the Congress Party and senior minister Pranab Mukherjee have come to the defence of the government and Dr Manmohan Singh.
<b>If insiders are to be believed, ambitious Congress ministers have a "hidden" agenda and they are working accordingly. They want to show that they are more efficient and can lead the coalition comfortably. In fact, the stalemate between the government and the NDA in Parliament could have been easily broken, but the confrontation would serve their purpose sooner or later, sources said.</b>
While there was a design in the floor mismanagement, the controversy over cleansing the administration of Sangh Parivar sympathisers, the Manipur crisis and Veer Savarkar and Uma Bharti issues are said to be test balloons to see how Dr Manmohan Singh would tackle them.
Although a section of the Congress is blaming Mrs Gandhiâs so-called managers over their failure to break the NDA, party leaders feel that even the UPA could not be a strong alternative to the BJP-led front unless the Congress president establishes personal rapport with her UPA allies and the leaders of supporting parties.
"Soniaji should talk to Karunanidhi, Harkishen Singh Surjeet, A.B. Bardhan, Lalu Prasad Yadav and even Sharad Pawar individually and involve them in the decision-making process," viewed a senior party leader and added that periodic meetings of the UPA and the Left are meant for the public consumption.
<b>However, AICC sources blamed the Prime Minister for his non-political approach. "He should call the AICC functionaries over a cup of tea and interact just like Atalji. Even Soniaji would not mind," said a CWC member.</b>
But the party leaders and ministers are clear about who is the real leader. "People would vote for Soniaji and not Manmohan Singh after five years," sources said.
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<b>Sonia, Rajiv ran away during '71 war</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Sonia took Rajiv to Sicily island for their safety when India was fighting the war with Pakistan in 1971</b>," Thackeray said in an interview to party mouthpiece Saamna in Mumbai.
Quoting Pupul Jaikar's book on Indira Gandhi, the Sena chief said, "it details how Sonia, by her behaviour, troubled the former prime minister."
Thackeray also questioned the friendship between <b>Sonia Gandhi's father and Mussolini</b> during the course of the interview and said, "<b>we will not take lessons of patriotism from her</b>."
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Congress highcommand was left red in the face on Monday as the statewide bandh called by its party unit in Uttar Pradesh, to put the Mulayam Singh Government in a spot, boomeranged.
Not only did shops and other establishments remain open throughout the state, the bandh even failed to make a mark in Lucknow, the site of Friday's violent clash between lawyers and police. The state Congress had, in fact, called on Monday's bandh to protest against the attack on the lawyers, as also the murder of Samajwadi Party MLC Ajit Singh in Unnao.
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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday stood in defence of Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, <b>who came under attack from the Left parties for engaging experts from multilateral institutions like the World Bank in the Commission.</b>
Manmohan Singh, who also heads the government's Plan think-tank, complimented the internal Planning Commission for starting the process of mid-term appraisal in 'right earnest.'
"The internal commission has started the process in right earnest, including extensive consultations with central ministries, state governments and outside experts," he said.
The prime minister's comment assumes importance in the wake of sharp criticism of Ahluwalia from the Left parties on engaging experts.
The four Left parties, which are supporting the government from outside, had questioned the merit of involving outside experts and asked the government to 'reconsider' the move to include representatives of the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and an American consultancy group in various Planning Commission bodies.
Describing the step as 'unwarranted,' the Left parties asked the government to 'explain why it wants World Bank representation in the Plan panel when the Congress in Andhra Pradesh has held the Bank's structural adjustment policies responsible for the miserable plight of farmers and ordinary people in the state.'
A day ahead of the meeting of the full Planning Commission meeting, Ahluwalia had said: "There is no representation of outside bodies in the actual working of the Planning Commission," and clarified that inclusion of such representatives was only for providing inputs for the mid-term appraisal of the Tenth Plan.
After taking stock of the prevailing economic scenario, it was time to begin the process of 'reorienting' the course of country's economic system to reflect the vision and priorities of United Progressive Alliance government as outlined in the National Common Minimum Programme, Singh said.
Outlining the task and objective of the mid-term appraisal of the Tenth Plan, he said it should form the basis of economic agenda not only for the remaining years of the Plan but also the Eleventh Plan.
He noted that economy had grown only 6 per cent during the first two years of the 10th Plan against the ambitious target of 8.1 per cent and said the preparation for the mid-term appraisal would provide an opportunity to ensure that the objectives of the CMP were fully reflected in the Plan strategy.
Pointing at the 'time constraints' for the presentation of the Budget for 2004-05, the prime minister said the government had adopted the 'innovative' measure of providing a block allocation of Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) to the Commission to be reappropriated for specific projects and programmes as per the CMP objectives.
Singh regretted there had been little progress since the National Development Council, while approving the Tenth Five-Year Plan in December 2002, identified four critical areas of reforms which required to be designated and guided at the 'highest political level.'
He said for sending out a clear signal regarding resolve to carry forward reforms process, "we propose to reconstitute the four empowered sub-committees and amend some of the terms of reference in order to better reflect the CMP objectives."
The four reform areas include governance reforms with special reference to e-governance, creating an investor friendly climate, removal of barriers to internal trade and financial and administrative empowerment of Panchayti Raj institutions.
He also committed to ensuring that the deliberations of the sub-committees took place expeditiously so as to incorporate their recommendations in reforms strategy.
Signalling a revival of the committee formed by National Development Council in 1999 on transfer of centrally-sponsored schemes to the states, which has already circulated its draft report, Singh said: "It is now necessary to involve the new ministers before the report is finalised."
He said transfer of centrally-sponsored schemes was one of the major commitments of the CMP and asked the Commission members to deliberate on the draft report, on which comments of the original members of the committee had been received.
Through email
<b>Why Rahul Gandhi didn't came to USA with young politicians ?</b>
Last week Washington played host to a different kind of guest from Indian officialdom -- the smart set. Seven young MPs for whom the USA is not a land of angry aliens but a country they want to do business with. "Young political sons" Sachin Pilot, Milind Deora, Jitin Prasada (all Congress Party), and Manvendra Singh (BJP) followed by one-of-a-kind Vijay Mallya (Janata Party) and the ever personable Rajiv Shukla of the Congress. It was Shukla who conceived the idea of the Indo-US Parliamentary Forum to create a counterpart to the India Caucus in the US House of Representatives.--
BUT ONE YOUNG POLITICIAN OF INDIA , Mr.PRICE CHARMING OF CONGRESS WAS MISSING
QUESTION : Why Rahul Gandhi didn't came to USA with young politicians ?
HERE IS THE ANSWER FROM A WELL PLACES SOURCE :
<b>--" I am informed that Rahul Gandhi is likely to avoid going to the U.S. for some time because of some pending police questions. He was detained at the Boston Longan Airport for several hours and was released only when the Indian Ambassador intervened and gave assurances to the State Department. "</b> <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<b>Fernandes, Swamy to launch campaign against Sonia </b>
By Our Staff Reporter
MADURAI, SEPT. 26 . The former Defence Minister, George Fernandes, today said that all legal channels would be utilised to oust the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, from Parliament for allegedly giving "false" information about her educational qualification in the affidavit submitted to the Election Commission.
Talking to the media here along with the Janata Party leader, Subramanian Swamy, Mr. Fernandes asked: "All the people, who are conscious of the implications of having such a person, who is not a citizen of India, [as leader], should join the action committee proposed by Dr. Swamy to oust Ms. Gandhi from power'' he said. "She has no business to be in Parliament."
However, referring to the decision taken by the National Democratic Alliance not to disrupt the proceedings in Parliament, Mr. Fernandes said the issue would be raised in the House. He welcomed the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad's statement that all scams of the NDA Government would be probed. Recalling that he had written to the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, on the very next day of assuming office to probe the "coffin scam," he said even after 100 days nothing happened.
Criminal complaint Earlier talking to reporters separately, Dr. Swamy said he had filed a criminal complaint with the Rae Bareli District Magistrate, who is also the Returning Officer of the Lok Sabha constituency, against Ms. Sonia Gandhi for filing a "false affidavit" regarding her educational qualifications. He said an "action" committee comprising members of various political parties would organise meetings at major cities to "expose the true colours" of Ms. Gandhi. http://www.hindu.com/2004/09/27/stories/...421100.htm
SRIKAKULAM, OCT. 2. <b>Leader of the Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party (TDPP), K. Yerrannaidu, on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the functioning of the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) Government at the Centre and wondered whether it was the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, or the `Super Prime Minister', Sonia Gandhi, or the Left parties who was exercising the real constitutional authority. </b>
Price hike
Speaking at a party meeting here, Mr. Naidu recalled, how in Parliament in January, leaders of the UPA, then in the Opposition, had criticised the NDA Government for hiking prices of petroleum products and described the move `anti-people' and `anti-poor'. But the UPA Government within one month of assuming power had hiked the prices of petroleum products in June and July. It was about to hike them further in August, but because of fear of criticism from the Opposition, it had postponed the decision.
Inflation
The UPA has a Prime Minister and a Finance Minister known for their reforms. But these reformists had miserably failed to check inflation. Never in the past 15 years, inflation had gone up so much causing unprecedented hardship to the common man, he remarked.
Manipur had been a burning issue since long, but the Home Minister never cared to initiate steps to solve the problems of people there. When media persons in Delhi came to him seeking his comment on the functioning of the UPA Government after completion of two months, he said to comment on a Government's functioning, it should be given at least a year's time. "But observing the way things are drifting, one is forced to comment," Mr. Naidu said.
Numbers game
It was absolutely wrong to say that people had voted for the Congress in the recently held Lok Sabha elections. In a Lok Sabha with 544 seats, the Congress had got just 145 seats, how could any one claim that it was a vote for the Congress? he asked.
Rebirth
Earlier, Mr. Naidu became emotional while recalling the attack by PW activists on him on April and his narrow escape. "I consider it as rebirth. It is my first public meeting after that attack. I rededicate myself to the service of the people," he said.
New Indian Express, Oct. 10, 2004 <b>Anti-Sonia brigade floats new front</b>?
NEW DELHI: After exhausting all their strategies, the creme de la creme of anti-Sonia parties have floated<b> Rashtriya Swabhimaan Manch </b>a front whose sole aim will be to clip the wings of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
The Manch will hold its first rally on November 4 in Delhi and unveil its agenda before the public.
Leading the pack are <b>former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, NDA convenor and Samata Party leader George Fernandes and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti. Also joining in are former Samata Party president Jaya Jaitley, Janata Party president Subramaniam Swamy, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Nirupam and former Speaker and NCP leader P.A.Sangma.</b>
For all these personalities,<b> Sonia Gandhi is a ``national security threat'' </b>and should be contained from calling the shots. Manmohan Singh according to the Manch team, especially Subramaniam Swamy is ``a rubber stamp'' prime minister.
The need to float the Manch has surfaced with a reason: Most of the leaders are jobless or are being targeted by the Congress-led UPA Government. For the likes of Swamy, Nirupam and Sangma, Sonia's name is enough to inflame them. Similar is the case with Uma Bharti and George Fernandes, who had made Sonia's foreign origins their main election plank. As for Jaya Jaitley, it is more to settle the Tehelka scandal than anything else.
The Manch, floated on the birthday of socialist leader Jai Prakash Narayan, will be strengthened further.
Though the very structure of the Manch makes its agenda clear, NDA convenor George Fernandes, however, preferred oblique statements. When asked whether Sonia was their main target, he quipped: ``Is she so capable that we should all join hands to fight her?''
However, when grilled for long, it was Swamy who came out with the truth: ``<b>She is a national security threat.'' </b>While trying to play down <b>the general impression that Sonia sacrificed the post of Prime Minister, he retorted: ``She couldn't have become PM under the Indian Citizen Act.''</b>
The Janata Party leader also branded <b>Sonia's entire family as ``fraudulent'' </b>alleging that the Congress president had filed wrong details about her education in Cambridge University in her affidavit during the Lok Sabha elections.
Fernandes emphasised that it was the ``forum of personalities, and not of parties''. Perhaps, this explains the presence of Uma Bharati, who, as an individual and a BJP leader, could not take her fight against Sonia Gandhi to a logical end. But being part of the Manch, no one can object if she targets Sonia's foreign origins and goes to any extreme to shower abuses on her.
<b>Sonia persuades PM to stay</b>
11 October 2004: <b>In the last one month, Manmohan Singh has met Sonia Gandhi at least twice asking to resign from the primeministership, but she has dissuaded him, but with increasing difficulty.</b>
While the prime minister does not keep well, having undergone a bypass surgery, and being severely diabetic, needing to take insulin shots frequently, top Congress managers disclosed that Singh was absolutely crushed when two relatively junior ministers, Kamal Nath and Kapil Sibal, took policy decisions of which he was informed only when his assent was required.
Sources said that while <b>Singh has not reconciled to his senior cabinet colleagues ignoring him and briefing Sonia on policy matters, deeming it a demeaning of the prime ministerâs office, the trend of even junior colleagues to keep him out of the loop has deeply hurt him</b>.
Both times, privileged sources said, <b>Sonia persuaded Singh to stay, saying he had been given a responsibility which he had to discharge, and that he had to find ways to get around his ministers</b>, but opposition to Manmohan is growing in governing circles.
For the Congress, replacing Manmohan with another lightweight politician would not settle the problem, while a political stalwart as successor would be hugely threatening, and therefore, unthinkable.
Top sources said that the<b> BJP leadership is well aware of Manmohanâs growing difficulties</b>, and therefore, has refused to be actively part of the campaign of George Fernandes, Subramanian Swamy, Mulayam Singh Yadavâs aides and others to bring down the UPA. www.newsinsight.net
Karnataka, India > Bangalore,Oct 1 : BJP President Venkaiah Naidu today criticised the Congress-led UPA government decision to set up a Group of Ministers (GOM) "to enquire into the decisions of the NDA regime" and accused the Centre of trying to "create and fabricate falsehood." "Government has formed a GOM to enquire into the decisions of the previous government, they do not have anything substantial with them and are trying to make a false case," he told reporters here.
There were set procedures to make enquiries, he said, adding "the GOM has been formed to create and fabricate against the previous government," and warned "it will boomerang on the government." Naidu said the Centre had taken this move due to its inability to arrest price rise, curb inflation and inability to keep its promise to bring in a legislation to guarantee 100 days employment for one member in a family.
He said there were states which had BJP or NDA party governments and asked whether similar enquiries could be conducted by them on previous Congress regimes.
UPA government's performance in the first 100 days was "pathetic" and it had failed to take up people's issues.
Naidu dismissed reports that he had differences with former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti.
There was no infighting in the party over the second rung leadership, he said. PTI
<b>Amitabh deeply hurt by Rahul Gandhi's remarks</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Actor Amitabh Bachchan on Friday regretted remarks made by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who termed Jaya's comments about the ties between the Bachchans and Nehru-Gandhi family as "a bundle of lies".
Bachchan added that he might consider taking steps to protect the honour of his family.
....
he was "deeply hurt" by the reported comments in the media describing his family as "liar"<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->"Those relationships were between the two families. I have nothing, but respect and goodwill for them."
The Nehru-Gandhi family has ruled the country, he said adding "woh raja hai hum rank hai (they are the King and we are the poor). "
The actor said that only the King establishes contact with the poor and not the other way round.
"If the King says he does not to have relationship, what can the poor do? The poor cannot afford to say that I want to have relation with the King."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Actor Amitabh Bachchan on Friday regretted remarks made by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who termed Jaya's comments about the ties between the Bachchans and Nehru-Gandhi family as "a bundle of lies<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Maybe Rahul have checked as to which family extended hospitality to his mom when she first came to India (before tying the knot with Rajiv and couldn't stay with in-laws).
It's in Sonia's own biography.
What a shame? <b>Sonia Gandhi, Natwar Singh to attend Arafat's funeral</b>
Sonia Gandhi, chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA), and External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh will represent India at the funeral of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Officials said they will fly to the Palestinian territory by a special aircraft and return on Friday.
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