Pranab Mukherjee files nomination for President polls, seeks blessings - heavenly & political

New Delhi: Dressed in his trademark bandhgala, a smiling Pranab Mukherjee, the UPA's candidate, filed his nomination papers for the post of the 13th President of India today. Seated next to Mr Mukherjee as he signed his nomination papers

were Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi. UPA allies, friends like Lalu Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav and senior Congressmen made up the rest of the party.
Mrs Gandhi signed the register, Mr Mukherjee many papers, which were then scrutinised by the returning officer. There are 480 important signatures on his four sets of nomination papers. Notably, Janata Dal(United) chief Sharad Yadav is the first signatory on one set; Mr Yadav's party is an important part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). He was however not present at Mr Mukherjee's nomination photo-op.

After staking claim, Mr Mukherjee sought blessings - heavenly and political. "I only wish at this time that we have the blessings of god and cooperation of all at this juncture," he said.
Mr Mukherjee is supported by parties like the BSP and calculations at present give him a comfortable advantage with about 56 per cent votes in the electoral college. Missing today was key UPA ally Mamata Banerjee, but others like the DMK's TR Baalu and Farooq Abdullah of the National Congress were there. So was Ram Vilas Paswan. Among the 480 MPs and MLAs that have proposed and seconded his nomination are Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, union ministers, chief ministers and Congress Legislature Party leaders. Even the Shiv Sena is supporting his candidacy.
Mr Mukherjee has wider support than mere political alignments would allow as he is expected to be a political president. His candidacy came not without drama - some brinkmanship from Mamata Banerjee which included heart-in-the-mouth moments as Mulayam Singh Yadav seemed to waver. His own party seemed undecided for long whether it could spare a man who wore many hats. In the end, however, Mr Mukherjee did not see a repeat of 2007 - when the Congress had said it could not spare him for Rashtrapati Bhavan - and was declared the UPA's candidate.

He has split not just the NDA, but has neatly sliced through the Left too - the CPM and Forward Bloc is supporting him, the CPI and RSP say they cannot and are abstaining. The UPA's one loss - Mamata Banerjee, who, however, has still not said an emphatic yes to Mr Mukherjee's challenger Purno Sangma either. Trinamool Congress sources say she will remain "equidistant."

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, who is  Mr Mukherjee's authorised election agent, told NDTV that the former Finance Minister will not file an asset declaration as it is not required under law. He, however, added that it is for Mr Mukherjee to decide if he wants to declare his assets at a later stage. Polling will be held on July 19 and India will have a new President by July 22.

Later this afternoon, Mr Sangma, who is supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party, the AIADMK and the Biju Janata Dal, will also file his papers in what is expected to be an equal show of strength.

The numbers don't favour the former Lok Sabha Speaker, but he is backed by the BJP, and two powerful Chief Ministers - Tamil Nadu's  J Jayalalithaa and her AIADMK,  and Odisha's  Naveen Patnaik and his Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and he is expected to wear that support on his sleeve when he files his papers this afternoon. High-profile BJP leaders like Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Ms Jayalalithaa and  Mr Patnaik and Punjab Chief Minister and Akali Dal chief Parkash Singh Badal are likely to be present.

After today's grand photo opportunities as nomination papers are filed, both candidates will get into campaign mode. For Mr Mukherjee, that will mean consolidating his numbers. He will fly by a private jet arranged by the Congress first to Chennai and then to Bangalore and Hyderabad as he kicks off his campaign.

Mr Sangma is expected to ensure a high decibel contest. He quit his party, the NCP, which as a UPA ally is staunchly supporting Mr Mukherjee.

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Surjeet Singh freed from Pak jail but reaches Wagah in handcuffs

WAGAH: He may have been officially released from jail on Thursday morning but when Indian prisoner Surjeet Singh alighted from the prison van at the Wagah border on the Pakistan side, he was handcuffed and the iron chain was attached to the belt of a Pakistani police officer.

Dressed in a white kurta-pyjama and black turban and carrying two bags, Surjeet, 69, slowly alighted from the prison van with his left hand in handcuffs. The accompanying policemen got down with him but did not open the handcuffs.

He had been released from the Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore and reached Wagah about an hour later.

With a smile on his face, Surjeet, who had been in captivity for over 30 years, hugged his Pakistani lawyer who was waiting for him here before being taken away for completion of formalities to enable him to cross into India.

"I will never return to Pakistan again," Surjeet, who has a grey flowing beard, told reporters in Punjabi with his head and finger indicating a firm "no" gesture.

"I was arrested earlier for spying charges. If I return again, the security agencies might suspect that I have come for spying again," he said.

Surjeet said prisoners on both sides of the border should be released by the respective governments.

"I was treated well by prison officials and I am thankful to them," he said.

Surjeet, who spent over 30 years in Pakistani jails after being arrested on charges of spying, walked out of jail to a battery of camera crews waiting to interview him.

He said he was looking forward to meeting his family - waiting excitedly across the border in Attari in the Indian Punjab to welcome him home.

He had completed his life term in 2005.

His family had given up hope of seeing him again, presuming him to be dead after he went missing near the international border in the Ferozepur sector of Punjab in 1982. The return of an Indian prisoner in 2005 rekindled their hopes after the family received a letter from Surjeet.

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Big B open to working with Rekha again

Mumbai: An all time popular on screen couple, Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha might have parted ways over decades but Big B doesn`t rule out the possibility of reuniting with her again on the silver screen.

"If there is a good story and like it then I don`t mind working with her," the megastar said at a function here Saturday.

The two have earlier worked together in films like `Silsila`, `Mr Narwarlal`, `Muqaddar Ka Sikandar` among others.

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Rumours about Salman Khan don't bother me: Katrina Kaif

Actress Katrina Kaif, who is teaming up with Salman Khan again in Ek Tha Tiger, says she is not bothered about the gossip that goes around regarding her and the actor.
Katrina reportedly dated Salman when she started off her career in Bollywood but later separated. And their new movie has got the rumour mills spinning again. She was last seen with the Dabangg star in 2008 movie Yuvraaj.
"When we start working for a movie we go in as professionals. I am here to do my job and if people want to highlight baseless stories then it's up to them. I don't think that these stories will have any affect on my work and the film.
"I am never bothered about such stories. Why should I? I think it's what every actor goes through. When you start working in the industry, people taking about you becomes a part of your life. Why analyse it so much?" Katrina told PTI.
The 27-year-old actress, who first starred alongside Salman in Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya, said she is excited to work with him again.
"I am excited about the film, it's shaping up good. Salman is working with Yash Raj for the first time and it's my second film with them. It's always fun working with Salman, he makes everything very comfortable on the sets," she said.
Katrina is also working in another Yash Raj film opposite Shah Rukh Khan. The untitled film will mark the comeback of veteran director Yash Chopra after a gap of eight years.
"I am enjoying working with Shah Rukh and Yashji. Yashji is a living legend in Indian cinema and working with him has been a learning experience for me. I am very fortunate to have got an oppurtunity to work with him. Working with him is magical.
"And Shah Rukh is a wonderful co-star. I have learnt so much from him," she said.
With hits like Singh Is Kinng, Raajneeti, Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani and Namastey London to her credit, Katrina has always been experimental with her choice of roles.
The actress says she likes exploring herself and does not think there is any definite formula to success.
"I like experimenting with my roles... If you stick to one thing you can easily get bored. Everything in life is a risk, there is no definite way to success.
"Today if I do a role which I have done before there is no guarantee that the audience will like it. The higher the risk the greater will be the outcome. You won't be able to work if you fear taking risk. I just try to give my best," Katrina said.
The actress, who has made heads turn with her seductive act in a recent Slice ad, said, "It is a very different campaign. The new ad is very rustic and ethnic. I think it is the best one. I love the rapport which I share with the brand."

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Defence Ministry had looked into Tatra issue 7 years ago

Seven years before the issue rocked the country, the Defence Ministry had gone into the procurement of Tatra trucks through an intermediary company and not original manufacturers and had closed the matter.

With Army Chief Gen V.K. Singh raking up the issue of alleged bribes in procurement of Tatra trucks, the CBI is probing alleged irregularities in the procurement of trucks.

It is probing into alleged irregularities in assigning of supply from Czech Republic-based Tatra, with which the agreement was originally signed in 1986, to the Tatra Sipox U.K. owned by Ravi Rishi in 1997, showing it as Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and the fully-owned subsidiary of the Czech company.

There were allegations in 2005 that Tatra family of trucks were being procured from an agent and not directly from OEM and that BEML was at best an assembler of such vehicles without absorbing technology.

In the wake of these allegations, the Defence Ministry had gone into the matter and apparently found that there was nothing wrong in procuring components from the intermediary company.

Before coming to this conclusion, the Ministry got a letter from the Indian ambassador in Slovakia about the ownership of the Tatra Sipox U.K. company.

According to official documents accessed by PTI after a recent review of the issue, the Ambassador had reported in 2005 that Tatra Sipox company was set up to resolve coordination issues arising out of division of the country Czechoslovakia into Czech and Slovak republics resulting in the division of the company producing these trucks.

Giving details of the ownership pattern of the company, the Ambassador’s report concluded that ”... as the vehicles were being supplied by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) through its own subsidiary, there appeared to be no other channels to purchase Tatra vehicles.”

The Ministry had sought clarification and received a reply from Tatra Sipox Director Josef Majsky also who said Tatra Sipox UK was authorised to represent the parent company and was responsible for sale of trucks to India and a number of other countries including Israel, Indonesia and Taiwan.

The Ministry report said there was no option but to buy components from Tatra Sipox UK as the vehicles in question can be produced only if components manufactured by Tatra of Czech Republic and Tatra Sipox of Slovak Republic are both available for making the complete vehicle.

The Department of Defence Production said it concluded that the issue regarding BEML working through an agent and not through the OEM was examined.

“It was concluded that there is no option but to buy components from Tatra Sipox (UK) as the vehicles in question can be produced only if components produced by Tatra AS of the Czech Republic and Tatra Sipox/Tanax of the Slovak Republic are both available for the manufacture of the complete vehicle,” the Department said.

The report stated that in view of the “peculiar situation” created as a result of the division of the original company, dealing with the OEM would entail dealing with not one but two OEMs in two countries not having best of relationships.”

It said the incorporation of Tatra Sipox (UK) Limited, it appears, was essentially to resolve the coordination issues arising out of the division and was authorised by the OEMs to sell to India components required for production of trucks by BEML.

The Ministry subsequently “closed” the issue, the documents suggest.

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Chen Guangcheng's escape sparks China round-up

Chinese authorities have begun to round up relatives and associates of blind activist Chen Guangcheng, who fled from house arrest last week, reports say.

Several people involved in Mr Chen's escape have been detained or have disappeared in recent days, and fellow activist Hu Jia is being questioned.
Mr Chen is believed to be sheltering at the US embassy in Beijing.
The US and international rights groups have frequently expressed alarm at the treatment of Mr Chen and his family.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has demanded his release in the past, is due in China this week for a previously arranged meeting which is now likely to be overshadowed by Mr Chen's case.
The US government has not so far commented publicly on the whereabouts of Mr Chen.
Analysts say the issue will be highly sensitive for both sides, and will not be easy to resolve.
If Mr Chen is in the embassy, his case will raise memories of an incident in 1989 when another prominent activist, Fang Lizhi, fled to the US mission in Beijing.
He remained there for more than a year while the two sides attempted to broker a deal.
'Shameful saga' Mr Chen was placed under house arrest in 2010 after spending more than four years in jail for disrupting traffic and damaging property.
He had exposed how local authorities in Linyi, Shandong province, forced thousands of women to have abortions or be sterilised as part of China's one-child policy.

His colleagues said last Sunday's escape had taken months to plan, and was carried out with the help of a network of friends and activists.

He scaled the wall that the authorities had built around his house, and was driven hundreds of miles to Beijing, where activists say he stayed in safe-houses before fleeing to the embassy.
His wife and six-year-old daughter remain under house arrest, but several of his family members have been detained and others are being sought by the authorities.
One of Mr Chen's friends, He Peirong - who wrote on her microblog that she had driven him to Beijing - is believed to have been detained in the city of Nanjing.
"I was actually talking to her and the last words she said were 'the PSB [Public Security Bureau] has arrived,'" said Bob Fu, of the US-based ChinaAid pressure group.
Her microblog was later deleted, and all searches on popular microblogging sites for Mr Chen's name and other related terms were being blocked by the censors.
On Saturday, the authorities detained Hu Jia, who had earlier told the BBC how he had met Mr Chen since his escape.
Mr Hu's wife, Zeng Jinyan, said late on Saturday that her husband's detention had been extended for a further 24 hours.
"I asked where Hu Jia would sleep, they said on a chair," she said.
The fate of other associates of Mr Chen also remains unclear, with reports claiming several have disappeared.
The treatment of Mr Chen and his family by local authorities has long been controversial.
Amnesty International regards him as a "prisoner of conscience" and has called on the authorities to end the "shameful saga" of his detention.

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